Our E-Book Collection

(This post is part of our 2014 Library Essentials series)

We have around 150,000 e-books in our library catalogue. If we can purchase a copy of a textbook in electronic format, we aim to do that but unfortunately the publishers do not always give us that option. They also sometimes price them high that we cannot afford to purchase – e-books often come with a limited number of “accesses” before you are required to make an additional purchase. The business model of academic publishers is frequently aggressive!

If we do have an e-book version, you will see the additional “Online” tab in the library catalogue:

(Click for larger image)

You will need to log in to read an e-book using your student (or staff) id and usual password.

We have three main e-book suppliers and each site looks and behaves slightly differently. All offer features to enhance your use of e-books: check out our E-Books Guide (PDF) to get the most out of our e-book collection and to learn the different ways you can download the books to read on your own device or computer.

Be aware that our “Dawsonera” e-books may have limited credits – in order to preserve credits, please don’t access them unless you really want to read them! Each access or download uses up a credit and we may not be able to purchase more when they run out.

If you have any questions about our e-books, let us know: buslib@swansea.ac.uk

Mintel name change: meet the new “Mintel Market Sizes”

Mintel Global Markets Navigator has changed its name to “Mintel Market Sizes”. This is one of a pair of Mintel resources we have for market research. As the name suggests, Market Sizes has data on global markets so if you are curious on exploring the growth of the Brazilian beer market or Dishwashing Products in Poland or Debit and Credit Cards in China, then this is the database for you. You can also use the “Search” dashboard to build a query and compare markets between countries and regions.

Access it here: https://ifind.swan.ac.uk/discover/Record/616042#.VCRAWpRdWSo

Our guide to Mintel: https://blackboard.swan.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/institution/LibraryISSResources/Database%20Guides/Mintel.pdf (PDF)

Welcome to the library!

We are delighted to welcome all our new School of Management students this week!

We will be seeing you all for an “Introduction to the Library” session this week – these are all held in Training Room 2 in the library. As you walk into the building and go through the security gates, keep walking straight, past the service desks, through the glass doors, right through the study hall and Training Room 2 is the large room at the very back. If you are unsure, ask at the Information Desk and they will be glad to guide you.

1. Why use the library?

Let our students tell you why it’s the hub of student life…

2. How to use the library

Your student id card is also your library card.

To find something in the library, look it up on our library catalogue, iFind Discover.

Search Tip: for a book, enter the author’s surname and a few words from the title.

Make a note of the “Call Number”: this is the sequence of letters and numbers e.g. HF5657.4 .D78 2012

Most of the business and economics books are located on what we call “Level 2 West” – this is one floor down from the entrance level. The business and economics collection is in the far back corner around HC-HJ.

Floor Plan of Level 2 West

Once you have found a book or journal, you can borrow it either by taking it to the Issue Desk or by using one of our Self-Issue machines:

3. Avoid library fines

You will be able to renew books as long as someone else has not requested to read them. (The School of Management textbooks are extremely popular so this does happen quite often.) You can check your library account & renew your books online via the library catalogue iFind Discover:

Or you can ring us up on 01792 295178. Please allow enough time to bring the books back if they cannot be renewed, otherwise you will be charged library fines.

Full information on borrowing and renewing items is on our website or we would be happy to help you at the Issue Desk or the Information Desk.

Literature Reviews – a guide for Undergraduates

We have a new guide for 1st and 2nd year undergraduate students who have been set a literature review assignment. Although there is much available on larger scale literature reviews for dissertations and theses, we wanted to create something suitable for shorter assignments. Let us know if it’s useful!

Tackling a Literature Review Assignment (PDF)