Nature is an incredible resource for maintaining our mental health. Simply being outside and experiencing green spaces has proven beneficial to us. Health Awareness Week 2021 is all about the potent value of nature on our minds. Spending time in nature and connecting with the natural world is a free and positive way to help us live happier lives.
Numerous studies on the subject make connections between experiencing nature and improvements to our psychological health, such as the study Understanding Nature and Its Cognitive Benefits by Kathryn E. Schertz and Marc G. Berman . Being in nature can even help you study. Researchers found that taking micro breaks to view a meadow green rooftop improved student’s attention rates. Read more about it here.
Looking for ideas of what to do and where to visit? The Scottish wildlife trust has many options:
On your own and would like to not only connect with nature but people? There is an Edinburgh meetup group you can join here:
For a detailed guide on how to use nature to thrive, you can read this free PDF from Mentalhealth.org and if you need any help or support, you can find it here.
As staff return to campus and libraries are once more staffed daily, it is going to be possible to provide more face-to-face assistance.
However, throughout lockdown library staff have continued to work behind the scenes. Either from home or on campus, to assist staff and students, keeping many of our essential services running.
This Organisational system was conceived by Melvil Dewey in 1873 and first published in 1876. It is one of the most widely used in the world.
Use
The DDC as it is shortened to, is used to organise books by subject. Each item is given a shelf mark identifier so it can be located easily. The main subject areas are:
000 Computer science, information, and general work
100 Philosophy and psychology
200 Religion
300 Social sciences
400 Language
500 Science
600 Technology
700 Art and recreation
800 Literature
900 History and geography
The first 3 digits are the main subject area. The numbers after the point give a subsection. After the numbers there are 3 letters to represent the author or editor. For example 941.34 DAI This refers to a book on Edinburgh by David Daiches. Books with the same DDC number are shelved first by their number, then in alphabetic order by author or Editor.
If you want a very fun (and most definitely silly) video on how to find a book, this YouTube video is perfect:
Due to the Pandemic, both new and current students have had to learn to work in exceptional ways. Remote studying from their homes or student halls.
Students have had to face many social challenges, including being unable to experience the usual thriving campus environment. This has resulted in students reporting that they feel a loss of belonging to a campus community.
To help combat this here are some helpful ways to feel more connected
University societies may be holding online events to enrich your interests and build connections. You can find more information about Edinburgh Napier’s societies by clicking here.
Socialising apps are a great way for freshers to talk with new people
Why not email your professors or lecturers to find out about networking events and professional contacts- they may even need a hand with a project or two!
If you are missing your fitness classes at the gym, or evenings at the cinema… you could join a zoom class or even host a movie night from the sofa of your home!
At the Library we are always trying to find new ways to improve. To make our resources both more accessible and more relevant to our users. The best way to do this is of course feedback!
You can give us feedback in a variety of different ways, from filling out a feedback slip in the library to tweeting us on Twitter.
We take your feedback very seriously and always try to learn from it. It is one of the many reasons we have been accredited with a CSE Award for Customer Service Excellence.
So if you ever have anything you’d like to say, or ideas on how we can improve, please contact us through any of the following ways:
Stress awareness month is here and as our work, study and life balances are interrupted due to the pandemic, we yearn for a breathing space or some creative vitality in our lives. Here are some tips below on how to get more creative!
Knitting or Sewing
Knitting doesn’t just have to consist of socks and scarves. The repetition of stitches can be a way of calming the mind from the everyday stresses of the pandemic. You could add new embroidered designs to your garments or repair any odd holes or two! This fantastic Box of Broadcasts documentary tells you about the history of knitting and how it has become the people’s craft in Britain
Want to learn how to knit? You can access the online eBook Knitting for Dummies through Librarysearch.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Scrapbooking
Did you know Scrapbooking first began in the United Kingdom during the 19th Century? All you need is a plain paged scrapbook, journal or book to keep your memories alive! You can add photographs, fabrics, objects, quotes, colours, and materials that you have collected or bring you a sense of comfort. You can find more about the psychological benefits on scrapbooking in the book Creative Nostalgia: Social and Psychological Benefits of Scrapbooking, available through Librarysearch.
Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash
Blogging
Blogging provides a platform for self-expression and to communicate information with others online. Wix and WordPress are free blogging sites where you can begin to share your thoughts, passions, and ideas to a worldwide audience.
Our annual Easter Egg Hunt is back and this time we have gone virtual! There are some fantastic prizes to be won so why not have a go! You can enter the competition through our Social media accounts on either Instagram or Twitter
To play: find and click on the Easter Eggs in this picture, which will lead you to Easter themed questions. Use LibrarySearch to find all 6 answers. Send them by DM to us on Instagram or Twitter to be in with a chance to win Amazon vouchers: 1st place £30, 2nd place £25 and 3rd place £10 Good luck!
Daylight saving time or British Summer Time (BST) will begin at 01:00 on Sunday 28th March so don’t forget to put your clocks forward! If you would like to know more about the history and reasons for daylight saving time you can find out more here, and there’s more information about the history of the UK time zone here.
Got some “time” to read?…Here’s some time related books in our collection:
Craiglockhart War Hospital March 1917 Image courtesy of Edinburgh Napier University
The month of March includes two important dates in the calendar for the War Poets Collection at Craiglockhart Campus, as we mark the birthday’s of the celebrated poet Wilfred Owen (born 18th March 1893) and the eminent psychiatrist and anthropologist, Dr William Rivers (born 12th March 1864)
At our Craiglockhart campus, the original building was used as a military hospital during the First World War. The hospital treated around 1801 officers, suffering mostly from neurasthenia , or war neurosis, between 1916-1919. Neurasthenia was more commonly known at the time as shell shock.
Craiglockhart old frontage
Those of you who studied English literature at school may be familiar with Wilfred Owen, the WW1 soldier-poet, as his works are taught not only in the UK but in many other countries around the world. 2nd Lt. Owen was to become one of the leading poets of the First World War. He was treated at Craiglockhart War Hospital for shell shock during the summer months of 1917. Wilfred was in the care of Dr (Capt.) Arthur Brock, who treated his patients using ergo-therapy, or the “work cure”. More than a century later, the University’s Occupational Therapy students provide us with a contemporary link to Dr Brock’s work.
Wilfred Owen Bust. Sculpture by Anthony Padgett.
Many of Wilfred Owen’s poems, such as Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce et Decorum Est were drafted or composed whilst he was a patient and he edited six issues of the hospital magazine, The Hydra. Wilfred Owen recovered his health and returned to the Front but was killed on active service on the 4th November 1918, just one week before the Armistice was declared.
The recently discovered missing copies of The Hydra magazine.
One of the most recognised names in English anthropology and psychiatry is that of Doctor William H R Rivers, born in Chatham, Kent on 12th March 1864. William Rivers qualified as a doctor from the University of London and St Bartholomew’s Hospital at the tender age of twenty-two, the youngest graduate until recent times. You may recognise the hospital, as the Duke of Edinburgh was treated there for a heart problem recently. Rivers lectured at the University of Cambridge and was a polymath, being involved in the fields of ethnography, anthropology, medicine and psychiatry.
Dr Rivers joined the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War and was appointed Senior Psychiatrist at Craiglockhart War Hospital. Dr (Capt.) Rivers was an extremely popular member of the medical team at the hospital, using dream analysis and the talking cures to help his patients. He is best known in literary circles as being the doctor who treated the poet Siegfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart. Dr Rivers returned to academia after the war but died in June 1922.
You can find out more about both these men in the War Poets Collection at Craiglockhart (University Covid-19 restrictions apply at the moment) or visit our website at www.napier.ac.uk/warpoets
