Dawsonera downtime

Dawsonera ebooks will be unavailable for up to one hour between 14:30 and 15:30 BST on Sunday 19th April

Please ensure you have downloaded and opened any ebooks you need access to before this outage occurs.
 
It will not be possible to read titles which have been downloaded but not opened before the outage period.

StarPlus for all: basics and more

StarPlus, the Library catalogue, can be accessed from your MUSE account (under My services) or from the Library webpages at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library.

Remember to click on the University members link at the top of StarPlus if you are accessing it from the Library webpages (when you access StarPlus from MUSE, you will be automatically signed on to the catalogue). Signing on to StarPlus will give you full access to resources and features including the e-Shelf and your online Library account.

Search under the University Collections tab to find: books, ebooks, journals, databases, theses and multimedia.  Enter keywords into the search box then refine your results later.

Use the Articles and More tab to search for journal articles from databases.  All results shown will be available for you to access. However, you can also choose to include results without full text online access.

 

 

Top tips

• Use quotation marks when searching for a phrase, e.g. “global warming”.
• Use an asterisk at the end of a word to represent alternative endings. For example, educat* will search for: education, educating, educational etc.
• Use the e-Shelf to organise, print, email and push your search results into reference management software. Add search results to your e-Shelf by clicking on the star icon (located on the left of each search result).
• To request a book that is out on loan, click on the Get It tab and then the Request link (requested items are now being issued until after the Easter Vacation: Easter Vacation Loan Periods).
• Look at the Subject Guides to identify the key databases and online resources for your subject area. Link to the Subject Guides from the home page of StarPlus.
• Search for and connect to databases from the University Collections tab.

 

Take a look at our StarPlus tutorial to learn more.

StarPlus for all: basics and more

StarPlus, the Library catalogue, can be accessed from your MUSE account (under My services) or from the Library webpages at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library.

Remember to sign in by clicking on the University members link at the top of the page. This will give you full access to resources and features including the e-Shelf and your online Library account.

Search under the University Collections tab to find: books, ebooks, journals, theses and multimedia.  Enter keywords into the search box then refine your results later.

Use the Articles and More tab to search for journal articles from databases.  All results shown will be available for you to access. However, you can also choose to include results without full text online access.

Top tips

• Use quotation marks when searching for a phrase, e.g. “global warming”.
• Use an asterisk at the end of a word to represent alternative endings.  For example, educat* will search for: education, educating, educational etc.
• Use the e-Shelf to organise, print, email and push your search results into reference management software. Add search results to your e-Shelf by clicking on the star icon (located on the left of each search result).
• To request a book that is out on loan, click on the Get It tab and then click Request (top left of window).
• Look at the Subject Guides to identify the key databases and online resources for your subject area. Link to the Subject Guides from the home page of StarPlus.
• Search for and connect to databases from the University Collections tab.
• Take a look at our StarPlus tutorial to learn more.

Further investment in our ebook collection

As we are committed to enriching our eresource collection for staff and students, we are spending a further £40,000 on ebooks.

For the next 12 months, we will have full-text access to 'Cambridge Books Online Evidence-based Monographs' collection.  This includes over 17,000 ebooks spanning all subjects on the Cambridge platform.

We will continually monitor usage, and at the end of the 12 months, we will obtain perpetual access to the ebooks that you have decided are the most relevant.

To access these and other ebooks, please go to StarPlus; sign in, and search for your chosen field.

Alternatively you can go to the Cambridge platform

 What do you think of our ebooks?

We are running a survey to see what our students think of ebooks.  Please complete the survey here

Download period increased for Dawsonera ebooks

The download period for Dawsonera ebooks has been increased to 48 hours. This may be useful if you are going to be away from an Internet connection for a couple of days, for example, over a weekend. Library customers are now given the option to download ebooks for either 1 day or 2 days.  After the download period has expired you will not be able to read the book until you have downloaded it again. There is also the option of reading ebooks online, which provides greater functionality than the downloaded version. For example, the online version allows you to add notes as you read.

