Engineering and Science News - University of Liverpool Library

TRIAL: BioOne

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:26:00 +0000

We have a trial of BioOne until the end of July 2009. To access this trial go to http://www.bioone.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ or browse the journals in the catalogue.

BioOne is a collection of independent society and organizational publishers' journals in the biological sciences.

Our trial includes:

BioOne.1: 87 titles across the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. 84% of BioOne.1's titles are ISI ranked, and many titles are considered leaders in their respective fields.

BioOne.2: 58 titles, the majority of which have not been previously available online. 62% of BioOne.2 titles are non-US based.All these titles have been added to the library catalogue and SFX.

We have also added/activated BioOne's Open Access titles which we will of course retain after the trial concludes.After using BioOne please leave your comments either here or on the E-Resources News and Trials at http://liveresources.blogspot.com/2009/04/trial-bioone.html

CALLING CHEMISTRY RESEARCHERS!

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:34:00 +0000

Can you spare 15 minutes to answer an online survey? The survey is investigating how you communicate with your academic colleagues, particularly in using digital methods. The survey is part of a study, commissioned by JISC, the Joint Information Systems Committee (www.jisc.ac.uk), to understand methods of scholarly communications in your field, and aims to set up advocacy programmes to encourage the take up of new methodologies and technologies to improve the access to, use and re-use of content by UK academics.

The survey is hoping to reach as many researchers as possible. Your input will provide vital insight and you will have the chance to win a £40 Amazon voucher to thank you for your time. You can access the survey until 13 February here:(www.rsc.org/advocacy) which redirects to a survey on http://www.surveymonkey.com/.

CAS rebroadcast dates for the e-Seminar on - Exploring New Enhancements in the Web Version of SciFinder!

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:41:00 +0000

The web version of SciFinder extends functionality beyond the capabilities of all existing SciFinder products. In this session, we will preview the new features and improved performance that the upcoming release has to offer. We will:

· Explore features that you know and love such as the powerful refine capability that groups answer sets by scientific categories, combine options with multiple answer sets, duplicate removal, CHEMLIST®, CHEMCATS® export, and more . . .

· Introduce brand new features such as one click linking to your favorite SciFinder answers, new Keep Me Posted features, related references on key scientific concepts, and more . . .

· Unveil new content such as experimental and predicted properties and reaction data

Learn from your desktop or gather your colleagues and share the e-Seminar demonstration in an auditorium or meeting room. You can submit questions at any time during the e-Seminar.

To register, visit: http://casevents.webex.com .
After you register, you will receive an e-mail confirmation containing the teleconference phone numbers.

New Rebroadcast Dates: New Rebroadcast Times (EDT):
February 17 8:30 AM
February 24 3:00 PM

Explore the Web Version of SciFinder using the CAS Virtual Lab!

New virtual lab sessions have been added for your convenience.

These open sessions provide users with hands-on experience navigating the new web interface of SciFinder. A CAS Applications Specialist will be available to answer user questions.

To view the schedule and to register, visit: CAS Training Lab. You must register at least 24 hours in advance of your desired virtual hands-on session.

E-Books Survey - win £200 Amazon voucher

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:20:00 +0000

In January 2008 the JISC National E-Books Observatory Project conducted probably the largest e-book survey ever undertaken, with more than 23,000 responses from students and staff at UK universities.

The project is now running the 'exit' survey to see how attitudes and behaviour towards e-books have changed in the last year. There is a prize draw on offer of a £200 Amazon voucher for the winner. You will need to provide your university email address if we wish to be entered for the draw.

You can go directly to the survey, or first read further information for students or staff.

Privacy statement: Any information you provide in the survey will be held securely and under no circumstances will the project reveal any findings other than at a highly aggregated level. The data is being collected through a third-party, Survey Monkey, and you can check their privacy policy.

Wellcome Trust funding for Open Access Publication fees

noreply@blogger.com (David Clay) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:26:00 +0000

The Wellcome Trust have provided the University with a new open access grant to pay for the open access publication fees of its researchers. The Wellcome Trust grant conditions require that papers accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, that are funded wholly or partially by a Wellcome Trust grant, be made freely available online as soon as possible, and at least within six months of publication.

