Thursday 23 December 2010

Christmas Holidays Closure


Just a reminder that the library, and indeed the college will be closed over the holiday period.
The library is closing at 1pm today, Thursday 23rd December, and will re-open at 9.00am on Tuesday 4th January 2011.
Don't forget that you can renew Library items online yourself via the online library catalogue (your login details are the same as for Moodle and college PCs)

Merry Christmas 2010 and a very Happy New Year 2011 to you all!

Tuesday 21 December 2010

5pm closure Tuesday 21st Dec. - another snowy day!

Today as well the 2 libraries will close early, at 5pm, as the weather conditions are still inclement.
It is our intention however to open as normal tomorrow morning Wed. 22nd Dec. (9.00 in AS and 9.30 in DS)

Library loan due dates - the sequel

Due to the return of the inclement weather, we've extended the loan dates on all books due back this week until January 5th. I hope that we don't have to extend them again, but we'll review the situation in the new year

Monday 20 December 2010

Monday 20th Dec. - Early closure

The 2 libraries will close at 7pm this evening Monday 20/12/10 due to the snow but it is our intention to open as normal tomorrow morning (9.00 in AS and 9.30 in DS).

Student entrepreneur of the year award

DBS in association with First Ireland, are proud to announce that they are sponsoring the Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2011. If you want to win:
  • €1,500 in cash
  • mentoring from industry specialists (7 days)
  • Modern office and warehouse facilities (with no utility costs)
  • Access to ICT infrastructure
  • Use of board and meeting rooms
Then read on...

What you need to do is come with a business idea for a product or service aimed at the Irish market. Ideally though, your idea could be expanded to the UK and perhaps European markets. Your idea needs to be presented in the form of a business plan that doesn't exceed 5,000 words.

If you're interested, the closing date, by which all entries must be submitted, is 31st March. Further details can be found here.

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Previous exam papers

During the exam period, we try to signpost where students can access previous years' exam papers. This semester has seen a change in the layout and indeed URLof Moodle so all previous postings on this subject are invalid. If you want to see previous years exam papers, click here. You will need to login however. Login with the same details that you use to login to college PCs or the online library catalogue. If you don't know those - contact our IT department.

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Christmas Closure

As ever, the library, and indeed the college will be closed over the holiday period. The library will close at 1pm on Thursday 23rd December and re-open at 9.00am on Tuesday 4th January.
If you need to renew your books on or before Thursday 23rd, don't forget you can do so on the online library catalogue. Your login details are the same as for Moodle and college PCs.

Google Chrome and PDFs

Google, in their quest for galactic domination, have developed their own browser, Chrome. It's not bad, but I still prefer Firefox, particularly because of the range of add-ons available. Very recently, our attention has been drawn to the way that Chrome handles PDF requests. Not very well it seems. Chrome has a newly built plug-in for viewing PDFs which may confuse people. When you are searching EBSCO, and want to look at the full-text of an article, clicking the full-text link may bring up a grey, but otherwise blank screen. Don't panic! Instead, look at your browser window. Below the URL address box, there should be a blue menu bar. One of the options on this bar is "Download PDF".




If you click this, Chrome will open the PDF in a new browser tab.

If you don't have "Download PDF" as an option on the menu bar, perhaps you don't have the PDF viewer plugin installed or enabled. You can check by typing chrome://plugins/ in the address box and looking for "Chrome PDF viewer".

If you are still having problems, here are some suggestions from Google themselves

You can also disable the Chrome PDF viewer (and switch to Adobe reader, if you have Adobe reader, that is) by:

Click Wrench icon located next to address box and select "Options"

Click the "Under The Hood" tab

Click "Content Settings" button under "Privacy"

Select "Plug-ins" and click "Disable individual plug-ins" (a new browser window may appear - chrome://plugins/)

Disable "Chrome PDF Viewer" which should...

...Enable "Adobe Reader 9" (Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape "9.4.1")

Monday 13 December 2010

Single sign on is coming to DBS library

We'll shortly be starting a trial of OpenAthens, which, to go all technical for a minute, is a framework for managing users' identity information and enabling secure access to an institution's electronic resources through a single username and password (single sign-on). I'll repeat that last bit. A single username and password for accessing all electronic resources. Now it may be that there are one or two resources that don't support this, but won't it be great to have if not all, then the vast majority of resources accessible in the one place via one username and password?

As we're starting with a trial, we can probably only make a few resources available this way initially. We'll get this set up for the new year, and more information will be forthcoming then.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Justis and Warc

Access to Justis off-campus has been restored, but only in EBSCOHost Integrated Search. To access Justis off-campus, go to the e-library page and open the EBSCOHost Integrated Search link. Login with your username and password (student number/date of birth), go to the A to Z database list and scroll down for Justis. You can search Justis on this platform though retrieving a search result will take you to the native Justis interface.

Warc is also available through the EBSCOHost Integrated Search platform in the same manner as above. Stand alone access continues through Moodle, for the moment.

In the new year, we hope to vastly simplify how you access databases off-campus. Stay tuned!

Monday 6 December 2010

A gentle reminder about passwords

When you are first set up on the college's computer network, you have a standard password. While this password is unique to you, it's not going to take a Ph'D in cryptology to work out what it is. It is in your best interests to change your password as soon as possible, particularly if you use your college PC account to do any printing. An ideal password is long and has letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers, but to be honest stick to something that you'll remember; use something that's memorable to you but not known by anyone else.

Sunday 5 December 2010

Friday 10th December 2010 - early closure

Dear students,
We are not forecasting another heavy snowfall over Ireland for next Friday, 10th Dec., but we will close the two libraries earlier than usual that day to facilitate staff attendance to DBS Christmas party.
So on Friday 10th, Library services will finish at 7pm but will resume as usual on Saturday, 9-5pm and the two libraries will also be open on Sunday 12th Dec., 11-5pm.

Friday 3 December 2010

Friday early closure

The library will close at 5.30pm this evening Friday 03/12/10. It is our intention to open as normal both Saturday (9.30am to 5.00pm) and Sunday (11am to 5pm). Hopefully the weather will assent to this.

Thursday 2 December 2010

...And more closure notifications

The library will close at 5pm this evening but will open tomorrow as normal. All tomorrow's classes are cancelled however, except for ACCA Master Class (which will commence at 10.00 am rather than as originally scheduled at 9.00am) and the CBE exams scheduled to take place at 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm. All weekend classes are currently expected to run as scheduled. It is intended that all college buildings will be open as normal tomorrow.

Class cancellation

All evening classes today, Thursday 2nd December are cancelled.

