Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service - News from research support services

Month: March 2022

Welcome to the Carnegie Research Commons

The Carnegie Research Commons is a space that master’s and doctoral students, researchers and academics can call their own. With 35 individual workstations, four seminar rooms and a peaceful relaxation area, clients from any faculty can come and work in a space that is conducive for focused research. It is also the quietest area in the library! You need to book a seat or a seminar room, however, there is no limit to how many time-slots you can book. Please just remember to cancel your booking if you are going to leave early, or if you can’t come anymore.

There are two dedicated librarians in the Research Commons who can assist you with your studies. The type of support includes support for Mendeley Reference Manager, referencing in general, MS Word document formatting, basic literature searches, literature reviews, and much more. And if they can’t answer your question, then they will definitely know who can. These services aren’t only for students in the Research Commons, but any master’s or doctoral student, researcher or academic of Stellenbosch University. We can assist you remotely via MS Teams, e-mail, or over the phone. Our desktop computers at the various workstations have all the latest software, that are available to SU students, installed. This includes analytical programmes like SPSS and ATLAS.ti and they also have the latest Microsoft Office Suite.

Our seminar rooms are perfect for videoconferencing, group work and any virtual or in-person meetings. If you are in need of a break, there is a lovely relaxation area with some leisure reading material available. Or you can grab a book from the library’s extensive collection and read it there.

Here is a brief video that shows the Research Commons’ layout: Carnegie Research Commons

For any queries, you can contact Kirchner van Deventer, Head: Carnegie Research Commons, at kvd@sun.ac.za.

We hope to see you soon!

Data visualisation workshops in 2022

Data visualisation is an important part of the research process. Although spreadsheets and data tables will always be present in research, new types of visualisations are emerging to make information more accessible than before.

This year the offering of workshops offered by the Library on data visualisation will include the following:

Researchers and students are also welcome to make use of the consultation service available on this topic.

Please contact Marié Roux for more information.

Did you know about the SU ORCID integration?

You might already have an ORCID ID, since it is compulsory to add your ID to any NRF application and use it when you publish a new article. But did you know that Stellenbosch University has an integration with ORCID? We would like to encourage you to connect your ORCID ID to your Stellenbosch University identity. Please follow this link and follow the steps below.

  • First sign in to the SU portal
  • You will be directed to the “Manage your researcher identities” page
  • Click on the “Connect” button under ORCID
  • If you already have an ORCID ID you will be able to sign in and authorise SU to view and update your ORCID profile
  • If you don’t have an ID yet, click on “Register now”, complete the form and authorise SU to view and update your profile, all in one step!
  • We encourage you to use your sun.ac.za email address to register.

It would be ideal to close the gap between how many researchers at Stellenbosch University have IDs versus how many have connected their IDs to the integration. See the graph below illustrating how many IDs were created and how many IDs were connected between 2013-2021.

 

If you need any assistance with creating and/or connecting your ORCID iD, please contact:

Marié Roux / Kirchner van Deventer / Your faculty librarian

Read the ORCID library guide

Register for the next ORCID workshop (10 May 2022)