The FYi is our fully-equipped Library and Learning Resource Centre
Our state-of-the-art facilities have been carefully designed to aid your learning in a modern and comfortable environment. You will find a quiet, welcoming library stocked with all the books and magazines you’ll need, both for your courses and for leisure reading. We strongly encourage all our students to read: we offer a range of book clubs, including manga – and we also encourage you to try writing for yourself in our Creative Writing Group.
Make sure to check your library account and catalogue here: https://uk.accessit.online/blc02/
The FYi also contains our computer suite, so it’s a great place to access your Google Drive, where you will store all your assignments and homework, and all the resources your tutors will provide for you. The FYi staff are here to help you manage your Google Drive, and also help you make the most of your iPad and/or other mobile devices. There is unlimited wifi access.
- We provide you with the best print and online content to help you with your studies
- We help you with study and research skills
- We lend up to 20 books for a two week period, with two renewals if you need them
Want to join in?
Fyi groups and clubs
Student Librarians
Creative Writing Group, every Thursday 4pm
Manga Club, every Wednesday 1.30pm
Opening times
Term time
Mon-Fri 8.00-5.00
Easter & May Holidays
Mon-Fri 8.30-4.30
Contact us
email: fyi@blackpoolsixth.ac.uk
We’re social!
Full home 24 hour access
All our FYi online databases
These are online resources the contents of which Google won’t find for you. Lots of colleges and universities use these, and you’ll find something to suit every subject you study. If you need help accessing or using these databases, just ask a member of the FYi staff. We can help!
Ebrary
Ebrary is the library’s collection of free e-books – it’s a mixture of textbooks and items on specific topics. Read the ‘Getting Started’ stuff to get the best results (there are also videos to help you). To visit Ebrary, please click here.
This is an add-on to the Ebrary section:
Here are quick links to textbooks available through Ebrary:
BTEC Level 3 Public Services Student Book 1
BTEC Level 3 Public Services Student Book 2
BTEC Level 2 First Public Services
BTEC Level 2 First Public Services Student Book
BTEC Level 3 National Applied Science Student Book
BTEC Level 3 National Applied Science Student Book 2
BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 1
BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 2
BTEC Level 3 National Travel and Tourism Book 1
BTEC Level 3 National Travel and Tourism Book 2
BTEC Level 3 National Health and Social Care : Student Book 1
BTEC Level 3 National Health and Social Care : Student Book 2
BTEC Level 3 National Applied Science Student Book
AQA A Level Chemistry Student Guide : Practical Chemistry
AQA A Level Biology Student Guide : Practical Biology
AQA A Level Physics Student Guide : Practical Physics
Edexcel A Level Business Student Guide : Theme 4 : Global Business
Edexcel A Level Business Student Guide : Theme 3 : Business decisions and strategy
Edexcel AS/ A Level Year 1 Business Student Guide : Theme 2 : Managing business
Edexcel AS/A Level Year 1 Business Student Guide : Theme 1 : Marketing and people
Edexcel AS and A Level Further Mathematics Core Pure Mathematics Book 1/AS Textbook
Edexcel Geography Year 2 A Level Student Book
Edexcel Geography AS/Year 1 Student Book
Essential Maths skills for A-Level biology
AQA Biology A Level Student Book 1
AQA Biology A Level Student Book 2
AQA Chemistry A Level Student Book 1
AQA Chemistry A Level Student Book 2
Essential Maths Skills for AS/A Level Chemistry
AQA Physics A Level Student Book 1
AQA Physics A Level Student Book 2
Psychology : The Science of Mind and Behaviour (7th Ed)
Essential Maths Skills for AS/A Level Psychology
AQA Sociology for A Level Book 1
AQA Sociology for A Level Book 2
AQA A Level PE Book 1 : Year 1
AQA A Level PE Book 2 : Year 2
Edexcel Business Studies Theme 1 : Marketing and People
BTEC Level 3 Public Services Student Book 1
BTEC Level 3 Public Services Student Book 2
BTEC Level 2 First Public Services
BTEC Level 2 First Public Services Student Book
BTEC Level 3 National Applied Science Student Book
BTEC Level 3 National Applied Science Student Book 2
BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 1
BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 2
BTEC Level 3 National Travel and Tourism Book 1
BTEC Level 3 National Travel and Tourism Book 2
BTEC Level 3 National Health and Social Care : Student Book 1
BTEC Level 3 National Health and Social Care : Student Book 2
BTEC Level 3 National Applied Science Student Book
AQA A Level Chemistry Student Guide : Practical Chemistry
AQA A Level Biology Student Guide : Practical Biology
AQA A Level Physics Student Guide : Practical Physics
Edexcel A Level Business Student Guide : Theme 4 : Global Business
Edexcel A Level Business Student Guide : Theme 3 : Business decisions and strategy
Edexcel AS/ A Level Year 1 Business Student Guide : Theme 2 : Managing business
Edexcel AS/A Level Year 1 Business Student Guide : Theme 1 : Marketing and people
Edexcel AS and A Level Further Mathematics Core Pure Mathematics Book 1/AS Textbook
Edexcel Geography Year 2 A Level Student Book
European Newsstream
European Newsstream is an archive of all the UK national and regional newspapers, many of which have twenty years’ worth of stories and articles. (There are also French, German and Spanish newspapers available: if you’re practicing your language skills for these subjects, this is a quick and easy way to access these papers.)
You can search by keyword or by newspaper, and refine your searches to particular time periods. The archive has all the latest papers daily, so is right up-to-date. To visit European Newsstream please click here.
E-law Student
This is for A level law students, and those looking for case law for health and social care. You can find cases, articles, news, cases, statutes – all of which can be used in preparing excellent essays and exam answers. The database is fully searchable, and there is also a useful lexicon for tricky law definitions: good for getting the terminology right! To visit E-Law student, please click here.
Vogue Magazine Archive
This is an archive of all the Vogue magazines that there have ever been! It is fully searchable, has all the articles and images you could ever want, and is a great resources for Fashion and English Language students: it is a history of 20th and 21st century fashion, as well as a way of studying how language has changed. Brilliant, just brilliant! If you’re using this from home, you’ll be asked for a username and password. Just use your normal college login. To visit the Vogue Magazine Archive, please click here.
Access in college only
JSTOR
A huge database of articles on every subject you can think of:
- Arts
- Sciences
- Biological Sciences
- Ecology
- Business
- Health Sciences
- Language
- Literature
- Maths
- Music
- 2000 journals
- 50 million pages
- 3 million pages digitised every year
So there should be something for you! Just type what you need in the search box. To visit JSTOR, please click here.
Issues Online
This is a database for social issues – crime, drugs, health, education, poverty – and is fully searchable either through keywords, or by category. You’ll get newspaper articles, press releases, facts and statistics – all up-to-date. We have the book versions of these as well, which you can find on our Library catalogue.
To visit Issues Online, please click here.
Find My Past
Researching family history? You can now do this for free with ‘Find My Past’. It contains all kinds of census information, military records, school records, births, marriages and deaths, and is easy to use – who knows who you’ll find? To visit Find My past, please click here. Just ask FYi staff if you would like any help. Contact helen.crowther@blackpoolsixth.ac.uk for the username and password.
Full 24-hour home access with username and password only available from your teacher or from helen.crowther@blackpoolsixth.ac.uk
English Magazine
Just for A Level Language and Literature students! there are lots of resources – articles, videos, news, competitions – designed to help you write perfect essays, and get your head round new concepts. It’s also great research for A2 coursework: it’s the best place to get started for all your concepts, studies, and evidence. Get your student login details from Helen Crowther or from your tutor. To visit EMC English Magazine, please click here.
