Working with Diversity & Difference (ASS025-1) Unit Support Page Updated

The unit support page for the BSc Social Work Unit: Working With Diversity & Difference (ASS025-1) has now been updated & includes links to the catalogue records (& electronic full text where available) for all items on the reading list. Click on the link to view the list.

Student Printing Unavailable on Friday 23rd December 2011

Student printing at all University sites will be unavailable for essential maintenance on Friday 23rd December 8-30 am - 10 am.

Outcomes for Looked After Children as at 31st March 2011

Outcomes for children looked after as at 31 March 2011. Department for Education.

Outcomes reported include education, health, offending and substance misuse. For the first time this year, it also includes information to show performance against the new Impact Indicator for attainment gaps for looked after children. This indicator includes a change to the definition previously used to monitor the attainment of looked after children and covers children who have been continuously looked after for at least 6 months - those who would be eligible for the pupil premium payment.
Published 14 December 2011
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001046/index.shtml

Monitoring & Evaluation of Family Intervention Services & Projects

New Report: Monitoring and evaluation of family intervention services and projects between February 2007 and March 2011 by Cheryl Lloyd and others for the Department for Education.

Family interventions were set up to work with some of the most troubled and challenging families to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB), youth crime, inter-generational disadvantage and worklessness. They take an intensive and persistent multi-agency approach to supporting families to overcome their problems, coordinated by a single dedicated 'key worker'. The findings presented are based on families referred to family interventions in 159 local authorities.
Published 15 December 2011
Report:
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-RR174
Brief:
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-RB174
[E]

School Readiness of Children in Low to Middle Income Families

A new report: On your marks: measuring the school readiness of children in low-to-middle income families by Jane Waldfogel and Elizabeth Washbrook for the Resolution Foundation.

The extent to which children start school ready and able to learn can have a long-term impact on their likelihood of success in education and employment. It is well known that children from the poorest backgrounds are already falling behind their more affluent peers at the start of school. But little is known about the school readiness of children from low to middle income families. Analysis of a cohort of 15,000 children born in 2000 found that, at the start of school, children from low to middle income families were five months behind children from higher income families in terms of vocabulary skills – an important measure of cognitive development – and had more behaviour problems.
Published 13 December 2011
Report:
http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/media/media/downloads/On_your_marks.pdf [PDF 948KB]
Technical appendix:
http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/media/media/downloads/FINAL_Technical_Appendix_Early_child_outcomes_in_low_to_middle_incomes_families.pdf
[PDF 917KB]

Links Between Care, Offending & Custody

A new report by the National Children's Bureau for the Prison Reform Trust indicates that the term "looked after" may be a misnomer for some children in care. The Report is "Care a stepping stone to custody: the views of children in care on the links between care, offending and custody" by Rachel Blades, Di Hart, Joanna Lea and Natasha Willmott.

Most children are taken into care because they have been abused, neglected or experienced family breakdown. The state is supposed to look after them and protect them from further harm. Yet looked after children are far more likely to be convicted of a crime and end up in custody than other children - fewer than 1% of all children in England were looked after at 31st March 2011 yet the 2010-11 annual survey of 15-18 year olds in prison found that more than a quarter of boys (27%), and over half of girls (55%), had been in care at some point before being sentenced to custody.
Published December 2011
http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/careasteppingstonetocustody.pdf [PDF 2MB]

New Report About Trauma & Violence in the Lives of Young People

A new report by Roger Grimshaw for the Centre for Crime & Justice Studies has been published: My story: young people talk about the trauma and violence in their lives.