Use StarPlus to locate and access ebooks. Search under the University Collections tab and narrow your results to show only Full Text Online. Remember to sign in using the link at the top of the screen.

Ebooks

So ebooks, we all know what they are but do you know how to make the most of them? How to annotate online, when to download and how much you can print? The Library buys hundreds of ebooks each year and you can find them all via our Library catalogue StarPlus but they don’t all come from the same supplier. As a result there are lots of different rules governing how you can use them. Here is a quick guide to our main supplies and some top tips on how to make the most of your e reading experience...

Dawsonera:

This is our main supplier. If there’s an ebook you want and dawsonera has it we’ll be buying it from them. Dawsonera allows you two options with ebooks. You can either ‘read online’ or you can download the book onto a memory stick or your computer drive where it will last as a pdf format for 24 hours. This is great if you know you’ve only got a short internet connection.

If you’re reading the ebook online you can also annotate the text, just click on the yellow notes tab. The reader portal recognises who you are each time you log in and your notes will be saved for your next session.

If you want a hard copy of the text Dawsonera allows you to print up to 5% of any ebook per user.

MyiLibrary:

You can generally download or print 10 pages of a MyiLibrary ebook, although this may differ slightly as the publisher sets the limits.

The MyiLibrary software works best if you use the chapter navigation on the left-hand side to navigate the book.

NetLibrary:

You cannot download from NetLibrary ebooks, but you can print a percentage of the book. This percentage is again set by the publishers so will vary book to book, if you click on the print button within a book it will tell you how many pages you're allowed for that book.

If you're using a Mac to view NetLibrary ebooks, you will need to install a PDF Browser plug-in which can be found in the help section.

Taylor and Francis archive:

With these ebooks, you can save or print one chapter, or 5% of the book, whichever is greater.

Changes to eBook Access

There have been some slight changes to the method of accessing eBooks via the Dawsonera platform.

When you access a Dawsonera eBook via the library catalogue StarPlus, you will see two icons:

Use this this option to navigate through the ebook using the hyperlinked table of contents or by entering a page number.

Use this option to download the ebook onto the local drive of your computer, a CD or memory stick for a 24 hour period. 

Further details can be found on the Library webpages

Ebooks - your essential guide

So ebooks, we all know what they are but do you know how to make the most of them? How to annotate online, when to download and how much you can print? The Library buys hundreds of ebooks each year and you can find them all via our Library catalogue StarPlus but they don’t all come from the same supplier. As a result there are lots of different rules governing how you can use them. Here is a quick guide to our main supplies and some top tips on how to make the most of your e reading experience... 

Dawsonera:

This is our main supplier. If there’s an ebook you want and dawsonera has it we’ll be buying it from them. Dawsonera allows you two options with ebooks. You can either ‘read online’ or you can download the book onto a memory stick or your computer drive where it will last as a pdf format for 24 hours. This is great if you know you’ve only got a short internet connection. 

If you’re reading the ebook online you can also annotate the text, just click on the yellow notes tab. The reader portal recognises who you are each time you log in and your notes will be saved for your next session. 

If you want a hard copy of the text Dawsonera allows you to print up to 5% of any ebook per user. 

MyiLibrary:

You can generally download or print 10 pages of a MyiLibrary ebook, although this may differ slightly as the publisher sets the limits.

The MyiLibrary software works best if you use the chapter navigation on the left-hand side to navigate the book.

NetLibrary:

You cannot download from NetLibrary ebooks, but you can print a percentage of the book. This percentage is again set by the publishers so will vary book to book, if you click on the print button within a book it will tell you how many pages you're allowed for that book.

If you're using a Mac to view NetLibrary ebooks, you will need to install a PDF Browser plug-in which can be found in the help section.

Taylor and Francis archive:

With these ebooks, you can save or print one chapter, or 5% of the book, whichever is greater.

NEW Library catalogue!

Have a look at our new Library Catalogue, StarPlus.
You can search for books and other items in our libraries, as well as electronic and digital material, all from one place.

Log in using your University login and password for direct access to full text where it is available and other features such as saved searches.