Library Loan Due Dates

Due to the ongoing inclement weather, all loans that were due back today, tomorrow and Saturday have now been extended to Monday. If the weather hasn't improved by then, we'll think about extending due dates a little further.

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Oh the weather outside is frightful ... part deux

Due to adverse weather conditions, please note that the library is closing at 5pm this evening and will reopen at 12pm tomorrow, Thursday. The due date on all books due back today will be changed so that they are due back tomorrow
All classes are cancelled for this evening and until 12.00 midday tomorrow, Thursday 2nd December. The College will be closed from 6.30pm this evening, but will be open as normal tomorrow morning.
Edit: it's Thursday morning and we're open as normal

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

I was going to say but the library is so delightful, but you all know that already. We're in a period of bad weather, so it's understandable if returning library books is not your top priority right now. Here are a couple of tips to avoid overdue books:

* double check the due date of your books and make sure to renew them online before they become overdue
* don't borrow 3-day loan items if you are not sure to be able to come back to the Library after three days (as 3-day loans are not renewable!)

You can renew books yourself online. Just click on the 'Access my library account' iconon the Library website homepage and login with the same login details as the ones you use for Moodle and for the College PCs (you can also find a detailed guide on how to renew online in print in the Library or on the Library website).

If you are having difficulties renewing your items online, email us at library@dbs.ie or call us at: AS Library: 01-4177572 / DS Library: 01-4178745

We will look sympathetically on students who can't make it into the library, but obviously the more notice you give us, the more sympathetic we'll be.

Friday 26 November 2010

Sunday opening - WINTER Exams

You'll be pleased to know that we will be open on Sundays to help you prepare for your winter exams.
You will be able to avail of the two libraries on:
- Sunday 5th December - 11.00-17.00
- Sunday 12th December - 11.00-17.00
- Sunday 9th January 2011 - 11.00-17.00

Good luck with your exams!

A Friday afternoon posting about ebooks

We've been asked this question more than once, so here's a good place in which to answer it. Question: Is there any easy way of searching the library's ebook holdings - so that books the library doesn't own don't appear in the results list? The answer is there are two ways you can do this:

1. In the online library catalogue you can go to the guided or the advanced search and in the 'Type of Media' /'Media Type' drop down menu, select E-books. You can enter your search terms in the search box and only library-owned-books will be returned as results.

2.On Dawsonera itself, on the advanced search tab, there is a box "Include not owned". Make sure that this box is unchecked or unticked.



Another query which has come up on more than one occasion, is that students have difficulties reading ebooks online. There are probably a million different reasons for this. Here are two solutions depending upon OS and browser type:

1. Windows and Internet Explorer. If you see the error ""Internet Explorer has encountered a Problem and needs to shutdown", check if you have the quickfind browser helper object (BHO) installed. To read Dawsonera e-books, you should disable this BHO. Details on how to do this can be found here

2. If you are using Mac OS X and Firefox, you may need to install a PDF Plugin for Firefox on Mac OS X in order to read ebooks online

Suggestion box

Thanks a lot to those of you who gave us suggestions to improve the Library via the suggestion box.
Here are a few updates you might find useful:
- we have a recycling bin in the photocopy room is AS library
- if you feel too cold or too warm in the Library, feel free to come to the desk and we'll turn on the heating or the air conditioning
- the fountain outside the Library in AS had to be disabled as it was constantly leaking (there is a fountain available to you in the canteen however)
- we try to keep noise levels at their minimum, but if you feel that the Library is too noisy, feel free to ask us to go around and check

Thanks a lot for the feedback and remeber that you can also give us your ideas by filling in the online survey at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FM5XY7B

Tuesday 23 November 2010

We want your feedback!


Dear Library users, the Library survey 2010 is now available for you to complete, so don't miss your chance to give us your feedback on the Library services in DBS!

All of you that use our services: students, staff, alumni members, external members are now invited to tell us what you think of the services you receive and what you would like to see improved. So follow this link and give us your feedback: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FM5XY7B

There will be a draw among all respondents to win a €100 HMV voucher... one more reason to give us your feedback!

Thanks a lot of in advance to all respondents!

Print version of the survey are also available in the libraries if you prefer to fill in the survey in print

Friday 19 November 2010

Catalogue Upgrade

And lo, one of the minor changes prophesied recently has indeed come to pass. We are now running a new version of the online library catalogue. We're still testing it to ensure that it runs ok - you can search and login to see your account and we'll check that renewals and reservations still work. Any problems, let us know...but we might know already.

Thursday 18 November 2010

Another minor change

One of our fine databases is Lexis Legal. Some confusion may arise because in the integrated search link on the e-library page and in the relevant subject portals, Lexis Legal is entitled All England Law Reports, which is only one component of Lexis Legal. We have amended the name that appears on the integrated search link and the subject portals to Lexis Legal. We hopefully will change the name on the advanced search page too shortly.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Minor Changes

Changes are being made to a few electronic resources around here:

Justis will shortly be available on and off-campus via the search box and the adversearch page on the library website.

The interface, ans the URL for Marketline is changing. For a preview go here (on campus only). More content will be available too.

The Warc interface is changing too. There will be new content, including Topic Pages, which will provide a short cut to retrieving relevant content allin one place. Each Topic Page will include the likes of selected research papers, case studies, company profiles and news. In addition, Warc Briefings will provide historical overviews, detail likely future trends and suggest further readings on particular topics. More news as it becomes available.

Finally for now, the online library catalogue will shortly receive a makeover. If you want to see what the catalogue will look like, click here

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Esssential Maintenance

Because this is reading week this week, some essential maintenance will be performed on the student network which will hopefully help resolve some of the Pdrive mapping issues and slow connectivity.



What this will affect?

* All student pdrives, staff account Pdrive and lecture exams drive
* Students will need to save documents to USB when opening and saving in an application


Internet Access will be unaffected



Maintenance Window

10- 4pm 17th November

Friday 12 November 2010

Library survey - Access to online resources

Thanks a lot to all of you who answered our survey on accessing online resources in the Library and in DBS.
Thanks to your feedback we hope to be able to keep on improving our online resources service to you in the coming months.

Congratualations to Teresa Breitenlechner who won the €100 HMV voucher!

Have a great week-end!

Monday 8 November 2010

Library Newsletter

In case anyone reads this but not the news section on the library webite, below is the latest edition of the library newsletter. Thanks to Fiona for the funky new look.

