A window on working together: librarians, academic staff and displays

Over the last few years the Education Library Team have used the beautiful Library windows for different kinds of displays from #BeMyBorrower to the #FestiveFeedbackTree.  This academic year we had the exciting opportunity to work collaboratively with academic staff in devising window and Library displays of material linked to conferences and Faculty research themes.

Peter Cunningham, who has research interests in the social and cultural history of education and is an Emeritus Fellow at Homerton College, approached the Library Team about creating a display for the Dewey conference – here’s the result:

The Library houses a curated archive of texts with relevance to the history and development of education. Within this archive, Peter found a number of titles which demonstrated the influence of Dewey’s works on education and those writing about it.  The Library Team worked with Peter to compile significant titles into a timeline for display in the Library.

The collaboration on this project also included the Rare Books Department at Cambridge University Library who kindly lent copies of key Dewey texts for display.

The project also fostered collaboration with local schools and we were delighted to host works of art from Wroxham School and the University Primary School in displays in the Library:

 

There was wider engagement from the international academic and education community during the conference itself and the Library Team found it extremely rewarding to show attendees the dedicated Dewey display in the Library.  Some kindly made donations to the Library too!

 

The lasting legacy of this shared enterprise was the installation of permanent double-sided display boards within the Library celebrating the impact of Dewey on educational theory and relating Dewey to the work of the Library within the Faculty.

Following on from this success, we were contacted by Dr Arathi Sriprakash about creating a window display to highlight her race justice research as Arathi explains below:

“The Library’s exhibition on Race Justice and Education emerged from a collective of graduate and postdoctoral scholars at the Faculty of Education who are engaged in research on issues of racism in education. We are involved in a number of activities that are helping to establish race justice scholarship in education at the University. Our members have conducted workshops on racism and pedagogy, led teach-ins about Islamophobia, and convened a fortnightly reading group on theories of race and racism. We share our ideas through public engagement, blogs and news outlets, as well as through academic scholarship. And we present our ideas in public forums and seminars.

We wanted to celebrate the work of critical race scholarship that inspires us – which led to the collective curation of the Race Justice and Education exhibition. The texts and authors we have included in the display have – for example – been inspirational figures in black feminist movements, contributed critical perspectives on the political limitations of the concept of ‘diversity’, and brought new ways of understanding the racial dynamics of young people’s lives. Our reading group has recently been discussing the need for decolonised research methodologies and non-western theory in educational research. 

With this exhibition we hope to encourage scholars – both staff and students – to join us in conversation about the possibilities of an anti-racist agenda both in the field of education and in our university itself.

The collective: Amina Shareef, Amberley Middleton, Arathi Sriprakash, Christy Kulz, Michael Meaney, Sharon Walker, Daphne Martschenko, Anna Nti Asari“

The Library space was once again transformed with both a physical display within the Library, showcasing the breadth of resources from within our collection, and visual displays on the Library windows.

Both displays generated a lot of discussion and interest both in person and through our social media channels as can be seen in this Storify.

As part of this discussion, Sara Baker (University Lecturer at the Faculty) posted the following tweet:

We hope to continue supporting the Faculty through collaborating with academic staff in promoting their research in the future.  Who knows what the Library window will reveal next?

 

 

Librarians Recommend – Easter 2017

If you’ve visited the Education Library recently you may have seen our Librarian Recommends boxes, if not, now is your chance to catch up with some of our favourite books.

First up, we have Hazel’s selections, What do we know about the Inuit? by Bryan and Cherry Alexander and Shackleton’s journey by William Grill.

“Interested in the Inuit or want to know how Shackleton set sail to the South Pole? 2 of my favourite resources are available in the library collection.”

These titles are shelved at 933/073 GRI and 933/072 WHA and form part of our extensive collection of Educational Resources which covers all subjects ranging from Aztecs to Zoos and everything in between! The collection is primarily designed to support trainees on school placements but material can be borrowed by any member of the Library.

Next is Emma’s choice Code name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

“A wonderful but heart-wrenching story of 2 friends in WWII France – an inspiring tale for all ages!”

This title is located in the Children’s Fiction Section under WEIN.

The children’s fiction collection ranges from picture books to young adult fiction and includes short stories, poetry, fairy tales and mythology. Further information about the collection can be found in the guide to Children’s Literature Collections at Cambridge.

And finally, for everyone in the middle of research projects, Amy suggests The good research guide: for small scale social research projects by Martyn Denscombe.

“An excellent introductory guide for anyone starting to plan their research. Covers a number of research strategies, ethics and analysis. Plus it’s available as an ebook!”

This title can be found at 301/01 DEN.