Wellcome funded researchers may find it useful to refer to the Wellcome Trust's Complying with Open Access flow diagram.

When you are ready to claim OA fees please consult the Wellcome Trust Funding to Support Open Access guide on the library web site.

If you have any questions about the funding for open access publications fees please contact David Clay or phone ext 43950.

Exploring What's New with the Web Version of SciFinder - e-Seminar on September 30, 2pm

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:57:00 +0000

SciFinder continues to evolve to increase research productivity. In this session, we will explore the new web version and show you the latest and greatest that SciFinder has to offer. We will introduce you to the web version by:

Exploring the features and functionality of the new streamlined interface
Unveiling one-click access to powerful SciFinder tools such as analysis, refinement, and linking tools
Sharing valuable insights on how to make your web experience more efficient and productive

To register, visit: http://casevents.webex.com .

After you register, you will receive an e-mail confirmation containing the teleconference phone numbers.

Library induction for new students

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Rhodes) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:17:00 +0000

The Harold Cohen Library is running induction sessions for new students. This is a chance to find out what the library has to offer and how it can support your studies. New students can attend at a specific time organised with their department, or come along to one of the lunchtime drop-in sessions. These are running from Wed 24th September to Tues 7th October, see timetable for details: http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/subjects/engineer/guides/HCLInduction2008.pdf

All students that attend an induction session and fill in a feedback form will be entered in a free prize draw for £25 of book tokens.

Advance notice - Library catalogue unavailable, Thursday 28th August pm

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:50:00 +0000

The Library's automated management system, including the catalogue, is to be migrated to a new server and into a new configuration by our system supplier working with CSD and Library staff. The whole system will be unavailable after 13.30 on Thursday 28th August.

We hope to be able to restore access in the course of Friday morning, 29th August, but the system will remain 'at risk' that day while it is tested in its new environment.

This major upgrade will ensure that the catalogue and other Library systems remain responsive and capable of development in coming years.

The Harold Cohen and Sydney Jones libraries will remain open as advertised and you can return books and journals. You will be able to borrow books and journals when the libraries are staffed ( between 9 am and 6 pm) but self-service stations will be closed.

You can still search for items in the library's collections by searching Copac, a joint catalogue of the holdings of over twenty top research universities and institutes. You can use the Main Search screen to restrict your searches to Liverpool stock only.

Physics Today

noreply@blogger.com (David Clay) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:29:00 +0000

Physics Today is now available online to all University staff and students from 1985 - present.

Extended weekend opening for resits

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Rhodes) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:12:00 +0000

The Harold Cohen Library will open for longer than its normal vacation hours over the next two weekends. This should be helpful to students resitting exams.

The extended hours are:
Saturday 9th August 9.00am - 9.30pm
Sunday 10th August 12.00pm - 9.30pm
Saturday 16th August 9.00am - 9.30pm
Sunday 17th August 12.00pm - 9.30pm

Stack Floor 4 open again, Harold Cohen Library

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Rhodes) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:15:00 +0000

Stack Floor 4 of the Harold Cohen Library has re-opened and access to Computer Science and Engineering books has been restored.

TRIAL: IOPscience

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Rhodes) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:04:00 +0000

We have an extended trial of IOPscience until 31st December 2008. To access this trial go to http://iopscience.iop.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/. Off-campus users will be prompted to login with their MWS username and password.

IOPscience is a new e-journals platform from the Institute of Physics that will run alongside their existing platform. IOPscience includes innovative features to help you locate articles and keep up to date in your chosen area. For example:
- all articles in physics, astronomy and mathematics are classified with PACS or MSC codes- journal homepages have tag clouds of the most frequently occuring classification codes (mouseover the code for its definition)
- users can tag articles with their onw choice of keywords
- search results can be narrowed using filters (much like Scopus)- any search can be saved as an RSS feed for updates

For more details of the added features see http://iopscience.iop.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/page/aboutiopscience

Note that catalogue links and OpenURL links (SFX / find it @ liverpool) will continue to be directed to the existing IOP journals site.

