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Questions: 1.
Issues: none.
A very quiet night. One question, about getting the full text of an article requested by a prof. Patron left the page in the middle of the explanation--not sure whether the instructions got through or not.
Spent much time looking at various bibliographic management systems. Compiled a list with links and emailed this to CJ.
Questions: 1.
Issues: none.
A very quiet night. One question, about getting the full text of an article requested by a prof. Patron left the page in the middle of the explanation--not sure whether the instructions got through or not.
Spent much time looking at various bibliographic management systems. Compiled a list with links and emailed this to CJ.
Hi Everyone,
Number of Calls: 6
Issues today: No issues today
Project: I worked on the RefWorks project today:
ProQuest worked just fine.
JSOTR – Worked well also but I took out ‘pull down menu’ command as it was not necessary due to button to directly export citations into RefWorks.
OCLC – Worked well also.
Elsevier (Science Direct) – Directions in the notes said there was no direct export, however, there is a link and clear instructions to carry out a direct export into RefWorks from the Science Direct DB. That being said, after about one hour I still could not make it work. I did not change any of the existing directions on the vendor page.
ISI – Tried to follow instructions listed, could not make it work. Tried several other things to try to get it to work and could not. After about 50 minutes I gave up. I did not change any of the existing directions on the vendor page.
ABC-CLIO – could not figure out which database this was
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts – could not find
ProjectMuse – worked just fine.
SAGE Journals Online – tried and tried to make this one work…for some reason could not. Did not change any existing directions on the vendor page.
Questions today were very time consuming.
Thanks to Margaret for covering my lunchbreak and also helping me with on question over the phone - finally decided to ask patron to call her internet service provider.
Thanks,
Heather
Well, it's been an eventful week at the UofW. You may have heard about the threat that was found in one of the washrooms and how Wednesday could have been quite a different day. Fortunately, things were fairly quiet and all ended well. Other than that, there are a couple of mice in my office that have been bugging me. I wonder how they get up all the way to the fourth floor! LOL Anyway, I hope you're week has gone well!
Just a couple of housekeeping things. When you do up your blog entry for your end of the shift report, please follow the format that Rachel and James used, so each section clearly stands out for me. Also, clearly state the project you've been working on, what you've completed, and what is still left outstanding. Thanks!
Cathy, I believe I gave Karen's request to find something like RefWorks but a non-web based product that could export to RefWorks. I don't know if it's out there, but would appreciate it if you could look at that first thing on your shift. Thanks!
I'm still house hunting this weekend, so not sure how much I'll be around on the weekend. Make sure that you ask Margaret/Lois at our Reference Desk if you have any questions. Oh, and don't forget that you can send libsystems@uwinnipeg.ca emails when you encounter problems with someone trying to login to our databases and you can't figure out the problem. Usually something else going on that they can figure out!
Have a great shift :)
CJ
A steady shift. 7 questions, most of which took around 45 minutes to resolve (or not). The shift was quiet for the first two hours, and then picked up after that. Questions were largely reference rather than access issues, although there were some of the latter, including an unresolved one at the very end of the day (patron was attempting to log into a sport database with, seemingly, the correct barcode and email address. I left the patron's email with CJ.)
I worked through refworks exporting in some of the databases in the first two hours. There were some problems. I did not change the instructions, as I thought my issues may have been idiosyncratic. I will paste my notes on this activity below:
1.Academic Search Elite: After choosing "Save" there is no option to "export directly to Refworks". There is no "bibliographic manager" tab from which to do this. If you bypass "save" and go directly to "Export" you do see the "export directly to Refworks" option, but it does not work. The only way I could export something was to pick "generic bibliographic software" and copy and paste the resulting record into a text file, and then import that from within Refworks (select University of Winnipeg from the "Import filter/Data source" dropdown menu, and then "Academic Search Elite from the Database dropdown); either browse for the named text file, or paste its text into the window under "Import data from the following text."
Ebsco indicates in its own "new features" section that it has streamlined exporting; however, there seems to be a glitch.
2. Academic Universe (LexisNexis interface): mark the record; click export; it opens Refworks and exports directly. Simple.
3. ACM Digital Library: Search. Select "full citation" view from the particular item you want. In "Display Formats" (to the right of "Tools and Actions") select "Endnote." Copy the coded stuff that comes up and paste it into a text file. Save the file under some name to the desktop. Open Refworks. Select "Import." In the Import window select "Endnote View" from the dropdown menu for "Import Filter/Data Source." The "Database" dropdown menu should automatically change to "Endnote View" also. Either browse for the named text file under "Import Data from the following text file" or select "Import data from the following text" and paste the contents of the text file into the window. Either way, hit Import.
