Author: Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

New collection: 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Access to the 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection has been activated in eSearch. Access is direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus (using Shibboleth). The collection is described as follows:

Compiled by Rev. Charles Burney, this collection charts the development of English news media during the 17th and 18th centuries. It features more than 700 bound volumes and over 1,200 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers from the period, including early issues of the London Evening Post, the Boston and Virginia Gazettes. Each page is indexed and users can conduct full-text searches.

New collection: British Newspapers 1600-1900

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Access to the British Newspapers 1600-1900 collection has been enabled in eSearch. Access is direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus (using Shibboleth). The collection is described as follows:

The British Newspapers 1600-1900 is a digital collection of British historic newspapers. In addition to digital versions of newspaper content, find specially commissioned essays and contextual materials written by expert scholars assist with perspective and analysis.

It brings together content from the 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers; and 19th Century British Library Newspapers.

ISI – Web of Knowledge – Shibboleth authentication

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Off-campus access to all of LLR’s resources delivered through the ISI – Web of Knowledge platform is now by university username and password (using the Shibboleth framework).

The resources involved are:

  • Arts & Humanities Citation Index
  • Journal Citation Reports
  • Science Citation Index
  • Social Sciences Citation Index
  • Web of Science (with Conference Proceedings)
  • Web of Knowledge

All links in eSearch have been updated accordingly. A guide to using Shibboleth authentication on the ISI – Web of Knowledge platform has been added to the eServices support wiki.

Early English Books Online – Shibboleth authentication

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Off-campus access to EEBO (Early English Books Online) is now by university username and password (using the Shibboleth framework).

Links in eSearch have been updated accordingly. A guide to accessing EEBO using Shibboleth has been added to the eServices Support wiki.

Silverplatter and OvidSP databases – and Shibboleth login

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The Silverplatter platform (which provided access to several of LLR’s subscription databases) is being withdrawn at the end of June 2009, so all the databases on the platform are being migrated to OvidSP. (Previously some of the databases were available on both Silverplatter and OvidSP).

In parallel with the migration away from Silverplatter, Shibboleth authentication has been enabled for all databases on OvidSP:

  • BIOSIS Previews
  • CAB Abstracts
  • Geography (also known as Elsevier Geography)
  • ICONDA

All links in eSearch have been updated accordingly, and a guide to Shibboleth authentication on OvidSP has been added to the eServices Support wiki.

Remote searching for Geography and ICONDA is not currently enabled on OvidSP, but it is hoped that it will be possible to reinstate this shortly.

LLR also have access to a small number of eBooks in the Books@Ovid collection (as part of the JISC eBook Observatory Project). Links to those titles in the Library Catalogue will be updated to make use of Shibboleth authentication shortly (in the meantime it will still be possible to use an Athens username and password to access those titles).

LION (Literature Online) – Shibboleth enabled

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Off-campus access to the LION (Literature Online) service is now by university username and password (using Shibboleth). The three LION databases listed in eSearch are:

  • ABELL (Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature)
  • LION (Literature Online)
  • MLA International Bibliography

A guide to Shibboleth authentication on LION has been added to the eServices Support wiki.

Westlaw – off-campus access restored

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The Westlaw off-campus access problems reported on Friday were resolved shortly afterwards and access to the service from off-campus (using a university username and password) is now working normally once again

SciFinder Scholar – new web version accessible

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The new web-based version of the SciFinder Scholar service is now accessible through eSearch. An individual registration process is required to use SciFinder Scholar online, which includes setting a username and password for future access. All links in eSearch have been updated accordingly – including a link to a guide to the registration process. An additional prompt in eSearch makes clear that: it is essential to (a) click on the link in eSearch to register to use the service; and (b) register an @ntu.ac.uk email address.

Westlaw – off-campus access problems

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Off-campus access to Westlaw (using a university username and password) is currently unavailable. Westlaw is experiencing technical problems which are affecting both Shibboleth and Athens based authentication for all UK academic sites. Their technicians are aware of the issue and working on a resolution. A further update will be provided once access has been restored.

SciFinder Scholar – interruption and migration of the service

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The SciFinder Scholar service – which is currently accessed through a locally installed software client – is currently unavailable. Access to a new web based version of the service (which does not require a software installation) will be enabled in eSearch shortly. Full documentation on how to register to use the service will also be provided.

IRep – scheduled service interruption Monday 18 May 2009

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The IRep will be briefly unavailable, to enable the deployment of a service pack upgrade, on Monday 18 May 2009. Throughout the remainder of the day, records and full-text objects in the IRep may be temporarily unavailable while a large scale reload and reindexing of the data held in the Research and Scholarly Collection takes place. A notice, advising customers of the expected interruption in service, has been added to the IRep home page

RefWorks – Harvard LLR output style updated

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

A revised version of the default RefWorks output style [Harvard LLR (May 2009)] has today been made available to all NTU staff and students. A guide, outlining the changes introduced in the revision and documenting a workaround for the management of page numbers (and other notations) within an in-text citation, has been added to the eServices Support wiki.