The HardiBlog

Commencing on Tuesday 30th October it will be compulsory to show your University ID Card on entering the Library.  Please have your card ready for inspection as you approach the entrance door to avoid queues developing. This measure is being introduced to ensure that only registered users gain access to study places and facilities in the lead up to the Semester 1 exam period.

Please note that the Finding Books and Journals training scheduled to take place at 11.00 today (October 25th) has been cancelled.  The same training is available at 2.30 or 7.00 today.  It is also available at 7.00 tomorrow (Friday October 26th) and at 11.30 on Saturday October 27th. Apologies for any inconvience caused.

Please note that between today (Tuesday) and the close of business on Thursday you may experience some disruption from drilling noise on and off over these three days as the contractors on the Arts Humanities and Social Sciences Research Building (AHSSRB) fix shutters, form openings in the block work walls for services, drill-in reinforcement bars and pour small quantities of concrete which will necessitate a concrete poker. Unfortunately it is not possible to indicate specific times when this work will be undertaken during any day, but the good news is that it will be intermittent, though it may last for an hour or so at a time when the tasks are being worked on. Many thanks for your patience with these issues and sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused.

On October 29th, SpringerLink will move to a new and much improved platform: http://link.springer.com . The new SpringerLink is faster, easier to use and optimized for most mobile devices. My SpringerLink: Individual accounts from the old SpringerLink will unfortunately not be migrated. You will need to go to link.springer.com and set up a new profile/account. Make sure to do this while on campus or signed into your campus account as you will then be automatically associated with NUI Galway's access rights. Meaning that remote access to link.springer.com is set up immediately. Training: Webinar training sessions are available throughout the coming months. During these sessions you will be informed about features and functionalities of link.springer.com. There will also be plenty of time to ask questions. We invite you to register for one of these training sessions via the Springer training page . An extensive FAQ and future training dates can be found...

The Abbey Theatre and National University of Ireland, Galway, have entered into a partnership to digitise the archive of the Abbey Theatre. The partnership was launched on 22 October 2012 by Ireland’s President, Michael D. Higgins. It is the largest digital theatre project ever undertaken, and heralds a new era of scholarship for Irish theatre internationally. The digitisation process has already begun and is based on the NUI Galway campus in the James Hardiman Library. The Abbey archive is one of the world’s most significant archival collections, running to almost 2 million pages. It has a wealth of extraordinary and unique material providing a fascinating insight into Irish theatre, history, culture and society. The archival material ranges from show posters, programmes, photographs, minute books to lighting plans, set and costume designs, sound cues, prompt scripts and audio files. The digital Abbey archive will be a major addition to the existing collection of literary and ...

From November 1 you may only pay Library fines online, via the  NUI Galway Online Print Service . Login and click on the Library Fines link on the left hand side. Full instructions are available at the  online payment of fines  page. Staff at the Customer Services Desk will not be able to take any cash payments from 1 November. If you have any queries please get in touch: library@nuigalway.ie (091) 493399 Facebook Twitter

We apologise for the noise being caused today by essential drilling works taking place at basement level in connection with the construction on the nearby Arts Humanities and Social Sciences Research Building (AHSSRB). This work is necessary in order to facilitate the replacement over the October Bank Holiday Weekend of the James Hardiman Library's (JHL) existing transformer with a larger one which can carry the load for both the JHL and the AHSSRB. The contractors have indicated that the work will continue for most of today but that this should see the end of the noisy elements associated with this particular job. We apologise unreservedly for the disturbance you are experiencing today.

24 October at 6pm Training Room, James Hardiman Library We are proud to invite you to attend this year’s first group workshop. The workshop will address common problems with essay writing and will include helpful exercises and tips. Early booking is strongly recommended. Register at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4608514190# Email: awctutors@gmail.com for more information.

You may have noticed some changes to the Library website and search tools recently. You may be frustrated by having to learn a new way of accessing the database, journal or book you need. You may be wondering why the library has changed your old route to information. Let us explain! In recent surveys of students, researchers and academic staff, we have received overwhelming feedback that the Library website didn’t meet your needs. Comments in those surveys showed that students found the site confusing and difficult to use. So as to understand what exactly the problems were, we carried out a usability study. During this study, we observed students and researchers carrying out some predefined, typical information seeking tasks. We encouraged the participants to think aloud and explain to us why they were making the choices they made and how they were setting about completing the task. The findings of the usability study and some focus groups we ran at the same time were undeniable....