Tag Archives: Summon

More Consistent Linking from Library Databases

In order to provide a consistently satisfactory user experience, in which users of the Library’s research databases (and the Summon discovery service) don’t face dead-end blank screens when trying to reach articles and books, the Library will deactivate Index-enhanced Direct Linking (IEDL) in our link resolver (360Link).

What does this mean exactly?
Index-enhanced Direct Linking (IEDL) is available for certain article databases that cooperate with the company which provides 360Link.  IEDL takes the user from a results list to an article or book without any kind of intermediate screen. From certain databases (and from Summon), IEDL was supposed to streamline the user experience by eliminating clicks between the search results and the items themselves. This has not turned out to be the case.

What will I see?
When you click on a link for full-text, you will now see the familiar intermediate screen for all articles and books.  This “Get it @ Midd” screen is 360Link, our link resolver.  You will then click a button to access the item, as you always have in cases where you saw this screen. The intermediate screen will be similar to the following example:

Get It @ Midd page

Why did we make the change?
For several reasons having to do with commercial relationships among various database vendors, IEDL used to function better than it currently does. Now, the inconvenience of the dead-end screens occurs much more often. The dead ends (blank screens) provide little or no useful information as to how the user can access materials the Library actually has. Always displaying the intermediate “Get it @ Midd” screen will allow users to see our accurate holdings and to obtain access consistently.

Questions and/or Feedback
Please feel free to comment below or send questions to the Midd librarians at http://go.middlebury.edu/askus .

Watch for this when accessing full text articles

Next time you click on a “Full text online” link in Summon (and other library databases including PsycINFO) that looks like thisyou may see a screen that looks like thisAny reasonable person would suspect something is terribly wrong. The fact is that, somewhat unfortunately, a link that says “Click this link to display full-text in a new window” no longer displays in the big empty spot. Instead, there is now a very small link at the bottom of the narrow frame on the right that says “Open content in a new tab.” (additional screenshot below) If you click that link, you will (hopefully) see the journal article you are looking for.

We’re sorry for this inconvenience. We and other libraries are working with our third-party vendor to improve the situation.

Report any problems with access to online resources by email to eaccess-admin@middlebury.edu

Here is the link to “Open content in a new tab”

Open in new tab

MIDCAT v. Summon, a tale of two systems

image of woman

Literatures & Cultures Librarian Katrina Spencer has a few words to share about MIDCAT and Summon.

This is Katrina Spencer, the Literatures & Cultures Librarian and this post is for everyone who uses MIDCAT and Summon to navigate library resources. At this point in the semester, however, the message is primarily for students. Students, as you prepare for your end-of-year assignments, I want to tell you a bit about how I use both MIDCAT and Summon differently. If you speak to another librarian, you will likely get a whole new set of ideas, interpretations and uses, which is good and enriching. Take a look below to see my impressions and visit the rest of the team at the Research Desk for more conversation on this topic.

MIDCAT ~ Will provide results for library materials including print books, e-books, DVDs, CDs, VHS, government documents, sheet music, microfilm and microfiche, and a variety of technological equipment held in Davis Family Library, Armstrong Library in Bicentennial Hall, Davison Library at Bread Loaf, Twilight, etc.

When I use MIDCAT…

  • I am searching for a specific item (usually a book, DVD or CD) I know or suspect Middlebury College Libraries own
  • I am searching for an item by title or author
  • I am searching for an exhaustive list of materials by Subject, for example, “Abenaki,” as depicted in the screenshot with 78 results.
a MIDCAT subject listing for the search "Abenaki"

MIDCAT browse list showing results for the subject search “Abenaki”

  • I need to know an item’s call number and where it is housed in the libraries
  • I want to know the status of an item/if it has been returned
  • I want to know how many copies we have of an item
  • I want to know if we have a certain item in multiple formats, both in print and digitally
  • I want an exhaustive list of a particular type of holding, for example, all of the films in a certain language

    a screenshot from the go/midcat/ menu highlighting videos and languages with red arrows

    Advanced search menu showing one way to search MIDCAT for Middlebury’s film collection by language.

Summon ~ Except for some relatively small types of material such as the tech equipment the library makes available for loan, Summon will provide results for almost everything MIDCAT holds AND other library materials including databases, journal articles, photographs, dissertations and theses, magazines, newspapers, sound recordings and more. You can also use Summon to search libraries other than Middlebury’s.

When I use Summon…

  • I am looking for journal articles.
  • I am looking for something I’m not sure exists.
  • I am using a complex string of keywords to find a variety of materials (journal articles, photographs, audio recordings, etc.)
a screenshot from the advanced search menu in summon for selecting content type

This is a screen capture of the advanced search screen in Summon. This box holds dozens of content types and these three examples — interactive media, journal/e-journal and journal article– are a limited selection of what is available.

  • I am looking for materials held by libraries other than Middlebury.
a screenshot of a search performed in Summon indicating the "Add results beyond your library's collection" button indicated with a red arrow

After entering a search in Summon, users can select “Add results beyond your library’s collection,” indicated above with a red arrow, to review holdings outside of Middlebury’s resources.

  • I am attempting to use resources that ask me for money.  The College subscribes to many paid resources, and in order to gain access to them, I must arrive at them via a Middlebury site and sign in with my Middlebury username and password
  • “Boolean” searches are helpful, employing “AND,” “OR,” and “NOT” to limit or increase my results.

I welcome you to comment on anything I missed and to introduce new approaches. Visit the bottom of the page at go.middlebury.edu/askus to see the times at which the Research Desk is staffed, more than 40 hours a week, and visit go.middlebury.edu/librarians to find discipline-specific specialists.

Summon interruption Friday September 16th

From Serials Solutions:

The Client Center will have a downtime from 8 p.m. Friday, Sep. 16, to 5 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 17.  During most of this downtime, your 360 Link service will remain available to your patrons. However, 360 Link (as well as the E-Journal Portal and 360 Search) will be unavailable to your patrons for about 20 minutes some time between 8 p.m.  and 10 p.m. During this downtime, any patrons trying to use 360 Link will see a message advising them of the downtime and inviting them to try again later.

(The “Client Center” is used by staff only. 360 Link service provides linking to full-text from Summon searches. The E-journal portal is our “Journals A to Z” list)

(not) Finding Fuente Academica articles in Summon

For reasons that are difficult to explain in a few sentences, we are aware that links to articles in Summon to a full-text database of Spanish-language resources called Fuente Academica Premier are not working. We have reported the problem, and it is being worked on.

Meanwhile, when you find an article of interest, you can access it by starting from our list of databases at go.middlebury.edu/databases . Find the link to Fuente Academica Premier and, using the citation information obtained from Summon, find the article directly.

We regret the inconvenience.  I will add a post the LIS blog when the problem is corrected.

Welcome to our summer students

Welcome to the summer Language School and Breadloaf students.

  • Find useful tips on the LIS pages (go/lis), (go/lib), and (go/helpdesk)
  • Use (go/subjectguides) for links to databases, CDs, video and more
  • Begin your research, searching for articles across both databases and MIDCAT (the library catalog) with Summon.
  • The music collection has moved into the Davis Family Library, link here to view a map depicting the updated location of materials.
  • Study Carrel Suites have been set aside for use by specific Language Schools; individual carrels within the Language Suites are available on a first come, first served basis and may not be reserved; the Language Suites are intended for the exclusive use of the language specified. MAP
  • If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to Ask a Librarian.