We are always happy to guide readers to specific aspects of the Library collection useful for their particular interests or research – just come and ask at the Welcome Desk.  If you are unable to visit in person, just drop us an email and we can identify a range of books for you to choose from – or direct you to ebooks if preferable.  Don’t forget that you can browse the collection of Education ebooks yourself at any time via the Ebooks database on the Library Moodle site – there are over 1,000 to choose from!

Reflections on the FutureLib Intraloans Trial

This post was written by Meghanne Flynn, PhD student at the Faculty of Education and member of the library team. 

It’s over, it’s over, it’s all over!

The UL Intraloan Trial has now ended and the Library Team would like to thank everyone who participated and expressed enthusiasm for the project. It was a bit of a wild time here in the Education Faculty Library: fielding requests, transporting books, and making sure everyone had the best access to the best information we could provide! It may be some time before we fully understand all of the data generated through this trial, but here are some initial things we learned:

The majority of people who used the service were full-time post-graduate students

This was a surprise. Part of our initial enthusiasm for the trial was the hope that it would make more material available for part-time, distance and PGCE students who have limited time in the Faculty or in Cambridge at all.  However, very few students within these categories made use of the trial – possibly due to the short time-frame or possibly because we have everything they need in the Education Library!

The people who did use it used it repeatedly

Looking just at the number of requests, it seems like a lot of people used the service. However, it turns out that the majority of requests were repeat borrowers.  Across the entire Intraloan trial—not just in the Faculty—5 people were responsible for 20% of the requests!  In the Education Faculty 142 requests were made by 65 different people.

Most of the requests were for books outside the field of Education

Of the book requests that we received, most were for texts which were outside the area of Education.  Many were also older texts and there were even a couple of foreign-language journal articles! (Reading the titles sparked the Library Team’s imaginations, so thank you!).  It was gratifying to us that there were few books requested where we thought, “Oh, we should really have that.” In the few cases that we did, we ended up purchasing the book/ebook to be able to provide it for all Education Staff & students.

Remember that if we don’t have the book you need, do ask us if we can get it. It’s not always possible, but input and requests from staff & students are an essential part of building our collection (and we will even consider non-education purchases if they’re available as an ebook!)

Even librarians at the UL sometimes can’t find books at the UL

One of the comments we hear quite a lot is how dispiriting it can be to go to the UL because it is so hard to navigate. It was amazing then, that some of the books requested actually couldn’t be located by UL staff! You’re not alone. The UL can be a dark and twisty cave of mystery. But if you have to go, remember that even people who work there have trouble. Who said education wasn’t an adventure?

Student engagement is (still) a top priority for us!

During this trial it was just as important for us to know why someone wanted to borrow a book as to know what it was they wanted to borrow. This might seem excessive—just hand over the book, right? But the more knowledge we have about your academic needs, the more we are able to help you. For example, some students requested books not knowing that we already had copies on the shelf in the Education Library, or in ebook format. This brought to our attention some serious problems people are having searching iDiscover, and we developed new search guides to help (available on the Library Moodle Site).

This trial generated a lot of data which we are continuing to explore with the UL and in due course the FutureLib team will produce a full report. It may be that there are more trials in the future! However, for any future projects, the Education Library Team’s objective is that nothing can be implemented that will compromise the current range of services that we offer.

Our goal is to supply all that you need for your education studies and if you need help accessing materials, or understanding the tailored services we offer, text us, email, phone, or just come in for a chat.

We may not have every book (yet), but we usually have candy.

Exciting new publications written by Education Faculty academic staff!

Explore our range of new publications by academic staff at the Education Faculty.

Holliday, C., Browning Wroe, J., & Renker, B. (2016). Graphic lives: Ava. London: Speechmark Publishing.

Holliday, C., Browning Wroe, J., & Renker, B. (2016). Graphic lives: Hari. London: Speechmark Publsihing.

Holliday, C., Browning Wroe, J., & Renker, B. (2016). Graphic lives: Lexi. London: Speechmark Publsihing.

Holliday, C., Browning Wroe, J., Renker, B., & Evans, T. (2016). Graphic lives: essential support guide. London: Speechmark Publishing.

Black-Hawkins, K., Florian, L., & Rouse, M. (2017). Achievement and inclusion in schools (Second edition). London: Routledge

 

 

 

Gronn, P. (Ed.). (2016). A University’s challenge: Cambridge’s primary school for the nation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

 

 

Stylianides, A. (2016) Proof and argumentation in mathematics education research. In Gutiérrez, Á., Leder, G. C., & Boero, P. (Eds.). The second handbook of research on the psychology of mathematics education: the journey continues. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

 

 

 

Cliff Hodges, G. (2016) Reimagining Reading. In Oterholm, K., Rothbauer, P. M., Skjerdingstad, K. I., & McKechnie, L.  Plotting the reading experience: theory, practice, politics. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

 

 

 

 

Taber, K., & Akpan, B. (Eds.). (2017). Science Education: An International Course Companion. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers

 

 

 

 

To keep up to date with all new Faculty publications remember to follow our Pinterest Board: https://uk.pinterest.com/edfaclib/books-by-faculty-staff/

The magical care of books at the Education Faculty Library

The Faculty of Education Library Team perform magic in many ways, including taking care of more than 55,000 items on behalf of our readers.  If you have ever wondered how we keep our library books in such good condition read on…

To Prevent our books from damage whether it be from wear and tear or severe weather conditions, we cover all paperback books and put dust jackets on hardbacks.