Use the ‘University Collections’ tab for electronic and print books, journals, maps, theses, databases and more.
Use the ‘Articles and more’ tab for journal articles from multiple databases using the Quick Set for your department.
For full database functionality such as personalisation, use the native search interface.

So check it out and tell us what you think. We’d love your feedback to help us develop the service so please email lib-primo@lists.shef.ac.uk with your comments. And don’t worry, Star won’t be going anywhere just yet.

eReader Prize Draw

As (hopefully) you’ll be aware we’ve been running a pilot ereader loan scheme in our libraries, which came to end in November. An Amazon Kindle and Sony eReader were loaded with content and loaned to customers in exchange for feedback as part of an evaluation project. Those who took part in our survey were entered into a prize draw to win their own ebook reader!

The prize draw
The prize draw event was held in the Western Bank Library Exhibition Gallery on 6 December 2010. We were delighted to welcome Joe Oliver, Sheffield Students’ Union Education Officer, to introduce the event and pick out the names of two lucky winners. Prize draw entrants were invited along and the event was also attended by Martin Lewis, Director of Library Services, Heather Thrift and Tracey Clarke, the Associate and Assistant Library Directors, and the ebook reader evaluation project group members.

The winners
The lucky ebook reader winners are from the departments of Philosophy and Automatic Systems & Control Engineering, winning an Amazon Kindle 3G and a Sony Reader Touch respectively. Neither of the winners were able to attend the draw, though we’ve since contacted them with the good news and they’re very pleased!

Thank you!
Many thanks to everyone who took part in our eBook reader evaluation. The results of the survey will be made available shortly on the Library web site.

More photos can also be found on Flickr.

Oxford Scholarship Online - Philosophy Collection

Hello,

Did you know that for the 2010-2011 Academic Year I have subscribed to the Oxford Scholarship Online PHILOSOPHY collection of Ebooks? It includes over 700 titles published by Oxford University Press in the following collections:

Aesthetics, Ancient Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy, General, History of Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science, Political Philosophy

Please have a look - as well as going straight to the Philosophy collection as a database you should find individual titles as ebooks on Star. Here is the link:

http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/cdfiles/oxfscholar.html

Click the CONNECT button and login to MUSE.

If you find it useful (or indeed if you don't) please send in your feedback. You can email me c.scott@sheffield.ac.uk (Faculty Librarian) with  your views or Yonatan Shemmer y.shemmer@sheffield.ac.uk (Departmental Library Coordinator). We would be pleased to know what you think so we can decide whether or not to continue with this service next year.

We look forward to hearing from you, Clare

eBook Reader Pilot

We’re currently evaluating the potential use of ebook readers within the Library and are running a trial service from July to November 2010. An Amazon Kindle is available for you to try at Western Bank Library or a Sony Pocket Edition Reader is available at the Information Commons.

Tell us what you think of our ebook readers and you could win your own Kindle or Sony Reader! For more information about the pilot see the Library website.

Cambridge companions to literature & classics

If you suddenly find you don't have all the books you need over the Christmas holidays, take a look at the Cambridge Companions to literature and classics - a collection of ebooks containing over 1400 essays on major authors, periods and genres. You'll need to login to MUSE to gain access.

There is a vast collection of full text Cambridge Companion ebooks available on everything from Arthur Miller to Chaucer, Christopher Marlowe to Margaret Atwood. There are also more general guides such as Eighteenth-Century Poetry, and Feminist Literary Theory, so whatever modules you are currently studying you are bound to find some useful material here.

See you in 2008!

MyiLibrary ebooks

We currently have access to around 60,000 electronic books via MyiLibrary. You will need the password to login and view the full content (follow the login link at the top right hand side of the MyiLibrary homepage). There is an extensive collection of both European and American history books. You can browse by topic or search for something more specific. Some (but not all) of the ebooks have an Index at the end that links you to the relevant pages.
It's well worth a browse to see what's available, especially as it can sometimes be difficult to get hold of the books you need in the library when they are in high demand.

We'd like to hear your feedback on this resource.
And as ever, you can leave a comment on the blog or contact us at histlib@sheffield.ac.uk.