Access to IOPscience in 2009 would only be available at additional cost, so we are keen to hear whether you think the additional features are worth paying for. So after trying IOPscience please leave a comment.

Journal Citation Reports - 2007 data available

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Rhodes) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:56:00 +0000

The latest Journal Citation Reports for 2007 have been added to Web of Knowledge. Journal Citation Reports enable you to find a journal's impact factor.

The quickest way to get to Journal Citation Reports from the library homepage is to click on Databases and then use the Search Database Titles box (under Locate and Search a Specific Database) to search for JCR. A search for Journal Citation Reports will of course work too, or even a search for impact factors. Remember, you can create your own list of favourite databases, see http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/electron/erdatabase_help_my.html

Temporary closure of Stack Floor 4

noreply@blogger.com (Carole Rhodes) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:32:00 +0000

From Wednesday 16th July, Stack Floor 4 of the Harold Cohen Library will be closed. This means the loss of access to Computer Science and Engineering books for a period of about two weeks.

Please try to borrow any books you need before 16th July.

The unexpected closure of Stack Floor 4 is due to asbestos removal, as part of the first floor refurbishment.

Some books that academic staff have requested be kept available will be moved to Stack Floor 5 for the duration of the work.

Stack Floor 4 should be back to normal in August.

The Library apologises for the inconvenience and short notice.

About Athens Authentication

noreply@blogger.com (David Clay) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:50:00 +0000

For many years, Athens has been UK HE's Identity Management service, run by Eduserv and funded by JISC. JISC will stop funding Athens on 31st July 2008 and will replace it as the national access management service by a new service called the UK Federation, based on the Shibboleth technology.

How does this affect you?

If you are used to logging in to Athens to access e-resources then you will need to get used to new access routes.

Links to most e-resources from the Library web pages and catalogue are already authenticated by IP address and routed via EZproxy (though they may be accessible via Athens too at present).

On-campus, you have seamless access to these resources; off-campus you will be prompted to login to EZproxy with your Managed Windows Service username and password.

British Standards Online, JustCite and LexisNexis Butterworths have been converted to IP/EZproxy access recently. ESDU, Info4Education (i.e. Construction Information Service et al) and Westlaw will follow shortly.

A few resources, including:

BUFVC resources (inc TRILT and the TVTimes Project 1955-1985)
Census resources
Digimap
Economic and Data Service (ESDS)
MIMAS landmap
Planex
Zetoc alerts

cannot or will not allow access by IP/EZproxy. CSD and the Library are actively working with JISC and the vendors concerned to ensure that Shibboleth or some other authentication method is available by Aug 1st 2008. CSD are developing a new UK Federation login page, and direct login links to these resources.

Personal settings tied to your Athens account, for example in RefWorks and Zetoc alerts, will need particular attention.

The Library's RefWorks page has been updated to explain how to convert your Athens-based RefWorks account into one that is no longer tied to your Athens account. An announcement will follow about how to convert Athens-based Zetoc alert accounts.

For other resources where you may have chosen to set personal preferences (e.g. ScienceDirect), try logging into your account via Athens as normal, and then edit your profile to choose a new username and password. Failing that, note your personal settings, access the resource via EZproxy instead of Athens and create a new personal account, then change its settings to match your previous personal account that was tied to your Athens account.

Trial: Lyell Collection - Geological Society of London

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:15:00 +0000

We have a trial of the Geological Society of London's Lyell Collection until 30th June 2008. The Lyell Collection comprises two journals:

Journal of the Geological Society, from Vol. 1 (1845) onwards
Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, from Vol. 1 (1967) onwards

and three book series:

Special Publications, from Vol. 1 (1964) onwards
Engineering Geology Special Publications, from Vol. 2 (1986) onwards
Geological Society Memoirs, from Vol. 1 (1958) onwards

We already have access to the journals through our subscriptions, but we are considering upgrading our subscription to the full Lyell Collection and want to find out the level of demand for the book series.

To access this trial go to http://www.lyellcollection.org/. Off-campus users should use the Windows Terminal Service, though in the event of a subscription we would set up off-campus access via EZproxy as usual.