Media Magazine
Just for A level media and BTEC creative media production. A fantastic resource for theory (male gaze, participation, etc), coursework, documentary, filming, case studies, CGI, drama – you name it, it’s here. There are loads of articles and videos which are written by teachers and guest contributors from the industry. You’ll love it! Get your student login details from Helen Crowther or from your tutor. To visit EMC Media Magazine, please click here.
Social media
Keep in touch with us for latest news stories, competitions, Monday Motivation, Word of the Week, and all sorts of other goodies:
Library catalogue and accounts
Our Library system is called Access-It. You can access both the catalogue, and your own library account, from the link below. You can also browse books just returned, recommendations, and latest new books, and reserve them if you wish. https://uk.accessit.online/blc02
Check your own library account by clicking ‘Guest’. Login with your usual computer username and password. You can see all your loans, renew your books, set alerts for new books coming in, and write reviews. Never miss a return date again!
Support
Futures: see the Futures Team in the Fyi for all your career and work experiences needs:
https://www.blackpoolsixth.ac.uk/careers/work-experience/
LGBT: For anyone identifying as LGBT and allies, see Julie Halliwell in the Fyi for more details
Public libraries
Need your local public library? Find them here:
Blackpool – https://www.blackpool.gov.uk/Residents/Libraries-arts-and-heritage/Libraries/Blackpool-libraries.aspx
Lancashire – https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries-and-archives/libraries/
Mental health and wellbeing
With young people’s mental health so much in the news, we developed our Shelf Help collection with books recommended by the Reading Well project (many thanks to the Reading Agency). Kai Binns, Lilly Cowell and Evelyn Murray kindly agreed to rate and review some of these books. Evelyn also recorded a podcast about her reading and experiences.
Kai’s review:
Hi, my name is Kai Binns and I read Stuff That Sucks by Ben Sedley. This was a really amazing book as it was less than 100 hundred pages and only took me around 2 hours to read between lessons and on breaks. I found that it was full of really interesting ideas that comforted me as a reader. I really connected with the book as it spoke directly to me and made me think of all the topics that were spoken about in the book. I noticed that as I read the book I understood everything about all the emotions it talked about and how I felt valid for having these feelings. I encountered two standout moments in the book, one of them was where it broke down all the different emotions that I was feeling in a way that would let me understand why and what I was feeling, this section can be found on page 13-19. Also another standout moment would be one of the exercises that actually made me feel really emotional, the author got me to think about a moment in my past that gave me pure happiness.
This stood out for me as most of the time I sometimes don’t feel like that but it gave me the chance to reflect on one moment that seemed insignificant at the time but does now give me genuine happiness. This standout moment can be found on page 43.
Lilly’s review:
Hi, my name’s Lilly Cowell and I read the book Banish Your Body Image Thief by Kate Collins-Donnelly. This book was amazing to read as it helps you to answer your problems in different stages. You can either just absorb the information, or actually write out answers, to help you work out what are your insecurities and get the bad thoughts out of your mind into the book, which you can really interact with and be in a mind set where you get to understand what’s getting you down and can overcome that problem. It was really interesting to read – it took me a few nights to read and is about 232 pages long; however all the information you need is in the book and is full of different types of section that will help you with thoughts, body image, feelings, and trying to manage all these. I found that pages 128-139 really help because of the worksheets and questions that are given to help you with your mind set and help you write down all your thoughts. I also found pages 14-27 interesting and helpful because this section tells you about what is body image itself and why you feel like you do. I feel like this book will really help with someone who is struggling to understand why they feel a little down.
Evelyn’s review (spoiler alert: she wasn’t dead keen on this book!):
This book is a mixture of lots of different ideas all put together, and not completely successfully. The main focus point of this book is the physical and biological aspects of the teenage brain. The author describes some scientific terms but often without much advice on what to do with the information. The book is littered with poorly executed jokes about teenage stereotypes and cringeworthy fiction stories about ‘typical teenage behaviour’ like slamming doors, shouting at parents and sleeping in. If you can get past the slightly patronising stereotypes and irritating stories, there are some interesting bits of information about physiological changes in the brain during puberty, but that’s about all it is useful for. I wouldn’t recommend this book on its advice or general helpfulness for mental health awareness, but it could be useful for added information on the development going on in the brain.
