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Edinburgh Napier University

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Luciadagen (Santa Lucia Day) candle wreath for blog post

Luciadagen (Santa Lucia Day)

13/12/2023 / / 0 Comments

Luciadagen (Santa Lucia Day)

History

On 13th December Scandinavians commemorate Luciadagen the so-called “Festival of Lights” celebrating Santa Lucia. This stems from the fourth-century martyrdom of the Italian Saint Lucia and is an important winter celebration in Scandinavian countries. In earlier centuries the Norse celebrated the winter solstice, but after converting to Christianity sometime around 1000 AD, they incorporated the legend of Santa Lucia into their celebrations. Having long, dark winters with areas above the Arctic Circle not seeing the sun for up to 2 months, may have influenced them to commemorate a saint associated with light. The modern festival combines elements of both pagan and Christian traditions.

It is believed that Lucia took food and water to Christians hiding in the catacombs of Rome to avoid persecution from the Romans who worshipped pagan gods. Being underground the catacombs were dark. Unable to carry the supplies and a lantern, legend has it that Lucia designed a version of a headlamp, wearing a wreath of candles on her head to light her way. She was killed by in 304 AD after refusing to give up her vow of chastity and marry a pagan.

Celebrations Today

Nowadays on December 13th towns in Scandinavia mark the day with a procession of children, dressed in white tunics with lit candle wreaths on their heads to symbolise Lucia’s headlamp. Younger children tend to wear imitation candles or tinsel. As the procession progresses, the song Santa Lucia is sung along with traditional songs. The procession will be led by a girl who has been chosen to be the town’s Santa Lucia. The festival is meant to bring hope and light at the darkest time of the year. At home, families observe the festival by having one of their daughters (usually the eldest) dress in white and serve lussekattar (saffron bread) and coffee to symbolize Lucia bringing food and water to those in hiding.

With strong Nordic connections, it’s not surprising that Orkney has adopted the tradition, incorporating a Santa Lucia or St. Lucy (the English version) procession into the Kirkwall  Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

We wish all our Scandinavian staff and students a happy Luciadagen and you can use Library Search to learn more about traditions, festivals and saints.

Let’s not forget our Italian staff and students because although the modern-day celebration of Santa Lucia is generally associated with Scandinavian countries. It is also observed in some parts of Italy, Lucia’s homeland. The feast is a Catholic celebrated holiday with roots that can be traced back to Sicily. St. Lucia is the patron saint of the Sicilian city of Syracuse.

Learn more about this using librarysearch.napier.ac.uk

Read more about Christmas traditions on out blog with the article: Spanish New Year

By Vivienne Hamilton

Photo by Photo by Dimitri Karastelev on Unsplash

International Games Month is back header

International Games Month is back

26/11/2023 / / 0 Comments

International Games Month is back!

It’s that time of year again when, between Halloween and the anticipation of Christmas, libraries all over the world celebrate International Games Month!

This initiative, which arrived in the UK from the other side of the Atlantic, more than ten years ago, has been celebrated among public, academic, health, school, and specialist libraries.

Today libraries are using games to engage, entertain and educate their users across sectors. So we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to promote games, play, libraries and learning altogether.

To do that, we have brought back some of the most popular initiatives to engage you. Furthermore, there is a chance to win some Amazon vouchers, whether you want to participate on a paper version or are a distance learner.

You’ll find links to all our activities (and Terms & Conditions for the games) here: https://libcal.napier.ac.uk/

Win an Amazon voucher! 

As in previous years, we’re giving students multiple opportunities to win an Amazon voucher!

Play online, send your completed puzzle/quiz from your university email address to library@napier.ac.uk with the subject line ‘International Games Month’. Correct entries will be entered into the draw to win a voucher.

Complete the Logie the Lion Jigsaw  

Library Words Word Search 

Again, we encourage you to give a go to the 2023 edition of our Plot Keywords Quiz! Use the keywords provided to work out the title of the book which has been made into a film!  Click on the link https://libcal.napier.ac.uk/ to access the quiz sheet.

Paper copies of the Word Search and our Plot Keywords Quiz are available at each campus library if you prefer to hand in a paper copy.

Additional Games for you to play for fun! 

A great way to brain-train yourself and get a break after studying and focusing on assignments is to take your mind off the books and enjoy our additional games to play. You will find them with the rest of the resources.