After trying the Lyell Collection, please leave a comment - particularly about which (if any) of the book series are important to you.

HCL Refurbishment Webpages

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:51:00 +0000

Two new web pages have been created to keep everyone up to date on the HCL project. There is general information and a few artists impressions to see and some information regarding access to the building during the work. These pages will be updated regularly as the project progresses.

Project homepage: http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/news/hclRefurbNews.html

'Latest news' page: http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/news/hcl_latest.html

Advance Notice - RSC Website Disruption

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:20:00 +0000

The Royal Society of Chemistry website at http://www.rsc.org/ will be unavailable as detailed below:

Access to all content is likely to be affected as follows -

Monday 28th April – Journals search will be unavailable all day 9:00 – 18:00 (The website and all journals articles will be available)

Tuesday 6th May – Website unavailable from 10:00am – 18:00, FTP & AutoPDF will also be unavailable from 9:00 – 18:00.

Monday 12th May – Website Unavailable from 09.00am to 3.00pm.

The RSC apologises for any inconvenience this may cause.

Harold Cohen Library Refurbishment - Summer 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:59:00 +0000

A major refurbishment of the Harold Cohen Library Reading Rooms will commence on the 9th June 2008 and be completed in September 2008. We hope these significant improvements will address some of the issues raised in student satisfaction surveys and will significantly raise the standard of the environment for studying.

The North Reading Room
The North Reading Room will be developed to provide another area for group study within the building. The lighting will be significantly improved as will the ventilation. The area will be equipped with plenty of plug in points for laptops, and modern furniture that can be moved to create the appropriate flexible arrangements for group study.
This is the space where you can meet for discussion and to work in an informal modern, bright environment.

The South Reading Room
This room will be equipped with new desks with height adjustable seating and the space will be opened up to create access to the medical sciences subject team for help and support. There will be plenty of plug in points for laptop users and a PBL book collection for medical and dentistry students will be housed within this area.
This area will be organised for individual study and provide an area where students and visitors can readily access help and support.

The Main Reading Room
The Main Reading Room will continue to be designated as a silent study area for those who like to find a quiet place to work in the Library. We want to restore some of the grandeur to this fine Reading Room, but with the additional benefits of desk top lighting, more comfortable and robust furnishings and carpeting. This area will continue to house a substantial part of our book collections.

First Floor Landing
The first floor landing area connecting the Reading Rooms will become the focus for a new Information Support Desk.

Preparing for refurbishment
To prepare for this work to be undertaken there will inevitably be an amount of disruption. We are in the process of undertaking an extensive book move to allow us to relocate books currently housed in the North and South Reading Rooms onto the stack floors.

This will mean that access to stacks 5 and 6 will be severely restricted for 5 – 7 days between 21st April and 2nd May. During this time library staff will operate a book retrieval service for students. It would greatly assist us if you are in a position to borrow your books well in advance of this period to do so, or you can of course request them in advance by calling at the Issue Desk with details.

Access to Study Space
Towards the end of the book move we anticipate the Reading Rooms will be out of access for study for around 3 days, the week beginning the 5th May. We will do everything we can to minimise this disruption but access to study space will be limited for a few days and we would encourage students to use the Sydney Jones Library during this time. We are unable at this time to accurately predict the exact dates and times of likely disruption, but will continue to give daily updates as to the accessibility of key areas both by posters within the building and via network posters.
Access to PCs in the 8 Teaching Centres will continue undisturbed throughout the book move.

Disruption during the summer
There will be no access to the Reading Rooms, the main stairways to the first floor landing or the Wolfson Suite between 9th June and the 19th September. Students wishing to find space for quiet study may use the Current Journals Room, or the study space provided on the back of stacks 3, 4, and 5. Students may prefer to minimise the risk of disruption completely and use the Sydney Jones Library during this time.
Access to PC Teaching Centres will not be compromised beyond the annual cycle of events which are scheduled during the summer vacation like clearing, updating hardware.

