Intro to ebooks

You wrote:

As a new student of Concordia, I was browsing the many services I could benefit from. Perhaps I overlooked some features, but I did not come across any online digital media distribution (ebooks and audiobooks). I was wondering if it would be possible for the University to partner with companies such as OverDrive which allow students to access content from virtually anywhere.

Congratulations on being accepted at Concordia!

It is true that we do not have access to OverDrive.  However, the Libraries have thousands of ebooks from other publishers and platforms.  You can browse our ebooks collection from this page:  http://library.concordia.ca/research/internet/ebooks.php?guid=browse .  You can also simply search our catalogue, CLUES, and if we have electronic books on your topic, they will come up in your results.

FYI, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec  (BANQ) has Overdrive.  All residents of Québec have access to the BANQ’s physical and virtual collection.  If you are new to Montréal, take a look at their website as well!

Best wishes for a wonderful end-of-summer and a great start to the semester.

Returning DVDs on the weekend

You wrote:

Hi,

I just came to the library specifically to return two dvds that were due today, only to find that the media returns box is not out but rather behind the locked gate. Luckily, I was able to renew the items that I intended to return today. Though for future reference, it would be great if the returns box could be left out or appropriate instructions are posted which inform
users of just what to do with the media resources that they had intended to return.

I was specifically motivated to write to you because I envisioned that I would be charged late fees for the items that I was unable to return. Then I would have had to get into a detailed discussion with the media services staff explaining why the items should not be considered late, etc. Aside from the inconvenience of taking the time to pursue this matter with them, it is often an unfair discussion as the staff generally take the position that the student is automatically at fault for late returns.

Thank you for your attention.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.  Following some tests, we hope that soon a return box for the Webster Library Media Desk will be available on weekends. Until then, we appreciate it when users return DVDs to the Media desk, as the regular circulation book drops may be damaging to media material. Patrons can also return media items to the Circulation Desk on the main floor of Webster Library (2nd floor of LB building). However if you find that all  the service desks are closed and no return box is available near the Media Desk, then media items can be returned in the book drops on the main floor of the library (2nd floor of the LB building).

For more assistance, add contact information

You wrote:

For online journals, clues keeps disconnecting me from any online journal such as science direct every 20 seconds or so. If I don’t know exactly which links to click within those 20 or so seconds, I need to go back to the concordia library website, relog, and repeat the process.

Thank you for writing to us.  I was unable to replicate the situation you described in your email.  Unfortunately, I cannot help you further with your question because I do not know if you experienced this problem on-campus or off-campus and what web browser you are using.  Also, there could be a problem with your login.  Please add contact information to your comment if you would like some assistance.  You can also try one of our Ask a librarian services, available at http://library.concordia.ca/help/questions/ .

Hope your problem with accessing online journals gets resolved soon.

Online journals via the new MyCLUES

You wrote:

I like the simplicity of the new personal login page for CLUES. Though it would be nice if there was a quick feature to get to the ejournals as now to log in and search the journals with institution access a user has to roam through the website in a very unnecessary roundabout way to get there.

Thank you  for  letting us know that you like the simplicity of the new  MyCLUES login page but miss the quick access to the  E-journals-only search box from within CLUES.

While this was not always the case, online journals  can now easily be retrieved via a single  integrated Journal Title Search box in CLUES.  You can access this option right after you login to MyCLUES, from the drop-down Search Options menu near the top of the screen:

The Journal Title Search  retrieves all formats of journals: print journals at both campuses as well as online journals available via the Libraries and Open Access. In your results list, online journals will be identified with the term “[electronic resource]” at the end of the title.

Some of you will still prefer to use the E-journals page when seeking online journals, and that remains a valid option. Thanks to your comment and to the ongoing adjustments that are being made to the new CLUES interface, a quick link to the E-journals page  has now also been added to the Journal Title Search  screen:

Happy journal searching!

Hideous Ebooks?

You wrote:

First of all, thank you for working to get such a great amount of ebooks available! It’s incredibly helpful and I hope you continue to add collections. That said, and I understand this is out of your control, but will you please, please, please put some serious pressure on ebrary/the Canadian Publishers Collection to come up with a less hideous interface? It’s as though the designer wanted to make it as difficult as possible to read. It’s clumsy on a full screen, almost entirely unusable on phones or mobile devices.

I’m sure that the library pays a hefty price for access to these books, and given the space constraints this is money well spent; but I find that I’m taking out books available online just because it’s so heinous to use.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about ebooks at the Libraries. We definitely intend to continue expanding our ebook collections and appreciate your letting us know that you are finding them helpful.

