Introducing the new UniSkills workshop programme for Semester 1!

This series of 1-hour workshops will cover a range of essential topics such as finding the right sources for your assignment, academic writing, Harvard referencing and dissertations. Our dedicated team of skills advisors will help you to learn and develop a suite of academic skills you can draw on throughout your time at University.

The workshop programme is aimed at all students no matter what your year of study and no matter what your course – we believe there’s something in it for everyone!

New for 2017-18 we bring you “Technology for Learning” to introduce you to software applications that can assist you in your studies and “Manage your time. Be a more organised you” perfect for balancing the demands of student life and study!

Pick up your copy of the workshop guide from the library or view the full programme here.

Book your place up to 2 weeks in advance using the ‘What’s on?’ panel in the My Library tab in Learning Edge or by visiting www.ehu.ac.uk/workshops

Can’t make the date??

Access a wealth of academic support and library resources from your My Library tab in Learning Edge, including our collection of interactive online toolkits. Each toolkit acts like an online tutorial to guide you through key academic topics using a combination of videos, audio clips, animations, quizzes, practical advice and handy tips!

If you’d prefer to see us in person, you can speak to a member of the team face to face at the Ask Desk on the 1st floor of the University Library (11am-2pm weekdays). You can also contact the team through Ask Us.

——-

For further information about UniSkills academic support watch our video trailer.

We’d like to give a warm welcome to our new team of Student Advisors: David, Hannah, Rachel, Declan and Sophie.

The Student Advisors are based at the Ask Desk on the first floor of the University Library, and they are here to support you! The team provide flexible support to new and current students around the Library and wider campus (look out for the purple t-shirts!). From brief queries about printing to more in-depth support around finding resources for your assignment, the team are available at the Ask Desk Monday to Friday, 11am – 4pm.

All third year or postgraduate students, David, Hannah, Rachel, Declan and Sophie have brought with them their subject knowledge from their individual disciplines together with a wealth of experience from studying at Edge Hill themselves, using that to help all students in a variety of ways…

Come and speak to them for advice including:

• Searching the Library Catalogue and Discover More
• Using eResources for your subject
• Locating books
• Navigating Learning Edge and your My Library Tab
• Accessing UniSkills academic support
• Turnitin assistance
• General IT queries
• Printing, scanning and photocopying queries

So bring your questions to your Student Advisors at the Ask Desk or stop them on their travels around campus, it’s peer-to-peer support – they’re here to support you.

Getting to know your library…

The team will be offering student-led library tours daily until Wednesday 27^th Sept (10am-4pm). (This is by far the best way to get to know the library, hearing from the people that know it best!) If you’re more of a night-owl, why not come to one of the Twilight tours running in the evening on 3^rd and 5^th October 6-8pm?

In addition this year, the Student Advisor team will be running drop-in sessions as part of Learning Services’ wide-ranging UniSkills workshop programme.

The drop-ins will cover the basics of finding your way round Learning Edge, accessing library resources and using UniSkills academic support to enhance your study skills!

If you can’t make the times, don’t forget you can find the Student Advisor team at the Ask Desk (1^st floor, University Library) from 11am-4pm weekdays.

During the Fresher’s Fair on Wednesday 20^th September Learning Services are giving you the chance to win some prizes.

Option 1 – Guess the year!

We have delved into the University Library archive and selected 4 photographs of Edge Hill Libraries through the years – past, present, and future.  For the chance to win a £50 Amazon voucher all you need to do is guess the year you think each photo is from and the closest combined score will be the winner.

To enter:

1. Come and find us at the Fresher’s Fair 2017
2. Look at the photos displayed
3. Write the year you think the photo is from on the entry form provided and place it in the submission box

We will also be posting the same images on Twitter so feel free to play along online – just for fun though, to enter the competition you will need to come and see us at the Fresher’s Fair.

Option 2 – Follow us on Twitter

The best way to keep up to date with all that Learning Services has to offer is by following us on Twitter. To encourage you to do so we are giving away a library goody bag to one lucky person who starts following us on the 20^th September. To be entered into this prize draw just:

1. Follow @EHULearnService
2. Tweet us with the phrase ‘Count me in @EHULearnService #LibraryGoodyBag’.

We will contact the winners of both competitions on 21^st September. For further details please read our full terms and conditions.

Good Luck!

Learning Services wishes a very warm welcome to all new students joining us this year…and, of course, this welcome extends to all our lovely returning students too 👋

Over the next few weeks there is going to be a lot of information coming your way to help you settle in to University life, so we thought this handy overview may help you pick out the important bits! 🔎

The University Library will be offering 8 days of student led support as we invite you to join our current students for…

• Student Led Library Tours: a short tour around the library building, and facilities, to familiarise yourself with what will soon become your second home on campus!
• Student Led Learning Edge Support: all tours will include an overview of the essentials you will need to know when accessing resources with a virtual guided tour of Learning Edge!

Tours and Learning Edge support are available on a drop in basis (no booking required) and will run every half hour on the following days…

• Monday 18^th September            10am – 3:30pm
• Tuesday 19^th September           10am – 3:30pm
• Wednesday 20^th September     10am – 3:30pm
• Thursday 21^st September          10am – 3:30pm
• Friday 22^nd September              10am – 3:30pm
• Monday 25^th September            10am – 3:30pm
• Tuesday 26^th September           10am – 3:30pm
• Wednesday 27^th September     10am – 3:30pm

New for 2017/18 we will also be offering two evenings of Twilight Tours for all those busy bee’s unable to make it to one of our daytime events. Again, these are available on a drop in basis (no booking required) and will run every half hour on the following evenings…

• Tuesday 3^rd October        6pm – 8pm
• Thursday 5^th October       6pm – 8pm

We look forward to seeing you all in the library, and at your Learning Services Induction session, very soon!