Friday 5 November 2010

Justis

To reiterate what's been said elsewhere, Justis is no longer available off-campus It's not gone forever, promise. More news in 2-4 weeks or thereabouts. On-campus, Justis is still available from here. We do apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Saving stuff on EBSCO

If I had a cent for every time this has come up recently, I'd have at least oooh 5cents, possibly more. The query goes something like this: I save stuff in my folder in EBSCO, but when I log in again and go to my folder there's nothing there and/or my login details don't work. Please help." This one is fairly simple:

In order to be able to save items etc. You need to create a personal account. Once you have logged in with your student number, there should be a blue menu bar on the top of the page with various options. One of these is Sign In. If you click this, you will be prompted for a username and password. Do not enter your student name and password, but instead click on Create A New Account. Once you do this you can save items and searches, set up RSS/email alerts etc

A personal account is necessary, because although you have a unique login to access EBSCO off-campus, you may be using other methods to login to EBSCO elsewhere – e.g. on-campus, access is by IP authentication – hence EBSCO has no way of knowing when “you” are searching – unless you login with your personal account – which you can do from anywhere. Your personal account will not grant access to EBSCO (for that you need the student number and date of birth), but will allow you to personalise how you use EBSCO.

Thursday 28 October 2010

Dawsonera

Posts have been pretty thin on the ground recently as we are all very busy. Anyway, we have made changes to Dawsonera logins from last year and want to avoid confusion (no chance!)
If you registered before January 2009 and have never logged in to Dawsonera, please contact the library
If you registered after January 2009 and before July 2009, your username is your student number and your password is your date of birth in the format dd/mm/yyyy
Dawsonera then altered the way that we created usernames and passwords so that their software recognised the first slash in dd/mm/yyyy as some kind of end of line or end of field symbol, so instead of seeing dd/mm/yyyy as the password, Dawsonera sees dd as the password. Two character passwords are not allowed by Dawsonera. Hence if you registered between July 2009 and August 2010, your username is your student number and your password is your date of birth in format ddmmyyyy
Dawsonera then came up with a fix that allowed us to go back to using dd/mm/yyyy as the password, so if you registered after August 2010, your username is your student number and your password is your date of birth in the format dd/mm/yyyy.
Obviously we're not thrilled about changing passwords like this, but dd/mm/yyyy is easier to create and it matches up with logging into databases. Thank you for your considerable patience.

Thursday 21 October 2010

Bank Holiday Closure

The library will be closed on Bank Holiday Monday 25th October. Fear not, our library catalogue, electronic books and electronic resources will still be available off-campus.

Though the library is closed, some DBS buildings will be open as detailed below:

Aungier St. - Open Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th & B/H Monday 25th - 8:00am to 6:00pm.

Balfe St. - Closed

Bow Lane - Closed

Dame St. - Open Saturday 23rd - 9:00am to 6:00pm

Castle House - Open Saturday 23rd & Monday the 25th - 9:00am to 6:00pm

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Win €100 (well, a €100 voucher)!

Of course there's a catch; you have to take the Library survey on accessing online resources and you will be entered in the draw to win a €100 HMV voucher! Just check the ‘News Feed’ on the Library website http://library.dbs.ie and click on the relevant link. Or go directly to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3JB6YZV

Thank you very much for giving us your feedback!

Friday 8 October 2010

Britannica Online

We are currently experiencing issues with Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Off-campus access and searching through the library homepage is currently unavailable. On-campus access is still available through the link on the elibrary page on the library website. We'll let you know when access is restored.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

New Library Website - subject portals

We recently redesigned our library website and we think it's much better that what we had. One of the enhancements that we like is our redesigned subject portals. They're web pages, as opposed to PDFs, and for each subject they contain:

A description of DBS subscribed databases for that subject (and a link to search them)
A link to relevant journals on that subject, from our A to Z
A link to our delicious site where subject-relevant web resources are bookmarked
A link to the database search page
A link to the library guides page
A customised search engine that searches web resources relevant to the specific subject. As an example check out the Anthropology search engine on the right of this page. A few of these may still be under construction, so be patient. If you can think of any websites/web resources that should be included in these search engines, do let us know

Thursday 23 September 2010

Dawsonera

Dawsonera, for the benefit of our three new readers (hello!) is our electronic book platform. You can read a book online, or download it to be read. Anyway until now, in order to access Dawsonera you had to login. On-campus or off-campus, made no difference; you had to login. That has changed slightly. On-campus, you no longer need to login if you want to read an ebook in the DBS collection, just click this link. If you want to avail yourself of personalised features on campus, such as print, copy, notes, add to favourites etc., you will need to login and will be prompted to do so. If you want to access Dawsonera off-campus, you will need to login at this link.

Another enhancement to Dawsonera is that you can now save citations into your Zotero library. Zotero is a citation management add-on to the Firefox browser and is strongly recommended by library. Select 'Export to Endnote' and if you have Zotero installed, the citation will be saved automatically.

Term-time opening hours


This is it, the new academic year kicks in and the two libraries will be open again 4 evenings a week until 10pm to accomodate you all with your studies.
Full details of the opening hours are available on the library website, under the 'About the Library' section.

All the best with your study and research!

Thursday 16 September 2010

A period of transition

We think the new library website is much better than the old one. There's various changes that we have made, including a search box on the main page and a new 'Search All Resources'. As a consequence of this, we've had to change how a few databases are accessed off-campus. For the moment, access to Warc, Justis, Mintel and Westlaw will be through Moodle (Westlaw can also be searched off-campus via the new search interface). If you are asked for a password for Justis or Westlaw, please contact library staff.

Tuesday 7 September 2010

Self-Service has come to Dame Street

Today we have finished installation of a self-service station at the Dame Street library, making DBS library 100% RFID enabled. I believe we are the first library in Ireland to have achieved this. Probably everyone has used the Aungier St. self-service stations, but if not, they're very simple to use: aks your friendly neighbourhood library staff if you are unsure of what to do.

Monday 6 September 2010

Meet the new blog...

The new library website has a number of enhancements. One of which is an internally hosted blog. This blog is hosted by Google and is external to the library website. More people look at the library website than the blog, so as our American cousins would say "do the math"! We'll keep this around for a while, but for DBS library news and views start looking at http://library.dbs.ie/blog.htm, which we'll try to fill with unbeatable ways to get rich and tips on how to stay young and slim or perhaps, instead, how to get more out of your library.

Friday 3 September 2010

Justis

Another day, another database. Justis is available on-campus only at the moment. Please bear with us as we arrange off-campus access. We'll let know when that happens

Thursday 2 September 2010

WARC Access

In the lead up to the new academic year, we are very busy. You will have seen the new website and the new search interface. One small issue is WARC access. We are in the process of making alternative arrangements for on and off-campus access. WARC is now available on-campus from this link. Please bear with us while we find a home for off-campus access.