We have already forwarded your complaint to our ebrary sales representative. It is difficult to argue with the points you make; many a student and library staff member has been made painfully aware of the shortcomings you list. Unfortunately, this is not the only example of difficult ebook platforms.  That’s one of the reasons that despite the convenience and greater accessibility of online books,  we continue to buy print books in great numbers. The library community regularly expresses dissatisfaction to certain ebook publishers, and comments like yours are a great help in strengthening our arguments.

Missing “sentimentalist”

You wrote:

Hello,

I hope that another copy will be bought by
Concordia!!!!
The sentimentalists : a novel
Skibsrud, Johanna
Gaspereau Press, 2009
PS 8587 K46S46 2009

Location                     Call Number                          Availability

Webster 4th Floor PS 8587 K46S46 2009      MISSING +1 HOLD

Yikes!  Thank you for letting us know!  The Subject Librarian for Literatures in English immediately rush ordered another copy as soon as we informed him of this.  In the meantime, you might like to take a look at Ms. Skibsrud’s MA thesis that she completed in 2005 and is the basis of her award-winning novel. 

Once again, thanks for informing us.
 

Webster 3rd Floor Curriculum Collection and chalk-boards

You wrote:

The books in the curriculum lab should be listed on the catalog as a separate category so that one can search for a specific topic.

Some of the study rooms should have black boards or wipe off boards to make studying for math or being tutored or group work easier.

In reply to your first suggestion, we are presently working on CLUES’s search interface to enhance searching options in this collection. In the meantime, Christopher Bober, Education Librarian, replied:

Thank you for drawing our attention to this important issue. Concordia Libraries does maintain a number of separate collections in CLUES under the heading of ‘Unique Collections’. The Webster Library 3^rd floor Curriculum Resource Centre is indeed a unique collection of materials. Classifying the Curriculum Resource Centre as a unique collection will increase the overall browsability and visibility of the collection. However, the Education Librarian is concerned that classifying these items as unique collections in CLUES will render them even less retrievable than they are now. Currently, one of the few useful limit fields available on CLUES is by material type ‘Kits’. Limiting a search to ‘Kits’ will retrieve items in the Curriculum Resource Centre, but ‘Kits’ represent a very limited number of items in that collection.

For the moment, students who search CLUES for materials located in the Webster Library 3^rd Floor Curriculum Resource Centre are recommended to search by their topic and then limit to one of the following subject headings: (activity programs, creative activities and seat work, educational games, lesson planning, juvenile literature, juvenile fiction, interdisciplinary approach in education, etc.). For more information, please contact Christopher Bober, Education Librarian: chris.bober@concordia.ca.

As for your second suggestion, it has been passed on to the Webster Library’s administration. FYI, the group study rooms at the Vanier Library have chalk boards. Chalk is available at the Vanier Library Circulation Desk.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us.

Book Suggestions

You wrote:

I just read a really great book and noticed that Concordia does not have it in the library. How would I go about recommending a book for purchase?

Good question.  If there is a book that you think is essential for our collection or that you need for your research, your best bet is to directly contact the Subject Librarian for your academic discipline. We welcome and appreciate feedback and requests from students or faculty in our subject areas.

To generally recommend a book that you  found interesting or that you think might be appropriate for the library, you can use the Suggest a Purchase link on the CLUES  or MyCLUES main pages – the link  always appears just under the rotating new book covers on the right of the screen.

Newspapers via Press Display

You wrote:

After recently studying at McGill I came to realize that they have a wonderful database called Library Press Display which gives a massive selection of newspapers from all around the world. Taking a media class I found this site very useful and was very disappointed to find out that Concordia does not have it.

As Concordia has a limited selection of print newspapers this website could be used to compensate. It would be useful to all students who either need to do projects within communications or for those who just plainly wish to read the news from different papers! The format in which the search engine was organized was quite impressive and very useful to my studies. Thank you for your consideration!

Press Display is definitely a useful database, and one we would consider adding to our news databases should finances allow in the future. In the meantime, however, note that any Québec resident can access this resource via the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationale du Québec (BANQ).  You simply need to fill out the form for subscription to remote services and once you obtain the appropriate username and password, you can access Press Display via the BANQ’s online resources page.  Please feel  free to use one of our Ask a Librarian  services if you need more information or instructions.

Springer conference proceedings

You wrote:

As a PhD student in computer science, conference proceedings are very important to my work.  I am able to get most of what I need through IEEE and ACM subscriptions.  My only problem is with the conference proceedings published by Springer.  These are very important but I am not able to access them because Concordia does not have a  subscription.

Thank you for this suggestion. A subscription to the collection you are referring to — Springer Link e-books — is currently being seriously considered by the Libraries.  In the meantime, please feel free to contact us with your email address so that we can suggest alternative options for access, such as an Interlibrary Loan request for the print version of some of these proceedings.