Piping Up

Q: Hello, I’m interested in accessing the SFU Library’s online journals (not just the limited access that Alumni have now) for personal use, as an Alumni. Is that possible? If so, is there a fee? Thank you!

A: The electronic resources listed at this URL are the only ones that are available to you as an alumni when you are off-campus:

Sandra Wong
Electronic Resources Librarian

Author: Ioannis Ntzoufras
Title: Bayesian Modeling Using WinBUGS
Publisher & where & when published: Wiley Series in Computational Statistics; USA; 2009
Where you saw this item mentioned: amazon
Acquire for which library?: Bennett (Burnaby Mountain)
Your affiliation: SFU Graduate Student

A: Hello,

Walter
—
Walter Piovesan
Maps/Data/GIS Librarian
Statistics and Actuarial Science Librarian

Author: Stephen P. Osborne (eds)
Title: the new public governance
Publisher & where & when published: routledge
Where you saw this item mentioned: i need it for my phd dissertation
Acquire for which library?: Bennett (Burnaby Mountain)
Your affiliation: SFU Graduate Student

A: Hi,

Thanks, Hope
–
Hope Power
Liaison Librarian for Education and Political Science

I think that the interlibrary loan service has been pretty good. I’m also happy to see an archaeological journal from Hungary among the e-journals. Thank you very much.

Author: Hatcher, John
Title: The Black Death: An Intimate History
Publisher & where & when published: 2008
Where you saw this item mentioned: Required reading list for university course
Acquire for which library?: Bennett (Burnaby Mountain)
Your affiliation: SFU Undergraduate Student

A: Hi,

Regards,
Megan
—
Megan L. Crouch
Health Sciences Librarian
Collections Librarian

Q: I don’t know if you take suggestions from students for getting new books for the library, but I read a good review of “Evergreen” (by Bruce Golden) on the Internet Review of Science Fiction, and read another article which said it has an environmental theme, which I’m interested in.

A: Hi,

Regards,
Karen.
Karen Marotz
Head, Belzberg Library

Q: I am a Faculty Associate at an off-site location. How do my students get library barcode numbers?

A: Hello,

thanks, Sherrie
Library Loans

Dear Hope,

We’ve never actually met, but for the past few years, I’ve sent you periodic emails with book suggestions for the library. I am now pursuing postgraduate studies at the University of Warwick in England, with easy access to LSE, Oxford and University of Manchester libraries as well. I just wanted to tell you that SFU’s library system stands up to any of them, bar none. In terms of books and ease of access, SFU has a remarkable collection of books and journals, some of which are not available at UK libraries. The number of books and journals accessed through SFU is much easier, and SFU’s library system is easier to navigate. It reaffirms for me the quality of a SFU education. Thank you for your assistance.

Warm regards,
–recent SFU alumnus

I was looking for a citation/reference manager only to later realize we have RefWorks at the library (see my review process here: http://mlsci.blogspot.com/2010/02/reference-management-software.html ). Yet I wonder how much the library is paying for RefWorks that could’ve been used to keep or expand the magazine subscriptions instead.

I suggest you look into supporting something that’s free, like CiteULike (which is sponsored by Springer, by the way), which is what I’m using now. An upshot of CiteULike is students who finish their studies at SFU can keep using the same site for reference managing as they move on to other schools or work for free.

Maybe RefWorks is “better” on a features count, but I’d rather the library subscribe to more magazines than pay for something that has comparable free alternatives. Maybe RefWorks is essentially free because of the library’s subscriptions to some journal collections, but I’d rather *I* don’t have to pay for it when I move on from SFU.

Just a thought. Thanks.

A: Thank you for writing. We are always working to balance costs of collections with other costs, including the products that support students’ and faculty’s work with these collections. At the time we first purchased RefWorks, there were fewer alternatives than there are now, but as you point out, the environment has changed a great deal since then, and we are keeping an eye on free and low-cost product options, including CiteULike and Zotero. If and when we make a change, we will also need to keep in mind the impact of a switch on the more than 12,000 members of the SFU community who currently have RefWorks accounts.

Best regards,
Janis
–
Janis McKenzie
Head, Reference Division

hi,
why is the air conditioning on (cold air) ? I’m in 4th flr study carrel area and it’s really cold. Feb 3 2010 3:10pm. Could we get heating instead?
thanks,

Hi,

Todd
Associate University Librarian