The report was compiled through a series of in-depth conversations with young people imprisoned for serious violent acts. It offers an insight into the kind of severe, multiple and prolonged trauma experienced by many who while still children go on to perpetrate violent offences. The trauma recounted by the story tellers includes: witnessing domestic violence; abandonment and loss; neglect; sexual and physical abuse; kidnapping; growing up in a family where crime and violence is a normal state of affairs.
Published 23 November 2011
http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/mystory.html

Website of the Week: Families from the DfE

The Department for Education website has a section entitled "Families". It contains family policy and information about services to support families. Topics covered include:

• Adoption
• Special guardianship
• Children in care
• Child poverty
• Families with multiple problems
• Legislation
  

Information on the parenting classes trial for parents of children aged 0-5 has also been updated.
http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/families

Tackling Troubled Families

Prime Minister David Cameron and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles have announced plans to radically transform the lives of the country's most troubled families. Almost £450 million has been made available in a new cross-government drive to turn around the lives of 120,000 of some of the country's most troubled families by the end of this Parliament. The £450 million means the Government will offer up to 40 per cent of the cost of dealing with these families to local authorities - but on a payment-by-results basis when they and their partners achieve success with families. The new programme will also fund a national network of Troubled Family 'Trouble-Shooters' who will be appointed by local councils.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/2052302

Munro Review of Child Protection

An update on progress being made across the range of commitments in the government response to the Munro Review has been added. Read it here at: http://www.education.gov.uk/munroreview/

Ending Gang & Youth Violence: Support to Local Areas

The Home Office has published information on the provisional funding allocations to local areas for additional support on gang and youth violence. Money is being targeted at an initial twenty-two areas in London, Liverpool, Manchester and the West Midlands which, as well as cash injections, will receive support and advice from the newly established ending gang and youth violence team.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/provisional-funding-allocations

Latest Research From the Joseph Rowntree Foundation

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is an endowed charity which funds a UK-wide research programme into the root causes of poverty and social exclusion and seeks to identify ways of overcoming them. The following research reports are now freely available to download from their website:

• Involving older people in service commisioning: more power to their elbow? This research seeks to discover what happens when older people are given the opportunity to shape service commisioning and delivery.



• Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2011 - The annual report from the JRF on the state of poverty and social exclusion in the UK.

British Social Attitudes No. 28

The latest British Social Attitudes survey is now available from NatCen. The survey asked over 3,000 people what is was like to live in Britain and how they think Britain is run. Chapters include:

• Childhood
• Child poverty
• NHS
• Housing
• Religion
• School choice
• Higher education

BSA 28 reveals that attitudes have hardened in the wake of the recession, with falling sympathy for the unemployed, lower support for tax rises to fund public services and slipping opposition to private health and schooling.

State of Children's Rights in England 2011

The Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) has carried out a review of government action on United Nations‟recommendations on strengthening children's" rights in the UK. It accuses the coalition government of systematically breaching international law that protects children's rights.

The review says that Ministers are flouting the Ministerial Code which requires them to act in accordance with international law and their treaty obligations.

When the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child last examined the UK's compliance with international children's rights law, it made 118 recommendations. CRAE's latest review shows the coalition Government has: only made progress in 18 of 118 recommendations in the past 12 months; presided over a deterioration in 15 recommendations; risked further violations occurring in 10 areas of concern raised by the UN; made no significant progress in 59 areas of children's rights protection. The full review is available here: CRAE State of Children's Rights in England 2011.

Hate Crime Laws Extended

People who murder disabled or transgender people in hate crime attacks will face life sentences with a starting point of 30 years, Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke has said. The Ministry of Justice plans to amend the Criminal Justice Act 2003 so that murders motivated by hatred or hostility towards disabled or transgender people will have the same starting point as for murders aggravated by race, religion and sexual orientation. This will double the current starting point for disability and transgender hate crime murders. The Act will also be updated so that where any offence is shown to be motivated by hostility towards the victim on the grounds of transgender, as well as race, religion, sexual orientation, and disability, sentences must be made more severe.

You can read the full press release here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/press-releases/moj/newsrelease081211.htm

RefWorks Workshop Cancelled!!!

The RefWorks Workshop scheduled for Monday 19th December at 11.00 am at Polhill Library is now cancelled. Work will be carried out to upgrade the Libraries' systems at this time making the Library Catalogue & other electronic resources unavailable until 12 noon that day.

I will be holding further RefWorks workshops (& other workshops!) in the new year. Details will be posted on this blog nearer to the time - so keep following to keep up to date.

Bedford Campus Xmas Closures

Bedford Campus Library will be closed on:

• Saturday 17th December 2011
• Sunday 18th December 2011

The Library will be open from Monday 19th - Friday 23rd December from 8.30 - 17.00.

