Easter opening times

The opening hours of our UWTSD Swansea libraries are slightly different during the Easter vacation period. All opening hours for each library are listed below. Please check before you visit. We look forward to seeing you!

UWTSD Swansea Libraries in numbers!

 We have so many fantastic resources and services available through the library, that we decided to look at the statistics behind these resources and services. For example, we calculated that there are over two thousand ebooks available through our catalogue, that  almost 211,000 people visited our four Swansea UWTSD libraries last year and that our blog has received over 60,000 visits as well! We decided that we would like to display the information numerically, as an infographic, and this term  have posted sections of the infographic on our Swansea UWTSD Library Facebook page and on Twitter. However, now we’re revealing the whole poster, in Welsh and in English. We hope you like it!

  If you have any questions about our  range of resources and services, or would like help finding information for your research, please ask and we'll be happy to help!

We love databases!

Today we're continuing our series promoting the many and varied (full-text) library databases we have to offer, with something for our health based students - CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing & Allied Health Literature).

CINAHL is a valuable research tool that provides full-text access to over 550 nursing and health journal publications, dating back as far as 1981 (that's more than 3.2 million records!). As well as journal articles it also provides access to selected conference proceedings, standards of practice, audiovisual materials, book chapters and more. This fantastic database covers a wide selection of topics ranging from nursing and public health, to social care and child welfare.You can print and email articles to yourself, get help with referencing and citation...and even set up email alerts to bring all the latest research on your chosen topics straight to your inbox! What could be easier or more convenient?

So, next time you're struggling to find up-to-date information for your projects and assignments, remember to give our databases a try! It can save you time, effort and money! You can access all our databases quickly and conveniently, on and off campus, via our Swansea Online Library page...all you need is your UWTSD login and password.

We love databases!

This week we're beginning a series of posts to let you know about the fantastic range of databases which are available through our Swansea UWTSD library website.

Databases are online, organized collections of information. You can access them at anytime of the day or night, through any device with an internet connection! Word of warning though, to benefit from  the material available through the databases, you will need to access them through the library website and our  Databases A-Z list.

We are beginning our series with the database NewsBank.

NewsBank

You may have noticed that we have recently acquired a brand new newspaper database called NewsBank. NewsBank is a database which includes newspapers such as The Times and Financial Times, as well as local newspapers, for example the South Wales Evening Post and the Western Mail. In fact, NewsBank features more than 700 local, regional and national news sources from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Wales. There’s even a map of the U.K., so that you can research by country.

NewsBank also has a section featuring special reports which focus upon topics of current interest. These reports contain content from sources throughout the world to provide a global perspective, current and background information, statistics, maps, images, websites, and suggested search terms.

So, why not have a look and if you would like help accessing NewsBank, your subject librarians will be happy to help!

Interactive Library Tour!

Welcome to all our new UWTSD Swansea students! We hope you're enjoying Fresher's Week and getting to know your new friends and surroundings. We're looking forward to meeting you all in person during the library tours and inductions that have been arranged for you. This is your chance to meet your Subject Librarian (an invaluable source of help and advice!) and to learn more about what the library service has to offer. Many of you will get the opportunity to come and look around your nearest library during the first week of term but, if you miss the 'official' tour, we've put together a fab interactive library tour that you can do on your own! Look out for a series of posters like these in our libraries:

All you need to do is download a free QR code reader/scanner onto your mobile device from any app store and you're ready to go! There is a series of 8 posters to find and a quick scan of the QR codes will give you more information about everything from our opening hours to the name of your Subject Librarian.

We'll also be highlighting useful information about the library service on our Facebook and Twitter accounts too, so make sure you 'like'/'follow' us, it's the quickest and easiest way to keep up to date with everything we have to offer...including news of our exciting 'Golden Ticket' competition!!  

Access to Research – free access to scholarly journals via Swansea Public Library Service

This one is mainly for our final year students! During your years as a UWTSD student, you have access to a huge range of academic books and journals, both online and in the library, which can help you with your assignments and keep you up to date in your field. Unfortunately, though, once you’ve graduated and are no longer members of the university, we are quite limited in what we can offer you. This is quite frustrating for those of you who are keen to keep up that good practice you developed at university and maintain your awareness of current research. Luckily, publishers and librarians have come together to offer a solution via the public library service – Access to Research!

