Check your reading list online

Apart from Athens (see previous post), the other big change this year is the introduction of LORLS.  What is LORLS? I metaphorically hear you ask.  Let me tell you; LORLS is an online repository of module reading lists.  What;'s the point of that?  I think will be the second question. Let me answer that too.   Online reading list software makes reading lists more manageable, and if they're more manageable, then they're easier to use and you can do more with them - for example, you can see availability of reading list items in the library, you can directly link to electronic versions of the texts (i.e ebook versions) or to journal articles.

In LORLS, we've arranged the modules hierarchically starting with course type

so if you're doing a Master's, click on Masters; if you're doing a diploma, click on Diploma.

Under course type, is the name of the course, so find your course, click on that and you should see all of the modules on your course.

Click on the module and the reading list should appear.  Simples!

We're still populating LORLS, so if you don't see a list, check again later.  If the list doesn't appear in the next couple of weeks, contact the library.

LORLS can be accessed directly on campus (link to follow) or through Moodle.



       

  



 

Simplifying library logins

We're making a few changes to how you access library resources, and trying to cut down on the number of library logins that you have to remember.

Ok, let's review things as they stand.

Your library account - where you can view & renew items on loan and reserve items that other people have on loan, you access with your student number and date of birth

The search box on the library homepage also uses your student number and date of birth.

Access to all other library resources off-campus is through an Athens account.

In the near future

You will access your library account with the same login as you use for Moodle and for college PCs

The search box on the library website will require an Athens account. 

If you don't have access to Athens already, you should receive details of your account in the next few weeks.  This will be sent by email, to the same address that we have on record for you.

We'll keep you posted.

 

Search our library catalogue from your Android phone (I)

Smartphones are becoming ubiquitous in daily life.  While the majority of smart phone use is for leisure rather than work or study, it makes sense for us library folk to let you know, now and again, ways in which you can use your smartphone in a library context: thus this post.

If you have an Android phone, you can search our catalogue merely by scanning a book's barcode.  How cool is that?  "Not very" I'm sure is the response.   Anyway what you need to do is:

1. Download & install Barcode Scanner from Google Play (it's free)
2. Open the App & go to Settings.
3. Scroll down to "Custom search URL" and enter http://koha.dbs.ie/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?idx=nb&q=%s
4. Ok and exit.
5. Scan the ISBN code of a book. When the ISBN is recognised, touch Custom search, which will open the catalogue record of the book (if it's in the catalogue)

I don't have an iPhone, so I can't say for sure if you can replicate this on that device. 
Browscan - Barcode Scanner (again, it's free) has a custom URL setting, so perhaps you can try that on an iPhone and let us know.  

Access to Mintel

For reason too complicated and too boring to expand upon, Mintel is no longer available through Athens.  Instead you can access Mintel by logging into Moodle and clicking the link in the Library Resources box on the top right of the home page.  Happy Mintelling!

Bank Holiday Weekend Opening Times

Below are the opening times for the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Aungier Street Library

Saturday 2nd 9.30am to 5.00pm

Sunday 3rd Closed

Monday 4th Closed

Aungier Street Building

Saturday 2nd , Sunday 3rd  & Monday 4th  - 8:00am to 6:00pm

Dame Street Library

Saturday 2nd 9.30am to 2.00pm

Sunday 3rd Closed

Monday 4th Closed

Dame Street Building

Saturday 2nd - 9:00am to 2:30pm

Sunday 3rd Closed

Monday 4th Closed

 Castle House

Saturday 2nd, Sunday 3rd  8:00am to 6:00pm (Closed B/H Monday 4th)

Balfe Street & Bow Lane

Closed

Dawsonera down

The Dawsonera website is currently unavailable.  This is due to unforseen technical issues (are technical issues ever forseen I wonder?)  Unfortunately Dawsonera are unable to provide a time scale for when the service will resume, so I'm guessing it's rather serious.  But be assured they are working hard to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

**Update 20/06/2014**

Dawsonera anticipate that their full service will continue to be unavailable throughout the weekend.

DBS Library Annual Seminar

And now for something completely different...

We held what hopefully will be the first in a series of annual seminars on Friday 13th June (which is why we closed the library for that day).  We felt that it was a great success and it did seem to be well received.  Library staff (including your humble scribe) were among the speakers and if you want an idea of what we work on behind the scenes, you can find the presentations from the day here  

AS Library Saturday closures

It seems unfortunate that the most recent postings here all relate to closing a library for a while, but at least it's summer and most of you are occupied elsewhere. Anyway, Aungier St library will be closed on the following three Saturdays in July  

Saturday 12th July 
Saturday 19th July 
Saturday 26th July

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please note that Dame Street Library will be open until 5pm on these Saturdays

Aungier Street Library Closure - Friday 13th June

The Aungier St library will be closed on Friday 13th June to facilitate library-type stuff. Dame St library will remain open and Aungier will be open as normal on Saturday

A further short note about Passport

Not through Athens this time, or rather not just through Athens.  I shall quote our Passport contact

Passport is built on Windows platform and we do not support any form of Apple products. Users may be able to access Passport but intermittently, but a lot of the functionality will not work and we can’t guarantee a good service because we don’t support it.
We support Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Firefox, but it works best on Internet Explorer.
If you use Google chrome on a Mac, you should be able to access Passport, but we can’t guarantee all the functionality. As we don’t support any Apple products, we cannot do any testing to replicate [any issues that may arise during of Apple products to access Passport]

So there you are. If you use Passport, best to do it on a PC.