Summer Loans 2013

In keeping with the Summer Loans policy from previous years, the due date for 7-day loan items will be amended to take account of the Summer Vacation period from 24 May.

Unless otherwise indicated by the due date shown by the Self Issue systems or the date stamped on your loan items,  7-day loan items successfully renewed or issued from Friday 24 May will be loaned until 2 October 2013.  This is not an automatic process: borrowers will need to renew their current loans from Friday 24 May to extend the loan period should they wish to hold on to books during the vacation. 

If you borrow a 7-day loan item with a user reservation or if you are graduating this summer the book will be due back within 7-days as normal or by the expiry of your library membership.  In either case the due date will be shown on the date stamp or by checking your borrower account:  http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/catalogue/you/

As has been the case in previous years, 28-day loans are not affected by the vacation.   With the exception of items that have user reservations and need to be returned within 7 days, a standard 28-day loan item borrowed anytime between now and the new academic session will always be due for return or renewal 28-days from the date of issue as normal.

The Library will be staffed during the hours of 9am -5pm on weekedays throughout the Summer vacation with the exception of University holidays.  All borrowers can review and renew their loans, accumulating fines, pay historic fines online and contact the Issue Desk via:

• Review, renew loans and pay fines online
• Telephone: +44 1225 385000 (voicemail available)
• Ask a Librarian – email enquiry form
• In person at the Library Issue Desk during staffed hours

In order to avoid charges, please verify the due dates of all your loans, returning or renewing items as necessary before leaving the campus during the vacation period.  Advice for avoiding fines and managing your loans is given on the Library webpages.

Link to Frequently Asked Questions about the Summer Vacation Loans policy

Wishing all our borrowers an enjoyable Summer Vacation.

Chris Roberts

Reader Services Librarian

Bank Holiday Monday 6th May – access to the Library

The Library will be open on Monday 6th May (Bank Holiday) but there will be no staffed services on these days.  Self-service facilities will be available (e.g. self-issues, returns and copying/printing).

Guest speaker from ‘eLife’ journal in at departmental seminar

We have a guest speaker from the new journal ‘eLife’ joining us on Wednesday (1:15pm), organised via the Pharmacy & Pharmacology seminar series.  The session will be of interest to all researchers – postgrads, postdocs and academic staff.
A brief outline of the session is provided below:

This years penulitmate Departmental seminar has been arranged in conjunction with the library staff to discuss a new model of open access publishing.

Kara Jones from the UoB library will briefly introduce some new developments at the University of Bath in relation to open access publishing – see attached – in light of the RCUK new guidelines that all RCUK funded research must be  published in an open access manner – and the potential development that all REF output beyond REF2014 will need to be freely accessible

The seminar will be delivered by Mark Patterson, Executive Director of eLife

“eLife – designing a digital research journal fit for purpose”

The seminar will be followed by coffee and biscuits and an opportunity for people to interact with the seminar speaker and library staff answering any questions regarding the evolving face of open access publishing.

ABOUT MARK PATTERSON: In June 2011, three of the world’s leading research funding agencies -the Wellcome Trust, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Max Planck Society – announced plans to launch a top-tier, open-access research journal covering the life and biomedical sciences.  eLife was launched in December 2012.  Mark Patterson started his career as a researcher in genetics before moving into scientific publishing in 1994 as the Editor of Trends in Genetics.  After a few years at Nature, where he was involved in the launch of the Nature Reviews Journals, he moved to PLOS in 2003.  As the Director of Publishing, Mark helped to launch several of the PLOS Journals and was one of the founders of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association. Mark is also a member of the UK Open Access Implementation Group. In November 2011, Mark joined eLife and currently serves as the Executive Director.

Merck Index Online

The Royal Society of Chemistry is now providing access to the Merck Index online. You can view it on the new RSC platform:

http://www.rsc.org/merck-index

It will be removed from the Medicines Complete platform in due course and we expect to lose access via Medicines Complete at the end of May.

I’ve tested the new version and it seems to me to offer slight improvements:
- more precise searching
- clear labelling of the data
- units are given for melting and boiling points

Please test it out and if you spot any problems, give feedback via the comments below.

Web of Knowledge/Science and Endnote Web: possible disruption 10 pm Saturday 27th April – 1am Monday

Please be advised that as a result of maintenance being carried out by the provider, the  following resources may not be available between 10 pm on Saturday 27 April  and 1am on Monday 29 April 2013:

• Web of Knowledge
• Web of Science
• Biosis Previews
• Endnote Web
• Researcher ID

British Standards Online (BSOL) database access restored

We are pleased to announce that access to British Standards Online (BSOL) has been restored. The database was temporarily blocking access to users from the University. It was a technical issue with the database that BSOL have now resolved at their end.  We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

IEEE event in the Library – getting published & using IEEE Xplore – 10 April

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) will be hosting an IEEE Xplore session in the Library Level 1 Training Room on Wednesday, 10th April 2013. The session will provide an overview of the IEEE Xplore platform, including search tips and tricks, what’s new, and a full overview of how to publish with the IEEE, including Open Access Publishing Options.

Spaces are limited and registration is required, via: http://ieeexplorebath.eventbrite.co.uk/# 

Time: 14:00 – 15:00 OR 15:30 – 16:30
Each session will last one hour, please only attend one session.

The event is open to academic staff, librarians and postgraduates. It would be great to see you there.