CPERS (Cooperative Purchasing & Electronic Resources Services)

There will be no price increase for Credo Reference from August 2009 through June 30th, 2010.

Credo Reference is a full-text online reference collection of more than 390 titles from 60+ of the best reference publishers. Credo's collection is integrated with millions of cross-references and contains dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific titles covering everything from art to accountancy, science to Shakespeare, and law to literature.

Three subscription options allow users to customize the number of titles in their subscription:

• Credo 100 allows you to manage a collection of any 100 titles by selecting those that are most preferable for your institution. Subscribers can then add and drop titles during the course of a year. Credo updates books as new editions become available from the publisher.


• Credo 250 allows you to manage a collection of any 250 titles with the same flexibility and free updates as the Credo 100.


• Credo Unlimited consists of all titles currently available (390+) and all new titles released during the course of the subscription term.

Contact Minitex for pricing, trials, or more information.

Posted by balad001 at 3:38 PM | Permalink

from OVID:

Dear Ovid Customer:
In addition to changes to the Browse Journals area of OvidSP described in an email last week, the August release of OvidSP also includes navigational and interface enhancements to the Journal Full-Text display page. These enhancements, all based on direct customer feedback, are designed to further enhance readability and usability:

• All journal full-text pages will be standardized to a 990-pixel resolution, allowing for enhanced readability
• "Breadcrumb trail" will allow for easier navigation
• Text will include collapsible sections, so users can better manage screen real estate
• Images will appear as thumbnails and, when clicked, will automatically enlarge in a pop-up window
• Images will also be organized in a convenient new Image Gallery located at the bottom of the page
• Back-to-top links will be available for quick and easy navigation
• Options to display the article as a PDF, open the Complete Reference, email a Jumpstart, and more will appear in a new Article Tools section in the upper right-hand section of the screen
• The new Outline section, located below Article Tools, will include links to all sections of the article, such as the Introduction, the References, and the Image Gallery (if available)

Important Information for Nursing@Ovid Customers

If you are a Nursing@Ovid customer, please note that the August enhancements to the Journals A-Z, Table of Contents, and Full Text pages in OvidSP will also affect the same pages in Nursing@Ovid.

Stay tuned for preview screenshots, a specific date and time of the release in August, a schedule of training classes, and additional informational materials to help you educate your users about the August enhancements. As always, visit the OvidSP Resource Center for everything you need.

Contact support@ovid.com with any questions.

Regards,
Wolters Kluwer Health - Ovid

Posted by balad001 at 3:33 PM | Permalink

Alexander Street will be doing scheduled maintenance across all collections on AUGUST 13, 9:00 PM TO 3:00 AM EDT / GMT-5. Please be aware that you may see sporadic interruptions of up to one hour across all Alexander Street online collections on this date. In the event that downtime is prolonged for any reason, we will post alerts to each affected collection, and we will send an email to your technical services contact.

Future Scheduled Maintenance Dates
Our maintenance window is always 9:00 PM TO 3:00 AM EDT / GMT-5.

• September 10
• October 8
• November 12
• December 10

Posted by balad001 at 5:28 PM | Permalink

from Alexander Street Press:

As a result of a new license agreement with PBS and WGBH we're adding more than 200 hours of PBS programming, including important titles from the popular American Experience series; the Ken Burns documentaries Civil War and Jazz; and dozens of other titles. Access the complete bibliography here.

In July, we added the following PBS titles, and many more will be added over the next few months:

• Summer of Love (American Experience series, 2007)
• Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (American Experience series, 1993)
• The March of the Bonus Army (2006)
• Roberto Clemente (American Experience series, 2008)
• Terry Sanford and the New South (2007)

Other new content in American History in Video includes more issues of Universal Newsreel and 21 new documentaries from The History Channel®, such as John Paul Jones: Captain of the High Sea and Thomas Jefferson: A View from the Mountain. To see the complete listing of titles added, visit the What's New page. The collection now contains a total of 1,471 videos totaling about 460 hours. Additional documentaries from California Newsreel, Bullfrog Films, and Pennebaker Hegedus Films are coming soon together with archival footage from WPA and other sources.

