Empty reading lists are being created in Aspire for new and returning modules requiring a list. Once you have added some content to your reading list, it will be linked to the appropriate Blackboard module by Library staff.
When updating your Aspire reading list content for the coming year, be sure to update the 2024-2025 edition of your reading list. If you add books to 2023-2024 reading lists they will not be purchased. FYI 2023-2024 Aspire reading lists will remain visible in 2023-2024 Blackboard modules until the end of August when they will be archived.
The theme of this year’s Libraries Week is the central role that libraries play in supporting life-long learning.
Today, we are focusing on the ways the library offers a range of learning opportunities for Aberystwyth University students, beyond their courses and outside of the teaching rooms.
Library tours If you’re new to Aberystwyth University, firstly, welcome! Secondly, come on a library tour! Our friendly staff are here to show you around and introduce you to your library. There’s no need to book in advance and everyone is welcome – times and other information here.
Fiction and reading for pleasure There’s no shortage of books in our libraries and if you’re looking for something to read – that’s not a course textbook – we can help! Browse Primo the library catalogue online to find books and ebooks, take a look at our Contemporary Fiction collection by the Enquiries Desk on Level F, browse the shelves from classmark PN or in the Celtic Collection. We also have graphic novels and lots of non-fiction and poetry.
Contemporary fiction collection in the Hugh Owen Library
Linkedin Learning All AU students have free, unlimited access to thousands of expert-led online courses from Linkedin Learning. Here’s a small selection of courses that might spark some new hobbies or interests and help you develop new skills put together by Laurie Stevenson, Student Digital Champion:
Extra-curricular activities for students collectionThis is a collection of courses containing a variety of skills and creative activities you might be interested in learning alongside your studies, as a break from assignments or to fill a moment of boredom!
Laurie Stevenson
Learn Welsh Fancy learning or improving your Welsh whilst you’re at Aber? Look no further than theCeltic Collection!The collection contains hundreds of books to help you learn and develop your Welsh language skills, from complete language courses and grammar books to fiction with helpful vocabulary.
Find it on Level F:
Welsh-language learning resources in the Celtic Collection
Library Guides Familiarise yourself with the library’s range of LibGuides. Not only will you find your specialist subject guide to help you find resources for your subject, but also a range of guides to help you make the most of the library, develop your information literacy skills and enhance your employability.
These guides have been compiled by your Subject Librarians who are here to help you with academic and specialist resources for your studies. They can help you to find and evaluate the information that you need and help you to reference it correctly. Find the contact details for your subject on the Subject Librarians page.
Borrow DVDs You can borrow DVDs for free from our large DVD collection on Level F. Take a look through what we have on Primo, the library catalogue
DVD collection
Read Well – Wellbeing collection The library’s Wellbeing Collection is here to help you understand and manage many common mental health conditions or difficult feelings and experiences. You can have a look at the list of titles included in the collection on the Read Well reading list which is organised by topic areas to help you find what you need.
Black History Month is an annual event reflecting on the histories and cultures of black people throughout the world. It began in America but has been marked every October in the UK since 1987.
For Black History Month, Aberystwyth University Library has published a new list of recommended reading and resources which offer the opportunity to explore some perhaps lesser-known facets of Black History:
Our Black History in Wales selections take us on journeys to explore Wales’ involvement in slavery and its pivotal role in abolishing it (Slave Wales by Chris Evans); personal journeys of self-discovery and mixed-race identity (Sugar and Slate by Charlotte Williams) and onto the first Welsh-language volume to discuss the portrayal of multiculturalism in Wales in contemporary Welsh and English fiction (Y Gymru Ddu ar Ddalen Wen by Lisa Sheppard).
Experience Black History in poetry through recent works by the Dylan Thomas Prize winning Kayombo Chingonyi (Kumukanda) and Raymond Antrobus’ debut collection The Perseverance. Delve into the astonishing online Proquest Literature One African American Poetry collection of nearly 3,000 poems by African American poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The list contains many wonderful online resources, but do not overlook the Proquest One Literature Black Writing and World Literature Collection which brings together the largest and most inclusive literature collection ever curated. These are the special projects we are highlighting this month:
More than a million-and-a-half Africans, along with many Indians and South Asians, were brought to the Caribbean between the 15th and 19th centuries. Today, their descendants are producing literature with strong and direct ties to traditional African expressions.
Black Women Writers presents 100,000 pages of literature and essays on feminist issues – from 18th century narratives depicting slavery, to works by a wide range of authors during the late 1950s and 1960s, following the winds of independence that swept across Africa.
Black Short Fiction and Folklore brings together 82,000 pages and more than 11,000 works of short fiction, comprising a variety of traditions ranging from early African oral traditions to hip-hop – including fables, parables, ballads, folk-tales, short stories and novellas.
We have included a range of physical and online resources on the list, so whether you’re on campus or off, you’ll find something interesting to read. We will have a display on Level F of the Hugh Owen Library throughout October.
Climate Change is a daunting subject to get to grips with and finding reliable information to help understand this most critical topic can feel overwhelming. Tackling Climate Change is the responsibility of everyone, and whether your background is in the arts, or in politics, or in the social, environmental or physical sciences, it is vital that each and every one of us does what we can to understand the impact of Climate Change on our world.
The ‘Is Aberystwyth’s Future Under Water? Stemming the tide of Climate Change’ reading list was created by Catherine Fletcher and Annabel Cook while on an AberForward placement for the Library Academic Engagement Team. This collection of resources was initially put together to support the outcomes of the upcoming AU Festival of Research (18 – 25 October 2021) but we thought it might also be useful to a wider audience. The list seeks to provide a range of information on Climate Change both locally and globally. It includes a link to an interactive map which allows you to explore sea level rise and coastal flood threats that might affect where you live. (Be warned: it’s properly terrifying!)
We know how much students and residents cherish Aberystwyth so hopefully by shining a light on the negative impact that Climate Change may have on the town, it will help us, as a community, to strive towards making more sustainable choices.
It is not just the Aberystwyth area that the resources on this list focus on. The selection of scientific articles that we have chosen outline the effects of the climatic changes which may have an impact across the globe. We also wanted to show that the research is interdisciplinary, highlighting the vital role all scientific departments throughout the university play in investigating Climate Change. The hope is that in fully understanding Climate Change, we can more efficiently predict and adapt to the challenges we are inevitably going to face.
It is important to remember that it is not only the scientific departments who can inspire change. The arts and social sciences have a role in providing a more creative angle to thinking about and understanding Climate Change. This reading list aims to show how those disciplines are already reacting to the threat that the climate crisis poses.
We all need to do our bit. So whether it’s studying art or studying zoology (or any subject in between) we need to bring our expertise, and our inspiration, to the great crisis of our time. Do let us know what you think of the list, it is a living document and if there are resources that you think should be there, let us know and we will add them.
This summer we will create and populate your new Aspire reading lists on request.
If you email the content to librarians@aber.ac.ukbefore July 19th your reading list will be created and published before the reading list deadline.
Please include
Module code and title
Which books are Essential – the Library will order an ebook or multiple print copies if an ebook is not available
Which books are Further reading – the Library will order one print copy
Any chapters or articles you need digitising
Any section names to group them under
Books will be purchased, digitisations processed and you will be contacted if there are any issues.
Find advice for preparing your Aspire reading lists for the new academic year: https://faqs.aber.ac.uk/en/2978