Tuesday 31 August 2010

Logging into the Library Catalogue

As part of our quest to reduce the number of passwords that you have to remember, you will no longer need a PIN to login to the online catalogue, instead you will need to use the same username and password that you use to login to a college PC. We'll change "PIN" to "password" at some point in the near future.

Monday 23 August 2010

NEW Library website!


Here we are! The new Library website was launched on Friday last and we really hope that you'll like (love!) it.
Our amazing Library and IT staff worked their best to make sure that it is the most user-friendly possible and that searching all our online resources is just easy with our new federated searching tool!

You can also book your PCs and study rooms yourself online, check our subject portals, use our online tutorials, and many, many more!

So do have a look at the new website, do use it, and please give us your feedback by email, phone or in person!

DBS Library website address: library.dbs.ie

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Aungier Street Library - Extended opening hours - Temporary closure


Extended opening hours:

In link with DBS open evenings, the Library in Aungier Street will open until 20.00 (instead of 17.15) on:
  • Wednesday 25th August 2010
  • Wednesday 8th September 2010


Temporary closure:
On Wednesday 15th September, Aungier Street Library will temporarily close between 13.00 and 17.15 but will reopen from 17.15 until 20.00.

Aungier Street building will remain open normally so you are welcome to use classrooms between 13.00 and 17.15.

Dame Street Library will be opened normally that day from 9.30 until 22.00.

Thursday 29 July 2010

Bank Holiday Closure

Monday is a bank holiday. Therefore both libraries will be closed that day. If you do feel the need for a dail dose of DBS, the Aungier St building will be open from 8.00am to 6.00pm on that day

Movement

We have lots of summer jobs on at the moment. After typing this, I'm off to proofread the new improved library website, which we think you'll like (for example it has an online PC and room booking system). Another summer job, and the subject of this short posting, is moving the printing and photocopying room. It's no longer going to be at the top of the library, but in the office next to the DVD collection. So coming into the library turn left and then turn right at the DVDs, simple. The move is in progress even as I type.

Thursday 15 July 2010

Self-Service is coming to Dame St.

Last summer we introduced RFID self-service stations to Aungier St. It's no understatement to say that they have been a big success. It's also no understatement to say that you'd like Dame St. to go self-service. too. Next month we will be granting your wish. However to facilitate this, we will have to close Dame St library from the 16th to the 20th of August. As this is a time when some of you will be furiously working on dissertations, we plan to ship all the theses held in Dame St library down to Aungier St. so that they are still accessible when the library is closed. A reminder will appear nearer the time

Wednesday 14 July 2010

News International Titles and Lexis-Nexis

Hello, I hope you are all enjoying your summer. Counter-intuitively, the summer is a really busy time for us in the library as we get to do all the stuff that we can't do when you are here. Anyway, some of you may be aware the News International titles The Times and Sunday Times are now behind a paywall, which means if you want to look at stories from these papers you will have to pay - currently £1 per day or a £2 weekly subscription. This is an interesting development and one that will be closed watched by other newspaper publishers. Personally speaking, I don't think that this is a good idea as I don't think that either paper offers anything that I can't see for free elsewhere on the net. Perhaps people may wish to subscribe to read their favourite commentators, I don't know, but it seems to me that The Times and Sunday Times are cutting themselves off from the vast majority of Internet users, particularly those who would have reached the papers from Google or other search engines.However the good news is that the majority of articles from these titles can still be read on Lexis Nexis News UK, to which the library subscribes. Lexis Nexis News UK is available to DBS students on and off-campus, though off-campus you will have to use 'Search All Resources' or the new EBSCOHost Integrated Search.

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Wireless printing

Did you know that you can now print directly from your laptop?
Just grab a 'Wireless printing guide' at the Library desk to setup the wireless printing on your laptop and you can start printing!

Thursday 3 June 2010

Bank Holiday Closure

DBS libraries will be closed on Monday 7th June. The Aungier St. building - but not the library will be open from 8.00am to 6.00pm if you are looking for study space.

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Self-issue stations survey: a big thank you!

Thanks a lot to all students and DBS staff who took the time to fill in the survey on the self-issue stations in the Library. We received 132 answers that will help Library staff in the writing of a paper on the implementation of self-issue technology at DBS Library.
So thanks again to all of you who took the time to give us your feedback and congratulations to Anita who won the €100 HMV voucher!

Wednesday 12 May 2010

Personalised Start Pages

When you open a web browser, what’s the first page you see? Web browsers give you the option of setting your home page – the page that the browser opens first, but there are an increasing variety of services that offer you the ability to create a customised home page which can contain links to your favourite web pages, news feeds and any number of gadgets or widgets that can for example, check your email, give you the weather forecast for where you are, let you know what’s on at your local cinema and so on. Most services also let you customise the look and feel of the page – for a more personal experience – obviously. Personalised start pages are an example of a Web 2.0 application, where the user (you) defines the content that he or she sees.
Ok, some examples of personalised start pages:
iGoogle: as you may guess from the name iGoogle is the Google personalised home page service. You may love or hate Google but you can’t ignore them. iGoogle has literally hundreds and hundreds of gadgets that you can choose to add to your start page including Google modules such as Google Maps, Google Talk, Google Docs, Google Bookmarks and a vast number of user created gadgets (there’s even one to search the library catalogue). iGoogle also allows easy integration of RSS feeds. Your humble scribe uses iGoogle and would recommend it.
Netvibes: This is similar to iGoogle and thought by many to be better. Like iGoogle, there’s a myriad of gadgets (here called widgets) available. One advantage of Netvibes is that there’s a widget for capturing web pages, allowing you to have a home page composed of other web pages. One disadvantage is that the default language is French (Netvibes are a French company). Your humble scribe also uses and recommends Netvibes
Pageflakes is similar to iGoogle and Netvibes. Like those services you can have tabbed home pages, with each tab devoted to a different topic. Pageflakes has had some issues in the recent past (see here for example). You may also find advertising content appearing on your Pageflakes homepage.
Protopage is nice looking and has good audio and video options and a nice RSS reader.
Symbaloo: is nice but basic. Click and drag large block icons. Not as sophisticated as some, but it’s quick to set up and easy to use.
Bonzobox: Like symbaloo, click, drag and drop links to your favourite websites. Like Symbaloo, more basic than some others.

There is no best start page, each of the above and others (there are many, many others) not mentioned all have their advantages and disadvantages. If you are thinking about using a start page, think about the following:
how easy is it to set up?
how many modules/widgets/gadgets are available?
is there are a developer community?
how much customisation can you do?

