Bio-Medical Library Reference Blog

A question came from a faculty member last evening regarding how many simultaneous users could access his book, which we have via Myilibrary. I didn't know if his 110 students, including 50 in Duluth, could simultaneously access the text. He was unhappy with me. So I asked about our contracts and Katherine shared these points of interest:

Our contracts for e-books through Ovid, MD Consult, Access Medicine and--most likely--Myilibrary, are for unlimited simultaneous users. StatRef limits access to 5-7 simultaneous users. Ebrary Books are mostly single user access, with the exception of a number of Board Review books, for which we have unlimited access.

The exception, Myilibrary is probably for unlimited simultaneous users. Jim Stemper says that our original request didn't specify, so he's unsure of the actual contract terms, but his best guess is that it was unlimited. We partly confirmed this by the practical test of having three of us access the same book chapter at the same time at the desk. I'll pursue the question further and amend this when we know for sure about the contract.

Another point of interest is regarding the specific texts included in these collections. MD Consult and Access Medicine are purchased as collections, the contents of which are subject to change without notice, as the vendors decide what are the most appropriate (and available) inclusions. But for all of the other contracts, the specific texts have been purchased, and should remain available.

The Find It/E-Journals servers via SFX are currently not available,
LEO is looking into the problem.

http://tc.liblink.umn.edu/sfx_local/azlist/default


Description of Error:

Software error:

Could not acquire connection at /exlibris/sfx_ver/sfx_version_3/sfxlcl3/lib/Manager/ConfigDB.pm line 28.

Thanks,

Amy

I created a page on the wiki to share conference stuff, so that we can put up exciting things from the awesome conferences we go to (but i will also encourage bringing back some regional delicacy to share...). I've got some things from the Midwest Chapter conference and now AMIA up, along with some directions and a template for new postings. If you have any suggestions, feel free to contact me, or just make the changes!

https://wiki.lib.umn.edu/HSL/HSLConferenceNotesWikiPage

~Amy

Hi all - this is a repost from the AP list, which I thought might be helpful for Reference staff.

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Hi AP,

We've just put our Google for Researchers workshop online in Moodle.

Here's the link: https://moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=6023

I thought this might be a time saver for some reference interactions...I know I've written out the instructions on how to connect Google Scholar to FindIt more times than I'd like to remember.

Now you can just send out this link: https://moodle.umn.edu/mod/resource/view.php?inpopup=true&id=355787

If you have any questions about the content that's covered here or any feedback on the tutorial feel free to drop me an email.

Best,
Jon

P.S. I'll also put a link in the Info Lit Toolkit in case you lose the url!

Hi everybody,

We installed a Thunderbird client with MedRef as the primary email account on the Reference Desk today in order to make sending article attachments to patrons a little more fluid. The intention is to use this account only for sending; in other words, don't check MedRef unless you're scheduled for a MedRef shift. (I'm afraid I've managed to confuse at least a couple of folks with MedRef meddling during their shifts...)

Thanks,
Emily