As part of the Chichester Festivities Dr. Diana Barsham will be giving an illustrated talk on the extraordinary life of the eighteenth-century Chichester poet and biographer William Hayley, his troubled friendship with William Blake and his contribution to the cultural heritage of his native city.
The talk will be held at the Mitre Lecture Theatre at the University of Chichester on Saturday 4th July at 2.30pm. Free admission.
The Library will be open all through the summer, so for those who live nearby do come and use the facilities. This is especially useful for students entering their final year and wanting to get together a few dissertation ideas. I will also be here all summer so take advantage and let me show you all those electronic resources you’ve been avoiding in your first 2 years. If you’re not able to come in person, then contact me for help over the ‘phone or by email.
If you’ve already tried these resources without much success, then let me show you some techniques that should improve your results. Remember that an ability to research using electronic resources is a valuable skill that will stand you in good stead in your future careers.
The summer is also a good time to use up your 2nd year entitlement of inter-library loans which lasts until 31st August.
Project MUSE® has recently acquired the journal Studies in American Jewish Literature (SAJL). This is the official journal of the Society for the Study of American Jewish Literature. It publishes peer reviewed articles, book reviews, poetry and short stories dealing with all aspects of the Jewish experience in literature. Take a look at the Tables of Contents for the latest issue.
Access to the full text is available through Portia in the usual way.
The Library is now stamping standard loan books over the summer period. However some courses continue beyond the end of the semester and so reservations remain effective for the time being. Therefore books are subject to being recalled until the end of June.
Did you know that the Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection is regularly updated. Recent updates of interest to English students would be the addition of:
The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain 3rd ed., and
Pocket Fowler’s Modern English Usage 2nd ed.
In all, this database has 19 authoritative reference books on Literature alone, including:
The Oxford Companion to English Literature
The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, and
The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature
It also includes reference sources for Mythology and Folklore in addition to numerous Dictionaries and Thesauri and so is a very useful database to keep open while you carry out online research or draft essays.
Access to Oxford Reference Online is available through Portia in the usual way.
Do take a look at this week’s Chichester Observer (published 9th April) to see an article on the University Archives. The feature titled ‘Take a journey back in time and you’ll be captivated for hours’ highlights the Education collections, but the archive is also rich in material concerning Local History, Theology and English.
Canon Dr Anthony Cane is giving a series of lectures at the Cathedral at 6.30pm on four Tuesday evenings: 28 April, 5, 12 and 19 May, followed by questions and discussion in the Vicar’s Hall at 6.30pm Tuesday 2 June. The lectures will explore the impact of the Christian imagination on Western culture, using Milton’s Paradise Lost as a key text which has influenced the writings of both Lewis and Pullman.
See more at the official website The Chancellor’s Lectures.
The ITV programme J. K. Rowling – A Year in the Life, is now available for viewing at the Library (823.91 ROW).
Also note that the book, Re-reading Harry Potter – S. Gupta is now available on the Dawsonera e-book database. Access to Dawsonera is through Portia in the usual way. Please see the English Subject Librarian if you need any help.
We now have full-text access to the Burney Collection of newspapers and news pamphlets collected by Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817) which represents the largest single collection of 17th & 18th Century English news media. With over a million newspaper pages this is a valuable addition to the Library’s Electronic Resources.
Access to the database is through Portia in the usual way (under the link to 17th & 18th Century Burney Collection) and the full list of over 1,200 titles which are included can be viewed by clicking the link to Title List within the database.
Please note this book can now be found on the Ebrary e-book database:
The ivory tower and Harry Potter – ed. by Lana A. Whited
The following book has been ordered from the Dawsonera e-book database and should be available shortly. Keep checking back with the blog and I will let you know as soon as it is accessible.
Re-reading Harry Potter – S. Gupta
Both Ebrary and Dawsonera can be accessed through Portia in the usual way.
