The HardiBlog

Industrial Relations News is now locked to our IP range. This means that users will be able to acces the service while on Campus when they enter the username and password as advised. When users are off campus they must sign into their Library Account in order to get onto the NUI Galway IP range. Once they have signed into their individual account (for staff their UDS number and for students their unique CASS number) they must log on to IRN from the Library catalogue or E knowledge and then enter the username and password.

The Dictionary of Irish Biography: from the earliest times to the year 2002 was recently published by Cambridge University Press in nine volumes and online. It has been devised, researched, written and edited under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy’s Dictionary of Irish Biography project. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative biographical reference work for Ireland covering 9,700 lives in 9,014 articles. The Dictionary of Irish Biography is held at 920.0415 DIC in the General Reference Collection in the Library. Access to the online version may be available shortly.

As the world’s oldest science academy, The Royal Society are looking forward to celebrating their 350th anniversary and to mark this special occasion they are making their digital archive containing more than 65,000 articles free to access from 23 Nov 2009 to 28 Feb 2010 . The development of the digital archive means that the Society's online collection now contains every paper ever published in the Royal Society's journals - from the very first peer-reviewed paper in Philosophical Transactions - to the most recent interdisciplinary article in Interface.

Do you need help finding the books and journals you need in the library? Come to the library training room on the ground floor any day from Monday to Thursday at 11.30 or 15.00 to learn how to use the library’s E-knowledge system to find the resources you need.

e-Knowledge is the University Library's link to information. By adopting the latest web technology, e-Knowledge has a new and powerful search system. Through e-Knowledge, the Library provides access to a wide range of print and electronic information resources from a single point. The Library catalogue has become much more intuitive and flexible to use, since it employs an Amazon-type interface. A search for books can be transferred seamlessly to a search for journal articles or NUI Galway research publications. Find out more about e-Knowledge. Visit the Library foyer on Wednesday 4 November between 2pm and 4pm. Library staff will be on hand to demonstrate all the new features of e-Knowledge.

If you are getting articles delivered electronically you will need Adobe Reader version 4 or above with the FileOpen plug-in installed. You can get the plug-in by visiting http://plugin.fileopen.com . We recommend that you consult your IT department if you do not have the rights to do this.

Inter Library Loans procedures are changing and, we hope, making life easier for you. From the 21st of October Inter Library Loans will be completely integrated with the main Library system. To order an ILL, select the ‘ Inter Library Loans ’ quick link from the library homepage (as before), and enter your CASS username and Password (this is the same as your email username and password). Fill in the required fields in the relevant order form. It will no longer be necessary to print a copyright statement and sign it- simply tick a box on the screen to agree to the copyright terms. Once your request is submitted it will be possible to monitor and manage your request through your main library account. Electronic delivery of articles and all messages from Inter Library Loans will now go to your contact details as they are on your main Library account.

QRcodes are handy barcodes you can scan with a smartphone. We've started to use them experimentally in the library catalogue. We hope they'll save your fingers inputting lengthy URL's when you want to bring up a book-location map or ARAN repository PDF in your smartphone. Bring the map with you as you locate the book! Read the PDF on the bus. While they are used extensively in Japan for advertising purposes, we think this is their first application in a library catalogue. Enjoy!

The Library has purchased outright the Guardian/Observer archive which is on the Proquest Historical Newspapers platform. This archive provides fulltext access to The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003). Access is available via 'e-resources A-Z' on e-Knowledge at http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/ See further information at: http://www.proquest.co.uk/assets/literature/products/databases/guardian_observer_en_uk.pdf

Students no longer have to queue at the Customer Services Desk to pay fines. Use the touch screen attached to the self-check machine located to the right of the Desk. Enter your student ID number and the fines amount will be displayed. Payment is made by using a copy card, which can be purchased from the machines adjacent to the photocopiers. Any fines will converted into copy card units, and students choose the number of units they wish to pay off. Feed the copy card into the self service payment unit next to the touch screen. This service will be particularly useful for students using the Library on Saturday afternoon and Sunday when the Customer Services Desk is not staffed. Just follow the instructions on the screen. If you do have problems, please ask Library staff for help.

Access is now available to The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online via e-Knowledge. This is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music. This release includes 1,209 essays and images from 10 sources and hundreds of audio examples.

