This is a stupid question, but here goes- to look at e-books in the UBC catalogue from Books24-7, do patrons need to go through the free registration process (to create a log-on and password)? Rather than using the library barcode and pin? From looking at the FAQs, it seems (obviously) so. I had a confused patron call about it this afternoon, and unfortunately, I didn’t check the FAQs in time. So he’ll probably call back on Monday and ask how to get access to those resources all over again. Hmmph.
But at least I’ll know for next time.
-Christina H

Here’s the latest gripping installment. GovInfoNewsletter-Sept08
This month’s focus is on African sites, Asian sites & glossaries to government lingo. Enjoy 🙂
Shawnna

Hallo,
I emailed Electronic Resources on the weekend about problems with accessing journals in Sage – Irene confirmed that we have lost access to the Sage backfiles, and suggests that we direct people to print versions (or alternate electronic versions) if they’re available.
Also, you may all know this, but the British Columbia Newspaper Index appears to be borked, and has been for some time? I’m guessing that Canadian Newsstand is the closest resource to send them to, or they can check the microf?
Edited to add 05/10/08:
Hurrah, the link to the British Columbia Newspaper Index is all well and happy again, thank you, Irene!
Cheers, Francesca

We seem to get quite a few questions about the schedule for the Faculty of Arts lab in Koerner 216 – students wanting to know when they can get in, etc. The Faculty of Arts website has a link to the schedule here:
http://www.arts.ubc.ca/?id=276&room=Koerner216
And this second link takes you to a listing of all Arts ISIT labs with information about software availability, location, and schedules:
http://www.arts.ubc.ca/faculty-amp-staff/arts-isit/information-technology/lab-bookings.html

Political Science for Dummies
DEMOCRAT
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
You push for higher taxes so the government can provide cows for everyone.
REPUBLICAN
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?
SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.
COMMUNIST
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.
AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
Your stock goes up.
FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.
JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.
GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.
ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but you don’t know where they are.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.
RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You have some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.
TALIBAN CORPORATION
You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
You don’t milk them because you cannot touch any creature’s private parts.
You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money to buy weapons.
IRAQI CORPORATION
You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.
POLISH CORPORATION
You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.
BELGIAN CORPORATION
You have one cow..
The cow is schizophrenic.
Sometimes the cow thinks he’s French, other times he’s Flemish.
The Flemish cow won’t share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow’s milk.
The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
The cow dies happy.
FLORIDA CORPORATION
You have a black cow and a brown cow..
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both.
Some people vote for neither.
Some people can’t figure out how to vote at all.
Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking cow.
CALIFORNIA CORPORATION
You have millions of cows.
They make real California cheese.
Only five speak English.
Most are illegal.
Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.

I recently had a question from a student who had been told that she MUST use a mac to do her art assignment. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any for her to use. The “welcome to your library” guide suggests that there are macs at Barber, so she went over there. I popped in to the Learning Commons today and was told that they will have macs installed sometime in October (they showed me the spot where they are going to be- there’s not room for many!). Anyone know of any secret campus macs in the meantime? Or of a way I can find out?
Sara

Attn: GAAs
The following is copied from the email I sent out earlier today as an FYI.
1. Koerner Library keeps course descriptions from previous years on Microform. If the patron were local, or knew someone local, you could direct him/her to the microform section AW1 .R7544 which can be found by typing “UBC Calendar” into the OneSearch box and selecting UBC Library from the list of results. The second hit has the full calendar list from 1915-2004.
2. If the patron requires the course descriptions to be sent, ILL will send them at the approximate cost of $20 International (and $5 for BC residents).
3. Another, not so well known option, is to ask Keith Bunnell who has copies of old course calendars in his office from which you could copy down the information the patron requested.
4. Recent course schedules from 2007-2008 are available online through student services.
Tara

I had a question this afternoon on locating primary source documents from the period 1800-1909 on women and china. The assignment sounded broad (focused more on locating primary source documents than on finding out about a particular subject). She didn’t have a specific topic in mind yet. (I didn’t catch the course title and number- I’ll shoot for doing that next time!)
– We started by me letting the patron know about the Asian Library (closed today, but she could go by there tomorrow, Monday).
– The we went to the Asian Studies subject guide to find some resources to get some ideas about a topic. I mentioned that she could also check out the History subject guide, and browse the subject guides list for other possibilities. On the Asian Studies site, The Encyclopedia of Asian Studies looked like a good start for finding a topic, since it was available here in Koerner and she could physically browse it on the shelf right now.
– I showed her how to get into the ProQuest Historical database, the Times (London) database (historical) and the New York Times database (and how to do the advanced search in their historical archives). We found a few interesting hits by searching women and china (and variations of those terms) and limiting by date.
– I recommended to her, again, to check out the Asian Library if she has a chance, and speak with one of the reference librarians during their reference hours.
Any other suggestions on sources/ strategies?
Thanks,
Christina H

Satirical Maps of the First World War

There is a problem with the DocDel system due to a recent upgrade. Users new to the system (i.e. those who have not placed a previous request ) are encountering an error when they try to order a book from UBCO. The message says:

“Add request failed: There was an Internal Error. Please contact the service provider. Please inform Systems Division. Back to catalogue”

Systems and ILL are working on this. In the meantime, if you get a patron at the desk who needs to DocDel an item, you can phone Liz in ILL at 2-6596 and she can manually add the patron’s record to the database so that they can place the DocDel request.
Thanks to Paul for troubleshooting this.