Research Skills Toolkit and WISER coming up: Finding stuff and Theses

Next week Bodleian Libraries will be running workshops on finding conferences, theses and dissertations. In addition our workshop “your thesis, copyright and ORA” covers everything Oxford DPhils need to know about preparing your thesis for ORA.   

This bulletin also includes details of this year’s Research Skills Toolkits.

WISER: Finding Stuff – Conferences (Tues 23 Oct 3.30 – 4.30) (wk 3)
Conference papers can be tricky to find but are very valuable because they describe cutting-edge research. This session will enable you to find forthcoming conferences in your field and also to locate the published papers of proceedings which have taken place.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics.
Presenters: James Shaw and Sue Bird > Book Now

WISER: Your thesis, copyright and ORA (Wed 24 Oct 3.45 – 5.00) (wk 3)
Repeated Mon 29 Oct 12.30 – 13.30 (week 4)
Oxford DPhil students are required to deposit a copy of their thesis in ORA (Oxford University Research Archive). This session will focus on copyright and other issues that DPhil students need to take into account when preparing and writing their thesis so that they do not encounter problems when they deposit.  DPhils are encouraged to attend this session early so that they can make sensible decisions regarding rights from the start of their research.
Who is this session for? Research Postgraduates who are required to write a thesis
Presenter: Catherine Goudie > Book Now

WISER: Finding Stuff – Theses and Dissertations (Fri 26 Oct 10.45 – 12.00) (wk 3)
This session will help you to find theses submitted at Oxford and in other institutions in the UK and overseas.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics.
Presenter: Angela Carritt and Craig Finlay > Book Now

Research Skills Toolkit
An introduction to 10 key IT and information tools and skills for research students in a hands on workshop run jointly by IT Services and Bodleian Libraries. Sample topics include: reference management, keeping up to date, finding articles and papers, Excel pivot tables, finding and managing images,  podcasting, Word for your thesis and measuring research impact.   
Who is this session for? Postgraduates
Check dates for your subject and book your place

Keeping up with Bodleian Libraries training opportunities: Why not follow join our mailing list by sending an empty email to wiser-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oxwiser or visit the BodWiser blog at http://bodwiser.wordpress.com.

Not a member of Oxford University? - If you are not a current member of Oxford University but would like to attend a workshop please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Please quote your Bodleian readers card barcode number.

Questions? - Please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

WISER coming up: Finding stuff

Next week Bodleian Libraries will be running workshops on finding journal articles for your research and using SOLO to locate library items in print and online. More details below:

WISER: Finding Stuff - Books etc on SOLO (Wed 17 Oct 2.00 - 3.00) (wk 2)
An introduction to SOLO for finding books, journal titles and other materials in Oxford libraries. The session will cover effective search techniques, placing hold requests for items in the stacks, reservations and using the SOLO eshelf and saved searches.
Who is this session for? All members of Oxford University and other Bodleian Libraries readers.
Please book your place online at http://courses.it.ox.ac.uk/detail/TZWA
This session will be repeated Tues 23 Oct 2.00 - 3.00 (wk 3)

WISER: Finding Stuff - Journal Articles (Wed 17 Oct 3.00 - 4.15) (wk 2)
This session will focus on finding journal articles for your research using a wide range of databases as well as developing effective search strategies. There will be plenty of time for participants to try out their own searches using databases for their subject.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics.
Please book your place online at http://courses.it.ox.ac.uk/detail/TZW3
This session will be repeated: Friday 26 October 9.30 - 10.45 (wk 3)

Want to see the full workshops timetable? See http://www.libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/workshops

Keeping up with Bodleian Libraries training opportunities: Why not join our mailing list by sending an empty email towiser-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oxwiser or visit the BodWiser blog at http://bodwiser.wordpress.com

Not a member of Oxford University? - If you are not a current member of Oxford University but would like to attend a workshop please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk Please quote your Bodleian readers card barcode number.

Questions? - Please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Scan & deliver

The Bodleian Libraries' new Scan & Deliver service allows you to request scans of sections (eg, articles/chapters) from items located in our Book Storage Facility; the scanned sections are then emailed directly to you.

Who can use the service?
All current University of Oxford academics, students and staff. At the moment the service is not open to external readers (library card holders).

How much does it cost?
£4.75 per request, payable via your PCAS account.

How long will it take for my scanning request to arrive?
Usually within 24 hours, excluding weekends and University closed days.

How do I use the service?

1. Sign on to SOLO with your single sign-on
2. Find the item that you want scanned
3. Click on 'Location' then 'Scan & Deliver' which appears under 'Request Options'
4. Your request will be processed and your item will be emailed to you within 24 hours

For further information ask a member of library staff or visit: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/scan-and-deliver.

