You use critical thinking and reading skills every time you access a piece of information. That could be the news, something on social media, or an academic source like a textbook or journal article. Join the Library and Skills@Cumbria Team to develop these skills. You may be increasingly aware of bias and the term “fake news”. But what do they mean?  

Find out how digital and online misinformation, disinformation and malinformation works, and how you can protect yourself and others from it. 

Attend our webinar: Stop, Verify, Correct on Friday 28th March at 13:00. This is part of our Enhancement Week programme
Access our tutorial  
Upskill your critical approach
Access the handout about Misinformation and StopVerifyCorrect. 

21 March 2025

The topic for our Feb 2025 pop up is “How do you overcome obstacles in your assignment journey? 

We are popping up at the following locations and also online.

Ambleside: Barn cafe - Tuesday 25th 12-2pm 

Brampton Road: Reception - Thurs 27th 12-2pm 

Fusehill Street: Cube - Tuesday 25th 12-2pm 

Lancaster: The View - Monday 24th 12-2pm 

London: Reception - Monday 24th 12-2pm

Online via a Padlet

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Any queries email skills@cumbria.ac.uk 

20th February 2025

Sign up to our two Live Well Learn Well webinars delivered jointly by the Skills@Cumbria and Mental Health and Wellbeing teams. 

Managing Academic Stress

Develop an understanding of the causes and consequences of academic stress as well as techniques and strategies to help you manage overwhelm with your studies.

Procrastination

Do you find yourself avoiding coursework or putting off an assignment? This webinar will help you identify the reasons behind procrastinating behaviour and help you work out ways to overcome it.

We know students like to use Google Scholar to search for journal articles as part of their literature searching journeys.

But did you know you can set up Google Scholar to link easily from your results to the full text resources we provide for you?  

Find out more on our updated video or click here to read up about it.

Any questions please email skills@cumbria.ac.uk 

27 January 2025

 Two new videos to help you with using Refworks.

Refworks is a reference management tool to help you manage your references, create reference lists and even help when writing your assignments in Word or Google Docs.

For an introduction to Refworks click here.

To use Refworks in Word using a tool called Reference Citation Manager click here.

Did you know we run webinars on Refworks? Check out dates on our Webinars page

Any queries email skills@cumbria.ac.uk 

27 January 2025

Dates for January to April Webinars are now live on Webinars: Library and Academic skills

There are a variety of topics and timings so check out the table for details. 

If you cannot make the dates for a specific topic check in the blue banners if we have a pre-recording of the key points from that webinar. 

NB Bookings close 24 hours before the time of the webinar. Details of how to join the session will be sent to you by email.

14 January 2025

Our first Visual Journey Lancaster Campus has gone live!  This shows you around the books, study spaces and where to ask for help within the library. 

10 December 2024

Earlier this semester we ran a competition asking for students to upload photos of their studying using library resources.

We are very pleased to announce we have 2 winners of £50 book tokens each  - Kay Ashton and Hannah Ritchie!!

Kay Ashton is in the 2^nd year of the BSC (Hons) Project Management degree studying via distance learning

Kay said: "As a remote apprentice studying project management, and as a disabled solo parent, the University of Cumbria Library’s online resources have been a lifeline. The remote services provide essential support, making it possible for me to access the materials I need without leaving home, how I am able to highlight items within books as reference points is also super useful and how it can assist with citations"

Hannah Ritchie is on the 3^rd year of a BSC (Hons) Criminology degree and is based at Fusehill. Hannah is a frequent visitor and user of Fusehill library!

Hannah said:  "Thank you to the library team for all the help, support and guidance during my study. The range of books both in print and online that we have, always allow me to expand my knowledge further and feel confident when writing my academic essays. 

I'm very grateful and excited to have received a prize of £50 worth of book tokens! I can't wait to get my head stuck in some new books"

To keep up to date with library and other student services news follow us on Instagram 

9th December 2024

Our new Quick Guides to searching on Onesearch are now live!

Two new guides to help you to get the best out of using Onesearch:

Basics - to get you going see our Quick guide to OneSearch - basic

Advanced Search - check out further tips and more complex searching on our Quick guide to OneSearch - advanced

Any queries about searching email skills@cumbria.ac.uk 

2 September 2024

A significant new look to our OneList reading list website has now gone live as of 1st August

Go to our Onelist webpage to find out more 

2nd August 2024

Thinking about writing a journal article and wondering how to choose a journal to submit to?  We have created this guide about choosing which journal to aim for when there are so many titles to choose from! 

 For staff there is a more detailed guide on Sharepoint

For any queries please email skills@cumbria.ac.uk in the first instance and we will signpost you to the right place to answer your query.

26th July 2024 

Staff from Professional Services are very welome to use our libraries and services.

Find out more on this link

02 August 2024

Share your love of reading with others and help us develop our Reading for You wishlist.  Add your favourite authors, titles, or categories of books to our Padlet.  Simply click on the + symbol to add your comment, link, or image.

22 March 2024. 

Our Ask a Librarian Chat Service is now available online 24/7.  

9am to 5pm - you would be chatting online with staff from the University Library

5pm - 9am - overnight you will be helped by a librarian based overseas, mostly in the USA. 

Use the form on the link above or look for the orange 'Ask a Librarian' tabs on Onesearch and selected library webpages.

You can also pop into a campus library too, and ask for help at the library desks. 

23rd  February 2024

Zone 2 at Brampton Road Library has been given a new look!  Please drop in and take a look - there are more study desks, a social seating area and new displays.  We hope you like it and would love to hear what you think via our feedback form. 

22nd January 2024

The Accessible study room has been very popular!  You can see more below about what is contains. We would love to hear what you think of it and how you have been using it on our feedback form

In the room on the 1st floor you will find:

• an adjustable height desk with ergonomic chair
• a double-screen PC with accessible software and adjustable desk lighting
• variable LED lighting and a sensory projector, both with remote controls to change colours, brightness and lighting effects
• a desktop book stand and perspex writing slope 
• a yoga mat, balance cushion and fidget toys
• a soft seat for breakout and relaxation
• adjustable blinds to filter natural light

You can book the room on our website here.

22nd January 2024