Reading List

And finally, if you want to find more useful resources on the importance of gaming, video games and effective fun learning, please check our updated Reading List.

Feedback 

We’d love to have your feedback on our International Games Month events.  Complete the feedback form with short questions to help us out!

By Emi Pastor

Lego figure with moustache

Movember: Supporting Men’s Health

06/11/2023 / / 0 Comments

Movember: Supporting Men’s Health

Calling all our Mo Bros! It’s that time of year again. We want you to embrace your facial hair and grow a moustache for a month. Movember is the global phenomenon that has put men’s health firmly on the agenda and hair firmly on their faces.

History

It’s a movement that started 20 years ago in Australia when two mates met up for a beer and joked about reviving the out-of-fashion moustache. Why not combine their challenge with raising money for charity, they asked themselves. And why not make it a men’s health charity? After all, men are notoriously reticent in talking about their health – mental or physical.

The movement was born, and since then campaigns across the world have been fund-raised for prostate and testicular cancer research and treatment, poor mental health and physical inactivity. Perhaps more importantly, it has created a fundamental shift in the way we talk about men’s health and asks the questions that were previously unuttered. Why, for example, do Black men have twice the risk of prostate cancer diagnosis than other men? Why are first responders (emergency service workers and military veterans) at increased risk of poor mental health and suicide? Why do men find it more difficult than women to make social connections and how have the COVID-19 lockdowns affected that?

Get Involved this Movember in Supporting Men’s Health

There are all sorts of ways you can support Movember. You can grow a moustache, of course, but you can also host a mo-ment – an event that raises awareness. You can fundraise at work or among classmates and friends. Or maybe you’d like to buy some Mo merch.

However you do it, we’re sure you’ll mo your own way.

See here for details on this year’s happenings:

Movember – Changing the face of men’s health – Movember

By Lesley McRobb

Image Source: Photo by Alan Hardman on Unsplash

Read more articles on Mental Health such as World Mental Health Day.

Header image for Preserving the Past: My Journey Volunteering with the University Heritage Collections

Preserving the Past: My Journey Volunteering with the University Heritage Collections

03/11/2023 / / 0 Comments

Preserving the Past: My Journey Volunteering with the University Heritage Collections

Forewords

Delve into the captivating world of heritage preservation through the eyes of one talented high school volunteer. Join Charlie as he unveils his unique experiences and insights gained during his enriching half-term adventure with the Edinburgh Napier University Heritage Collections team. If you would like to consult our Collections please contact us via email

heritage@napier.ac.uk

Introduction

My name is Charlie and I am a student currently studying in my last year at Berwickshire High School. I aim to pursue history as a subject at university. Since an early age when I first began studying in high school, I have been fascinated with history and any surviving items and relics from the past. This passion was only heightened more as I studied History throughout school. This is why when I got the great opportunity to volunteer at the University Heritage Collections, I took it with no hesitation. I found many parts of my experience amazing and fascinating especially when I was working with real preserved books from as far back as the Middle Ages. This really struck my passion for history and made the whole experience worth it as the thought of holding the very same book as someone from the Middle Ages felt so strange and fascinating.

My Experience

My work while volunteering involved working with books from the Edward Clark Collection which illustrates the development of the book from the 15th century, concentrating on the development of typography, the techniques of printing illustrations, and fine bindings. My first task was to check out some of the book’s conditions and how they could be preserved better along with researching them and their origin. I also got the opportunity to spend a day of my volunteering experience doing work at the War poets’ collection which involved me getting to look at and organise real poems from soldiers who had suffered in the war. This really fascinated me as I felt like I was getting a unique chance to investigate the soldiers’ mental struggles and thoughts after their experiences on the front line. As part of my experience, I also got to complete a piece on the history of the poppy that we use for remembrance, which will support the development of a temporary exhibition. This involved looking at each type of poppy and what they mean along with the origins of the remembrance item and how it changed to become a symbol of the First World War. This really excited me as I have always found WWI to be insanely interesting and it was nice being able to research topics directly related to the war. I also got to complete tasks which involved looking at the Mehew collection, this collection is about Robert Louis Stevenson and his works which you may have heard of who’s works including books such as Treasure Island. This involved looking into the History of his works and checking up on the condition and safety of the valuable collection and implementing basic conservation measures to support delicate bindings. I also gained the chance to work with Napier’s expensive new collection scanner which I used to digitise fragile books from hundreds of years ago. Another one of my duties included Installing an exhibition about the history of Merchiston Tower and John Napier himself. Finally, my last task Included processing documentation for collection records. This taught me how to process documents and preserve important collection information for future curators and researchers to learn from.

