Piping Up

Kudos to Interlibrary Loan Staff!

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:19:50 +0000

I am writing this to heartily appreciate the services provided to me by the staff at the Inter Library Loans Division of the Bennett Library. Although I retired almost twelve years ago, I have continued to be active in research and have been consistently publishing. I often need sources beyond our library collection; sometimes the latest editions of the books we have, other times old books and journal articles in Sanskrit. UBC often has materials I need, but our staff at ILL Services have got me books from across the country, and even US or Europe. I could not do quality research without such help. I wish to sincerely thank the staff members of the ILL department. They deserve much appreciation and request their superiors to adequately recognize their good work. Since our requests are sent electronically, and I pick up the documents after office hours to avoid traffic and crowds, I rarely see them personally. But will see them soon and personally express my appreciation and gratitude. Most of the personnel I see while checking our are also courteous and helpful. Thanks to them, too.

A. Thanks very much for your kind words. I’ve passed this on to the staff in the department. It’s very nice for us to hear such positive feedback from a researcher.

Yours truly,
Gordon
—
Gordon Coleman
Assistant Head (Acting), Access Services
Document Delivery Services & Media Resource Centre

Request to Renew Books

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:16:11 +0000

Q. Hi, I have a book due today. The book title is “Our Man In Tehran” by Robert Wright. I would like to renew it if possible. Is there a number I can call or a way I can do it online so I don’t have to drive all the way up to Burnaby Mountain to do it? I do not have access to my old SIS account so I can’t renew it that way. Thanks.

A. Hi

I renewed it for you. Now due on June 26th. In the future, just go to the library home page and click on the link – My library record/renew books – which is in the second column from the left. You will be asked to login and after doing so you should be able to renew your books up to 3 times.

take care
scott
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Scott Mackenzie
Head, Access Services

Request for Telebook Return Slips

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:07:09 +0000

Q. I can’t find six slips to send back books via Telebook. Is it possible to send me the forms so I can return books via post. thanks.

A. Of course you can have more forms, I’ve put them in the mail to you.

Gordon
—
Gordon Coleman
Assistant Head (Acting), Access Services
Document Delivery Services & Media Resource Centre

Interlibrary Loan Service for Alumni

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:03:30 +0000

Q. I am an SFU alumnus, and hold an SFU identification card (which, as you know, serves as a library card). Nevertheless, I find that I am unable to make an interlibrary loan request, even when I offer to pay for the cost of processing it. I have been told that this is SFU library policy. This seems to me to be a rather mean-spirited way of doing things. Therefore, I respectfully ask that the library policy on this matter be changed so that people who hold an SFU card, of any type, are permitted to make an interlibrary loan request, upon payment of a fee if necessary.

A. The question of ILL privileges for alumni comes up from time to time. Per the policy page (http://www.lib.sfu.ca/my-library/services-for-you/alumni) the current situation is that alumni are not eligible for interlibrary loan service. There are several rationales for this including cost, staff workload, and administrative complexity. Thanks for your kind offer to pay for the loans — that does address one of the issues — but the library has decided that serving the needs of our current students and researchers needs to be the main priority for the limited time of the staff in the ILL unit. Also, most public libraries provide interlibrary loan service for their patrons at cost. Here is the information page from Burnaby Public Library on their ILL service: http://www.bpl.bc.ca/borrowing/interlibrary-loans For these reasons SFU Library does not provide ILL services to alumni.

However, this doesn’t mean the policy can’t change. I’m new in my position and bring fresh eyes to a decision from several years ago. I’m happy to go and ask the University Librarian whether this policy could be reviewed.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like to discuss this further.

Gordon
—
Gordon Coleman
Assistant Head (Acting), Access Services
Document Delivery Services & Media Resource Centre

Request for DOI Search Support

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 05:57:47 +0000

Q. You should add DOI search support! That way when I want to see a particular article, I don’t have to waste time copying a title, then searching through all of the different results with the same or similar titles. If there was a way to take a DOI entered in the search box, find the provider, determine if the university has a subscription, then return the login link to see the article requested, it would save a little time.

A. Thank you for the feedback. A DOI look-up is already built into the main Library Search on the home page. You can simply enter a DOI number and Library Search will attempt to find a match.

See the attached screen shot for an example of where to input your DOI number. If the discovery service we subscribe to, which powers part of Library Search, can find a match, then the article should display under the journal articles results.

If there are no matches under Library Search, you can also try our Citation Finder tool which will do another look up to find a match. Citation Finder can be found by clicking on the blue Find bar (lower right hand corner of the home page), the last link listed: http://www.lib.sfu.ca/my-library/citation-finder

Enter a DOI – and if the journal/publisher is registered with CrossRef, and SFU Library subscribes to it, Citation Finder will try to find a match to our various journal providers. Eg, try the following DOI as an example: 10.1038/4601088a

If Citation Finder still can’t find the article, Citation Finder will try to pre-populate most of the required fields needed to fill in an interlibrary loan form if the data can be found.

See for example the following DOI in Citation Finder. 10.1038/nrcardio.2012.135

SFU does not have this journal – but invoking Citation Finder to search other libraries to make an inter library loan request, will auto-populate almost all the necessary fields. In this one, you would still need to enter the article title.

Indeed, I will ask our programmer whether we can add Citation Finder’s DOI look up to Library Search if no matches are found so that an ILL form can be pre-populated. In lieu of a generic link to the inter-library loan form.

Let me know if you have any further questions. Thank you for the suggestion.

