EThOS – UK Electronic Theses Online

Need to read British doctoral theses? The British Library’s new EThOS service may help you. Try their website at http://ethos.bl.uk/. 

Anyone can search EThOS, but you will need to register and login before ordering and downloading theses.

N.B. Some UK universities are not taking part in the EThOS project – please contact Interlending and Document Supply  if you need more information about the service.

Are dissertations and theses from other universities or other countries important to you?  Want to find out about theses in progress?  Have a look at our guide http://libweb.lancs.ac.uk/theses1.htm

ProQuest scheduled maintenance Sunday 31st January

Research databases that use the ProQuest interface will be down for maintenance on Sunday, January 31 from 3am to 3pm (GMT).

The following databases will be affected:

• Dissertations and Theses (Dissertation Abstracts)
• Historical Newspapers

Got a smartphone?

If you are the owner of an iPhone, Palm, or Android based smartphone you can Chat or eMail your questions to our Ask a Librarian service directly from your phone. Just go to the Library home page and click on the mobile chat widget – it will open up just like an App on your phone.

IEEE Xplore is changing!

The new IEEE Xplore is coming next month,  with ‘a faster search engine, a more efficient interface, new ways to search and save searches, and more.’ See for yourself with this two-minute video demonstration of the new IEEE Xplore,  highlighting advanced search capabilities and improved personalization options.

If you are a regular user, you will need to reset your alerts once you have signed up personally in order to take advantage of personalisation features. IEEE suggest:

• Sign up for training on the new IEEE Xplore.
• Sign up for a personal account so that you can access search alerts and preferences.
• Reset your table of content alerts via your personal account settings in the new IEEE Xplore (your current alerts will expire).

EZproxy and Athens Certificate Problem

[Update 25.01.10: This problem has now been fixed]

There is a problem for users who are logging in to MetaLib via EZproxy, and who subsequently also log in to MetaLib via Athens. Users are finding that their browser is displaying a message similar to the one shown below.

Although it is not good practice to ignore these messages in the normal way when using the Web, in this instance it is safe to continue to the Web site by clicking through the warning link (the warning message may look slightly different in other browsers).

This is a temporary problem, affecting several UK institutions, so although we do not have a timeline to have it fixed, we think it will be soon.

ScienceDirect scheduled maintenance Sat/Sun January 23rd/24th

ScienceDirect will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance for approximately 12 hours from 1:00 pm GMT Saturday, 23 January to 1:00 am GMT Sunday, 24 January.

ACM Digitial Library temporarily unavailable

[Update: 22.01.10 - Access to ACM Digital Library has been restored]

All journals in the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Digital Library are currently unavailable. We have contacted the vendor and hopefully access will be restored soon.

Relocation of the Current Journals collection

Throughout January 2010, we will be relocating the current issues of print journals from the ground floor of the Library to the main subject collections on A,  B and C Floor.

From January, current issues of journals will now be shelved with the bound volumes for the appropriate title.

For help finding journals in the Library, please contact either the Enquiry Desk on A Floor, or send us a message via our Ask a Librarian service.

Many apologies for any inconvenience caused while the move is taking place.

Change in RBA bookings procedure

From Friday 8th January 2010 we are temporarily changing the Rare Book Archive booking procedures.

There will no longer be regular slots on Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Readers should contact Helen Clish directly by phone (01524 592544) or email (h.clish@lancaster.ac.uk) to arrange an appointment at a convenient time. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Extra space for group work

There are three new areas that students can use for group work in the Library. Situated on the ground floor in the Library Atrium they are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Each room can accomodate about 20 people, and there are plenty of power-sockets for laptops.