Tuesday 22 December 2015

DISCOVER/Digital Library login problems off-campus

We still have reports of people getting this error, "Sorry, cannot locate your account".












We think that this is caused by the autofill function in your browser (particularly Chrome) scrambling your login information.



You may need to turn off the auto fill option in your browser and try again:

  •  Settings, show advanced settings, password and forms, uncheck auto-fill. (Chrome)

 If this doesn’t work please try a different browser  to see if that helps.

You may also need to clear your browser history, if you don't know how to do this check out http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser's-Cache.


Thursday 17 December 2015

DISCOVER login problems off campus












We're still getting reports of this "Sorry, cannot locate your record" error when accessing DISCOVER off campus, particularly when coming from BREO. We think that these problems are down to the Autofill function in the browser putting the wrong values into the login box. We recommend that you either turn off Autofill in your browser or clear the login boxes and manually enter your username and password.

If you are getting this error screen instead,













then you have a different problem. Click the Shibboleth login link and browse for University of Bedfordshire, you'll then get through to one of our login screens.

Wednesday 16 December 2015

Library system downtime tonight Wednesday 16-12-15 between 11pm & 2am.

We have planned downtime for an upgrade to the library system tonight, Wednesday 16th December, between 11pm & 2am.



During this time there will be no access to self-issue, self-returns, reservations, renewals, library catalogue or many of our remote digital resources. Only resources via UK Access Management Federation will be available during this period (there is a list here).


LinkSource becomes Full Text Finder

If you search DISCOVER you'll notice that the LinkSource button which takes you out to content held outside DISCOVER has changed to Full Text Finder. It does exactly the same thing, taking you from information about an article in one database, to full text held in another.




Over the next few days the LinkSource links out from other databases such as Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar will also change to Full Text Finder links. We are not expecting any broken links during this transition but if you do come across any please let us know.

Changes to DISCOVER - searching for ejournals

We've made some changes to DISCOVER to make it easier for you to search for specific journal titles. The old A-Z list of ejournals has been retired and you can now search for journal titles within DISCOVER. When you start a DISCOVER search you'll see journal titles suggested as well as popular terms.












If the journal you select is indexed in DISCOVER you'll be able to search just within that journal, otherwise you'll get a link out from DISCOVER  to the journal content.















If you want to explore journal titles in more depth go to the Publications link in the red bar and you can search or browse by discipline.
















Tuesday 15 December 2015

Science Direct and Scopus downtime 20th December

Due to scheduled maintenance Scopus, ScienceDirect and Mendeley will experience a brief service outage on Sunday December 20 between 5:00 a.m. GMT and 5:00 p.m. GMT.
This brief outage is not expected to last more than 10 minutes

Improvements to 37 ebooks from Ovid

On 15th December, an Ovid platform release went live. This affects the 37 medical, nursing and health-related textbooks the University has bought on that platform. One popular title is Anatomy & Physiology Made Incredibly Easy! (2011).

The upgrades include the option to download and save individual chapters as PDFs - great in a book like Nursing Pharmacology Made Incredibly Easy! where you might want to save one chunk.

The other system change is an updated personal account login interface. This is less dramatic: the login page has basically been decluttered.The features and functionality of the personal accounts remain unchanged.

You can find a quick link to the Ovid platform under the Ebook collections menu on the Digital Library tab of the catalogue or by searching for Ovid ebooks or any of the individual titles on the catalogue (or DISCOVER).

Monday 14 December 2015

New Android app: VleBooks eBook Reader

A lot of the ebooks the library catalogue has are on a platform called VleBooks. (All the eBooks On Demand titles are on that platform this year.) The books can be read from any internet browser (like Firefox or Safari) but if you have an Android device you may like to install the VleBooks app.

The app was recently released and is now available on Google Play here. It was a bit glitchy initially but is now reported to be working well.





Friday 11 December 2015

"Sorry, cannot locate your account" problems logging into library account / DISCOVER

We're having a lot of reports of people getting "Sorry, cannot locate your account" messages when trying to access their library account or login to off-campus resources such as DISCOVER.













If you do get this error don't try to reset your password - instead switch to a different browser (Internet Explorer seems to be having the error least often) and open the Library Catalogue again. We think this problem may be related to the autofill function in Chrome, so if you are using Chrome, turn off auto fill (settings, show advanced settings, password and forms).

Tuesday 8 December 2015

Internet problems on campus

Internet connectivity on Campus has been degraded as a result of a network wide denial of service attack on JANET’s (our suppliers) network.

They are dealing with this as a priority, many Universities are affected.


Monday 7 December 2015

DISCOVER off campus

We have had a lot of reports of strange error messages when trying to access DISCOVER from off campus. We are investigating, but in the meantime please use this alternative link.

