Academic textbooks and journals are essential to completing your studies but they are often just one piece of a larger picture when you are investigating a topic. How can you describe the modern political landscape without referring to social media, understand the implementation of best practice in health care without consulting a clinical guideline, or evaluate the workforce inclusivity of a particular business or organisation without reviewing their diversity policy? This type of information has a place in any student’s research and it has a name – grey literature.
Festive Feedback 2017
We thought it would be useful to tell you about some of the comments we received during our festive Feedback campaign, and some of the actions that have taken place in response to your feedback.
We received 54 responses over the festive period covering these areas:
The Minority Male
A Wellcome Trust Research Resources Project
Usually when we hear about education in the early 20th century it is of a sphere dominated by men. Male professors, teachers and students thrived in a world where women were generally regarded as the lesser sex. But at the Glasgow and West of Scotland College of Domestic Science the opposite was true. It was an institution led by a succession of women Principals who championed the role of women in education. Thousands of women entered its doors to be trained in Cookery, Housewifery, Laundrywork, Dressmaking, as teachers of Domestic Science, Dieticians and Institutional Managers. Upon glancing at the student registers and class photographs – seeing them full of names and faces of women – one may think men were barred from entry. However, this was not the case.
The first male students appeared in April 1915. This was during World War I and soldiers had to cook for large numbers of servicemen Continue reading
The Tale of Gordon McCulloch
It’s an odd feeling this, sorting through someone’s papers when you didn’t know them. I never met Gordon McCulloch. And now that he is gone he’ll always remain somewhat opaque. Yet as I read his correspondence, see the handwritten addendums to letters, the typed and re-typed drafts of university essays, slowly, almost by osmosis; a narrative starts to form.
Here’s a story for you. Three men appear side by side in two photographs. Continue reading
Want to save your favourite resources on Discover?
We have a short video to show you how to create a list of favourite resources on Discover – every time you log in find your most used books, journals and databases waiting for you. A captioned version is available here.
Want to read the Financial Times?
Interested in what’s going on in the business world?
Why not explore the FT.Com database. Not only can you read the daily Financial Times paper (including North American, Middle East and Asian editions) but you can explore the rich content of the full FT. COM database – including business sector reports, market data, analyst comment and up to date news and views.
The FT database is searchable, enabling you to integrate FT content into your research, it also a fantastic resource for that all important future job interview when you need some background information on a company or sector. For first time access and you must initially register using your university email address at: FT.COM
Access FT.com through the library website for the best experience.
Fighting the fear of copyright with the GCU Online UK Copyright Advisor.
Hi, I’m Marion Kelt and I’m the Copyright Advisor at GCU. Over the last year I’ve noticed a rise in the number and types of copyright enquiry. In one way, I’m glad to see this as most of us have a general fear of copyright and licensing issues. They are the elephant in the room, we all know it is there, but nobody wants to admit it exists!
Our team developed an online copyright advisor to help staff and students to quickly answer the most frequently asked questions on commonly used resources. It is available 24-7 to help you with the more straightforward copyright questions. It answers FAQs on seven types of resource: Continue reading
Tackling food poverty: from peacetime to wartime and back again
A Wellcome Trust Research Resources Project
Over the festive season people are busy shopping, partying and feasting on rich food. For many, it is a time of extravagance and over-indulgence but it is also a time to remember that there are people who are less fortunate and need help to avoid poverty and hunger.
At the end of the 19th century, it was families struggling on low incomes that the Glasgow School of Cookery (GSC) and West End School of Cookery aimed to help, not just within their own walls, but by taking their knowledge and expertise out into the community. Teaching staff travelled widely around Glasgow and the towns and villages further afield, Continue reading
Cooking up a College Catalogue
A Wellcome Trust Research Resources Project
On first walking into the archive store and seeing the rows of shelves lined with fascinating objects, books, folders and boxes of different shapes and sizes, it is hard not to compare them with larder shelves, especially knowing that the archive collections are from cookery schools and a college of domestic science. Each shelf holds an assortment of coloured packages which when opened reveal the ingredients that provide the different flavours of life that went on within those institutions. These are the archives of three of Glasgow Caledonian University’s predecessor institutions and The Wellcome Trust has funded a 12 month project, “Poverty, Health, Diet and Education in Glasgow: from Domestic Science to the Allied Health Professions, 1875-1993”, to sort, catalogue, preserve and share the collections.
On the menu we have two starters, the Glasgow School of Cookery (1875) and the West End School of Cookery (1878), rival cookery schools Continue reading
Are you working on your dissertation or Honours’ Project?
The Library has lots of useful resources that can help you with your dissertation or Honours’ Project.
Planning your search strategy
We have a range of books that can help you get started with your literature review and with your dissertation or project more generally (for example here, here and here). Additionally our online training package SMILE has lots of tips that will improve the quality of your research. Continue reading