An orientation: Library Service and Academic Learning Development: CMP, FAMM, Fashion, Film, Photography: E-resources

University subscriptions

You must learn how to use 'Shibboleth' to sign in to the subscription-based sources listed on this page - see box below.   

Most of the content of these resources is listed on Library Search. However, this is not true with Box of Broadcasts or Press Reader.  Also, you will find content and features unavailable on Library Search on most of these sources.
 

Mobile apps

Besides browser-based access, mobile apps are available for LinkedIn Learning, PressReader; Kanopy, O'Reilly Learning; Browzine, and EBSCO (includes Art Full Text).  These are well worth trying!

Read the advice below on using 'Shibboleth' to help you access e-resources.  Then, use the following links to experiment with accessing online books, academic journals, and magazines. 

• Book selection (librarian's list) 
• Journals and magazine selection (librarian's list)
• Library Search

Troubleshooting - If you experience any issues signing in, it might be worth experimenting with different browsers.

SHIBBOLETH AUTHENTICATION

You may need to use the SHIBBOLETH authentication service to access online resources - particularly if you are off-site.

Once you get to the online resource, click 'sign in' and see where it says 'shibboleth,'  'where are you from?' or 'institutional sign-in'.  

Before you get to a UoW branded sign-in dialogue box (below), you will usually be asked to select 'University of Westminster' from a drop-down box or enter 'University of Westminster' where you see the 'Where are you from?' prompt.
 

After this, you get to the University log-in box, where you enter your username and password (below). Note that you should type username@westminster.ac.uk for your username.


 

Bob tips

• You must register with Bob the first time you use it - check your junk folder for the confirmation email.
• You are most likely to find a film if you search for the film title and director (e.g. Alien Scott).  This is less important if the title is distinctive (e.g. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), but if you search for 'alien', you have to scroll through sixty episodes of 'Wanda and the Alien.'
• If you don't know the director, select 'title' in the advanced search options. Occasionally, the director is not in the record, so this helps narrow things down. 
• Select 'public playlist' in the search options to search for playlists (e.g. search for 'uow' for playlists the librarian has created, including 'Ways of Seeing, 'The Genius of Photography,', 'The Story of Film', and 'British Style Genius').
• Make your own playlist and share with friends

Access at least one of the following

Other options for newspapers including The Times digital archive can be found on E-Resources A-Z Newspapers.  This includes access to The Financial Times (registration required).

Take a tour of Bloomsbury Fashion Central [video]

WGSN & Business of Fashion - Find links and instructions on the Fashion Design library guide

- A wide range of courses covering content relevant to courses taught at the university, plus courses relevant to personal development more broadly. 

• Courses by Amy Wynn, painter and fine arts professor
• Photoshop and Illustrator for Fashion Design courses
• Building Generative AI Skills for Creative Professionals learning path (including DALL-E, Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Photoshop)
• Canva courses
• Video courses and Video Production courses
• Final Cut Pro courses
• Photography courses
• Photoshop courses
• Wellbeing courses
• Student Success courses
• Generative AI-related courses, including Generative AI Career Essentials by Microsoft and LinkedIn 
• Blinkist summaries of popular productivity books
• What is information literacy

USING LIBRARY EBOOKS

Some ebooks are available on multiple platforms, offering different functionality levels.   For example, The Complete Film Production Handbook is on Ebook Central, Elsevier, and O'Reilly Learning.

Most platforms do not allow you to download the whole book. However, most allow you to download a chapter.  You may need to use the print function to do this.  

Adobe Digital Editions is needed to download some titles.  They have sample ebooks for you to test the product.

There is more information about different platforms on the e-book guide.
 

USING NON-LIBRARY EBOOKS

You get free access to Perlego for 12 months if you have a Barclays Bank student account. This is a subscription-based ebooks platform of one million titles and is very strong for arts subjects.

The Kindle app, the Google Play books app, and the Apple Books app have samples of most books they sell available for free.  These are often very useful introductory sections of the book which offer a good preview of the book, and a way of building your own digital library for free.

The Internet Archive / Open Library provide a 'digital lending' service for many out of print books.  This means that you can 'borrow' a book for up to one hour.