Reading the Financial Times online today

Daren Mansfield / June 27, 2016June 27, 2016 / digital learning

There’s never been a better day than today to watch events unfold than by reading the Financial Times online. At the University we have unlimited access to FT.com whose sections like Alphaville (it will ask for your university username and password) tracks the markets and an invaluable online forum. For instance, nougats like Jan Hilbebrand’s article on a secret Brexit plan (yes, one really does exists) is worth seeking out, saying that Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has already made preparations for a Brexit. Also the fastFT (“a global team working across timezones to give you market-moving news and views twenty-four hours a day, five days a week”) is an excellent tool to follow today’s news as it appears ‘live’. The housing market, the Pound, stocks and shares, investment, the FTSE and spread betting are news stories just from the past hour as Brexit hits the financial markets.

Video tutorial on how to search for books and journals

Daren Mansfield / June 22, 2016 / digital learning

This video that was produced by Helen Williams, the Academic Subject Librarian for distance learners in the Lincoln International Business School, shows you how to find books and journals using the Library homepage at library.lincoln.ac.uk.

The four benefits of Google Docs

Daren Mansfield / June 21, 2016 / digital learning

Saving the right version of a document as been a headache for me over the years. Things all over the place. Edited versions bumping into each other and overlapping occasionally. I resisted using one platform, but it exists. So I’m happy to announce my recent Damascene conversion to Google Docs. Free to use, you don’t need Word or Office at home and you can be sure that you have the right version of your document in the right place, at the right time. (You can export your file to Word if you wish). All you need is a Google Docs account which you can create easily and within seconds. It linked to my work profile on gmail so I didn’t to set anything up. Google Docs allows you to to type papers, create digital presentations, and share documents. It’s four great features includes auto-save (hurrah!), which means that you don’t lose any work, and you can share your documents with other Google Doc Users which means you are able to collaborate and use feedback too. Lastly all you need is Internet access. It’s simple, straightforward and stress free. And a relief.

You can also create multiple folders too, which means that you can use it as a separate drive and not worry about unreliable or lost memory sticks, passwords or so forth. I’ve started, and I think it’s an easy solution to the disorientation of having many files in different places and which came first. No longer a problem!

Finding research output for Lincoln International Business School

Daren Mansfield / June 21, 2016 / digital learning

Fresh on the heels of yesterday’s post about following the University of Lincoln’s Repository (@eprintslincoln) it may be worth checking out what’s included in the archive. I found that it was easier to find items by searching University Structure and then scrolling down to find that the Lincoln Business School (1151) has the most uploads on the system, with the University of Lincoln amassing 13355 records in all, and an incredible 502 for this year so far (1112 for 2015). See below for a screenshot of how the Repository structure looks. Alternatively, there is a detailed advanced search facility on the home page and a useful Latest Additions to the Lincoln Repository option there too. For instance, Matthew Cragoe’s (2016) The Church of England and the enclosure of England’s Open Fields: a Northamptonshire case study. International Journal of Regional and Local History, 11 (1). pp. 17-30 was uploaded only yesterday.

Follow Lincoln Repository’s Twitter feed @eprintslincoln

Daren Mansfield / June 20, 2016 / digital learning

The Twitter feed of our Lincoln Repository is regularly updated with such interesting uploads it’s worth following @eprintslincoln. You can keep up to date with the University of Lincoln’s latest research such as Gary Bosworth et al’s (10th June upload) paper on Identifying social innovations in European local rural development initiatives which caught my eye and inspired this blog post; about how social innovations are tackling Europe-wide austerity in rural areas. If you’re interested in this paper, you’ll need to request a copy whereas Olaoye, Olanrewaju Akanbi’s (2015) Collaborative governance: The case of mass transportation in London and Lagos is available for download, a PhD thesis which, in part concludes, the central importance of the dialogue between the Mayor of London @SadiqKhan and the Governor of Lagos State, @AkinwunmiAmbode in establishing sustainable mass transportation between the two mega cities.

View full record

http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/20075/

New look blog

Daren Mansfield / June 15, 2016June 15, 2016 / digital learning

Now the summer has arrived (or almost) it’s time for a refresh of the Business & Law Librarian blog. I hope you like it. I’ve gone with the blend of a metropolitan skyline at night (Brisbane, if you’re wondering) and of course, a library-themed background. Studying for the future leitmotif. I like it as it looks fresh and colourful (well, I would say that as I designed it!)

FT.com video on using twitter

Daren Mansfield / June 7, 2016June 8, 2016 / digital learning

Lucy Kellaway from FT Comment advises on whether CEOs need Twitter. She’s been studying the CEOs with the most Twitter followers and examining their popularity. Some great advice here. Any CEO not using Twitter is not engaged. If you want to be engaging be Elon Musk (‘boy wonder stuff’) the only one she recommends. But boring bland tweets from famous CEOs get thousands of retweets, sometimes a bizarre and inexplicable phenomenon. You’ll find the video halfway down the FT.com page (there’s no embed code for all those blog aficionados out there) then you’ll need to log on using your username and password if you’re off campus.

Keeping up to date with FT.com alerts

Daren Mansfield / June 7, 2016June 8, 2016 / digital learning

Arguably, there’s no genuine alternative to using FT.com for studying business. Crucial to any business student is access to the best up to date resources at a fingertip using a desktop, tablet or mobile, and our unlimited access to FT.com provides articles, graphs and analysis from over 600 journalists worldwide certainly provides that promise in bucket-loads. If you’re a business student, keeping up to date with news and analysis gives you the edge when it comes to writing any financial assignment; such as knowing where and what to invest in is essential insight. I’ve often wondered about the curious similarities between the skills of a research librarian and a stockbroker as both need to track the news and be fully informed about their subject area as an ongoing pursuit. Indeed, there’s really no alternative to fine tuning these skills. For instance, there’s an absorbing article ‘How long would it take to leave?’ about the possibility of Brexit, post 23rd June.

