Showing posts with label IT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IT. Show all posts

Monday, 27 October 2008

Endnote Web

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Hi Dental Students

Hope the new term is going well.
One of the resources that I am getting many, many queries about at the moment is Endnote Web and so I thought a blog post about this might be timely.

Endnote Web

Have you ever written a report and found that formatting the bibliography has taken almost as long as writing the text? Perhaps you could benefit from using reference management software such as Endnote Web which does all the fiddly formatting for you. Endnote Web is a resource which allows you to manage your references and generate and format a bibliography using different styles, eg Vancouver, Harvard or a style compatible with an academic journal. It allows the import of references from databases such as Medline which can then be used on a cite while you write basis within Word. Endnote Web is available via Web of Knowledge to all members of the University of Sheffield.

Learning to use Endnote Web

More info about Endnote Web is available here
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/refmant/endnoteweb.html

I am, apparently, the University Library’s Endnote Web Oracle! I’ve no idea how I have got myself such a position but if you would like tuition in its use I’m the person to contact. Interested? Let me know. If there is sufficient demand I will run a course. Remember that if you express an interest here on the blog you automatically enter the competition to win an 8gb iPod Nano. If you prefer you can email me directly at v.grant@sheffield.ac.uk

Vic

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Top geeky techie tips required!

Philip Sadler has asked for a blog post to collate top techie tips. So all you techie geeks out there comment away and let's see how many top tips on using Library eResources we can get :-). Or alternatively why not come and demo your Uber Geek dances to the Library Assistants at the Library Counter ;-) To start you off here is a repeat of Phil's tip, on how to add a new tab in MUSE.

Vic

Maybe we could have a blog on these pages for ideas like this?

TIP for “book-marking” databases in MUSE

You only have to log in to MUSE rather than Athens now, but you still have to navigate to your favourite database start page (OVID SP in my case) via the library indexes, so here’s a geeky trick that you might want to try if you want the OVID page to come up when you first open MUSE.

1. Go the page you’d like to access quickly and copy the address from your web browser,
(in my case it was the OVID page http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/cdfiles/biomed.html)
2. Login to MUSE and click the “Customise Layout” link
3. Click the “Add New Tab” button.
4. Add a name for your tab in the “name the tab” box and select the “Framed - URL:” radio button and add the address you copied in step 1 to the box, then click the submit button
5. Now you will see a page that has all your tabs on so click on the link for the name you used in step 4. On the next page and click “Make this the default Active Tab”. Finally click the “back to …” link at the top right to get back to the tab you just created.
6. Cheer at your IT prowess and do the dance of the Uber geek ;-)

When you next login to MUSE that tab will be the first thing you see!

You can add several database pages as tabs by only using steps 1-4 without changing your default page

Geekily yours

Phil

Thursday, 3 April 2008

Bookmarking eResources in your Web browser

Ok, so you all keep telling me that connecting to a Library eResource involves too many clicks and I have to say I am inclined to agree. At the moment our eTechnologies  team are working on a project which will authenticate access to the resources using a different system to Athens (Shibboleth) and I am hopeful that the access will then be much quicker and more straightforward.

In the meantime, if you have resources which you visit frequently then it may be worth bookmarking them. This must be done in the following way to ensure access is facilitated:

eJournals and eBooks

  • Open your preferred browser

  • Connect to the a-z eJournal or eBook listing

  • Right click on the required title

  • Add to favourites (IE) or bookmark this link (Firefox)


Databases

  • Open your preferred browser 

  • From the a-z list select the required database

  • Right click on the 'connect to ...' link in the quick links box

  • Add to favourites (IE) or bookmark this link (Firefox)


When you return to your bookmarked page you will be asked to log into MUSE to meet with our legal obligations. You only need to do this once per browser session. Hope this helps.

I'll keep you posted on the Shibboleth developments.

Vic

Thursday, 20 March 2008

Off campus connections to electronic journals

Did you know that all of the journals listed on the University of Sheffield's eLibrary are available from any internet connection in the world? Connecting off-campus is not always as straightforward as connecting from a University pc and as many of you are away on placement, or going home for Easter, I thought it timely to give you some connection advice. Here is what to do in 8 easy (!) steps:

Step 1: Connect to www.shef.ac.uk

Step 2: Login to MUSE

Step 3: Click on the Library tab

Step 4: Select eJournals (under eResources)

Step 5: Select a-z list

Step 6: Find the required title and check the years covered by our subscription. An open ended range indicates that we are still subscribing.

Step7: Click on the required title. The article may open immediately here. If not carry on to step 8.

Step 8: (Where most people fail but it really is easy – once you know how). Connections differ according to the supplier. Often they require you to click on 'login' followed by 'Athens login' or perhaps you will see 'Athens login' immediately. Do not at this stage enter any passwords. All the connections work via MUSE and by simply clicking on 'Athens login' access should be facilitated.

As I said the connection routes vary depending on the supplier and detailed connection instructions for all the suppliers we work with can be found at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/elecjnls/ejsup.html If you don’t get access please, please, please contact the Library:

We can advise you of the route in. Do not enter your credit card number as some of the screens suggest. The University Library is paying huge sums of money to the publishing companies for institutional access to these journals and you therefore don't need to pay again. Buy some Easter eggs or something instead ;-) Remember too that if a journal is not part of our holdings we can still get the article for you from the British Library. Medical students get a free allowance (5 per yr) to do this. Ask at the Library Counter for more info.

Happy Easter Med Students. I'm away for a couple of weeks now. Blogging will resume at the beginning of April.

As long as my musculoskeletal system remains intact during my skiing holiday that is :-)

Vic

Monday, 17 March 2008

Ten of the best: 2 Endnote

The medical librarian's top 10 information resources continues with Endnote

Ten of the best: 2 Endnote

Have you ever written a paper and found that formatting the bibliography has taken almost as long as writing the text? Perhaps you could benefit from using reference management software such as Endnote which does all the fiddly formatting for you. Endnote is a piece of software which allows you to manage your references and generate and format a bibliography using different styles, eg Vancouver,  Harvard or a style compatible with a medical journal. It allows the import of references from databases such as Medline which can then be used on a cite while you write basis within Word.

Connecting on campus

  • Select start

  • Applications (you may need to select the load applications menu)

  • Academic

  • Social sciences

  • Endnote


Using Endnote from home

You may purchase the Endnote software from CiCS but unfortunately we are not able to get a license to allow off-campus access via MUSE.

Learning to use Endnote

I am, apparently, the University Library's Endnote Oracle! I've no idea how I have got myself such a position but if you would like tuition in its use I'm the person to contact. Interested? Let me know. If there is sufficient demand I will run a course.

Vic