Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Isaac stuff + hours

  • The hours were adjusted again to show that library depts. close at 11:30am on Fridays now.
  • added news about Hurricane Isaac and the new closed/open days of the library.
  • MW posted the info to facebook.
  • New Annual Report released by Dean Smith

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Much database news + hours

This weekend, changed the hours (.pdf) file again. Our extended finals hours used to be 1am, but now that we're open to 2am, we don't know if we'll have late finals hours. So I changed it to say "the closing hour may be extended," giving us room to decide.

 New things going on with the databases
  • Datamonitor 360 will become MarketLine Advantage *on Sept. 1st; Off-campus access should be possible, but I don't know if it'll be ready right away. I'm working on it.. The link to the new one is in the news blog and news box for now, and I've added it to the DB list with an *
  • Classical Music Library might have run out; I don't know if we still subscribe to it or not. It doesn't work on or off campus. So I've left it in the list but crossed out: Classical Music Library 
    • Edit: after input from ML, now I just have "(inactive)" written next to CML's links
  • The new EBSCO Discovery Service is out, customized for ULM. http://atoz.ebsco.com/link.asp?id=1412&rid=2794470  By some miracle, it is able to search MEDLINE with Full Text and CMMC, which the current EBSCO cannot. We could use it as our new EBSCO link, but we're not sure yet if it really truly does everything right. I have not mentioned EDS on the website yet, but I think we should soon.
    • If it's possible, I'd like to figure out how EDS authenticates MEDLINE w/ Full Text, eBooks,  and CMMC  along with the LOUIS databases. Could we use it to eliminate all our EZ Proxy problems?
    • Folder accounts haven't been tested and are still an issue for regular EBSCOhost
  • Through LOUIS, I presume (or the BOR), we now have access to Counseling and Therapy on Video. It doesn't work off campus yet. So It's now in the DB list with an *, and in the blog/news.
  • I'm looking into possibilities for getting a customized version of Google Scholar for our library...

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

New hours, new website

 The hours have changed again to go to 2 am., and I changed the home page, made new hours PDF, and made a blog entry about it.

As some of you may know, ULM will be switching to a CMS and re-designing its website.  He is a sumarry of what we know:


All of the ULM website will be redesigned to fit a standard template
  • Will use a Content Management System called "OmniUpdate"
  • Must be implemented by the end of Spring 2013
  • This is generally a good thing
  • Each dept. will be able to access and edit its pages
  • Rob Glaze in charge; he is affable and fair

What we need to do:
  • Some pages are OK to go on the site as-is
  • Others will need re-arranged
  • Others should be deleted  (based on needs and usage stats)
  • Rob Glaze is already aware that our website is special and will talk with me/us about it




Questions:
  • How will each reference librarian access the site?
  • Will we be allowed to use reference librarian faculty pages? (ex:  ulm.edu/~lowe/ )
  • Will each librarian be able to access the library site or a sub-domain of it?
  • What will happen to the http://www.ulm.edu/govdocs/ and http://www.ulm.edu/reference/ domains?
  • Should Moodle be used in addition to (or even instead of) the library site for storing class materials?

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Lots of new semester changes

This past week and weekend, there were quite a few updates and changes:

• Added new library schedule PDF, twice
• Changed hours to interim period
• Uploaded and linked new scan and reserves request forms from circulation
• updates and some text changes to the For Faculty page http://www.ulm.edu/library/forfaculty.html
• updated hours graphic to Fall, posted about the Fall Schedule to the blog
• made updates to FAQ page
• Updated old LOUIS links on various pages
• updated some things on the Visitor Information page
• Added a link to the full library schedule on the Special Collections page http://www.ulm.edu/library/archives/
• updated some things on the Community page http://www.ulm.edu/library/community.html
• Small updates to the Computer Lab page http://www.ulm.edu/library/computerlab.html
• Changed broken link on Library Instruction page, "Louisiana Board of Regents Statewide General Education Requirements" to http://regents.louisiana.gov/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=130 (is that right?)

Please let me know if there is something else that needs fixed.