HSL Access Notes - January 27th

Hello Everyone,

A few extra notes to begin the week....

LeBlanc donation

We have received a donation of a new collection that will be added to the History of Medicine Room.  The collection is currently being processed in Collections.

• The LeBlanc collection is valuable, so will be processed without products and with book cards like the Mackie collection which is also located within our History of Medicine room here in the HSL. 
• The LeBlanc collection will be shelved in a separate section in our HSL History of Medicine room, and we are requesting a separate SIRSI location code for this collection, just like we have for the Cruse and Scarlet collections, which are also located in the HSL History of Medicine room.

Alumni Access at TFDL

I have received an update from IT on the information regarding computer and wireless access for Alumni at TFDL.

• The agreement is this.  For all Alumni, we will match the same time allowed on their library card for borrowing privileges.  This way they need only to visit us once a year to get their library card updated and their TFDL authentication (for workstations)and wireless access updated.

• All other wireless guest can have up to three months at a time.  That is the agreement from IT Security.

Just in Time

A new clock has been added to room 1459.

Repairs

the company Service Master will be in, possibly on a weekend, to first measure, then to install the replacement baseboard and floor tiles that were damaged in the flood from the housekeeping room.

1454 & 1455 Technology

The new technology is installed in 1454 & 1455, however we are keeping it 'under wraps'  until a reveal event is scheduled.  

·         Susan has indicated that it may be a few more days before the event to ‘reveal’ the rooms is in place, so I have booked both rooms through next Friday. 

·         Rooms to be kept locked and closed to public, however if staff wish to use, the #7 key is in the key box – makes a nice small meeting room!

·         The wireless keyboards and mice and remotes will be kept in the service are and will need to be signed out to clients.  Brian will be processing  and will send more details.

·         The CPUs are sitting on a temporary cabinet in each room and are not currently ‘secured’ in the room.

·         Keyboards and mice are specific to each room, so are labelled with room number.

·         The connection caddy on the table includes connection for HDMI , laptop, two power outlets and USB port.

·         The original tabletop power box in 1454 still operates as well, however the powerbox in 1455 is no longer working (poor connection at floor)

See you February 12th!

HSL Access Notes - January 22nd

Hello Everyone,

 

A few mid-week notes …

 

Away

I will be away on vacation, January 27 – February 11^th inclusive.

 

Phone Update

Yoojin’s phone is now fully operational.  She can be reached at 403-220-8099.  The staff contact lists have been updated in SharePoint.

 

Welcome to New Student Assistant

Please welcome new student assistant Krystal Le, who began training at Health Sciences Library last week and will be covering our regular Tuesday evening shift.

 

IM Chat – Expanded Service

We have rolled out our expanded IM service evenings and weekends!  Staff are reminded to add IM questions to Refstats.

 

AV Project in study rooms 1454 & 1455

1454 and 1455 are booked for AV installation Tuesday – through Monday.  We are trying to keep the AV update a bit of a surprise, so if students are asking why the rooms are blocked, please just let them know that something new is coming.  The rooms will be kept locked  when installers are not on site.  The key for the rooms is the  AH7 key.  There is a copy of AH7 key the service area key box while the work in the rooms is underway for ease of access.

 

Reserve Collection

 There are a few Reserve titles that are not yet available at HSL, but are on order.  In some cases TFDL may have a copy.  Course reserve information is is filed (by course number) in the cabinet behind the service desk.

  If follow up is required about a Reserve item, please speak with Brian , 

 

SharePoint

We are now testing a new shift report template saved in SharePoint.  All staff can view the evening and weekend shift reports under Documents >Shift Reports.

 

Military Museum Items

If University of Calgary library items belonging to the Military Museum location are received at Health Sciences Library, they should be returned to their home location via TFDL.

 

Key Control

TerriLynne is now the main contact for Health Sciences Library key requests and inventory.  Thanks TerriLynne.

 

Knowledge Resource Service Location Acronyms

We had an interesting time recently with two Knowledge Resource Service locations that have very similar acronyms.

Do you know the difference between SHC and SCHS?

·         SHC :  South Health Campus  (the new hospital, 4448 Front Street SE)

·         SCHC:  South Calgary Health Centre (31 Sunpark Plaza SE, Calgary)

Staff are asked to double check client locations and addresses  especially when sending outreach requests.

 

Pick Up Stats and new Sirsi Process

Items that are found on tables, desks and shelves in the library are generally collected by student assistants and numbers recorded for our “in house use” statistics.  This has always been a manual count, however we have now begun to use the ‘Mark Items as Used’ function in Sirsi to scan and record all items with a barcode that are collected.  We will continue to count journals that do not have barcodes manually.

 

Visit Garrison Collection on Touch Table

The Garrison collection, a core part of the Mackie History of Neuroscience collection is now on display on the Touch Table.  There are over 20 items now showing in the HOM Bohemian Bookshelf.  Thanks Chelsea!