Photo of Charlie volunteering at the special collections

Summary

I overall gained a lot from this experience which covered a wide range, this spanned from learning how to correctly handle historical records and valuable scanning equipment all the way to learning new information about historical time periods I had less knowledge on such as the Middle Ages and much more. I also was able to see just how fascinating it was to investigate the lives of those who came before us and how they lived their lives.

My experience in this volunteer position has further inspired me to study history at university and reinforced my love of the subject. It has also made me find a new interest in books and how they can be used to study the past.

As a whole, I loved my time volunteering, and it has given me tons of new experiences that will help me as I move forward to university next year.

By Charlie

Check out our Special Collection pages here.

Read more work experiences from other wonderful volunteers on the blog:

Part one Uncovering Hidden Histories: Provenance research internships in the Edward Clark Collection

Part two Uncovering Hidden Histories: Provenance research internships in the Edward Clark Collection

Image of an alarm clock being held up for Daylight Savings: The clocks are going back

Daylight Savings: The clocks are going back

29/10/2023 / / 1 Comment

Daylight Savings: The clocks are going back

Clocks going back 2023

Don’t forget that here in the UK the clocks go back one hour at 2am on Sunday 29th October. It means it will be darker in the evenings, and of course, winter will soon be upon us. Campus libraries will have normal opening hours until the Festive Break so you can access all our services as usual.

With longer evenings ahead you may want to settle down with some fiction. Did you know that Merchiston Library has a selection of novels which are available for loan? There are also lots of CDs there if you fancy listening to some different types of music from classical to rock. Also, Craiglockhart Library has foreign language textbooks and kits so you could have a go at learning a new language. All can be requested using Library Search.

We also offer Box of Broadcasts which gives access to lots of tv programmes and can be accessed through the database tab on Library Search. You can select programmes before broadcast or use the search bar to look for programmes which are already available. There are all kinds of things to watch from dramas and nature programmes to mental health and self-help programmes. Our autumn-themed recommendations are here:

If you have any questions about opening hours, our services or databases you can contact the library at library@napier.ac.uk or call us on 0131 455 3500 for assistance.

By Vivienne Hamilton

Read more useful information on our blog here.

 

Apple Day: A Brief History of The Apple AI generated image of apples and sciency things

Apple Day: A Brief History of The Apple

21/10/2023 / / 0 Comments

Apple Day: A Brief History of The Apple

Okay, it was bad news for Snow White, but for most people, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. It must be because an apple’s high potassium and low sodium content promote heart health. Or maybe it’s because it regulates your blood sugar and provides anti-cancer protection with antioxidants like quercetin. Or maybe it’s because its fibre content helps to keep cholesterol levels low. Or perhaps it’s just the pleasure of biting into that sweet, juicy flesh.

The Brief History Bit

Apples originate in central Asia, probably Kazakhstan, and there are more than 7,000 varieties in the world. Here in Scotland, we can lay claim to around 40 varieties, but sadly you’ll find very few of those in the shops. Industrialisation and cheap imports have led to a steady decline in apple production in the UK since the 19th century.

To counter this decline, Common Ground, a charity based in Dorset, founded Apple Day in 1990.  Every 21st October, they encourage us to celebrate the importance of apples in our landscape, ecology and culture and highlight the dangers of losing our indigenous varieties.

The Orchard Project

The Orchard Project is a national charity dedicated to creating and restoring community orchards. You can find out more about them here:

The Orchard Project – Bringing orchards into the heart of urban communities

Here at Edinburgh Napier, our dedicated team of volunteers work hard on the Lions’ Gate project to enhance the biodiversity of our campuses and contributing to the University’s environmental sustainability strategy. As part of this strategy, they’ve planted an orchard at our Craiglockhart campus.  Why not visit it next time you’re on campus:

Gardens – The Lions’ Gate (napier.ac.uk)

You don’t have to wait until the 21st of October to celebrate apples. We recommend eating one a day. Our challenge to you is to source a different apple variety for every day of the year. Autumn is the perfect time to start. We’d love to hear how you get on.

