Author: Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Edinburgh University Press: new platform

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Detail from the new Edinburgh University Press platform 2016

Edinburgh University Press has launched a new platform, and existing full-text journal subscription information in SFX has been updated accordingly. Customisation features have been reflected in the new site (including basic branding, OpenURL integration, etc.,) and, for the first time, full-text access to subscription content is now accessible from off-campus via university username and password. Journal titles accessible through the platform are:

Updated resource: Teaching Times

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Teaching Times

Journal listings for the full-text professional journals on the Teaching Times web site have been updated in SFX, with both holdings information and deep-links reviewed and revised. Access remains direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus. The available items are:

A new entry for Teaching Times has also been created in the Find Databases section of Library OneSearch. The resource is described as follows:

Offers advice, guidance and professional updates for teaching staff in primary and secondary education. A series of ‘Knowledge Banks’ focus on the themes of vulnerable children, e-learning, the ‘creative curriculum’, professional development, school leadership and a range of project-based learning resources. The site also provides access to a number of professional journals, including Every Child Journal, Creative Teaching & Learning, Learning Spaces and School Leadership Today

Platform update: Taylor and Francis online

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Taylor and Francis have recently launched a new integrated content platform. Access remains direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus. Among a number of enhancements, the upgrade ensures that the platform makes use of ‘responsive’ design techniques to render full-text content to best effect on tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices as well as to the desktop. No changes are have been introduced to the linking syntax on the platform, so deep-link access is unaffected. The library’s customisation features on the new platform have been reviewed and updated.

Taylor and Francis summarise the benefits of the new platform as follows –

  • Intuitive and readable article layout: A new article display organises figures & data, references, citations and article statistics into tabs, plus highlights reader’s access options and the article PDF.
  • Enhanced discoverability: The multi-faceted search makes finding articles and journals simpler and faster, with options to filter by subject, publication date, and access options.
  • Prominent journal branding: Making it easy for readers to identify and access key journals. Journal titles and covers are elevated and Journal pages display related and key content using a streamlined and easy to read new “card” design.
  • A fully responsive design: No matter where in the world the reader is, whether they’re on a mobile device, tablet or computer, they can get straight to the research they need, read it, bookmark it, and download it to their library.
Taylor and Francis - new platform - responsive design

The new Taylor and Francis platform, showing an article display on a smartphone screen

New resource: i-law platform

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Access to eight law reports on the i-law platform has been enabled in SFX. Access is direct on-campus (once you enter a university email address to confirm your association with NTU) and with the addition of a resource-specific username and password (available on the Other Passwords page of the library web site) from off-campus. The available titles are as follows:

These titles will be indexed in the SFX A-Z list and be available through journal searches in Library OneSearch shortly.

i-law

New platform: Cambridge Core

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Cambridge University Press has launched the new Cambridge Core platform, an integrated service offering access to eBook and eJournal content from CUP. As with the previous CUP web site, access to subscription content is direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus.

The library’s access to the new platform has been customised: including basic branding, Shibboleth integration and outbound SFX OpenURL linking. Existing links to content on the old CUP platform is automatically redirected to Cambridge Core, including links through SFX. As new Knowledge Base data is made available, all content information in SFX will be updated, but there will be no interruption in access to subscription content from CUP during the remaining steps in the migration.

Cambridge University Press

JISC MediaHub becomes MediaPlus from Alexander Street Press

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Access to the JISC MediaHub has been withdrawn from Library OneSearch following the conclusion of the service at the start of September. Audio-visual content from the JISC MediaHub is being transferred to the new MediaPlus platform from Alexander Street Press.

Access to MediaPlus has been enabled in Library OneSearch’s Find Databases service. Authentication is direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus. The resource is described as follows:

MediaPlus (formerly Jisc MediaHub) will provide the UK higher and further education community with streaming access to more than 100,000 videos, images, and sound recordings, in a range of collections including the archives of ITN, Getty images and Wellcome Library images. MediaPlus also features content from Teachers TV (from Education in Video), World Newsreels Online: 1929–1966, and World History in Video. Content that was previously accessible through the Jisc MediaHub will be loaded onto MediaPlus gradually, with highest-use content, such as ITN News, being released first.

At present, off-campus access requests initiated in the MediaPlus interface will result in an error. ASP’s technical team are working to resolve the issue. Using the secure WAYFLess URL provided in Library OneSearch will ensure that off-campus login requests complete successfully.

Alexander Street Press - MediaPlus interface

Withdrawn resource: INSPEC

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Access to the INSPEC database (provided through the Engineering Village platform) has been withdrawn from the Find Databases and main search indexes of Library OneSearch following the conclusion of the library’s subscription to the resource. Access to the Compendex service continues to be available through the Engineering Village site.

BoB (Box of Broadcasts) platform migration

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

BoB - new platform

Following on from the earlier update, the new BoB (Box of Broadcasts) platform launched at the start of the month, and is now offered as part of the Learning Online service (in turn, part of the BUFVC). Elements of the transition are still being worked on during the month of August, so not all features of the updated service will be available until September.