Our extensive range of books to support young people with their wellbeing can be found here. View our catalogue and reserve items on our booklist, then click ‘Guest’ in the library catalogue, and sign in with your computer login details.
Manga
Blackpool Sixth Manga Club members regularly suggest new titles for our manga collection, and here are Dan and Leo in conversation about the newest series in the Library – Seven Deadly Sins. They also go right off topic straight into My Hero Academia 🙂
Want to know what’s on our bookshelves?
Assassination Classroom 1 – 20
Attack on Titan 1-13
Bleach 1-10
Blood Lad 1-4
Blue Exorcist 1-5
Gray-Man 1-12
Death Note 1-13
Durarara! 1-4
Fairy Tail 1-10
Fullmetal Alchemist 1-27
Hunter x Hunter 1-20
Naruto 1-10
One Piece 1-9
Pandora Hearts 1-10
Rurouni Kenshin
Shakugan No Shana
Soul Eater 1-10
Sword Art Online 1-3
Tokyo Ghoul 1-14
Tokyo Ghoul Days / Past / Void
Vampire Knight 1-19
Blackpool Sixth students can check the availability of books and reserve items in our catalogue: just click ‘Guest’ and sign in with your computer login details.
Word of the Week:
Cameron and Rian discuss the power of words to disgust or delight, how the words you use indicate your age, and the groups you belong to. We start with the word ‘moist’ – eurgh! Have a listen. Many thanks to Cameron Wood and Rian Glover for their English Language A level skills!
Read: That’s disgusting : Herz, R. unraveling the mysteries of repulsion. Find this book at DDC 152 in the Library
Read: McWhorter, J. Words on the move Find this book at DDC 420.9
…or reserve them here : log on to your account by clicking ‘Guest’, using your college computer login details..
British Values
Democracy is one of the British Values, so we asked Lauren Orchiston and Ben Blight to discuss these values through the medium of the Great British Breakfast: hash browns or not?
Ben and Lauren’s breakfast podcast
Need more info about politics?
Read: The Fyi’s Guide to the 2019 Election and UK Politics
Read: Simple Politics
Read: here’s our British Values booklist (find the books just next to the voting booth in the Fyi)
Watch: Leyton Sixth Form College’s excellent explanation of how they make the BV magic happen there
Listen: Radio 4’s Moral Maze on British Values
General Election
Student Louis Weston came into talk with Fyi Study Assistant Lyndsay Davies to talk about the top political issues for students in this general election. Need a quick summary of each party’s key manifesto promises? You can find Louis’s excellent synopsis here.
We balloted students in the Fyi about the issues of most importance to students: here are the results!
Find the Fyi’s guide to the GE here.
Music
Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, The Thin White Duke: David Bowie famously played with identity and music to produce some of the best pop ever made. In this podcast, Dylan Haslam talks about identity, music, and poetry and pays a visit to Eric Clapton and the Beach Boys along the way – just because he can…enjoy! Dylan on music
Watch: Music and identity
Read:Weeks, M. Music: a crash course At DDC 780 in the Fyi Library You can reserve it here using the Library catalogue . Just hit Guest and login with your college username and password.
Ella on punk: Oi! Ella Peebles is researching punk for her Extended Project Qualification, and has produced this podcast to explain the connections punk has with society, politics, and attitude. One of the books Ella’s been reading for her project is John Robb’s ‘Punk Rock’, full of interviews with musicians who were part of punk’s genesis, and an excellent insight into an enduring art form. This book is available from the Fyi Library at DDC 781.5
Creative Writing class runs every week on a Thursday. Each session, we choose a different writing style and activity, and January kicked off with attempting to write the sort of instructions supplied with a piece of flat-pack furniture. A risk assessment was also necessary 🙂