Google Scholar & UBC eLink: Dare I Say Success?

Posted on April 6, 2009 by Lorne Madgett

Searches in Google Scholar are yielding much more consistent results. Possible links are almost always listed as “UBC eLink” and only occasionally as “UBC Library Catalogue” (both go to the same SFX menu). But, alas, no eLink button yet. Some problems still exist, but these are due to the poor incoming information rather than a resolving problem on our end.

For example, try the following search:

  1. In Google Scholar search two words     Cronenberg AIDS
  2. The 2nd result reads   ” AIDS References in the Critical Reception of David Cronenberg:” It May Not Be Such a Bad Disease …- UBC eLink
  3. Clicking on “UBC eLink” gives you an abbreviated citation and no full-text results. Clicking on “AIDS References in the Critical…” takes you to the full text.
  4. You also see “All 4 versions” at the end of the 2nd result. Click on that, and you get four “UBC eLink” links, three of which take you to three different full-text sources.

Conclusion: it’s not perfect, but it does work better than before. So, don’t be disappointed by an initial “No full text available” message. Dig a bit.

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Black Friday for AACR and ASM journals

Posted on April 3, 2009 by Kat

*UPDATE*

Grey Monday? AACR titles are back. Still waiting on ASM.

Previously…
We’ve lost access to the current content published in our subscribed journals from the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Society for Microbiology.     We’re working to restore access as soon as possible.    This is HIGH priority and we apologize for the inconvenience.

Posted in Ejournals, Vendor Drops Access | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Extra! Extra! Black Press Newspapers Now Available

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Lorne Madgett

The Kelowna Capital News, The Peace Arch News, the Omineca Express… and more! Sixty-seven new newspapers are now available online from ProQuest via the Black Press collection. Search for a title in the Library’s A-Z list of ejournals or see everything the Canadian Newsstand has to offer.

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Google Scholar & UBC eLink: Still a Mess

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Lorne Madgett

See the later post above. Or you can read about past problems Continue reading →

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DjVu Viewer: Some NetLibrary eBooks Want It

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Lorne Madgett

While most NetLibrary ebooks will display their full text nicely in Adobe Acrobat Reader, a few want something called the “DjVu Viewer”. A rival product of Acrobat? Anyway, in Internet Explorer and Firefox, trying to view the full text of the book (search “Schaum’s outline of theory and problems of business statistics” in the OPAC for an example) leads to a request to download a “nlreader” file. Don’t bother. The reader hasn’t been setup by Systems yet. And they are still reviewing the viewer to see if it is a solid piece of software we want to maintain, or something from the cyber-fringe that will be more trouble than it’s worth. So, if you run into one of these ebooks and REALLY feel we need to load that viewer ASAP, email lib-ejhelp@interchange.ubc.ca and we’ll try to speed up the roll out.

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Investext Plus: No Access *UPDATE*

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Lorne Madgett

It has come to our attention that this resource is really important to a group with assignments due soon. Re-accessing is in process. We will SHOUT OUT a posting here when it happens. In the meanwhile, please contact the David Lam Reference Desk [604-822-9399] to see if they can possibly direct you to a source of similar information. Hope this helps.

Previously…

Investext Plus is moving from Gale to Thomson Reuters. As a result, access is not possible till a new licensing agreement (plus other technical details) are worked out. An apology has been added to the Library’s information page for this resource while details are worked out. We hope to be re-connected soon. Stay tuned.

Posted in Databases, Vendor Drops Access | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Wiley Titles: eLink Error Messages

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Lorne Madgett

A few Wiley titles (“European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry” & “Arthritis Care and Research”, for example) are coming up with:

Error: Entity not found
Error Code: 4090

…when the eLink button button is used. We are investigating the problem. The links from the ejournal A-Z list are not affected. Stay tuned.

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EZproxy & PIN Changes

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Lorne Madgett

Previously, there was a 30 minute gap between the time a patron changed their PIN number and when the change was updated on EZproxy. The time gap is now 15 minutes. So, the MOST a patron will need to wait after changing their PIN until they can use, say, our old friend GMID is 15 minutes.

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Does the Blog Look a Little Funny? *UPDATE*

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Lorne Madgett

Okay, a bit of tweaking, a lot of swearing, a moment or two of panic (I thought I’d lost the whole damn thing at one point) but I think it’s coming along not too bad. More is to come, when I find the time. And apologies to my fellow workers who have had to listen to me go on and on about the blog. But it IS kinda cool to play around -I mean WORK- with.

Previously…

YES it does. On the upside, we got some great feedback about our little blog (big thank you to the Barbaras) both in person and via email while I was at the ACRL Conference in Seattle this past weekend. On the downside, well, the move to a new platform has altered how some text looks. I will be fixing, re-tagging and learning this new platform over the next little while, so please be patient. And, as always, stay tuned.

Posted in blog itself | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Ovid & Safari: Do They Get Along?

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Lorne Madgett

Do + = ?

Not necessarily. The official word from Ovid is:

“While Safari normally works with Ovid it is not supported. We do not test our application against the Safari browser and don’t guarantee that it will work.”

And their view on browser requirements can be seen at OvidSP Configuration

We have tested Apple’s Safari browser with Ovid and had success. Others have had problems crop up (like not being able to view beyond the first page of search results). Some of this could be related to the version of Safari used, remote access, etc. There are several variables. Probably, the best approach is to use Firefox if possible and if not, then use the latest version of Safari. And as always, contact lib-ejhelp@interchange.ubc.ca if you have any questions or problems with UBC’s eResources.

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