Communications
We will do everything we can to minimise disruption to students, staff and visitors for the duration of the project and hope you will agree it will be worth the effort.
If you would like to receive regular email updates regarding likely disruption please email the contact below or pass your details to the member of staff on the Information Support Desk. We will be happy to keep you up to date.

If you have any concerns or would like further information regarding this project please do not hesitate to contact Laura Oldham,User Services Manager,Harold Cohen Library, Email: loldham@liv.ac.uk, Telephone 0151 794 5413

Access to Special Collections and Archives

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:16:00 +0000

Due to building work the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room will relocate from the basement to the first floor of the Grove Wing in the Sydney Jones Library from mid April until September 2008.

To allow for relocation the Reading Room will be closed from 17th to 22nd April inclusive.

From 23rd April onwards a temporary Reading Room with accommodation for five readers will be operated. However, those researchers intending to visit must contact us in advance to make an appointment and to supply reference numbers for any materials they wish to see.

It should be noted that due to the refurbishment of the lift materials will have to be hand-carried from the basement stores. Unfortunately, in practice, this means that most classes of material will be inaccessible.

Materials that will not be available are included under the following headings:
Manuscripts
Incunabula
Archives
Large books
Multi-volume sets
Maps

We shall endeavour to retrieve materials wherever possible, but without advance notice we will be unable to guarantee accommodation or delivery of materials.

Telephone: 0151 794 2696
Email: mwatry@liverpool.ac.uk
Fax: 0151 794 2681

Win a Free iPod - Electronic book survey from Ebrary.

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:21:00 +0000

The library is working with Ebrary to better understand e-book usage and needs among college and university students. We’d greatly appreciate it if you took a brief Student E-book Survey.

The survey should take less than 20 minutes to complete, and almost all the questions are optional.

To show appreciation for your time, you will be entered into a drawing for a FREE iPod of your choice. You pick the model, size and colour! Also, every 25th participant will receive a free T-shirt!

If the link to the survey doesn’t work for you, go to http://www.ebrary.com/ and look for Student E-book Survey. The survey remains open until April 11, 2008.

Thanks for taking part.

SCOPUS User Test - Under Grad's and PGR students

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:25:00 +0000

Help test a Web Research Guide and get £50 of Amazon vouchers.

3 undergraduate students and 2 graduate students are needed to help test an interactive online tutorial being built by Elsevier to help people improve their web research skills.
Volunteers will be asked to test a clickable semi-interactive prototype and then answer some questions to evaluate whether they would use such a tool. The tests will be carried out by representatives of Elsevier and will last for one hour.

The test will take place on either on Monday 17 or Tuesday 18 March.
All participants will be rewarded with either a $100 Amazon.com© Gift Certificate or, alternatively, a GBP 50 Amazon.co.uk © Gift Certificate.

If you would like to volunteer please contact David Clay (e-mail dclay@liv.ac.uk or Tel: 0151 794 3950) in the library, stating on which day you are available.

Advance notice - Sydney Jones Library closed 13th June - 16th June inclusive

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:23:00 +0000

This message is an advance notice that the need for electrical work will necessitate the closing of the Sydney Jones Library for a four day weekend after the end of the summer term. The Library will be closed Friday 13th June to Monday 16th June inclusive. The Harold Cohen Library will remain open as normal during this time.

Engage in research - an interactive website

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:24:00 +0000

Engage in Research - http://www.engageinresearch.ac.uk/ - is an interactive website for biosciences undergraduates. The Engage web site has been developed by the University of Reading's Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Applied Undergraduate Research Skills (CETL-AURS) with the aim of developing opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in research activities and develop their research skills.

It covers the basic areas of research, including how and where to search for scientific papers, how to structure a literature review, basic statistics, writing scientifically, presenting and professional development. It can equally be of use to other subject areas besides biosciences and may be helpful for masters student too.

National E-Books Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Sharpe) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:46:00 +0000

As part of the JISC E-Books Observatory Project, the CIBER research group at University College London have been commissioned to carry out a national survey about e-books. Please complete this survey as a high response rate will make it much more useful. To complete the survey, please see the further information for students or teaching staff. The survey closes at midnight on Friday 15 February.