New term news round-up

Welcome back to those returning after the summer, and a warm welcome too to new students!  Our term time hours start today (Monday-Friday, 9am-7pm; Saturday, 10am-2pm), and we look forward to seeing you all in the library soon.

Here's a round-up of various bits of news from over the summer that you may have missed:

New electronic resources
We have been able to acquire (or contribute to the acquisition of) four major new electronic resources for US studies this summer, as follows:

• The Congressional Record (and predecessors), 1789-1999
• The American West: Sources from the Everett D. Graff Collection at the Newberry Library, Chicago
• Virginia Company Archives: The Ferrar Papers, 1590-1790
• Rock & Roll, Counterculture, Peace & Protest: Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975

All are now available through SOLO/OxLIP+ and listed in our online guide. Click on the links above for more information.

Improvements to SOLO: clustering, display of locations
Various changes were implemented to SOLO over the summer, as follows:

• Clustering and default sort order
• Physical resources search limit
• Display of locations and request options
• Display of shelfmark information
• Display of reading room locations

Click on the links above to learn more. 

History Faculty Library move
The move of the History Faculty Library to the Radcliffe Camera and Gladstone Link took place as planned over the summer vacation. The old HFL on the corner of Catte St and Holywell St has now closed. All the details, including information on where and how to access HFL books now, can be found on the HFL website and blog. HFL staff are also offering tours throughout 0th and 1st weeks for returning tutors and students.

Less directly relevant to VHL readers, the Philosophy and Theology Faculties Library has also moved this summer, and is now open in its new location in the Radcliffe Humanities Building on Woodstock Road.

Annual ILL price rise
Charges for inter-library loans increased by 25p per request on 1st August.


RAI Elections 2012 blog
If you are avidly following the US elections, you may be interested to know that the Rothermere American Institute has launched a blog in partnership with Politics in Spires, designed to bring together contributions from scholars from a range of different fields to discuss the upcoming elections. The blog can be read on the RAI website and will run until mid-November.

University network downtime - Tuesday 7th and Thursday 9th August

As part of the work to upgrade the University network infrastructure this summer, there will be no network access throughout the University for up to four hours starting at 7am on the mornings of Tuesday 7th and Thursday 9th August. SOLO will also be down during this period, as will the web interface for topping up your PCAS account.

Changes to SOLO, 28-29 July 2012: Improvements to display of records and clustering

Following extensive testing and consultation, the Bodleian Libraries are pleased to announce several improvements to SOLO, which will be implemented over the weekend of 28-29 July.

1. Partial clustering and default sort order

Certain categories of material will now be excluded from clustering (where SOLO groups together multiple ‘versions’ of items). While clustering is highly valued by a large number of readers, it is clear that a universal approach to clustering causes problems for users searching for particular types of material, namely early printed books (pre-1830), maps, music, and audio-visual items. We have now excluded these categories, so they will no longer be pulled into the clusters of print and electronic versions of the same work. They will instead be visible in the main results list, separate from any clustered records. Modern printed materials and electronic resources will continue to be grouped into clusters.

This partial clustering approach offers a significant improvement to the search experience while retaining the benefits of clustering for the majority of searches and readers.

The default sort order within clusters will remain ‘relevance’. This substantially mitigates the problem of finding specific editions within large clusters for material. If you prefer to see your search results sorted by date, please select from the sort options at the top of the results list. These options will also be made more prominent.



2. Limit searches to ‘Physical Resources (not online)'

It will now be possible to limit your search to physical resources, in the same way that you can currently limit your search to electronic resources. To do so, choose ‘Physical Resources (not online)’ from the drop-down menu next to the main search box. Please note that you will still see links to digitised versions of texts scanned as part of the Google Books project, as these are attached to the record for the physical item rather than catalogued separately. You may therefore also still see an option to limit your results to online resources if these digitised copies are available.

3. Display of locations and request options

The ‘Request’ and ‘Locations’ tabs in item records will be consolidated into a single ‘Find & Request’ tab to streamline the request process. The ‘Find & Request’ tab will show the various locations with the option to ‘hold’ (for stack requests and reservations) or request a copy via the Bodleian Scan & Deliver service (if available.)




 


From www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/notices/2012-july-17

University network upgrade: change to scheduled downtime

OUCS have announced a change to the schedule of planned downtime for the network upgrade work this summer. There will now be no downtime on Tuesday 3rd July; instead the downtime that was planned for then will take place on Thursday 9th July. Again the downtime may last up to 11.30am.

