Author: d.porter

The British Standards Institution are adding a new security feature to their documents

What’s happening to BSI documents?
The British Standards Institution (BSI) is improving the digital security of it’s documents.
To do this it is adding an extra layer of security to the documents it provides access to.
The BSI will be introducing a new security feature to it’s documents from Saturday 19th December 2020.

What does this mean to you?
In order to open documents from the BSI, such as those in our British Standards Online Collection, you will need to have a security plug-in installed on your device.
Once the plug-in is installed you should find that your access and use of these documents will be done as quickly and efficiently as before.

What do you need to do?
To access electronic BSI documents you will need to install the FileOpen plug-in.
You will also need to make sure you Adobe Acrobat or Reader installed in order to view any documents.

How do I get the plug-in?
To download and install the FileOpen plug-in you will need to visit the FileOpen site to get it.
If you are using a College laptop or device you may need to contact IT Services.

Find our more
You can find out more details and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at the BSI’s website.

Are you brave enough to tackle the Big Read Challenge 2020?

The Library is running a Big Read Challenge and we hope we can encourage as many members of the College community to join in and read.

At the heart of the challenge is the hope that the perception some people have towards reading will change.

While we hope those participating in the challenge will be willing to write reviews of the items on the Library Catalogue, the focus of the challenge is to expand on their current reading preferences and hopefully motivate them to discover something new.

Reading for pleasure has been identified as a great way to improve confidence in writing and expression, as it exposes readers to new themes, styles, techniques and vocabulary.

In May 2012 the Government’s Education Standards Research Team published a document called “Research evidence on reading for pleasure that researched the “evidence on the trends and benefits of independent reading”.

Identified in the report are “a positive link between positive attitudes towards reading and scoring well on reading assessments” and that benefits also included increased “text comprehension and grammar, positive reading attitudes, pleasure in reading in later life, increased general knowledge”.

The Big Read is a reading challenge which is being run in conjunction with the Reading Agency, World Book Day (5th March) and World Book Night (23rd April).

To participate in the Big Read Challenge all you need to do is read six books and complete the sections of the booklet to record your progress.

The only caveats we include are that the books have to be available from Bradford College Library and that at last four are from our Reading Collection.

To start the challenge just collect a booklet from the Library Information Desk and start reading.

The initial perception of a bibliographic work should not be made based on the aesthetic of the exterior.

The Library received numerous postive comments from readers about how much they had enjoyed the blind date with a book and the idea for the next display planned to maintain the popularity of this idea.

One reader stated “I have started reading it and I am half way through reading it already. It has proved to me that sometimes you should not take a book at face value and delve in to a couple of pages before you make a decision whether it is your type of book.”

 

The “don’t judge a book by its cover” display took the idea of readers being willing to take a leap of faith in what they were borrowing.

Instead of totally covering the book we used a wrap which featured the opening line of text from the book as a teaser.

We crated a number of flamboyant and colourful teamplate designs to use as a wrap around the books and then these were personalised for each title we chose at random to include.

The self-service kiosks the readers use to borrow items from the College Library would give an indication of the item title and hopefully this would build the anticipation of what they had ended up with rather than disappoint.

      

Looking for love, will settle for text.

The general premise of this library promotion is simple, you can find love in the most unlikely of places and we wanted our readers to take a leap of faith and borrow a book without any idea what they are getting.

So that a reader ended up with unpredictable book, we wrapped the items in the display to provide them with anonymity.

As all the books were covered up the reader would have no idea about the cover decoration, title, genre, or any other indication which may sway them when picking a book up to read.

As Valentine’s day fell during the promotion we also added a chocolate heart to each wrapped book.

To participate all a reader needed to do was pick up a book from the display and issue it to themselves.

The book blind date brings together the romantic and literal interpretation of not judging a book by the cover.

As the College Library uses self-service kiosks to issue books there was initially a teaser of what the reader may have picked up as the title is revealed, much like the first sight of a blind date through the window of a restaurant or fast food outlet.

We then hoped our role of cupid was complete as the reader would then take the book away and hopefully enjoy the time they spent with the book.

Obviously if they didn’t get along we did not really care if they came back and took another book out, or even take two books out at the same time.

Academic Liaison Librarians

Do you :

  • Need help with where to start researching for your assignment?
  • Require advice on finding the books and journal articles you need for your research?
  • Want assistance searching for information using electronic resources?
  • Find yourself stumped by referencing?

Did you know there is a specialist professionally qualified Librarian on hand to offer individual and group support?
You are welcome to contact your course librarian to discuss what library support they can provide you.

Librarian Supported Academic Areas Email Address
Lakshmi Banner ESOL
Early Years, Health & Social Care
Early Years & Youth
Health & Social Care
Business & Accountancy
Sport, Uniform Public Services and Law		 [email protected]
Haydn Clark Applied Sciences and Computing (FE)
Allied Medical & Digital – Tech (HE)
Arts and Creative Industries (FE & HE)
Distance Learning
Community Learning
Forster College: English & Maths
Adult & Community		 [email protected]
Deborah Duffy Access to HE
Sixth Form and 14-16		 [email protected]
David Porter Education and Professional Studies
Teacher Education (Primary & Secondary)
Engineering and Motor Vehicle
Engineering
Construction
Catering, Hair & Beauty and Travel
Progression to Learning and Work		 [email protected]

Staffed Library hours (Term-time)

 

David Hockney Library (2F-Lib) Trinity Green Library (1.29)
Monday 8.30am to 7.00pm 10.00am to 4.00pm
Tuesday 8.30am to 7.00pm 10.00am to 4.00pm
Wednesday 8.30am to 7.00pm 10.00am to 4.00pm
Thursday 8.30am to 7.00pm 10.00am to 4.00pm
Friday 8.30am to 5.00pm 10.00am to 4.00pm

The pleasure of reading

It may not have escaped the notice of students and staff that a number of exciting changes have taken place to the College’s Library’s over the past few months and one of the key areas which has been focussed on is the Reading Collection.

The collection not only includes standard works of fiction but biographies and graphic novels. There are examples of nearly all Literary genres and titles which should appeal to any taste.

The relocation of the Reading Location presented an opportunity to merge it with the Junior Fiction from the Teacher Training Collection. This not only increased the number of the items available but also the range of genres.

All items in the reading collected are availabe on a term-loan. This means that rather than being issued with a book for the standard two weeks it will be on loan until the end of the current term. This means that if you take an item out at the start of term you get it for much longer than if you take it out towards the end of term. Not to worry though as you still benefit from the item being automatically renewed.

For more information about the Reading Collection you can read our Library guide.

The Library will also be running a reading challenge in 2020 which all students will be welcome to participate in. More details will be revealed in the next few months, but what we can reveal is that it will involve prizes.

The Library includes a number of winning and shortlisted titles for the following Literary awards :

While the Librarians have always been keen to promote a highly varied selection of fiction and non-fiction titles within the Reading Collection we are eager to hear which titles you would like to see included in the collection. You can submit a suggestion to the library about any title you think we ought to consider adding to our collection. Click here to complete the suggestion form.