The entire University will be closed from Saturday 24th December 2011 to Tuesday 3rd January 2012.

The Library will reopen on Wednesday 4th January 2012 at 8.30 am.

Increased Careers & Employment Service at the Bedford, Polhill Campus

The Careers & Employment Service at Bedford, Polhill Campus has now increased its service. Students are now able to gain information/advice on:

• Jobs and Employment
• Options after your degree/occupational areas
• Postgraduate study
• CV checks
  

You can book a guidance appointment or CV check via the SID desk.

Information about volunteering is now located within the Student's Union. For more information go to: http://www.beds.ac.uk/studentlife/careers

Additional RefWorks Workshops

I shall be holding two additional RefWorks Workshops on 12th & 19th December. The programme of RefWorks Workshops is now as follows:

• Monday 28th November, 11.00-12.00 (Polhill Library ICT Suite 1)
• Monday 5th December, 11.00-12.00 (Polhill Library ICT Suite 1)
• Monday 12th December, 11.00-12.00 (Polhill Library ICT Suite 1)
• Monday 19th December, 11.00-12.00 (Polhill Library ICT Suite 1)

All workshops are optional, there's no need to book - just turn up!

Upcoming Workshops At Polhill

Just to remind you all PAD hold a series of workshops throughout the term. The workshops are open to everyone & there's no need to book (just turn up if you're interested). Upcoming workshops over the next few weeks are:

• Tuesday, 22nd November 13.00-14.00 Critical thinking & reading (Room P.2.05)
• Wednesday 23rd November 12.00-13.00 Critical thinking & reading (Room P.2.05)
• Tuesday 29th November 13.00-14.00 Critical writing (Room P.2.05)
• Wednesday 30th November 12.00-13.00 Critical writing (Room P.2.05)
• Tuesday 6th December 13.00-14.00 Doing presentations (Room P.2.05)
• Wednesday 7th December 12.00-13.00 Doing presentations (Room P.2.05)
• Tuesday 13th December 13.00-14.00 Preparing for your dissertation (P2.05)

How do we know there are children in need?

Last Friday the BBC held its annual Children in Need Appeal - but how much do people actually know about the number of children in need in the UK? Well here are some statistics from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation:

• 2.6 million children live below the poverty line in the UK. This number has been reducing for the past two years, but their forecasts predict it will rise to 3.3 million by 2020/21.
• More than half (57 per cent) of all children in poverty now live in families where at least one of the adults is in paid work.
• Inner London has a much higher proportion of children in low-income households than any other region: at 44 per cent, thirteen percentage points higher than the average for the United Kingdom as a whole.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation provides facts and figures for many TV programmes on poverty (including Children in Need) and has a useful list of further reading (all freely available material on the web) which you can view here: Further Reading on Poverty

RefWorks Workshops

I shall be holding two RefWorks workshops at the Bedford, Polhill Library in ICT Training Suite 1 (top floor). Dates & times are:

• Monday, 28th November 11.00-12.00
• Monday, 5th December 11.00-12.00

RefWorks is an online reference management tool. It allows you to gather and store useful references & to create bibliographies and reference lists - taking much of the hard work out of referencing.

Please note: If you are a level 1 student you must have attended at least one session on the British Harvard Standard of Referencing. If you know nothing about referencing RefWorks will make no sense at all to you!

Social Science Readings

There is a problem with the Module Support webpage at the moment so I'm listing some useful materials for the social sciences below. As usual you will need to log in with your username and password to view them.

• Alcock, C. (2008) Introducing social policy. 2nd edn. Harlow: Pearson Longman.

• Albrow, M. (1999) Sociology: the basics. London: Routledge.

• Blakemore, K. (2007) Social policy: an introduction. 3rd ed. Maidenhead: OUP.

• Bochel, H. (2009) Social policy: themes, issues and debates. 2nd ed. Harlow: Longman.

• Clarke, A. (2010) The sociology of healthcare. 2nd edn. Harlow: Longman.

• Cunningham, J. and Cunningham, S. (2008) Sociology and social work. Exeter: Learning Matters.