By Lesley McRobb

Check out our blog post on the Lion’s Gate garden

Library You Said We Did

Library You Said We Did

16/10/2023 / / 0 Comments

Library You Said We Did

Here at the Library, we work hard to listen to your needs. We gather your thoughts from feedback, focus groups, stats and comments. This allows us to make our service bespoke to you! Check out the list below of You Said We Did actions:

  • LapSafe laptops were made accessible 
  • ID on mobile phones can now be used instead of a card to borrow laptops from LapSafe  
  • You need to scan only once 
  • The number of laptops increased (24) +12 Merchiston   
  • We have  purchased Over 100 Power with 300 additional sockets and USBs, to allow easier access to power in libraries 
  • 10 double screens now available at Craiglockhart
  • Craiglockhart All-in-one computers installed (34)  
  • Provided adjustable desk risers 
  • Provided ergonomic equipment 
  • Craiglockhart Macs in the silent room 
  • International power adaptors supplied 
  • Family room Craiglockhart initiated 
  • Book stock hours for Merchiston moved to be the same as Craiglockhart & Sighthill
  • Increased number of loans – 30 for students and staff 
  • Took away fines except for any recalled items 
  • Standardised the replacement cost of items 
  • Simplified language used if notifications 
  • Streamlined the Wellbeing LibGuide and renamed the collection making it more relevant to students 
  • Study room booking time increased 
  • Digitized requests are now OCR-readable 
  • Furthermore, All library web page links were checked for accessibility and amended as needed 

Check out everything the Library has to offer on our Webpages.

In addition, leave us more feedback here! We love hearing from you. Select a rating and then leave your comments.

Furthermore, read more on why we want feedback in this blog article.

Banner for blog post Celebrating Black History Month while reconsidering the Curriculum

Celebrating Black History Month while reconsidering the Curriculum

12/10/2023 / / 0 Comments

Celebrating Black History Month while reconsidering the Curriculum

October marks Black History Month (BHM) in the UK. Here at Edinburgh Napier Library, we don’t want to miss this opportunity to celebrate the event. After all, the diversity of the ENU student and staff community it’s an up-to-date reflection of how people with African and Caribbean backgrounds keep making our society richer.

This has been the main aim of BHM since it first started being considered in the UK in the late eighties. The celebration, which has evolved over the years, is now observed in all sorts of organizations: from museums to schools, or even care homes, the community honours the cause with exhibitions, arts and crafts, formal events, or local gatherings.

The theme selected for 2023 seems to be one of cross-field impact: “Black History Month 2023 – Celebrating our Sisters”, pays homage to black women whose contributions have been ignored, ideas appropriated, and voices silenced in the past.

The slogan itself transpires a sense of a tribe, or sisterhood, being celebrated.

Black Graduate woman blowing glitter

Photo by Marleena Garris on Unsplash

Decolonisation in the academic field

From a wider perspective, here in the Library, we are working to question the references and sources of information used to build our understanding of the World, Academia, and the Curriculum, much of which is based on colonial beginnings.

The word “Decolonisation”, is in open debate over the last few years, and refers mainly to the process of reviewing those references in an attempt to tackle unconscious biases and prejudices.

While the process of undoing colonizing practices in the educational context is long and wide, there are a few steps being taken at Edinburgh Napier University in that direction. The Library Team has prepared accordingly some material about “Building Inclusive Reading Lists”, to make this learning material as diverse as possible.

Also, there is on the way a Reading List, prepared by the Subject Librarian of the Business School, Keith Walker, which highlights the contribution of Black authors, the Windrush generation, essays on Race and Racism, and other related questions. We will post about it soon.

These small steps, against historical and current challenges like Racism or Discrimination, are just a humble beginning, but we thought that they are worth mentioning.  Furthermore, we wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate and cherish our Black students and work colleagues recognising their success, contributioand recognition in the present and in the future!

By Emi Pastor

Here are links to some of our resources

Building inclusive Reading Lists

Librarysearch.napier.ac.uk

Read earlier articles on Black History Month from the blog, such as this article.

banner image for post Introducing Digimap

Introducing Digimap

09/10/2023 / / 0 Comments

Introducing Digimap

Digimap is an online mapping and data delivery service available to UK academic subscribers. The Digimap platform provides access to online maps and spatial data from the Ordnance Survey, as well as the British Geological Survey, OpenStreetMap, and other sources.

