What we’re doing about what you told us in the Survey – part 2

This is what the Library is doing about the second issue you raised in last September’s Library survey:

that course-specific resources should be easier to find and access

• Subject guides to resources in specific subject areas have been revamped and not only lead you to the best Library resources for your area but allow you to leave comments and rate those resources. Check out the guides at: http://utas.libguides.com/index.php
• The Library is planning a pilot project to create online unit reading lists with links to electronic versions of all reading list items. The online reading list would be accessible from MyLO and the Library’s catalogue. We’ll start with 3 units in Education and Nursing -and if the pilot is successful we’ll begin planning how we might do the same for all off-campus or online units.
• We’re also investigating how to make Library resources and information more visible from within MyLO units.
• Check out our new ‘how to…’ videos at http://www.utas.edu.au/library/online_tutorials/Onlinetutorials.html. The first 4 show you how to find reading list items in Reserve and eReserve, how to find journal articles and how to search our catalogue. We’ll be developing more of these helper videos during the year.

Look out for part 3 of what we’re doing about the issues you raised in the Library survey – coming soon!

Darwin’s Ape and the Progress Trap

The University of Tasmania Library and the State Library of Tasmania invite you to a lecture, Darwin’s Ape and the Progress Trap, by the visiting international award winning writer, historian and archaeologist, Mr Ronald Wright.

Presenter of the 2004 Massey Lectures, Wright takes a hard look at where the human race has been, from the Old Stone Age, through the early civilisations, to the industrial civilisation of today, and what that can tell us about where we may be going.

Venue: Dechaineaux Theatre, UTAS School of Art, Hunter Street, Hobart

Date: Monday, 30 March

Time: 6 – 7 pm

Further Information: Anita Favretto, Manager, Reading Development & Support Programs, State Library of Tasmania, (03) 6236 5539 or email anita.favretto@education.tas.gov.au

Find our libraries with Google Maps

We’ve added Google maps to help you find our library locations – you can chose the view, for example Map or Satellite or Terrain.
http://www.utas.edu.au/library/libs/index.html

Document Delivery Service clients – Forgotten your password?

 

If you forget the password we emailed to you when you first registered for the Document Delivery Service you do not have to reregister all over again.

Simply phone us (Hobart 62 26 2230) (Ltn 63 24 3571) or email us (Docdel.Hbt@lib.utas.edu.au) (Docdel.Ltn@lib.utas.edu.au)

 

We can then ‘reset’ your password and tell you the new password over the phone or email it to you. Then you can begin requesting again, or if you wish, choose your own password again through your ZPortal “Account details” link.

 

 

http://www.utas.edu.au/library/info/dd/index.html

 

What we’re doing about what you told us in the Library survey – part 1

Last September 2422 of you responded to our survey. In November, we let you know what you said. We promised to let you know what we’re doing to address the 4 issues you raised – and here’s the first you mentioned:

that the Library collection should include more of what you need

• 11,500 books were added to the Library’s collections in 2008 and you can now find them in our catalogue.
• 106 new journal, mostly ejournal, subscriptions will begin in 2009. Many of them will also come with access to content from recent years.
• You now have access to hundreds of ejournals and ebooks in the JSTOR Arts & Sciences V & VI, and Life Sciences packages and Safari techbooks (great for IT books!)
• We now have access to hundreds of ebooks but they are not always easy to find. This year we’ll focus on making ebooks easier to find in the catalogue.
• You can now tell us what items you think we need – just fill out the suggestion form on the Library’s website and catalogue pages (http://www.utas.edu.au/library/0justus/request_purchaseForm.html)
• The Faculty of Education has generously given the Library $20,000 to use in 2009 to improve the Education collection in Hobart, Launceston and Cradle Coast.
• We’re investigating access to CAVAL’s store in Melbourne. This is a high-density, climate controlled store of nearly 1 million volumes of printed archive and research material. Requested articles would be delivered electronically to you.

Much of what the Library buys for the collection is paid for in US dollars – and we all know what’s happened to the exchange rate in recent months. This will inevitably have an impact on the funds available for buying new items in 2009 – we won’t be able to buy as much – but UTAS as a whole is investigating how to manage volatile exchange rates to minimise the impact of fluctuations.

Look out for part 2 of this series in a week or two…

Scopus to provide citation information for ERA

The Australian Research Council (ARC) has announced that Scopus will provide citation information for the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative, Cluster One evaluation. Cluster One will include physical, chemical and earth sciences.

Scopus is a multi-disciplinary citation database indexing peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, book series and patents.

Contact your Liaison Librarian to learn how to make the most of searching in this database or to find out more about metrics used in ranking publications.