Posted by balad001 at 5:19 PM | Permalink

MINITEX Cooperative Purchasing & Electronic Resources Services is pleased to announce the following upcoming webinar series.

To get more information and to register go to http://www.minitex.umn.edu/events/training/

Dark Archives: Preserving Electronic Resources

• Current Sessions: Monday, August 03, 2009


• Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM (Central Time)


• Fee: No Charge (All)


• Presenter: Anne Hatinen


• Register: REGISTER (All)

Guest presenters: Theresa Borchert, Concordia College Electronic Resources Librarian and Katy Gabrio, Macalester College, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian

Please note: Class sizes are limited. If you are unable to attend a webinar you are registered for please contact us ASAP so we can offer the seat to another person.

How are you preserving your library's electronic resources? When a vendor or publisher decides to stop providing access or a subscription is cancelled, how will you maintain access to the electronic content? There are multiple options available, and it can be challenging to know what is out there and what may be a good fit for your library. This three-session webinar series is designed to give librarians an overview of several of the different archiving options available; the first session is a brief introduction to the topic with brief talks by two librarians from the Minitex region about their library's electronic archiving (registration information is above).

The second session will be a presentation on Portico by Ken DiFiore, Portico's Associate Director for Outreach, on Monday, August 10 at 1:30. (Registration information to be announced.)

The third session will be a presentation on LOCKSS by Victoria Reich, Director of the LOCKSS program. (Date and registration information to be announced.)

Please watch your email and this blog for details on the coming sessions. You can attend all sessions or choose what fits into your schedule.

Posted by hatin004 at 8:44 AM | Permalink

from Gale:

Gale launches groundbreaking reference -- Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive

Gale introduced a new electronic resource offering the most comprehensive archive available chronicling slavery from the 16th Century through the early 20th Century. Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive, represents the first-ever, large-scale database to make available historical books, manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, court records, and other sources in one cross-searchable location.
The first of the four-part series, Debates over Slavery and Abolition, explores the varying viewpoints and debates that surrounded the practice, experience and eventual abolition of slavery in the U.S., as well as in Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Read more

Gale announces the transformation of Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia

Gale announced the transformation of Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia into an interactive, media-rich online interface. This new online version will be available this fall.
Based on the 17-volume encyclopedia, Grzimek's Animal Life is part of the next generation of resources from Gale, designed to bring "power to the user." This knowledge portal will include information on more than 4,000 species, covering topics such as evolution, habitat, behavior, ontology, conservation status and more. Continuously updated, the image-rich content will provide a true educational experience, where users will have the opportunity to explore, discover and learn.
For a video preview, to sign up for a free trial or to register for a Webinar, visit www.gale.cengage.com/AnimalLife/.

Gale and K12 Inc. to create new world language-learning products

Gale and K12 Inc. announced an agreement to develop and distribute a new line of world language-learning products to libraries. Power-Glide Language Courses, Inc. (known as powerspeaK12), a subsidiary of K12 Inc., will develop Web-based language courses, which Gale will distribute exclusively to the library market. Languages will include Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Spanish ESL.

Initial courses are scheduled to be available later this year.

Now available: Career Transitions - a complete guide to all aspects of career change

Gale's Career Transitions is a complete, guided, self-paced application that walks the individual through the process -- taking stock of the current situation, assessing strengths and interests, exploring new opportunities, improving chances of getting a job and finally taking the plunge and pursuing the next opportunity. Workers are guided by clear and concise information about career paths, industries, economies and companies - organized around simple-to-navigate portals that combine overviews with statistical information and Web tools to help make well-planned career choices. Read more

Posted by hatin004 at 8:37 AM | Permalink

Minitex is conducting some preliminary usability testing on prototypes for the new Minitex website. Two webinar sessions are now open for registration:

Tuesday, August 4, 2009
10:30 am - 11:30 am (Central Time)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009
2:30 - 3:30 pm (Central Time)

Registration and more info:
http://www.minitex.umn.edu/events/training/webinars.asp#238

Webinar attendees will receive a series of poll-oriented questions that will give us valuable input concerning terminology and organization for the new site.

