Hours & Friends of the Library

I've changed the hours on the site to show the Wintersession/Holiday hours.

I also found out today that Friends of the Library cards cost $20. So I have added that cost to the pages on the site that discuss the card.

Finals hours

The finals hours have been posted on the home page and the reference blog. The Facebook page should copy from the blog automatically.

Hours, new home page demo...

The Thanksgiving hours have been returned to normal.

Also, I'm thinking of adding icons for the blog and facebook page. This is what I have in mind:
http://www.ulm.edu/library/index-FB.html

I won't proceed without approval, of course.

MW has said that she connect the Blog's RSS feed to the Facebook page, so blog stories appear on the Facebook, but they are not the same thing, so still think it's necessary to link both and not Facebook alone.

EDIT:
I have since added small icons to the home page for the blog, Facebook, and YouTube accounts, with DS's approval.

changes, DB pages, Facebook, Credo

This week, I have...

• added Thanksgiving hours
• suggested new changes to the catalog (to open LOUIS footprints request):
  · Replace NetLibrary with EBSCO eBooks direct link http://ezproxy.ulm.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=ehost&defaultdb=nlebk
  · Have the Interlibrary Loan link go to our main ILL page instead of directly to IILIAD itself (people who don't know ILL might need an explanation) http://www.ulm.edu/library/ill.html
  · Add ULM Library Facebook account to the "General Information" page, facebook.com/ULM.Library
  · Add ULM Library Blog as "Library News" to the "General Information" page, ulmlibraryreference.blogspot.com
• Added to Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, which was recently moved from WilsonWeb to EBSCO, to Art and Construction subject DB lists. There will probably be more WilsonWeb items coming.
• Re-arranged the DBs in the DB lists so that all the EBSCO ones appear under EBSCOhost in a separate sub-list. EBSCO eBooks remains alone because of its importance.

Also, Maren has been managing the official ULM Library Facebook account recently. It can read the reference blog's RSS feed well enough for now, but Facebook might remove support for RSS in the future. But I think there will be other RSS apps we can use. Later I might try to find a place for a link to Facebook on our home page, but not without ULMLWPC approval.

The new Credo reference Literati database is in Beta stage, and  we're one of the sites testing it. Various problems have been reported, but it is more or less functional, on and off campus. The link for it on all of our DB pages refer to the new interface, but the linked Credo reference titles in the Catalog use the old interface because the new instant links to the titles haven't been completed in the new one yet. Credo says it will be done some time soon.

Map Change

The Office of Sponsored Research was moved to Hannah Hall and  Public Affairs moved in where it used to be. Added this to the library map.

EDIT:
On Oct. 20 I found out that it's actually the "Office of Public Information." I've since changed it to that instead.

Hours, Credo Reference

Today,

· changed the hours back to normal

·  added Credo reference to the library pages. It's not ready for off-campus access yet, but when we do get it, it'll probably be through the LOUIS EZ Proxy

This link should work for off-campus access:
http://ezproxy.louislibraries.org:2048/login?url=http://www.credoreference.com
But I haven't test it yet. I'll do it at home later today.

· The trial period for "Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism" is over, so I've removed it and replaced it with news about Credo Reference, which I posted to the blog

Fall Holiday Hours

Even though I'm at the LUC conference, I was able to change the hours to show that we're closed today and Sat. for Fall break using a SSH FTP program.

Also, last week I put a tutorial for Gerontology on the ulm.edu/reference space because there wasn't enough room on mine. It also uses the YouTube account.

MRI+, off campus issues

This week I added a new resource called MRI+, which the CBA pays for. I made an etry page for it because its log in instrucions are very specific:
http://www.ulm.edu/library/mri.html

Also, made a video about how EBSCOhost works not-so-well off-campus, and how to get around that, and embedded on the special EBSCO links page:
http://www.ulm.edu/library/ebsco-special.html

I've asked about merging the LOUIS and ULM EZ Proxies again. That's still going to happen eventually.

Subject librarians

CA asked me to add "Medical Laboratory Science" to her subject librarian entry:

http://www.ulm.edu/library/subjectlibrarians.html

Retired Faculty and FAQs

a)
Since a new retired faculty card has been created, I re-did it's information on the site.
However, this card is actually not that new; it's very similar to what the retired faculty rights had been before. But apart from the FAQ, the existence of such a card wasn't mention on the site much. So, I've added it and re-done the list of non-student/employee cards that we have on these pages:

Visitor Information
For The Community
FAQs


b) FAQs page...