Constant Vigilance is needed to keep our books in as good a condition as possible for the future. All books are checked for markings and damage when they are returned before making their way back to the shelves.

In some sad cases an Emergency Response is needed so we work a little magic to restore any damaged or defaced books back to health.

Where books are feeling a little ‘bent out of shape’ or ‘caught in the rain’ with water damage, there is always a clamp on hand to help.

We always hope that our readers will not deface our books by writing in them as we have to remove these marks by hand which is very time consuming and can in turn cause damage (sadly there is not much we can do to remove pen or highlighter!). We do get in contact with our readers when defacing happens to encourage everyone to love our books and to look after them as carefully as we do.

Remember that help for books will always be found at the Education Library for those resources that need it!

Trial service: UL books delivered to you!

The Education Faculty Library team are delighted to be involved in the new Futurelib ‘Intraloan’ project in conjunction with Cambridge University Library (UL) which will run for a trial period from Monday 6^th February to Friday 3^rd March.

Have you ever wanted to read a book held at the UL but not had the time to make your way across Cambridge to borrow it?  For a limited time only (4 weeks) you will be able to request books from the UL to be delivered to the Education Faculty Library!

Who can borrow?

• Current education students and staff members who have registered with the Education Faculty Library

What can you request?

• Any ‘borrowable’ items held at the UL – exceptions are described as ‘Not borrowable’
• Requests will not be placed for titles that are already available as ebooks*
• Please note that if we decide to purchase your request for the Education Library, we will not request it from the UL*

How do you request books ?

• Complete the request form on the Faculty Library Moodle site by 3pm the day before you need the book

When will the book be available for collection?

• Monday to Friday from 12pm the day after placing the request
• Books requested on a Friday will not be available until the following Tuesday
• Once the book is available for collection, the Education Library Team will notify you by text and/or e-mail

Where do I return UL books?

• Books can be returned to either the Education Faculty Library or the UL up until the end  of the trial on 3^rd March
• After 3^rd March, books will need to be returned directly to the UL

What happens if a book is recalled?

• UL books can be recalled at any point during the loan period. You will receive an email from Rose Giles at the UL giving you seven days notice to return the item

What about fines?

• Any books borrowed will be subject to the regulations of the University Library and unlike the Education Faculty Library, you will be fined for the late return of material (25p per day per overdue item)
• If a recalled item is not returned to the UL within the seven day notice period the fine will be double the usual rate (50p per day per overdue item)

We hope that you will find having easier access to over 2 million borrowable treasures of the UL helpful during this 4 week period. If you have any further questions about the trial please don’t hesitate to contact the Education Library Team at library@educ.cam.ac.uk

We are looking forward to working with our colleagues at the UL on this collaborative project and hope that through it we will gain further insights into the information needs of our users.

What is Futurelib?

“The Futurelib innovation programme researches the current and future roles of libraries at the University of Cambridge. The programme seeks to improve awareness and usage of Cambridge library services by employing ethnographic and user-centred design techniques to undertake detailed exploration of the current user experience of our libraries. Futurelib typically undertakes a number of simultaneous projects and draws on the time and expertise of library staff from across the institution to iteratively test and pilot new service models and concepts.”

* Policy introduced 13th February due to workload involved

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When is an ebook not an ebook?

The new iDiscover catalogue lists two different types of ebooks – those that are e-legal deposit titles which can only be accessed from computers within certain Cambridge Libraries and those titles that can be accessed from anywhere.  To distinguish between the two, follow our guide below.

The wording in grey in the image below indicates that the book can only be accessed from specific computers in certain libraries in Cambridge:

The Education Faculty Library has one of these computers on Lily Pad 2, and from here you are able to either read the material online or print up to a chapter/10%.

We realise that using e-legal deposit titles in the Education Library is not going to be possible or convenient for many of our students, especially those studying at a distance from Cambridge.

However, if you let us know what it is you would like to read, we can probably help as we often have access to the material another way, either in print or as a ‘proper’ ebook that can be accessed away from Cambridge.  If we don’t, we are happy to consider purchasing it.

Ebooks that can be accessed from anywhere look like this on the catalogue and you’ll just need your Raven password to access them via the green wording below:

Remember that all Education ebooks can be accessed via the database on the Faculty Library Moodle site and all of these are ‘proper’ ebooks which you can consult anywhere.