The Scoop

SciFinder Scholar 2006 is a major upgrade for the Windows platform with improved search tools. SciFinder Scholar 2006 for Windows requires Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, or NT 4.0. A web browser is needed to access full text via ChemPort, online Help, and Internet resources within the Tools menu. Plug-ins must be installed in the Netscape and Firefox plug-ins and components folders for some features in ChemPort, e.g., Reference Linking. The plug-in is installed automatically during the SciFinder Scholar 2006 installation. Java and Javascript must be enabled and cookies must be accepted for some features in Chemport.

SciFinder Scholar OS X is the long-awaited version for Macintosh OS X. Researchers should see improved performance and fewer problems with retrieving full-text of articles via ChemPort. SciFinder Scholar OS X requires Macintosh OS X operating system 10.2 or newer. A web browser is needed to access full text via ChemPort, online Help, and Internet resources within the Tools menu. Java and Javascript must be enabled and cookies must be accepted for some features in Chemport.

Visit the Library's SciFinder Scholar webpage to download the new software and users manuals: http://library.syr.edu/research/database/scifinder/

Contact Tom Keays htkeays@syr.edu or 443-9769 for assistance or information.

Posted by Tom at 2:38 PM | Permalink

RLG has notified its customers that the follwoing databases are currently down for maintenance through midnight tonight.

These databases include:

Anthropological Index
Anthropological Literature
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
Bibliography of the History of Art
Chicano Database
English Short Title Catalogue
FRANCIS
Hand Press Book
Handbook of Latin American Studies
Index to 19th-century American Art Periodicals
Inside Information Plus
RLG Union Catalog
SCIPIO: Art & Rare Book Sales Catalog

AMICO and RLG's Cultural Materials are not effected.

Posted by at 1:19 PM | Permalink

The following message has been received from Cambridge Scientific Abstracts:

Dear CSA Customer:

We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties that have forced us to bring down the linking server. Links to full-text, local holdings, ILL, document delivery services, and OpenURL resolvers will be unavailable during this time.

This was done in response to a large number of our customers complaining of very slow or non-responsive service. Our development staff is aware of the problem and in the process of streamlining our linking processes. Linking features will be back online as soon as we can introduce that module of code without significantly impacting the performance of searching CSA Illumina. We expect this to take no longer than 24 hours.

We appreciate your patience while we work to correct this problem.

Posted by at 1:18 PM | Permalink

University Router Issues May Result in Access Difficulties

The Johns Hopkins University's network, on which Project MUSE's primary
server resides, is experiencing routing difficulties which may cause
some users to be denied access to our web site at http://muse.jhu.edu.
Users who experience difficulty accessing MUSE at this URL are
encouraged to instead try our mirror site at http://muse.uq.edu.au. The
University has indicated that it may take up to a week to resolve the
router problem. We apologize for any inconvenience. The mirror site at
http://muse.uq.edu.au is always available as an alternative access
point for any authorized user of Project MUSE.

An update will be sent as soon as the University indicates that the
router issue has been resolved. Please contact MUSE Subscriber Services
at muse@muse.jhu.edu with questions regarding this or any other issues
affecting your institution's subscription.

Posted by at 9:05 AM | Permalink

ProQuest Research Library and ABI/Inform are unavailable as of 12 Noon on September 27, due to technical problems with their authentication system.

According to Technical Support, the problem should be resolved within an hour or so.

Posted by at 12:03 PM | Permalink

Access to STAT-USA is limited today due to technical problems in the New York area. Although users can get to the web site as usual, they will be prompted for a username and passsword.

Posted by at 3:12 PM | Permalink

The following message was sent to subscribers of Nature Online:

Dear Site Administrator

SLBU Customer Services
Nature Publishing Group

Posted by at 4:25 PM | Permalink

Bowker has informed its customers of the following:

Re: Bowker web-site Notifications
Effective Date: 8/23/2004
Effective Time: 11:00 a.m. EST

Subscribers of the following sites:
www.booksinprint.com
www.ulrichsweb.com
www.childrensbooksinprint.com
www.spanishbooksinprint.com
www.globalbooksinprint.com

Please be advised that we are experiencing technical difficulties with the above Bowker database websites. We hope to have the problem resolved shortly and apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our subscribers.

Best regards,

Technical Support
Toll Free: (800)323-3288 #3
E-mail: techsupport@bowker.com

Posted by at 2:22 PM | Permalink

The following has announcement has been received from OCLC FirstSearch

ADVANCE NOTICE OF DISCONTINUATION OF THE INTERNET AND
PERSONAL COMPUTING ABSTRACTS DATABASE

Following its acquisition of the Internet and Personal Computing
Abstracts (InternetPCAbs database), EBSCO has informed OCLC of its
intention to terminate the contract to distribute the database on
FirstSearch. Consequently, per-search access to the database will be
discontinued effective Tuesday, June 15.

New orders are longer being accepted for the Internet and Personal
Computing Abstracts database on OCLC FirstSearch.

Users of the Internet and Personal Computing Abstracts database might
consider Article First, Applied Science & Technology Abstracts,
Consumers Index, Wilson Select Plus and Periodicals Abstracts as
possible alternatives to indexed and full text articles on Information
Technology issues and products.

Posted by at 11:37 AM | Permalink

The Softline databases are now accessible via the more robust ProQuest platform as of June 1, 2004. These include:

Alt-Press Watch
A full text database comprised of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press.