• Gabler, J. (2010) Sociology for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

• Marsh, I. (ed.) (2006) Sociology: making sense of society. 3rd ed. London: Prentice Hall.

• Page, R. M. (2007) Revisiting the welfare state. Maidenhead: OUP.

• Powell, M. (ed.) (1999) New Labour, new welfare state? the 'third way' in British social policy. Bristol: Policy.

• Rhodes, M. (2000) 'Desperately seeking a solution: social democracy, Thatcherism and the 'Third Way' in British...' West European Politics, 23(2), pp. 161-187.

Report

• Rowlingson, K. (2011) Does income inequality cause health and social problems? [Online] Available at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/income-inequality-health-social-problems (Accessed: 26th October 2011).

Journal articles

• Burkitt, B. (2006) 'Constrained discretion: New Labour's third way for economic and social policy', International Journal of Social Economics, 33(1), pp. 4-10.
• McRobbie, A. (2000) 'Feminism and the third way', Feminist Review, 64, pp. 97-112.
• Taylor-Gooby, P. (2008) 'The new welfare state settlement in Europe', European Societies, 10(1), pp. 3-24.

Some Ebooks on Marxism

Some of you have been asking me recently about Marxist perspectives on social issues. The following books are available online. Login with your username and password to view the full text.

• Cole, M. (2008) Marxism and educational theory. London: Routledge.
• Collier, A. (2008) Marx: a beginner's guide. Oxford: Oneworld.
• Lechte, J. (2008) Fifty key contemporary thinkers. 2nd edn. London: Routledge.
• Worsley, P. (2002) Marx and Marxism. Rev. edn. London: Routledge.

New Report On The Experiences Of Forced Labour Among Chinese Migrant Workers

Here's an interesting new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It outlines the patterns of migration for work from China to the UK and reveals the range of exploitation (from decent work to forced labour) to describe the working conditions and patterns of employment of Chinese migrant workers in the UK. The report also identifies what actions could be taken by government, civil society organisations, trade unions and employers to combat these issues. You can read it in full here:Experiences of forced labour among Chinese migrant workers

Help With Essay Writing

By now most of you will have been given your first assignments to complete. If you find the task a bit daunting it might help to have a look at some of the books listed below. They take you through the process of writing academic essays and critical analysis and evaluation. Remember that PAD can alos offer you help with essay writing. You can book an appointment with a PAd tutor at the Bedford, Polhill Campus on 01234 793 081 or at the Luton, Park Square Campus on 01582 489 202

• Bowel, T. and Kemp, G. (2010) Critical thinking: a concise guide. 3rd edn. London: Routledge.
• Murray, N. and Hughes, G. (2008) Writing up your university assignments and projects: a practical handbook. Maidenhead: OUP.
• Neville, C. (2009) How to improve your assignment results. Maidenhead: McGraw Hill/OUP.
• Redman, P. (2006) Good essay writing: a social sciences guide. 3rd edn. London: OUP/Sage.
• Soles, D. (2005) The academic essay: how to plan, draft, revise and write essays. 2nd edn. Taunton: Studymates.
• Thomson, A. (2009) Critical reasoning: a practical introduction. 3rd edn. London: Routledge.
• Levin, P. (2009) Write great essays! 2nd edn. Maidenhead: MCgraw Hill/OUP.

Setting Up A Personal Account in Ebscohost Research Databases

You can set up your own personal account with Ebscohost Research Databases - (it's free!). Once you've done this you can:

• Save your search results - so they're still there waiting for you next time you log in
• Set up search alerts - the database will email you (or set up an RSS feed) each time new records matching your search terms are added to the database
• Create your own folders - to organise the results you've found & share your folders with other people if necessary

To set up a personal account with Ebscohost:

1. Access Ebscohost Research Databases in the usual way & go to the Advanced Search screen.
2. Click on the Sign in link (top right of the screen)
3. Untick the box for "Load preferences from My Ebscohost" & then click on the "Create a new account" link (right of screen, near the top of the page).
4. Fill in the form & click the Save Changes button to set up your account.

You can now save your searches & set up alerts by performing a search in the usual way & then clicking the Search history link (underneath the search boxes). See the Help pages in Ebscohost for further instructions.

