Top Ten Electronic Books For Social Sciences

Over the past year Learning Resources operated a patron driven acquisitions service. The entire catalogue of ebooks from Dawsonera (our main supplier) was added to the catalogue and any ebook which was accessed more than twice was automatically purchased for the library. Below are the top 10 ebooks purchased under the schem by social science students.

1. Treveithick, P. (2012) Social work skills and knowledge: a practice handbook.  OUP. (93 views)
2. Richardson, J. and Ryder, R. (eds.) (2012) Gypsies and travellers: empowerment and inclusion in British Society. Policy. (78 views)
3. Teater, B. (2010) An introduction to applying social work theories and methods. OUP. (75 views)
4. Vanderstoep, S.W. and Johnson, D.D. (2009) Research methods for everyday life: blending qualitative and quantitative approaches. Wiley. (74 views)
5. Denscombe, M. (2009) Ground rules for social research: guidelines for good practice. OUP. (71 views)
6. Burke, R.H. (2009) An introduction to criminological theory. Willan. (60 views)
7. Denscombe, M. (2012) Research proposals: a practical guide. OUP. (55 views)
8. Daguerre, A. and Nativel, C. (2006) When children become parents. Policy. (54 views)
9. Stafford, A. (2011) Child protection systems in the United Kingdom. Jessica Kingsley. (52 views)     
10. Smith, D. (2010) A new response to youth crime. Willan. (48 views) 

New Report Says Child Obesity In Wales Is The Highest In The UK

Yet more news on child obesity.

A report on childhood obesity published by the National Assembly for Wales in July said the rates of childhood obesity in Wales are the highest in the UK, with about 35% of children aged under 16 being overweight or obese in 2011.

During one week in July, nearly 170 children aged between 11 and 15 attended sessions in Wales run by a weight-loss club. Public Health Wales figures showed over 28% of five-year-olds are overweight, with 12.5% of children obese.

The National Obesity Forum said healthy eating needs to be taught earlier.

Charity Bids To Tackle Child Obesity

The charity Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS) is expanding its health program in schools after research showed that children in Northern Ireland were among the least active in the UK.

The University College London study found that only 43% of seven-year-olds had the recommended one hour of exercise each day. The research showed that girls fared worse than boys.

Chief executive Andrew Dougal said a time bomb was "being stored up for the future".
"In combination with too little exercise, too many children are eating poor diets which are high in fat, salt and sugar," Mr Dougal said.

"It's particularly worrying that the exercise survey was carried out among seven-year-olds, because children tend to become less, rather than more active as they become older."

He said childhood obesity in Northern Ireland had increased from 27% in 2010-2011 to 31% in 2011-2012 and was likely to rise further.

Photo by Toby Alter

New Research By CPAG Says That Families Are Struggling As Child Costs Rise

According to research by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) familes are stuggling as the costs of bringing up a child have risen to £148,000.

The report which was co-funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says costs have risen by 4% over the last year. At the same time, it claims the value of benefit payments fell in real terms.

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

The full report "The Cost of a Child in 2013" is available to read here.