IS News Blog

ScienceDirect will be unavailable from 10.30am on Saturday 2nd August to 6.30am on Sunday 3rd August due to an upgrade to the administrative system.

 

From the 30th July I’m pleased to announce that the following databases are now available via the EBSCO interface. You can access each database from the A-Z of online resources.

• The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), produced by the London School of Economics and Political Science, includes over 2.5 million references to journal articles, books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951. IBSS focuses mainly on the four core social science disciplines – anthropology, economics, politics and sociology – but it also covers a range of interdisciplinary subjects. IBSS is especially strong on international material with over 50 per cent of journals published outside the US or UK. Over 2,800 journals are regularly indexed and some 7,000 books included each year. IBSS is updated weekly.
• PsycINFO , from the American Psychological Association (APA), contains nearly 2.4 million citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, all in psychology and related disciplines, dating as far back as the 1800s. 98 percent of the covered material is peer-reviewed. Journal coverage, which spans 1887 to present, includes international material selected from more than 2,200 periodicals in more than 27 languages.
• PsycARTICLES, from the American Psychological Association (APA), is a definitive source of full-text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology. The database contains more than 134,000 articles from 63 journals – 50 published by the APA and its imprint, the Educational Publishing Foundation (EPF) – and 13 from allied organizations. It includes all journal articles, book reviews, letters to the editor, and errata from each journal. Coverage spans 1894 to present; nearly all APA journals go back to Volume 1, Issue 1.

If you have any comments or questions please don’t hesitate to contact me

Valerie Wells, Senior Subject Librarian

Following the hardware failure of 23/24 July, full service to Digimap has now been restored.

 

 

From 31st July 2008 JISC will cease funding for the Athens Access Management System currently used to provide authenticated access to many of the Library’s web based subscription resources such as online journals, abstract databases, and e-books.

 

To replace Athens , Information Services are implementing two new Access Management systems: Shibboleth and EZProxy. Both new systems will be integrated with the University Portal, so there won’t be any new usernames or passwords to remember.

 

Shibboleth is what is known as a Federated Access Management solution: when a Stirling user wants to access a resource, the resource they are trying to access contacts the University’s Shibboleth system. The system ensures the user is logged on via the University Portal and then passes information about the user directly to the resource. The resource then uses this information to decide whether or not to allow the user access.

 

JISC has committed to Shibboleth as the next generation Access Management solution and has set up the UK Access Management Federation to support the adoption of Shibboleth by the UK HE and FE communities.

 

Not all Athens resources will be available via Shibboleth by the end of July, however, so EZProxy will be used to maintain access to the remaining resources until such time as they become Shibboleth compliant. 

 

EZProxy is a system which enables off campus users to access IP protected library resources. IP authentication relies on the location of the computer accessing the resource and so, traditionally, only provides access for on campus users. The EZProxy server, which is on campus, authenticates the off campus user via the Portal and then requests the required resource on their behalf. This will allow off campus users to gain access to IP protected resources via the Library’s A-Z list of online resources.

 

What will this mean for users? The best way to access Library resources will still be to start by logging on to the University Portal, then going to the Library’s A-Z List (which is linked to from the Portal), and then accessing the required resource from there. These links will be configured to use the appropriate authentication mechanism, so you shouldn’t need to worry about what is going on behind the scenes. Detailed guides on how to access particular resources following the change over will also be made available from the A-Z list when the time comes.

 

One consequence of the switch from Athens to Shibboleth and EZProxy may be the loss of any personalisation settings (e.g. saved searches, alerts etc). This is because users arriving at a resource will be carrying a different kind of authentication identifier, so the resource will not recognise a user authenticating via Shibboleth or EZProxy as the same user who previously authenticated using Athens . In some cases Service Providers are providing a means for transferring personalisation settings from an old Athens account to a new Shibboleth based account, but in many cases it will be necessary to recreate personalisation settings.

 

The grand switch over from Athens to Shibboleth/EZProxy will take place at the end of July. There is more information available on the IS web site. Updates on the move to Shibboleth will be added to our web site as appropriate and announcements will be made via the IS homepage and via emails. In the meantime if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact your Senior Subject Librarian.

 

Michael White
Shibboleth Project Manager
Centre for e-Learning Development

 

Notice from the supplier:
Later today (24th July), it will be necessary to withdraw access to Digimap in order to replace some faulty hardware. As much notice of this as possible will be given, both on the Digimap blog and on the Digimap login page.

 

 

As of Monday 30th June, all Blackwell ejournal content will be incorporated into Wiley Interscience. Blackwell Synergy’s site will close on Friday June 27th and their content will be unavailable over the following weekend. Wiley Interscience will also be closed over the weekend while work is done on transferring the Blackwell content to their site. As of Monday 30th June, Synergy content will be available on Wiley Interscience.

 

Under our current Athens access arrangements, it is necessary to register for access to Wiley Interscience on campus before being able to access their site off campus. As Information Services is currently working towards arranging alternative authentication methods for our databases and ejournal providers in the face of the impending demise of the Athens authentication system (see post below), we have developed an alternative access method for Wiley which will not require the off campus user to register. To access Wiley Interscience from off campus, please click here. You will be prompted to login to the university portal. Thereafter access will behave exactly as if you were on campus. After 1st August, the link to Wiley will move to the A-Z online resources and be accessible via the normal Portal > A-Z route. Please contact the Library Information Desk if you have any questions/problems. Please note that this service is still under development so may be subject to some downtime.

 

2008 is the 500th anniversary of the first printed book in Scotland. The first book to be published was “The Complaint of the Black Knight”, a digitised version of which is available from the National Library of Scotland’s website. Further information about the anniversary can be found at the 500 years of printing website

 

The Scottish Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO) has recently produced updated Community Health and Wellbeing profiles for Scotland. These reports provide up to date information about health and social inequalities for individual communities throughout the country. The reports cover 61 indicators of health, e.g. smoking rates, number of patients with heart disease, and provide comparative data for Scotland as a whole. They are valuable resources for anyone with an interest in the determinants of health and wellbeing.