Digimap 'At Risk' period

Please see the message below from Digimap regarding the timing of their maintenance period for 2014.

Dear Colleague,

EDINA currently uses the time between 17:30 and 18:30 on Tuesdays as its "At Risk" period for carrying out service maintenance to Digimap. From January 2014 we will be changing this to a morning slot, between 08:30 and 09:30 on Tuesdays, allowing us more time to resolve any issues that may arise due to the scheduled work.

Increasingly, maintenance work on Digimap has been causing less and less disruption to the service as we are able to switch back and forth between different servers. Moving to a morning downtime allows us to further minimise any potential disruption because staff are more readily on hand during normal working hours.

We hope that this change doesn't cause any disruption, please let us know if you have any concerns.

Kind regards,

Tom Armitage.

EDINA Geoservices Support

Dawsonera e-books and Internet Explorer

Problems have been discovered when reading  Dawsonera e-books online using Internet Explorer at College. Users will be unable to move through the pages by clicking the forward and back arrows and they will not be able to access the Search or Notes tabs.

Therefore it will be best, at least for the time being, to recommend the use of Chrome for reading e-books online in College.

Full text link in mySearch

In mySearch when the following link is given in the results it does not necessarily mean that full text will be available for the article in question.





It actually means that the EBSCO database doesn't have full text for that title so LinkSource will check our other sources to see if any of them can provide it.

The wording is very misleading and we currently have a support call logged with EBSCO to change it to something which will more closely reflect what is actually happening.

Digital signage

Don't forget that if you have any posters that you want displayed on the digital screens all you need to do is send them to Marie and they'll be added asap.

The posters should be landscape and saved as .jpg so they can be added easily to your programme.

Also provide any details of appropriate time-frames where necessary e.g. don't display after 8 November.

Heritage email - 2

Just when we thought we were back in business...

Heritage emails are working for Guildford College emails only i.e. @guildford.ac.uk  So staff will receive any letters etc we produce but students who will be using their own external email will not receive anything from us.  Hopefully IT will have some ideas of what settings need to be changed to allow external emails.

The Reservations notification is set to Print only for the time being but Overdues have not been altered at present.

Dawsonera maintenance

Please see the message below from Dawsons regarding e-book access - some of this is, unfortunately, not applicable to us at the moment due to the ongoing login problems.


Essential maintenance needs to be carried out on Dawsonera this evening between 17:00-18:00 (BST). During this time the service will stay online but may be subject to minor disruption.

Users may find that they get logged off the system. If this occurs they should log back in again where they will be able to access the service as normal. Please also note during this time it will not be possible to download books but users can continue to read online.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

New Resource from BUFVC

Channel 4 Press Packs 1982-2002

This week sees the launch of a new resource from BUFVC - Channel 4 Press Packs 1982-2002.  The resource will provide access to two decades of weekly press packs with can be searched and browsed online. Additional context to the resource comes in the form of articles, timelines and case studies.

The Channel 4 press information packs were ground-breaking in their ability to provide context to programme listings.  They completely reworked the accepted formula of broadcaster press packs: transforming a few typewritten pages into 50+ page booklets which included detailed film notes, programme highlights, reviews and stills.

Dawsonera update

Heritage Emails

Today we have discovered that we are unable to email from Heritage.  This means that anything sent by email has not been getting to staff or students - overdues, recalls, reservations, 2 day courtesy notifications.

IT have checked all our settings and concluded that it is connected to the change in server which took place at the beginning of September.  Another  department has also experienced the same issue and IT are working on a solution but I'm afraid I can't give any time frame of when we will be up and running again.

OpenAthens problem continued

As you are all probably very aware we are still having problems accessing e-books.  Eduserv arranged for a remote session last Thursday to look at our admin set up to see if they could find out what is causing us problems.

According to their trials of resources it would appear that we will have issues when logging on to any resource which requires a unique ID for each user.  If they simply need to know that they have a Guildford College account then access should be fine.  This is why mySearch still works but e-books don't - to monitor copying and printing, and keep bookshelves and notes e-book providers need to identify individuals.

They have asked for the Runtime logs to be sent over from IT so they can hopefully pinpoint what went wrong.  As always I'll pass on any new information when I have it.

OpenAthens LA problem

Unfortunately we have developed a new problem with logging onto online resources.  So you will still see errors occurring on many resources. I have already sent details from Eduserv to IT and asked them to follow the instructions provided to resolve the situation.

You may see errors such as:
Internal server error
No username provided
or a message about attributes not being released

I have stressed the importance of fixing this as soon as possible so fingers crossed they will get on to it straightaway.

This is a separate issue to the one already reported regarding Dawsonera - this has been resolved at their end but you will probably still see the error message until we sort out the new problem at our end.

Dawsonera internal error message

When trying to access Dawson e-books at the moment you may see a page informing you of an internal server error.  Dawsons have been made aware of the problem and are working on a fix at the moment.