There will also be an opportunity to provide feedback on the current design mock-ups.

Library staff who use the Minitex website or those interested in website usability in general are encouraged to participate.

Posted by balad001 at 3:26 PM | Permalink

from EBSCO:

The EBSCO A-to-Z Administrator site will be unavailable beginning at 9:00 p.m. CDT on Friday, 17 July 2009 (02:00 GMT on 18 July 2009) for approximately 24 hours as necessary maintenance is being performed.

The A-to-Z Reader site will remain available during this period, as this maintenance only affects the A-to-Z Administrator site. In addition, any resource usage occurring on the A-to-Z Reader Site will continue to be logged, and will display once the A-to-Z Administrator site is restored.

Questions? Contact Customer Care at 1-877-327-2622 (U.S.A. and Canada) or +1-205-981-4000 (Worldwide), Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. CDT (12:00 - 22:00 GMT). Email: customercare@ebsco.com.

Posted by hatin004 at 11:43 AM | Permalink

from H.W. Wilson:

H.W. Wilson continues to build on the versatility, accessibility, and practicality of its lauded WilsonWeb reference database service, with a new round of enhancements for the interface and several of its most popular databases. The latest platform improvements make content available to a wider range of users, provide new customization options, and add tools to the "My WilsonWeb" personal user accounts within WilsonWeb. Improvements to specific WilsonWeb databases include the acclaimed Cinema Image Gallery, Biography Reference Bank, and Current Issues databases.

WilsonWeb platform enhancements encompass:

• The ReadSpeaker text-to-speech converter--added to WilsonWeb full-text periodical databases with the prior platform update--now works on WilsonWeb biography databases as well, including Biography Reference Bank. Users can now also select male or female voice. ReadSpeaker text-to-speech makes WilsonWeb content accessible to users with low vision, dyslexia, physical handicaps or other challenges to standard reading, as well as those who'd like to download articles to iPods or other portable devices for listening as they relax, commute, or exercise.
• "My WilsonWeb"--space for individual user accounts within WilsonWeb--now lets users create folders for organizing saved content, and store personal notes such as plans and reminders of the significance of articles. "My WilsonWeb" interface customization options have also been expanded: users can now pick and choose the fields they want to display in article records. Additionally, you can now print, email, save, auto-format citations, and export records all from within your "My WilsonWeb" account.
• WilsonWeb's article translation tool now converts articles published in German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese into English. WilsonWeb also translates English-language articles into Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Arabic and Dutch.
• The interface language translator has expanded to include most standard buttons, links and fields. A special dropdown menu converts the interface from the default English into German, French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese.
• Accessibility enhancements for the visually impaired include a "Skip Links" feature that lets electronic readers ignore links that repeat at the top of each page. There's also a new Text Size zoom feature that lets users increase the interface text size beyond their browser's settings.
• Administrators can now add icons for each User Class they create, personalizing WilsonWeb for their various clientele.

• Cinema Image Gallery now has an additional display option. Film records that feature multiple images can now be viewed as a "slideshow," saving users the trouble of opening and closing each image.
• Current Issues databases (Current Issues: Reference Shelf Plus, Current Issues: Health, and Current Issues: Environment) include new "Comment(s)" links, inviting users to share their own information and insights on the issues with other users of these databases worldwide.
• WilsonWeb biography databases--including the acclaimed Biography Reference Bank and Current Biography resources--now feature an image of the profile subject (if available) and a handy "Back to Main Biography Page" link on the subject's "Most Recent Articles" and "Books About" and "Books By" pages.

Posted by hatin004 at 10:23 AM | Permalink