One feature of start pages that I particularly like, is that I can gather together content from various websites together on the one page - I can see the latest news, sports news and information pertaining to my work all on the one page without having to visit 327 different websites. Alternatively you may want an online pet hamster or to play games online. Start pages are all about what you want.

Monday 10 May 2010

Last chance for Library classes

As the college starts to wind down (but no, not us, we'll be busier than ever behind the scenes) a little over the summer months, this week sees the last scheduled library classes of the year. I've no doubt that there will be some ad hoc classes arranged during the summer, but otherwise this week's classes are the last. Stay tuned for news of summer classes.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Library SUMMER opening hours

We are switching to summer opening hours on Monday May 17th and until Saturday September 25th. During this period all students can access all DBS Libraries without restriction (which means that undergraduate students are welcome to use Dame Street Library).

Opening hours for Aungier Street and Dame Street will be as follows:
  • Aungier Street
Monday 9.30-17.15
Tuesday 9.30-22.00
Wednesday 9.30-17.15
Thursday 9.30-22.00
Friday 9.30-17.15
Saturday 9.30-17.00
(closed on Sunday)

  • Dame Street
Monday 9.30-22.00
Tuesday 9.30-17.00
Wednesday 9.30-22.00
Thursday 9.30-17.00
Friday 9.30-17.00
Saturday 9.30-14.00
(closed on Sunday)

Friday 30 April 2010

Bank holiday Weekend

The library's (all 3 sites) opening hours this bank holiday weekend are:

Saturday 09.30 - 17.00
Sunday 11.00 - 17.00
Monday 11.00 - 17.00

You may have books due back on Monday - no fine will be charged if they are brought back on Tuesday

Happy (and productive) studying!

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Library Newsletter

A bit late in the month, and you're all studying for exams, at least I hope you're studying for your exams(!), but here's the most recent edition of the library newsletter.



And here's the most recent list of recent acquisitions too

Monday 26 April 2010

Changes to Emerald

The good people at Emerald are making changes to their website. They promise a new, more intuitive and user-friendly design and are taking the opportunity to give the site a fresh new look. The changes have not been implemented yet, but you can see a preview of them at http://beta.emeraldinsight.com. Please note the following - that's a trial site; it's not live - it's a full copy of the Emerald site as it was at the end of March. It will be updated periodically however. Also if you have a personal profile you set up, no changes you make on the beta site will be carried over to the "live" site.
Every page on the beta site has a link to a comments form where you can let Emerald know what you think of the new site

iGoogle library gadget

For those of you with iGoogle start pages (and I'll explain start pages another time), there's now a gadget that will let you search the library catalogue from your start page. You can also login to your library account or click the DBS logo to go to the DBS library website. Click on the image below to get the gadget
.

Friday 23 April 2010

Good luck!

Just a very short post to wish all our student the best of luck in their forthcoming exams

Wednesday 21 April 2010

skills4studycampus part 2

To access the resource described in yesterday's post, go to this link and launch the application (if it doesn't launch automatically). You will need to register in order to look at the site (I did say it was a highly personalised resource :-). Access is on campus only, but I'll clarify that.

Tuesday 20 April 2010

New trial: skills4studycampus.

Perhaps just before the start of the exams is not ideal, but from tomorrow (pm) we will be beginning a trial of skills4studycampus, which is an interactive e-learning resource for students that aims to improve students' understanding of core skills needed for successful study, specifically, writing, critical thinking, reading & note taking and referencing & plagiarism. Students are encouraged to complete a wide variety of interactive activities, tests and assessments, to keep personal notes, tags and a learning journal. The learning experience is therefore highly personalised and focused on their individual needs. More details shortly.

Monday 19 April 2010

World Book Day 2010

Did you know that on April 23rd we are celebrating World Book and Copyright Day all over the world?
Inspired by the Catalonian tradition of offering a rose and a book on Saint George's day (Sant Jordi) and because in the same year of 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died, UNESCO chose April 23rd as the date to celebrate world literature and the protection of intellectual property through copyright.
So if you would like to share one of your favourite read with your friends, classmates, lecturers, librarians, whoever you can think of... this is the day! And if you are interested in discovering poetry by Galician poet Rosalía de Castro go to Dublin Instituto Cervantes on Lincoln Place (Dublin 2) on Thursday 22nd.

Happy world book day 2010!

Friday 16 April 2010

Institutional Repositories

An institutional repository is an online archive of material produced by an institution. For academic institutions, this would include research papers, dissertations and teaching material. Generally, institutional repositories are created for a number of reasons: to increase the visibility of the institution's research output; to store and preserve material that otherwise may be easily lost and to provide open access to the institution's scholarly research. These days, most research institutions have created and populated institutional repositories, but where to find them? The Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) has been mentioned here before. This is a directory of academic open access repositories. In addition to the directory OPenDOAR lets you search for specific respositories, and perhaps more usefully, lets you search repository contents. Similar in nature is the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR) which like OopenDOAR allows you to browse or search for specific directories and also search the contents of directories. I'd also like to mention Repository66, which is a mashup (a web site or application that combines data or functionality from different sources) derived from Google Maps and OpenDOAR & ROAR, showing the worldwide location of different institutional repositories. Institutional repositories provide a treasure trove of freely available research output that should be considered if you are having no luck with more traditional electronic resources.

Thursday 15 April 2010

The second of two short posts about dissertations

We recently received a comment on a blog posting, which asked about access to the Index to Theses in Great Britain and Ireland. This will be considered in the near future. However, as the name suggests, this is merely an index of theses and dissertations - no (or very little) full text is available: hence if you were able to search this Index, you'd need to request by Inter Library Loan, the hard copy of the dissertation. Index to Theses is not a free service either. An alternative that may (or may not) be useful to you is the British Library's Electronic Thesis Online Service -EThOS. This aims to be a "'single point of access' where researchers the world over can access ALL theses produced by UK Higher Education". Here's the interesting bit (emphasis mine):
Many UK institutions support Open Access to their theses, so download of their digital and digitised theses is free to the researcher. A small number of participating institutions may not be able to offer Open Access and in this case the researcher may have to pay for the digitisation

You will need to register, but registration is free. You don't need to register to search EThOS, but you will need to login in order to be able to download or order digitisation of a thesis (that won't necessarily be free). Sometimes however, you'll find a link to a thesis on an institution's institutional repository, in which case you can bypass EThOS. The database currently contains over 250,000 records (Index to Theses contains over 500,000, but less that 1% of those are full-text). Shortly I'll mention how to find institutional repositories.

