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February

Sharpen up your research and information skills! (Postgraduate workshops)

The Library is running a series of four Postgraduate workshops in semester 1, to be repeated in semester 2.

Sessions will be run by our team of Liaison Librarians, and cover such topics as RSS feeds and alerts, information management, publishing, thesis submission, journal rankings, and library services and resources.

Save yourself time and effort, by attending any or all of these workshops and meeting up with your Librarian for a consultation.

Topic titles and dates:

Moving through the information jungle: Introduction to Library services and resources. 15 February.
Tracking the needle in the haystack: Creating RSS and e-mail alerts to keep track of information. 22 February.
Taming of the bib: Software to manage information and take the hassle out of referencing. 14 March.
Exploring the publishing landscape: Thesis preparation, open access, copyright, and journal rankings. 4 April.

Find your Liaison Librarian.

January

The Gentleman's Magazine The 18th century answer to Google

21 December 2011 to 16 March 2012, Special Collections, de Beer Gallery, 1st Floor, Central Library, University of Otago

A Special Collections Exhibition 17 January In 1750, an unknown contributor wrote to Edward Cave, publisher and printer of the Gentleman's Magazine, proclaiming '...your magazines are now become oraculous, and discuss questions in divinity, philosophy, morality, mathematicks, and through the whole chain of science, even down to manage and farriery'.

Praise was certainly due to Edward Cave's Gentleman's Magazine, which he began in January 1731. Printed at St. John's Gate in London, it was a 'repository of all things worth mentioning'. It was the first 'magazine' in the modern sense. It was also the most important periodical in 18th century England, reflecting in its pages the diversity of Georgian life, politics and culture. Writers such as Dr Johnson, John Hawkesworth, Richard Savage, and Anna Seward were just a few of the thousands who contributed to it. At 6d per issue, it was an outstanding bargain.

Dealing with almost every imaginable fact and fantasy, it was the first source to refer to. This fact truly makes the Gentleman's Magazine the 18th century answer to Google. Every page is a surprise in this early searchable hard-copy database.

Special Collections, University of Otago Library, is fortunate to have an entire run of the Gentleman's Magazine from 1731 to 1866. It remains an inexhaustible mine of information for scholars of eighteenth century life, and because of the wealth of genealogical information and records, it has become an important resource for family historians. Please enjoy this exhibition.

Exhibition runs from 21 December 2011 to 16 March 2012.