This will affect all networked library services, including SOLO, PCAS, reader PCs and the wireless network.

Network downtime Tuesday 26th June am - Wireless, SOLO, Library PCs

As part of the work to upgrade the University network infrastructure this summer, the following library services will be unavailable for up to four hours starting at 7am on Tuesday 26th June:

• Wireless (OWL, Eduroam and Bodleian-Libraries)
• SOLO
• Library PCs

University network upgrade this summer: effect on library services

Over the coming weeks, the University Computing Service is undertaking work to upgrade the University network. This will necessitate periods of scheduled downtime.

Networked library services may be unavailable, in some cases until 11.30am on:

• Tuesday 26 June
• Tuesday 3 July UPDATE 29/6 - this downtime has been rescheduled to Thursday 9 August.
• Tuesday 7 August

SOLO, reader and staff workstations, wireless and Ethernet connections, and PCAS may be unavailable during the mornings. There may also be delays to the book service.

Local work affecting the Vere Harmsworth Library will be carried out on Tuesday 7 August. The networked services listed above may be unavailable in the Vere Harmsworth Library until 11am on this date. Again, this may cause delays to the book service on that morning.

We apologize for the inconvenience that this necessary work may cause.

New SOLO service information and updates web page

The Bodleian Libraries website now includes a page dedicated to information and updates about SOLO. The web page can be found under ‘Services’ on the Bodleian homepage and includes pointers to sources of help and guidance as well as a list of current known issues and plans for future development of the service.

Updates about the SOLO service and its development will also be provided through the Reader Notices feed as and when appropriate.

You can access the new SOLO Service Updates page at www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/solo

WISER coming up: Finding stuff

Are you confident that you are finding the best papers to support your research and study? Next week Bodleian Libraries will be running the following workshops on finding scholarly materials. 

WISER: Finding stuff – books etc on SOLO (Monday 30 April 14.00.-15.00 and repeated Wednesday 30 May 14.00-14.45)  – introduces SOLO for searching Oxford Libraries and focuses on effective ways of using SOLO to find books, journal titles and other library materials in print and online.  The workshop also includes placing “hold requests” for materials in the  bookstacks, how to use your SOLO “MyAccount” for book renewals and other administration and using  the SOLO e-shelf and alerts.  Please book your place at http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TZWA

WISER: Finding stuff – Journal Articles  (Monday 30 April 15.00.-16.15 and repeated Wednesday 30 May 14.45-16.00) - an introduction to finding journal articles to support your research and learning. We will focus on searching for articles by subject and keyword and will cover sophisticated bibliographic databases and journal indexes as well as more basic search engines such as SOLO “Journal Articles” service. The session will include  time for you to practice using a scholarly database in your subject area. Please book your place at http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TZW3

WISER: Finding Stuff – Theses and Dissertations (Monday 30 April 16.15-17.00) – An introduction to finding Theses in Oxford and from Universities around the World. The session will cover searching SOLO for Oxford Theses, Index to Theses and EThOS for UK Theses and Proquest’s Dissertations and Theses database for dissertations from outside the UK. Please book your place at http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TFZ4.

More Bodleian Libraries workshops-  Check http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/workshops for the full WISER programme and for details of other training opportunities offered by Bodleian Libraries. Why not follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oxwiser, visit the BodWiser blog at http://bodwiser.wordpress.com or join our mailling list by sending an empty email to wiser-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk

Not a member of Oxford University? - If you are not a current member of Oxford University but would like to attend a workshop please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Please quote your Bodleian readers card barcode number.

If you have any questions please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Scan & Deliver: New service from the Bodleian Libraries

Today the Bodleian Libraries launch Scan & Deliver, a service offering an electronic document delivery solution for over six million items held in our Book Storage Facility.  This pilot will be available for current members of the University.

Requests will be placed through SOLO.   The Scan & Deliver option will be offered only for eligible items and will only be visible after an Oxford Single Sign On log in.  The same copyright regulations will apply as with our existing reading room and reprographics services (one article from a journal issue, one chapter or 5% of a book.); you will need to specify which section you require.

Once processed, the scan will be posted on a server and you will receive an email including a link to the scan.  The Scan & Deliver team will usually fulfil the request within 24 hours although this turnaround time does not account for weekends and any University holidays.  Each request will incur a flat rate fee of £4.75 with payment managed through PCAS (printing, copying, and scanning) accounts.  This cost reflects an unsubsidized estimated cost, which will be reviewed in future against actual costs and take-up.

