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More on the New York Times subscription plan

April 5, 2011 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

In addition to the alternate ways of accessing formerly free NY Times content pointed out by Carrie Macfarlane in a previous blog post, I’d like to provide a bit of additional information about this popular resource.

Currently, the NYTimes does not have a group plan in place that covers institutions such as libraries.  This was mentioned in a brief comment at the end of an article on Mar. 23, 2011 in the Talk To The Times section discussing the new digital subscription.  Apparently, such plans are in the works, however, and LIS will continue to monitor developments in this area.  Hopefully, at some point, we will be able to subscribe to the Times online as an institution.

Until then, please do be aware that Middlebury College community members who wish to purchase individual subscriptions may be eligible for a discount.  Please see this page for details and this page to sign up.  You must be registered with the Times with a valid middlebury.edu email address in order to qualify, so you’ll need to change your default email address to your Midd address if it isn’t already set up that way.

When the NYTimes announces their institutional subscription plan, LIS will investigate pricing and make a decision about subscribing.  Much depends on pricing, of course — our budget for library resources has remained flat or even decreased over the last 5 years, even as journal prices continue to increase and the number of quality online resources has exploded.  If we do subscribe, we will be sure to shout it from the proverbial rooftops, so stay tuned.

Thanks,

Terry

Terry Simpkins (tsimpkin)
Director of Research and Collection Services/Interim Collection Development Librarian
x5045

 

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New minimum password length requirement for Middlebury Google Apps

March 17, 2011 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Google has introduced a new minimum password length requirement to Google Apps domains. The new minimum is 8 characters instead of 6.

Please note that this change only affects new passwords and password resets, not any existing passwords.

–Chris

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Take Two (minutes, that is) for Life-long Learning

March 14, 2011 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

The LIS education and training team has arranged for a College-wide trial of web-based instruction offered by Lynda.com.  You can learn new software skills to help at work or home by watching 2-3 minute videos or by taking an entire course.  Our Lynda trial is only available through March 30 so don’t miss the chance to try this exciting product, described by some as “addictive.”

Here’s how to get started:

1.     Type go/trylynda in your web browser’s address field from any computer connected to the college’s network.
2.     Create a personal profile as directed in the right-hand panel to set up a username and password to use during our free trial.  (Important note:  You cannot simply log in with your Middlebury credentials.)  On future visits to the site enter the username and password you created in the left-hand panel to log in; your course history and bookmarking will be retained.
3.     Using any of the four drop-down menus, the “search” feature, or the list of course titles, select a tutorial or course of interest.
4.     Click on any video segment and the tutorial should start in a popup window.
5.     Watch, learn and enjoy – and jot down your reactions to share with us.

In return for this learning opportunity we’d love to hear your thoughts.  Did you find it easy to use Lynda’s web site?  Could you find videos and courses of interest easily?  Did you feel the material was useful and presented clearly?  Would you use Lynda if it was available in the future?  Please send your feedback or any questions to LIS Education and Training Team.

Cynthia “Pij” Slater, Education and Training Team Leader
Brenda Ellis
Kim Ehritt
Ben Molberger
Mack Roark
Andy Wentink

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MIDCAT search alerts

March 8, 2011 by
Categories: Midd Blogosphere

Are you interested in receiving automatic weekly updates for new library acquisitions? The easiest way to do this is to set up a preferred search in MIDCAT and select the option to Mark for Email. This generates a weekly email listing any new materials matching your search criteria. Note that if no new materials match your search terms for a given week you won’t receive an email. You may set up multiple search alerts, as needed.

For example, to receive notice of all new Jazz CDs I would:

Log into My MIDCAT
Click on MIDCAT to search the catalog
Choose a format, like Music Recordings (in Advanced Search I may choose other parameters – like language, publication years, etc.)
Enter search term in a keyword box, e.g. Jazz
Submit search – it will bring up every Jazz item we have currently in that format
Click “Save As Preferred Search”
Go back to my “Patron Record” and click on “Preferred Searches”
Check the “Mark for Email” box

I will now receive an email notice for any new materials that match those search parameters. Check out the LIS Wiki page for more information about setting up or adjusting MIDCAT search alerts.

Tip: Want to get notifications about ALL of a particular material type (not just things matching a certain genre or keyword)? Use an asterisk (*) as your search term!  E.g. to find all DVDs (in order to set up a search alert for all new DVDs) perform an Advanced Search for Any field = * and limit to Material type = DVDs.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here in the comments, or to contact a Librarian at x5496 or via email at Ask-A-Librarian.

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