Trinity term 2006:
Focus on …
The practical workshops in this series are designed to be
relevant across academic subject areas and focus on a
particular resource or kind of resource. Each session
stands alone but they are intended to be complementary.
The workshops are free and run on Wednesday
lunchtimes, 12.30-13.30, at OUCS. Book online.
WISER Focus on: Subject Gateways and Web Services for Research Wednesday 26 April (week 1)
This session will cover search engines (especially Google), internet gateways, usenet groups and RSS
feeds, mailing lists and other electronic networking opportunities.
Roger Mills and Grazyna Cooper
WISER Focus on: Biographical Information Wednesday 3 May 2006 (2)
This session aims to introduce and demonstrate a variety of biographical literature sources, both for
historical and contemporary information. Some elements of biography will also be covered, such as
details of life, other people's perspectives and generally the usefulness of biographical research.
Sue Bird and Isabel Holowaty
WISER Focus on: Conference Literature Wednesday 10 May 2006 (3)
Conference papers can be difficult to find but they are valuable because they describe cutting-edge
research. This session will enable you to find out about conferences which are coming up and also
locate the published papers of proceedings which have taken place.
Roger Mills and Judy Reading
WISER Focus on: Theses and Dissertations Wednesday 17 May 2006 (4)
This session offers guidance on finding theses, those held in Oxford University Libraries, and those
from other institutions in the UK and abroad. It will demonstrate how to exploit the main sources of
information for theses and dissertations: OLIS; Index to Theses (UK and Ireland); Dissertation
Abstracts International (America).
Rob Wilkes and Mat Andrews
WISER Focus on: Census Information Wednesday 24 May 2006 (5)
A one-hour course on accessing and mapping British Census data. Many areas of research use census
data. This course introduces online sources of census data and shows how digital mapping can be
used to display and analyze the range of data available.
Nigel James
WISER Focus on: Government and other Official Information Sources Wednesday 31 May 2006 (6)
An introduction to government publications both parliamentary and non-parliamentary dating from
1800 to the present day. Looking at printed indexes, electronic databases and web sites.
Hannah Chandler and Angela Carritt.
WISER Focus on: Online Maps Wednesday 7 June 2006 (7)
A one-hour course introducing sources of digital mapping available online. Many areas of research
use spatial data. Digital mapping is an ideal way to present this data and this session looks at the
range of digital mapping available online and the facilities available to process and present digital
spacial data.
Nigel James
WISER Focus on: Newspapers - Historical and Print Collections in Oxford Wednesday 14 June (8)
A one hour course which will give an overview of newspaper collections in Oxford including online
full-text resources and finding aids. Note there will also be a separate session on the 12th June
focussing on sources for current newspapers.
Mat Andrews
http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/information_skills/wiser