The first of two short posts about dissertations

In addition to the dissertations physically held in the library, we have (quite literally) a small number available online that can be accessed via the library catalogue. You can find them by visiting the online library catalogue and selecting the Advanced Search option. In the drop down Media box, select E-Dissertations and in the Search box type *. Here's an illustration:


This search will show all e-dissertations held by the library. To look at a dissertation online, go into the catalogue record and click the link in the:
Other resources: URL for direct access to this e-dissertation: field. This will open the full-text (pdf) of that dissertation.
As I say, we have a small number available at the moment, but we expect to dramatically increase the number of such e-dissertations in the near future.

Wednesday 14 April 2010

School of Arts Mentoring Scheme

Those nice people in the School of Arts intend implementing a mentoring scheme for first year arts students next academic year. If you are not a first year arts student next year (that is, if you will be a second or third year arts student next year) and would like to be involved contact Orna Farrell

Friday 9 April 2010

Going mobile

You don't need to be sitting at a computer to access the library's electronic resources.
  • Our E-books from Dawsonera can be accessed and read on iPhones and other handheld devices.
  • Our Ebsco databases are available in a mobile-friendly format
  • The library catalogue can be accessed on mobiles also, while we are told:
    Heritage Online 3.4 will include a cut down display for mobile devices so it will fit more easily onto smaller screens and require less network bandwidth, and so be more appropriate for mobile connections.

We're currently using Heritage Online 3.3 and will be upgrading to Heritage Online 3.4 once exam fever subsides

Wednesday 7 April 2010

A gentle reminder about gentle reminders

It's nice to see that the reminder email service we (re)started in January has been very well received. However, we'd like to remind readers that the reminder email does not represent any official notification of the due date of your loans. This service is like a bonus, a courtesy service ...reminding you of the due date. If you use the self-service stations to borrow books, you get a receipt with the due date, please don't throw this away. If you have a PIN, you can manage your library account online. We're also available by phone, by email and by Ask-a-Librarian, hence if you try to use "I didn't get a reminder email" to avoid liability for a fine, you will get the same reception you'd expect from saying that your dog ate your homework (I didn't have a dog so I had to eat my own homework). I know there's more pressure on our readers at the moment, but it shouldn't be too difficult to manage your library account to avoid liabilities being incurred

Library Catalogue - One click searching

In the online library catalogue, it's possible to highlight a word or phrase in and then search for it (on the catalogue) by using a right mouse click. I was thinking of disabling the feature because I don't find it useful at all, but if anyone cares to disagree with me, I'll leave it be. So, any thoughts on the utility of one click searching here?

Thursday 1 April 2010

Reminder and Overdue E-mails - service disruption

There will some disruption to the reminder and overdue email services over the Easter weekend, normal service will resume on Tuesday

Easter Opening

A quick note about Easter opening hours. All DBS libraries are open as follows
Friday 2nd April 11am to 5pm
Saturday 3rd April 09.30am to 5pm
Sunday 4th April 11am to 5pm
Monday 5th April 11am to 5pm

Normal opening hours resume on Tuesday 6th April.

The library would like to wish Happy Easter to all our users

Wednesday 31 March 2010

Self-issue stations: we need your feedback!


So it's soon going to be two semesters that we have implemented our new self issuing stations in Aungier Street Library and before we do the same in Dame Street Library, we need your feedback on this service!

Do you like it? Do you love it? ... Do you hate it?
Whatever you have to say about this service, it's your chance to let us know!

So fill in this online survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CNDP679 and you could also win a €100 HMV voucher!

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Writing for Exams

I'm pleased to say that our colleagues in the School of Arts are holding a couple of workshops on writing for exams.

Workshops will take place:
Wednesday 7th of April 5-6 AS3.4
Tuesday 13th of April 5-6 AS3.4
I've no idea what will be covered, but I think it might have something to do with exam technique. For more details, contact Orna Farrell

Monday 29 March 2010

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations

Similar to the DART-Europe E-theses Portal, mentioned the other week is the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations, an international organization "dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic analogues to the traditional paper-based theses and dissertations". In other words, full-text theses and dissertations. Online. For you to search. Have fun!

Thursday 25 March 2010

A3 printing

A3 printing is now available in Aungier Street and Dame Street Libraries.

In Aungier Street Library, use the printer beside the entrance door (one drawer is always loaded with A3 paper) for the other printers in the photocopy room in Aungier Street and in Dame Street Library, just ask for paper at the desk.

To select the A3 paper size you just need to click on print settings or print properties and change the default paper size 'A4' to 'A3'.

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Library Class cancellation

Due to staff non-availability, there will be no library class on March 25th.

Friday 19 March 2010

Exam time!

This is a good cop/bad cop posting (though you may think there's not much good cop content.)

1. To ensure fair and equitable access to Library materials in the run up to exams; from 22nd March 2010 , fines on standard loan and 7-day loan items will increase to €1.20 per day while fines on short loan materials will increase to €3.00 per day. To avoid incurring fines, Library books can be renewed online, at self-issuing stations or by telephoning the relevant library site (contact details are below). Please note that overdue items may not be renewed where a library account has a fine balance exceeding €5.00
I want to, and I think I need to, stress that we do this to attempt to ensure fair and equitable access to library books during the time when there's most demand for them. If you, as a student, are looking for a specific textbook for exam revision, but cannot find it because someone is keeping them past the due date, how would you feel? Doubling fines is an attempt to motivate people to return books on time when they most need to be returned on time. All monies garnered by library fines are reinvested in the library: your 60 cent fine for a book brought back one day late will contribute to purchasing the latest edition of your core textbooks or a new DVD that you will be borrowing one day. It's not like we spend the money on fine wine and expensive chocolates (despite my many requests). If this was an exercise in profiteering, don't you think we'd double the fines for late returns of DVDs?

Here's a article from a library academic journal discussing fines (you can access the link directly on campus). While he mentions the arguments for abolishing fines, I agree, partly, with the author when he says:
it seems to me that they serve a vital function for any library that requires efficient and equitable circulation of stock. It cannot be right that an essentially selfish act on the part of one user or a group of users deprives other users of access to that material.
2. To give you lots of notice: exam results will not be issued to students until all borrowed materials have been returned to the Library and outstanding fines cleared. Outstanding fines can be paid by cash or credit card at any library site. Payment must be received no later than one week prior to the release of exam results. If payment is received after this date then your results will not be issued for a period of up to 24 hours after the release date of results. This period is required to allow the examinations office time to update the relevant files.