Some Useful Readings For Level 1 Sociology & Criminology BA Students

A number of you have been asking me about material on crime statistics in the UK. Below are listed some useful electronic materials which you may find useful. You will need to login with your library account to view them off-campus.

• The Economist (2010) 'How broken is Britain?' The Economist, 394(8668), p. 15.
  
• Emsley, C. (2002) 'Chapter 7: The history of crime and crime control institutions', in Maguire, M. et. al. (eds.) The Oxford handbook of criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 203-230.
• MacDonald, Z. (2002) 'Official crime statistics: their use and interpretation', Economic Journal, 112(477), pp. 85-107.
  
• Maguire, M. (2002) 'Chapter 11: Crime statistics', in Maguire, M. et. al. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 203-230.
• Tseloni, A. et.al. (2010) 'Exploring the international decline in crime rates', European Journal of Criminology, 7(5), pp. 375-394.
  

Useful Reading for Undergraduate Dissertations

I put a list of useful books (both print & electronic) about researching your social science dissertation & doing a literature review on the Further Help section of my guide. Login to any of the electronic books using your username & password.

Equal but different? New report on alternatives to custody for women from HMI Probation

A new report from HMI Probation has been published on: Equal but different? An inspection of the use of alternatives to custody for women offenders.

4 In Every 10 Disabled Children Living in Poverty Report

A new report from the Children's Society has revealed that 4 out of 10 disabled children in the UK (a staggering 320,000) are living in poverty. Nearly a third of those 320,000 are living in severe poverty. Alarmingly, when a disabled adult also lives in the household, around half of all disabled children will be living in poverty.You can read the full report here: 4 in every 10 disabled children are living in poverty.

Live Twitter Debate on Social Workers' Role & Identity

There will be a live debate on Twitter today (Tuesday 18th October) 2011 from 20.00-21.00 GMT (15.00-16.00 EST) covering social worker's roles and professional identity. The debate is sponsored by the Social Work & Media Network, Goldsmiths University of London and the Open University and will address such questions as:

1. How should we define the role of social workers in our society (Are statutory social workers’ an agent of state? and What is the role of non-statutory social workers?)
2. Are social workers such a consistent failure or is social work the easiest “Social Scapegoat”?
3. How can we establish and sustain a more engaged and positive role and identity for social workers?

Anyone is invited to join in. You can find out more & join the debate here: Social Work /Social Care & Media.

Preparing for Your Dissertation Workshop

I am holding an additional workshop on "Preparing to Write Your Dissertation" on Monday 17th October 1.00-2.00 pm in Library ICT Training Suite 1 (top floor of the library).

The workshop will cover:

• Choosing a topic


• Doing a literature review


• Resources for research

Please come along if you're interested.

Finding Ebooks

If you're a new student you might be unfamiliar with using ebooks. An ebook is exactly the same as the printed version - except it's available via the web. Many of the core texts on your reading lists are available as ebooks.

You can find ebooks via the Library Catalogue. Any book with the little red ebook symbol (shown above) is an ebook. If you want to find only ebooks use the Advanced Search tab in the Library Catalogue & select "ebooks" in the Limit to: field.

New Report From the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on Education & Achievement

A new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation investigates how parents, place and poverty all impact upon the aspirations of young people and how this influences educational attainment. You can read the full report here: The influences of parents, places and poverty oneducational attitudes and aspirations.

Pop-up Blocker Problems!

A number of you have been reporting that you've been unable to view some of our electronic resources online, e.g. ebooks, electronic journal articles. In each case the problem has been that you have the pop-up blocker turned on in your browser. As ebooks and ejournal articles open as pop-ups they will be blocked too.


The pop-up blocker is located under "tools" if you're using Internet Explorer or Firefox. Google Chrome can't cope with our electronic resources so don't use it!

Website of the Week: Justice

The Justice website is a UK Government website aimed at all those working within and reliant upon information produced by the justice system. The site contains many free to download publications and reports including:

• The latest justice related news
• Court, criminal justice and prison statistics
• Research and reports
• Guidance on a wide range of policy areas including freedom on information, human rights, prisons and probation, youth justice and protecting vulnerable adults
• Consultations on reforms & changes to the law
  

What every social work student should know!

