Readings from Dante’s Divine Comedy in English and Italian

Mondays 6-7.30pm, The Warburg Institute, Woburn Square

(Admission free)

Is a passage from Dante’s Inferno just what you feel like after a day’s work on a Monday? Or have you always wanted to know what all the fuss was about? Today you can find out, for free, at 6pm at the Warburg Institute off Gordon Square/Woburn Square with an introduction to Dante’s life and works, followed by readings on subsequent Mondays.

The annual collaboration between UCL Special Collections, the UCL Italian Department, the Warburg Institute and the Italian Cultural Institute has proved popular enough to resume this year, with a slightly different selection of passages and the chance, later in the term, to view some of the treasures from UCL Special Collections’ outstanding early and rare editions of Dante.

If Mondays aren’t a good time for you, try the themed Dante sessions on alternate Tuesdays at the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgravia. The next is tomorrow, 7-8.30pm.

Passages will be read in both English and Italian and illustrated, together with talks from UCL’s Dante Professor, John Took, on what to look out for in the excerpts. You never know: you could feel inspired, as this former member of the audience was, to cook the entire poem in biscuit form:

Dante’s Divine Comedy in edible form, created by audience member Leon Conrad.

Photo copyright David Ward.

It is my great pleasure to announce the winners of the 30 Day Research Support Challenge virtual trophy. Congratulations to Sue Adams, Nicola Bell, Desta Bokre, Julia Garthwaite, Sui Jing Ly, Ed Lyon, Antony Njuguna, Sophie Pattison and Miriam Rice, who all managed to complete the challenge by undertaking all 30 ‘days’ within the six week period, which ended at midnight on Friday 15th July. Gold medals are awarded to Heather Chesters and Ma’ali Khouri; a silver medal goes to Katie Abranson; bronze medals go to Vicky Robertson and Andrew Thompson.

The challenge is an online course which took place over six weeks from 6th June – 15th July 2016, and is an opportunity for colleagues to find out more about all the areas in which UCL Library Services provides support to researchers. Now the challenge is over, it remains available as part of the Biomedical and Health Information Moodle course. The challenge is still available for anyone to view and has now been opened up so you no longer need to complete one ‘day’ before moving on to the next, but can dip in to whatever topic interests you. If you have difficulties accessing the course or have any questions please contact info.skills@ucl.ac.uk.

Well done to everyone who attempted the challenge. You will soon receive your certificates by email.

Best wishes,

Angela

Would you like to be better able to support our researchers? It’s not too late to start the UCL Library Services 30 Day Research Support Challenge. Running from 6 June to 15 July, this online challenge looks at all the areas in which we can support out researchers. Each ‘day’ consists of a short video and then a few quiz questions in Moodle for you to complete. You can work towards earning a virtual medal, or even getting your name engraved on the Challenge trophy!

As the 30 Day Research Support Challenge is part of the Biomedical and Health Information Summer School, during the first couple of weeks the Challenge focused on study design and critical appraisal, which are specifically biomedical in their focus. It’s not too late to catch up with these ‘days’, but if your field is not biomedical you might like to know that the Challenge moves on to a new topic today, Citing and Reference Management, and if you’d rather skip the biomedical days then let me know and I can give you access from today onwards. Future topics include open access, research data management, bibliometrics and more!

To find out more or start the challenge simply go to the Biomedical and Health Information Summer School Moodle course and start the challenge! If you don’t currently have access to this course you can self-enrol with the enrolment key l1brary.

So why not challenge yourself! Good luck!

Angela

You may have come across 30 day challenges in relation to fitness exercises. Today sees the launch of the UCL Library Services’ 30 Day Research Support Challenge. It’s not about exercise, it’s about making library staff fit to support our researchers. The Challenge, which takes place completely online, is being run as part of the Biomedical and Health Information Summer School, but is open to all library staff and covers all areas of research support. Over 30 days we’ll be looking at the many areas in which Library Services provides support to researchers. We’ll give you an understanding of these areas making you better able to support our users or point them in the right direction to get support.

How does it work?

Over 30 working days, from 6 June to 15 July, daily activities will be made available on Moodle. The activities consist of a short video to watch and then some quiz questions to answer, and should take around 10 minutes per day in total. Why not challenge yourself to work towards a virtual reward? Completing 15 days gets you a virtual bronze medal, 20 days gets a virtual silver medal and 25 days a virtual gold medal. Anyone who completes the 30 day challenge within the 30 days will be rewarded with the champion’s award, and their name will be engraved on the 30 Day Research Support Challenge virtual trophy!

In the spirit of flexible working you do not need to complete each activity on the day it is released, feel free to catch up when you can, but for a chance to win the virtual trophy you need to complete the 30 daily activities within the 30 days, so you might prefer not to get too far behind! If you don’t manage to complete it within the 30 days don’t worry, the Challenge will remain available on Moodle once the 30 days are up.

How do I register?

There’s no need to sign up, simply start the challenge on the Biomedical and Health Information Summer School Moodle course. You may need to self-enrol on the course using the enrolment key l1brary.

Are you brave enough to take the Challenge?

We are delighted to announce that bookings are now open for the 2016 UCL Library Services eXperience eXchange. All library staff are invited to attend.

When and where?

Tuesday, 10th May, 10.00-12.30pm in the Library Teaching Room, Newsam Library, UCL Institute of Education.

What happens?

Library staff come together to share ideas and good practice about our liaison and information skills/literacy training activities. In this year’s eXperience eXchange we will be focusing on training and we’ll be exchanging our experiences through short presentations and other group activities. You are invited to make a 5-7 minute presentation to your colleagues. Tell us about ideas you have tried or are thinking of trying, report back on inspiration from a conference or training event you have attended, or simply tell us about something that has worked for you – or something that didn’t! Maybe you’ve been exploring innovative ways of delivering or promoting training, or you’ve created new learning materials or ways of getting feedback from your users – we want to hear about it! Perhaps you would like input from colleagues on developing a training idea that you have, or you’d like to try out that training idea, then this is your chance. The success of the session depends on contributions so please consider presenting. It will be informal and fun!

If you’d rather not present but still have some ideas, thoughts or questions you’d like to share, then why not write a short paragraph that we can put into the ‘ideas pool’ instead? We will put these on display during the break and they may form the basis for further discussions during the afternoon.

As in the previous eXperience eXchanges there will be a break for a cake and biscuit exchange. This too is a chance to share so please bring some cakes or biscuits if you can (bought or home-made).

Signing up

Email Angela angela.young@ucl.ac.uk or Dan daniel.o’connor@ucl.ac.uk if you would like to come along and say whether you would like to contribute a presentation or email a paragraph to go into the ‘ideas pool’. We look forward to seeing lots of you there.

Contributed by Angela Young and Dan O’Connor