Group Study Room Policy

Group Study Room policy is now as follows:

• Rooms are for the use of groups of 3 or more students. One or two individuals using a Group Study room should be prepared to move if requested to do so by groups of 3 or more students. Thank you for your cooperation.
• Covered beverages are permitted but eating is not.

These changes are now on a sign at the entrance to the new group study rooms on the second floor by the journal stacks. However, the policy applies to all our group study rooms.

Please direct groups of 2 to our 1 Below group study 'area' as an alternative. (below the reference room)

PubMed - Interface Changes

I suspect most of you have seen this already, but just in case. . . PubMed will soon have a different look. There's a link to the technical bulletin in the message below (or attached).
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd08/nd08_pm_adv_search_evolves.html

Harriet
19/11/08

Racer - password/pin issues

Yesterday at our meeting there was some discussion about the difficulty
experienced by some patrons, whose PIN is all letters in lower case,
when using this password to access RACER. I contacted Amy Greenberg and
her reply is as follows: "The password (in RACER, coming from the
nightly Sirsi upload) is the same, but in capital letters. Looks like
somewhere between the data upload and conversion, it is being converted
to upper case. This is what the patron will need to use."

Bottom line-when logging into RACER type an all letter password in upper
case. Patron can continue to use lower case when accessing 'my.account'.

Jane Lynch
28/11/08

SilverPlatter Databases Move to OvidSP

This is for those who use databases on SilverPlatter and OvidSP.
Ovid has notified us that it's started the migration of the remaining SilverPlatter databases to OvidSP. This affects the following eight databases:

- IFLP- Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
- CABI
- FIAF (International Film Archive Database) [Available March]
- IPSA (International Political Sciences Abstracts)
- SWAB (Social Work Abstracts and NASW Clinical Register)
- Transport Quarterly
- Mental Measurements Year Book
- AV-ONLINE

All these except FIAF are now on both platforms. We'll have dual access for the next few weeks while we work out settings and other details before the final switch over.
I'll send out more info when available.

Weijing
21/11/2008

Physical Examination & Health Assessment

Please check out this new title, acquired by the Media Commons in
response to a request by a prof from Nursing. It looks very good and
may be something that could be recommended to students/instructors in
other courses? http://simplelink.library.utoronto.ca/url.cfm/61844

Sandra
17/11/2008

Copyright - users scanning in the stacks

The University of Toronto agreement with Access Copyright does not limit the fair-dealing rights of any of us. Anybody can use a portable scanner to copy material according to the appropriate limits of fair dealing.

Noel McFerran, 19/11/2008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found the following at a Waterloo library website.
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/copyright/#basics13

Using the rationale below, it would seem that the Access license is only invoked if Fair Dealing does not apply.
"The University has a licence with Access Copyright which, within the limits described in the following paragraph, allows professors, students and staff to make photocopies of print works (books, journal articles etc.) where the copying is not permitted under fair dealing or another exception in the Copyright Act. Taken together, fair dealing, exceptions in the Copyright Act, licences with publishers and the Access Copyright licence generally allow you to photocopy what you need for ordinary educational activities."

Re: scanning
"Please note that the Access Copyright licence only covers photocopying. It does not cover scanning. Accordingly, if you want to scan something and use it in your research or study, you may only do so if this is permitted under an exception in the Copyright Act such as fair dealing."

So from this, scanning would be allowed under fair dealing:
"Fair dealing is an exception in the Copyright Act which allows you to use other people’s copyright material for the purpose of research, private study, criticism or review, provided that what you do with the work is ‘fair’."

Gail Nichol, 19/11/2008

Endeca Quick Start Guide

A quick start guide to the new catalogue (Endeca) interface, written for staff, is available at:

http://main.library.utoronto.ca/discover/staff_quickstart.pdf

We'll be following up soon with a second brochure for public use. This second brochure will be more suitable for duplication and distribution. We will also be embedding some help tips into the new catalogue interface (with thanks to Elizabeth O'Brien and the librarians at UTSC!).

As always, please let me know if you've got questions or feedback about the Staff Quick Start brochure, or about the new catalogue interface.
Thanks,
Sian
Nov. 4, 2008

New UofT Building - Examination Centre

Our current maps do not show this building:

Examination Centre (EX)
255 McCaul Street
Just south of College Street, on the east side.

Tours & Instruction Procedures

Building tours have been discontinued.

Requests for instruction should be forwarded to Carla Hagstrom. (we have discontinued our classes for high school students)

We have a 'self-guided tour' handout available near the Information desk, as well as the Virtual Tour accessible from our web page.

Endeca Launch Timeline

I wanted to update you with a slight change that I've received for the Endeca launch timelines that I'd announced at today's Reference Services meeting.
As discussed, on Monday November 3, the Endeca interface will move from development to production (eg, the interface will be stable and fully functional).

However, from November 3 until January 5, Endeca will continue to be offered as a second alternative on the library homepages; the SIRSI catalogue interface will continue to be the default catalogue.
On Monday January 5, the default catalogue interface will be switched from SIRSI to Endeca; SIRSI will become the secondary alternative. We hope that by timing the transition for the start of the second term, it will be smoother for both users and staff.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I'll continue to keep you posted, and we'll update those dates on the home page as appropriate!

Thanks, Sian Meikle
08/10/2008

Information Desk Walkie-talkie

As was discussed in our last Information desk staff meeting, we will now use walkie-talkies to help telephone service staff keep in touch with the 10-12 infodesk "on call" person.
In between 12-6pm they will be used by both sides of the Information desk to contact Jeff.