The Lydiate Estate: The Hall, the Chapel and the Inn

Come along and discover the history of the local Lydiate estate. Recently awarded a Heritage Lottery grant, the Friends of Lydiate Abbey will be surveying the site of the Abbey, south of Ormskirk, this summer. This exhibition brings together plans, photographs and maps of the Lydiate estate including:

• The Scotch Piper- known as ‘the oldest inn in Lancashire’
• Photographs and information on the families of the Lydiate Hall
• A pictorial history of Lydiate village
• The case for Shakespeare in Lancashire- even in Lydiate?

You can also find out about how to get involved with Friends of Lydiate Abbey to help preserve our heritage.

The exhibition can be found on the ground floor of the Library from 12th June 2017 onwards.

Learning Services are always looking for innovative ways to increase engagement in staff development activities. We have a large and diverse team of staff and we are keen to ensure we provide opportunities for everyone to get involved and learn something new.

This year, we celebrated national Learning at Work Week within our department. 198 places were booked on 20 different events over the week, and 65 members of staff engaged in our online course DigiQuest in the six weeks leading up to Learning at Work Week itself.

Throughout Learning at Work week, we ran a fantastic and varied programme of events around the theme of ‘Curious and Creative‘. These included a session on Makerspaces in libraries, where staff explored technologies Raspberry Pi and Google Cardboard, a session on how to create a GIF from scratch and a session on using the more advanced features of Instagram. Staff also took part in a digital scavenger hunt using the app Actionbound, learnt how to use their phones to create a stop motion animation and discovered accessibility features on Apple devices.

 Six weeks prior to the official Learning at Work Week, we released our online course DigiQuest to Learning Services staff. The aim of this online course was to increase Learning Services’ staff confidence  and skills in using a variety of digital tools for both personal and professional use. Staff took part in a variety of digital tasks over the six weeks and those who completed the course were placed in a draw to win a prize!

The week ended with a collective break, where staff came together for a cup of tea and a biscuit, celebrated the prize winners of DigiQuest and joined in with our game to guess the merged faces of different library staff!

If so, Learning Services would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best in your future accomplishments, be that further study or starting out on your chosen career path.

We would also like to remind you that all library stock needs to be returned to us by 5pm on Thursday 15^th June*

*exceptions apply to Faculty of Education students out on placement!

Did you know that you can still access library resources after graduation?

Apply for an Alumni membership of the University Library after graduation to access our learning spaces, selected electronic resources and to borrow library stock from any of our sites.

If you have any books of your own taking up space on your bedroom floor don’t forget we are collecting for another #PassTheBook textbook giveaway in October 2017! Drop in any unwanted books at Ormskirk, Aintree or Manchester and we will ensure they go to a good home come the new term!

If you have any queries please contact us via Ask Us.

Congratulations to you all and enjoy your graduation! 🎓

Learning Services

Twitter @EHULearnService
Instagram @EHUlibrary
Facebook EHULearnService

All Edge Hill students have access to Lynda.com, a library full of useful and easy to follow video tutorials!

We have made a revision playlist which includes videos on skills such as note-taking, improving your memory, managing your time and overcoming procrastination! Take a look – www.tinyurl.com/lyndarevision

There are also tutorials on using various software such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop and SPSS. Explore your creative side with tutorials on photography, animation, video production and game design or boost your skills in delivering a presentation, proofreading or communication.

Lynda is partnered with LinkedIn, so certificates for any tutorials you complete can be published on your LinkedIn account to boost your employability!

Explore what is on offer yourself by going to Lynda.com, choosing to Sign in with your organisation, entering edgehill.ac.uk into the URL box and then entering your usual student username and password. You can also download the Lynda app free from the app store for easy access on your device.

Don’t forget, you can also find plenty of revision tips and guides on your ‘My Library’ tab in Learning Edge. As well as free water and healthy snacks at the Ask Desk 11-3 weekdays between 24th April and 12th May! For more information see our revision and study central blog.

Heather Johnston,
Staff Digital Capability Development Coordinator

Easter is finally upon us and the overindulgence can officially begin this weekend (or from today, we won’t judge 😉) but rest assure we will be offering lots of opportunities for you to overindulge in the library too!

This year 24/7 will only eggsit for a week so you will have uninterrupted access to the University Library until 9pm on Wednesday 12^th April…and 24/7 will return from 8am on Wednesday 19^th April.

In between we will be open as follows…

So why not join us this Easter to take advantage of a quieter campus and all we have to offer at the library…

• Networked PCs, loanable laptops and free eduroam Wi-Fi
• Access to over 256,000 items including books, journals and audio-visual resources
• Printing and photocopying
• Bookable individual and group study rooms
• A range of study zones – group work, quiet work and silent study
• Access to help and support *during desk hours
• 24/7 access to PCs in the LINC – available 365 days a year!

And if you cannot bear to part with your home comforts just yet, you can always visit us virtually…

• Access over 170,000 eBooks, 67,000 eJournals and a host of specialist subject resources 24/7 via our Library Catalogue and Learning Services webpages
• Contact Learning Services via our 24/7 Live Chat
• Search our knowledge base Ask Us for the answer to many FAQs including using Turnitin, Harvard Referencing and much more…
• Find support for academic writing, assignment planning, critical thinking and much more via our UniSkills offer
• Or give us a call on 01695 650800 during our desk opening hours

Happy Easter from Learning Services! 🐰