Folklore, religions, and mythologies speak of many kinds of ghosts. Usually, at this time of year, in the run up to Christmas, I can be found blogging about the three ghosts of Christmas past, present and future in Charles Dickens’ Christmas morality tale “A Christmas Carol”. This year, with assignment deadlines sometimes looming on the far side of the holidays, I wanted to warn you of the dangers of another kind of ghost – the ghost writer.

From Monday 30 September 2024, the Library Meeting Room (UL 0.12) will be being used for ID checks for international students. While these checks are carried out, we regret we cannot offer a dedicated postgraduate study space in the Library. I mentioned that this was likely back in June when the old Postgraduate Study Suite was turned into staff offices in preparation for the extension connecting the Library and Student Union to create a new student hub.

Artificial intelligence has become a common buzzword, and you are probably already using it to create your assignments, possibly without even knowing it. But how can you use it ethically and skillfully to help you produce great assignments without crossing the line and being accused of cheating? Our Faculty Librarian Timothy Collinson explains all in his new guide to using AI for effective (and ethical) study.

You have your laptop set up just the way you like it; it’s light and portable, but you crave a full-sized screen and keyboard when you settle in for a proper study session. We hear you! That’s why we bring you the best of all possible worlds with desktop computers you can plug your devices into and enjoy the use of a mouse, full-size keyboard and a monitor so large it had to be made curved for you to be able to see everything from side to side without moving! It’s the best of all possible worlds: the power and customizability of your own device with the luxury of a dedicated, modern desktop setup.

With the Christmas vacation period just around the corner, it is a good time to check that you are all set up for working from home. Even if you plan never to do anything university-related over the holidays, having your personal device set up to access the university computer network from wherever you are will mean that if you should need anything during or after the holidays, everything will be set up to use all the software and library eresources you might want, meaning you have one less thing to worry about when library staff are away.

I have blogged before about productivity tools and tried to sound enthusiastic but this time I have hit gold. Thanks to the rise of our future AI overlords, we have Goblin Tools: an app that offers to turn the chaos …

Introducing Goblin Tools – at last, an app to manage your whole life Read more »

There are quite a few extensions for the Google Chrome browser that can transform your web browsing experience. Some strip out visual clutter, some display the page headings structure on one side so you can jump straight to the part of the page you want, while others help you speed read text or read it out to you so you can listen to the printed word. These extensions can make life easier for anyone, whether you struggle to read text, learn better from hearing information instead of reading it, have tired eyes or need to multitask and so prefer to listen, or you learn best by reading and listening to something, separately or at the same time.