3. During the period Monday 22nd March until Saturday 15th May, the 3 Libraries will be opened 11.00-17.00 on the following dates:

- Sunday 28th March 2010

- Friday 2nd April 2010 (good Friday)

- Sunday 4th April 2010 (Easter Sunday)

- Monday 5th April 2010 (Easter Monday)

- Sunday 11th April 2010

- Sunday 18th April 2010

- Sunday 25th April 2010

- Sunday 2nd May 2010

- Monday 3rd May 2010 (May bank holiday)

- Sunday 9th May 2010


So basically, we'll be open 7 days a week from 28/03 to 15/05

Thursday 18 March 2010

WARC Access revisited

I'm glad I don't work for WARC. It would seem that they received a lot of feedback from academic institutions (I sent some feedback myself) concerning their switch to personalised logins earlier this week. In response to the feedback, the use of personalised logins for users at academic institutions that prefer other access methods, like us, has been discontinued. Access to WARC is now back to normal, hooray. You don't need to create a personalised login to access WARC, unless you really want to that is. Well done to WARC for being so flexible and responsive.

Tuesday 16 March 2010

WARC access

You can ignore this post, unless you really want to create a personal login, full details above.

WARC have changed the way that users access their site. Personalised logins are now the way forward - there's an element of mea culpa here as we knew they were bringing them in, but what we didn't know, was that personalised logins are mandatory. The good people of WARC say there are a number of advantages to users:
  • logins will will be easier to remember
  • If you have cookies enabled, you can log in without entering any details (once you have registered)
  • You can create profiles and folders accessible from any PC
  • Personalised logins will enable users to customise delivery of content (when changes are made to WARC later in the year)
To register click the WARC link on 'Search All Resources' (which is a secret, so I can't put the link here), and follow the on-screen instructions. Check your profile and confirm your preferences (and your agreement with the terms and conditions of usage). You will be sent an email with a security PIN, which you will need to complete the registration process. Here's a registration guide. As of now, WARC can only be searched on a stand-alone basis, that is, it can't be searched by 'Search All Resources' or EBSCOHost Integrated Search, and we await further news about this.

Monday 15 March 2010

Library Catalogue / 'Search All Resources'

You may have noticed since we (again) upgraded to the latest version of the library catalogue, the occasional issue with access - not enough licences to use the catalogue, or the catalogue being unavailable at times. We scheduled a catalogue reset once a day every day, but this is not sufficient to ensure 24 hour access. Subsequently we have identified the source of the problem, and it seems to be 'Search All Resources'. As a consequence, we've taken the library catalogue out of 'Search All Resources'. We'll put in a link to a relevant page on the library website, but for now, no more searching the library catalogue on 'Search All Resources'

Library closure - St. Patrick's Day

As in previous years, all DBS librariers will be closed on St. Patrick's Day, giving you more time to celebrate the feast day of Ireland's patron saint.

Friday 12 March 2010

Library Ireland Week 2010

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
— Groucho MARX (1890-1977)

Digital library project... access millions of resources for free!
Pandora Archive
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/
Access anything Australian: Pandora Archive is an online project that collects and provides access to online publications and websites that are about Australia; by an Australian author; on a subject of social, political, cultural, religious, scientific or economic significance and relevance to Australia; or by an Australian author of recognised authority and make a contribution to international knowledge.
This project started in 1996 and is a collaboration between the National Library of Australia and nine other Australian libraries and cultural collecting organisations.

Libraries around the world
New York Public Library
http://www.nypl.org
The New York Public Library serves some 16 million users who come through its doors annually.
Built carefully by generations of curators over the past 160 years, the research collections of The New York Public Library now number more than 44 million items! The Library’s website, http://www.nypl.org receives 28 million visits annually from more than 200 countries. Users can enjoy the free resources created by the Library, such as blogs, original videos, and podcasts. You can also browse print publications, interact with digital exhibitions, and browse open access journal databases... so just log on to: http://www.nypl.org and ‘discover, connect, get inspired’!


The National Library of South Africa

http://www.nlsa.ac.za/NLSA
The National Library of South Africa's collections contain a wealth of information, and include rare manuscripts, books published in South Africa, periodicals, government publications, official foreign publications, maps, technical reports, and newspapers. Many of these are available in digital format and accessible online at the library’s website http://www.nlsa.ac.za/NLSA. User can also search the open access databases provided on the website.
The Library also encompasses ‘The Centre for the Book’, whose mission is to promote a South African culture of reading, writing and publishing in all local languages, and easy access to books for all South Africans.

Thursday 11 March 2010

Emerald - change to search parameters

As previously mentioned, searches on Emerald can bring up a lot of results for which no full-text is available. This can be overcome by going into the advanced search options and choosing only to search subscribed content. However, we've decided to change administrative settings so that by default only subscribed content is searched. If you want to search all of Emerald, you can do so by going to the advanced search option and choosing to search all Emerald content. Changing the set-up so that you only see results for which full-text access is available should make your life (and ours!) a little easier.

Library Ireland Week 2010

Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves,
or we know where we can find information upon it.
— Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Digital library project... access millions of resources for free!
Arts and Humanities Data Service
http://ahds.ac.uk/
AHDS is a UK based project that collects, preserves and promotes the electronic resources in the arts and humanities (history, archaeology, literature, language and linguistics, performing arts, visual arts).
You can access resources such as electronic texts, databases, images, and mixed media resources. It also provides you with information about similar resources which are located and managed elsewhere.


Libraries around the world (by A. Finegan)
Thursday 11th March 2010

The British Library (London)
http://www.bl.uk
The British Library (BL) is the national library of the United Kingdom. The library is one of the world's largest research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats. There is a huge number of free online resources available, such as over two million pages from British newspapers, e-books, digitised manuscripts and rare books, audio recordings and interviews, and a classical music collection. Readers can examine every page of rare historic works, compare different editions side-by-side, choose standard or magnified view and read supporting material created by the library’s curators and other experts. Digitised works currently available include original copies of the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer, the Gutenberg Bible and the Magna Carta.
For more, check the British Library’s Online Gallery at: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/index.html


The Royal Library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Real Biblioteca de San Lorenzo de El Escorial) (Madrid)
http://www.sanlorenzoescorial.com/monasterio/biblioteca.htm
The library at the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial lies northwest of Madrid. Its construction was begun in 1563, on the orders of Felipe II, to commemorate the Spanish victory over the French at St. Quentin in 1557. In 1984, UNESCO declared the monastery a Monument of Worldwide Interest.
Apart from its great beauty, the library of the Escorial is also renowned for the size and quality of its collection of codices and incunabula. The library has an extremely rich collection, which includes Arab and Hebrew manuscripts, and the personal library of King Felipe II, with some treasures such as Alfonso X’s Cantigas de Santa María, the Book of Hours of the Catholic monarchs, Santa Teresa’s manuscripts and diary, the gold-scrolled Aureus Codex (1039), and an 11th century Commentary on the Apocalypse by Beato de Liébana.

