September 2009 Archives
I like to browse publications like the New Republic and The Economist and I have noticed that the Library often doesn't have these out on the shelf until weeks after the newstands do. E-versions are fine, but I like to browse the print editions. Any chance of getting the weekly periodicals out on time?
Thank you for sharing your concerns about finding the latest issues of magazines and journals you'd like to regularly read. It's great to hear from students and faculty who continue to find our print collections of great value. We receive dozens of periodicals every day, and we do our best to make them available to those awaiting them as fast as we possibly can. We receive our journals via the US mail which is usually later than the newstand date. Once the issues are in the building it normally takes us approximately 2- 5 days to place the titles on the current periodical shelves. The two titles you were looking for are two of our most used titles. It is possible that someone has removed the journal and is reading it elsewhere in the library. Here is additional information on the handling of these two titles:
The New Republic
Issue for Sept. 23rd was checked in and shelved Sept. 29. It is not currently on the shelf.
Sept. 9th was shelved on Sept. 2nd and is currently on shelf.
Aug. 12 was rec'd on Aug. 4th and is on shelf
Jul. 15 was rec'd on Jul 8th and is on shelf.
The Economist
The most recent issue was found in the "to be shelved" bin which means someone had been looking at it. All other issues were on shelf.
Issue for Sept. 19-25th rec'd on Sept. 25th
Sept. 12-18 rec'd on Sept. 23rd
Sept. 5-11th rec'd on Sept. 10th
Aug. 29-Sept. 4th rec'd on Sept 9th.
As you can see we usually receive the NR a week before the date of the issue. However, The Economist is received after the issue date.
If you do not find an issue at its shelf location you should first check the reshelf bin in the periodicals area. If you still do not find the issue proceed to the reference desk and request assistance to find an issue. The reference librarian will contact a member of our acquisitions department who can provide assistance. I apologize if you could not find the title you were interested in. I am available to speak with you or other patrons who have concerns or suggestions for our periodical collection
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Any chance of expanding the "concurrent user limit" on Safari Tech Books? I couldn't log on today, and I would really like to be able to have more reliable access to this resource... ...because it offers a lot of utility to a lot of disciplines at a lot of different levels the 4 user limit seems awfully small for a University Temple's size....
Thanks for sharing your concerns about getting access to Safari. It is great to hear that you find this to be a useful resource. We do obtain usage statistics for Safari from the producer of the database, and whenever someone is unable to connect because all four seats are in use - we call that a "turnaway" - we are notified in the statistical count. Here is the latest data we have on turnaways for Safari:
June 2009 - 2 turnaways
January 2009: 19 turnaways
September 2008: 191 turnaways
Other than September 2008, which seems a bit of an aberration, we rarely have turnaways, and that suggests our 4 seats are serving our user community well. Keep in mind that additional seats cost us additional dollars, and we have to make careful decisions about putting the right amount of money into a database like Safari so we aren't wasting money on seats that go unused - and wasted money means less dollars for other important databases we need for Temple students and faculty.
One other thing to consider. Within the last week, during the time this suggestion was received, we were experiencing a number of difficulties with the technology that allows access to the databases from off campus. This may in fact be the source of your inability to connect to Safari - not a lack of seats. But we will continue to monitor the usage of seats for Safari and other databases and add seats when it seems necessary to meet the demand for access.
The "QuickSearch" is confusing. What exactly is it searching? Why is it so hard to find a link to the book catalog?
First, thank you for giving our new Library homepage, which is currently available for preview and comment. Sorry for any confusion you might have about Quicksearch. It's simply designed to provide a starting point. You can enter any term or phrase in the search box, and the search will return the number of results you will retrieve in a variety of sources. So you will retrieve some recommended databases, results from Academic Search Premier and the library catalog. It also returns links to subject guides that can help you with your research by recommending many other potential sources of information. So Quick Search doesn't return actual citations for books and magazines. Rather, it is a starting point and suggests resources for your research.
We have tried to make it easy to get to the book catalog. There is a link to it under "Quick Links" (see Diamond Catalog) and when you use the quick search you automatically get results from the book catalog (see the link under the "Databases" category) - so you don't even need to find a link to the catalog. Quick Search already gives you a search result.
If you still find Quick Search confusing - or if there is anything about the new homepage design you'd like to make a suggestion about - please follow up with additional comments or suggestions to Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian.