PROCEDURE
- telephone service staff should have the unit with them and on from 10am onward
- information desk "on call" staff should keep the unit with them, and on from 10-12. After 12 give the unit to Jeff (or place it in the infodesk printer cabinet)

- when not in use, both units should be kept in the Information desk printer cabinet
- on days that Jeff is not here, the units will be used from 10-12 only and should be turned off afterwards
- Jeff is responsible for them and will replace batteries, or charge batteries when required

USAGE
- to turn the units on and off, press and hold the "MODE" button for 3 seconds
- to talk, press the large button on the left-hand side
- to listen, let go of the large button on the left-hand side
- the channel should always be on 11. If it gets changed accidentally just use the 'CHANNEL' button to put it back.

Reference Collection Shifting

With the move of reference material back to the main floor we are still be left with reference material on the floor below.
In order to make finding this material easier and to assist with reshelving we have created two new location codes for Gerstein.

- Lower Reference I which will refer to material in B110 and will appear as LOWER_REF1 where truncation is required in SIRSI
- Lower Reference II. which will refer to material in B112 and will appear as LOWER_REF2 where truncation of the name is required.

It will take quite some time until all the material has it new location applied as it must be done on a title by title basis. I will put out another message when the task has been completed.

Bonnie
Oct. 1, 2008

T-Space - how UofT authors submit articles

Hi all,
The Faculty of Medicine Research Office, working through the Discovery Commons in conjunction with Rea at T-Space, has now created an easy to use page for UofT authors to submit their articles to T-Space.
See: http://admin.med.utoronto.ca/research/default.cfm
Submissions go first to the Discovery Commons where they are 'massaged' as necessary and then are fully submitted to T-Space.
The Faculty of Medicine is holding a session about T-Space and submission to same for Hospital Research Institute Directors/VPs Research and HRI administrators /communications managers who may be responsible for CIHR/NIH Open Access information/compliance at the various UofT related institutions.
Elena will attend on our behalf and report back about anything of particular interest to us which occurs.
In the meantime, please be aware that all those working on the Research side of the Info Desk should know why UofT authors need to comply with CIHR and NIH open access policies and how they can do so.
See the link to 'Open Access' at the top of the submission form for more info.
See a background article about this in the Gerstein news: http://content.library.utoronto.ca/gerstein/newsletter/volume9/issue1/article2.html
Thank you.
Sandra - July 25, 2008

Palomar Observatory Sky Survey

All staff, As a result of the closure of the Dunlap Observatory Library Gerstein is acquiring some additional astronomy material.
One particularly valuable collection, the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, will arrive in the next few weeks. Please see link below for more info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Society_-_Palomar_Observatory_Sky_Survey
The glass plate collection and instruments for reading the plates will be placed in a locked room (B126) off the Heritage Wing hall where Dan, Carla & Rea used to have their offices.
Bonnie will arrange for a catalogue entry to be made so staff and patrons can locate them. Thanks.
Sandra - July 25, 2008

Chemistry Library summer service

Just thought I would update everyone on our summer hours -this year is a bit different than in the past.
For July 21st to Aug 8th te library will be open from 12-4:30 Monday to Friday and from Aug 11 to Sept 1 the library will be closed completely!
We reopen on Sept 2nd.

I have closed the ILL and ICD requests on VDX from July 30th to Sept 2nd.

Patricia - July 18, 2008.

GovPub reference service merged with Robarts

As of July 2nd, 2008, Government Publications reference service will be provided from the Robarts Reference desk on the 4th floor. A core Government Publications collection will remain on the 5th floor of Robarts. Data and GIS Services on the 5th floor of Robarts will expand to become the Data, Map and GIS Centre.

Debbie Green - July 15, 2008

Blackwell merging with Wiley

As of Monday, June 30th 2008, all Blackwell journal content—including all full-text HTML and PDF versions of articles from current issues, backfiles, and issues published online before print—will be incorporated into Wiley InterScience.

We plan to close Blackwell Synergy at the end of business (Pacific Standard Time) on Friday June 27th and we anticipate that the migration will be completed by Monday June 30th. Over the weekend of June 28th and 29th, there will be a period when both Blackwell Synergy and Wiley InterScience will be unavailable while we transition and re-index data.

After June 30th, Blackwell Synergy will no longer be available.

Details about the actual downtime period will be posted on each site prior to June 27th, and you can find other essential information and FAQs about the change in service here:

* interscience.wiley.com/transition - for Librarians and Institutional Customers
* interscience.wiley.com/transition-users - for Individual End Users
* interscience.wiley.com/support - Customer Support contact information

Firefox issue with pdfs at Springer

From Gail on April 28th...

Good morning everyone,
I had the following exchange with a Springer support person regarding a pdf document in the Encyclopedia of Soil Science. It seems that access to larger files may be a problem when using Firefox and Springer suggests that we use IE.
Regards,
Gail


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Feedback
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:26:04 -0400
From: Springerlink, New-York, Springer US

Hi Gail,

I'll report this problem to our counterparts in Germany to see if there is anything that can be done. I know some users have had access issues using Firefox, so if possible perhaps you should use IE instead.

Sincerely,
Cristina

Racer Video Tutorial

From Helen on May 15th...

Thanks to Laura and Heather there is now a quick video tutorial on how to use RACER. It is intended to help students, faculty and staff to enter interlibrary loan requests. Please try it out!

>From the Gerstein main page:
- under 'services' select 'borrow from other libraries'
- click on 'students, faculty and staff at the University of Toronto'
- click on 'watch the video'

There is also a link from the FAQ.

Data and GIS Services - interruptions and changes

Please note:
Data and GIS Services will be closed between June 12th and June 19th, 2008.
Email reference will be available during this time (gis.maps@utoronto.ca
or dlsg@chass.utoronto.ca)
The new Data, Map, and GIS Centre will open its doors on Friday June
20th, 2008 (10AM-5PM)

------------------------------
Marcel Fortin, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Map Librarian