Cambridge University Libraries course timetable

• Nervous or intimidated about visiting the UL for the first time?
• Don’t know where to begin with a Literature search?
• Can never find the books you need on the open shelves?

Book a buddy!

Email reference@cam.ac.uk to arrange a session. Tell us what you need help with and we’ll match you with a member of library staff who can show you what you need to know, whether it’s searching the catalogue, using Electronic Legal Deposit, finding open shelf books or something else entirely.

Don't suffer in silence - Book a buddy!

A guided tour through the open stacks and Anderson Room (Music Reading Room) at the University Library. This will provide an overview of the wealth of music materials held here, and how to find them. There’s also a look at the digital resources available, and an overview of other music resources at the UL.

Ever wondered what lies behind the scenes of the Music Department at the UL? Following a quick tour of the open stacks, Music Department staff will take you to delve into the odd architecture of South Court, say hello to our elephants, meet some of our rarest and tiniest books, and discover why music librarians sometimes need to be good detectives. There’ll also be a guide to finding music, for those who haven’t used our card catalogues before.

We start with an orientation session at the Divinity Faculty (ca. 45 minutes), followed by a tour of the University Library (ca. 30 minutes) for Divinity Faculty members, led by members of the Divinity Faculty Library staff.

This session introduces participants to the importance of good referencing practices within their work. The University of Cambridge’s position on plagiarism will be presented before moving on to a discussion around good referencing techniques, using the Harvard referencing style as an example. Participants will see a live demonstration of the reference management tool Zotero before taking part in a quiz to consolidate their knowledge.

This session will take place in the Pink Room. If this session is fully booked please join the waiting list - we will move venues if there is demand.

A course specifically for University of Cambridge staff and students. Attendees will learn how to search medical/healthcare databases accessed with a Raven login (such as Medline and Embase) effectively and efficiently, to learn how to save searches and references, and to create and maintain a bibliography. This course is delivered at an introductory/refresher level, and assumes you have had no prior training in how to search databases.

All attendees are required to have a Raven login. NHS staff wanting to learn similar material should book onto our 'Getting the Best Results - Improving Your Database Searching' course instead.

Copyright can be confusing. Music copyright can be a minefield. This course looks at the benefits of copyright in relation to music, and how to navigate what the law does and doesn’t allow you to do. With hands on examples to evaluate, and some real-world copyright issues; this is an opportunity to discuss and find out more about the complex world of musical copyright, and its near relation musical plagiarism. Target audience: Anyone who regularly uses sheet music, composes, arranges, or has a general interest in copyright. Suitable for staff and students.

• Are you a new undergrad who is intimidated by the thought of entering the UL?
• Are you a second or third year who has never set foot in the UL and is embarrassed to admit that you don't know what you're doing?
• Have you been struggling on your own and just need a few tips and tricks to get what you need?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions then this tour is for you!

Finding the UL intimidating and confusing is perfectly normal. It is also normal for undergraduates to only use the UL for the first time in their third year, so you are definitely not alone!

On this tour a friendly member of our Reader Services team will show you around, explain the UL's unique way of shelving books, explain what Electronic Legal Deposit is and answer any questions you may have. Most importantly we will show you where to go if you find you need help.

Don't suffer in silence! Help is here!

If you already know the basics of Research Data Management (RDM) – for example backing up your work, file storage options - but now need to know more about effective strategies for sharing your data, then this course is for you!

This course gives a brief recap on RDM and then covers managing personal and sensitive data in the context of the new GDPR legislation, why it is a Good Thing to share your data, and how to do this most effectively in terms of describing your data, deciding where to share it, and using licences to control how your data is used by others. You will even get to write your own Data Management Plan (DMP): these help you manage your data throughout a project and after it has ended and are increasingly required as part of a grant or fellowship application. You will also learn about the range of support services available to you within the University for managing your data.

If you are completely new to the concept of research data management then the beginners course is for you.

