The Library Blog

Edinburgh Napier University

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library

Welcome to Edinburgh Napier Libraries

20/01/2025 / / 0 Comments

Welcome to Edinburgh Napier Libraries

It’s good to see our campuses busy again! A warm welcome to all new and returning students. Here’s a comprehensive guide to our library services to help you get started.

Library resources: books, databases, and more

First of all, save a link to the LibrarySearch to your favourites, as it will come in handy during your academic journey. It is our catalogue that includes both online and physical resources such as journals, ebooks and databases. You can borrow books on a 7-day loan that renews automatically for up to four months unless requested by another user. You can borrow up to 30 physical items. If you need something we don’t have, our inter-library loan service is here to help with that. It allows you to borrow books and access articles from other libraries, ensuring you have all the resources you need for your studies.

Finding information: reading lists, subject guides, and librarians

Each of your courses will have a reading list, that you can access through the LibrarySearch. Make sure to log in at the top right corner as a university member. We also offer subject and research guides created by subject librarians to help you with finding information and resources. These guides are available online and cover a wide range of topics relevant to your studies, you can find them in LibGuides. For more personalised help, you can contact your subject librarian or arrange a one-on-one appointment. Details about your subject librarian are available on the library webpages.

Libraries: physical and online spaces

Our libraries offer various study spaces, including silent areas for focused work, and group work zones for collaborative projects. We have study rooms equipped with PCs and Macs, as well as printers and scanners for your convenience. Each library also has a relaxation space with games, colouring sheets, and comfy sofas, providing a perfect spot to unwind. Make sure to have a look at our wellbeing collection. It is a selection of books and resources that is designed to support your mental health and wellbeing. If you can’t make it to campus, most resources are available online, ensuring you have access to the library’s offerings from anywhere.

Useful information

For more details, visit our library webpages or contact us in person at the help desks, via email at library@napier.ac.uk, or by phone at 0131 455 3500. Don’t hesitate to reach out—we’re here to help. Our staff is always ready to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have. Best of luck this trimester!

You can also find additional library information in previous blog posts. These articles provide insights into various library services, updates, and tips to make the most out of your library experience.

By Patrycja Respondek

 

 

Postgraduate study

Upcoming Postgraduate events and advice

17/01/2025 / / 0 Comments

Upcoming Postgraduate events and advice

After hibernating over winter, we’re happy to return to campus and get ready for the upcoming trimester. A lot of our work right now is concerned with helping our returning students (and ourselves) get readjusted to life at Napier,. So we thought we’d do our bit to help welcome the new cohort of postgraduate students who will be starting with us this trimester. In this blog, we’re going to point you to some places where you can get academic advice as a postgraduate. As well as inform you about our upcoming postgraduate information event. Whether you’re just joining us as a postgraduate student, or a returning postgraduate looking to get back into the rhythms of university, there’ll be something here that you’ll find will come in handy during your studies.

Advice

Firstly, as always, the academic skills team is the first place you should turn to for support in your studies. They’re here to provide you with practical advice about managing your studies. A postgraduate course comes with heavy work.  The academic skills team will be there to advise you on how to create a schedule to keep on top of your studies. They can give you help in structuring your assignments, which is especially helpful if it’s been some time since your undergraduate studies. You can speak to the academic skills advisors by booking a one-on-one appointment or attending one of the drop-in sessions on campus. More information can be found on their web pages.

The academic skills team also provide short, pre-recorded videos on Panopto to provide useful academic tips in easy-to-digest chunks. You can find all the information related to the academic skills team on MyNapier. Also on MyNapier, any of our research students will be able to find a helpful page. This has frequently asked questions about research degrees. It covers questions related to the marking of your research thesis, or explaining the structure of the supervisory team.

Events

The other big thing to look forward to if you’re a postgraduate student is our upcoming postgraduate information event. This will be held at Johnnie Walker Princes Street on the 26th of February. This event will be a nice, informal way for you to meet and mingle with other students. Being able to get to know the other people on your course or chat with academics to get an idea of what you can expect from Napier. You can register for the event on the page linked above.

With the information on MyNapier, along with the postgraduate information event, you’ll have all you need to get comfortable in your studies at Napier or to readjust to studying after your time off in winter.

