Black History Month

October 2023:

We have Black History Month new books displays at ECA Library, Evolution House, and at the Main Library, George Square, for everyone to enjoy this month.

We would also like to let you all know about an event taking place on 24 October, from 2.00pm – 3.30pm at the Main Library: Black History Month in the UK – Views from Home and the Diaspora.

In this in-person event, Dr Elizabeth Williams, cultural historian and leader of the Academic Support Librarian team, will be in conversation with six outstanding University of Edinburgh academics and commentators: Dr. Gwenetta D. Curry, Dr Omolabake Fakunle, Dr Nicola Frith, Sharon Boateng, Dr Simon Buck, and Rachel Hosker.

Books on display at ECA Library
Black History Month book displays at ECA Library, October 2023.

BFI Player one year subscription confirmed!

We are delighted to be able to announce that all University of Edinburgh students and staff will now have a full one year of access to the complete BFI Player platform, following a successful 6 month pilot.

You can easily register with BFI Player and get access to hundreds of quality independent and art house films and classics.

Access BFI Player via the databases A-Z, or our list of the best databases for Art & Design, and also for Film Studies.

Please note: if you already had a BFI Player account linked to our pilot University of Edinburgh institutional subscription before 1st October 2023, you will need to relink your account using the instructions provided at the above webpages, when you first log in after 1st October 2023.  Once your account is relinked, you will then be able to sign in to BFI Player as normal via http://player.bfi.org.uk/ 

Enjoy!

BFI Player logo

At Home in the World – a sumptuous donation to ECA Library

We have recently received a most beautiful book as a donation from Professor Elizabeth Cowling, “At Home in the World: the Art and Life of Gulammohammed Sheikh”, edited by Chaitanya Sambrani, from Tulika Books, 2019.

Gulammohammed Sheikh has played a pioneering role in contemporary Indian art’s engagement with hybridity and a plural inheritance. Resolutely attentive to the multiplicity of experience and systems of representation and belief on the subcontinent, Sheikh’s art has reimagined relationships with the often paradoxical nature of tradition.

In a practice stretching more than five decades and across painting and digital media, Sheikh has sought to articulate a way of incorporating his fascination with historical figures and sources stretching from Italy to China in an encyclopedic endeavor, producing contemporary art that unashamedly declares its affiliations to earlier ways of seeing, thinking, and doing.

At Home in the World presents the first comprehensive study of the art and life of this seminal figure, bringing together aspects of biographical discussion alongside other modes of art historical analysis.

Once catalogued this gorgeous book will be available at ECA Library, Evolution House.

illustrated cover of the book
At Home in the World: front cover and images from inside…

       

Autumn Dissertation and Thesis Festival: 30 October – 10 November 2023

Discover the help and resources available from the Library to support your dissertation or thesis. This autumn’s festival will be a mix of in person and online events, including sessions on

  • How to use the Library for your dissertation
  • Using the National Library of Scotland for your dissertation or thesis, and
  • What is a systematic review dissertation like?

For more information take a look at the full programme of events.

 

Welcome Week 2023

11th September 2023:

We wish all our new students a very happy Welcome Week, and extend a warm welcome to you, and to all our returning students! Come and collect your stickers from the site libraries!

Picture of colourful stickers to collect
‘Collect the Library’ stickers at ECA Library

If you are new on-campus you will find these library orientation guides useful.
You can find the Library newsletters here.
You can find out about our Library skills course on Learn, called Libsmart, here.
You can find out about our upcoming Dissertation & Thesis Festival 2023 here. It runs from 30 October – 10 November 2023.
If you have any questions about the Library services, or would like to arrange a 1-2-1 meeting with a librarian, take a look at the list of your academic support librarians here and make contact.

Browse our new books and pick up a Libraries leaflet.

Barbara A. Morton exhibition at ECA Library: sidereal. the afterimage

From 8th September until 7th November 2023 we were delighted to host sidereal. the afterimage, presenting a selection of work from ~ sidereal. the afterimage, by Barbara A. Morton of Entropie Books.

sidereal. the afterimage

sidereal. the afterimage

~ sidereal. the afterimage is a new chapter of creative composition by Barbara A Morton.

The exhibition takes its title from the distinctive signature piece ~ sidereal. the
afterimage which achieves an extension of intention and originality in the
expression of poetry, book-making, drawing, and design.

The accompanying pieces, likewise, demonstrate ambition and creative reach,
both technically and imaginatively, and serve to maintain and develop Barbara’s
ongoing purpose of bringing poetry and poetic text to its aesthetic and accurate
environment ~ to encourage the reader to look, and to encourage the viewer to
read. To look closely. To look again. To look ~ for longer.

The show was at ECA Library, Evolution House (level 1), West Port, Edinburgh, until noon on 7th November 2023. Evolution House is open to the public Monday – Friday, 9.00am – 4.45pm.

 

 

A Tribute to Len McDermid: 1933 – 2023

27th June 2023:

Award winning artist, poet and letterpress printer, and founder of Stichill Marigold Press, Len McDermid sadly died last week, and we pay tribute to him at ECA Library with a display of the work we hold by him in the ECA Library artists’ books collection.

We were honoured to host a tribute exhibition in 2021, Fair Winds and Following Seas, curated by book artist Barbara A Morton, and we loved and respected Len and enjoyed working with him.

He will be sorely missed.

Library launches new Diversifying Toolkit guide for staff

The Academic Support Librarian team have put together a subject guide on how to diversify your teaching, which aims to give staff and tutors an introduction on where to start with diversification, decolonisation and making your teaching and reading lists more EDI-friendly and aware. (EDI = Equality, Diversity & Inclusion).
You can access the guide here.
If you would like to read more about diversification, take a look at the recent Times Higher Ed article by Rowena Arshad, professor emerita at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, IECS, University of Edinburgh.

ECA Library Prize winner at 2023 RSA Annual is announced!

We are delighted that Norwegian artist Kjersti Sletteland has been announced as the winner of the 2023 RSA Annual ECA Library Prize. Kjersti wins a one year free borrowing membership to the ECA Library collections, which is part of the University of Edinburgh Libraries.
Well done Kjersti!
You can find out more here.

Picture of a sculpture made of porcelain
Rumination Tango by Kjersti Sletteland

Rumination Tango by Kjersti Sletteland