Now showing items 1-20 of 23

    • The 2021 Campus Dig

      George, Sarah; Jennings, Benjamin R. (2023-12)
    • Engaging with Psychology Students to Find New Ways of Improving Behaviour in Libraries

      Dawson, Louise; Phelan, Louise (2023)
      In the period following the pandemic, we observed that poor student behaviour was increasingly becoming a problem in our library. We decided to take a novel approach to try and discover new ways of encouraging positive use of the university library using existing resources and ensuring the inclusion of student voices to gather rich critically evaluated feedback to inform our service improvements.
    • Alternative formats: Impact on student learning

      George, Sarah; Coussement, Katherine (2018-12-14)
      The national ebook audit highlighted the fact that many students who are print-impaired are also unable to use off-the-peg ebooks, so must rely on specific requests for texts in formats accessible to their particular needs (alternative formats or alt-formats) . We set out to investigate the scale of this issue and its effect on student learning.
    • Working Hard or Hardly Working: Use of Collaborative Working Space at the University of Bradford Library

      Field, Josie; George, Sarah; Khan, Reshma (2019-07)
      This book chapter reports on an observational study of working and non-working behaviour in the JB Priestley Library, University of Bradford.
    • Demonstrating the impact of your teaching: benefits of Higher Education Academy Fellowship for librarians

      George, Sarah; Rowland, Jennifer (20/09/2019)
      This paper suggests that health librarians who teach or support Higher Education (HE) students can and should gain accreditation and recognition for their teaching by the route of HEA Fellowship. We outline the process by which Fellowship could be attained by those working within HE and those in NHS libraries who work with HE students, suggesting which aspects of librarianship practice could provide the necessary evidence for Fellowship. The synergies between Fellowship and Chartership are examined and the criteria for HEA (UK Professional Standards Framework or UKPSF) are mapped against those for Chartership (Professional Knowledge and Skills Base or PKSB)
    • Acquisitions done innovatively: streamlining workflows within the Acquisitions department

      Husain, Amjad (2017)
      In the last 10 years the University of Bradford Library Acquisitions Department has shrunk from 13 members of staff to 5. This has led to us embracing new technology to help streamline workflows within the department. As well as utilising EDI functionality, changing processing workflows and using shelf-ready books, we have devised innovative ways of dealing with everyday tasks. Topics included cover: PDA deduplication; spine labelling on a large scale; the weeding of discarded books; using saved global updates on incoming MARC records and using load profiles innovatively.
    • Referencing: student choice or student voice?

      George, Sarah; Rowland, Jennifer (21/07/2017)
      Lillis (2001: 53) calls referencing an ‘institutional practice of mystery’, a frequent cause of student anxiety and complaint. It is an area in which a vast perceptional gulf exists between academics and students, one in which academic support staff can see both sides. Students, not wanting to look ‘stupid’ in front of academic staff, will often express their concerns only to librarians and other support staff, so academics do not see the full range of anxieties. This paper reflects on this problem and reports on a successful project to alleviate student fears by decreasing the number of official referencing styles at the University of Bradford.
    • Alive and Kicking! J.B. Priestley and the University of Bradford

      Cullingford, Alison (2016-10)
      This article explores the connections between Bradford-born author J.B. Priestley and the University of Bradford, using evidence from archives held in Special Collections at the University. The discussion includes the award of an honorary doctorate to Priestley in 1970 and the opening of the J.B. Priestley Library in 1975.
    • Making students eat their greens: information skills for chemistry students

      George, Sarah; Munshi, T. (19/12/2016)
      Employers are increasingly requiring a range of “soft” skills from chemistry graduates, including the ability to search for and critically evaluate information. This paper discusses the issues around encouraging chemistry students to engage with information skills and suggests curricular changes which may help to “drip-feed” information skills into degree programmes.
    • Wonders of Worstedopolis

      Cullingford, Alison (2016)
      Paper given at a rare books seminar in Sweden, reflecting on the stories behind the Special Collections at the University of Bradford and the challenges rare books librarians face in making such collections more accessible.
    • Accessibility for all: engaging library staff in auditing electronic resources

      George, Sarah; Coussement, Katherine (03/05/2016)
      Since the introduction of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001), academic libraries have been obliged to provide accessible texts for users who find printed works a barrier. Print-impairment can occur for a range of reasons including visual impairment, specific learning difficulties and motor difficulties, and affects 10-15% of the European population (Hilderley 2013). For many students, reasonable adjustment has involved the provision of texts in alternative formats (alt-texts) on a case-by-case basis for individual students. ... In 2013, the University of Bradford library employed a graduate intern to conduct a pilot audit of the accessibility of online resources ... In the summer of 2014, a revised and expanded audit was undertaken by frontline library staff.
    • On their own turf: taking the library into the field.