 

By Matthew Ferrie

Read our previous blog post on how the library can help postgraduate  studies. 

Library services

Edinburgh Napier International College and Library Services

08/01/2025 / / 0 Comments

Edinburgh Napier International College and Library Services

January is storming ahead. And soon University life will come back in swing. We want to welcome everyone and before classes start, we thought it would be useful to provide some library essentials.

Library Essential

Each campus has a library and the library reflects the schools based at that campus. This is especially true for what books are available at each library. For example, business books will be at Craiglockhart while computing, engineering and built environments are at Merchiston.

Library tours are available for each library. You can email library@napier.ac.uk to arrange.

Merchiston Library is perhaps more central and will be open 24/7 as a study space from the end of the month.

Finding information: reading lists, subject guides and subject librarians

Each course has a reading list. You will find these items through LibrarySearch. Please log in at the top right corner.  We also have subject guides and research guides that have been created by your subject librarian. These guides are designed to help you find information and develop research skills.

Each subject area has a subject librarian. You can contact your subject librarian for more information or arrange a 1: 1 appointment for extra guidance. Your subject librarian can help with finding resources and information about your course. And help build library skills. You can find your subject librarian on our web pages.

For students studying business, Keith Walker is your subject librarian, while for students studying computing, engineering and built environment, your subject librarian is Joyce Templeton.

Library Services: Books, Databases and more

We have an extensive catalogue, and it is all available through library search. Here you will have access to all our online resources and be able to locate where our physical resources are. You will also find access to journals and databases. You can borrow up to 30 physical items. Books are 7-day loans but they renew automatically up to 4 months unless requested.  If you are looking for something we don’t have, we have an inter-library loan service where you can request books from other libraries.

Libraries Services: Physical and Online

At the library, you will find plenty of study spaces: we have silent areas and areas for talking if you have group work. There are study rooms, PCs and Macs, with printers and scanners. Each library has a relaxation space with games, colouring sheets and comfy sofas to relax. We have a well-being collection that focuses on shelf help. If you can’t make it to campus, most of these resources are now available online.

 

Have a look at previous articles on study skills to help start University.

 

Merchiston Tower

Merchiston Tower

04/01/2025 / / 0 Comments

Merchiston Tower

In the centre of Merchiston Tower, you will find Merchiston Tower.

Bang in the middle.

Have you ever wondered what’s inside? What’s its history? Wanted to peek inside?

Let us take you on a brief digital walk through the Tower in the blog post. But before we go any further, we would like to add that you can tour the Tower in person and see its 500 years of history in person for free. Email us at heritage@napier.ac.uk or library@napier.ac.uk. Please bear in mind that we need at least 24 hours’ notice. Group tours are available, but no more than 15 people can attend.

 

History of Merchiston Tower

Merchiston Tower has stood firm for over 500 years. Built in the middle of the 1400s, either by Andrew Napier or his son Sir Alexander Napier, both served as Provost of Edinburgh, and both moved in royal circles.

John Napier (Alexander’s grandson) was born in the Tower in 1550. Specifically, the University is named after John Napier. His inventions and contributions to Mathematics are longstanding, with his most known invention being logarithms. There is a lot of “myth, mystery, and intrigue” (John Napier napier.ac.uk) about the man, and you can read about him in a previous blog post on Edinburgh Napier University’s webpages.

The Tower remained in the Napier family until the beginning od the 1800s. It was then owned by the Merchiston Castle School, followed by Edinburgh Council. For a while, it was also a storage space for fire hoses during the Second World War. By the 1950s, the Tower was set for demolition. It was in ruined. However, in 1958, a new technical college was coming to Edinburgh. A college that needed a campus. Napier College was formed around the Tower, saving from it demolition and beginning a work of restoration. These restorations would uncover ceilings and stairwells that had been hidden for a century.

The hallway ceiling of the Tower now proudly displays the University’s crest and showcases the Tower’s timeline, a nod to the Napier family, Merchiston Castle School, and Edinburgh Council.

Napier Crest

Inside the Tower

Can’t wait to have look. Let’s go on a digital walkthrough. And while, we have lovely pictures, nothing compares in person.