Sandra
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Sandra Wong, Electronic Resources Librarian and Unit Head, Serials

Downloading a Fulltext Paper

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 05:53:40 +0000

Q. I am trying to download the fulltext pdf of my own paper, recently published in IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging 2013;(32)5:849-61 Detection and analysis of irregular streaks in dermoscopic images of skin
lesions.

However, I am now asked to log in or sign in to obtain my free copy, even though I have accessed it through the SFU library website. I have never had to do this before —I often access this journal. Has something changed? What is the institutional log in and password, so I can access the journal article?

A. If the prompt for a login is from an SFU library-looking webpage, you can use your normal SFU computing ID and password, just as if you were off-campus.

I’ve downloaded a copy of your article and attached it for you.

Are you using a wireless connection? IT Services introduced a set of new IP ranges for wireless service on campus, and instead of having to notify all of our vendors of the new range, we opted to have these ranges authenticated as if they were off campus.

If you are not using wireless – can you send us your IP address so we can investigate to ensure that IEEE has our IP ranges for on campus set up properly?

Thanks very much. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Sandra.
—
Sandra Wong
Electronic Resources Librarian and Unit Head, Serials

Access to Media Technologies

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 05:47:48 +0000

Q. I am really happy to have the library services at SFU, but I feel that one area that could desperately be improved is getting better access to media technologies for students. For myself, I’m an Educational Technology and Learning Design MA student. Being an education student, I only have the same access as other Ed Department students which means the cam corders available to me are quite archaic, with very poor sound quality and which require DVDs and tapes to record. I once rented one of these cameras just to find that my digital point-and-shoot camera from 2009 performed far better and was far more convenient (as it didn’t require tapes).

As for the nicer cameras which we can sometimes rent, it is such a hassle and potentially bank breaking. First, I need to be at the Surrey campus, then I need to be renewing the camera every single day I have it. And there is no promise that I can continue to check it out for more than a day. Everyday I have to call, and if I can’t check it out, I need to be ready to make it down to Surrey to return it or face massive fines. Currently I need a decent camera to record for a conference, where the video will be uploaded and used to promote a school journal. Being a presenter myself and also working as a teacher and taking classes, I don’t have a lot of time in my week. I had one day I could pick it up (Tuesday) and one day the following week I’d be able to return it (Tuesday). My second day of having the tape I got trapped into teaching night courses for work and had a 13 hour work day, during which I didn’t find the time to make a renewal. Calling the library as soon as my class ended the morning of the following day left me with a $36 fine, which I then had to pay in person at a campus library to be able to have the camera for the following day. All this just to have a cam corder for one week to record and create community resources from a SFU sponsored conference. But even if it were a class project or an independent project, I still think the fines are far too steep and the hassle of accessing the corders far to big.

Teachers are constantly complaining about how much classroom technology lags behind. If we don’t support the educational students who are designing the technologies by providing access to the digital media technologies they need to do their work, I don’t see much change for the future.

A. Many thanks for your thoughtful comments. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us understand the collection needs of our students and faculty. The DVD & VHS camcorders we make available to Education students at Fraser Library are purchased and provided to us by the Faculty of Education for your use. In this case, we are simply the happy service providers! I understand more equipment is available to current Faculty of Education students through Education Central in Burnaby. Please contact them at 778-782-4129 for further information.

Fraser Library owns two digital camcorders which we make available to all current SFU students. The short term loan periods and other restrictions you mention are placed to provide access for as many library users as possible. We hope to increase the number of camcorders in this category.

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly at 778-782-7417 if you have any further questions or comments.

Best,
Baharak Yousefi
Head, Fraser Library

Suggestion for New Title Purchase: DSM 5

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 05:41:15 +0000

>
> Author: American Psychiatric Association
Title: DSM 5
Publisher & where & when published:
Where you saw this item mentioned: the library already has this book but there is a 3/4 week wait to get it and I think there should be several copies given this.
Your affiliation: SFU Graduate Student

A. Thanks very much for your suggestion. We have placed an order for another print copy. Although we have the online access to the earlier versions of the DSM-V, you likely need the DSM-V for your graduate work.

When we had placed the initial order for print DSM-V, our information was that the online version would become available in the fall. We will send another inquiry to obtain an update about the availability of the online version.

Thanks very much.
Moninder Bubber
Psychology Liaison Librarian (Interim)

Suggestion for New Title Purchase: The Muslim Brotherhood: Evolution of an Islamist Movement

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 05:37:33 +0000

Author: Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky
Title: The Muslim Brotherhood: Evolution of an Islamist Movement
Publisher & where & when published: Princeton University Press, available 14 July 2013
Where you saw this item mentioned: Cited in literature as forthcoming
Your affiliation: SFU Graduate Student

A. Thank you for the suggested purchase. It has not been published as yet but I’ve placed it on order. Once the library has received and processed it, you will get an email notification and be able to borrow it.

Thanks again,
Moninder Bubber
Liaison Librarian
Sociology / Anthropology

Suggestion for New Title Purchase: Global Institutions of Religion

Catherine Louie — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 05:34:53 +0000

Author: Katherine Marshall
Title: Global Institutions of Religion
Publisher & where & when published: Routledge, New York / London
Where you saw this item mentioned: Publisher’s Catalogue / Website

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415780452/

Your affiliation: SFU Faculty

A. Thank you for your suggestion. A copy of the book “Global institutions of religion: ancient movers, modern shakers” by Katherine Marshall is now on order for Bennett Library.

Best,
Ivana
—
Ivana Niseteo, MA, MLIS
Liaison Librarian: French, French Cohort in Arts, Humanities and Linguistics