ILL Stuff

There is a new box about Interlibrary Loan on the Ref Desk Manual on the Circulation tab. The information is new to most all of us (not just interns) and changes how we recommend and facilitate ILL. We can't ever ILL ebooks, right? Wrong. We don't borrow DVDs from other institutions, right? Wrong. We never ever request textbooks, right?

...right?? Please get familiar with this information so we can continue to provide the greatest access to our patrons!

Ebook issue

There is currently an issue with a large ebook collection that we have whereby items that we are shown to "own" in the catalog have no "View eBook" link in their record. Marcie says this is a known (and somewhat contentious) issue that they are working to correct. For now, if a patron suddenly cannot access an ebook they have accessed before, or if their instructor's link seems to be "broken," check the catalog for the item. If it looks like, under View All Editions and Formats, that we "have" the item, but there is no "View eBook" link, try going directly to:

ProQuest's Ebook Central/Academic and Public Library Complete
in the Databases list under "E" for Ebook.

You can go ahead and continue to report these items to erhelp@uncg.edu because in some instances we may have access to the ebook in another collection and a temporary "View eBook" link can be added until this issue is resolved.

 "It appears from the catalog record that we have access to this ebook."

 "However, there is no View eBook link in the item record."

 "View all Editions and Formats shows we should have access."

"We can access the ebook directly from the database for now."

ProQuest ebook issues

UPDATE: So apparently it's not affecting all of the ebooks, just the two or three unrelated titles we happened to be trying to access in a row (miraculously). These have been reported but the others should be fine. If you come across any issues with downloading chapters in ProQuest ebooks, please report them to erhelp@uncg.edu.


We are currently having issues downloading pages/chapters of ProQuest ebooks. The issue seems to be affecting all of the ebooks in their collection and it has been reported. Stay tuned for resolution...

Library e-books for some courses with no concurrent user limits!

Hi folks,

Michelle Courtney just announced a list of textbooks that the library owns as ebooks with no concurrent user limits:  http://uncg.libguides.com/coursetexts

It will be a nice place to check if someone asks you for a textbook!

If that guide doesn't have the textbook someone needs, please remember to

• search the library catalog for the book title, remember to click "view all editions"
• search the course number in the print reserves part of the library catalog

I've added this info to the Reserves tab of the libguide for our catalog and discovery system: http://uncg.libguides.com/WCL

I'll update the rest of this libguide this weekend.

I'm the ROI representative to the ILSC catalog committee, so please let me know if you have questions about the catalog or suggestions for this libguide.

Some questions I can answer, others I might refer to Terry.  If you have a catalog features request or a problem, I might suggest that you post it to the OCLC Community Center. (Terry can help librarians get a log in to that site)

Reporting database, ebook and other access problems

  this is for reporting access problems with e-books, electronic journals and databases - very helpful! (NOTE, equipment problems still go to erit@uncg.edu)
From Kate Hill:

Patrons can't get to a resource?  Think we should have access to something and we don't?  Now there is one way to get in contact with all of your friendly e-resource staff (that includes Kate, Katherine N., Marcie and Beth) with one email!  Simply send an email to erhelp@uncg.edu, let us know what the issue is, and it will be investigated.  Don't worry, we will keep you in the loop about our progress!

We ask you please to begin using this as your main way of letting us know about e-resource issues!  It lets us make sure your issues are noticed even when one of us is out.  It also lets me keep track of all the issues we are having so I can notice trends and put pressure on repeat offenders :)

Troubleshooting electronic sources

Hi, all, here's a reminder of who to contact if we're having issues with specific ebooks, ejournals, databases, and sources on NC Docks

 

Katherine Nunnally for Electronic Journals  kjnunnal@uncg.edu

Marcie Burton for Electronic Books and Databases mbburton@uncg.edu

Anna Craft for Electronic Dissertations and Thesis and NC Docks  arcraft@uncg.edu

 

When reporting, be very specific with all needed details (for example, accessed from A-Z list, include text of error message, other databases from same vendor checked, and so forth)  and include links to the source to help save time. 

 

be sure to report anything that's not working so these folks can do their magic. 

 

 

Thanks,  Mary

Springer ebooks - now downloadable!

Yes, I'm going a little crazy with posts today, but all of these are useful to know.  I have been particularly delighted to see that Springer now lets people download entire books and I've already shown these to a couple of patrons!  3 cheers for Springer, hope others follow their lead,  Mary
Springer is pleased to introduce the 'full book download functionality' on SpringerLink and Springer for R&D in response to the high demand for this feature by our authors, researchers and library customers. This new functionality allows users to download all chapters of a book in one go. In addition to this feature, users can view an eBook on SpringerLink and Springer for R&D through the LookInside, and download the individual chapters as PDF and/ or HTML format. The chapter level and full book PDF is available to subscribed users without restrictions. The LookInside always shows some sample pages to unsubscribed users, and the full chapter to subscribed users.

 

WorldCat Local - ebook link problems and workaround

There is problem with ebooks that we own NOT having full text links in WorldCat Local. For instance the Historical dictionary of women's education in the United States.

The quickest workaround while working with a patron is to open the detailed record and click on "links from other libraries" (below where you'd normally find our ebook full text link)

Click on "show all links from other libraries."  There's a very good chance that other libraries get this title from the same vendor that we do and the full text link from another library will work.

What if there are lots of links for other libraries but none work for us?

I'm afraid that the next fastest thing to do while working with a patron is to open the old staff only catalog and search for the ebook there and use the "available online" link. 

The only other workaround that I can think of is somewhat involved - going out to the database where you'd normally expect to find the ebook and searching there.  For instance, Springerlink, Oxford, etc.

For the rest of this week, librarians please report any titles that you find to Marcie Burton. 

Beth B is due to return to the office next week.  Marcie will report the problem to her and expects that Beth will "be on it like a dog on a bone."

Thanks,
Lea

Access problems for ebooks

I uncovered a thorny access issue for Ebsco ebooks, which do not in general work well with Macs using Safari or Firefox (the previous issue has been a clunky system where each page needs to be opened separately). Right now, using either of these browsers generates a Ebook in use message IF the user is going directly through EBSCO. However, the books work, or at least the ones I tried, if you go directly through the catalog. I have reported this to Beth, who will work with EBSCO on resolving.

If possible, people should use Internet Explorer to access EBSCO ebooks. The other ebook systems don't have the same issues. Other access problems with EBSCO ebooks might be caused by an older edition of Adobe.

Proxy links in Libguides

As some of you may have noticed, many of the links to individual e-books and Gale subcategory collections in LibGuides are no longer working. A few of us are in the process of changing these links, but in the meantime, the library catalog links are working.
If you want to change your own links, let me know and I'll provide further instructions.

Further, the links that have been changed are asking students to authenticate from on-campus. This is a GCN issue, so the express machines are not having this problem. ERIT knows and is trying to figure it out.
-Amy

Safari E-books Problem

FROM Anne Marie via Mary - and don't you love that title!
If you get complaints about E-book links not working, check the vendor. I just learned that Safari E-books rotates some titles in and out each month -- for example, last month they removed over 1,000 titles that are in our catalog. They supply bib records for the new titles, but apparently, don't provide an easy way for us to identify those to remove (like a list of ISBNs). The E-Resources team is currently working on a solution, but in the meantime, you may need to offer this explanation -- with apologies -- to patrons wanting access to works such as Eat that Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating . (Darn, I wanted to read that.)