Data resources: What's available at York and beyond?

Martin Phillip, Academic Liaison Librarian, summarises the resources you can access at the University

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This post is a summary of a session that was delivered during  That Figures, a week of statistics analysis workshops that were held in February. For information take a look at the event’s programme and presentations.

What’s available at York?

The University of York subscribes to a number of different data resources that you can access via the E-resources Guide. E-resources cover all sorts of different subject areas and includes the UK Data Service which contains socio-economic data and Digimap which provides maps and geospatial data.

In addition to subscription resources we also list a number of high quality free databases on the E-resources guide, one of which (Eurostat) is detailed below.

Numbers © 2010 duncan c (https://flic.kr/p/7XEruh)

OECD iLibrary

OECD is short for Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and, according to their website,  it “exists to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world”.

OECD began as a European organisation however it is now much more of a worldwide organisation with 35 member states including Australia and the US.

The OECD iLibrary are a statistical agency who publish comparable statistics on a wide number of subjects. They provide datasets from all member states (and others) and are organised into 17 themes on areas such as financial affairs, social expenditure, and further series relating to industry, agriculture, employment, health and more.

The same data is presented in different ways providing choice in how you can access and manipulate it. This includes over 10,000 ebooks with data often presented with commentary and a searchable abstract of data series that indicates origin, start date and periodicity of the data. Data tables can also be constructed according to your own specifications for viewing online, then exported as a spreadsheet to analyse and manipulate further.

Passport

Passport (or Passport GMID as it is sometimes referred to) is a market research tool that monitors industry trends and provides strategic analysis, market size and a market share database for all key sectors and products across key countries.

Passport provides unique datasets developed specifically for the industries it is reporting on meaning you are using a tool that isn’t just used in academia. Reports are created by local analysts that look closely at the characteristics of each country. Passport provides access to historic data and forecasts and can compare these trends across countries. Presentations are also offered to explain regional trend comparisons.

Like OECD iLibrary, multiple options are provided when accessing the data. You can browse which allows you to click on an industry heading and you can then explode the heading to reveal further categories in order to access data related to a specific product type. You can also explore dashboards that are visual and interactive to understand high-level trends in industries, economies and consumers.

Passport helps you keep organised and up-to-date with the latest developments if you register with the service which allows you to create alerts and save your research to access at a later date.

Eurostat

Eurostat is the European Commission's official website that provides access to publicly-available socio-economic data regarding EU member states.

Eurostat provides publications including regional yearbooks, manuals and guidelines, statistical working papers, leaflets and other brochures.

Looking for statistics using the tool is pretty straightforward as you can search for a publication by theme including: general and regional; economy and finance; environment and energy and so on. Once you’ve clicked on a collection you then have further choices such as datasets and pocketbooks.

Over the last few years, Eurostat has started producing infographics, such as this one that was published to coincide with International Woman's Day 2017. Infographics can be really helpful to visually understand a topic.

Contact

If you have any questions about the data resources we subscribe to or recommend please get in touch at lib-economics@york.ac.uk.

Improving the Electronic Texts Service

Ben Catt explains how the introduction of the CLA Digital Content Store has led to enhancements to the Electronic Texts Service.

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One of the many ways in which the Library can provide students with easy access to essential reading is through the Electronic Texts Service. If a book or journal is only available in print then teaching staff can request a digitised version of a key chapter or article for their resource lists. This is useful for both campus-based and distance learning students, especially for large courses where print availability is limited to one or two copies. Requests are easy to submit through our reading list software EARL (the deadline for Spring Term resource lists is Monday 21 November) and the Library produces over 2,000 scans each year. Our scans are high resolution and use optical character recognition for improved accessibility.

The process behind this service has been improved for the 2016/17 academic year thanks to the introduction of the Digital Content Store, a platform developed by the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) to help the Library streamline resource list digitisation workflows. Copying extent limits have also been increased from 5% to 10% per publication for each module (or one chapter/article, whichever is greater). This will provide the Library with greater flexibility to fulfil requests whilst complying with the CLA's Higher Education scanning licence.

Another major benefit of the DCS is that the Library can share digitised content with other participating Universities (currently 60 institutions across the UK) provided that they own or subscribe to the title, to save duplication of scanning. It also integrates the Enhanced Higher Education Supply Service (EHESS), offered by the CLA and British Library for supplying copyright-compliant, digitised content where we do not have an original print copy in our collections (or if the items are on loan, in-use or missing). The DCS also aligns with processes involved in the Library's new permissions clearance pilot service, whereby we can contact publishers directly to request digitisation permission if a title is excluded from the CLA licence. This will significantly increase the scope of digitised publications the Library is able to provide for course reading.

