Informs downtime update

Hi
I posted a blog recently about downtime with Informs for Tuesday 2nd December. We've received news that this is not going ahead due to complaints that it will interrupt teaching sessions.

The upgrade will now take place weekend 6/7th December

Gill

Update on Scopus off-campus access

Hi Everyone,

Further to my post last week Elsevier have now contacted us (see below) to say that they will fix this problem on December 9th. I don't know why they can't do it before then, but it seems we have to wait. Until then users will have to use the Remote Desktop, or do a CrossSearch from within the eLibrary to access Scopus from off-campus.

I'm sorry this access is going to be unavailable for so long,

James.

Message from Elsevier:
Currently, users logged in to Scopus through Shibboleth or Athens are likely to experience issues with Scopus' search functionality - most notably search results not being displayed correctly, or not at all. These problems are caused by a software bug that was inadvertently released on last November 15th, when the latest software release of Scopus took place. It is not related to earlier issues Shibboleth users may have experienced on Scopus.
Our technical staff have identified the root cause for the software bug and have developed a patch to solve it. This patch will be released on Tuesday December 9th, after which the problems should disappear.
We deeply regret the inconvenience caused.

Scopus Search Problems From Off-Campus

Hi All,

We are currently experiencing problems with searching Scopus when logged in via Shibboleth from off-campus. We can search and are told how many results have been found, but we are unable to view the results, which isn't much use!

I've contacted Elsevier about this and they say that we aren't the only institution with this problem and they are working on this as a priority, so I hope it will be fixed soon.

In the meantime if you get anyone who needs to search Scopus from off-campus they are still able to do this via the Remote Desktop/Thin Client connection (see ITS instructions about how to do this on their Location Independent Working page that is linked to from their CU Portal page).

Another option is just to login to the eLibrary and do a CrossSearch of Scopus as you will be able to see the results from within the eLibrary.

Thanks,

James.

OPAC Reservations

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure you've all noticed or been asked about the way the OPAC says an item is on an open shelf when someone makes a reservation even though all copies are actually on loan. This is quite confusing for the students so I asked Paul to investigate this.

A quick fix suggested by Ex Libris was to hide this text completely, so it should no longer be showing. Of course, this could be confusing when a student tries to reserve an item that is On Shelf. However, although there is nothing that first displays when a student tries to reserve an On Shelf item, as soon as they click Go to make the request the following message displays in red at the top of the screen:
Item or like copy is on shelf. Cannot place hold request.

I hope you'll agree that this makes things much clearer and more intuitive for the users, so thanks to Paul for sorting this out.

James.

Changes to EBSCOhost Interface

Hi Everyone,

We've received the following message from EBSCO about changes they have made to the new EBSCOhost interface, in response to feedback. I know there were a number of things that some of you didn't like and you were going to give some feedback, so I hope some of these changes might be in response to your comments. Details of the changes are given in the message below.

Thanks,

James.

Dear EBSCO Customer,

In response to feedback from our customers, we have added several enhancements to the recently redesigned EBSCOhost interface. Below is a summary of the new features now available:

A new Image Quick View limiter replaces the Articles With Images limiter
The Image Quick View limiter includes multiple sort options by image type. Can I limit my EBSCOhost search results to articles that have Image Quick View available? (http://support.epnet.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=4207) Can I set the Image Quick View limiter to display under Limit your results on the EBSCOhost Result List screen? (http://support.epnet.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=4206)
Direct link to the Basic Search Screen from both the Basic and Advanced Search Screens
Keyword renamed New Search
Result List mouse over text changed from Refine Search to Search Modes and Limiters
Entire phrase for cited references on Result List replaces the number of references in parentheses
Search mode specified on Result List green bar
Search History View Results anchor positioning improved
Date Slider Bar with original search date ranges How do I use the Date Slider feature in EBSCOhost? (http://support.epnet.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=3873)
Additional Help link added to Choose Databases Screen
Publication name and date added to NewsBank results

EBSCOadmin has been updated to provide library administrators with automatic advance notification when the login used to access EBSCOadmin is about to expire. Visit EBSCO's Support Site (http://support.ebscohost.com) to learn about new features, search among thousands of FAQs, download Flash tutorials, Help Sheets or User Guides, or communicate with Technical Support at any time, using the EBSCO Support Form (http://support.ebscohost.com/contact/askus.php).

Science Direct & Scopus Downtime - Sat 15/11/08

Hi All,

We've received this notification from Elsevier about Scopus and Science Direct downtime this weekend.

Thanks,

James.

On Saturday, 15 November, Scopus, ScienceDirect and the Admin Tool will be unavailable for scheduled upgrades during the following periods:

Scopus: For eight hours - 1:00 p.m. UTC/GMT (8:00 a.m. EST) until 9:00 p.m. UTC/GMT (4:00 p.m. EST).

ScienceDirect and Admin Tool: For nine hours - 1:00 p.m. UTC/GMT (8:00 a.m. EST) until 10:00 p.m. UTC/GMT (5:00 p.m. EST).

We apologize for the inconvenience,

Regards,
The Elsevier Team.