      George, Sarah (17/06/2015)
      Archaeology and environment students may be reluctant to spend time in the library when they could be digging holes and wading through streams – but what happens when the librarian goes out into the field with them?
    • Auditing the accessibility of electronic resources.

      George, Sarah; Clement, Ellie; Hudson, Grace
      This paper describes a project undertaken by the University of Bradford library to assess systematically the accessibility of our electronic resources, and gives recommendations for others wishing to do the same with their collections. Since the 2001 Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA), academic libraries in the UK have had a legal duty to provide all students with information in a form accessible to them, an obligation strengthened by the 2010 Equality Act (c. 15) to include all kinds of impairments, not just visual. The change in information sources from print to electronic has raised further challenges to providing access to information for all library users. Electronic resources have the potential to address many of the accessibility needs of our readers, but concerns have been growing in the higher education sector that the way in which e-resources are delivered can make them less accessible.
    • Auditing the accessibility of electronic resources.

      George, Sarah; Clement, Ellie; Hudson, Grace; Asif, M.
      Since the UK’s 2001 Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA, 2001), academic libraries have had a legal duty to provide all students with information in a form accessible to them, an obligation strengthened by the 2010 Equality Act (c15). Crucially, the latter duty covered readers with all kinds of impairments, not just visual impairment, and thus covers a huge range of needs for an enormous number of individuals. Libraries have put a huge amount of time and effort into providing documents in accessible format (alt-format) but obviously it is preferable for both libraries and readers if the documents are accessible as supplied from the publisher. Electronic resources have the potential to address many of the accessibility needs of our readers, but concerns have been growing in the HE sector (see, for instance, JISCTechdis, 2013) that the way in which e-resources are delivered actually renders them, in some cases, less accessible. This paper describes a project undertaken by the University of Bradford library to systematically assess the accessibility of our electronic resources, and gives recommendations for others wishing to do the same.
    • Library outreach to schools and colleges at the University of Bradford. Teaching students, networking with librarians.

      Rowland, Jennifer (2015)
      Bradford, like most British universities, carries out many school and college outreach events to accustom students to the idea of coming to university and to introduce them to the resources available here. Bradford’s student body includes many first generation students.
    • Placing the library at the heart of plagiarism prevention: The University of Bradford experience.

      George, Sarah; Costigan, Anne T.; O'Hara, Maria (2013)
      Plagiarism is a vexed issue for Higher Education, affecting student transition, retention and attainment. This paper reports on two initiatives from the University of Bradford library aimed at reducing student plagiarism. The first initiative is an intensive course for students who have contravened plagiarism regulations. The second course introduces new students to the concepts surrounding plagiarism with the aim to prevent plagiarism breaches. Since the Plagiarism Avoidance for New Students course was introduced there has been a significant drop in students referred to the disciplinary programme. This paper discusses the background to both courses and the challenges of implementation.
    • Library language: words and their definitions. A glossary of frequently used words to help international students at the University of Bradford.

      Carver, Kirsty; Introwicz, Maria; Mottram, Susan; North, Sophie (2012)
      This article explains how the library developed a glossary of words to help the international students use the library. It is called Library language: words and definitions.
    • Plagiarism Avoidance for New Students: Smoothing the transition into Higher Education.

      Costigan, Anne T.; George, Sarah (2012)
      Plagiarism and referencing are areas in which the transition into Higher Education can be a particularly severe leap. University expectations regarding referencing are often wildly different from those previously encountered, not just for international students but for UK school leavers and mature students (Hardy and Clughen 2012). These expectations are often implicit rather than clearly expressed, hidden in little-read departmental handbooks or pre-enrolment information at a time when the student is more concerned with immediate issues of where they will live and whether they will make any friends. Lillis (2001 p14) calls referencing ¿an ideologically inscribed institutional practice of mystery¿. This paper reports on an initiative from the University of Bradford library which attempts to smooth the transition into HE by introducing students to ideas of referencing and plagiarism in a timely and non-threatening manner.