Tuesday, January 5, 2010

New year, new software

While students and faculty were working on final exams and enjoying the holiday break, LNDL librarians have been implementing some changes to library software. As a result, you may have noticed that the look and feel of the library catalog and E-Journal Locator have changed: The library catalog has been upgraded to a new version, and we have changed to a completely new E-Journal Locator system. In both cases, you will see some new features that we hope you find useful. The library catalog will be displaying book covers for many items, and features a more modern look. The E-Journal locator has an improved search results page, as well as an option to explore our e-journals by loose subject categories.

We are still working on fully implementing all of this software. Please bear with us as we continue to make changes and tweaks, and be sure to contact the Research Assistance Desk if you have any difficulty with either system, or if you have questions about the new features.

In addition, those of you who make frequent use of the Research Wiki, LNDL’s subject guides, may notice that we’re making some changes there as well. The Research and Instruction Team is working on updating and standardizing the pages, so you will have a more consistent experience as you click through the resources. We’ll also be updating links that take you to LNDL’s catalog – the change in the catalog software means that each link from the Research Wiki to the catalog must be updated. We plan to complete this work by January 14. In the meantime, if you need help accessing something you find on the Research Wiki, please do not hesitate to contact the Research Assistance Desk.

Lastly, due to an increase in the volume of spam that was being posted, anyone who makes contributions or edits to the Research Wiki will now be asked to create an account and log in. The login system for the Research Wiki is separate from the rest of the library systems, so you may use any combination of username and password that you like. If you would prefer not to make an account but have changes that you would like made, please send them to your library liaison or to the Research Assistance Desk (askemail@loyola.edu) and we’ll get them posted for you.

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