We hope all returning students have had a great summer and are looking forward to the new semester.

While you were gone – quite a lot has happened! A quick summary of the main things to look out for follows…

Learning Commons (Edinburgh campus)

The library has expanded – into the Learning Commons in Hugh Nisbet Building.  This fantastic new study facility gives over 200 additional study spaces, and supplements the Cameron Smail Library.

State-of-the-art study and learning spaces with particular focus on group and collaborative study, 3 bookable rooms, central location and staffed service desk during core hours.

The official opening was last week – see Learning Commons official opening

The Learning Commons is located next to the Elements catering outlet.

Discovery

The library Discovery service has been updated and improved – if you’ve been searching for resources during the summer you’ll have encountered the new interface already.

See the post on Using Discovery  or jump right in from Find Resources

Vision update

The Blackboard software upgrade in late June gave us accessibility and security updates as well as bug fixes. The functionality of the system remains the same but the user interface has been given a cleaner, more modern look.  You’ll notice this the next time you use Vision.

Academic Support and Liaison Librarians

Your  Academic Support and Liaison Librarian for 2016/17 will be: –

• EGIS: Rachel Whittington
• EPS & Orkney campus: Kirsty Thomson
• MACS/distributed SLS programmes: Marion Kennedy
• SML & EBS: Catherine Ure
• TEX: Jamie McIntyre (SBC)

Sarah Kelly (Academic Support and Liaison Librarian) is on maternity leave.

Library and Learning Commons opening times (Edinburgh campus)

• Cameron Smail Library: opens 8:30 am on 12th September and is then open 24/7 until the end of exams in December
• Learning Commons: open 06:00 am – 12:00 midnight

Staffed services

These have been extended from last academic year and are: –

Library Service Desk

• Monday – Friday: 8:30 am – 8:30 pm
• Saturday & Sunday 9:45 am – 8:15 pm

Learning Commons Service Desk

• Monday – Friday 11:00 am – 4:00 pm

IT Helpdesk

• Monday – Friday: Telephone and email support from 8:30 am – 6:00 pm

Power Hours

We’ve reviewed and updated the Power Hour programme to include details of workshops being offered across all campuses. See Power Hours for info.

Network upgrades

As part of a major project to improve the design, performance and resilience of the University data network, we have been carrying out upgrade work during the summer.  There’s nothing you can look at for this – but our data network is in much better shape than it’s ever been!

Teaching room refurbishments (Edinburgh campus)

• 22 rooms having either PC or AV equipment renewed
• New Teaching Room in Edwin Chadwick EC207 (with 1 Teacher/8 Student PCs)

So welcome back – we hope you have a successful and enjoyable semester.