| Library Guide - humanities |
I am your Liaison Librarian for Humanities, Jane Faux. If you need help with finding or accessing any of the sources mentioned in this guide, Iwill be happy to help. Contact me in the library or as follows:
Email: education-librarian@newman.ac.uk
Tel: 0121 476 1181 ex.1413
This subject guide is intended to help you find relevant information and resources to support you during your course of Humanities. It provides a comprehensive overview of the best resources for your subject area.
Remember, a comprehensive literature search of the available resources will allow you to read widely around the subject, absorb a range of viewpoints and reach your own conclusions on a topic based on what you've read. Exactly the kind of behaviour your lecturers are looking for!
The library catalogue is accessible from designated computers in the library or online via the library homepage.
You can search the catalogue by keyword, title, author or year. The keyword option is especially useful for searching a particular subject as it performs a flexible search.
An online help guide to using the catalogue is available (click on the Help tab
in the library catalogue). There is also a tutorial on the Library
Zone page of Moodle How to find items in the library but if you need
any further help please ask a member of library staff.
The School Experience Collection is a special collection of resources to support you during school placements. The collection includes books, big books, lesson planning materials, CDs, videos and DVDs, posters and artefacts covering all subjects and key stages. You can search for these resources on the library catalogue by selecting ‘School Experience Resources’ from the drop-down collections box on the search screen.
If you have any suggestions for useful resources to add to the School Experience Collection, please contact your Liaison Librarians.
The Local History Collection is a special collection of resources relating to the history of the West Midlands. The collection includes photographs, maps, 19th and 20th century newspapers, the 1871 census for Birmingham, copies of archival material, oral history tapes and over 4000 books and pamphlets. All resources are for reference use only within the library.
Quick reference sources, which are available in the Reference Collection in the library and online, provide a useful starting point for your research. Sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, directories and yearbooks and you can use them to find:
• Explanations and definitions of particular terms or topics.
•
Contact addresses or information on people or organisations.
•
Factual and statistical information.
The library subscribes to the following services which can be accessed from the ‘Electronic Resources - E-Reference’ page of the library website:
• Britannica Online – Academic Electronic version of this authoritative encyclopedia. Also links through to full-text journal articles on topics covered in the encyclopedia.
• Oxford Reference Online - Quick reference information together with authoritative, in-depth articles. Contains the full text of over 130 dictionaries, plus an encyclopaedia, thesauri, and guides to English grammar and usage. Includes a wide range of additional material such as maps, illustrations and timelines.
You will find the following and many others in the Reference Collection:
• A-Z 19th & 20th century British history handbook
• A-Z 20th century European history handbook
• The dictionary of human geography
• Whitaker's almanack 2011
The Library uses the Dewey decimal system to classify and arrange its books by subject. The catalogue will give you the shelfmark of the book you need, and tell you if it is in the library or out on loan. The following are some examples of shelfmarks relevant to Humanities:
| Sociology | 301 |
| Economics | 330 |
| Environmental issues | 333.7 |
| Globalisation | 337 |
| Industrialisation | 338.09 |
| Tourist industry | 338.4791 |
| Sustainable development | 338.9 |
| Primary history education | 372.89 |
| Primary geography education | 372.891 |
| Physical geography | 550 |
| Political history | 900 |
| World history | 909 |
| Geography | 910 |
| Maps and atlases | 912 |
| Geography of Europe | 914 |
| Biographies and genealogy | 920 |
| History of ancient world | 930 |
| History of Egypt | 932 |
| History of Greece | 938 |
| General European history | 940 |
| General British history | 941 |
| History of England and Wales | 942 |
| History of the Midlands | 942.4 |
Some of the library’s most popular texts are now available to you electronically through our e-book service provided by Dawsonera.
Dawsonera can be accessed from the E-books section of the Electronic Resources page of the library website. You will need to be logged into Athens to access the full-text books which the library has purchased (details can be found in the ‘Athens information’ section of the Electronic Resources page on the library website). Individual titles can also be accessed via the library catalogue.
For some modules you may be required to purchase some or all of the texts from the ‘essential reading’ on your reading lists. You may find the following retailers useful:
Abebooks Online bookshop especially useful for second hand and out of print books.
Amazon Online books, often much cheaper than RRP!
Waterstones Search and buy online or try their branch located on the University of Birmingham Edgbaston campus – they often have textbooks in stock that are difficult to obtain from elsewhere. Telephone them on 0121 472 3034.
Journals are an excellent source of information. They show evidence of wider reading, are important for research and help you to keep informed of any changes and developments in the study of your subject area. They are published more frequently than textbooks, so the information they hold is often more up-to-date.
You can search for journal titles on the library catalogue by selecting ‘journals’ from the drop-down collections box on the search screen. The journal collection is for reference only, so titles should always be accessible. They are shelved alphabetically by title in the Journal Room.
Examples of titles that you may find useful for Humanities are:
Geography
Geography review
Greece and Rome
Heritage learning
Historian
History review
History today
Journal of contemporary history
Journal of modern history
Local historian
Midland Catholic history
Midland history
Primary geographer
Primary history
Primary history matters
Social history
Teaching geography
Teaching history
Twentieth century British history
Twentieth century history review
Victorian studies
The library subscribes to two different types of electronic journal service, both of which are accessible from the Electronic Resources page of the library website:
• Online journal services containing full-text articles
British Newspapers 1600-1900 Fully searchable, digitised versions of national, regional and local newspapers and pamphlets published between 1600 and 1900. An invaluable collection of primary source material.
JSTOR Full-text access to the archive of older journals in the following JSTOR
collections:
Arts & Sciences II
Arts & Sciences III
Arts & Sciences VII
Language & Literature collection
19th Century British Pamphlets
Project MUSE Full-text access to articles from the Johns Hopkins University Press Project MUSE database, covering humanities and social sciences.
Swetswise Full-text articles from a range of journals, including titles currently held in hard copy in the library.
• Databases containing references and abstracts to journal articles
British Humanities Index Provides references to journal articles in over 320 humanities journals and some UK newspapers.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences Provides references and abstracts to journal articles in the social
sciences, with a particular focus on economics, sociology, politics
and anthropology. It is possible to search in British Humanities Index
and International Bibliography of the Social Sciences simultaneously.
You can also use Journals A-Z List to find out if we have access to a journal in print or electronically. If we have access to the journal in print you will be linked through to the library catalogue and if we have electronic access to the journal, it will link you through to the relevant database or online journal service. This list is particularly useful if you have obtained the bibliographic details of an article and you need to find out if we have access to the journal title.
You will need to be logged into Athens in order to be able to access most of these resources, details can be found in the ‘Athens information’ section of the Electronic Resources page on the library website.
Statistics underpin many academic debates about quality, standards, equal opportunities and the overall effectiveness of Government policy. You can use them in assignments or research to add weight to your arguments.
• Annual Abstract of Statistics Produced by the Office for National Statistics. An annual publication containing a comprehensive collection of statistics about the UK’s economy and society including population, national accounts and government finance, the labour market, health and social protection, education, crime, environment, transport and many other subjects.
• Social Trends Produced by the Office for National Statistics, annually. Provides a comprehensive guide to UK society, illustrating how our lives have changed over the years and also reflecting the realities of contemporary lifestyles.
UK Statistics Authority Oversees the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Provides links to government sites to find the statistics of your choice. Sections include Neighbourhood, Economy, Census and Population.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics Global and internationally comparable statistics on education, science, technology, culture and communication.
Jane Faux - March 2012.