As work on the migration continues, there are several issues to be aware of:

  • Registration: As a returning user, when you log on to the new BoB platform for the first time, you will be asked to ‘register’ (providing your email address, and your name). When you do so, you will not be creating a duplicate account, but rather providing a means to link your previous account details from the legacy BoB platform. By September, your previous account settings will have been migrated to the new platform. New users can, of course, register on the new BoB platform for the first time in the exact same way
  • Playlists and clips: pre-existing clips and playlists will not be imported into the new BoB platform until September. As a result, any clips or playlists you previously created will not be available in your account until then. During the transition period, it will not be possible to create new clips or playlists.
  • Legacy content: During the migration period, much of the previously-recorded content from the legacy BoB platform will be unavailable to stream. Once the migration has completed, this content will be available on the new platform
  • Embedded content: BoB video content that was previously embedded in third-party web platforms (such as within NOW) will not be available until the ‘legacy’ BoB content has been migrated to the new platform
  • Programme identifiers: no association has been retained between the ‘legacy’ BoB programme identifiers and the new BoB platform programme identifiers. As a result it will not be possible to search for a programme in the new BoB platform by using a ‘legacy’ programme identifier
  • Redirects: Once the ‘legacy’ content has been loaded into the new BoB platform, previous direct deep-links (which are currently resolving to error messages), will auto-redirect to the matching imported content (once the requester has been routed through the ‘Where are you from?’ [WAYF] logon process)
  • WAYFLess URLs: Authentication-aware deep-links that were created for the ‘legacy’ BoB platform (which routed the user straight to the NTU Single Sign on page) will no longer work and will need to be created afresh for the new platform

The Information Resources team are in the process of reviewing all Box of Broadcast links included on current Resource Lists, and will (independent of the new to submit a list for library review) update any and all links to BoB content that require attention. Links in Library OneSearch will also be updated.

Pending the release of this functionality in the new BoB platform, the RD&I team have created a Box of Broadcasts WAYLess URL generator (accessible on and off campus) which will allow academics and librarians (from Nottingham Trent University) to create WAYLess URLs for NTU staff and students for the new BoB platform. Copy-and-paste the BoB programme URL into the box and click on the ‘Create WAYFLess URL’ button to create a new and persistent WAYFLess URL.

http://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand

Get the latest updates on the progress of the BoB upgrade from @OnDemandBoB.

New resource: Migration to New Worlds

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Following an agreement between JISC Collections and Adam Matthew publishers to make the resource freely available to UK HE institutions, access to the Migration to New Worlds database is now available in the Find Databases service of Library OneSearch. Access is direct on-campus; off-campus access should be enabled shortly. The resource is described as follows:

Migration to New Worlds explores the movement of peoples from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and Asia to the New World and Australasia. This first module concentrates on the period 1800 to 1924, otherwise known as the ‘Century of Immigration’ and covers all aspects of the migration experience, from departures to arrival and permanent settlement.

It provides an insight into the personal stories of migrants during this period, through letters, travel journals, diaries and oral histories which together provide first-hand accounts for research into emigration experiences and the hardship of settlement. These are supplemented by scrapbooks, government papers, hand-drawn maps, watercolours, objects, emigration pamphlets, shipping papers and rare printed material which provide significant context to the history of migration, legislation and living conditions during this period.

Migration to New Worlds

New BoB (Box of Broadcasts) launches in August-September 2016

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

A new and improved version of BoB (Box of Broadcasts) launches on 1 August, with a range of new features going live on the platform in September 2016. New features include:

  • A platform working across desktop, iOS and Android devices
  • Media records based on our TRILT metadata, supporting more powerful searching capabilities
  • Better programme coverage and a permanent archive of all broadcast content from nine channels: BBC1 London / BBC2 / BBC4 / ITV London / Channel 4 / More4 / Channel 5 / BBC Radio 4 / BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Better thumbnail previews on search results
  • Preview clips before saving
  • Label your own clips
  • Personalised email alerts when programmes are ready to view
  • More detailed citation data

New resource: Insurance Companies Worldwide

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The ISIS (Insurance Companies Worldwide) database from Bureau Van Dijk is now available through the Find Databases service of Library OneSearch. On-campus access is direct; off-campus access is not currently available. The resource is described as follows:

ISIS has accounts (in both “as reported” and standardised formats), ratios, credit ratings, stock data and ownership for more than 12,000 insurance companies around the world. Credit ratings are from AM Best and Moody’s and M&A deals and rumours are also included. Original filing documents can be viewed, you can create graphs from the data and also receive information alerts.

Insurance Companies Worldwide

Evidence Based Acquisition (EBA) eBook project: Wiley records in Library OneSearch

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Further to the previous Evidence Based Acquisition (EBA) eBook project update (4 May 2016), 17,879 Wiley UCBM records have now been suspended from discovery in Library OneSearch (following the conclusion of the Wiley discovery phase at the end of May).

These Wiley titles will be reviewed during the selection phase (during which the library decides which titles will be bought outright in perpetuity, and which will be withdrawn from the collection) alongside the EBA collections from Bloomsbury, Oxford Scholarship Online, Sage and Cambridge University Press.