Getting the Numbers Down November 7, 2011
Posted by Paul Williams in All Subjects, Summon.add a comment
Any of you who have already tried out our Summon service will have noticed just how many journal articles, books, ebooks, conference papers (I could go on) that we provide. Try a really generic search like “history” and your results will be in the millions. It’s a great problem to have, not many people make their searches quite so wide and the relevancy ranking in Summon will help to bring the more useful items to the top of the results screen if the user is a little more specific!
That said, there are times when you might want to try to reduce the number of hits which Summon provides so I’ve included a couple of tips here.
1. If you are searching for a phrase (like lesson planning for example), use quotes. This is a trick I picked up years ago with Google and it makes your search much more accurate. In Summon, searching for lesson planning (without quotes) gives you 173,437 hits, but adding the quotes (“lesson planning”) brings that down to 2,610. The difference is that it is only looking for places where those words appear together.
2. Make use of the options on the left of your results screen. You have lots of choices, like removing newspaper articles if they aren’t what you need, or limiting to items written in the last 2 or 3 years. You can remove certain formats, such as newsletters, or only show articles which appear in peer-reviewed journals. Lots of options – give them a try.
So, as ever, keep letting us know what you think of Summon and if you have any questions at all you can use Summon’s feedback link, add a comment to this post or email us at askalibrarian@worc.ac.uk.
New – the Library’s Very Own Search Engine November 1, 2011
Posted by Paul Williams in All categories, All Subjects.add a comment
Did you know that the library provides access to over 100 databases stuffed to the brim with full text journal articles, e-books, sound recordings, government documents, and more?
Did you know that we select these databases individually to provide you with access to literally millions of articles across the full range of subjects studied at the University?
One thing I bet you did know is that searching databases individually can be time-consuming and, at times, confusing. We know, because you’ve told us in the feedback we collect.
Today sees the launch of our latest solution – Summon. Summon takes approximately 97% of these resources and searches right across them all in one go. Think Google, but with resources that the library selects and subscribes to, so you can be sure of the quality of the information.
We’ll be publishing more posts here over the coming days, giving you tips on getting the most from Summon, but for the time being, why not just give it a try. I know you’re going to like it, and there’s a feedback link at the top of the page if you want to share your thoughts, or by all means drop a comment here.
Help is at Hand October 31, 2011
Posted by Paul Williams in All Subjects, university of worcester.add a comment
Now is the time of year that many first year students start be working on their first assignments, the University has produced a short guide to a range of different assessments commonly used at universities. The guide is based on some of the common questions that students ask about assignments.
The guide is intended to supplement information given by your tutors, if in doubt the best place for accurate guidance is your tutor. Copies of the guide can be found across the University’s sites or downloaded from the link here.
Important changes to student ICT services May 3, 2011
Posted by Andrew in All categories, All Subjects, university of worcester.add a comment
During the summer student Netmail accounts and ‘G’ Drive file storage are being upgraded to Microsoft Live@edu services:
EMAIL: Students old 60MB Netmail accounts will be replaced with new 10GB Microsoft Outlook Live mailbox, providing access to email, contacts and calendar from any location. It is a much more collaborative system than the current Netmail service, giving students the ability to share files and folders; use the online Office applications; share Outlook calendars, make meeting requests etc . Outlook Live also allows access to Windows Live Messenger to chat and make video calls.
FILE STORAGE: Students old 150MB ‘G’ Drive will be replaced with a new 25GB Windows Live SkyDrive, which will allow access to, and sharing of files online at any time, with a much improved storage capacity.
PRINT & COPY: The current student print and copy system will be upgraded to an account based solution, making it easier to manage print credit.
WHAT STUDENTS MUST DO BEFORE THEY LEAVE FOR THE SUMMER
EMAIL: Forward existing mail that students wish to keep from your University Netmail Account to a personal email account e.g. Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc.
FILE STORAGE: Copy ‘G’ Drive files students wish to keep to an external device such as a USB hard drive or flash drive.
PRINT AND COPY: Use all print credit on students existing cards. If this is not possible retain a minimum credit balance on cards as a new card will be issued to students in September and credit cannot be transferred
For the full FAQs visit: http://connect.worc.ac.uk/ictchanges
SAGE knocks the stuffing out of rivals December 20, 2010
Posted by Andrew in All Subjects, Uncategorized.Tags: award, Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, ils, Library, Publishing, university of worcester
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One of the services ILS provide is sourcing alternative formats for visually impaired students. One of the companies involved, SAGE, has won the inaugural JISC TechDis Publisher Lookup Award for library services. This recognises publishers who have been nominated by library staff for their excellent service in supplying books in alternative formats. Many library services are beginning to offer this service thanks to the involvement of publishers like SAGE.
SAGE received the award at the CILIP Digital Information Conference in London on 28 October 2010.
Alistair McNaught, senior advisor at JISC TechDis and brainchild of The JISC TechDis Publisher Lookup Awards, said: “There was a really strong field of candidates. Judges were impressed by the sheer number of nominations for SAGE by library staff and the glowing feedback that highlighted their responsiveness, exemplary standards of service and commitment to end users”
We’re glad to be able to offer this service and many others like it here at the University of Worcester, and congratulate SAGE on all their hard work!
Find out more about the services we offer and chat with us on Twitter @ WorcesterALT
Have a Kays Christmas! December 9, 2010
Posted by Andrew in All categories, All Subjects, Uncategorized, university of worcester.Tags: Christmas, display, kays, Research, twitter, university of worcester
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Christmas will soon be here –check out the Research Collections display in the Peirson Library to see Kays Christmas ideas from 1954 – 2004.
Contact Rachel r.johnson@worc.ac.uk or Janet j.davidson@worc.ac.uk for more information on the Kays Archive at the University of Worcester or pick up a leaflet while you browse the display.
Let us know what you think of the display on twitter: @worcesteralt
SUNCAT – the Serials UNion CATalogue August 4, 2006
Posted by Darren in All Subjects.add a comment
SUNCAT – the Serials UNion CATalogue for the UK research community – has become a full, freely available, through EDINA. It is the now the most comprehensive source of information about the location of serials held in libraries throughout the UK. containing records from nearly 50 UK libraries, the CONSER database and the ISSN Register. Contributing libraries include the British Library, the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, some of the largest Higher Education institutions across the UK and an increasing number of specialist and public libraries. SUNCAT is continuing to expand and should contain the serials data from around 70 libraries by the end of 2006. For a full list of the contributing libraries please see http://www.suncat.ac.uk/description/contributing_libraries.html
Social Trends 2006 now out June 16, 2006
Posted by Darren in All Subjects.add a comment
The 2006 edition of Social Trends has now been released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics . This publication contains key statistics and reports on many aspects of UK society – on health, households, education, population growth or decline, lifestyles, housing and more.
Masters courses' reading lists May 18, 2006
Posted by Darren in All Subjects.add a comment
As I hope that most of you are aware, many of the UMS reading lists* are available through Talislist, the online system linked to the Library catalogue. We, the Subject Liaison Librarians, have been asked to add the reading lists of the Masters courses to Talislist in order to allow students easy access to this information. This we are more than happy to do provided lecturers are willing to send us the lists. It does offer the additional benefit of allowing us to check and update the material. (more…)
Harvard referencing April 27, 2006
Posted by Darren in All Subjects.1 comment so far
A very useful and clear guide to Harvard referencing has been produced by the Library of Anglia Ruskin University.
