What do you love about your SMU Library?

Celebrate St. Valentine's Day, by telling us via our library blog what you love about your SMU Library, between 14th - 20th February! It could be one of our resources, or services, or even a helpful member of staff.

By doing so you could win a box of chocolates and a gift card worth £10 (see photo) so please remember to leave your full name with your comment!

On Monday 21st February we'll be choosing someone at random to receive the goodies, so have a think, and let us know!!

(Please note, due to the nature of the promotion it is only open to SMU students & staff)

'Love' books

To get you in the mood for St Valentine’s Day, Booktrust has come up with ten favourite children’s books about love. Take a look at their selection here: http://www.booktrustchildrensbooks.org.uk/Recommended-Books/Children%27s-Book-Lists/Ten-books-about-love.

You can find plenty of children’s books on all sorts of topics in the Teaching Practice collection in Townhill Library. We’ve even got some of Booktrust’s top ten, so if you want to see what all the fuss is about, pop in and have a look!

Just a reminder...

...about the 'Save our Libraries' day being held tomorrow (see last Tuesday's blog post) - please show your support where possible for your public library service!

Contactless arrives at SMU Libraries...

We now have the facility to take contactless payments at our library counters, for purchases between £5.00 - £15.00!

Contactless payments are all about using innovative technology to save you time and effort. Integrated into your card, it means you can pay for items in a quick and easy manner. It’s also secure, so you can buy with confidence!

Your libraries need you!!

This Saturday 5th February, everyone who cares about libraries is being encouraged to support their public library service as part of an organised 'Save Our Libraries' day.

The aim of the day is to raise awareness of the cuts & closures facing many public library services, and to do something positive to show how much the public care about libraries. Therefore as many people as possible are being encouraged to visit their public library this Saturday and use their services, or even Tweet why they love libraries!

For more information and ideas, take a look at the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals weblink: http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/advocacy/public-libraries/Pages/savelibrariesday.aspx and get involved!

Happy Saint Dwynwen's Day!

Today is St. Dwynwen's day, to commemorate the Welsh patron saint of friendship & love!

To find out more about the legend of Dwynwen, visit the National Museum of Wales' link -http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/faq/stdwynwen/

We've also got some items about Dwynwen in the Teaching Practice section at our Townhill campus library, which you can locate using the library catalogue.

So, happy St. Dwynwen's day to you / diwrnod Santes Dwynwen hapus i chi !!

We’ve got some great books, Man (Booker)!

Howard Jacobson won the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction with The Finkler Question. According to the Man Booker website, the novel is “funny, furious, unflinching” and “a scorching story of friendship and loss, exclusion and belonging”, so should be well worth a read! The Finkler Question, along with the other titles from the Man Booker 2010 shortlist – Parrot and Olivier in America (Peter Carey), Room (Emma Donoghue), In a Strange Room (Damon Galgut), Long Song (Andrea Levy) and C (Tom McCarthy) – can be found in Dynevor Library’s reading area this term. Why not go in and borrow one?

Next term, the books will return to the shelves of Townhill Library, where they’ll still be available for loan. You’ll also find previous Man Booker shortlisted titles and winners at Townhill Library, so we’re never short of a good book to offer you.

You can find out more about the Man Booker Prize winner here: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/thisyear/winner. You can also find out more about the shortlisted titles and previous winners. We’d love to hear from you if some of your favourites are here, or even some books that you didn’t like so much!