WGSN: move to Single Sign-on now live

WGSN - March - 2016

AUTHENTICATED ACCESS TO WGSN (the World Global Style Network) is now by university username and password.

On-campus and off-campus access URLs have been updated on the WGSN Find Databases listing.

The move to Single Sign On (SSO), advance notice of which was shared on 17 March, replaces the need for staff and students to register and maintain individual accounts, and to remember personally created WGSN credentials. SSO based accounts at WGSN will not expire, as long as the student’s or staff member’s NTU account remains active.

As part of the migration process, all existing personalised settings on WGSN have been moved over to the new Single Sign On environment. This means that no manual intervention is required to ensure account continuity.

WGSN access moves to Single Sign On

WGSN - March - 2016

FROM 29 MARCH 2023, authenticated access to WGSN (the World Global Style Network) will be by university username and password.

The move to Single Sign On (SSO) will replace the need for staff and students to register and maintain individual accounts, and to remember personally created WGSN credentials.

The migration to SSO for WGSN will take place at around 14:00 on 29 March 2023, at which point the access details on the Find Databases listing for WGSN will be updated. The move will not involve any downtime and, up until the point of switchover, NTU staff and students will be able to continue using their existing WGSN account credentials.

As part of the migration process, all existing personalised settings on WGSN will be moved over to the new Single Sign On environment. This means that no manual intervention will be required to ensure account continuity.

The move to SSO for WGSN will make for a far better user experience of the service, and resolve the problems caused by personal account expiry and forgotten password information.

Completed: withdrawal of access to the legacy version of RefWorks

AUTHENTICATED ACCESS TO the legacy version of RefWorks (v2) is no longer available to staff and students at Nottingham Trent University, following the removal of NTU from the drop-down list of Shibboleth sites on the legacy platform.

This means that LLR is now only supporting the current (and far superior) version of RefWorks (v3).

This withdrawal process has taken far longer than intended due to delays by ProQuest in completing the necessary technical work.

Since the launch of RefWorks v3, LLR had been supporting both the new and the legacy versions, to allow sufficient time for users of the legacy version to complete existing research activities without needing to migrate mid-project.

Library support for both versions had been in place for several years. Throughout that time new staff and students had been encouraged by the library to create accounts in RefWorks v3, and the LTT has provided training exclusively for the much-improved new version.

However, a minority of existing v2 users had continued to regularly log in to the legacy version of RefWorks, and a small number of new v2 accounts had been created.

The library has contacted all v2 RefWorks users that have been active on the platform in the past twelve months, offering support and guidance about how to migrate to RefWorks v3. Many have completed the migration to the new platform following this advice.

If any staff member or student contacts the library to report that they need access to references held in their legacy RefWorks account, LLR can – even now – assist them with the migration process. In any such cases, a Dynamics ticket should be raised for the attention of the ATS team, with details of the individual concerned.

ProQuest will decommission the legacy version of RefWorks entirely on 30 June 2023.

New resource: OverDrive

ACCESS TO A growing collection of eBook, audiobook and magazine content is now available to Nottingham Trent University students and staff through the OverDrive platform.

Rather than traditional academic disciplines, materials made available via OverDrive instead focus on well-being, self-help and resilience, and leisure and recreational reading. The Magazine Collection, to which LLR has subscribed, additionally provides access to full electronic versions of thousands of newsstand titles, grouped into themes such as: Celebrity; Entertainment; Cooking & Food; Home & Garden and Politics and Current Affairs.

Accessing OverDrive content

Access to OverDrive materials is through the OverDrive web site and also through the Libby app (available for Android and iOS devices).

Authentication to OverDrive content is by university username and password. NTU staff and students need to register an OverDrive ‘library card’ which then entitles them to ‘borrow’ eBooks and audiobooks from the platform (up to 30 at any one time, for an initial seven day loan period). Once registered, the loaning of magazine issues is unlimited.

Because the way that OverDrive provisions electronic material is different to the normal academic publisher model, LLR is providing an illustrated walkthrough guide to: how to register an OverDrive ‘library card’; how to loan, renew and return items; and how to place holds, through both the OverDrive web site and Libby app.

Discovering OverDrive content

New entries for the main OverDrive platform and for the OverDrive Magazine Collection have been added to the Find Databases service.

Individual titles from LLR’s OverDrive subscription are also discoverable through Library OneSearch and Library OneSearch Pro, including:

New content purchased by LLR will also be immediately discoverable on both the OverDrive platform and through the Libby app.

New resource: Bibliography of British and Irish History Online

A NEW LISTING for the Bibliography of British and Irish History Online has been added to the Find Databases service.

This resource provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British empire and commonwealth and is described as follows:

As well as providing details of publications, the bibliography offers links to online catalogues to help you find the items that it lists in research libraries in Britain and Ireland. It also provides links to online text where available. The bibliography is a guide to the work of historians – it does not contain original sources, unless they have been edited and republished by historians (except for a selection of key sources published before 1901). The bibliography lists books, articles in books and articles in journals. Some 800 journals and series are regularly checked.

Access to the resource is by university username and password.