On the surface, the process for staff to submit digitisation requests remains unchanged. However, behind the scenes the DCS can automate a range of Library processes such as ownership verification, licence compliance checking, and annual reporting tasks. The DCS is integrated with the Library's resource management system (Ex Libris Alma), containing the data behind our collections which displays in YorSearch. This streamlined, cohesive approach will increase the responsiveness of the services the Library can offer, in keeping with our principles of providing efficient access to resources in high demand.

We welcome any feedback from staff and students on the DCS (or the Electronic Texts Service in general): lib-resourcelists@york.ac.uk

The Academic Liaison Team would like to save you time…

Ned Potter explains how Academic Liaison Librarians can help you to find the resources you need.

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There was some interesting work done at the University of Huddersfield a couple of years ago, which showed that students who used the library the most got the best degrees. I'll leave it up to you to speculate whether this was because those types of students were always going to do well anyway, or because the library helped them improve their grades - but certainly with a lot of the work we do across Information Services we aim to help you get better marks.

In the Academic Liaison Team we serve a few roles. For the students, we want to help you up your grade, or just save you some time (both would be ideal, but let's not get ahead of ourselves). For the staff, we try and be a conduit for information between the department and Information Services, and to keep up an ongoing dialogue around making what we do as relevant as possible to everyone. It's not always easy to understand exactly what Academic Liaison does, so we made a video to try and explain it. If you can spare 1 minute 25 seconds, have a look:

As it says at the end of the video, the Subject Guides homepage has more information. We'll write a blog post about those in more detail soon, but the short version is this: each Department has an Academic Liaison Librarian, often known as an ALL for short, and each ALL prepares a Subject Guide for their Department, detailing the most pertinent and useful information about what we have to help you study. We spend millions of pounds each year on electronic resources so that they're free to you at the point of access, and finding them via our Subject Guides (or YorSearch) ensures you get everything you're entitled to. This is good quality academic information, which Google either can't find at all, or can only find when you're on campus (and even that's because we've already got you through the paywall).

If I'm the Academic Liaison Librarian for your Department, you'll have seen me as part of your Induction, giving a brief talk to outline how the library works and what its benefits are to you. I'll probably have taught at least one workshop on your degree, about finding and accessing information, among other related topics. I may turn up in your Department a few times each term, either to run drop-in sessions or to attend Departmental meetings like Board of Studies. And I may have seen some of you for one-to-one research consultations, where we went into more detail about how to find and evaluate sources for your assignments. You can always email your ALL, either via the addresses on each Subject Guide, or just email lib-enquiry@york.ac.uk and they'll pass your query on to the relevant one of us. We're happy to hear from you, and can schedule an appointment if need be or just talk things over via phone or email.

Our aim is to point you in the right direction to find materials you can cite with confidence – the kinds of things which will get you better grades. We want to help broaden your search if you're not finding enough, or focus it in if you’re bringing back Too Much Information, and help you evaluate what you find. We can show you what to look for in terms of credibility and authority when using sources you've found via Google, or give you alternatives if you'd rather steer clear of search engines. We hope we can save you a bit of time searching, so you can spend more time finding. We can also assist in choosing IT tools for your academic study, and help you organise your references.
If Academic Liaison can make things easier, or quicker, or better, or more comprehensive, we will. So start by visiting the Subject Guide for your Department, and get in touch with us any time you'd like our help.

Music Online - an array of recordings and reference material

Olivia Else, our Academic Liaison Librarian for Music, introduces one of our newest e-resources.

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Music Online is a fantastic new resource that the Library has recently subscribed to. It includes a vast array of recordings and videos of concerts and staged musical performances, as well as reference materials such as virtual scores and musical encyclopedias.

Music Online incorporates 12 different collections which can be loosely grouped as follows:

Audiovisual Resources:

• American Song
• Classical Music in Video
• Classical Music Library
• Contemporary World Music
• Dance in Video Series
• Jazz Music Library
• Opera in Video
• Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries

Reference Resources:

• African American Music Reference
• Classical Music Reference  Library
• Classical Scores Library series 1 & 2
• The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online

What does Music Online cover?

Music Online provides coverage in breadth and depth across key musical genres:

Classical
All major genres and time periods from medieval to contemporary, from choral works to symphonies, operas, and the avant-garde.

Jazz
All major genres including vocal jazz, bebop, acid jazz, big band, modern jazz, and more.
World: Music from 169 countries and more than 1,000 cultural groups.

