Friday, January 29, 2016

Library Online Catalog Login Issue

UPDATE 2/9/2016: Hello WesternU Community, We are still working with our library system vendor to resolve this issue and will provide updates as we have them. Thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this issue. Library Support


Hello WesternU Community, We are currently experiencing issues with user accounts in the Library’s Online Catalog and are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. If you need to submit a renewal or place a hold online, please contact the Library at 909-469-5323 and ask for a login pin that will let you log in using your student ID. Thank you for your patience while we resolve this issue. Library Support

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Pediatrics in Review

UPDATE: Pediatrics in Review is now searchable using the eJournal search boxes. 1/21/16 9:00am

Pediatrics in Review is one title that is affected by the current issue we are having with specific journals not appearing in our A-Z list. (See blog post http://pumerantzlibraryoutagesandupdates.blogspot.com/2016/01/journal-z-list-missing-titles.html for more information on this.)

It has come to our attention that some students are looking for articles in this journal. Please use the below URL to access the eJournal.

We have access from July 1979-present.

http://proxy.westernu.edu/login?url=http://pedsinreview.aappublications.org/content/by/year

Journal A-Z list missing titles

UPDATE: All missing journals should now be searchable using the eJournal search boxes except the following 5 titles. These should be searchable by tomorrow.

Clinical Pediatrics
Journal of Animal Science
Journal of Applied Biomechanics
Journal of the Optical Society of America A
Journal of the Optical Society of America B

1/22/2016 2:20pm

Currently we are experiencing an issue with accessing some eJournals through the search boxes on our Home Page and Electronic Resources page. Approximately 197 eJournals that we subscribe to through a specific vendor are not appearing in the search results list despite the fact that we have active subscriptions to those titles. I have been assured by the vendor that this issue is currently their top priority and they are actively trying to resolve it.

If you are on-campus and can not locate a journal you know we have, please try using a search engine like Google to locate the journals webpage. If we subscribe, it will recognize the on-campus IP address and will allow you to access the title. If you are off-campus and search using a search engine, be sure to add the proxy URL http://proxy.westernu.edu/login?url= before the journal URL. This will route you through the proxy server and allow you to gain access once you log in.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact the library at (909) 469-5323 or visit the Ask a Librarian page for more ways to contact us.

This blog post will be updated as soon as more information is available



Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Library System Scheduled Outage

Hello WesternU Community, On January 26th – 28th the Pumerantz Library will be performing a migration of our Library System. During this time, the Online Catalog and its features will be unavailable (item lookup, online renew, online holds, item due notices, etc.). Electronic Resources on the Library’s webpages will be available during this outage. Check-in and Check-out of materials can be done in person, item renewals and holds will be available in person or by phone. Physical items can be looked up using the Pumerantz Library Discovery Service on the Library’s homepage, but the item’s location may not be available. Library Staff can assist you in finding physical materials. If you have any questions or concerns about this outage, please contact the library at 909-469-5323 or email libsupport@westernu.edu. Thank you for your patience while we improve our library systems.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

E-Journal Searching and slow results list

It has come to our attention that the E-Journal search feature available on our Hompage and Electronic Resources page is very slow while waiting for the full-text results list to appear. We have opened a support call with the vendor who provides this interface to assist us in rectifying the issue.

In the meantime, there is a stand alone E-Journal search interface that appears to provide faster results.

This interface is available at http://proxy.westernu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?profile=pfi

We will update this blog post as more information becomes available.

Thank you,
Library Support

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Annual Reviews journals

Increases in journal prices combined with small budget increases have resulted in collection decisions needing to be made regarding bundled packages.

Bundled packages are sometimes referred to as “big deals”. Under this publisher model, the library commits to maintaining their current subscriptions with a publisher.  For an additional fee the publisher will allow the library access to hundreds and sometimes thousands of journals they previously did not have access to. 

However, during times of flat budgets and journal price increases, the library needs to evaluate these bundles to see if they are still cost effective.

Annual Reviews is our smallest bundled package with 25 titles and was selected first to evaluate. Over the past 5 years, 5 Annual Reviews titles have showed consistent high usage in comparison to the other titles in the bundle. With this information we decided to unbundle the package and only subscribe to the top five used journals below.

This move allowed us to save enough money so no further journal cancellations were necessary in 2015-16.

Further good news is the Annual Reviews licensing agreement will allow us to retain access to previously subscribed content. This means we will retain access to the below journals for the dates indicated. Any articles needed from these journals before or after the indicated dates may be requested through Interlibrary Loan.
Annual Review of Public Health  -1996-2015

eJournals Diabetes and Diabetes Care currently unavailable

UPDATE: Access has been restored 1/8/16

Diabetes and Diabetes Care are currently unavailable due to the end of the subscription year on 12/31/2015.  Although the Pumerantz Library did renew online access for 2016, the publisher has not yet posted our renewal in their system. Our subscription agent has been contacted and they have contacted the publisher to renew our subscription ASAP.

We will update this blog post when access has been restored.