The Chatsworth Library Project

As a result of a successful bid for a Collaborative R&D and Partnership Award, Dr Jack Rhoden from the School of History (and one of the Library’s porters!) was employed to devise and manage the Chatsworth Library Project, part of which entails researching and cataloguing a representative portion of the 30,000 rare books. As the Rare Books Librarian, I have been engaged to help and advise Jack on this initial task and to review the challenges presented in bringing the Devonshire Collection catalogue up to current international standards, and ensure that any future research projects are cognisant of cataloguing issues.

I go to Chatsworth one day a month up until the end of May, by which time, Jack and I will have produced basic rare book catalogue entries for up to 400 hitherto unrecorded items from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries; and created enhanced records of a cross-discipline selection of items from the main Chatsworth library.

On my first day at the end of November 2012, James Towe, the Chatsworth archivist, and Jack, showed me round the libraries including the stunning library that you can see in Jack’s monthly blog and where the public is not allowed to enter. It was such a privilege to browse the shelves of this truly stunning private library and to see the great treasures among it.

This six month project is a huge task for Jack, but I hope the discoveries we make will enable a great future partnership in research between our academics from all departments and faculties, and Chatsworth.

by Guest Blogger - Amanda Bernstein, Rare Books Librarian

Special Collections news

Material from the Barry Hines archive forms part of a temporary exhibition at Hoyland Library, in support of the "Made in Hoyland" project which runs from 11th to 28th March 2013. Barry Hines is the author of "A Kestrel for a Knave", which was made into the film "Kes" directed by Ken Loach. The archive - which includes many of Barry's novels and scripts - was donated to the University of Sheffield in 2008.

Library Information Skills Resource

The Information Skills Resource (ISR) is an online and interactive resource which we've developed to help you gain in-depth information skills. Aimed at both undergraduate and postgraduate students, the ISR caters for a variety of learning styles and can be accessed 24/7 from the Library homepage, the Library tab in MUSE, and the Study Resources section in MOLE2.

The ISR has around two hundred tutorials and is being continually developed with new material added all the time. You might want to look at the Information Skills Tutorials, the Tutorials by Department or the Researchers tabs to get started.

Information literacy is an essential skill - not just for your academic studies, but for your personal use of information and your future working life. It's also one of the key attributes of the Sheffield Graduate, so why not give yourself a head start by using the Information Skills Resource?

New Zetoc journal coverage search

Zetoc makes it easy for you to track articles related to your research interests using personalised Zetoc Alerts or RSS feeds. Zetoc are now offering a journal coverage search via a search box on the Zetoc home page, which means you can quickly check if the journal you're interested in is included in Zetoc.

Follow the Zetoc team on Twitter (@ZetocTeam) for the latest service news.

StarPlus - Wednesday 13 February

StarPlus is currently unavailable as an essential upgrade is carried out. Classic Star and COPAC are available with full functionality.

The Library is making every effort to ensure that disruption to services is kept to a minimum.

Trial access to Nineteenth Century Collections Online

We have a trial to the Nineteenth Century Collections Online database.
The four archives currently available on NCCO are:

• Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange
• British Politics and Society
• British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture
• European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection

The trial is available until 31 March and we would like your comments and feedback on this resource.

Scheduled maintenance of StarPlus

StarPlus will be unavailable for periods during Wednesday 13 February and Tuesday 26 February as an essential upgrade to services offered within StarPlus is carried out. 

During periods of downtime Classic Star and COPAC will be available with full functionality.

The Library is making every effort to ensure that disruption to services is kept to a minimum.