February 2017 – Library blog

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LGBTHM is held in February each year. The library is currently highlighting its diverse collections in a display at the front of the library, just inside the main turnstiles. Here, we’re displaying seminal texts, both literary and academic, and films. Examples include ‘The Bell’ by Iris Murdoch and ‘Orlando’ by Virginia Woolf, as well as ‘Mysterious Skin’, directed by Gregg Araki and ‘Happy Together’, directed by Wong Kar-Wai. Each item can be borrowed and we will be frequently updating the selection of resources on display.

The library has an extensive number of academic titles on LGBT themes on the first floor – 306.76 would be a good starting point. Documentary films on similar themes would be held at a similar classmark in the second floor audiovisual area.

We’ve also created an online reading list of important titles, including novels, non-fiction books, children and young adult titles, articles, documentaries and movies. Click on a title you’re interested in and see live availability.

Through our streaming platforms, Film Platform and Kanopy, we also have access to a number of documentary films on LGBT themes.

Film Platform

Films on Film Platform that cover LGBT themes can be accessed here. Documentaries include ‘Before Stonewall’ (1984), which explores the homosexual experience in the US from the 1920s onwards, to the Academy Award-winning documentary ‘The Life and Times of Harvey Milk’ (1984), a portrait of the changing social and political climate in 1970s San Francisco.

Kanopy

There are over 200 documentaries and feature films on Kanopy in its LGBT collection. Feature films include Jean Genet’s ‘Un Chant D’Amour’ (1950) and Cheryl Dunye’s ‘The Watermelon Woman’, originally produced in 1996, but restored in high definition in 2016. Documentaries are listed by sub-theme, such as LGBT History, LGBT Issues and Religion, Transgender Studies, LGBT Media Representation and more.

Films on both streaming platforms can be accessed in full, for free – you just to sign in with your Goldsmiths username and password.

For more information on LGBT History Month, visit their website or their Twitter page, or for more local interest, Spread the Word are celebrating London’s LGBT Writers and Writing.

In the last few years, Goldsmiths Library has been using its online reading lists system to provide electronic versions of reading lists on behalf of academic staff and departments, displaying real-time availability of books in the library and linking to full-text journal articles and other online content where available. It is also used for linking to scanned chapters/content of essential readings.

Each month, our Reading List Services Officer, Maria O’Hara produces a report of statistics for the previous month. Below are the usage statistics for January 2017.

Google Analytics

A session on Google Analytics is defined as a group of interactions one user takes within a given time frame on your website. Sessions time out after 30 minutes of inactivity.

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Number of Sessions

The number of sessions was again much higher than in January 2015, rising from 10,859 to 19,677 this year. Use of Digitised content remained high.

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Where are our users?

39.8% of January sessions were on-campus.

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Most users were in London or the UK, but not all of them.

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Most Popular Search Terms

1) PO51010D – 389

2) ED62025A – 184

3) PY71072A – 89

4) ED53029A – 24

5) AN51001A – 23

Most Popular Scan

…from Biological and Comparative Psychology

Top Twenty Lists

List Title	Jan-17	Department	Students
World Politics (Spring Term)	869	Politics	100
UK and European Comparative Governance and Politics	853	Politics	100
Fine Art Critical Studies: Year 1 (Spring)	759	[Art]	120
Fine Art Critical Studies: Year 1 (Autumn)	543	[Art]	34
MC51005B Culture and Cultural Studies (Spring Term)	506	Media & Comms	150
PS50007B: Psychobiology and Cognitive Psychology	374	Psychology	60
Issues in Cultural and Political Economy – PO51017A	361	Politics	60
COLONIALISM AND NON-WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT	341	Politics	20
Globalization: Politics, Policy, Critique	340	Cultural Studies	50
Politics of Other Cultures	326	Politics	55
Killing Time	323	Art	32
SO52107A Sociology of Religion in the Modern World	314	Sociology	50
PO52025A An(Other) Japan: Politics, Ideology, Culture	298	Politics	38
The City and Consumer Culture	274	Media & Comms	34
PO71046A The Politics of Human Rights	251	Politics	16
The Lure of the Ordinary	251	Art	15
DR71093A Practice and Placement Reflection	245	Theatre & Perf	20
Introduction to Political Economy	241	Politics	100
IM51010A Introductory Economics	234	IMS	160
CU71025A POLICY LAB AND PLACEMENTS	234	Cultural Studies	30
Average	396.85

Overall Reading List Coverage by Department

Department	#Modules	#Lists	% Covered
Anthropology	82	74	90.24%
Visual Cultures	92	59	64.13%
Politics	87	58	66.67%
STACS	125	65	52.00%
Sociology	95	53	55.79%
CELAW	18	9	50.00%
History	113	56	49.56%
Education	94	50	53.19%
English	150	52	34.67%
Design	63	18	28.57%
IMS	46	16	34.78%
Theatre & Perf	83	26	31.33%
ICCE	47	14	29.79%
Cultural Studies	30	10	33.33%
Music	113	27	23.89%
Media & Comms	172	35	20.35%
Psychology	110	22	20.00%
Confuscius	17	3	17.65%
Art	26	1	3.85%
Computing	112	0	0.00%
Total	1675	648	38.69%

If you’d like to see if your reading list is available electronically, either search the reading lists system by either course title or code. Alternatively, it could be linked via the VLE. If you’re a lecturer and you’d like your list added to the reading lists system this year or next, email readinglists@gold.ac.uk in the first instance.

Library blog

Primary page content

LGBT History Month and the Library

Reading Lists Statistics (January 2017)