Access to Research offers free, walk-in access to over a million scholarly journal articles across a range of subjects. Public libraries in Swansea are part of the scheme, so you will be able to take advantage of this material at your local library in the area. There is more information on the Swansea Council website and a specially produced Frequently Asked Questions leaflet (there are a few good search tips which can be used with our Digital Library on here too – worth a look even if you’re not interested in the scheme!). If you’re not local to Swansea, you can check the list of participating libraries on the Access to Research website to see if your home library service is a part of the scheme.

This, of course, is in addition to all the great stuff already available to you at Swansea public libraries! It’s well worth joining if you haven’t already. And finally, if you are graduating this year, but would still like to borrow from UWTSD libraries, public library members in South West and Mid Wales can join us through the Libraries Together scheme, which will let you borrow up to five ordinary loans from us at any one time. Just get in touch if you’d like more information.

Dylan Thomas and his ugly, lovely town

With the centenary of his birth this year, Elijah Wood on location in the city filming Set Fire to the Stars - the latest movie to centre on the life of Dylan Thomas – and the replica shed heading out on tour, what better time to rediscover the life and work of Swansea’s famous son? As you’d expect, we have a good selection of books written by and about Dylan Thomas in our collection!

He’s best known as a poet (if we ignore his fame as a drinker!), so there’s a lot to choose from if you’re looking for a collection of poetry to dip into. You’ll find a good selection of short stories too, if that’s more your thing, as well as his classic A child’s Christmas in Wales, though you may want to hang on a few months before dipping into that one! If you’re more interested in the man than his work, or want to find out more about one to better appreciate the other, give one of the many biographies a try. Finally, if you’d like to take a leaf out of Elijah’s book and follow in Dylan’s footsteps round South West Wales, you’ll want to take a look at Dylan Thomas’s Swansea, Gower and Laugharne, which offers an excellent introduction to Dylan’s life and background in relation to the areas he loved and the writing they inspired. And we live in a beautiful part of the world, so frankly, these places are worth a visit whether or not you have an interest in Dylan Thomas!

Worm's Head, as seen from the beach at Rhossili. Dylan Thomas was once stranded on the headland, cut off by the tide!

Find out more about your fantastic Swansea Public Library service!!

This is a re-post of an article we originally posted earlier in the summer, but feel is relevant to all UWTSD Swansea students who may wish to find out more, and use their local public library service here in Swansea!

This week we're delighted to introduce another special guest blogger for you - Lizzy Evans, one of the assistant managers at Swansea Central Library! Lizzy started to work for the library service in December 2007, in time for the New Central Library opening. She started working as an Assistant Manager in 2010, having graduated from Swansea University in 2005 with a BA hons in History and Politics. She then went to Aberystwyth to study a MA in Film Studies and has recently submitted her dissertation for the BSc Library and Information Management degree. When not writing assignments or working, Lizzy spends time travelling and going to the theatre.

Your course has finished for the summer, so why not take this opportunity to try a different type of library experience?

At this time of year, Swansea Public LibraryService is inundated with requests for travel guides, guides for days out, starting new hobbies, cooking, crafting, dress making etc. and the beach holiday read… all for FREE! Swansea libraries have a lot to offer you, not only throughout the summer, but all year round.

We hold a variety of events for adults & children. Literacy skills being at the heart of most libraries, Swansea is no different. We hold many events for children which encourage language skills through a variety of activities:

oRhyme times

oWelsh Rhyme Times

oDress Up Story times

oHomework Clubs

o‘Story and Stuff’ craft events

oWii Games

oFamily film showings

oTeen Film Club

oTeen book groups

Throughout July & August we will be holding special events for children like our ‘OZ, The Great and Powerful’ Party on 25^th July and the annual children’s Summer Reading Challenge.