Removed old FAQ information about the hardware and software in the computer lab, and removed the question about the library being close on weekends.

Updated information about hold and recalls:
http://www.ulm.edu/library/FAQ.html#Can_I_get_a_book_that_is_already_checked

Since we don't need it anymore thanks to CH's changes in the catalog, I've removed this whole question from the FAQ page:

What are materials in the library catalog that say See Electronic Address?

See Electronic Address means that the specified item(s) is in electronic text. This could mean that it's a government document, an item in a database, or an e-book. Click on the “URL” in the record to link to the text of the item. Please ask the reference librarian for assistance if you have any trouble.

Various updates...

Recently, I have...

Changed the library Hours back to normal
Fixed a broken database link for Datamonitor on the subject pages
Added the EBSCO eBooks link to the Special EBSCO links page, even though I don't use it as the link to eBooks, and added eBooks to the EBSCO sub-list on the DB name page
Updated the library floorplan to show the Internal Auditor office

Hours

CR asked me to change the departmental hours on the hours printable sign from 1pm to 11:30am:
http://www.ulm.edu/library/hours.pdf
I was never really sure exactly what to write on that part ever since the hours were extended, because I didn't know if those were supposed to be extended also. So if CR says it's 11:30am, like the rest of the University, then it's 11:30am.

I also updated the hours for the weekend to show the labor day closing from Sept. 3-5.

ProQuest, Annual Report, etc

a)
ProQuest has a new interface, and LOUIS in the process of changing it over. As soon as the new links are confirmed, I'll add it to the site.

The new interface is already set up to appear in our catalog and EBSCO A to Z.

b)
A new Annual Report of the library is out, and I've added that to the site (library, reference, and gov docs. It's in the footer of all of those). Like others before it, it is a scan and the text can't be read by screen readers or searched. I'd like to try and fix that.

To limit confusion about what year it is on various web pages, I've changed the foot to only say "Annual Report" without a year, and made a copy named "ULAR-current.pdf" which will always be the most current version of the file if it's updated by me later. That way, only changing that one file changes them all.
I made a post about the new report to the library blog, but didn't put it on the home page as there are other pertinent things already taking up room there.

EDIT: I also asked someone at the Computing Center to update it on the Ask-a-librarian form, since I don't control that, and it was updated promptly:
https://webservices.ulm.edu/wsforms/library_ask.php

c)
I found a strange error in an EBSCO database, Nursing Reference Center, that only appears under certain circumstances. It's not happening on the link we have been using, but there's different version of this link, which is supposed to be the right one, that doesn't work right off-campus. Here's what I said about it in an email with CH:

While communicating with EBSCO support on a separate issue, the representative gave me a link to a page showing what correct direct database links. However, one of them doesn't work because of a problem with the LOUIS branding image.

If I enter the Nursing Reference Center off-campus through this URL:
http://atoz.ebsco.com/link.asp?id=1412&rid=1519770
It looks like this:
http://www.ulm.edu/reference/louis-vs-nrc-normal.jpg

But if I enter the Nursing Reference Center off-campus through this URL:
http://ezproxy.louislibraries.org:2048/login?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,url,uid&profile=nrc
It looks like this:
http://www.ulm.edu/reference/louis-vs-nrc.jpg

d)
We may soon starting the process to integrate the ULM and LOUIS EZ Proxies. I think that we might want to talk about customizing the log in page again as soon as I can figure out how the page is actually generated, and what is possible.

URLs and eBooks fracas

On Friday I realized that the EBSCO eBooks really weeren't working off-campus at all, but would work if you entered EBSCOhost from the ULM EZ Proxy and then chose it as a database-- It was a complicated process. So I changed the links and made and uploaded and video and image instructions for that on Friday so that the books would be available.

On Mon. morning, EBSCO support gave me the working link to the eBooks, as well as a better link for the Nursing Reference Center, which I have never been able to get working off-campus. If it works, I'll put it on the site. So I took down the instructions I had made on Friday.

