UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

ERC

NEWSLETTER

ISSUE 13, DECEMBER 2007

ERC Redevelopment

The ERC will continue to remain open while there is construction work taking place in and around the ERC. Once work is completed on levels 2 and 4 of the ERC, construction work will commence on level 3.  It is anticipated that this will occur by the end of January 2008 and will take approximately six months to complete.  During this period level 3 will be closed and entry will be via level 1.  

Planning is underway in relation to temporarily relocating the services and collections currently available on level 3.  As part of this process the ERC Reference collection will be temporarily relocated to the Ground Floor of the Baillieu Library. The collection will be housed alongside Baillieu and Engineering Reference collections.  It is anticipated that the ERC Reference collection will be relocated to the Baillieu the week beginning 3 Dec 2007.

Thanks for your patience and understanding during this period and please refer to the following website for further updates:  http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/erc/relocation.html.  If you have any questions regarding this please contact Peta Humphreys: phump@unimelb.edu.au  or Trish Wilson: trish@unimelb.edu.au

Those of you who recall the enormous dinosaur made by preschoolers which took up residence on level 3 of the ERC may be interested to know that its new abode is the Children’s Museum in Carlton.

Information Literacy 

Staff in the ERC library are keen to work with academic staff to ensure that students develop information literacy competencies that will enable them to find, evaluate and use information to enhance student learning and assist in the transition to university life.

We can work with you to develop training for both undergraduate and postgraduate students to enable them to:

• Find information using the library’s electronic resources e.g. SuperSeach, Library catalogue
• Cite information correctly
• Evaluate information e.g. web resources, and use scholarly journals
• Speak at your orientation lectures about the library services and facilities available for student groups.

For further information or advice please contact Appy Laspagis : email laspagis@unimelb.edu.au tel: x 47119

Artists in Schools Diaries returned to Arts Victoria

These diaries were kept from 1981-2005 by artists who took part in the government run “Artists in Schools” project. Ownership of them has always remained with Arts Victoria, but for many years they have been housed in the ERC and made accessible to anyone interested in them.

With a new awareness of issues concerning privacy, since 2005 Arts Victoria has ceased to ask for diaries to be submitted by participating artists. Many of the diaries contain personal details, correspondence and unauthorised photos of children. As the collection is no longer current, and with privacy issues causing concern as to what should be made publicly available, the collection has been returned to Arts Victoria which is located at Southbank. Further inquiries should be directed there. Tel. 99545029 (Anna Kelly), or visit the Arts Victoria website at: http://www.arts.vic.gov.au/arts/publications/AISib/project.htm

Serials

It is library wide policy to replace paper copies of journals with the electronic version whenever this option is available. Most users prefer this option as it allows 24 hour access, overcomes the problem of missing or damaged journal issues, and from the library’s point of view, frees up space for ever growing collections and services. It enables both undergraduates and postgraduates equal access to this collection.

In preparation for the renovations which will take place on level 3 of the ERC in January, paper copies of journals which have an electronic subscription (enabling 24 hour access) have now been moved to store. Where there is no electronic subscription to a journal the last five years have been retained on the shelf, and any previous volumes have been sent to store. Access to all volumes in store may be requested.

A number of new journal titles have been ordered and will be available in 2008. These include:

Emergence: Complexity and Organization

            Asia Pacific Education Review  

            Early Childhood Folio

            Journal of Language Identity and Education

            Education in Rural Australia

            Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse

Databases

CogNet trial

Staff and students now have trial access until the 13^th January 2008 to the MIT CogNet database. The site is devoted to information on cognitive development and brain sciences and includes information from a psychological, educational and linguistic perspective.

What is CogNet?

The resource provides full text access to approximately 36 journals, 450 electronic books published by MIT Press, conference papers and 10 major reference resources. In addition the website attempts to create a “Community of Scholars” and allows academics to share curriculum information, exchange ideas, promote forthcoming conferences, view job opportunities and more. 

Please note that all of the electronic books are read only pdf files, which means that they cannot be printed. However, license agreement does allow for academic staff to create links to these books via LMS pages. 

How do I  access CogNet?

CogNet is available via SuperSearch at: http://app.search.lib.unimelb.edu.au

From the Identify Database drop down menu on the side panel select New Databases

Scroll down the page and select MIT CogNet and you’re on your way! 

How do I provide feedback regarding purchase?

 Click on the  icon and complete the feedback form.

Papers Invited. 

