Primary page content

National Poetry Month

NPM15_ForSite_FINAL_FINALNational Poetry Month is a celebration of the importance of poetry in our culture and lives. Founded by the Academy of American Poets, it aims to:

  • highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets,
  • encourage the reading of poems,
  • assist teachers in bringing poetry into their classrooms,
  • increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media,
  • encourage increased publication and distribution of poetry books, and
  • encourage support for poets and poetry.

You can see which events are taking place or what people on saying on Twitter using #npm15.

Although an American event, if you want to learn more about how poetry is celebrated in the UK, have a look on the Poetry Society’s website.

Furthermore, why not check out the vast range of poetry we have available in the library, including:

  • American poetry at 811
  • English poetry at 821
  • German poetry at 831
  • French poetry at 841
  • Italian poetry at 851

We also have databases that have a comprehensive amount of poetry, including LION, where you can search or browse by author or text to find the full text of poems.

You can also see clips of poets reading their own works and the works of others. Goldsmiths’ own Blake Morrison reads his own poetry here. There’s also an audio archive of poets reading their works too.

Why not take a short break from your studies and discover some new poetry?

Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2015

The Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey reveals which institutions are delivering across all aspects of university life. The survey asks students to grade their institution according to twenty-two criteria. The following are just a selection:

  • The quality and structure of their course
  • Its student union and societies
  • Its facilities and environment
  • The availability and quality of accommodation
  • Good library and opening hours

In 2014, Goldsmiths library was ranked 11th in the UK and 2nd amongst London institutions for ‘good library and opening hours’. We scored significantly higher than some of the top institutions in the UK, such as the University of Nottingham and Durham University.

In 2015, we have again scored well. We are ranked 21st in the UK and 3rd amongst London institutions (only behind Imperial College and Brunel University) for the same question. This year, we outscored the likes of LSE, Durham University again and UCL. The average rating for the library from its students was 6.4, considerably higher than the 6.0 national average. This is, in fact, the same score we received last year. The library’s reputation has also been steadily improving in the annual National Student Survey as well, so across all forms of measurement, we continue to punch above our weight.

The library seeks continuous improvement in the services it provides its users. Highlights of these services in the last academic year include:

  • A recurrent increase of £150,000 per year in the library’s resources budget, to improve the ratio of resources per FTE student
  • A successful refurbishment of the ground floor help desk area, which includes more social study space and bookable group study rooms
  • The introduction of reading list software to make finding items on reading lists simpler and more easily accessible. We are working with academic departments to make this service widely available to students
  • Increased communication with students, staff and visitors through our social media channels and Ask Us
  • Additional toilets and drinking water facilities
  • Increased information skills teaching for students, both embedded into the curricula and via ‘drop in’, including two successful themed weeks in December and February, and well-attended sessions on using the Zotero online referencing software
  • Four repositories (Journals Online, Data Online, Archives Online and the very popular Goldsmiths Research Online, used as the College’s prime submission to REF 2014)
  • A 300% increase in visitor numbers to Special Collections and Archives and an increased number of events have been held
  • Extended opening hours for the textile collection and Constance Howard Gallery from two to three days per week, with a monthly Talking Textiles event for staff, students and interested visitors
  • Objects (In)sight – a successful programme of conversations and discussions on how objects from archives and special collections can be used to generate research
  • Outreach and widening participation activities with five local schools, designed to prepare sixth form students for life at university

We’d like to thank our students, as well as staff and other visitors for their kind support over the last year and it is very important to us to be held in such esteem.

For more information about the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2015, please click here

Goldsmiths Research Online – March 2015 Update

GROBlog-2015.03

Overview

60,812 items were downloaded from GRO this month. The countries that downloaded the most were United Kingdom, United States, and China.

Excitingly, this month we have a new number 1! The most downloaded entry in GRO this month was a paper entitled “Algorithmic States of Exception” by Daniel McQuillan, Lecturer in Creative & Social Computing. McQuillan’s paper looks at the practices of data mining through contemporary business models and mass surveillance, which he argues are leading to a new form of governance that he terms as “algorithmic states of exception,” a concept that he develops departing from philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s work.

The three most popular items in GRO this month were:

Algorithmic States of Exception (2015) by Daniel McQuillan (429 downloads).

Journalism: a profession under pressure? (2009) by Tamara Witschge and Gunnar Nygren (406 downloads).

The Theatrical Vision of Count Harry Kessler and its Impact on the Strauss-Hofmannsthal Partnership (2014), a doctoral thesis by Michael Reynolds (385 downloads).

New in GRO This Month

Research outputs available on GRO range from book chapters to music compositions, from artworks to journal articles. Here is a small selection from the recent deposits:

Tom Henri from the Department of Social, Therapeutic & Community Studies (STaCS) and Sophie Fuggle from the Centre for Cultural Studies co-edited a book entitled Return to the Street, which includes different approaches to the idea of the street from across multiple disciplines. http://research.gold.ac.uk/11402/

Barley Norton from the Department of Music has recently published a multimedia report entitled “Ca Trù Singing in Vietnam: Revival and Innovation” in the Smithsonian Folkways Magazine Winter/Spring 2015. http://research.gold.ac.uk/11420/

More about GRO Stats

We are publishing brief reports every month if you are interested in seeing GRO’s monthly upload and download activity. You can access the March report here.

Deposit Your Work

If you are an academic or a PhD student at Goldsmiths, you can deposit your research outputs on GRO. If you need any help or guidance, please email the GRO team at gro@gold.ac.uk.

On a (m)other’s watch

On a (m)other’s watch

Symposium opening exhibition by Eti Wade curated by Samantha Lippett (MFA Curating), Saturday 11th April 2015

image.php‘on a (m)other’s watch’ is a collaboration between curator Samantha Lippett and mother artist Eti Wade, supported by the Women’s Art Library. The project comprises two public ‘interventions’ within the Goldsmiths campus of previously unseen works by Eti Wade entitled Joscasta and 57 Baths. The project is supported through an accompanying symposium which will provide an international overview of mother artists work.

Symposium 10-5pm
Opening reception 5-6pm