SFX fault on Sunday 29 April

In anticipation of any service queries this morning, please be aware that – due to an issue with the application’s database – SFX was unavailable for several hours on Sunday. The service went off-line just before 6am and was reinstated just before 1.45pm – soon after the fault was discovered.

Verdict: on-campus access problems resolved

To provide a robust ongoing solution to the access problems that have been experienced with the Verdict service, the providers have enabled direct IP-authenticated access for on-campus visitors. On-campus access is therefore available once again. Off-campus access is temporarily suspended while the arrangements to provide EZproxy access are put in place.

New trial: Xreferplus

Trial access to the Xreferplus reference database has been set up in eSearch > eResource trials > Active trials. The resource is being trialed as part of the Gen Ref/Quick Ref review project. Access is direct on-campus; off-campus access via specific username and password will be available shortly. The trial lasts until 24 May. Please send all feedback on the trial to Sharon Potter. The resource is described as follows:

Xreferplus is an integrated searchable cross-disciplinary reference collection. It provides cross-referenced full text articles, images, animation and video (Flash), sound files (in mp3), statistics (exportable to Excel) and other data, supported by a range of dynamic search and retrieval functionality including ‘concept mapping’.

Xreferplus can be searched remotely via eSearch on a search-and-link basis – please see the Search Hints field for more information.

Verdict: access problems continuing

Technicians at Verdict are continuing to work to resolve authentication problems which are still preventing username and password access to the Verdict service. For on-campus users, Verdict hopes to be able to offer direct access (by IP recognition) “within the next few days”.

Creative Club: access problems resolved

Athens authenticated access to the Creative Club service has now been confirmed by the providers as fully restored. Please let the eServices team know if you encounter any further difficulties logging on to the service.

Sage ejournals – now an SFX source

The Sage ejournals platform is now operating as an SFX ’source’ as well as ‘target’ (meaning that it’s possible to send metadata to SFX to try to find a match; as well as to be sent from SFX to Sage when SFX has found a match on the Sage site).

From any individual article listing, click on the References link (see illustration below) to bring up a list of article references:

From that list of references, a Find it @ NTU SFX button will appear next to any individual reference when certain criteria are reached (see illustration below):

At present, such links are only offered where a reference includes a Digital Object Identier (DOI) – which is a significant functional limitation.

Resource name change: CIDS to CIDER

Listings for the ‘Census Information Data Service’ (CIDS) have been updated to the ‘Centre for Interaction Data Estimation and Research’ (CIDER) in eSearch and the subject web portal to reflect the recent rebranding of the service.

Barbour: migration to the v4.0 platform – changes in listings

The platform for the Barbour interface has been upgraded and moved to a new domain address, necessitating changes in the resource discovery listings for Barbour online titles.

As the default for the new interface is cross-searchability across all titles in the Barbour collection, a single new listing for Barbour has replaced the following individual listings:

• Barbour – Architectural Construction Expert
• Barbour – Building Product Expert
• Barbour Building Services Construction Expert
• Barbour – Civil and Structural Construction Expert
• Barbour – Facilities Management Expert
• Barbour OPUS Building Services Design File
• Barbour – Property and Facilities Manager Construction Expert

‘Barbour’ appears under the Building Construction; Civil Enginering and Real Estate sub-categories of the Built Environment eSearch category.

As it covers a different subject area, the listing for Barbour Food Safety Professional has been retained and renamed as Barbour Professional Series – Food Safety. Although it points to the same interface, listings for this resource include instructions on how to restrict searches to the Food Safety database.

New resource trial: Art Museum Image Gallery

Trial access to the Art Museum Image Gallery has been set up in eSearch > eResource trials > Active trials. Access is direct on-campus; with Athens username and password authentication for off-campus access. The trial lasts until 19 May, and all feedback should be sent to Rachel Campbell. The resource is described as follows:

The Art Museum Image Gallery is a digital resource of art images and related multimedia gathered from the collections of distinguished museums around the world.

Full bibliographic records accompany every image, and all images are offered in three sizes including a high resolution based on the traditional 1024 x 760 pixel sizing. The images are all rights cleared for educational use, as are all other images in the Art Museum Image Gallery.

In addition to searching in the native interface, Art Museum Image Gallery can also be remotely searched via eSearch. The SFX button will not appear in the search results screen of Art Museum Image Gallery records in eSearch. Direct access to individual objects in the AMIG database is via the ‘External link’ in the ‘Full View’ of the search result in eSearch.

As LLR already subscribes to two art packages on the HW Wilson platform, the AMIG will also appear as a selectable resource in the native interface when following existing links to ‘Art Retrospective’ and ‘Art Full Text’.

Verdict – Username and password authentication unavailable

Username and password access to the Verdict database is also not currently available. The Verdict technical team are investigating the cause of the problem.

Creative Club – Athens authentication unavailable

Technical staff are working to rectify a problem which is currently preventing Athens authenticated access to Creative Club. At present it is not possible to log in to the service.

Land, Life & Leisure – back in service

Following a hardware failure at the host site, Land, Life & Leisure is now back in service.