Library Information in Study Guides - Correction

My apologies - a better link to the study guide insert is

http://library.massey.ac.nz/doit/downloads/studyguides/dlsstudyguideinsert2008.rtf

Library Information in Extramural Study Guides

The Library insert for study guides has been updated. It can be downloaded from

http://library.massey.ac.nz/doit/downloads/download.htm#inserts

Science Magazine Online!

In recent years Massey Library has most notably fallen short in its quest for "perfection on a budget" by not having an electronic subscription to Science magazine. We are delighted to announce that this situation has been rectified and that from the beginning of 2008 full access to Science through the publisher's website will be available.

Science is published weekly and is consistently the most highly ranked general scientific journal. Although there are still a few significant journals to which we don't subscribe this is a major addition to a collection that already includes most or all of the titles from such major publishers as Elsevier, Blackwell and Wiley.

Library Instruction Available for 2008

Group Instruction

The Science Librarians are able to run courses tailored to specific papers, postgrads, staff or other groups on demand. Now is the time to start booking in these for 2008. The content of the courses can be varied to meet the particular requirements of each group, but can include things like:

• locating library resources
  
• find journals (online and print)
• doing a literature review
• advanced searching skills
• referencing with Endnote
• and more
  

To arrange a session, please contact your Science Librarian:

• Turitea postgrads and staff: Chris Good (ext 7814)
  
• Turitea undergrads: Katherine Chisholm (ext 2121)
  
• Albany: Carine Marais (ext 41078)
  
• Wellington: Matt Pastula (ext 6855)

Individual Instruction

As well as group instruction, we are also able to offer one-on-one research consultations. These can be requested online at:
http://library.massey.ac.nz/doit/onlineforms/consultationform.htm

The Library also has other helpful resources:

• general self-help guides
  http://library.massey.ac.nz/learnit/howtofind/home.htm
• subject pages
  http://library.massey.ac.nz/findit/subjectguides/subjectguides.htm
  

RSS Feeds - Information to Your Desktop

A while back we told you about how to use "RSS Feed" technology to bring the Library's list of new book titles in your area of the sciences directly to your computer. The list of these feeds in the sciences can be found in the right hand panel of this blog Science News from Massey Library. An RSS feed is often indicated by the use of the distinctive orange icon.

A feed link needs to go to some sort of reader and this is where things get slightly tricky. Personally I prefer to use a web-based reader like Bloglines or Google Reader because they are easy to use and you can access your feeds from anywhere. The downside is that you have to create an account and sign in. Users of Internet Explorer 6 might find the page of "html gibberish" they see when they click on a Feed slightly alarming but all you need to do is to copy the url address (e.g. http://library.massey.ac.nz/rss/agriculture-0.xml) at the top of the screen and then paste it into your reader as a new feed. Alternatively you can right-click on the feed link and then choose Copy Shortcut (IE) or Copy Link Location (Firefox) and then paste that into your Feed Reader.

RSS feeds can be used to alert you about new information in your field and they are beginning to replace emailed alerts in all sorts of ways. Most journals now provide contents page feeds of their latest issues and (providing you are on-campus) you can click through to the full articles of those we subscribe to. The good people at the University of Nevada Library have provided a very extensive list of contents page feeds - make sure you click on the orange RSS symbol rather than the blue links.

Many databases now allow you to use RSS for subject based alerts as well as journal contents pages. In the Web of Science database carry out your search and then click the Search History button. This will display the list of searches from your current session - click on Save History to see a box that looks like this



Give you search a name and then click on Save. Don't tick the email alerts box unless you want them as well - but with your feed the email shouldn't be necessary. When the confirmation appears click on the orange XML button to create your feed.




Once you have a good system set up for your feeds you can choose to look at them whenever you have the time - typically this may be daily or once a week. The big advantage of them over emails is that you go to them at a time of your own choosing. Happy feeding and get in touch with us if you need help!