“The Social Science Collections and Research team at the British Library supports researchers by opening up and enabling access to their content and resources. Their aim is to inspire research, promote collaboration and knowledge exchange, and support capacity building among the current and next generation of researchers.”

“This site takes the Olympic and Paralympic Games as a platform upon which to introduce the wide range of materials held at the British Library which can support research into the social aspects of sport. It is aimed at a cross section of people, from those who are intrigued by the issues which underlie the hosting of the Games, to those who are actively involved in the latest research.”

To visit the site go to: http://www.bl.uk/sportandsociety/index.html

You can also read and/or subscribe to the Sport and Society blog which highlights relevant items from the British Library’s collections and raises awareness of other issues related to the Olympics and Paralympics.  Recent entries in the blog include: Strength, Sport and Ego – about the history of body building; Sport and Peace; the Olympic Flame; Winning. 

Go to: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/sportandsociety for more details.

Digital Research & Development Fund for Arts and Culture

The Digital Research & Development Fund for Arts and Culture is a partnership between the Arts Council England, the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). It aims to support arts and cultural organisations across England to work with digital technologies to:

• expand their audience reach and engagement and/or
• explore new business models

The Fund will produce new data and research insights that can be shared with and benefit other organisations in the arts and culture sector.

Expressions of Interest are invited from UK-based researchers or research teams to work with arts and cultural organisations and technology providers on projects under the Digital Research & Development Fund for Arts and Culture

http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/DigitalRDArtsCulture.aspx

Rabbits are the third most popular pet in the UK, but the most abused due to ignorance and lack of understanding about their needs.

RAW is supported by a number of organisations within the rabbit community who are dedicated to making the lives of these intelligent, fun, curious yet complex creatures better.

To find out more about the environment, behaviour, and welfare needs of rabbits visit:  http://www.rabbitawarenessweek.co.uk

“Further interviews from the National Life Stories project An Oral History of British Science, have been uploaded to ASR as streamed audio and are available to a worldwide audience via the ‘Oral history of British science’ package. These newest interviews are with Professor Andy Hopper, Roy Gibson, Professor Sir Maurice Wilkes, Professor John Nye, Professor Dan McKenzie, Dr John Glen, John Kington, Professor Stephen Moorbath and Sue Vine. Further interviews will be added over the next few months and up-to-date information on the project, including reflections from the interviewers.” [Source: Sound Recordings Blog, 21-04-11]

The summer term has begun and the Researchers’ Weekly Bulletin Blog is back from its holidays … so watch out for more updates from the electronic library world!

Hello dear readers! As it’s the last day of the spring term and the Researchers’ Weekly Bulletin Blog is a term-time only production, this is my final post for now. I hope that you enjoy the break – and I look forward to bringing you more news from the electronic resources world when the summer term begins. Next post: 3rd of May (if all goes well!)

All the best,
Mary

http://www.dovepress.com/nature-and-science-of-sleep-journal

Published since 2009, this “ international, peer-reviewed, open access journal cover[s] all aspects of sleep science and sleep medicine, including the neurophysiology and functions of sleep, the genetics of sleep, sleep and society, biological rhythms, dreaming, sleep disorders and therapy, and strategies to optimize healthy sleep”. Recent articles include “JuSt – a multimodal program for treatment of insomnia in adolescents: a pilot study” and “Correlations of physiological activities in nocturnal Cheyne–Stokes respiration”. [Source: DOAJ, New Journals]

Tomorrow’s the final day of term making this the final blog post for 2010. Veteran readers of the Bulletin will know that it’s the time of year when nostalgia overtakes me and compels me to share with you scenes of the frozen sub-arctic forests of my happy Canadian childhood. Something tells me that this year most of you will have had enough of snow … so rather than face lynching, I offer two choices:

1. If, like me, you think that snow is magical and winter’s the best time of the year, then follow this link.

2. If, on the other hand, you hope never to see another snowflake, you might prefer this one.

Whatever your choice, I hope that you and your family and friends enjoy a very happy holiday season. See you in the New Year (weather permitting!)

http://www.openfolklore.org/

“A new scholarly resource that will make a greater number and variety of useful resources, both published and unpublished, available for the field of folklore studies and the communities with which folklore scholars partner … Open Folklore facilitates free access to a growing number of folklore books, journals, gray literature and websites”. [Source: ResearchBuzz,18-10-10] You’ll need to register to use the portal, but it’s completely free and painless to do. I ran a search for quilts and found some reasonably interesting materials: 8 articles, 2 reviews and 1 other … which turned out to be another review. The collection will grow so I would expect it to become increasingly useful as time goes by.

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12956

This 560-page free-to-read-online report “explores how nurses’ roles, responsibilities, and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by health care reform and to advance improvements in America’s increasingly complex health system … [In it,] the Institute of Medicine makes recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing”. [Source: New from NAP, 05-10-10]