Tag Archives: library collections

LibrarySearch!

LibrarySearch is here!

This fall, the library is switching from Summon to a new discovery platform from EBSCO, which we are calling “LibrarySearch.”  LibrarySearch will work very much like Summon: it will still retrieve results from the library catalog (MIDCAT), and it will still find article-level results from our subscribed journals and databases (as well as beyond, if desired).

We made this switch for a number of reasons.  LibrarySearch:

  • offers better discovery of non-full-text indexes such as MLA Bibliography and RILM (in fact, these databases are not indexed by Summon, due to their dissatisfaction with how Summon handles non-full-text databases)
  • has features not available in Summon, such as a view into which databases search results are coming from, and the option to save search results directly into online storage providers such as Dropbox
  • is more tightly integrated with the library’s catalog than Summon
  • is (like Summon) a very stable and widely-used system
  • is highly customizable
  • is also now available to students and colleagues at the William Tell Coleman library at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies

Of course, since LibrarySearch is provided to us by a different vendor, you will see changes in how search results are ranked and displayed, and the interface will look somewhat different. 

Please see go/librarysearch to try out the new system.  As with any new system, there are bound to be some bugs, broken links, unexpected results or behavior, etc.  Please submit problems, or suggestions for improvements, to Terry Simpkins in the Library (x5045).

Royal Society of Chemistry – journal archive

The library has recently purchased access to all issues of journals published by the Royal Society of Chemistry from 1841 through 2007. Journal titles include:

You can browse by journal title or article content from the RSC’s homepage. The journal titles can also be found in Midcat and in our A-Z list of journals, and articles with content matching your Summon search will turn up in Summon results. All this now accessible from on- or off-campus!

New to the libraries – Fall 2017

The library has acquired some new resources over the last few months:

  • Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics  a systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day and features advanced search options
  • Japan Times Archive Full text of every issue of this English language newspaper based in Japan that was published from 1897 through 2015
  • Digital Loeb Classical Library  Important works of ancient Greek and Latin literature, presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each left-hand page, and a fairly literal translation on the facing page.
  • American Indian Movement and Native American Radicalism, 1968—1979 – This collection of FBI files from 1968 to 1979 provides detailed information on the evolution of AIM as an organization of social protest and the development of Native American radicalism.
  • Federal Response to Radicalism in the 1960s Another collection from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Library, this collection sheds light on internal organization, personnel, and activities of some of the most prominent American radical groups and their movements to change American government and society. Included are files on Cesar Chavez, the Black Panther Party, and Malcolm X, among many others.
  • FIAF international index to film periodicals This database contains the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF)’s “Treasures from Film Archives”; a detailed index of the silent-era film holdings of archives from around the world, a selection of Reference volumes and the linked full-text of over 60 journals.
  • JSTOR books  Middlebury has purchased access to nearly 800 e-books on the JSTOR platform. Subjects include books published in 2015-2017 in the broad areas of languages and literatures, sociology, political science, and climate change. (You will find relevant content from any of these books by searching the JSTOR platform. In the near future, they will also be in the library’s catalog.)

Japan Times at Middlebury

Over time, the Japan Times changed its official title a few times, so it can be hard to find a particular article from a particular date. Now that we have access to The Japan Times Archives, here’s a guide:

Current issues:

Today’s Japan Times and content from recent weeks can be found by anyone anywhere at the Japan Times website. (An individual without a subscription is limited to a few articles per month.)

Older issues:

For older content, Middlebury users now have access to the Japan Times Archives

The archive include articles published since its inception in 1897, including all of these variations:

  • Japan Times (1897-1940)
  • Japan Advertiser (1905-1940)
  • Japan Times and Advertiser (1940-1942)
  • Nippon Times (1943-1956)
  • Japan Times (1956-present)

As of this writing, the Archives include content through December 31, 2015; 2016 content is expected in the near future.

Has an ebook disappeared on you?

Looking for an ebook you used recently but that seems to have vanished? Let us know right away; we can probably get it back. Our major ebook program is undergoing some changes due to soaring costs and increasing publisher restrictions on usage. A large number of titles will disappear from our catalog this week. The process is designed to leave available anything that’s been used recently, but because of behind-the-scenes technical work, there’s a lag between the vendor’s most recent usage reports and the actual catalog-record deletion. As a result, you may have used a title in the last two weeks and now can’t find it again. Just ask us to recover it, and if our supplier still has it available, we will!

We also added a new collection recently, with more than 140,000 ebooks from EBSCO. Check it out!

Al-Manhal Arabic e-books and journals (trial ends August 16, 2016)

Through mid-August, our Middlebury and Monterey campuses have trial access to this database from Al-Manhal, the only provider of full-text searchable databases of scholarly and scientific publications from the Arab and Islamic world. AlManhalAl-Manhal’s over 13,000 e-books and 300 peer-reviewed journals can be searched through the user-friendly platform linked above. The full-text content is also fully indexed in Summon. (Allow a few days after this post for all Al-Manhal content to be find-able in Summon by Middlebury and MIIS users.)

Let us know what you think – email eaccess-admin@middlebury.edu or your liaison.

EBL Ebook Program Suspended Until July 1

You may know that Middlebury uses what’s called a “purchase on demand” model for its largest collection of electronic books, EBL (Electronic Book Library). Under this model, we place the catalog records in Midcat but don’t pay anything for the ebook unless and until it’s actually used. Then, we pay a fraction of the list price for each of the first four uses, and on the fifth request, the title is automatically purchased. We have set up seamless access so there’s no delay when you want to use a title, but the library is billed for all uses longer than five minutes, downloads, copies, or printing. There’s a lot more to how the program works, but that’s the broad outline.

Unfortunately, the library has reached the end of its funding for this fiscal year, so we have had to suspend access to the resource until July 1. This is definitely a temporary suspension, and EBL will be back on July 1, along with any titles you may have used but can no longer reach. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience and hope it doesn’t put a serious crimp in your work. Please feel free to contact Douglas Black, Head of Collections Management, for more information.