Ever wondered what lies behind the scenes of the Music Department at the UL? Following a quick tour of the open stacks, Music Department staff will take you to delve into the odd architecture of South Court, say hello to our elephants, meet some of our rarest and tiniest books, and discover why music librarians sometimes need to be good detectives. There’ll also be a guide to finding music, for those who haven’t used our card catalogues before.

How to take the bile out of your bibliography, and ensure that it's not the most time-consuming part of your work. A variety of tools will be showcased: EndNote, EndNoteWeb, Zotero, Mendeley.

Ever wondered what lies behind the scenes of the Music Department at the UL? Following a quick tour of the open stacks, Music Department staff will take you to delve into the odd architecture of South Court, say hello to our elephants, meet some of our rarest and tiniest books, and discover why music librarians sometimes need to be good detectives. There’ll also be a guide to finding music, for those who haven’t used our card catalogues before.

These 30 minute small group sessions are an opportunity for you to obtain support for searching databases and using referencing software. General advice and support will be offered, and any specific queries will be addressed.

These 30 minute small group sessions are an opportunity for you to obtain support for searching databases and using referencing software. General advice and support will be offered, and any specific queries will be addressed.

A guided tour through the open stacks and Anderson Room (Music Reading Room) at the University Library. This will provide an overview of the wealth of music materials held here, and how to find them. There’s also a look at the digital resources available, and an overview of other music resources at the UL.

This session is designed to introduce first year MMLL undergraduates to the different kind of library and resources available to them in Cambridge. We will be learning to search IDiscover, and to maximise their searches with the use of filters. The MMLL VLE will be introduced, with advice on navigating and maximising the Reading Lists resources, before moving on to the MMLL LibGuides available. The session ends with a brief introduction to the reference management tool Zotero.

The University Library holds over 9 million physical items and provides access to millions of online resources. In this session an experienced member of UL staff will show you the basics to get you started.

The tour will include:

• A brief introduction to iDiscover - your main tool for locating resources in the UL and other University of Cambridge Libraries
• A tour of the physical spaces including the Main Reading Room and Open bookstacks
• Demonstrations of how to locate the physical items you need and brief explanations of Electronic Legal Deposit and E-Resource access
• We'll show you where the important things are such as toilets, Tea Room, and comfortable areas to work
• We'll answer any questions you may have
• We'll make sure that by the end of the tour you will know where to go to find help

The University of Cambridge has over 100 libraries, with the UL alone housing over 9 million items, and this doesn't include the plethora of electronic items available on and off campus.

If you are feeling overwhelmed and aren't really sure how to search for and access the items on your reading list then this session is for you!

We will cover

• Understanding a reference
• Understanding what kind of material is available , both physical and electronic, and how to access them
• A guided tour of some of our search platforms including iDiscover and the A-Z database index
• A few tips on searching beyond your reading list

The course will be led by members of the University Library's Reference Team who will provide friendly instruction and who will be able to answer any questions you may have.

A course designed to take you step-by-step through academic writing and publication, with tips and resources to make writing up as simple as possible. The course will demystify the peer-review process, and help you to improve the precision and clarity of your academic writing.

This session will provide an opportunity to learn about the Official Publication (OP) collections available to students and researchers in Cambridge. The first part will be an introductory talk on how to find government and official publication material in both print and electronic formats. You can also choose to stay for the second part which will run as a clinic where staff will be available to talk one-to-one about your chosen topics and how to start your literature search.

This class will focus mostly on official documents from the UK, but will also provide general guidance that can be applied to searching for international documents.

This session explores why you should share your all research as widely as possible and how you can go about doing so. It will demonstrate the potential that Open Research can have in maximising exposure for your work and how you can track and trace how your research is being shared online.

Please bring your own internet-enabled device to this session.

A guided tour through the open stacks and Anderson Room (Music Reading Room) at the University Library. This will provide an overview of the wealth of music materials held here, and how to find them. There’s also a look at the digital resources available, and an overview of other music resources at the UL.