The original great hall stands to the left as you enter. In this hall, you will find a stunning, decorative ceiling that was commemorated during the reign of Charles II, the decorations showcasing the Napier family’s loyalty to the crown. The massive fireplace is thought to be original to the Tower. The north and south windows are original, while, the east window dates from the 17th century. During the restoration in the 1950s, a staircase in the thick walls was found.

The once hidden staircase leads to the Boardroom that now stretches across the third and fourth floors. The fourth floor would  have been a loft area, home to servants but it has now been opened up to make the room fell bigger, and to properly showcase.

The magnificent Prestongrange Ceiling, it dates from 1581. A rare example of a Scottish Renaissance painted ceiling, it was from Prestongrange House to Merchiston Tower in 1964 for preservation purposes. The ceiling is filled with art, featuring many motifs from folk plays. Truly Unique!

 

 

 

Prestongrange ceiling

 

Merchiston Tower and John Napier

In 1550, John Napier was born in the tower house. Over 400 years later, the Tower was saved from demolition and restoration work began for a new college to be named after John Napier. Now, it stands proud in the middle of our biggest campus, home to two of our schools; School of Arts and Creative Industries and School of Computing, Engineering & Built Environment.

 

Doors Open Day

On the 28th of September, we opened up the Tower to the public to celebrate Doors Open Day. Our second year running, we were delighted to welcome over 180 visitors.

 

 

If you are interested in visiting Merchiston Tower in person, please get in touch by emailing heritage@napier.ac.uk or library@napier.ac.uk. Tours are free but are dependent on staff and room availability so will require booking in advance.

Please note that – due to the steep and uneven medieval staircases – the Tower is unfortunately not wheelchair accessible.

For more information about the University’s Heritage Collections, have a look at our website.

Read more about the Heritage Collections

 

References

 

Merchiston Tower Edinburgh

The Napier Estate Past and Present

January

January’s Origin Story

03/01/2025 / / 0 Comments

January’s origin story

January, it’s cold, it’s dark and the festivities are another year away. But there is a lot more to January than the bleakness. We are going to dive into January’s origin story.

January and Janus’ origin

He has two heads, loiters in doorways and carries a big stick and a set of keys. Meet Janus – Roman deity, guardian of passageways and gates, and founder of the Roman calendar.  As we leave the old year and enter the new, it is Janus who ushers us in. He looks both ways, back into the past and forwards into the future, marking the passage of time and life’s cyclical nature.

Janus has been represented throughout western art and iconography over the centuries. John Bellany was a world-renowned artist from Port Seton, just a few miles from Edinburgh. In 1982 he created this image which was purchased by the Tate Gallery.

‘Janus‘, John Bellany, 1982 | Tate

Janus is a deity without equal, his dual nature unique in the Roman pantheon of gods. In today’s world, his significance is symbolic and highlights the duality of human nature. In a metaphorical sense, Janus helps us transition from old to new, between war and peace, good times and bad, public life and private.

It’s fitting, then, that the beginning of January is often a time of reflection, when we spend some quiet moments summing up the year that’s passed. Maybe it’s been the best year ever and you want to celebrate. Maybe it’s been so-so and you’re happy to carry on and consolidate the plans you made over the last 12 months. Perhaps it’s been a challenging year, and you just want to draw a line under it and move on to a better, brighter future.

Wherever you stand right now, whichever direction you’re facing, we wish you a happy, healthy January and the very best of what 2025 has to offer.

By Lesley McRob

Photo by Aaron Burden Unsplash 

Read about the origins of leap year

Festive tradition

Lost Days and old Christmas

17/12/2024 / / 0 Comments

Lost Days and Old Christmas

We are nearing the end of this leap year, a year when we have one extra day in February. If you are celebrating Christmas on December 25th spare a thought for the residents of the Shetland island of Foula who will not celebrate Christmas until 6th January. Why would they do this?

It all stems from the changes made to the calendar used in the UK in the 1700s. Up until 1752 the calendar used in Britain was the Julian Calendar. It was based on the solar year (the time it takes for the Earth to rotate around the sun) which meant it was 365.25 days in length. Fractionally too long, over time the calendar fell out of line with the seasons. Nowadays we use the Gregorian Calendar named after Pope Gregory XII who introduced it in 1582. The year corresponds closely with the astronomical year which is 365.24219 days long and this gives us a leap year once every four years. Not all countries of the world adopted the calendar at the same time, in fact it took more than 300 years for the change to be complete.

