Facilities
John Rylands University Library
In their research activities, staff in Social Anthropology can enjoy the benefits of the very substantial collection in the John Rylands University Library, the third largest academic library in United Kingdom. The Library's main holdings in Social Anthropology comprise some 6000 books, though many more titles of direct interest to anthropologists are to be found in the Sociology, History and Religion collections. The Library currently subscribes to some 40 anthropology journals, many of which are available online. In addition to its general collection, the Library has impressive holdings of Africanist materials, of which the most significant is the collection of the International African Institute. The Library's Development Documentation Centre contains much general Third World material of anthropological interest. The Library is well-equipped with photocopying facilities, and its computerised information retrieval services include on-line searching, networked CD-ROMs, diskette-based products and nationally networked datasets.
Granada Centre
Staff with interests in the area of Visual Anthropology can draw on the unrivalled facilities of the Granada Centre. These include the Centre's Film Library, which houses the largest videotape collection of ethnographic films in Europe, along with a growing collection of books and articles in this specialist field. A project is underway in the GCVA to develop the use of multimedia in anthropology teaching.
Media Centre
Through the University's Media Centre, staff also have access to advanced editing facilities for audiovisual materials.
Computer facilities
Every member of staff has exclusive use, in his/her office, of a networked personal computer capable of running Windows, and with appropriate software. Through the network, direct access is afforded to e-mail, Internet, Intranet information services and bulletin boards, the Library catalogue and JANET. Each computer is linked through the network to a local laser printer, allowing staff to print directly from their own offices.
Staff are encouraged to pursue active research. There is a regular review of leave arrangements to ensure that research leave is granted on an equitable basis and, wherever possible, to enable individual members of staff to undertake fieldwork.