We now have access via SuperSearch to a database called Papers Invited.

The database consists of detailed information and deadlines about calls for papers for forthcoming conferences and special issues of scholarly journals. These calls for papers are issued by professional bodies, journal editors and other conference organizers in all disciplines and from all over the world. Thus, the database serves as an alerting service for researchers, scholars and students that are seeking opportunities to present and publish their research.
Approximately 10,000 conferences are listed each year along with 1,200-1,500 special issues. These are fully searchable by name, acronym, organizer, location, publisher, topic and other fields. Important dates such as Last Day for Submission of Abstracts or Manuscripts are clearly labelled and are provided well in advance of the event or proposed publication date. A personal alert can be set up based on any number of keywords and parameters that generates an email notification of newly-announced conferences and publications of interest; new content is added three times per month.

Australian Council for Educational Research

Earlier in the year some ERC staff visited ACER for a briefing and a tour. During the session it was pointed out that an ACER staff member would be happy to talk to students who are about to graduate and enter the workforce. If this is of interest to you please contact ACER direct. Tel: 92775555

ACER also asked to be alerted to any new faculty publications such as The Journal of Artistic and Creative Education (JACE) which is published by the Education Faculty’s ACE. This information is important for research, and titles may be included for indexing in their database A+Education (Australian Education Index).

The Australian Education Index, now known as A+Education is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year. It commenced publication in 1957, and at present the editions from 1957-1977 remain accessible only through the paper editions which are on the shelves in the ERC. Editions from 1977 onwards are accessible using SuperSearch.

Reading Lists 2008

Please ensure that copies of your 2008 reading lists are deposited with library staff. This will enable staff to order additional copies of material in order to ensure fair and equitable access to resources. Copies of reading lists may be dropped off at the Information Desk in the ERC, or sent to the liaison librarian responsible for your area (see listing at the end of this newsletter).

Library Catalogue

On Monday 26^th November 2007 the library launched a new easier to read library catalogue interface http://www.cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au. Take a look at some of the enhanced features including limiting your search to a particular branch eg. ERC, and to items available for borrowing.

BONUS+

BONUS+ is a resource sharing project that enables the lending of selected library material among staff and students of participating universities. It is available to all staff and students including undergraduates. Participating libraries include University of Newcastle, University of Technology Sydney, University of Ballarat, University of Melbourne, Victoria University and Deakin University.

If the book that you need is not held in our library, you can easily request it online from another BONUS+ library, then collect it a few days later from the pick up location of your choice.

News from Media  

Some Media Collections were evaluated during 2007:

• The Kit collection was evaluated to ascertain that this collection is being used optimally.
• The Video collection was evaluated to exclude unnecessary duplication, replace damaged items, to assess usage and enable us to replace heavily used videos in DVD format. 
• Slides; Vinyl Records & Audio Cassettes: Where possible appropriate titles will be replaced by the same titles/subjects available in more recent formats.
• The Poster collection was evaluated to ensure we have a good working collection linking with teaching and research needs within the University of Melbourne.
• Media Playback Facilities. Student needs were assessed and equipment has been rationalised and is being upgraded.

All the above activities are part of the library’s ongoing collection development policy allowing us to provide improved access to resources and services.

EndNote

Got an EndNote question? Support is available – just request EndNote support from the following website http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/endnote/support , fill out the electronic request form you will find there, and submit your request. Library staff will analyse your problem and provide a response usually within 24 hours.

Have you updated recently to Microsoft Windows Vista?  EndNote X1 is compatible with Microsoft Windows Vista. There are compatibility problems with earlier versions of EndNote and Windows Vista (including EndNote X.02 which has been approved and tested for use in the university). At present the university does not support EndNote X1, so any problems experienced when using Vista and EndNote should be referred to Thomson Scientific Help Desk. Email: ts.support.anz@thomson.com

Phone: 1800007214 (toll free in Australia)

Crandon Services, who are the Australian distributors for EndNote, also offer some technical support and advice. Email: info@crandon.com.au

Staff Contacts

Trish Wilson (Team Leader, Information Awareness and Literacy Services) trish@unimelb.edu.au         x44041

Ruth Baxter (Team Leader, Lending Services)

r.baxter@unimelb.edu.au        x46656

Fransie Naude (Information Consultant – Media)

fnaude@unimelb.edu.au          x44755

John Lott (Media Collections)

johnl@unimelb.edu.au             x48650           

Library Opening Hours

Information is available at the following site:http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/opentime.html