Feel you’re a little old for this? We have a lot to offer you too! We hold a wide variety of events for adults, from guest author events and Family History sessions, to INK our writers group and our book group for which we are holding a special session in August where we are linking up with Radio Wales to join their book group (for more details, click here).

As technology advances, so must libraries, we now have WiFi in the central library and offer a free ebook and e-audio book download service. Libraries still anchor their work in books, be them physical or electronic, however this is no longer a library’s sole purpose, libraries are now so much more.

So, here’s the low down on Swansea’s libraries:

oWe have 17 branch libraries, a mobile service and a housebound service

oFree internet in all branches

oFree ebooks and e-audio books available to download

oOnline catalogue

oOur enquiry service Library Line (@LibraryLine) can help with the most basic or complex of enquiries

oFacebook

oTwitter:Swansea libraries (@Discovermore) and Library Line (LibraryLine)

To join, all you need is to bring down some proof of address and we can register you immediately, once registered you can use all 17 branches and all the facilities. Alternatively, you can register via the Libraries Together Passport scheme. If you’re reading this, you’re more than likely already registered with the Swansea Metropolitan University Library, and therefore you have access to many more libraries both academic and public from Pembroke, to Aberystwyth, to Neath Port Talbot. This is available via the passport, for more information visit www.library.wales.org.

For more information about Swansea Library go to www.swansea.gov.uk/libraries or call (01792) 636464.

Hope to see you soon!

Find out more about your fantastic Swansea Public Library service!!

This week we're delighted to introduce another special guest blogger for you - Lizzy Evans, one of the assistant managers at Swansea Central Library! Lizzy started to work for the library service in December 2007, in time for the New Central Library opening. She started working as an Assistant Manager in 2010, having graduated from Swansea University in 2005 with a BA hons in History and Politics. She then went to Aberystwyth to study a MA in Film Studies and has recently submitted her dissertation for the BSc Library and Information Management degree. When not writing assignments or working, Lizzy spends time travelling and going to the theatre.

Your course has finished for the summer, so why not take this opportunity to try a different type of library experience? 

At this time of year, Swansea Public Library Service is inundated with requests for travel guides, guides for days out, starting new hobbies, cooking, crafting, dress making etc. and the beach holiday read… all for FREE! Swansea libraries have a lot to offer you, not only throughout the summer, but all year round.  

We hold a variety of events for adults & children. Literacy skills being at the heart of most libraries, Swansea is no different. We hold many events for children which encourage language skills through a variety of activities: 

oRhyme times

oWelsh Rhyme Times

oDress Up Story times

oHomework Clubs

o‘Story and Stuff’ craft events

oWii Games

oFamily film showings

oTeen Film Club

oTeen book groups 

Throughout July & August we will be holding special events for children like our ‘OZ, The Great and Powerful’ Party on 25^th July and the annual children’s Summer Reading Challenge.

Feel you’re a little old for this? We have a lot to offer you too! We hold a wide variety of events for adults, from guest author events and Family History sessions, to INK our writers group and our book group for which we are holding a special session in August where we are linking up with Radio Wales to join their book group (for more details, click here). 

As technology advances, so must libraries, we now have WiFi in the central library and offer a free ebook and e-audio book download service. Libraries still anchor their work in books, be them physical or electronic, however this is no longer a library’s sole purpose, libraries are now so much more.  

So, here’s the low down on Swansea’s libraries: 

oWe have 17 branch libraries, a mobile service and a housebound service

oFree internet in all branches

oFree ebooks and e-audio books available to download

oOnline catalogue

oOur enquiry service Library Line (@LibraryLine) can help with the most basic or complex of enquiries

oFacebook

oTwitter: Swansea libraries (@Discovermore) and Library Line (LibraryLine) 

To join, all you need is to bring down some proof of address and we can register you immediately, once registered you can use all 17 branches and all the facilities. Alternatively, you can register via the Libraries Together Passport scheme. If you’re reading this, you’re more than likely already registered with the Swansea Metropolitan University Library, and therefore you have access to many more libraries both academic and public from Pembroke, to Aberystwyth, to Neath Port Talbot. This is available via the passport, for more information visit www.library.wales.org.  

