Dawsonera ebooks and pdf readers other than Adobe

If you are using a pdf reader other than Adobe (if you have a Mac or are running Linux, for example) you will find that Dawsonera ebooks do not work properly. The Dawsonera FAQ page states:

The ebooks are presented as PDFs and read using Adobe Reader. We recommend the latest Version but Versions 7, 8 and 9 are fine.

If this affects you then the best thing to do is to get Adobe reader for your computer (it's free, and available for lots of operating systems).

Exam papers - problem solved

Good news - exam papers are available through the library catalogue again. Let us know if there are problems again.

Proxy errors update

If you get an error like this:

Proxy Error

The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.
The proxy server could not handle the request GET /link.asp.

Reason: Error reading from remote server

try clearing your browser's cache - if in Firefox, go to Tools and Clear Recent History, make sure Cache is ticked, and click Clear Now. The restart your browser. If you are still getting the same error, let us know.

Web of Knowledge v5.9 release - new features

Web of Knowledge v5.9 release   

The new release, which went live on Sunday, includes the following new features:

• Make searching easier with more descriptive error messages when no results are found, when too many results are found, and when searching is in progress
• Larger click-able targets in refine panel and full record
• Improved Institutional Registry Searching
• Make navigation easier particularly via touch pad (on laptop) or touch screen (on tablet such as iPad).

Full information on all the new upgrade features
View a short video
Online presentation of these and all recent enhancements

Exam papers unavailable

Exam papers are currently unavailable via the Library Catalogue and Discover. This has been reported to our supplier and will be fixed as soon as possible.

Reserve button in Library Catalogue fixed

The problem with not being able to see the Reserve button in the Library Catalogue has now been fixed.

Reserve button not appearing in Library Catalogue

We're having a problem with the Library Catalogue at the moment - the Reserve button is not always appearing as it should do. We have raised this with our supplier and hope to have it restored as soon as possible.

Web of Knowledge Maintenance - Sunday 20 January 14.00

Web of Knowledge Maintenance - Sunday 20 January 14.00 

We've been warned that scheduled maintenance will take place beginning on Sunday, January, 20, 2013 at 1400 and ending by 0200 one Monday, January 21. Web of Knowledge may not be available during that period. Our supplier Thomson Reuters apologise for any interruption this may cause.

Searching for print books in the library catalogue, but only finding ebooks?

We've added so many ebooks to stock recently that it can be hard to find the print books in the library catalogue! If you're getting a long list of ebooks in your search results, and you wanted print, try refining by campus:

or go to the Advanced Search tab and set "Material Type" to "PRINT MATERIAL":

E-Books on demand is now live

We've just begun trialling a new way to give our users a load of book money to use as YOU see fit.

Here's how it works - for a limited period you'll see thousands of ebooks on Dawsonera that you can rent, alongside the 3000+ ebooks that we've already bought. The screenshot below shows you how it will look:

The books that have the purple 'Request Rental' tab are the books you can 'rent' for 7 days (it doesn't cost you any money, it comes out of the library's budget). Once you've requested the rental, you will be able to read the book in exactly the same way as any other Dawsonera ebook. If 3 people rent the same book it automatically gets bought, and will be available permanently.

If you have any problems using E-books on Demand just ask.

Proxy errors

We're still getting reports of a strange error message when trying to access Digital Resources:

Proxy Error

The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.
The proxy server could not handle the request GET /link.asp.

Reason: Error reading from remote server

This is appearing when trying to access various different resources, but not consistently. If you do get it, press the back button and try again, as the error is only happening intermittently. Pasting the URL into a different browser (e.g. Firefox, Internet Explorer or Chrome) often works.

This problem has been reported to our software supplier and the UoB ICT team and hopefully it will be resolved soon.

Library catalogue working again

The library catalogue is now fixed - let us know if you have any further problems.

Library catalogue temporarily unavailable

The library catalogue is temporarily unavailable - we are working to fix the problem and hope to have it back soon.

While catalogue is unavailable you can still access many of our resources (including DISCOVER) here.

EBSCO Maintenance

Please note that for about eight hours beginning at 12 noon on Saturday, January 5, 2013, the EBSCOadmin interface and consequently, certain EBSCOhost functionality will be unavailable due to planned maintenance. Please note that EBSCOhost will continue to be available during this brief interval. Affected functionality will include:

• Personal User Authentication
• Checkout and Download of eBooks
• ECM will not be available
• Alerts
• Access to My EBSCOhost folder items or the ability to save items to personalized folders from session
• Repair Reference Center will be available for read only access
• RSS will be unavailabe
• Comments and ratings on the EBSCOhost Navigator interface will not be available
• INAHL CEU will be unavailable • Some databases may experience a delay in currency
• The NetLibrary FTP site will not be available

We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this maintenance interval.