MyLibrary(National E-books Observation Project)

This platform currently provides free access to 26 course texts for business and management studies, engineering, media studies students as part of the national e-books observatory project study.

The e-books will be available for two years until Sep 2009 and students can print, copy and download parts of the e-books as well as include excerpts in coursework, essays, presentations and dissertations.

To start using the e-books please visit http://www.myilibrary.com/myilibrary/athenslogin.asp and log in using your Athens username and password or access the ebooks via the Library catalogue.

Take part in the JISC E-book User Survey 2008 and enter the prize draw to win £200 in Amazon vouchers. This survey is part of the JISC funded national E-books observatory project and is open to all University members, whether students, academic staff or support staff. Its aim is to provide JISC with initial user feedback on a range of e-book issues and findings will be used to inform new e-book models that meet the teaching and learning needs of staff and students in the UK.

The survey closes at midnight on Friday 15 February and the draw will take place over the weekend. It should take no longer than 10-12 minutes to complete (much less if you don’t already use e-books – but JISC would still love to hear from you).

N.B. You are under no obligation whatsoever to take part in this survey. Any information you give JISC will be held securely and they will under no circumstances reveal any findings other than at a highly aggregated level. JISC are collecting the data through a third-party, Survey Monkey, and you can check their privacy policy here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/Monkey_Privacy.aspx
If you have any problems or questions, please contact JISC at slais-surveys@ucl.ac

Engineering News from the IRN

Just four items extracted from this month’s Internet Resources Newsletter:

Seawater Greenhouse: 

“The Seawater Greenhouse is a unique concept which combines natural processes, simple construction techniques and mathematical computer modelling to provide a low-cost solution to one of the world’s greatest needs – fresh water. The Seawater Greenhouse is a new development that offers sustainable solution to the problem of providing water for agriculture in arid, coastal regions.”

Top 12 Areas for Technology Innovation through 2025: 

A discussion in the ChangeWays Newsletter about the likely forthcoming technological changes as perceived by Social Technologies, a global research and consulting firm.

Rural Innovation Systems:

“This information portal provides access to free, full-text electronic documents on Rural Innovation Systems (RIS), both as an analytical concept and a development tool. It is also a unique entry point for all other Internet sources on RIS, including newsletters, discussion groups, websites, bibliographic databases, and directories of organizations and projects.”

blogAERADE is a portal  providing free access to aerospace and defence resources.

Free trials – Business and Company Resource Center / Business Monitor International

The Library currently has two trials of electronic business resources running:

Business and Company Resource Center: The first of its kind, Business & Company Resource Center brings together a wide variety of global business information, enabling users to efficiently research business case studies, competitive intelligence, and career and investment opportunities.  This resource is customizable with your choice of specialty modules – including the PROMT and Investext Plus (formerly Research Bank Web) modules – to bring you the information you need most.

To access this trial please go to http://www.galeuk.com/trialsite/ The username and password are available from the Library passwords page. This trial is available until 8th February 2008

 Business Monitor International: Established in 1984, Business Monitor International is a leading print and online publisher of specialist business information on global emerging markets. Its range of daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly services covers political risk, finance, macroeconomic performance, outlook and forecast, industry sectors and the business operating environment. BMI also publishes directories and CD-ROMs profiling multinational companies active in emerging markets.

To access the trial please go to http://www.businessmonitor.com/cgi-bin/request.pl The username and password are available from the Library passwords page. This trial runs until 29th January 2008.

Your feedback is welcomed. We are particularly keen to know if these are resources you feel the Library should subscribe to. Please contact Steve Corn with your views, good or bad.  

Research Support webpages

The Library has just launched its ‘Research Support’ webpages, which detail all of the support and resources on offer to researchers across the University. The link is permanently on the Library homepage or can be accessed from:

http://lboro.ac.uk/library/services/Research%20Support.html

If you would like any further advice about how the Library can support your research, please contact your Academic Librarian.

24/7 opening starts 14th January

In the 2006/2007 academic year, the Library successfully trialled 24/7 opening to help people during the revision and examination periods. This is being repeated and the Library will be open continually from the 14th January to the 8th February 2008. 

Research Training for Engineers

The Library Engineering Team are running two free training sessions in January on key resources for research and teaching.

They will cover:

a. New electronic engineering resources including IEEE Digital Library and DigiMap

b. Teaching tools – online learning support using new Learn

c. Increase the profile of your research with the Institutional Repository

d. Have your Say! – the outcomes from the recent Engineering survey

The sessions are to be held in S.0.06 on Tues 22 Jan at 10-12 and Thurs 24 Jan at 2-4pm and will provide opportunity for hands-on.

To book please email Theresa at T.M.Doherty@lboro.ac.uk, including your:

Name:

Job Title:

Dept:

Which session you’d like to attend: Tues/Thurs.

Looking forwards to seeing you there,

Becky.