For more information about Swansea Library go to www.swansea.gov.uk/libraries or call (01792) 636464.

Hope to see you soon!

Swansea Met library folk Race for Life



A sea of pink in Swansea on Sunday



Many of you will be aware of the annual Race for Life events that take place nationally every year. (If not, check out their website for details: http://raceforlife.cancerresearchuk.org/.) Women are encouraged to sign up to their local event and walk, jog or run the 5 or 10 kilometres course to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Alison, Emily, Amanda, Philippa and Anna

This is a cause close to many of our hearts and several members of the Swansea Met libraries team were amongst the thousands of women taking part in local events this summer. If you were at Sunday’s event in Swansea, you might have seen Anna Colclough (31 minutes to complete the course), Emily Hywel (35 minutes), Amanda Roberts (35 minutes) and Philippa Price (flying the flag for the less athletic at 1 hour!). Alison Scanlon put us all to shame by taking part in both the Swansea race (keeping Philippa company and finishing in an hour) and the Llanelli one (coming in at a very respectable 38 minutes) earlier this summer. All together, thanks to the generous contributions of friends, families and colleagues, Swansea Met library folk have so far raised £653 to go towards research to help prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. Well done everyone, sponsors and sponsees alike!

The torch is coming!!

Image: Freedigitalphotos.net

                                             

The Olympic torch is arriving in Swansea this weekend! It will set off from Cardiff early on Saturday morning and arrive at Swansea's Castle Square by 6pm in the evening. There will be a brief pause and photo opportunity and then it will continue on its way to Singleton Park where a special evening of celebration will take place.

There will be lots of things going on in and around the city centre all day on Saturday in the build up to the arrival of the torch, including street entertainers, stilt walkers, dance acts and various bands.

It should be a great day and a fantastic opportunity for everyone to participate in a little bit of Olympic history! I'll be there...will you?

SMU students and staff - come and meet author Joe Dunthorne!

Joe Dunthorne, author of the novel 'Submarine' (set in Swansea and released as a film earlier this year) will be coming to our Townhill Library on Tuesday 8th November as part of the CyMAL Reading Roadshow campaign taking place in south and mid Wales libraries this autumn.

So...if you would like to meet Joe, and listen to him talk about and read from some of his work, do come along to the Townhill Library that afternoon at 2.00pm. In the meantime as a taster, you can borrow 'Submarine' or his latest novel 'Wild Abandon' from the Townhill Library, or watch 'Submarine' on film, available from the Griffith Library at Dynevor.

So make a note in your diaries ready for the 8th November - we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!

What we are reading

Submarine, by Joe Dunthorne

Submarine, set in our very own Swansea, is a coming of age novel infused with honesty and humour. It deals with some dark issues - depression, adultery, death, alcohol abuse - but manages to keep the laughs coming without dismissing those issues. Oliver, our unreliable narrator, emerges as a very likeable character, but depictions of the earthier aspects of teenage existence can be quite graphic, so approach with caution if you are easily offended! Critics' comparisons to Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye) and Adrian Mole are fair, but Oliver and his experiences are firmly rooted in Swansea. Born and brought up here, Dunthorne's book is peppered with recognisable characters and locations which all add to the pleasure if you know the area.

I enjoyed this book enormously and would recommend it to anyone who is not of too sensitive a disposition. The insight it offers into the mind of a teenage boy is touching, amusing, and somewhat educational! The novel is available for loan from the Teaching Practice collection in Townhill Library.

Congratulations to Swansea's Wembley Winners!

Whether you're a sports fan or not, if you live in Swansea you couldn't have escaped the football frenzy of the last 24 hours! With a nailbiting 4-2 victory over Reading at Wembley yesterday Swansea City Football Club finally acheived their hard earned promotion to the Premier League. As fans prepare to welcome the team home with a victory parade through the city tonight, why not keep up-to-date with all the latest developments in the local news via our Newsbank database, which includes Welsh regional publications such as the South Wales Evening Post and the Western Mail.

Congratulations to the Swans from all at Swansea Met Libraries!


Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net