Cambridge University Libraries course timetable

The UL is unique: a national, legal deposit library with an amazing collection of around 8 million items - over two million of which you can browse on our open shelves. If that sounds a bit daunting, why not come on a brief orientation tour to help you find your way around? We’ll even tell you what we keep in the famous Library tower ...

Please note this tour does not cover the University's vast electronic and digital collections: to find out more about using these, please see check for courses on our timetable or ask a member of Library staff for help.

This session will help participants develop skills to get them searching for research quickly and efficiently. The session will start with a demonstration of Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and MathSciNet before moving on to a focused look at how to get Google to work for you. We will then move into a drop-in clinic where library staff will be on hand to work with participants on their own personal projects and searching needs.

Session structure:

12pm-1pm: Demonstration of key databases

1pm-2pm: Drop-in clinic with 1-2-1 support from librarians

While the session has a STEM focus, it is open to all University members. Booking not required but is strongly encouraged so we have an idea of numbers.

Interested in using software to manage and organise your references, but not sure where to start? Or confused about the different software options available? Come along and hear about four different reference management software packages - Zotero, Mendeley, Endnote, and EasyBib - and make a more informed choice about which, if any, will suit you and your research best.

The UL is unique: a national, legal deposit library with an amazing collection of around 8 million items - over two million of which you can browse on our open shelves. If that sounds a bit daunting, why not come on a brief orientation tour to help you find your way around? We’ll even tell you what we keep in the famous Library tower ...

Please note this tour does not cover the University's vast electronic and digital collections: to find out more about using these, please see check for courses on our timetable or ask a member of Library staff for help.

Need help with iDiscover? Call in at the General Enquiries Helpdesk (on the landing above the Entrance Hall) where a member of Library staff will be able to help you search our print and online collections, answer any questions you have, or give you a general overview.

Every Friday between 9.00 and 10.15.

This session will show what electronic resources are available to researchers in the Physical Sciences and Technology areas. You will be shown how to effectively search specialist databases so you can get exactly what you want, when you want from University of Cambridge resources.

This session will show what electronic resources are available to researchers in the Life Sciences. You will be shown how to effectively search specialist databases so you can get exactly what you want, when you want from University of Cambridge resources.

Cambridge University Library is one of the top research libraries in the world and holds over 8 million items. If you are a member of Library staff at a college, department or faculty library and would like to give your students introductory tours of the UL, then we would love to help you gain the knowledge and confidence to do that.

Email us today (research-skills@lib.cam.ac.uk) to organise a one-to-one tour with an experienced member of UL staff. We will guide you through the orientation tour route that we use for our own tours and can answer any questions that you may have.

Before undertaking any piece of primary research it’s important to be aware of as much of the existing literature as possible. A systematic literature review can also be a research end in itself. And it’s not something to be taken lightly. But how can you be sure you’re being as rigorous as necessary? How can you manage the references you find, document the process, and also know when to stop searching?

If you need to do a systematic literature review, and you’re not able to make sense of the search strategy behind this paper then this course is for you. Please bring along details of your own topic so that the session can be tailored to address your specific needs.

This session will show participants the fundamentals of good Research Data Management (RDM) to help make sure all the research data that they might be generating as part of their work doesn't take over their lives!

The session will start with a presentation giving tips and tricks for good RDM practices and will move into a drop-in informal clinic where library staff will be available to answer specific questions. As the session will take place on Halloween, expect a spooky theme and free trick-or-treat candy!

Session structure:

12pm-1pm: Presentation about Research Data Management

1pm-2pm: Drop-in clinic with 1-2-1 support from librarians

While the session has a STEM focus, it is open to all University members. Booking not required but is strongly encouraged so we have an idea of numbers.

By law, a copy of every UK print publication must be given to the British Library by its publishers, and to five other major libraries, including Cambridge University Library, that request it. Since April 2013 Legal Deposit has included material published digitally and online.

Non-print Legal Deposit material is accessed via designated PCs in the University Library and Affiliated Libraries.

With the amount of material now deposited electronically increasing, the University Library is offering informal training sessions with staff from the Reference Department. Whether you require a general overview or have specific enquiries, these sessions will be of help to you.

A member of staff will be available from 11.30-12.00 every Wednesday. There is no need to book a place; please make yourself known to staff at the enquiry desk in the main Reading Room.

Need help with iDiscover? Call in at the General Enquiries Helpdesk (on the landing above the Entrance Hall) where a member of Library staff will be able to help you search our print and online collections, answer any questions you have, or give you a general overview.

Every Friday between 9.00 and 10.15.

This session will show participants why referencing is a good thing for management of your own research, as well as introducing participants to referencing tools that can be integrated with Word and specialist tools like LaTeX.

The session will start with a short presentation on the principles of good referencing as well as getting participants to critically evaluate good and bad practice, before moving into a drop-in clinic where participants can get 1-2-1 help from librarians.

Session structure:

12pm-1pm: Presentation about referencing tools and techniques

1pm-2pm: Drop-in clinic with 1-2-1 support from librarians

While the session has a STEM focus, it is open to all University members. Booking not required but is strongly encouraged so we have an idea of numbers.

There are lots of "experts" out there in science but how do you know who you can trust and who should be taken with a pinch of salt?

This session will look at how to critically evaluate different sources, alternative sources for good research, the challenges around the democratisation of knowledge, as well as the "fake news" crisis and how researchers can even be part of the solution when it comes to communicating research well.

A drop-in session where members of the e-journals and e-books teams will be on hand to help with any questions you may have about these resources.

One session - four medicine and life science databases - widest coverage for your literature search. PubMed is great, but it doesn't cover all the journals relevant to life sciences and medicine. Embase, Web of Science and Scopus can also be relevant and each covers unique material. Come to this hands-on session to learn how to get the best from each of these "4 tops".

This session will introduce participants to the ideas of working openly and reproducibly through presenting case studies and tools to help facilitate this kind of work. From GitHub to good file naming conventions, participants will be given the opportunity to learn from other people’s failures and to be better at future-proofing their research.

The session will predominantly be presentation and discussion based with some time at the end for some 1-2-1 focused help from library staff.

Session structure:

12pm-1pm: Presentation about Research Data Management

1pm-2pm: Drop-in clinic with 1-2-1 support from librarians

While the session has a STEM focus, it is open to all University members. Booking not required but is strongly encouraged so we have an idea of numbers.

One session covering the Medline database, targeted at doctors. Learn how to get the best out of your literature searches.

Finding secondary literature to inform and support your research is paramount to any higher-level research. This session focuses on the concepts as well as practical issues, to give participants a more comprehensive understanding of the issues and features of literature searching.

If you have a portable device to access the wifi and bibliographic database, please bring this to the session.

By law, a copy of every UK print publication must be given to the British Library by its publishers, and to five other major libraries, including Cambridge University Library, that request it. Since April 2013 Legal Deposit has included material published digitally and online.

Non-print Legal Deposit material is accessed via designated PCs in the University Library and Affiliated Libraries.

With the amount of material now deposited electronically increasing, the University Library is offering informal training sessions with staff from the Reference Department. Whether you require a general overview or have specific enquiries, these sessions will be of help to you.

A member of staff will be available from 11.30-12.00 every Wednesday. There is no need to book a place; please make yourself known to staff at the enquiry desk in the main Reading Room.