More information is available at: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/scan-and-deliver

Oxford Google Books appearing in SOLO

The Bodleian Libraries have started the process of loading links into SOLO for Oxford books scanned as part of the Google Books project. These are being loaded in batches over the next few weeks, and we anticipate that there will be some 300,000 links to scanned versions of Oxford books available through SOLO by mid-March.

Google scanned several hundred thousand books from Oxford's collections, including many from the VHL stack. The books scanned were all out-of-copyright, mostly from the 19th century.

Please see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks/ for more information on Oxford's participation in the Google Books project and how these scanned versions will be findable and accessible in SOLO.

WISER coming up: Finding stuff (Books, journal articles, conferences)

Next week Bodleian Libraries will be running the following workshops on finding research materials:

WISER: Finding stuff - Books etc on SOLO (Wednesday 22 February 2.00-2.45) - A short 45 minute session introducing tips and techniques for searching SOLO for books, journals and other materials in Oxford Libraries. We will cover both basic and advanced search techniques and also look at placing hold requests for items in the book stacks and some of SOLO's personalised features such as the e-shelf and saved searches.  The session will take place at Oxford University Computing Services - please book your place online.

WISER: Finding stuff - Journal Articles  (Wednesday 22 February 2.45-4.00) - This session  will focus on using bibliographical tools and indexes to find high quality papers in your research area. We will look at how to find reliable bibliographical databases in your subject and how to search them effectively to optimize your results. The session will  take just over an hour and will include time for you to practice. Please book your place online.

WISER: Finding  Stuff - Conferences  (Wednesday 22 February 4.00-5.00) - Finding past conference papers and proceedings and keeping up with forthcoming conferences in your research area are important skills for all researchers but can be quite tricky.   Next week’s 1 hour workshop on finding conferences will start by looking at where to find  forthcoming conference announcements and how to keep up with them and will then move on to look at ways of tracking down elusive conference papers.  Please book your place online;

Keeping up to date with the WISER programme - Why not follow  us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oxwiser  or visit the BodWiser blog at http://bodwiser.wordpress.com You can also check the timetable on the WISER web site at http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/workshops or join our mailling list by sending an empty email to wiser-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk

Not a member of Oxford University? - If you are not a current member of Oxford University but would like to attend a workshop please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Please quote your Bodleian readers card barcode number.

If you have any questions please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

New Year News - change to default sort order within clustered search results, inter-library loan price rise, opening hours

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas break! The library is now open again for 2012.

A few pieces of news for the new year: 

Change to default sort order within clustered search results

This morning, the Bodleian Libraries have implemented the first stage of a plan to improve the display of records in SOLO with clusters of versions (where SOLO has grouped together ‘versions’ of the same work). To achieve this, the default sort order for search results within clusters will be changed to relevance rather than date-newest. If you prefer to see your results in date order you can still do so – please use the sort option at the top of the results screen.

While clustering is beneficial to and highly valued by a large number of readers, it can cause problems for others, particularly where searching for very specific editions or antiquarian/non-book material. The long-term aim is to exclude certain categories of material from clustering, which will solve the small number of problematic cases while retaining the benefits of clustering for the majority of searches and readers. 

The decision to retain clustering in SOLO and work to improve it was taken following extensive consultation and user testing. The change to sort order within clusters is a first step to mitigate against some of the major problems caused by clustering while we work to develop an improved solution for everyone.

Inter-library loan price rises

The January 2012  ILL price increase has now been implemented. 

This represents an annual increase since the charges were last revised in January 2012, and are in line with a recommendation that was passed by the Curators to apply a 25p annual increase to our charges for Inter-library loans and document supply.

The ILL charge increases are as follows:

• Loan, photocopy, or delivery of an item by secure electronic delivery for University members from £4.50 to £4.75          
• Urgent requests for University members from £10.50 to £10.75 
• Worldwide searches for University members from £12.50 to £12.75.

The full revised price list can be found on the Bodleian website at: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/ill/prices

After this price rise, the annual price increase will take place in line with the beginning of the budget year so there will be a further rise of 25p from August 2012.

Saturday opening Hilary Term

The VHL will be open on Saturdays throughout Hilary Term (10am-2pm), from 14th January - 10th March.  

 

SOLO downtime Tuesday 29th, 7.00-9.00am

SOLO will be down for essential maintenance tomorrow morning between 7am and 9am. Apologies for any inconvenience!

VHL stack requests now fixed

It looks like the problem that was affecting stack requests for books in the VHL stack has been fixed. Please do let us know if you continue to have difficulties so that we can both get books up for you and also report back to the Systems Team to make further adjustments if it turns out more work is needed.