You can set up alerts based on search terms via email, change your preferences, time the delivery so you have complete control over the information you receive , as well as having the option of receiving a weekly ‘letter from the editor’ with as a‘s personal views on the current news agenda and the fabulously named ‘Best of Lex‘ email featuring a compilation of the week’s best commentary. RSS feeds are another way of getting alerted to relevant news, if you want, to your desktop or mobile.

To gain access to FT.com you’ll need to go to the Library webpage at library.lincoln.ac.uk then to resources > databases > F > FT.com and register if you haven’t already done so. Plus you’ll impress the academics by regularly visiting this site (and thoroughly analysing what you find, of course!).

How do I check whether an image is copyright cleared?

Daren Mansfield / May 18, 2016 / digital learning

Checking for copyright cleared used to be a minefield – but not now. LibreStock, a multi search engine for CC images, does the work for you (humble courtesy to Phil Bradley’s informative weblog– Where librarians and the internet meet). Librestock is an amazing free multi search engine that will check through over 40 different websites to find images that you can use. Phil quotes from the site: “I know it’s hard to understand complex legal licenses so let me break it down for you. all the photos indexed on LibreStock are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero license. this means you can use these pictures freely for any legal purpose.” This means that they are free to use, even commercially, you can modify, copy and distribute, and you don’t need to attribute. I find this a relief as images inform, brighten and act as a visual aid for presentations or blog like this one (look above!).

Use the Snipping Tool, not PrtScn, to capture images

Daren Mansfield / April 19, 2016 / digital learning

I find using the PrtScrn button on the keyboard unhelpful when capturing images or the screen as it includes everything, sometimes personal information, as demonstrated below. Well, to be honest, even this screenshot was edited…There is a simple alternative though.

Whenever I give a lecture and show how to capture data such as charts and tables using the Snipping Tool, it is definitely a crowd pleaser, despite it being so easy to use. I don’t think many students know about it, hence this blog post.

It saves editing a screenshot where the toolbar and icons are evident, and anything else you may have accumulated at the bottom of your screen. Windows instructions are captured below (naturally using the Snipping Tool), but on our system at the University of Lincoln, I go to Start> Accessories > Snipping Tool > Add New (a cross appears) > Scroll over screen / image > Copy > Paste into document. Remember to reference whatever you have copied if you’re writing an assignment. I regularly use the Snipping Tool for the blog as any image is so easy to capture, but I have to save the image to a file and insert the image (under Visual mode) as I’m using WordPress.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/use-snipping-tool-capture-screen-shots#1TC=windows-7

New season, new look blog

Daren Mansfield / March 22, 2016March 22, 2016 / digital learning

As no doubt you are aware if you regularly read this blog, I’ve radically changed the appearance of the Business Librarian blog to make it look, well, more cosmopolitan. Spring has finally arrived; there was a glorious sunrise this morning; out with the old, in with the new, etc. For all those keen Word Press bloggers out there, I’ve chosen the spring-like Press Row template, added a new city banner to show an international business theme, and a note-taking (pencil & notepad) background to illustrate the study environment here at the University Lincoln. I hope you like it. And it proved easy to do. If you’re a blogger, why not welcome the new season with a re-vitalised blog?

Meet the dean: Maury Peiperl, Cranfield School of Management

Daren Mansfield / October 7, 2015 / digital learning

As part of a series about how Business schools operate in the modern economy, The Financial Times site (library.lincoln.ac.uk > resources > databases > FT) publishes many interesting interviews. In this video, Pro-Vice Chancellor Maury Peiperl from the Cranfield School of Management talks about the need to create entrepreneurial space, with business schools working with owners of small businesses, how work meshes with the curriculum. He discusses his experience of executives and their ongoing ‘need to learn’, how blended learning supports those in business still able to study. It’s also worth checking out the MBA blog too for further insight.

Improved access to Wiley Online Library

Daren Mansfield / September 29, 2015September 29, 2015 / digital learning

Financial Times Business School video series

Daren Mansfield / September 18, 2015September 18, 2015 / digital learning

Whilst researching for a couple of Financial Times workshops to be held in the Library this November, I stumbled across the Financial Times Business School which publishes several videos presented by Della Bradshaw, the Business Education Editor at the Financial Times. In this video, Della interviews Hamid Boucihki, Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at Essec Ventures on the key challenges of business schools, such as fierce competition, accelerating technology, the threat of MOOCs, just-in-time education, for-profit colleges, online MBAs and the need for universities to re-invent the model such as workplace placements and providing first-class opportunities to enhance employability. This interview is one of a series discussing business education, and something which I found to be particularly interesting. After listening to the video series, the key question facing a prospective student is what will the return on their investment is going to be should they enrol on a business course, while companies are looking for global leadership.

5 easy steps to a successful essay plan

Daren Mansfield / September 9, 2015September 9, 2015 / digital learning

You may be wondering how to can plan an assignment using our library resources? There is an easy way to design an essay structure using our library search engine, Find it at Lincoln. Using themed searches 5 or 6 times (depending on the length of your assignment) you can email relevant journal articles and save them on your student profile. These folders could become the main body of your assignment, with each folder representing a paragraph. Your introduction would simply be an explanation of what you are going to cover, whilst your conclusion is the summary of your reading.