I suspect that moving to the ULM EZ Proxy would help. Or I hope it would.

Also updated was the library floor plan; do let me know if I missed anything.
http://www.ulm.edu/library/mappage.html

Various changes...

This weekend and today I...

• adjusted the new Fall hours
• Added a bit to the FAQ about EBSCO eBooks: http://www.ulm.edu/library/FAQ.html#ebsco-ebooks
• added news about the extended hours to the blog and home page
• posted the new Special Collections newsletter to the home page and blog
• Shortened the FAQ bit about ILL to a link to the ILL page, which has tutorials
• Added links to the latest Special Collections newsletters to the archives pages
• Added "International Business" to the subject guides and edited my other guides
  

As for the consolidation of the all the EZ Proxy from LOUIS to our server, I will ask about that next week. The log-in itself will be the same but the custom page we will get will change.

Do let me know of any problems.

Hours & OED

I changed the hours to show intersession and added a news post about the return of the OED. I will put the OED link throughout the site after I return to the office.

August 16th edit:
I 've since then added the OED to the site by looking at an older backup of the site when we still had the OED and putting it back in the pages it used to be on.

Also, the Fall 2011 schedule is ready and shows the new weekend hours. I'll announce it as news and print it out after it is confirmed to be correct.
http://www.ulm.edu/library/hours.pdf

New access to databases

I've added the new links to the site for the databases that now work on-campus, and made a blog news post about it.
Do let me know of any problems you encounter.

For ARTSTOR and NetLibrary, I've eliminated all mention of needing to create accounts. That was confusing for patrons before, and NetLibrary's integration inot EBSCOhost is likely going to destroy all those accounts anyway.

As for LearningExpress Library, I believe it still needs an account made on campus because that's a LOUIS resource, and those haven't been changed (yet).

EZ Proxy: better than ever

The problems with SciFinder's EZ Proxy connection has apparently been fixed! but that's not all that it did!

Here is a video showing a successful off campus log-in to SciFinder, 23 MB:
http://www.ulm.edu/reference/scifinder-SUCCESS!.zip
My first try in SciFinder gave me an error message, but I tried it again and then it worked. I did not need to change the URL on the web page to get in.

I'm very, very pleased with the results, for the change has not only fixed access to SciFinder, but has fixed access for several other databases we were having problems with for a long time, even before the Computing Center became directly involved in library operations (2009?). Classical Music Library, for instance, stopped working off-campus after they upgraded their interface. With the addition of SSL, they work now.

ACM
ARTSTOR (only works off-campus with on-campus account creation at this time, but worked in the proxy w/o an account. You can still use accounts to access personal customizations)
BioOne
Classical Music Library
NetLibrary (only works off-campus with on-campus account creation at this time, but worked in the proxy w/o an account. You can still use accounts to access personal customizations)

I also did run-down of all the databases we have to see if the SSL change affected them. It seems to be OK, but access to Datamonitor 360 is a little goofy. It at first didn't work, but then I tried something else and it did work. Maybe it was a "hiccup" but I'll look at it again today. RIA Tax Services is meant to be a on-campus creation only for off-campus sort of database. I left it alone for now, but I'll look into it again later.

And he is a complete set of all the videos I recorded while looking at various aspects of the databases. It's 486 MB (!). The videos are long because in most of them I tried to do a quick search and actually view a document-- sometimes it looks like you're logged in, but you're really not and you run into a paywall when you try to see full text. The file names inside indicate what they are about.
http://www.ulm.edu/reference/july14-2011-dbtests.zip

It's not exiting to watch and I made it so that I don't have to rely on memory, so here's a list of the important things learned:
· Changing the URL links themselves from "http" to "httpS" causes them to not work at all. So we won't need to change them to "https"
· I now have working URLs for the newly enabled databases
· Some databases listed in the https://ezproxy.ulm.edu pages don't actually allow access to documents (???)