Here is an interesting article that I found in The Guardian. Social Work teacher, Peter Beresford gives his top five tips for this year's intake of social work students in an article entitled "What every social work student should know". You can read the article here.

New SCIE E-Learning Resource on Parental Mental Health & Familes

SCIE have just launched a new, free e-learning resource providing audio, video and interactive technology to explore the nature of parental mental health and its impact on families. You can view the resource here: Parental Mental Health & Familes.

Library Anywhere App

Our Library Catalogue is available for you mobile phone. Search, discover, and interact with our libraries - anywhere you are, right away.

Search the catalogue, place a hold and reserve items, see what you have checked out, renew items, see our latest news and contact a librarian.

To see the install options visit our Smartphones applications page.

New Web Printing Service

We now have a new web printing service in operation. You can submit jobs from any PC, Mac, laptop or mobile device via a website or email attachment without the need to install printer drivers.

• Print your work from on or off campus
• Log on to webprint.beds.ac.uk to upload your file
• Or email your file to webprint@beds.ac.uk
• Collect your work next time you're on campus

NSPCC Report on Child Abuse & Neglect in the UK Today

The NSPCC’s second UK-wide study of child abuse interviewed a random sample of parents, children and young adults about experiences of child abuse and neglect. Among the key findings are that some forms of child maltreatment reported by young adults aged 18–24 years were lower in 2009 than in 1998/9 (when the first study was carried out). However, there is still a substantial minority of children and young people who are severely maltreated and experiencing abuse at home, in school and in the community, from adults and from peers. All forms of abuse in childhood were associated with poorer mental health and elevated delinquent behaviour and strong associations were found between maltreatment, sexual abuse and physical violence, and poorer emotional wellbeing, including self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
You can read the full report here: Child Abuse & Neglect in the UK Today

Waterstones Book Stall

Waterstones are back at Polhill Library for induction. They will have a stall on the ground floor until Monday, 10th October seeling core texts on reading lists at a 12.5% discount. If the item you need is not on display they can order it for you - still at a discount.

Drop-in Sessions for Semester 1, 2011

The new programme of "Drop-in" sessions for Semester 1, 2011 is below. There's no need to book - just drop-in at the times listed below. Each session has a theme but I'm happy to help with any library-related queries you may have.

Date:	Where:	Time:	Theme
Monday, 3rd October , 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-4.00	E-books – learn how to find & use ebooks .
Monday, 10th October, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-4.00	Finding journal articles using Ebscohost Research Databases.
Tuesday, 11th October , 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-2.00	Researching your dissertation/project
Tuesday, 18th October, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-2.00	E-books – learn how to find & use ebooks
Monday ,31st October, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-4.00	Using the Internet for academic study
Tuesday, 1st November, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-2.00	Finding journal articles using Ebscohost Research Databases
Tuesday, 8th November, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-2.00	Using the Internet for academic study
Monday 14th November , 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-4.00	Referencing
Tuesday 15th November, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-2.00	Referencing
Monday 21st November, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-4.00	RefWorks – use this useful piece of software to take the hard work out of referencing. (Level 1 students must have a basic understanding of the Faculty of Applied Social Studies Referencing system before attending this drop-in).
Tuesday 22nd November, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-2.00	RefWorks – use this useful piece of software to take the hard work out of referencing. (Level 1 students must have a basic understanding of the Faculty of Applied Social Studies Referencing system before attending this drop-in).
Monday 28th November, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-4.00	Finding newspaper articles using the NewsBank Newspapers Database.
Tuesday 29th November, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-2.00	Finding newspaper articles using the NewsBank Newspapers Database.
Monday 5th December, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-4.00	Finding statistics
Monday 12th December, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-4.00	Finding statistics
Tuesday 13th December, 2011	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	1.00-2.00	Researching your dissertation/ project

UK Slavery - What do we know?

The issue of slavery in the UK has made the headlines over the last few days and has thrown the UK's 'dirty secret' into the spotlight. But what do we know about this hidden phenomenon and what can we do about it? The Joseph Rowntree Organisation has just published a new report about forced labour in Northern Ireland documenting the experiences of a number of employees who had been exploited in the workplace, some of whom had been in forced labour. You can read more about the report and its findings here. UK Slavery What do know?

