Just a Minute - Library videos: Ebooks on demand

This is a brief, one minute video all about the new ebooks on demand service.

Increase In Numbers Of Loans!!!

The number of books you can borrow from the University Libraries has now increased from 12 to 15.

'Reality' OF UK Poverty Capatured In Online BBC Storyville Films

Three eye-opening JRF/BBC documentaries are now available to watch online.

Filmmaker Andy Glynne discusses the Why Poverty? series and explains: 

 

As a filmmaker, I'd travelled a lot, and filmed the images that we still associate with the word 'poverty': malnourished children in sub-Saharan Africa; those with no roofs over their heads or without access to water. Poverty was, I had thought, an absence of the fundamentals to live by, and we filmmakers trooped around the world highlighting the inequalities between the rich North and the poor South, bringing awareness to a problem far away, somewhere on the other side of the world – somewhere that, well, wasn't here.

Because – as the notion goes – inequalities on this scale don't exist here in the UK, do they? Well, yes and no. It was when embarking on this project that the notion of relative poverty – in which poverty can exist for those who are considerably worse off than the majority of the population – became of interest.

As we researched stories about poverty in the UK, we became aware of the ways in which being relatively poor can have a plethora of horrible consequences. And although such consequences may seem to lack the immediacy of being acutely life-threatening, they can nevertheless insidiously create physical, psychological and social inequalities on a hugely significant scale.

The three films are available to watch online on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website: http://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/2013/01/poverty-captured-bbc-storyville-films 

More training to identify and support victims of human trafficking | Home Office

And further news on human trafficking. The Home Office has announced that training will be given to social workers, youth workers, GPs and midwives to identify and help the victims of human trafficking.

Read more here:
More training to identify and support victims of human trafficking | Home Office

How the latest research into child trafficking in the UK should inform social work practice - 10/16/2012 - Community Care

Social workers should not discount children’s claims to have been trafficked even if they sound extraordinary, says Emma Kelly, a lecturer in social work at University of Salford.


How the latest research into child trafficking in the UK should inform social work practice - 10/16/2012 - Community Care

Disabled People Could "Miss Out" Under Social Care Reform



Photograph by Smerikal

Research carried out for the charities Mencap, Scope, the National Autistic Society, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Sense indicates that adults with disabilities in England are being deprived of basic care and support and are at risk of being forgotten in the wider reform of the social care system.

Much of the focus on care has been centred around the crisis facing the elderly. However, a coalition of charities has warned people with disabilities under the age of 65 are being neglected too.

Ministers are soon expected to announce a cap will be placed on the costs people face for care - but this will largely benefit older people who have built up substantial assets through savings, pensions and property.

Younger adults with disabilities are less likely to have such assets, and as a result get care free through the means-tested system.


About 500,000 working age adults get social care support - a third of the total number getting help. But the figure has been falling in recent years as councils have started to ration care so that only those with the most severe needs get help.


Research carried out for the charities indicated there were now 90,000 fewer people receiving help than in 2008 - at a time when there are more people living with disabilities.

The study also warned if the reform of the system was pushed through it could lead to more being excluded. This is because the government's desire to have national eligibility criteria could result in those areas that have yet to ration care imposing tighter restrictions.

Meanwhile, the research also raised concerns about the quality of services being provided. A survey of 600 people receiving social care found nearly 40% were failing to get enough help to ensure their basic needs, including eating properly, washing and dressing, were met. Overall, the report estimated there was a £1.2bn funding gap for younger disabled adults.

You can read more on this story on the BBC News website here.

New 'Order the Ebooks You Want' Service Launched

A new Patron Driven Acquistions Service (PDA) has now been launched by the Library. Catalogue records for all non-library owned ebooks from Dawsonera (approx. 60 - 70,000 titles) have now been added to the Library Catalogue. This is in addition to the 3,500+ ebooks we have purchased over the last 3 years.

When you log in to a non-library owned ebook you will be presented with three purple buttons (instead of the usual green ones). The purple buttons are:

• 5 minute preview - have a quick 5 minute look at the contents of the ebook to see if it's any use.
• Request rental - allows you to 'rent' the book for one week and during that time have the usual access that you would get from an ebook owned by the Library.
• Add to favourites - add the ebook to your list of favourites in Dawsonera.

After a non-library owned ebook has been rented 3 times it will automatically be purchased for the Library.

Please note:

• If you come across any record of ebooks which will not allow you to rent them & you would like to suggest them for purchase please email me at: sally.fensome@beds.ac.uk
• The Library has deposited a sum of money with Dawsonera to cover the cost of rentals and outright purchases. When this sum runs out the new unowned ebooks will disappear from the catalogue; so we cannot tell you how loing this new service will be available.
• Any feedback/comments good or bad on this new service - please forward to me.

You Said...We Did...

A host of new initiatives have now been introduced as a result of students hilighting issues in the National Student Survey (NSS). These are:

1)     You said: Can we have longer LRC/library opening times at the main campuses?

We did: From 7 Jan 2013 the libraries at Luton and Bedford will be open 24/7.

2)     You said: We would really like a bar at Bedford.

We did: A new bar and social hub in the Bedford’s Students’ Union will open January 10.

3)     You said: We need more books in the library and access to more science journals.

We did: £100,000 allocated - £62,000 already spent on buying multiple copies of books –more to be spent on books and access to science e-journals.

4)     You said: Can you please communicate changes to the timetable better?

We did: A new text alert system, where changes will be relayed to students from Faculty office, has been purchased and will be rolled out in January.

5)     You said: How can we get access to more and faster computers?

We did: Tendering for 450 PCs (worth £300,000) has started and a programme to start replacing old ones in Bedford, Putteridge Bury and Luton is scheduled for February.

Changes have been made in every Faculty. Find out about more ‘You Said.. We Did’ in next month’s Life or log on to www.beds.ac.uk/nss  Do you have a view on the NSS? If so email Life at life@beds.ac.uk

Are you a third year student? The 2013 NSS is now open http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/  It takes only 10 minutes to give us your views.