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Database Trial - Financial Times Historical Archive 1888 - 2006

For the month of March, the Library has trial access to the Financial Times Historical Archive, 1888-2006 for the month of March.

This online facsimile edition of the FT is fully-searchable and offers the complete run of the London edition of the paper, from its first issue to the end of 2006. You can access this database either from college, home or work via username and password. To obtain login details go to 'Search All Resources' or contact the library


NOTE: Trial ends 1st April 2010.

Library Ireland Week 2010

Knowledge is free at the library. Just bring your own container.
— Unknown

Digital library project... access millions of resources for free!


Gallica
http://gallica.bnf.fr/?lang=en
Gallica is the French digital Library developped by the French National Library (Bibliotheque Nationale de France) gives you access to millions of various resources - images, text, sound recordings - from the National Library collection.


Libraries around the world
Wednesday 10th March 2010

NIGERIA: The National Virtual Library Project
http://www.nigerianvirtuallibrary.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx
The National Virtual Library Project is an online digital library hosted and managed by the National Universities Commission of Nigeria. It was designed and deployed with support and funding from the Education Trust Fund, UNESCO and the Japanese government and its goal is to ensure that users have access to the latest publications of highest quality in their respective fields to facilitate teaching, research and learning.
The National Virtual Library Project covers access to resources in the fields of arts, medical sciences, pure science, social sciences, technology, education, agriculture. You can also keep up to date with national events by accessing Nigerian newspapers through the projects homepage at http://www.nigerianvirtuallibrary.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx.


The National Library of Pakistan
http://www.nlp.gov.pk/
The collection of the National Library includes 40,100 Pakistani publications received under the provisions of the Copyright Law. Special collections include rare handwritten manuscripts in Persian language relating to history of Kashmir and first copy of Kulyat-e-Meer published in 1811 and microfilms/microfiches of all India Census Reports for 1911, 1921, 1931 and 1941.
The Library has also acquired copies of about 30 Ph.D. dissertations written in American Universities on Pakistan.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Library Ireland Week 2010

A democratic society depends upon an informed and educated citizenry.
— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)


Digital library project... access millions of resources for free!

The World Digital Library
http://www.wdl.org/en/
Yesterday we presented you with Europeana, the European platform giving you access to millions of digitised items from all over the world, today, let’s travel again in cyberspace with the World Digital Library, a similar project to Europeana, but developped in the US by the Library of Congress and supported by UNESCO.
The World Digital Library started in 2006 and its missions are to promote international and intercultural understanding, expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet, provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences, and finally help narrowing the digital divide within and between countries.
With the World digital Library,
The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
The principal objectives of the WDL are to:
• Promote international and intercultural understanding;
• Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet;
• Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences;
• Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries.


Libraries around the world (by A. Finegan)
Tuesday 9th March 2010:

The National Archives and National Library of Bangladesh, (Dhaka)
http://www.nanl.gov.bd/
The Bangladeshi National Library and Archives comprises almost all of the country’s publications and has a large collection of foreign publications, especially on Asian countries and more specific related to South Asian Studies.
The National Library and Archives of Bangladesh has collected a considerable number of proceedings volumes from the Bangladesh Secretariat Record Room dating from 1859 to 1964, which mainly contain letters, orders, resolutions, rules, reports etc. of the Government of the East India Company and Government of Bengal. There are also a vast number of valuable historical records, which have been collected from the Dhaka Divisional Commissioner’s Office. These records cover the period from 1898 to 1971 and deal with the events occurred in the rural Bangladesh.
Visit the online gallery to browse contents from the National Library and Archives – you can zoom in to examine documents in greater detail http://www.nanl.gov.bd/

The National Library of Ireland (Dublin)
http://www.nli.ie
The National Library of Ireland’s holdings constitute the most comprehensive collection of Irish documentary material in the world and offer an invaluable representation of Ireland’s history and heritage. The Department of Manuscripts has approximately one million items in its collections spanning nearly a thousand years, and many of these can be accessed online through the Library website, http://www.nli.ie.
And did you know that the Library hosts a wide variety of events including public lectures, poetry and music recitals, theatre, children's storytelling, creative workshops, and much more. Award-winning exhibitions can be visited at the library for free in person or online.
So log on to http://www.nli.ie and visit the Library on Kildare Street in Dublin city centre and the National Photographic Archives in Temple Bar

Monday 8 March 2010

Library Ireland Week 2010

"Libraries are not made; they grow."
Augustine Birrell (1850-1933)

Digital library project... access millions of resources for free!
Europeana: http://www.europeana.eu/portal/

Europeana is a multilingual project sponsored by the European Commission and the European Members States that allows you to access more than 6 million digital items: from images, to texts, to sounds and recordings from European and worldwide museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections.
… a great way of getting lost in virtual space and discover resources that make your mind wonder and travel!

Libraries of the world (by A. Finegan)
Monday 8th March 2010:

The National Library of India (Kolkata)
http://www.nationallibrary.gov.in/
The National Library of India in Kolkata has collections in all the Indian languages as well as foreign language books published on India. The Library also collects, processes and preserves Chinese and other East Asian languages; at present the collection has 15,000 Chinese and one thousands each in Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Nepali and Thai languages. There also a large number of Arabic, Persian and African books and manuscripts.

The National Library of China
http://www.nlc.gov.cn/old/old/english.htm
The National Library of China in Beijing has a rich collection of over 24,1100,000 volumes/items, and ranks 5th among the libraries of the world. In the collection there are 270,000 volumes of rare books, 1,600,000 volumes of general ancient books, 35,000 pieces of the scripted turtle shells and animal bones.
The Library not only has the largest collection of Chinese books in the world, but also the biggest collection of materials in foreign languages in the country. In the main collections of the Rare Book Department, there are 270,000 volumes of ancient rare books, including 1,600 volumes of the Song and Yuan dynasties, most of which are the only existing copies or rare copies. Besides, there are 12,000 volumes of new rare books, manuscripts of notable authors, and 25,000 volumes of rare books in foreign languages, 268,000 items of rubbings, which are worldwide famous for its number, quality and variety.

The National Library of Sweden
http://www.kb.se/english/

The National Library of Sweden in Stockholm has been collecting everything printed in Sweden or in Swedish since 1661. The Department of Audiovisual Material (previously the Swedish National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images) collects TV and radio programs, movies and videos distributed in Sweden, Swedish music and multimedia recordings.
The National Library is also a humanities research library that purchases scholarly literature in several languages.
The National Library coordinates services and programs for all research libraries in Sweden and administers and develops LIBRIS, the national library catalogue system.