 

Hslcirc email

With the removal of the Campus Photocopy webpage (this service is now offered through ILL), the hslcirc email address is no longer posted publically.  It will continued to be valuable for  internal use only.  This is the email that receives all the Sirsi reports related to  holds, fines, final overdues, etc. 

 

On the Go – Update

The UC is removing the Quick Cuisine and Baja food services outlets and adding an Extreme Pita outlet.  During construction (January 13 – March 17), the Starbucks will remain open and Chartwells will continue to offer a reduced Quick Cuisine and Baja menu.  Please visit On the Go for more information.

 

U.S. currency

As directed by LCR Finance, if a client would like to use U.S. currency for a transaction at the desk, we can accept, however it would be at face value.  That is $20.00 U.S. = $20.00 CAD. 

 

Interesting Client Situation of the week...

Client:  I can't access this article - can you help?  The article is not online or in print - I tried ILL request form, but was blocked (error message).  

Follow Up:

• Checked UofC access numbers - OK,
• checked email address loaded in Sirsi - yes.  
• Found client had fine that was blocking access. 
• Client paid fine, then ILL staff were able to reset Relais access and we submitted request successfully. 
• If ILL staff were not available to reset, the system would automatically reset after noon on the next business day.

HSL Access Notes - January 3rd

Hello Everyone,

Happy 2014!

A few notes to begin the New Year….

 

New Term and Term Loans

We have seen a number of graduate students at the desk this week asking why their term loan items are only renewing to January 31^st rather than the May 15^th term loan due date.

This will happen if their registration process for the new term is not yet fully processed in the system (ie. Fees not yet paid or not yet processed due to holidays), so their library privileges show as expiring on January 31^st.   Once the registration process is complete their privilege date should automatically update to September 30/14.  Their library items will not automatically renew beyond January 31, 2014, however the client will receive a renewal reminder 3 days prior to the due date.  I am pleased to follow up with any clients who would like additional assistance or information.

 

Student Assistant

I will be interviewing for a new student assistant next week to cover our Tuesday evening shifts.

 

Service Walkarounds

As another way to bring service to the client wherever they are in the library, staff at the desk are asked to do one walkaround during each shift to provide a helpful presence and offer assistance to anyone who might have questions.

Thanks.

 

NVivo

A doctor called in before Christmas asking about access to the software NVivo. 

The University of Calgary IT website does make available free software downloads to members of the university community with a valid IT Account, that includes Nvivo and quite a list of other software.  The full list, that also shows eligibility for faculty, staff and students is available at: http://www.ucalgary.ca/it/software/downloads.

 

Withdrawal of Vet Med DVDs

The decision was made late last year to withdraw Vet Med DVDs from the Health Sciences Library collection because, given the nature of these products, we could not ensure compliance with Canadian licenses and copyright terms.  A few examples would be: The Art of Equine Auscultation, the Glass Horse and The Glass Horse Equine Colic.

Please let Lorraine T.  know if you get vet professors who ask about Vet Med DVDs.

 

SharePoint on Service Desk Stations

Since the service desk workstations have not yet been upgraded, we have been seeing some odd file behavior when working with files saved in SharePoint.  ITS has provided this easy work around for the time being.  This will apply mainly to the student project files.

 If you are going to be working on project files that are saved in SharePoint at the service desk workstations, it is best to:

·         First open Word 2007 and/or Excel 2007 and minimize these windows on the desktop,

·         Then open SharePoint  and find and open the files.

The files should then automatically open in the 2007 version of the Office program.

 

Excel Resources

Chelsea shares some Excel resources that she has found helpful:

·         I most often references Excel Magic Trick #… videos through the Excel is fun youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ExcelIsFun?feature=watch

·         And sometimes MrExcel videos through Bill Jelen’s youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/bjele123

·         I also sometimes find help through Contextures Inc. as well: http://www.contextures.com/

 

Sessions Next Week

The Photoshop, Xibo and Colourbox Toolkit session scheduled for January 9^th will likely need to be rescheduled – watch for more details so you don’t miss out on this fun and interesting session!

 

Outlook Tip

One Outlook feature that I like is the Autocorrect to help expand acronyms.   It is a great feature – I type AHS and it automatically expands this to Alberta Health Services and I type UofC   and it automatically turns it into University of Calgary.  You can create your own autocorrect rules to use this in many different ways.

Select the File tab: Select Options: Select Mail: Under Compose Messages click on Spelling and Autocorrect button: Select autocorrect options: then in the dialogue box fill in the appropriate fields.  Replace : type in your acronym or short form word With:  type in the expanded form

Would anyone else like to share on Outlook tip?

 

Please let me know if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns.

Looking forward to an interesting year ahead at Health Sciences Library!

Mary