 

 

SOLO: New version of the library catalogue now live

Welcome back to anyone returning to Oxford after the summer! If you have been away, you may have missed the fact that over the summer, the Bodleian Libraries moved to a new library system. There is now a new version of SOLO which will allow you not only to search for books, journals and other resources, but which you can also use to place stack requests, and check and renew your loans.  The old OLIS interface is no longer available, either for searching the catalogue or for these functions.

Using SOLO
There is an online guide available to help you both with searching SOLO and with managing your account: http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/solo 

The online guide includes step-by-step instructions and video tutorials on:

• Searching
• Logging on
• Placing stack requests and reservations 
• Renewing your books
  Using the e-shelf

If you need more help, the Bodleian Libraries are also running training sessions throughout Michaelmas Term. See http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/training/solo-workshops for more information and dates.

Resetting your password (for library PCs, wireless network, SOLO for non-University members)
You can now reset your library password yourself using an online form at: https://register.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/rescue.

New system bugs
As with any new system, there are a few things which aren’t working smoothly yet. Our systems team is working hard with the software supplier to get everything fixed as soon as possible, but in the meantime you may come across the following problems:

• Stack requests for books in the VHL stack: Some readers are currently unable to place requests for books in the VHL stack via SOLO. If you find this affects you, please ask us and we will place the request on your behalf.
• VHL stack displaying as ‘remote store’: Please be assured that our stack has not moved! VHL stack books are still on site, even though on SOLO they will say ‘remote store’. We hope to be able to change this.
• VHL books displaying as loans, even when they’re not: Many of our books now say ‘standard loan’ on SOLO. Unlike other libraries, this does not mean they are borrowable! We hope to be able to change this too.
• Problems ordering multivolume works: There have been difficulties placing stack requests for books which have multiple volumes or journals. If you are having difficulty, please ask staff and we can put the request in for you.
• E-shelf data: Any records which you saved to your e-shelf should have migrated, but a few went astray on the way. If you are missing your e-shelf data, let us know and we can ask the Systems Team to restore it for you.

If you come across any other problems, or are having difficulty using SOLO, please do ask us and we will do what we can to help you!

More SOLO workshops

If you need a little help navigating SOLO or learning how to get the most out of it, the Bodleian Libraries are continuing to run regular SOLO workshops for readers. Upcoming dates are as follows:

WISER: Finding Stuff – Books etc on SOLO
Thursday 23 September 9.30-10.30 at the Radcliffe Science Library
> Book your place by emailing usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk quoting your name and 23 September 9.30-10.30

WISER: Finding Stuff – Books etc on SOLO
Monday 24 October 9.15 - 10.00 at Oxford University Computing Service.
> Booking will open soon

WISER: Finding Stuff – Books etc on SOLO
Friday 28 October 9.30-10.30 at Oxford University Computing Service
> Booking will open soon

WISER: Finding Stuff – Books etc on SOLO
Monday 14 November 10.00-10.45 at Oxford University Computing Service
> Booking will open soon

SOLO update: what's now working, what's still not quite!

The various bugs and glitches with the new library system and SOLO are gradually getting sorted out.  Here's an update on things that have been fixed and things that are still problematic:

• Hold (stack) request notifications: You should now receive emails when your stack requests arrive at the reading room. This should help with the problem of knowing when to expect things, as SOLO no longer gives you an expected arrival date/time. In general, the standard advice is that requests take 24-48 hours to arrive, but with the notifications you will now know as soon as they do, whether they take longer or (hopefully usually!) shorter than that.
• VHL stack requests: These are still not fully working, but progress has been made and I'm hopeful you will be able to put in requests 'properly' via SOLO soon.  In the meantime, we will continue to fetch things up using the manual request slips.
• VHL stack location - "remote store": All stack books from all libraries, regardless of location, are listed as being "remote store" on SOLO. Please be reassured that if you see "remote store" for a VHL book, it is not remote at all, but is in fact in our stack here on-site. 
• Hold (stack) requests for multivolume works: It is not currently possible to request more than one volume of a multivolume work via SOLO.  We can override this from the staff side, so if you want more than one volume of a work let us know and we will place the request for you.
• e-shelf data: This has now been migrated, however there are reports of a few people who still can't see their old data as the systems failed to match properly.  If this applies to you, then please let a member of library staff know and we will ask for your data to be migrated to you.

Otherwise, things are working ever more smoothly. If you do come across problems using SOLO/placing hold requests etc, please let us know or report them using the feedback link on SOLO itself.  If you're having difficulty finding your way around SOLO in the first place, then take a look at the online guide or ask us for help.