Wednesday, August 31, 2011

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.

Monday, August 29, 2011

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

Monday, August 22, 2011

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.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

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