In addition to the Ovid problem reported earlier yesterday with recovering the previous search, there may also be a problem with running saved searches. An off-campus patron called the reference desk late yesterday afternoon to report that when she ran a saved search, she got wonky results (some search terms retrieved zero results that previously retrieved lots). It was a multi-file search, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it.
I suggested that she wait until this morning, try it again and let us know if she encounters further problems. It was a multi-file search, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I also requested that she send us screen shots to further clarify the problem.
I also talked to Katherine about this, who suggested that it might be useful for patrons to report such problems directly to Ovid in addition to reporting them to us. That way, Ovid will be be made directly aware of the issues. Their email address is support@ovid.com.
Cheers,
Martha
Today (10/25/07) Ovid debuted their new interface. You can try it within the current interface by clicking on the Try OvidSP link at the top of the page.
We are not pointing to the new interface yet, but one thing that patrons need to know is that session recovery is now not available. We need to be sure to stress saving searches in Ovid to folks, many of whom I know kind of rely on session recovery to bring back their searches.
Perhaps I'm missing something and Jim and/or Katherine can chime in about the possibility of getting the session recovery back.
cheers,
Lisa
Last summer, Scott Domanksy and I offered a class at Bio-Med on Extreme Googling, which covered expert searching tips as well as other Google features, such as Scholar, Docs, Books, iGoogle, News, Patents, etc. We realized that this was too much material for one session, so this Fall we are splitting it into two sessions: Extreme Googling: Tips and Tricks for Expert Searching on November 2 and Extreme Googling Productivity Tools for Your Online Life on November 16. The first session will focus more on advanced searching in regular Google, plus Google Scholar, U. S. Government Search, Books and Patents. The second session will focus on things like iGoogle, Docs, Custom Search, Reader, API, Mashups, etc. If you have questions about either of the classes, please see me or Scott.
Extreme Googling: Tips and Tricks for Expert Searching is full. I am, however, keeping a waiting list. Folks can email me directly at hardy017@umn.edu or you can take their name, phone number and x.500 and email them to me. I will notify them if more spaces become available.
Cheers,
Martha
Hello All,
There appears to be some problems with the LSI Quiz that refuse to be pinned down. Elaine has reported problems with accessing the quizzes and then having problems with the powerpoints once they start playing. I had Wayne test at the reference desk and Anne, Amy & Christopher test in Technical Services. Only Amy had problems with the powerpoint itself. It could be that occasionally a corrupted version of the powerpoint downloads. If patrons report this, we could try asking them to clear caches and their download temp files and then try again. If anyone else has suggestions, or has a clue to what the problem may be, please let me know.
Katherine
Many thanks to Liz and her trusty tester/husband Jared - it seems that PubMed no longer supports the URL we were using in EZ Proxy and elsewhere. If you want more info, just ask me and I can give you the whole spiel.
Cheers,
-Chad
On behalf of the 2007 HSL Open House Planning Committee, I just want to make sure that you all are aware of what is going on with the open houses this year. Yes, I said open houses, because we will have one open house at Bio-Med (Diehl 555) on Tuesday, October 23rd from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and a separate open house at Vet Med on Tuesday, October 30 from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm. At both events, we will have lots of yummy snacks and free giveways. Library staff will also be present to answer questions and to promote our collections and services. Our theme this year is: LSI: Library Scene Investigation: Investigate the Evidence at two Open House Events sponsored by the Health Sciences Libraries.
We are trying something new this year. In order to be eligible to win any of the grand prizes, folks will need to enter an online contest. There are four contests, one for each week of October. To get an idea of what one of the contests look like, please click here. We hope that this will be a fun way for people to become better acquainted with our library resources.
Information has been posted on our Web site . Also, AHC students, staff and faculty are receiving postcard invitations. They will also receive html email and posters will be put up around the AHC. Shortly, we will also have some invitations to give away at service points.