In the meantime it is still possible to find and access the book by using the search box (with the magnifying glass) to find it in the Dawson catalogue.

JISC MediaHub - new collection

EDINA is delighted to announce the addition to JISC MediaHub of a major scientific video collection.  The IET.tv (Institute of Engineering and Technology) archive is one of the largest sources of multimedia content in the field of engineering and technology.  It contains video programmes from practising engineers, technologists and key industry speakers, including prestigious lectures and presentations from major IET and other organisations' events, and interviews with experts from industry and academia.

In total there are over 3,000 videos, each between 20 and 45 minutes long, covering important subjects and filmed between 2002 and 2012.

The IET.tv collection is licensed by JISC Collections, who will be making a formal public announcement in the near future.

Moodle update

Lots of work has been carried out on Moodle over the summer on both the E-Resources and iSkills pages.  Hannah will be writing about the iSkills page so this post will address the changes to the E-Resources information.

In light of the introduction of mySearch it was felt that we had a great opportunity to rethink how we presented information on this page.


As many of our online resources will be accessible via mySearch there is no need to list them all in separate subject listings.  However it became apparent that we would need some extra topics to highlight particular resources.

• Audio visual material has a section of its own as this type of resource is not easy to include in discovery services such as mySearch. Direct students and staff here to find images, video, audio, and maps.
• It is also important that the sources of help are easily accessible so they keep their own section.
• Information for HE students about access to libraries at other universities was pulled together
• We also had a small amount of business material (dissertations and podcasts) that has been added and this was also kept in its own section

In addition to this a More Online Resources 'book' has been created to list resources which are not in mySearch.  This has a chapter for each site and the Guildford chapter has been further split into sub-chapters.  As this is a new facility we have used please do take a look and give us any feedback you may have.

New Dawsonenter functionality

Dawson Books are pleased to announce new features in dawsonenter. These have come in response to customer suggestions, and will enhance the way Libraries work with dawsonenter. Bertram stock information – dawsonenter will provide information on number of copies physically in stock at Bertram. Option to take Classmark from Dawson record on dawsonenter – when adding items to baskets, permitted users have the option to automatically add the classmark from the Dawson record to the order. Respect territorial rights for ebooks – dawsonenter will alert users when they either view or try to order an ebook for a country where Dawson is not permitted to sell the book. Profiling information – additional information will be available for titles which have been profiled as part of the new Approval Plan service. Format icon on basket details - the format icon (book, ebook, AV) has been added to the basket details page. These new features will be available from Wednesday 14th August. Click here for new features guide Coming next month Add purchase order information to titles in dawsonenter lists – when adding titles to dawsonenter lists, it will be possible for permitted users to add fund codes, location codes, loan types and notes. Customer specific pricing – where requested by the library, it will be possible for dawsonenter to display a more accurate indicative price.

Dawson download to devices goes live

Dawsonera download to devices is now live so staff and students will be able to add e-books to Apple and Android devices.  Students have asked about this before but, until now, it was only available on the Ebrary platform.  This new upgrade to the Dawsonera site will allow students to add more reading list material to their phones and tablets giving them even better access to the resources they need.

There are helpsheets available and they have been added to the E-Resources page on Moodle under Video Tutorials & Helpsheets.

New Circulation Rules

The previously advertised changes to the circulation rules have now been implemented.  Please see the earlier post for details.

Please note that books issued before 1 August will still follow the old rules for renewals etc.  Everything issued after this date will use the new settings.

JISC MediaHub now available

JISC MediaHub has been made available for free to FE colleges and our access to it has now gone live.

JISC MediaHub provides search results for video, image and audio resources from many different collections.

Users at college can use the direct access link but off site they will need to use the one for the UK Federation.

Dawsonera launch delay

Please see the message below from Dawson regarding the forthcoming upgrade to Dawsonera.  I'll let you know when I have details of the new launch date.



We regret to inform you that due to an extended testing schedule the launch of latest exciting upgrade to dawsonera has been rescheduled. The dawsonera team are committed to supplying you with the best possible user experience and conduct thorough product testing before any upgrade. Our commitment to this approach ensures you receive the highest level of service and it is because of this commitment the decision to delay the launch has been made.
  
The upcoming upgrade to dawsonera is our largest yet. The upgrade will see the launch of the much anticipated download to mobile device functionality, real-time order processing and more front-list content than ever before with new EPUB compatibility, adding to our current library of over 280,000 ebook titles.

We will keep you updated on the revised launch timescales and apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

Kind regards

The dawsonera team

EBSCO Enhancements

EBSCO will be introducing some enhancements in July and August including:

• Improvements to the overall look of the Search, Search Results, and Detailed Record pages within EBSCOhost, providing a more visually appealing interface to end users.
• The feature previously labeled Alert/Save/Share is now labeled Share.  All of the existing functionality of this feature remains the same. This change is one of several small updates that further optimizes our interface for language translation.