American
Country, folk, jazz, bluegrass, Western, old time, American Indian, blues, gospel, R&B, and shape note singing.

Popular
Wide range of popular music from around the world that is not available in our genre-specific collections.

Featured artists 

Within each genre, a number of featured artists are selected, including:

GZA (Wu-Tang Clan) by Andrew
Reproduced from Flickr under a
Creative Commons licence

Classical: Glenn Gould, Placido Domingo, Maria Callas, Claudio Abbado, Olga Borodina, Ileana Cotrubas, Hilary Hahn, Thomas Hampson, Radu Lupu, Karita Mattila, Margaret Leng Tan, Kiri Te Kanawa, Mitsuko Uchida, Pinchas Zuckerman.

Jazz: Bing Crosby, Buddy Guy, Charlie Parker, Chuck Mangione, Dinah Washington, Diana Krall, Dixie Dregs, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Stan Getz.

World: Ali Jihad Racy, Adama Dramé, Carlos Do Carmo, Parisa, Tran Quang Haï, Katrien Delavier, Hussein El Masry, Rassegna, Oedo Sukeroku Taiko, El Son Entero, Simon Shaneem, I Wayan Sadra, and Fawzy Al-Aiedy.

American: Pete Seeger, Isaac Hayes, Al Jackson, Booker T. Jones, Robert Byrd,  Memphis Slim, Otis Redding, BB King, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Popular: Gloria Gaynor, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Kool & The Gang, Edith Piaf, Rod Stewart, The Sex Pistols, A Flock of Seagulls, Tanya Tucker, Naughty by Nature, Wu-Tang Clan, Liberace.

How can I find these resources?

The 12 packages detailed above are listed by title on the Library's E-resources Guide - use the A-Z tabs at the top of the screen to navigate to the appropriate resource. Alternatively you can browse this collection along with other excellent music resources via the Library's Music Subject Guide. Simply select audio or text resources from the drop down menu on the Electronic Resources tab, then select the resource that you are interested in from the resulting list.

As with all electronic resources at York, you will be asked to log in with your University username and password when you first access a resource.

How can I get more help?

All of the Music Online collections include Help features which should answer most common queries. For further advice you can also contact Olivia Else, the Music Academic Liaison Librarian, at lib-music@york.ac.uk.

Your department's Subject Guide will also include links to lots of other useful resources for your subject, and will provide general advice on Library resources for your department.

Go beyond your Resource Lists with Oxford Bibliographies Online!

David Brown, one of our team of Academic Liaison Librarians, introduces you to one of the many e-resources that we provide to support your work.

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Your Resource Lists are a great starting point when you're looking for materials for assignments, but if you really want to impress your tutors you'll need to find lots of other sources too. Oxford Bibliographies Online (OBO) is just one of the Library's online resources which can help you to expand your search and go beyond your Resource List.

What is OBO?

OBO provides research guides, written by experts in the subject. Each guide breaks down the topic into key headings, which include suggested reading and links to more material. Think of each guide on OBO as a subject-specific Resource List, giving you an idea about the key books, journal articles and other resources for that topic.

At York, we have access to five different sections on OBO:

• Criminology
• Linguistics
• Philosophy
• Psychology
• Social Work

How can I find material on OBO?

Each subject area on OBO is broken down into research guides, covering the main topics for that subject. You can browse each subject by using the links at the top of the screen, or search for topics of interest by using the search box at the top-right. The Advanced Search gives you more options - for example, you can choose which subject areas to include in your search.

You will also find OBO's research guides listed on YorSearch, our Library catalogue. YorSearch will give you a direct link to each entry on OBO, making it easy to find the research guide you're looking for.

How do I use OBO's research guides?

The research guides usually start with an introduction, giving you a broad overview of the subject, followed by more specific areas of interest. Each section of the guide includes suggested readings, with notes under each reference to explain why that source might be useful.

To find out whether a resource is available from the Library, click on Find this resource under each reference. The Find it @ York button will automatically check YorSearch to see whether that book or journal article is available. YorSearch will tell you whether the item is available electronically (and give you a link) or in print.

Remember that we won't necessarily have access to everything listed on OBO, as it might not have been chosen specifically by our academics. If you think we should have access to an item you'd like to use, why not suggest it to the Academic Liaison Librarian for your department? You can find his or her contact details on your department's Subject Guide.

How can I get more help?

For help using OBO, you could either explore the database's Help pages, or contact your Liaison Librarian for more advice.

Your department's Subject Guide will include links to lots of other useful resources for your subject, and will provide general advice on Library resources for your department.