Next steps:

• Putting up new off-campus links for the resources that work off-campus (I'll do that later today)
  
• consolidating EZ Proxy so that all the DBs work on one connection, and getting a customized log-in page with log-in instructions...
• figuring out what other resources should be working off-campus and fixing them to do that

LOUIS, AccessScience, EZ Proxy

a)
Today I added the AccessScience Database trial to the home page news and blog

b)
I've update the ULM library LOUIS page to show Sara Zimmerman's statement about it:
http://www.ulm.edu/library/louis/

c)
Since it's been a while and some good things have happened, I've asked LOUIS if it's OK to remove the database "intercept" pages. The answer was yes, so I'm now going to take them all down. I doubt that anyone bookmarked them, but in case they did and they ask you "why won't this link work?"just tell them we didn't need the intercept anymore.

The LOUIS logo has been added to the database pages so that LOUIS' branding is where it deserves to be.

d)
We're getting closer to solving the EZ Proxy problem with SciFinder (I hope). The connection needed to be a secure SSL connection, and we need a "certificate" to do that. Getting on should allow the connection to work.

However, the old "michael1" server it used to work on wasn't secure either. We don't know why it ever worked, although I believe that it did.

Hours + LOUIS logo

This weekend I changed the hours to show the 4th of July closing, and now I'm changing it back to normal.

With DS's approval, I've also asked RG and Uni. Relations if it's all right to add the LOUIS logo to the website's DB pages. It's one of those demo pages I showed the ULMLWPC some time ago:
http://ulm.edu/~niemla/louis-test/dbname.html

The SciFinder EZ Proxy problems still haven't been resolved, and I don't know when they will be.

College Source maybe + EZ Proxy

Today DS told me that College Source is back and to put it back on the website. I did, and it working earlier today, but now it's not working. I'm not sure why.

Also, the computing center is now in talks with OCLC to try to fix the SciFinder database problem.

ILL page + new databases + EZ Proxy

a)

MW brought it to my attention that the latest upgrade of Iliad also included a re-design. I'm delighted to see that, because the ILL interface has looked very 1994 for a long time and I often wished it was better. However, that also means that our tutorial pictures are outdated.

I've been considering doing video for the ILL page before, but now that it really needs to be changed, I made some today and put them on the library YouTube to embed them:
http://www.ulm.edu/library/ill.html

ML and MW and I all agree that having pictures on the page as well would be a good idea. Those will be added before the end of today, if not this afternoon.

b)
2 new databases for business (or other things, if you think it's pertinent):

Datamonitor 360
Datamonitor Product Launch Analytics

Product Launch analytics is working great, but the URL for DM 360 looks strange. But as long as it does work, it's the one we'll use.

c)
EZ Proxy is being difficult in general, but SciFinder in particular is giving us trouble about IP addresses, while other DBs seem to have little trouble with the new Proxy. Troubleshooting it has been hard because we can't tell if it's us, LOUIS, OCLC, or SciFinder having the problem or all of these things at once.
I could go on and on, but it's all rather technical.

But as I see it, EZ Proxy has been temperamental for a long time, and it's worth the trouble to get it under control.

hours + EZ Proxy

The summer hours are now up, since the summer schedule begins on June 8th.

We are also experiencing problems with EZ Proxy, so we will investigate that more.

EZ Proxy update + CollegeSource

a)
Yesterday, Chance E., Chuck H., LOUIS and myself had a telephone conference to discuss the EZ Proxy.

The EZ Proxy has been moved to a different server in the Admin. building, and has been re-named "ezproxy.ulm.edu" because it makes more sense than "michael1.ulm.edu" But this also means that all these links need to be changed.

I have already changed all the "michael1" to "ezproxy" on the webpages. The catalog is set up so that the proxy only has to be changed in one place and the links in the catalog will automatically change for the user. Chuck will do that.

The next step is to switch over all the LOUIS DBs next so that they will authetnicate on our new "ezproxy.ulm.edu" instead of on LOUIS' log-in page. This will allow us to edit it and perhaps add branding.
But the appearance of the log-in page will be worked on more after the new EZ Proxy is ready for all the DBs, rather than right now.

I've made a post on the library blog showing what DBs have been affected:
http://ulmlibraryreference.blogspot.com/2011/05/database-changes.html
Do let me know if any are missing.

b)
Our subscription to College Source is expired. I have removed it from the library website.

Summer hours

The intersession hours are on the home page, and I've put up the new hours PDF covering now and the summer semester.

The EZ Proxy project is still going on, and we'll probably be working on it more this summer. The computing center seems to be handling things the most right now, but if our needs aren't met, we'll need to look into other solutions.

