Update from Trent Park Library

Dear Students, 

This is an update of the changes that have recently been made in the Trent Park library this summer. I hope that you find it useful / interesting. If you have any questions or comments, please do contact your Librarian.

Your Librarian 

In order to re-distribute the workload between the Librarians at Trent Park, we have changed some of the subject responsibilities. The Senior Liaison Librarians looking after Education are now as follows:

Secondary – Thomas Cullis  T.P.Cullis@mdx.ac.uk  Tel 6410

All other Education subjects, including Education Studies, Early Years, Primary, Further, Higher and MidWheb – Monica Johnson  m.johnson@mdx.ac.uk  Tel 6410

A key part of the Senior Liaison Librarian’s role is to teach students how to make the most efficient and effective use of Library and information resources. So, if you would like to learn how to go beyond your reading lists, how to find and use journal articles, how to use online resources such as Education Research Complete, or how to assess the quality of information that you find on the Internet then get in touch with Monica or Tom.

Subject pages 

We have re-launched the Library Subject Guides as a gateway to all the information resources that students might need. We have tried to make them student-friendly, interactive and as interesting as possible. Have a look and tell us what you think  http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/content.php?hs=a&pid=58962  

Online journals 

Following feedback from students in Education, we are converting our 71 Education journal subscriptions to the electronic-only format. This means that all members of Middlesex will be able to access the full text of these journals from wherever they have an Internet connection – at home, at work, an Internet café, and (of course) anywhere on any campus.

Ease of access by students is the main advantage of the online format, but other advantages include the ease of searching for a particular topic, the ease of storage (no need to photocopy and file), and the ability to set up alerts to email you the Table of Contents when the new issue of a journal is published. 

These subscriptions are complemented by the journals available electronically in Education Research Complete and Sage eJournals, as well as the Taylor & Francis archive.

New resources 

At the end of the last academic year we were able to invest a significant amount in purchasing the online backfiles of all Taylor & Francis Education journals. This means that there are now an additional 2100 volumes of high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles available to all members of Middlesex wherever they have access to the Internet. The archive covers from Volume 1, Issue 1 of each journal (as far back as 1906 in some cases) to 1996.

Buying books 

To reflect the increased student numbers we have significantly increased the book budget for Education this year. In addition, following last year’s Board of Studies we have also changed our policy on multiple copies – we now buy roughly in the ratio of 1 book for every 10 students (for essential readings). 

In addition, in direct response to student feedback, wherever a recommended book is available electronically then we are also purchasing it as an e-book as well as the paper format. All e-books are linked to via the Library catalogue so they are easy to find.


Warm regards, 

Frankie Wilson 
School Liaison Manager (Arts & Education) 
Learning Resources