That's it. Good night!
Today was quite busy! I had eight questions, many of which were long and detailed. Everytime I went to look at the RefWorks stuff I was asked a question (it was like they knew or something!) so I will try to get to that more next week. Things are coming a little bit quicker although I was stumped today on whether or not the library physically held copies of newspapers and which ones. That is another hurdle of being here in Edmonton and having never been physically to the UW library. Other than that, things went well...just very very busy.
Tonight was very busy! There were lots of questions about PIN numbers and as a result lots of resets. Also, I spent some time with some patrons explaining how to use databases. This was somewhat challenging as I had one user who was very uncomfortable navigating through the site and my descriptions had to be very detailed and creative! Other than that, it was an interesting night where I learned many things and tried to further familiarize myself with the systems.
I looked also at the Jing Project tonight - it looks very interesting! I think that it would be so easy to incorporate into our IM as pics and vids are shared with a link - so easy to pass through IM. The only potential problem would be if the user also had to have the Jing Project installed on their system. That could deter some people from using it. Other than that, it will be good while it is free but as it is still in testing stages, it's hard to know what the cost will be. If the cost becomes too high once it becomes a 'product' then where would that leave us? I think it's hard for users to finally accept and become familiar with something, only to have it taken away shortly thereafter. That being said, I think incorporating a service like this could help so much, especially when we are working with patrons who are not 'tech-savvy' or who have library/computer anxiety issues. Showing is often so much easier than describing and the inability to physically show a patron what you are doing over IM makes IM reference that much more difficult.
Anyways, the night was challenging and also rewarding! 10 questions tonight
A very busy shift. Steady flow of questions all day, mostly about technical issues (logging into databases, refworks, and course reserves, and how to get hold of a book from CMU). I phoned the help desk about three times for assistance, and the person on shift was very gracious and extremely helpful. She told me that CMU texts can be procured with an interlibrary loan, as long as students are able to indicate in the form why they can't go over there to get the material in person. She assured me that nothing was wrong with my IM link when I got the message "meeboguest has left your page." Apparently they open a new window and lose the connection. She let me know that jobs in the library (beside IM reference, of course) can be had by people who are not UW students (I guess that should have been kind of obvious to me, but I was wondering about the inperson roles).
I didn't have time to do the tasks you listed in the blog, CJ. Largely because I was having to think carefully about each question (just which login is used where?) and it sometimes took me a long time to sort things out with the questioners. I did look at Jing, and it does look pretty cool. I also took a stab at searching Bibliographic Management systems on Google--I ended up mostly looking at Sourceforge's stuff and wondering if any of that would work. Sometimes it was not obvious if these systems were web-based or not. Didn't get to the Refworks work--sorry. Is it standard to have to use the Refworks group code (RWUWinn) to get in through remote access?
8 questions in total.
Bye for now,
Cathy
Please check out Jing Project. This could be a very effective tool when integrated with VRef.
Explore and let me know what you think. Think of ways to apply.
Thanks,
CJ
Hi Cathy/Heather,
Please check all databases to make sure that the instructions for Refworks are correct.
About > Library Staff > Staff-Only > Databases > Vendor Help (Refworks)
Work out a system so both of you can work on this task. Maybe split them up or something. I'll leave that up to you.
Don't worry about breaking anything. Explore and have fun with it!
Thanks,
CJ
I completed my first shift tonight and all went well. I had only one question which pertained to changing a patron's PIN and I was able to figure it out. Other than that I spent the night familiarizing myself with the UW system and library tools. Thanks to CJ for his help and patience with training.
Hello,
My first shift at LiveHelp was fairly uneventful: one question about the possibility of looking at grades online. No, was the answer: the student would have to go in person to Student Central. CJ helped me greatly with that one, and with everything else.
The Meebo widget on the library page wasn't working today: it displayed Livehelp as being offline all day. Perhaps this accounts for the fact that we got only one question. Someone did sign in as a buddy, but did not ask a question.
That's about it. I spent my time working through the library and UWinnipeg websites, and running through the Refworks tutorials. I have lots to learn, but the learning is very enjoyable. Thanks again, CJ, for all your help. I'm very glad to be here.
Cathy