Updates on electronic resources from the library of Nottingham Trent University
The problem preventing off-campus access to subscription databases on the Gale-Cengage platform (reported on 15 June) has now been resolved by the Gale-Cengage technical team.
Off-campus access is now available once again, with authentication by university username and password.
The databases accessible off-site once again are:
The library is working with the technical team at Gale Cengage to reinstate off-campus access to the databases on the Gale Cengage platform. On-campus access is working normally, but, at present, off-campus access requests, authenticated by university username and password, are failing to complete successfully. A further update will follow once on-campus access has been restored. Affected databases include:
The Box of Broadcasts (BoB) streaming service, for terrestrial and freeview TV and BBC Radio, has given advance notice of an upcoming three-day downtime period: 11-13 June 2018. BoB advises as follows:
The BoB service will be unavailable between 11-13 June 2018. This is because the Eduserv datacentre in Swindon is closing imminently forcing us to relocate our BoB servers on 11 June 2018.
We are working very hard to minimise the impact of this move on BoB service delivery but it will be necessary to switch BoB off for up to 3 days whilst we move the equipment.
BoB will be switched off on the morning of 11 June 2018 and will be completely unavailable during this time. Forward scheduling on the EPG will be available up to 11 June and then will restart once the move is complete. Programmes broadcast during the down-period will be available retrospectively for most channels. Please note that off-air recordings can be ordered in advance during the down-time via TRILT and can be prioritised during this 3-day period.
If you have any questions about the above please contact bob@bufvc.ac.uk
AS PART OF the rollout of the new hosted eZproxy service, off-campus access to the ISURV platform has been re-enabled. Off-campus access is once again available by university username and password, with on-campus access continuing to be direct.
AS PART OF the rollout of the new hosted eZproxy service, the ability to register a new (and re-activate an inactive) WGSN account from off-campus has been re-enabled – as long as the student authenticates via the Library OneSearch link. Library colleagues will no longer need to mediate the creation or reactivation of WGSN accounts for students who are off-campus.
An updated guide to creating a WGSN account, and guide to managing an existing WGSN account, have also been made available through the listing of the resource in the Find Databases service of Library OneSearch.
AS PART OF the rollout of the new hosted eZproxy service, off-campus access to the BCIS (Buidling Cost Information Service) platform has been restored. On-campus access continues to be direct, with off-campus access available once again by university username and password.
The streaming video service Box of Broadcasts (BoB) has just announced that they will be carrying out some unscheduled maintenance work this morning (Friday 2 March) and that the service should be considered ‘at risk’ until 12:30.
UPDATE, 13:30: The maintenance period has overrun, but BoB indicate that services should be fully restored shortly.
UPDATE, 16:00: The maintenance period has now concluded and BoB services are accessible once more.
ACCESS TO THE Gartner database has been withdrawn from the Find Databases service of Library OneSearch following the conclusion of Information Systems’ subscription to the resource.
The entry for the Gartner database in the ‘All’ search of LOS will disappear overnight, as an updated set of records is reloaded and re-indexed from eSearch.
Maintenance work is being carried out on the university’s Single Sign-on service between 07:00 and 08:00 on Thursday 16 November 2017.
The Single Sign-on service should be considered ‘at risk’ during those sixty minutes, but the service should only be unavailable for a 5-10 minute period during that time. The service will be fully operational by 08:00.
The ‘clip’ feature on the Box of Broadcast platform (which provides access to recordings of free-to-air radio and television programmes for the education sector) is currently not available for radio content (TV content is unaffected). ‘Clipping’ allows a pertinent section of a longer recording to be highlighted and given its own deep-link URL.
When attempting to play a saved ‘clip’ from a radio broadcast, the following on-screen error appears:
The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported.
When the page is refreshed, as advised, the following on-screen error displays: “HLS playlist request error at: [URL]”
The Box of Broadcast support team advise that a solution to this issue is being treated as a priority, but no resolution date has yet been confirmed.
In the meantime, it remains possible to link to a (whole) radio broadcast, and advise listeners of the relevant start and end times of the recommended segment of the programme.
Access to the Lynda.com online learning platform has been enabled in the Find Databases service of Library OneSearch. Access to the streaming video content and other materials on the site is by university username and password. An additional one-time registration process (comprising a staff member’s or student’s name and their university email address) is required. The resource is described as follows:
Lynda.com is an online learning platform offering almost six thousand video-based courses covering subjects including: leadership and management, professional development, marketing, finance and accounting, project management, business software, digital literacy, educational and instructional design, writing, IT infrastructure, information management, data science, web development, software development, user experience (UX), web design, game design and development, CAD, graphic design, photography, 3D and animation, art and illustration, audio and music, motion graphic and VFX, and video. Courses are organised into a series of video segments, and come with full transcripts, supporting documentation and downloadable files. Once registered you can follow courses, create playlists, complete assignments, earn certificates and track your personal progress. Content can be accessed on desktop, tablet and mobile devices, and apps are available for Android, IoS and Windows.
In addition, records describing the individual courses on Lynda.com have also been made available in Library OneSearch. Examples include:
Note: A number of the Lynda.com records in Library OneSearch currently show an ‘Image’ rather than an ‘Audio-Visual’ icon, and are incorrectly indexed with this item type. This is due to an inconsistency in the source record set, and will be corrected in LOS shortly.
The Find Databases entry and course records for Lynda.com in Library OneSearch all provide customised deep-links that will automatically route the request through the university’s Single Sign-on service. However, staff members and students accessing Lynda.com outside of Library OneSearch will need to follow one of two different routes to the Single Sign-on page, detailed below:
If you visit the Lynda.com platform directly, after you select the Sign In link (see illustration below), the site will attempt to identify your home institution.
If Lynda.com is able to discern that your home institution is Nottingham Trent University, the prompt screen shown below will display. Select Continue to be forwarded to the university’s Single Sign-on page.
If Lynda.com is not able to identify your home institution, it will offer a range of sign in options (see the illustration below). If this screen displays, choose the Sign in with your organization portal option.
The next screen will ask you to Enter your organization’s URL to log in through their portal (see illustration below). On this screen enter ntu.ac.uk and select Continue to be forwarded to the university’s Single Sign-on page.
More than 100 additional titles from the Knowledge Unlatched open access eBook initiative are now discoverable through Library OneSearch. As was the case with the original set of titles added to LOS back in May 2016, these new titles are made openly available online through a collaborative funding partnership of which Libraries and Learning Resources is a member.
New titles in the Knowledge Unlatched collection include:
eResource updates 
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