Welcome To New Students!

Hello & welcome to the University! I hope you enjoy your time with us. I'll be carrying out inductions & library tours over the next two weeks for all courses within the Department of Applied Social Studies at the Bedford Campus. In the meantime check out this video tour of Beford, Polhill Library to help you find your way round the building:

Community Sentences: How Effective Are They?

The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies has published a report questioning community sentences’ role in efforts to control the use of custody.

The report looks back at attempts over the last decade to reduce prison demands by reforming community sentences and promoting their use to sentencers and the public. It argues that at best such reforms might have contributed to slowing future prison growth but they do not offer a coherent, credible solution to tackle a prison population nearly double that of the generation before.
You can download the full report here: http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/rssasolutiontopenalexcess.html

Government Response to the Munro Review

The Government has published its reponse to the Munro Review of Child Protection. The response was formed by an independent working group composed of local authority children's services, social workers, education, police and health professionals.

The response is a first step on the journey towards creating a sustained long term reform of the child protection system. It aims to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable children and young people.

The full report can be viewed here: Munro Review of Child Protection.

Bedford Skeleton Shuttle Bus Service

Expresslines is running a skeleton shuttle bus service between the Bedford campus and Bedford town centre from today, Wednesday 6 July, for a two-week trial period - a details are below. The service will be reviewed during the trial period.

The bus runs on week days at the times below, leaving Polhill from the bay next to the Campus Centre Building, through the town centre with stops at the bus and train stations, to the Alexander Sports Centre, then back to Polhill.

Stop	Times
Polhill Campus		11.00	13.00	15.00	17.00
Goldington Road:Caves Lane		11.03	13.03	15.03	17.03
Goldington Road: Howbury Street		11.03	13.03	15.03	17.03
St Peter's Street		11.05	13.05	15.05	17.05
Bus Station		11.08	13.08	15.08	17.08
Railway Station	09.10	11.10	13.10	15.10	17.10
Alexander Sports Centre	09.13	11.13	13.13	15.13	17.13
Sainsbury's
Warwick Avenue (marked stop)	09.15	11.15	13.15	15.15	17.15
Roff Avenue	09.16	11.16	13.16	15.16	17.16
Polhill Avenue:Kimbolt Road	09.19	11.19	13.19	15.19	17.19
Polhill Campus	09.21	11.21	13.21	15.21	17.21
Bedford campus: beside the campus centre building.
Goldington Road: Public bus stops by the junctions with Caves Lane and with Howbury Street.
St Peter’s Street: Public bus stop in front of John Bull jewellers.
Bus station: by the loading bay in front of Habisons.
Railway Station: Bus stop in front of forecourt.
Alexander Sports Centre: On corner by gates to ASC.
Sainsbury's: Outside Sainsbury's supermarket
Warwick Avenue: Public bus stop shortly after junction with Linden Road.
Roff Avenue: Public bus stop by Garfield Street.
Polhill Avenue: Public bus stop just after junction with Kimbolton Road.
Bedford campus: beside the campus centre building.

Drop-in with the Librarian

Need some help with your dissertation? Have some questions about using the Library and its services? If so, why not come along to one of my drop-in sessions. Each drop-in has a theme but I'm happy to help with queries about any library-related issues. Just come to the Level 1 Office, Polhill Library. There's no need to book - just drop-in!

Date	Where	Times	Theme
Wednesday 6th July	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	9.30-12.30	Finding journal articles using Ebscohost Research Databases
Monday 11th July	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	2.00-4.30	Finding newspaper articles using NewsBank Newspapers UK
Tuesday 19th July	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	9.30-12.00	Using RefWorks to store references & create a bibliography
Monday 1st August	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	2.00-4.30	Finding journal articles using Ebscohost Research Databases
Tuesday 9th August	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	9.30-12.00	Finding journal articles using Sage Premier, ASSIA & IBSS
Monday 15th August	Polhill Library, Level 1 Office	9.30-12.00	Using RefWorks to store references & create a bibliography