In addition to the above enhancements, Visual Search will be discontinued in all EBSCO databases and interfaces.  This change enables us to focus on additional enhancements and improvements to other features in the products.

Dawsonera download to devices coming soon

Arrving at the end of July!

The lastest developments to Dawsonera will see the launch of the much anticipated download to device function.

Staff and students will be able to download Dawson e-books to various devices including iPads, E-readers, and Kindle Fire.

Also a new format of e-books will be included for the first time.  The range of titles Dawsonera is able to offer will be increased by the inclusion of the ePub format.

Full details regarding device compatibility and instructions will be available at launch so watch this space for updates.

Circulation Rules Update

At the beginning of May a small group of LRC staff met to discuss our current circulation rules and compiled a list of suggested amendments.  These ideas were then discussed at a Librarians Meeting and the following changes were agreed and will be implemented at the beginning of August.

Renewals

Students will be allowed 2 renewals on all items and all loan periods.
Staff will be allowed 5 renewals on all items and all standard loan periods.

Loan Block

A manual loan block will be implemented for students with fines of £5 or over.  This is added in the Reader Record on the Circulation tab - look for the 'Blocked' tick box.  When the student has cleared the fine simply untick the box to remove the block.

Reservations

No change was made to the number of reservations that can be placed by staff and students.  However, as it was not clear to everyone what they are, the limits are as follows:

• Student         6
• HE Student   8
• Staff             15

Fiction

It was agreed that fiction books can be issued as an extra item over the 6 or 8 limit if students are borrowing for general reading.  This can not be set up as an exemption on Heritage so it will have to be overridden by staff at the desk.

N.B. On some sites there may be titles which are on reading lists which should not be included in this exemption.  These titles will be clearly marked as such so it will be easy to spot them during the issue process.

Staff Overdues

A further email discussion was held regarding staff overdues and the fact that the automatic loan block comes into force on day one as it does for students.  It was felt that we should be encouraging staff to make more use of online renewals and, at Guildford College, the kiosk for self-issue and the immediate implementation of the block due to overdue items would be a hindrance to this aim.

It was decided that the block would not come into force immediately which would give staff the opportunity to renew items themselves when they are made aware they have overdue items on loan.  However, it was felt that a block should be imposed at some point so a grace period of 45 days has been chosen intialy (roughly a half term).  This will be reviewed later in the year once we have had a chance to see how it goes.

Deleting Serial Issues with Catalogued Articles

As we have several journals where individual articles are being catalogued I thought it timely, with the end of term upon us, to outline the differences when deleting this type of serial issue record.

Heritage does not provide a way of deleting batches of issues which include catalogued article records - so you can't batch delete in Serial Receipts.  IS Oxford has restricted the deletion of these issue records to the Serials Issue form where you can see the list of the article records that you are about to delete.

Go to:

• Serials menu
• Serial issue
• Enter the issue details to retrieve the correct record
• File - Delete record

When you delete an issue record using the Serial Issue form all the related article records are also deleted. Deleting records in any other way will mean that we have 'orphan' records in the system which are not always easy to find and remove.

EBSCO Discovery Service

I hope you are all aware by now that our implementation of EBSCO's Discovery Service is getting closer to completion.  It has taken most of this academic year so far and I'm sure there will be little tweaks needed here and there over the summer to make sure it is ready for the students to be let loose on it!

The name we have chosen is mySearch and we hope it 'does what it says on the tin' and provides as close to a one-stop search box as possible covering many of our online resources.

I have just received confirmation that our Heritage catalogue records have been successfully integrated into mySearch although this is not 'live' information at the moment.  I have yet more questionnaires to fill out to, hopefully, enable us to get this level of information available.  I'll keep everyone posted as this progresses over the summer.

We have got a trainer from EBSCO coming in to show us around the system in September so we'll be prepared to help staff and students get the most out of this new service. In the meantime please do take a look and if you've used EbscoHost before you should find that the interface looks familiar.

Welcome to the 'new' blog for LRC staff

First things first - I apologise for not keeping up with the old Heritage blog this academic year.  Hopefully you all appreciate that I've had two or three big projects on the go which has taken up large amounts of my time (excuses, excuses!).

The big news as you can see from the revamped site and new name is that the remit of this blog has been expanded.  It will now cover all systems information and resources which are part of the LRCs.  This includes:

• e-resources
• e-books
• Heritage
• mySearch (new EBSCO Discovery Service)
• Moodle
• GO

...and anything else that is relevant or may crop up in future.

I'll try to post all vendor updates and scheduled maintenance notices here as well as LRC news and developments regarding these services.  If I get any questions from anyone and I think the answer would be useful if shared I'll add that to the blog too - so if you think of anything please do ask!

So, please either bookmark the blog or follow it by email so you can keep up to date and I hope you find it useful.

Marie