News and upcoming events for July 2024

In this edition of what’s new, and what’s coming up, at the University of Melbourne for researchers and the research support community:

• Say goodbye to Library fines – for most items!
• Events from the Library: Digital Skills Meet Up, Constellate for Text Analytics, Visualise Your Thesis Grand Final
• Events beyond the Library: Three Minute Thesis information session, Digital Skills training and bioinformatics training.
• Revised Alternative Metrics Library Guide 
• New research tenders page on the Research Gateway

Say goodbye to Library fines – for most items!

From 04 July 2024, the Library will no longer charge overdue fines on overdue 7-, 28- and 90-day loans. All existing overdue fines on all borrowing accounts will also be cleared on that date.

High Use items (excluding 7-day loans at Architecture, Building and Planning) and items with hold requests will incur fines if returned late.

Find out more in the FAQs section on the Fines and Suspensions page.

Events from the Library

Digital Skills Meet Up: Training, data and more

The next DSMU on 4 July 2024 will focus on digital skills, and research data support. Not sure what software you should use for your research needs? Got questions about Python, R, NVivo or LaTex? Need help with managing your documents, data, images, code, transcripts? Come along and get your questions answered by the Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (who run Digital Skills Training) and the Library’s Digital Stewardship team.

Register via the RDU Portal here.

Introduction to Constellate for Text Analytics

This webinar on 16 July 2024 will provide an overview of how to get started with Constellate, the text analytics service from ITHAKA (JSTOR) available to University of Melbourne researchers from any discipline. Constellate is suitable for people with little or no programming/coding experience, allowing analysis of text to uncover patterns, trends, or relationships.

Register via the Library website here.

Visualise Your Thesis Grand Final

Featuring the finalists of the University of Melbourne’s Visualise Your Thesis programme, the Grand Final will announce the 2024 winners. Join the Researcher Development Unit and the Library at Melbourne Connect on 11 July 2024 to celebrate the work of our graduate researchers as they showcase the impact of their research in 60 second video explainers.

Register via the RDU Portal here.

Events beyond the Library

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) information session

The Three Minute Thesis competition challenges graduate researchers to present their research in a three-minute presentation. Come along to the information session to find out more about this competition, which offers cash prizes for the winners and the chance to represent the University of Melbourne in the Asia Pacific Grand Final.

Register via the RDU Portal here.

Digital Skills Training: Advanced R Workshop and Introduction to LaTeX

Digital Skills Training is back with Advanced R Workshop – Remarkable Rmarkdown on 01 July 2024, and an Introduction to LaTex on 2 July 2024.

• Register for Remarkable Rmarkdown here – be aware that some basic familiarity with R is required.
• Register for LaTeX here – master the basics of setting up your first document, formatting it, and making lists, tables, and images.

Research data management, UNIX, and variant calling

Melbourne Bioinformatics offers free training for researchers at Melbourne from all disciplines. Coming up are:

• Practicalities of Research Data Management, 17 July 2024.
• Intro to UNIX, 17 July 2024 (an operating system for many command-line tools)
• Variant calling using GATK4 command line workflow, 31 July 2024 (you will need prior experience with the command line for this workshop)

Revised Alternative Metrics Library Guide

The Library’s guide on Alternative Metrics (also known as “altmetrics”) has been revised, adding new information and improved resources. Altmetrics are indicators of online societal attention and engagement with research. They measure the impact of research occurring outside the traditional academic sphere (eg online activity, downloads, reviews, subscribers), and also provide metrics for alternative, non-traditional research outputs (NTROs).

Check out the Library guide here to learn more about using alternative metrics, the tools the University provides for researchers to use, and practical tips to improve your metrics.

New research tenders page on the Reseach Gateway

The RIC Tenders Team has released a new page on the Research Gateway to help researchers respond to tenders. In this context, tenders are not a delicious food, but a request from an organisation for other organisations to provide goods or services for them. Interested organisations then put in a “tender” to outline the cost required to provide the requested good or service.

Visit the page for information about where to find tenders, the steps involved, and templates.

 

Featured image credit: “Month of July” by Glen Carrie on Unsplash