At Edinburgh Napier University, we subscribe to OS Maps in various scales, as well as selected collections which focus on specific map types. Our collections are Environment, Historic, and Society.

Figure 1 [EDINA Digimap Society Collection. https://digimap.edina.ac.uk/society]

Environment

The Environment collection includes coverage of Land Cover data. It classifies sea and inland waters, urban areas, farmland, and more. It is particularly useful for students and researchers interested in conservation, environmental studies, and urban planning.

Historic

The Historic collection includes OS maps and County Series maps going back to 1846. Explore how urban and rural spaces have changed over the centuries and discover the history of town planning in the UK.

Society

The Society collection is an important resource for anyone interested in studying contemporary society in the UK. The maps include data from the 2011 Census. The data is available in over 40 map layers and provides an innovative way of visualising demographic information.

How to use

Digimap is a great tool to experiment with analysing information and creating new projects. Why not have a go at viewing habitat information, downloading data for 3D designing using GIS, or comparing urban development across historical maps.

  • Use the ‘Roam’ feature to view, customise, and download maps.
  • Download map data to use with software such as GIS or CAD.
  • Import your own research data to add to maps.

For more guidance, take a look at the tutorial videos on the Digimap YouTube channel.

How to access

Digimap and selected collections are free to use through the University subscription.

To access Digimap, log in with your ENU username and password. You will need to register your details with Digimap and accept the license agreements for each collection. You will then be prompted to verify your email.

By Catriona Robertson

Why not check out our post on the AM Explorer Database

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Provenance research internships in the Edward Clark Collection

06/10/2023 / / 0 Comments

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Provenance research internships in the Edward Clark Collection 

 

During July, the University’s Heritage Collections department hosted two student interns whose intrepid research skills greatly helped us to find information about past owners, donors and custodians of the rare books held within the Edward Clark Collection. Here, Natalie Quinn (MSc in Publishing) talks about their experience of their internship.

My Experience as a Special Collections Intern

You might think that completing an internship, alongside writing a 15,000-word Master’s dissertation and working a part-time job, sounds like a crazy idea. You would be right. However, when I saw the opportunity to work with the library’s special collections department to identify provenance marks in books in the Edward Clark Collection, I just couldn’t let that pass me by. Earlier this year, I volunteered at a charity shop to help with the sorting, pricing, and shelving of books. This experience ignited my interest in the journeys that books go on as they pass between owners, and the notes left inside that tell us more about their histories. Therefore, I was immediately attracted to this internship and couldn’t wait to see which little remnants of history I would uncover.

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Provenance research internships in the Edward Clark Collection  Book image

[Figure 1: Inscription reading “Henry E. Napier to Lady Augusta Fox, Florence, Sept[embe]r 17th, 1838. ‘Pochi compagni avrai pepl’altra via; Tanto ti prego piu, gentile spirto, non lafear la magnanima tua impresa.’” (ECC E51).]

This internship has involved me going through many of the books in the Edward Clark Collection, from enormous tomes to the tiniest volumes, and looking at every page to record any evidence of where the book came from and who may have owned it. From something as inconsequential as a leaf pressed between the pages to bookplates and inscriptions bearing the names and dates of the books’ previous owners, these books had so much to reveal. My focus was on books from the nineteenth century, an era in which I am particularly interested, and I really appreciated how I was able to tailor the internship to my own curiosities.

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Provenance research internships in the Edward Clark Collection Book image

[Figure 2: Inscription reading “J.W. Frampton, from his affectionate father, August 12th 1859” (ECC E68).]

 

I have gained so much from this internship, from learning that small drawings of hands with a finger pointing to the text, called manicules, were used for centuries in the same way we might use a highlighter to draw attention to important text, to discovering that a different calendar was used in France for twelve years following the French revolution. The latter I discovered from the one word I was able to decipher from a French letter stuck in the back of a book, the owner of which I later uncovered was in Brussels during the Battle of Waterloo and recorded his experiences in his journal.

Uncovering Hidden Histories: Provenance research internships in the Edward Clark Collection

[Figure 3: Letter pasted in the back of the book entitled Napoléon en Prusse: poème épique en douze chants (ECC E3).]

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