Ethnic Newswatch
A comprehensive full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press.

GenderWatch
A full text database of unique and diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas. With its archival material, dating back to 1970 in some cases, GenderWatch is a repository of an important historical perspective on the evolution of the women's movement and the changes in gender roles. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, booklets and NGO, government and special reports.

Posted by at 10:08 AM | Permalink

As of Friday, April 30 the Gale database LegalTrac is unavailable. Customer support has been contacted.

Posted by at 3:03 PM | Permalink

Lexis Nexis databases are currently unavailable due to a campus router problem. I have contacted Lexis Technical Support and they will follow-up with the appropriate technical support here at the University.

Posted by at 9:51 AM | Permalink

Columbia International Affairs Online has alerted the Library that CIAO [Columbia International Affairs Online] will be unavailable Sunday, March 14th from 1PM to 5PM EST [Eastern Standard Time in the USA]. At this time, Columbia webfile servers will be undergoing scheduled maintenance.

Meagan Cooke
Production Editor
Columbia International Affairs Online

Posted by at 2:36 PM | Permalink

LexisNexis Academic, Congressional and Statistical were unavailable due to technical problems from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Thursday, February 26

Posted by at 10:45 AM | Permalink

All Kluwer Online Journals sites, including the gateway pages at
http://journals.kluweronline.com and http://www.kluweronline.com, will be
down on Sunday, Feb 15 2004 from 3-4PM EST for hardware maintenance.

Other Kluwer Academic Publishers web sites, including www.wkap.nl,
http://ebooks.kluweronline.com, http://reference.kluweronline.com will be
unaffected.

Kluwer apologizes for this inconvenience and will make this technical
change as quickly as possible.

Posted by at 4:53 PM | Permalink

EXTENDED OCLC SYSTEM MAINTENANCE ON
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2004 AND SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2004

To allow for hardware and system maintenance, the OCLC FirstSearch service
will be unavailable for approximately 6 hours, beginning at 02:00 a.m. US Eastern Standard Time Sunday, February 1, 2004, and again on Sunday, February 8, 2004. This will also affect any libraries that use OCLC group catalog services or link into WorldCat and FirstSearch from partner information services. Temporary disruptions to the QuestionPoint service are also likely to occur on February 8, 2004.

Barring any unexpected problems, we anticipate that these services will be available for use again beginning at approximately 08:00 a.m. US Eastern Standard Time Sunday, February 1, 2004 and February 8, 2004 respectively.

OCLC sincerely regrets the inconvenience to its users.

Posted by at 9:14 AM | Permalink

A notification of hardware maintenance at Kluwer's electronic journal site has been sent to users at SU Library:

All Kluwer Online Journals sites, including the gateway pages at:
http://journals.kluweronline.com
http://journals.kluweronline.com
http://www.kluweronline.com
http://www.kluweronline.com

will be down on Sunday 25 January 2004 from 3:00 - 3:30 PM EST for hardware maintenance. Other Kluwer Academic Publishers web sites will be unaffected.

Kluwer apologizes for this inconvenience and will make this technical change as quickly as possible.

Posted by at 11:41 AM | Permalink

As of 1:00 pm, Reference USA is temporarily unavailable due to technical problems at the site. According to ReferencUSA technical staff, these problems should be resolved by 2:00 pm.

Posted by at 1:07 PM | Permalink

Wilson Business Periodicals Index and the Index to Legal Periodicals will no longer be available to SU Library users as of Wednesday, December 17, 2003. Applied Science & Technology, Biological & Agricultural Index and Essay & General Literature Index will be unavailable on Wednesday, December 17 but will be re-instated by OCLC/FirstSearch on Thursday, December 18.

For additional information on this change, please feel free to contact Nancy Turner, Electronic Resources Librarian, at 443-2237 or nbturner@syr.edu.

Posted by at 8:49 AM | Permalink

Problem Solved!

The printing and e-mail functions are now working properly on Lexis Nexis' Academic -- for some time this has been a problem for our remote users.

Thanks to the upgrade of our Ezproxy software for authentication of remote users by Michael DeSalvo, these two systems are now compatible and we can take full advantage of this important database and all its features.

Posted by at 1:15 PM | Permalink

The ACM Digital Library will be out of service Saturday, November 22, 2003 from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon EST .

This planned down time is due to a building power supply upgrade. The power outage will affect access to the ACM Portal which is the gateway to:

- the ACM Digital Library magazines and journals
- the ACM Digital Master Special Interest Group materials
- the ACM Online Guide to Computing Literature

ACM staff will work to restore systems as soon as power becomes available.

Posted by at 2:22 PM | Permalink

An announcement from ReferenceUSA to its Customers:

Due to automated "theft" of data, ReferenceUSA will be changing its access routines on December 1, 2003.

This means the library’s remote users (i.e. – those users not physically in the library; and, incidentally, if your library doesn’t offer the remote option this discussion won’t apply to your library) will be given a code when they view their first results screen. They will then have to enter this code to move on to their next results screen, and a new code for each additional screen they view.

The remote user will still be able to access all of the data retrieved from their search as they have been doing; however, it simply means they will have to enter a different code for each additional screen they view. Please note too, this requirement will only be seen by the library’s remote users (if your library has the remote option); those accessing our data in the library will not see this step.

The full letter from ReferenceUSA is below:

Continue reading "ReferenceUSA" »

Posted by at 10:22 AM | Permalink