Library users can now discover the wide range of Library services and resources by taking a self-guided tour. A new brochure has been published, with detailed maps of the Main Library and the Nursing and Midwifery Library. You can borrow a portable audio wand from the Customer Services Desk and listen to a commentary in conjunction with the brochure. Alternatively, you can download the audio tour from the Library's website ( http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/Orientation/ ). Taking the tour will help new students especially to find their way around the Library and identify key areas of interest. During Library orientation, quite a few students used the wands and the feedback was very positive. Note that you can also find your way quite easily just with the printed brochure. The great advantage of the tour is that you can work at your own pace, and you can complete it at a time that suits you. So, why not take the tour and tell Library staff what you think. This is a new service from t...

The 1911 Census is one of only two census for which complete household record forms exist. These have been digitised by the National Archives and are now available, for all Irish counties, at www.census.nationalarchives.ie .

Access to the fulltext e-resource International Encyclopedia of Human Geography (Elsevier) is now available. The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography provides an authoritative and comprehensive source of information on the discipline of human geography and its constituent, and related, subject areas. The encyclopedia includes over 1,000 detailed entries on philosophy and theory, key concepts, methods and practices, biographies of notable geographers, and geographical thought and praxis in different parts of the world. Access is available via 'Find e-Resource' in e-Knowledge on: http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/ and also from the e-link on the library catalogue record.

Access is now available to Perdita Manuscripts: Women Writers, 1500-1700. This e-resource contains digital facsimiles of original manuscripts from 15 major libraries written or compiled by women during the 16th and 17th centuries. It is produced in association with the Perdita Project based at the University of Warwick and Nottingham Trent University. Access is available via e-Knowledge on http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/ See also: http://libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/login?url=http://www.perditamanuscripts.amdigital.co.uk/introduction/index.aspx

How do we improve the Library catalogue? Can the catalogue continue to add value in a rapidly changing information landscape? As Librarians, we know we have to respond to the rising expectations of our users, the increase in new kinds of digital resources and a nascent revolution in scholarly publishing. Such wholesale change demands a radical rethink on the facilities and services the catalogue actually provides. Our ultimate aim must be the provision of the optimal launch-pad for NUI Galway's scholarly activity. Enter e-Knowledge 2.0, NUI Galway's new Library catalogue based on the Primo system from Exlibris. e-Knowledge 2.0 uses a whole panoply of recent advances in search engine technology and brings them to bear on our physical and virtual collections. As librarians, we have listened to our users, when they asked why they cannot search books and journals at the same time. We have selected a system incorporating the best elements of Web 2.0 to create a streamlined user expe...

The latest issue of the Library Newsletter is available here: http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/services/news_and_events/current_issue/ Features of this issue include Our evolving Library catalogue ARAN update Improve your chances of funding STM- measuring success 1911 Census for Galway now online

The recently unearthed skeleton has been put to work giving Library Tours... www.library.nuigalway.ie/librarians/nursing/Nursing_Library2.wmv

Academia.edu is a new social networking site for researchers. It has a great layout, allowing you to browse easily by research interests, University or School. A number of NUI Galway researchers have already joined it. The level of detail you add is optional: you can add your research interests, your photo, your CV, your published papers, a link to your Facebook account and your contact details. Rosarie Coughlan Research Support Librarian (STM) email: rosarie.coughlan@nuigalway.ie

The need to profile your research achievement is key in an increasingly competitive environment. However it can be very difficult to distinguish yourself from other researchers. If you have a common name, like John Murphy, how do you distinguish yourself from all the other John Murphys? A common solution is to use your middle initial, but sometimes even this isn’t enough . *Boost your research profile with ResearcherID* ThomsonReuters, who publish Web of Science , have attempted to solve this with ResearcherID , which gives users a unique identification number – a number of NUI Galway researchers have done this already. When you register, you can quickly populate your profile with a list of your publications from a Web of Science search or from your EndNote account. If you have articles listed in Web of science, ResearcherID will automatically generate your citation metrics, including your h-index, the number of times you’ve been cited and a graph showing your citations year by year. ...

