International Literacy Day

International Literacy Day is celebrated on the 8^th September every year, so this year it falls on Sunday. To encourage participation, though, this year the International Reading Association will be continuing celebrations throughout September. You can find out more on their website. You might also like to take a look at the National Literacy Trust’s website for more information and resources in this area.

As you can imagine, literacy is a cause pretty close to our hearts in the library and you’ll find lots of books and journals on this subject on our Catalogue. The theme this year is ‘Invent your future’, with a focus on promoting literacy skills for future success. Once again, we can help with books on children’s reading, adult literacy and studyskills books which can offer advice on academic writing and note taking. We’ve also got a whole host of fiction and non-fiction books that can be read for pleasure!

 

Archive open day - Thursday 5th September!

Tomorrow, the University is holding its third Archive Open day, this time at our Mount Pleasant campus. The exhibition will give a brief history of the Technical College and the first 10 years of West Glamorgan Institute, as well as the history of the Mount Pleasant site, and have some of the archive collection on show.

 

The event is running between 10.30am and 4.30pm on the top floor of the Owen Library at Mount Pleasant. It is open to the public as well as all University staff and students - everyone is most welcome to call in anytime between the above times! 

Bank Holiday Monday closure

Please note that all four Swansea Met Libraries will be closed on Bank Holiday Monday! Normal vacation opening hours will resume on Tuesday 27th. We hope that you have a nice long weekend, and if you want to do some reading, all four libraries are open until 4.30pm today - come in and grab yourself a book!

Have you heard the one about...?

Today sees the announcement of the funniest joke of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so it seems an apt time to unveil Townhill Library’s Comedy display! Your Swansea Met library might not be the first place you’d think to go for some laughs, but we have quite a selection of funny DVDs and books available for loan. Some of the highlights have been gathered together for your perusal at Townhill Library, so do call in and have a look. From the classic Monty Python’s Meaning of Life to David Walliams’ Mr Stink, we’ve quite a range to offer you! Remember, due dates are extended over the summer vacation, so if you borrow something now you won’t have to bring it back until the 4^th October.

(In case you were wondering, the funniest joke is by Rob Auton, who's heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. It could be a Chinese Wispa.)

How about some free journal articles to help with your dissertation?

It seems cruel to mention this on a lovely August day, but while most of you are enjoying the summer vacation and taking a break from your studies, we know there are quite a few of you who are busy planning and writing your dissertation. One of the key elements of your dissertation, once you’ve decided on the topic, is to decide on appropriate research methods to use. You might find it useful to take a look at the free, peer-reviewed articles from Sage on that very subject. They are part of Sage’s open access content, which is a collection of scholarly journal articles that have been made freely available for you to access. There’s no need to pay, and no need to login with your university ID!

Remember, we’ve also got lots of books and journal articles to help you in the library. As a student or member of staff, they’re free for you to access too! Try looking for books to help with your dissertation on our Catalogue and journal articles about research methods on our Digital Library. We wish you all the best if you are currently slogging your way through your dissertation. It’s definitely worth it in the end! Please get in touch if you need any assistance in finding resources to help.

The Tale of Beatrix Potter

It’s Beatrix Potter’s birthday on Sunday (28^th July). If she was still alive she’d be 147-years-old! The author is probably best known for her enduringly popular children’s books about Peter Rabbit, the Tailor of Gloucester, Jemima Puddleduck and Tom Kitten, to name but a few. I’m sure most of us are familiar with her beautiful illustrations of these animal characters, especially Peter Rabbit in his blue jacket.

Helen Beatrix Potter was born in 1866 in South Kensington, London. Despite a city upbringing, the Potters enjoyed long holidays in the countryside and had an array of much-loved family pets, many of whom went on to appear in Beatrix’s books! You can find out lots more about the author from TheBeatrix Potter Society and from books at Townhill Library. Amongst those shelved at 828.8 POT, you’ll find The Journal of Beatrix Potter from1881 to 1897 and you’ll see conference papers from The Beatrix Potter Society at 823.912 POT.

As you’d expect, we’ve got books written by Beatrix Potter too! You’ll find Peter, Jemima and the gang in the Junior Fiction section of Townhill Library. The linguists amongst you might like to read about their exploits in French! Find L’histoire de Toto let Minet and more at Teaching Practice 843.91 POT. Magnifique!



The House of the Tailor of Gloucester (photo by Hannah Meiklejohn)

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!