Requesting books from the General Collections in the Taylor Library

The Taylor Library has an extensive book collection covering every area of the law, from legal theory through international law to private and public law. Our unique resources on Roman Law are well known not only for our university community, but for a wider audience as well. The popularity of this part of the collection is proven by overwhelming numbers of Inter Library Loan requests from all over the UK. The main book stock consists of books, monographs, folios, and pamphlets. This post offers help with requesting books from the General Collection.

The golden rule is that if an item is available in the library, there is no need to request it! Instead, collect your book from the shelf and take it to the Issue Desk where library staff can issue it for you.

How do you know if the item is in the library?

Please, go to Primo Advanced Search, login and click on the Books+ tab. We advise you to change the default settings in the Material Type scroll down menu from Any to Books, and in the Search Scope field to Libraries. Use the search boxes of the screen to perform a search adding the title and the name of the author in the search boxes.

On the search results page, click on the Availability tab under your selected title to see the status of the book.  If you find the message ‘On Shelf’ in the Status column, it means that the book is available in the library. A date displayed indicates that the book is on loan. (See image below)
Do not forget that you only have to request a book if it is on loan.

How can you request a book if it is on loan?

In the Availability tab, check the Request Options column and click on the Request link next to the date. Simply follow the onscreen instruction to put a hold request on the title.

What happens when you request a book which is available in Taylor Library?

If you put a request on the book which is here in the library, our Library Management System would treat your action as an item request in another library, e.g. in the Medical Library. Please, only do this if you really want to collect your book there.

If you need further help or clarification, please contact us.

Taylor Library Team
lawlib@abdn.ac.uk

 

 

IT Service Desk in the Sir Duncan Rice Library from Monday 3 September

© CollegeDegrees360. Licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

IT Services is relocating the IT Service Desk Walk-in Service to the Sir Duncan Rice Library from Monday 3 September 2018. This means that the current walk-in location in the Edward Wright Building will be permanently closed to visitors after Friday 31 August.

In the Sir Duncan Rice Library, the IT Service Desk will be placed alongside the Library Information Desk, and it will provide the users help in person with IT related queries. The Desk is open from Monday to Friday, between 9 am and 5 pm.

IT Services will continue to handle email and phone inquiries as usual, and the Foresterhill Service Desk remains open in room 1:122 of the Polwarth Building. You can also log an IT query any time through MyIT portal.

If you need more information, please contact IT Services.

Taylor Library Team
lawlib@abdn.ac.uk

Accessing your personal filespace (H:) remotely

When using a classroom PC you can save files to the H: drive, which is your personal and secure filespace in the university network. Documents and files saved there can be retrieved from any PC on campus. But what happens when you work from home and need to access a file that is saved on your H: drive?

The VPN (Virtual Private Network) provides remote access through your own computer to your filespace on the university server when you are at home, or use your laptop at a wireless spot, on campus or in the halls.

To remotely access a file saved on your H: drive, open your web browser and login to the VPN with your University of Aberdeen username and password.
https://remote.abdn.ac.uk

The first time you login on your personal computer you must install the Aventail Access Manager. This is a one-time process that will set you up with the components for accessing the network and keeping up to date. Just follow the onscreen instructions or read our user guidelines.

To access shared network space, email your request to sevicedesk@abdn.ac.uk, with the subject ‘Remote VPN: request access to shared filespace’.

Note: Access to your H: drive through VPN is recommended when you need to retrieve files remotely. For more advanced actions such as remotely saving new documents to your H: drive, accessing Library databases and using MS Office and other programmes off-campus use the university’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). For more information on the VDI see our tip ‘Essential route to accessing some legal databases off campus. The Virtual Desktop Infrastructure‘.

Any questions, come and speak to us!

 

New Tip of the Day Service

We are delighted to introduce a new service to help you make the most of the resources and services at Taylor Library. The ‘Tip of the Day’ service will be launched before the start of the next exam period.

From the middle of April, we will deliver useful tips to you regarding:

• Library services
• Legal databases
• Other online resources (e-books, e-journals)
• Official publications
• Technical support
• And much, much more…

We hope you will find this daily service advantageous for your study and research.

 

Taylor Library& EDC Team
lawlib@abdn.ac.uk

HeinOnline office closed for Thanksgiving

The Hein Company will be closed November 27 & 28 in observance of Thanksgiving. HeinOnline phone and Live Chat support will be unavailable, but email will be monitored. The office will re-open on Monday, December 1, 2014.

Elaine Shallcross
Information Consultant (Schools of Law and Business)
e.shallcross@abdn.ac.uk

HeinOnline: help and support

Did you know that HeinOnline has a very useful Help & Support web page?

There are links to:

• Training Guides
• Videos and Webinars
• Library [collection] specific support
• FAQs

Their latest video shows you how to a print PDF file. They plan to add at least two new videos every month, and each one will be between two and four minutes in length.

If you need more help with using HeinOnline why don’t you take a look?

Elaine Shallcross
e.shallcross@abdn.ac.uk

Law essays and dissertations: citing resources with OSCOLA

The Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA) is a system of legal citation that has been adopted by most law schools in the United Kingdom, including the University of Aberdeen’s School of Law.

If you are unsure about how to cite primary sources or struggle referencing electronic vs paper journals, there are several guides available online to help you:

• OSCOLA (4th edn., Hart, 2012). A comprehensive guide to citing authorities, legislation, and other legal materials. A hard copy of the manual can be found in the reference section at the Taylor Library issue desk.
• OSCOLA 2006: Citing International Law. OSCOLA (4th edn.) does not cover International Law.
• Library’s Quick Guide to OSCOLA. Contains examples of some of the most commonly cited legal sources.

If you prefer to use software to generate citations you may want to investigate EndNote or Citavi reference management packages that can support the OSCOLA referencing style. Please note that OSCOLA is not supported by RefWorks.

And remember, you can always email Elaine Shallcross or Nicola Will if you have a question or come and see us at the Taylor Library in person!

 

  Eleni Borompoka
  Senior Information Assistant
  Taylor Library and EDC
  eleni.boro@abdn.ac.uk

 

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/about/taylor

 

 

 

Westlaw UK offers interactive training videos

Westlaw UK has produced a range of interactive learning and training videos designed to help you get the most out of the database and learn about it in your own time.

Students – look out for ‘Westlaw UK Certification Training Modules’ which you can take to ‘power user’ level. An excellent addition to your CV. Sign up at the Law Student website.

Elaine Shallcross
e.shallcross@abdn.ac.uk

 

Welcome to Legal Information Update

Welcome to Legal Information Update from Library, Special Collections and Museums at the University of Aberdeen.

We hope that you find this blog a useful way of keeping up to date with legal information news from LSC&M’s Taylor Law Library and EDC. Here you’ll find updates on legal databases, information skills workshops, help and support and much more!

This blog is just one of the ways we can tell you what we have to offer and give you an opportunity to feed back your thoughts.