Hours for finals

Last week I changed the hours to show that we'd be open today (Sunday) and I've adjusted the home page hours to show the upcoming finals hours, and made a blog post about it, showing all the finals hours: http://ulmlibraryreference.blogspot.com/2011/05/extended-hours-for-finals.html
And the hours PDF sheet: http://www.ulm.edu/library/hours.pdf

I'll add more of those hours to the home page as space becomes available.

Hours, EX Proxy, LOUIS...

This week, I put up intercept pages for the databases to increase awareness about LOUIS. These pages do not interfere with database use.

Work is also continuing on a custom interface for EZProxy, which might mean moving all proxied sites to the ULM server. This might need new hardware later on.
At this time, the ULM server does not appear to be working; cause is unknown.

Also, I have changed the home page hours to show the Easter weekend hours (called "spring holiday")

No more GPO survey

I've heard that the GPO survey is over with. So I've removed the icon from the page and went back to the old version of the home page (I had to alter it slightly to fit the icon in there).

Since the survey isn't in the "news" anymore, I needed to put something in there, and put in a link to our YouTube channel. Do let me know if that's a problem.

We ought to have news about LOUIS there sometime. I'll ask about that and how to do it before I try that.

new pictures, hours, and IE 6

a)
The new home page pictures have been added to the website.


b)
The library's hours have been reset to normal.


c)
Also, someone made a website counting down the days to Internet Explorer 6's official death date! Its goal is to end IE 6 usage worldwide.

http://www.ie6countdown.com/

Take that, Microsoft! ... Wait, Microsoft made this page? O_o

Mardi Gras + pictures

I've put the hours for Mardi Gras break on the home page.

Also, here some some possible candidates for new home page pictures:
http://www.ulm.edu/~niemla/gggg/new-pics/

myULM, Home page, mobile apps

a)
A link to the Library is now on the Students' myULM page, and I've mentioned this on the home page because we haven't had much new news to report in a while.

b)
We might be able to get access to Gale's mobile reference apps, and I'll post them on the website as soon as we can confirm that it actually works. ML is the only person I know of with mobile access at this time.

If anyone else wants to try it (for Apple and Android) here is the main page link, which has a barcode you can scan, if yours does that:
http://www.gale.cengage.com/apps/aml/CollegeStudent/#

c)
Tomorrow I plan to borrow special collections' camera, which CR has kindly lent out, and take some hopefully better pictures for the home page.

New off-campus page

The off-campus access page has been re-done to include a video, and I did some tidying:
http://www.ulm.edu/library/offcampus.html

site changes + YouTube

a)
The task of adding a link to the off-campus page with the various DB pages is complete, as far as I can tell. Each DB page should have a link that says Off-Campus Instructions here

b)
LOUISLibraries has a YouTube account now: youtube.com/louislibraries
So I've added their video to favorites and sent friend request, to do the Web 2.0 connection thing. Do let me know if that's not a good idea.

c)
ULM has changed its site-wide favicon. However, when this happened, it somehow affect the catalog, which is now showing LOUIS' logo and not ours:
https://ulm.louislibraries.org:6803/uhtbin/cgisirsi/zUuvd2lTqY/ULM/81930015/60/69/X
I really don't remember if it ever had our favicon before, but the Blue LA state is new. I don't want to change it, though-- LOUIS needs all the PR it can get. Users won't be confused by that favicon being there. Or will they?

No underlined footers

I recently changed the site's CSS files for sub-pages so that the links in the footer do not have lines under them (I went ahead with that because that's how it is on the home page, and it should be consistent).

I've asked the ULMLWPC about other changes to the site; if you're a member and you missed that email, let me know and I'll re-send it.

weather messages + pictures

Last week and this week, the hours were updated to show university closings.

I am thinking again of putting in some new pictures for the home page and removing others. I've talked about that before, but this time I will do it. I'll show the committee all the picture I want to use before I use them, and I'm open to suggestions.

EDIT:
Now things are back to normal. --Fri, Feb 11

Hours + newletter

I've adjusted the hours to Spring, and put up the new Spring Schedule & Dept. hours. The Spring 2011 Special Collections newsletter has also been added.