The Institutional Repository

Loughborough’s Institutional Repository was launched in 2006 and continues to grow, with collections now including published articles; conference papers; official reports and PhD theses. An increasing number of Loughborough’s academic and research staff are taking advantage of this service to improve the accessibility of their research.

Institutional repositories are part of a growing international movement to promote and improve access to research on a global scale. By making papers available without subscription barriers, we can maximise the visibility of the research being undertaken by our top-class researchers here at Loughborough. For more information about Loughborough’s Institutional Repository and how you can benefit from this service, visit: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/resources/InstitutionalRepository.html or contact Lizzie, Steph, Tracy or Becky.

Helping students with Dissertations/ Final Year Projects

At this time of the year many of your students will be working on final year dissertations or final year projects.  Did you realise that we can offer?:

• workshops explaining how to find resources (both print and electronic) and how to use these resources in order to produce a good literature search.
• workshops/lectures either in the library, or in your department explaining what plagiarism is and how to avoid it by using correct citation methods.
• individual appointments for students having difficulty locating the information they require.

For further information contact your Academic Librarian:

Lizzie, Steph, Becky or Tracy

Google Scholar a curse or something revolutionary?

In 2004 Google launched a new service called Google Scholar it provides a search engine that indexes academic literature. Publishers have been invited to allow access to their publications by Google spiders, the only condition being that the publisher had to allow at least the abstract of the work to be freely visible to all. For the first time the public had access to publishing details of books and journals previously only viewed by subscription.

Something Revolutionary?

1. You don’t need a subscription to use and access information provided by different publishers.
2. It’s a citation index so you can find further information by following the “cited by” link.
3. You can transfer the records directly to Refworks if you set up your preferences correctly.
4. You can will get a link to full text material if it is subscribed to by Loughborough University or is freely available.

A Curse?

1. It claims to provide “peer reviewed” articles but each publisher sets their own standards for inclusion. There is not the quality control that is provided by a renowned database .
2. It only has access to certain publishers, not all will allow access to Google spiders and Google does not provide a list of which publishers have declined access.
3. When full text is provided no scanned images can be seen because of technical restraints .
4. There is no thesaurus or subject index to guide you in your choice of keywords.

Google is fast and efficient but does it produce quality goods?????

Logged on to COPAC yet?

We think you’ll find this site as helpful in locating resources as we do. If you’re trying to find a book or journal and it’s not held by our Library, COPAC provides a quick and reliable alternative. If you’re happy to travel a little bit further up the road to view any must-see items or you need some small bibliographic detail to complete an inter-library loan request, then this could be a web resource worth bookmarking. Take a look for yourself at http://copac.ac.uk

COPAC Academic and Library Catalogue is an amalgamation of the online catalogues of a whole range of key University and National Libraries in the UK and Ireland – the full list is printed out below. It even covers the British Library and in total there are 32 million records!

So, by using the simple, user-friendly search tool, you’ll find a full bibliographic record and a list of all COPAC libraries holding a copy of the item you need. For example, within seconds we can find that the 4th ed. of Satellite Communications by Dennis Roddy is available in print form from the British Library, Leeds and Nottingham and an electronic version is held at Aberdeen University.

It’s quick, easy and access is free. Above all, it removes the slog and saves time by searching upwards of 25 catalogues simultaneously.

Click here for a list of Contributing Libraries.

If you wish to use another library to access resources, there are a number of schemes to help you do so such as Sconul Research Extra and UK Libraries Plus. Our Library is a member of several of these initiatives and you can read about the regulations regarding visiting, joining and borrowing at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/services/otherLibraries.html

Help your students to follow the InfoTrail

The Library has just launched a new interactive, self-paced online tutorial on how to find and present information effectively.  InfoTrail@Lboro is designed to help students gain vital information and study skills which they will need for their course of study and beyond.  InfoTrail includes modules on:

• Using the Library  – including the Library catalogue and reading list system
• Understanding information - including types of sources, publications formats and choosing information sources
• Your information strategy – including time management, developing a search strategy for an assignment and taking notes
• Electronic information – including advice on effective searching using MetaLib, electronic resources and the internet.
• Evaluating your information  – guidance on criteria to use as part of the evaluation process
• Presenting your information – including writing skills, plagiarism, correct referencing and presentation skills

So why not have a look and then recommend it to your students? There are lots of activities to try out and the option to “Self-test” at the start and end of a module to see how much your knowledge has improved.  The Library is hoping to develop tailored subject specific versions of InfoTrail in the future so let us know if you think your students would benefit from this.  Feedback is welcomed so why not get in touch with Steph or Lizzie or leave a comment on the blog.

24/7 opening was “kicking”

“It was kicking!” said one student in response to the Library trialling 24/7 opening during the Semester One exam period.  The trial, which ran between 15^th January and 9th February 2007, was staffed by security guards from a private security company (PSS), and was a big hit with students.   The graph below shows library occupancy through the night over the four-week period.

 

At one point there were over 250 students occupying the building at midnight.  Feedback comments from students included:  

• I wish the Library is open 24/7 all year round
• V. productive – easier to get work done at this time – don’t feel rushed
• Night time is when I can work the hardest. Thank you for doing this, very beneficial
• Have found the 24/7 service very useful, it should run more frequently

The Library will be re-running the trial during the Semester 2 exam period between 7 May and 22 June.