When the Gregorian calendar was adopted Britain “lost” 11 days as the date jumped from September 2nd to September 14th. There were protests in the streets as people thought that the government had robbed them of eleven days of their lives.

Before the calendar was changed, Christmas was celebrated on the equivalent of the 6th of January according to the Gregorian calendar. That is why in some places people still call the 6th January Old Christmas Day. Today, Foula in the Shetland Islands is one of the last places to celebrate Christmas and New Year on the old calendar dates. While they don’t live by the Julian calendar on a daily basis, the Foula community takes advantage of these special dates to celebrate their strong Norse tradition of folklore and music, with islanders traditionally gathering in one house to celebrate the Old Christmas with traditional music, songs and play guidicks – Shetland dialect riddles.

Old Christmas or Yule takes place on 6th January and New Year on 13th January. In the past Yule celebrations would last 24 days with barn dances and traditions such as playing ba’ – a form of football but seemingly without rules – using a ball made from a pig’s bladder. This was a feature of Yule celebrations until the early 20th century in Shetland. Today in Orkney, the Ba game is still an integral part of the festive celebrations.

Now many Foula residents head to the Shetland mainland to spend “New Christmas” with relatives there, then head back to Foula for their traditional Christmas and New Year in January. Former residents return to the island too. Many Foula emigrants still celebrate Old Christmas where they now live.

Wherever and however you are celebrating we hope you all enjoy the festive break.

By Vivienne Hamiliton

Image by Mariana B.

Get in the festive period with more Christmas blog posts 

Publishing Archive Day

12/12/2024 / / 0 Comments

Publishing Archive Day

Last month, together with Avril Gray of the Publishing Programme and Laura Cooijmans-Keizer, Senior Curator of University Heritage Collections, I was able to celebrate Book Week Scotland by showcasing treasures from the Edward Clark Collection, held in Merchiston Library.
This unique resource illustrates the development of book printing processes and changing styles from the earliest years of letterpress printing in Europe in the 15th century. In addition to the printing of text, items in the collection show the evolving techniques used for illustration. Woodcuts were the most commonly found in the earlier period, and the method predates the use of movable metal type. The wood blocks in the collection were used for printing playing cards, but date from the nineteenth century. By this period, other techniques were in use for book illustration, perhaps the best known being the copperplate engravings found in 18th century titles. A lesser-known highlight includes an edition of Thomas Bewick’s Birds (1825): the wood engraving of puffin proved particularly popular with visitors to the event. The introduction of the new technique of lithography in the early 19th century led to developments in colour printing of which The Poultry Book, printed by Leighton Brothers in 1853 is a splendid example.
The collection was originally gathered together for the use of apprentices in the printing industry, attending day- and block-release courses at Heriot Watt College during their training. Bringing it to life for another generation of students and staff at Napier is such a pleasure. It was transferred to Napier College, as it then was, when it took over responsibility for apprentice training in 1964. 
Abstract by  Dr H. Williams.

Edward Clark Collection: History Of Publishing

Edinburgh Napier University has been home of the Edward Clark Collection since the 1960s.  The collection showcases the history of publishing in the Western World. Edward Clark was a prominent publisher in Edinburgh in the late 19th century. The collections show the development of typography, binds and illustrations.  There is around 5000 items, some of which dates back to the 15th century.

Along with the Edward Clark Collection, our Heritage Collections encompass five other collections, and you can find more information on their webpages. 
And don’t forget, tours of Merchiston Tower, birthplace of our namesake John Napier are available.  If interested in seeing the 500-year-old tower, email heritage@napier.ac.uk or library@napier.ac.uk.
library

Dewey Decimal System Day

10/12/2024 / / 2 Comments

Dewey Decimal System Day

Today is Dewey Decimal System Day, which honours the creation and establishment of the Dewey Decimal Classification System and American librarian Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) who invented it in 1876. The Dewey Decimal Classification system is a numerical sequencing system which organises primarily non-fiction books and publications into ten main categories to increase findability. It is the most vastly and frequently used library classification system across all libraries, including our very own campus libraries at Edinburgh Napier University.

