Library Orientation Programme: Getting started - Session 1

Instructions

Complete each tutorial and activity as directed. 

Reading Lists

Your tutors and lecturers will recommend what scientific and academic books and journal articles you should read to help you understand what is being discussed in lectures, seminars and tutorials. As an independent learner it is up to you find and read them.

You may have a reading list on your Blackboard module or in the online Reading lists system or occasionally you may be given a list of items as a Word document.

The readings on a list are often differentiated between additional, suggested and recommended or essential reading. Sometimes, these terms may be used interchangeably, which may be confusing:

• Essential reading refers to everything that you must read as part of your course. This is the most basic requirement of reading.
• Additional, recommended or suggested reading refers to material that may go beyond this. It is reading that will be helpful to place in context the core issues and ideas relating to your course. This will help you to understand more and to secure better marks in assessment.

Reading lists are created by experienced teaching staff and designed to direct you to useful, relevant and necessary information. As such, reading lists are important in enabling you to develop a critical understanding of the course and to succeed in your assessments.

During lectures and seminars your lecturers and tutors often talk about important research and findings of other scientists and include a reference in their slides or lecture notes. You can use the reference to find the book, book chapter or journal article after the session to read more about a particular topic. You will also find a list of references at the end of a journal article, book chapter or book and these can lead you to useful additional information on a subject.

Now do this short activity which will explain how to pick out the key information from reading lists and reference lists which you will need to find the the books or journal articles in the library.

Understanding your reading lists​

Allow approximately 8 minutes to complete this learning activity.

By the end of this activity you should be able to:

• identify the different pieces of information that make up a reference for a book,  journal article or book chapter
• use tools and approaches to find resources from a reading list, a reference included in a lecture or in a reference list.

If you have ever used a public library, school or college library you may have used the catalogue to check that the library has a book or other item that you want. If the book or other item is an actual printed physical thing then the catalogue will include a code which determines which shelf the book will be store on. If the book or other item is digital then there will be a url or link to where it is stored online.

The catalogue in our library is called Library Search and the videos in the box below demonstrate how to use it.

Sign into Library Search. This will allow you to search for library resources and more.

To search for resources,

1. Start by entering your terms in the Search Bar. The video below will demonstrate how to conduct basic searches to find the book or ebook you need and your reading list.

For Word document transcript click here.

2. You can also search journal articles as demonstrated in the video below.

For Word document transcript click here.

3. View the search results and select the item by using the hyperlink.

4. If you need help and want to use the Chat service, select the top blue round icon located on the lower right side of the screen. If you want to choose more databases, select the lower blue icon on right side of the screen.

5. If you would like to check your Account, please watch this short video that will cover all basic functionality of the system.

For Word document transcript click here.

6. If you would like to request a book, journal article, digitisation or an item for a specific accessibility need -  this could be something we have or need to request from another library, please watch this video on how to tell the library what you would like and in what format. This is a free service to staff and students. 

For Word document transcript click here.

Now practice using the library search to find information with this short quiz

link to Reading list quiz (use your University login to sign-in)

The National Oceanographic Library uses an in-house classification scheme

If you need assistance finding materials please speak to library staff at the Help Desk at the National Oceanographic Library who will be pleased to help you.

The floor plan of the National Oceanographic Library shows the layout of the collections across the floors of the library.

These guides explain how to find and locate books, printed journals, reports and Loose Papers at NOL.

This Assignment Planner is a step-by-step guide to help you plan, organise and find the resources you need to complete individual assignments. Take some time to familarise yourself with the planner and think about using it to help you plan and compete an assignment that you will be doing this year.

• Assignment planner

Now go to the Literature Databases section