Thursday 3 December 2015

Wiley ejournals downtime Saturday 5th December 10:00-14:00

We've been warned of planned downtime for Wiley ejournals on Saturday 5th December from 10:00-14:00. This will affect all ejournals with onlinelibrary.wiley.com in the URL.


E-book Platforms workshop TODAY at 1pm in BEDFORD in G2.20

E-book Platforms workshop TODAY at 1pm in BEDFORD in G2.20.
Want to know more about how to access and make use of the ebooks we have available to you? Come along to this workshop for an overview of what’s on offer and some tips on how to use it.


Tuesday 1 December 2015

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers

Three databases, 18th Century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, 19th Century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers and 20th Century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, have now merged to form House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, at a new site. There is detailed information about the new site here.


Monday 30 November 2015

Using DISCOVER and other EBSCO databases off campus

If you are off campus and you use the search box from LRweb to search DISCOVER, you'll find yourself faced with a login page before you can proceed.


















It seems obvious that you'd put your username and password in the boxes on this screen - but it's wrong, and all you'll get is an error message. What you need to do is choose the "Shibboleth login" link. You'll then need to choose University of Bedfordshire from a list of institutions. After than, you'll get a UoB login screen like this.













Then you can safely use your usual username and password. If you still get an error after this, contact us and we'll investigate for you.

Alternatively, you can access DISCOVER using fewer steps by going tohttp://lrweb.beds.ac.uk/discover. You'll see a library login page straight away without having to choose your university.

Wednesday 25 November 2015

Web of Science Maintenance – Sunday 29 November, 1-4pm

We've been warned of routine maintenance to the Web of Science database this Sunday, 29th November, between 1pm and 4pm.We don't expect the site to be completely unavailable, but there may be some interruption.


Tuesday 24 November 2015

"Application Level Exception" error messages in DISCOVER/EBSCOhost databases

We've had some reports of "Application Level Exception" error messages in DISCOVER and EBSCOhost databases, and we don't know why this is happening. If you get a message like this, please could you let us know, with information about what type of browser and device you were using, and we will pass this on to our supplier EBSCO to investigate. In the meantime, we suggest clearing your browser cache and cookies and starting a fresh session.

Monday 23 November 2015

UK Access Management Federation logins problems - ebooks, RefWorks and others

We're having some problems this afternoon with access to UK Access Management Federation resources. Please bear with us while we get this fixed.

VLEbooks (Askews and Holts ebooks) downtime - Monday 23rd November 5.30pm - 7.30pm

Temporary maintenance to VLeBooks will be carried out on Monday 23rd November 2015 at 17:30. It is expected to last for up to 2 hours during which time you will be unable to access the site.


Improvements coming to Lexis Library - 5th December

Lexis are making a number of changes to make Lexis Library easier to use. The changes will take place on Saturday 5th December.

They are promising:


A more intuitive search experience. The Explore search box moves to the heart of the homepage and includes content filters.
A tidier, bigger, better display of results. Single results list opens up the page, with filtering in one place and the option to deliver multiple documents.
Glossary searches move to the home pageQuick access to over 3,300 legal terms.







There is a full guide to the new interface here.

Friday 20 November 2015

Changes to the Document supply service for final year undergraduates, postgraduates and staff



The British Library (BL) is changing the way it delivers digital documents as a part of its improved Document Supply service. That includes benefits for University of Bedfordshire staff and students.
From 23 November 2015  all University of Bedfordshire staff and students eligible for our Document Supply services will no longer need to use File Open


Instead a new service - BL On Demand - will offer University of Bedfordshire staff and students the opportunity to receive digital documents on any device with internet connectivity.

Main benefit: you will no longer need File Open so you are no longer restricted to one machine to collect your requested items. 

To qualify for this service eligible staff and students will need to create their own BL On Demand account using their University of Bedfordshire email address,  at this link:

University of Bedfordshire staff and students will use this account to receive their requests only - do not use it to place requests, this should be done via the Learning Resources website as before.
If anyone at the University of Bedfordshire uses this account to make a request they will be personally liable for the costs (and will have to pay up front). The University will not refund them for this action. Current costs are
£5.25               Standard electronic delivery of a born digital copy
£10.50             Standard electronic delivery of a copy from print

Eligible University of Bedfordshire BL On Demand customers request items via the forms available on this web page.

The requests are processed (and monitored) by Learning Resources, and BL will deliver requests directly to your University email account.

Learning Resources staff will be available by appointment at Luton LRC and Bedford Campus Library  from 23 November 2015 or on a drop in basis at Luton LRC and Bedford Campus Library 11 – 12 Monday – Friday 23 – 27 November, to help you set up your BL On Demand account and talk you through the process.