A bit of History of  the Dewey Decimal System

The Dewey Decimal Classification System has been utilised widely since 1876 and over 200,000 libraries globally in 135 countries have adopted this library classification system to organise their non-fiction stock and publications. Whilst working at the Amherst College Library when he was 21, Melvil Dewey designed the proprietary classification system which was then eventually published in the year 1876. With the 10th of December 1851 having been Melvil Dewey’s date of birth, this calendar date was adopted as Dewey Decimal System Day to annually honour his creation of this widely used system. Its 20th edition was published in the late 20th century after several other editions having been released prior to this.

Dewey Groups

The Dewey Decimal Classification System categorises different genres of mostly non-fiction publications into one of ten classes and works as both a navigation and shorthand identification tool. These classes consist of specific topics and subject areas such as psychology, history or the arts to give a few examples. They are organised and shelved in alphanumerical order depending on which class the resource falls into from numbers 000-900. Each Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) number will also have the first three letters of the author or organisation’s surname noted at the very end of it. You can find the call number classification and their classes listed below.

 

000-099: Computer Science, Information and General Works

100-199: Psychology and Philosophy

200-299: Religion

300-399: Social Sciences

400-499: Language

500-599: Science

600-699: Technology

700-799: Arts and Recreation

800-899: Literature

900-999: Geography and History

These classes are usually divided into subclasses as well. For example, the numerical category 300 covers social sciences, but since a significant number of topics exist within this individual subject area, numerical subcategories can be used to divide and distinguish them all. To illustrate, 320 call numbers cover political science, 340 call numbers cover law and 360 call numbers cover social problems and social services. These categories can be subdivided even further into existing topics within these topics – for example, 327 call numbers cover international relations, 346 call numbers cover private law, and 364 call numbers cover criminology.

All of the books within our campus libraries are organised and shelved in accordance with the Dewey Decimal Classification system. If you sign into LibrarySearch and search for any book within our collection you will find it’s Dewey Decimal Classification number here:

Dewey Decimal System

Acknowledgements…

The Dewey Decimal System significantly revolutionised library science. Findability is at the core of this system’s primary objectives. It was invented with the purpose of being easy to use, simplified and an effective navigation tool for patrons to easily locate and identify specific categories of books and publications for their research or other purposes. The system is also kept up-to-date and progressive through consistent revisions and expansions year to year and is maintained by libraries today using current technologies and library management systems.

 

How we can assist with navigating the DDC system…

 

Some patrons may feel overwhelmed when they first come across the Dewey Decimal Classification system and when using it to find the resources they require. Our library staff are here to assist you with this – you are always more than welcome to ask any of us at our library helpdesks for help with finding a specific book, or books within a specific numerical sequence and genre. Additional information about how to navigate our campus libraries can be found here in the My Napier Library webpage.

 

Recommended Reading…

 

By Rachel Downie

We have a previous blog post on finding books on LibrarySearch

Sighthill facilities. Imacs in the library. Eresources and accessibility

CAB Abstracts Database

27/11/2024 / / 0 Comments

CAB Abstracts Databases

Introducing CAB Abstracts…

CAB Abstracts is one of the many databases we are subscribed to. It offers academic literature and publications on subject areas such as forestry, agriculture, human health and nutrition, animal health, veterinary sciences and conservation and management of natural resources. It was established by the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International, originally the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux. The number of documents within its repository is ever-growing and currently reaches a total of over 770,000. These featured publications are from approximately 120 countries worldwide and can be accessed in 50 different languages. This means global representation is particularly prevalent within this database, including for developing nations. The database itself is produced by CABI and is the leading English-language information service.  It provides easy access to hard-to-find academic and research material on subjects such as agriculture, health, and life sciences.

Conducting Searches with CAB…

 

One of the many beneficial features of CAB is its comprehensive subject indexing within the CAB Thesaurus. This is the database’s controlled vocabulary tool. Conducting searches through CAB is therefore easier than in most databases. It allows for more precision when trying to gain access to all relevant research on a particular subject area or topic.

