CSA databases now available

The problem affecting the CSA databases yesterday (Wednesday 8th July) has now been fixed. Our suppliers had experienced network problems which prevented users from connecting to their website. So, access to all of the titles in our subscription suite has been restored. This means users can now access:

 ANTE (Abstracts in New Technology and Engineering)

ARTbibliographies Modern

ASSIA (Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts)

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals

BHI (British Humanities Index)

Criminal Justice Abstracts

DAAI (Design and Applied Arts Index)

ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center)

PILOTS Database

Polymer Library

Social Services Abstracts

Sociological Abstracts

CSA databases unavailable

The CSA range of databases are currently unavailable due to a server failure in the States where the databases are hosted. Engineers are investigating the problem, and we’ll give a further update once we have more news.

These are the databases which are affected:
ANTE (Abstracts in New Technology and Engineering)
ARTbibliographies Modern
ASSIA (Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts)
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
BHI (British Humanities Index)
Criminal Justice Abstracts
DAAI (Design and Applied Arts Index)
ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center)
PILOTS Database
Polymer Library
Social Services Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts

SFX (Find it @ NTU) menu links to the Library Catalogue

Following a series of database and software updates to the SFX (Find it @ NTU) service, which were deployed yesterday afternoon, links to the Library Catalogue from the SFX menu were no longer appearing consistently.

The problem which was affecting the display of the various Library Catalogue options has now been resolved, and all links are now displaying as intended.

Emerald – Shibboleth authentication

Off-campus access to the Emerald platform is now by university username and password (using the Shibboleth framework). Links and prompts in eSearch and SFX have been updated accordingly.

A guide to Shibboleth authentication on the Emerald platform has been added to the eServices Support wiki.

Members of relevant Delegated Centres and NTU Alumni will continue to use an Athens username and password to access the Emerald service.

Gale-InfoTrac – Shibboleth authentication

Off-campus access to LLR’s subscription databases on the Gale-InfoTrac platform is now by university username and password (using the Shibboleth framework). The databases involved in the change from Athens to Shibboleth based authentication are:

• 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection (* a new collection)
• 19th Century British Library Newspapers
• British Newspapers 1600-1900 (* a new collection)
• ECCO (Eighteenth Century Collections Online)
• European Business ASAP
• The Times Digital Archive: 1785-1985

Links and prompts in eSearch and SFX have been updated accordingly. A guide to using Shibboleth authentication on the Gale-InfoTrace platform has been added to the eServices Support wiki

The Times Digital Archive: 1785-1985 – enabled for remote and metasearching

The Times Digital Archive: 1785-1985 can now be remote and metasearched from within eSearch. Under the Advanced search option is it possible to select a particular Year (as a second search field) to focus on a particular 12-month period within the 200 year run. It is possible to deep-link to a particular digital facsimile of a page from The Times directly from the search result in eSearch.

New collection: 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection

Access to the 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection has been activated in eSearch. Access is direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus (using Shibboleth). The collection is described as follows:

Compiled by Rev. Charles Burney, this collection charts the development of English news media during the 17th and 18th centuries. It features more than 700 bound volumes and over 1,200 pamphlets, proclamations, newsbooks and newspapers from the period, including early issues of the London Evening Post, the Boston and Virginia Gazettes. Each page is indexed and users can conduct full-text searches.

New collection: British Newspapers 1600-1900

Access to the British Newspapers 1600-1900 collection has been enabled in eSearch. Access is direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus (using Shibboleth). The collection is described as follows:

The British Newspapers 1600-1900 is a digital collection of British historic newspapers. In addition to digital versions of newspaper content, find specially commissioned essays and contextual materials written by expert scholars assist with perspective and analysis.

It brings together content from the 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers; and 19th Century British Library Newspapers.

ISI – Web of Knowledge – Shibboleth authentication

Off-campus access to all of LLR’s resources delivered through the ISI – Web of Knowledge platform is now by university username and password (using the Shibboleth framework).

The resources involved are:

• Arts & Humanities Citation Index
• Journal Citation Reports
• Science Citation Index
• Social Sciences Citation Index
• Web of Science (with Conference Proceedings)
• Web of Knowledge

All links in eSearch have been updated accordingly. A guide to using Shibboleth authentication on the ISI – Web of Knowledge platform has been added to the eServices support wiki.

Early English Books Online – Shibboleth authentication

Off-campus access to EEBO (Early English Books Online) is now by university username and password (using the Shibboleth framework).

Links in eSearch have been updated accordingly. A guide to accessing EEBO using Shibboleth has been added to the eServices Support wiki.

Silverplatter and OvidSP databases – and Shibboleth login

The Silverplatter platform (which provided access to several of LLR’s subscription databases) is being withdrawn at the end of June 2009, so all the databases on the platform are being migrated to OvidSP. (Previously some of the databases were available on both Silverplatter and OvidSP).

In parallel with the migration away from Silverplatter, Shibboleth authentication has been enabled for all databases on OvidSP:

• BIOSIS Previews
• CAB Abstracts
• Geography (also known as Elsevier Geography)
• ICONDA

All links in eSearch have been updated accordingly, and a guide to Shibboleth authentication on OvidSP has been added to the eServices Support wiki.

Remote searching for Geography and ICONDA is not currently enabled on OvidSP, but it is hoped that it will be possible to reinstate this shortly.

LLR also have access to a small number of eBooks in the Books@Ovid collection (as part of the JISC eBook Observatory Project). Links to those titles in the Library Catalogue will be updated to make use of Shibboleth authentication shortly (in the meantime it will still be possible to use an Athens username and password to access those titles).

LION (Literature Online) – Shibboleth enabled

Off-campus access to the LION (Literature Online) service is now by university username and password (using Shibboleth). The three LION databases listed in eSearch are:

• ABELL (Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature)
• LION (Literature Online)
• MLA International Bibliography

A guide to Shibboleth authentication on LION has been added to the eServices Support wiki.