If you have any questions, please see any member of the Open House Planning Committee: Martha, Andre, Katherine, Karla, Elaine or Lisa.
Cheers,
Martha
Hello all,
I ran across something interesting while trying to troubleshoot the PubMed/FindIt link troubles from off campus. I experienced the problem everyone else did initially, but for the last week or so have been able to get the FindIt links to work fine in PubMed. My husband was still running into the same problem from work (clicking a FindIt link and getting either a blank page or an error message).
With our laptops running side by side this evening, we did a bunch of testing and I figured out that the way you access PubMed makes a difference. I always connect to PubMed through the Bio-Medical Library's homepage by either entering a search query directly in the box, or by clicking the "Search PubMed" icon. When I do, I get the FindIt links and they work as they should.
Jared accesses PubMed by clicking the PubMed link on the "Articles, Books, Journals and More" section on the main Bio-Med page. When you access PubMed that way, you get the non-working FindIt links.
So, I don't know what this means (computer people? any ideas?), but this seems to be a viable solution we can give people who call the reference desk with the non-working FindIt link problem. Patrons should connect to PubMed using the icon in the middle of the Bio-Med page. At least, this worked in my series of tests.
Just thought I'd share. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. Let me know if you have questions, or need more information!
Liz
Through his Herculean efforts, Jim has successfully convinced UMCal that I am authorized to approve appointments for the 2nd Floor Computer Area (aka the Pit). So, when you set up appointments via UMCal to reserve this space, I will get an email. I will then log in and approve the appointment so that it shows up as confirmed. I believe you will then get an email notifying you that the approval has gone through.
Many thanks to Jim, Peter and everyone else who was involved addressing this issue.
Martha
Hi all,
Today (10/11/07), MedlinePlus rolled out a new interface. Do a search and check out how your results come back. I kind of liked it better the old way on a first glance. Now, the results come back more like a Google page.
You can read an overview of the search engine here
Lisa
Informaworld has updated our IP ranges and off-campus access should now be restored. I tested a couple of journals last night from off-campus and was able to access full text articles. If you experience any further problems, please let me know. Thank you.
Amy
There have been several reports of patrons being unable to access online journals from Informaworlds off campus. I have updated the IP ranges. Now Informaworlds needs to verify the updated IP ranges. I have left a voice mail to find out when the IP ranges will be confirmed. If you have any questions please let me know. Thank you for your patience.
Amy Claussen, Technical Services
Bio-Medical Library, University of Minnesota- Twin Cities
505 Essex Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-626-6587 Fax: 612-626-5260
akla0002@umn.edu
Hi all,
PubMed/Find It problems are still continuing, probably due to browser caching.
Chad has posted this on the web site:
PubMed LinkOut Error
Print Page Print Page
PubMed recently experienced and error with its "LinkOut" service, which connects users to library holdings. This manifested in an error (either a blank page or a "page not found" error) for users who attempted to connect to library holdings. In our case, users encountered this error in clicking on the Find It button to retrieve articles.
It appears that while the issue seems to have been resolved on the PubMed server, individual web browsers may have cached pages containing errors. If you continue to experience problems such as those listed above, we recommend that you delete your browser cache and try again. If this does not work, please contact us to further discuss your case.
Findit links in PubMed seem to be working again - it was a problem with the scripting on PubMed's end, and Chad rattled their cage so things seem to be back to normal now. Thanks Chad!
Liz
I got a MedRef question that alerted me to the fact that the FindIt links in PubMed are not working - they appear, but when clicked fire a blank window (in Firefox) or a "page not found" window in IE. I just submitted a helpdesk ticket, and will post any updates here.
FindIt links in Ovid seem to be working okay, so if you get questions from patrons let them know it's been reported, and cutting and pasting PMIDs from PubMed to Ovid can be a temporary workaround for quickly accessing FindIt links (the code for searching PMIDs in Ovid is .ui. - for example, 17426184.ui.)
Thanks!
Liz