 

For example, imagine yourself being assigned a research project on cardiovascular health, focusing specifically onNext risk factors for cardiovascular disease and how cardiovascular health can also be improved overall. Now imagine you intend to focus on how nutrition can improve cardiovascular health. The first step in the search process may be to input “cardiovascular health” as shown below. This search query does of course bring up a significant and wide variety of results. However, the thesaurus tool can be used to greatly narrow down this overwhelming list of results.

 

CAB database

As you can see here, this search has generated 71,224 results in total! Now let’s narrow down the results by going to the  ‘Subject: Thesaurus Term’ section, then ticking one of the terms listed. Here, we will go with ‘risk factors.’

cab subject

As you can now see below, the search results have narrowed down to 20,436 – a much less overwhelming and more relevant base of results overall!

CAB refine results

We will now see if we can narrow these results down even further by going back to the ‘Subject: Thesaurus Term’ section and clicking on ‘Show more.’ This brings up even more terms, one of which is ‘nutrition.’ This will facilitate the generation of journal articles which cover all areas we intend to focus on regarding cardiovascular health and the research project at hand. As you can see below, we have now managed to narrow down the search results from a total of 71,224 results to 1,723 – a very significant drop!

 

CAB

Under the ‘limit to’ section, you can also narrow down the search results to journal articles published only within a specific period to  reduce the  results even further, or ensure that they are more recent publications with more current research conducted on a specific subject area or issue.

 

Benefits of using the CAB Abstracts database…

 

There are many advantages when using CAB abstracts for research.

  • It fulfils user expectations by allowing them access to the full text of material they are searching for in the CAB abstracts index.
  • Materials which are otherwise difficult to find and had prior been lost to the scientific community are archived and preserved within the CAB abstracts database, making them easily findable within this database.
  • The ease and efficiency of searching for texts and documents within the CAB abstracts database saves users a great deal of time and expense when trying to locate otherwise hard-to-find texts.
  • Invaluable texts which are otherwise hard to find are placed among main-stream literature to allow guaranteed access to all relevant documentation and texts so that search results are not just limited to those which are more readily available. Also ensures that researchers can access the most current research, studies and literature on specific subjects and subject areas
  • Any information and knowledge presented at within reports and at conferences is shared widely within the scientific community as well.
  • Full-volume sets are included, along with archival material from an ever-evolving number of journals. Whilst some material covered is free to access on the internet, CABI’s full-text database ensures that the article is never lost or access to a text is disrupted by broken links.CAB abstracts can be accessed through our A-Z Databases in our Libguide. Along with various other advanced databases and searching tools.

     

    By Rachel Downie

Read about other databases on the library blog here.

Cycle to campus

World Sustainable Transport Day

26/11/2024 / / 0 Comments

World Sustainable Transport Day

You would hardly know it as you try to negotiate your way around Edinburgh’s potholes and roadworks, but it’s World Sustainable Transport Day. It’s a new venture, created last year by the UN and will be celebrated annually on 26th November. This is a day for reflecting on how we can make transport safer, more efficient and greener.

How can we integrate transport options into our natural environment? How can we plan to move people around more quickly, comfortably and reliably while preserving habitats, migrating to cleaner fuel systems and causing the least disruption to our communities?

These are taxing questions, to be sure. Here at Edinburgh Napier, we’re committed to answering them. Our Transport Research Institute has been teaching, consulting and researching since 1996, and in the last few years has included low-carbon transportation and new technology solutions for the future of UK transport and city solutions as part of its thematic focus. If you’d like to know more about our TRI, see here: Transport Research Institute

On a wider level, Edinburgh Council has ambitious plans to commit to their general sustainable transport options. These include encouraging residents, by 2030, to increase their walking by 3% per week, cycling by 35%, journeys by bus or tram by 26% and rail by 12%. This assumes, of course, that residents will be happy to ditch their cars, and that the alternative transport options will be attractive ones. You can monitor the stats and gauge the results here: Targets for a sustainable transport future – The City of Edinburgh Council

Meanwhile, we would encourage you to move around our campuses by foot, bike or bus. We have a wealth of information on bike access and safety, bus timetables and route planning here: Cycling to campus. 

Have a look at the research and innovation that our School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment on their blog.

By Lesley McRobb

 

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