An exhibition has been brought together by Special Collections & Archives to commemorate the 60th anniversary (12 July 1949) of the death of Dr. Douglas Hyde, writer and first president of Ireland. The exhibition, situated in the foyer of the James Hardiman Library, includes copies of Dr. Hyde's writings in both Irish and English and items from the de hÍde archival collection. These include a manuscript (LS de hÍde 9), taken from his collection of manuscripts which date from the 18th to the 20th centuries and which were bequeathed to the library on his death. Letters, personal photographs and a slideshow portray Hyde's eventful life as a writer, scholar and promoter of the Irish language. The exhibition will be on view until Saturday 5 September 2009. Photograph: © National Library of Ireland

The James Hardiman Library is pleased to announce the opening of our new Nursing & Midwifery Library, and we are delighted to welcome our nursing students and School of Nursing and Midwifery colleagues onsite. The new 600m2 extension incorportes the following facilities and services: 21 person fully equipped Training Room which also doubles as a PC Suite when not in use for training 2 bookable Group Study Rooms with LCD Screens, PCs and White Boards 5 person PC Suite 112 Study Places – both formal and informal Dedicated support via a Nursing & Midwifery Information Assistant and Nursing & Midwifery Librarian Self Check – Borrowing and Returns Photocopying and Printing services

Click here for full details on how to use the Oxford Standard for Citation Of Legal Authorities, including using OSCLA with EndNote

We are delighted to announce that our access to the State Papers Online, has now been expanded to include State Papers Part II : The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Foreign, Scotland, Borders, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council.

We are delighted to announce that we now have access to Eighteenth Century Collections Online Part II . This is fully integrated into ECCO, but provides us with access to 49,000 additional titles that have been discovered since the release of ECCO Part I five years ago. Overall ECCO now provides access to over 170,000 titles, adding greatly to the depth of 18th Century research.

In June, Scopus almost doubled its coverage of Arts & Humanities (A&H) by including 1,450 new titles. With nearly 3,500 A&H titles from around the world available on Scopus, researchers can enjoy broader access to high-quality journals in a variety of subject areas, such as literature, history‚ architecture and visual performing arts. These top global journals were selected for addition using the European Science Foundation’s European Reference Index for Humanities (ERIH). This is the first time that many of the ERIH titles will be available through a global citation database. ERIH was conceived as a tool to improve access to and assessment of Humanities research in Europe, initially by identifying and categorising good research journals in 15 fields of the Humanities. These lists will be revised at the end of 2009, then updated after longer intervals. In the longer term, it is intended that ERIH will be extended to include book-form publications, which are important publi...

ARAN is NUI, Galway's new open access repository. ARAN collects preserves and makes freely available scholarly communication, including peer-reviewed articles, working papers and conference papers created by NUI, Galway researchers. The ARAN -(Access to Research at NUI Galway) team are happy to announce the addition of Michael Madden of the College of Engineering and Informatics as ARAN’s new Featured Researcher. Michael established and leads the Machine Learning & Data Mining Group in NUI Galway. His research work is inter-disciplinary, inter-institutional, and focuses on the development of new machine learning methods, Bayesian, SVMs, and others, and their application to scientific, medical and other domains, and includes contributions ranging from theoretical algorithms to practical real-world applications. Click here to find out more and view Michael’s scholarly communications in ARAN. If you are interested in depositing material in ARAN or becoming a featured researche...

This addition to ECCO brings the fulltext coverage of titles indexed in English Short Title Catalogue up to a whopping 85%. There is also a significant body of material in ECCO part 2, as library holdings from TCD and NLI are included. Access the trial from this link We would be very interested in hearing the extent of interest in this addition to ECCO so please take time to complete the feedback form after checking out the resource. Trial expires 1st May

Mind, Body and Soul collection of books has been added to the Library. These are located in the Browsing Room at the end of the Popular Reading section. There are just over 100 titles and are all loanable. They range in titles from Potatoes not Prozac to The academic career handbook .

We welcome suggestions and recommendations from students for books you'd like to see added to the Library's holdings. Please use the online Suggestion Form .

Are you interested in a career in Librarianship, and are applying for Library School? Most Library schools have a requirement for in-service training, pre-Library school work experience, or placement as part of their Library and Information Studies Programmes. As a CONUL member Library, and in support of the profession, the James Hardiman Library have committed to accepting one student who has been accepted for a place in an Irish or UK Library School. Our Staff Development Group has worked on a placement programme to ensure that students benefit to the maximum from their time with us, gaining experience in each of our major divisions, and at the same time making a meaningful contribution to the work of the Library. Timing : We have a preference for placements during the summer vacation. Minimum duration is six weeks full-time attendance. Archives students – these normally seek post course completion experience for 3-4 weeks – requests for such will be considered separately and are m...