Procedures for printing and photocopying in the Medical Library have been brought into line with those operating in other Queen’s libraries.  This provides an improved service to users of the library in a number of ways, some of which are highlighted below.

A clearer system of paying for printing

Under the new system you have your own print/photocopy card.  You can add funds to it whenever required using a ‘Card dispenser/Cash upload’ machine in the library.  Cards are purchased from the same machine for £2 and they contain 75p worth of print credit to start you off.

Previously you needed to estimate how much print credit you were likely to need and pay for it at the Borrower Services desk.  Complications could arise if you purchased too few or too many credits.

Not enough credit?
Under the old system if you didn’t have enough credit your document(s) would have failed to print.  You would have had to return to the Borrower Services desk, purchase additional credits, log back on to the PC to re-locate your document(s) and resend them to the printer. Under the new system you just need to add more funds to your print/photocopy card and return to the p-station beside the printer to release your document(s) to the printer.  Documents remain in the print queue for 3 hours and can be released at any time during that period.

Too much credit?
If you paid for more printing than you actually needed then, if you were a registered member of the library, the credits remained on your account for future use.  However, if you were a guest, you lost any credits that you did not use on the day. Under the new system all unused credits remain on the card for future use.  Outstanding credits on member accounts under the old system can be transferred onto the new card on request.

Collecting document(s) intact from the printer and maintaining confidentiality

Under the old system document(s) were sent to the printer immediately and were printed out in the order in which they appeared in the print queue.  This meant that if you didn’t go to the printer immediately after sending your document(s) to print you could find your document(s) got mixed up with other peoples.  Even if you did go to the printer immediately there might be an issue with people waiting for print-outs being able to read each other’s documents.

Now documents are not printed until released at the p-station beside the printer.  You insert your card into the p-station and follow the onscreen instructions to release your document(s).  No-one else can release a document to the printer while you are using the p-station so other people’s documents cannot get mixed up with or be seen by anyone else.  Since documents are deleted from the print queue if they are not lreased to the printer after 3 hours, there is no danger that potentially confidential documents will suddenly emerge to be read by others.

Paying for photocopying

Under the old system the method of paying for photocopying was completely different from the print payment system.  Photocopy cards were purchased from a machine beside the copiers and, when you had photocopied material up to the card’s value, you needed to purchase additional card(s). Now, in the same way that you pay for printing, you just need to upload enough money to your personal print/photocopy card and insert your card into the card reader attached to one of the photocopiers.

Colour printing for everyone

Previously colour printing was only available for Queen’s students from the Student Computing Centre in the library.  Under the new system anyone can use the colour printer, simply by selecting the ‘RVH-Colour’ print queue when sending document(s) to print.  Bear in mind that a colour printout costs 20p whereas a black & white printout costs just 5p.

Documents sent for printing can only be released to a printer via a p-station and there is only one p-station in the Medical Library (located beside the black & white printer in the public internet area).  So, for colour printing, although you will still release document(s) in the public internet area, you will have to move to the Student Computing Centre to collect them.

A detailed, step-by-step guide to honni e-Lib is now available online. The guide covers all the main functions including: logging in/out; searching for articles, databases and electronic journals; obtaining articles not available in full-text; and using My Space to collect and organise your own personal sets of resources (including setting up alerts on useful searches).

For ease of navigation the Table of Contents provides hyperlinks to relevant sections of the document. These sections are also accessible via the honni e-Lib ‘Help’ facility so that, if you get stuck at a certain point, you can obtain context-specific help easily just by clicking the ‘Help’ link at the top right hand side of the web page.

The guide is provided in PDF format and can be viewed, downloaded and printed from http://www.honni.qub.ac.uk/sites/media/Media,216357,en.pdf.

In the last issue of honni Update we reported that we would soon be adding buttons linking to resources by profession to the honni home page.

Unfortunately it was necessary to postpone introduction of this new feature as a consequence of the temporary relocation of the Medical Library which required that available space on the home page be devoted to important information about services during the relocation.

The buttons have now been introduced and they should make it easier for profession-specific resources to be located. It is no longer necessary to navigate down through the menu, from ‘Electronic Resources’, to ‘Resources by Profession’ and finally to the specific profession of interest. A single click now takes you to the relevant resources. We hope this small change will assist busy professionals in finding the information they need as quickly as possible.

A new subject librarian, Geraldine O’Beirn, has now started work in the Medical library and will be responsible for Social Work and Clinical Psychology.  Geraldine’s normal working pattern will be 9am to 1pm Monday to Friday.  All Social Workers and Clinical Psychologists are welcome to contact Geraldine (g.obeirn@qub.ac.uk) if they have any queries about the library service, to ask for training on using library resources or if they need specific help carrying out a literature search.

eBrary is a collection of electronic books on a range of subject areas.  The Library has recently reviewed its subscription to the collection and as a result the subscription to eBrary has been cancelled.  Unfortunately updating the library catalogue will take some time and we apologize if you come across ebooks which you cannot access.  We hope to remove the records as soon as possible.

If there are specific titles in the eBrary collection that you feel would be of value please contact your subject librarian who will investigate whether the book can be purchased through an alternative supplier.

The problem below was resolved on 13th August 2010.  If you encounter any further problems with ChildData please send details to med.info@qub.ac.uk

---

There is currently a problem accessing the ChildData database off-campus.  Even though you appear to have successfully logged in to ChildData you may find that you are unable to access the material properly.  Until a solution has been found please go directly to http://library.qub.ac.uk/qu/honni_athens.cgi?url=http://www.childdata.org.uk/contents.asp and input your username and password.

The problem below was resolved on 3 August 2010.  If you encounter any further problems with ProQuest please send details to med.info@qub.ac.uk

_____________________________________________________________________

There is currently a problem accessing some titles from the a to z list of journals. If you locate a title via the a to z list and click on GO for a Proquest Medical Library title you may receive a ‘software error’ message.

If this happens it is still possible to connect to the title by following the steps below:

• return to the honni e-lib window and locate Proquest Medical Library in the database list
• click the link to connect to the resource
• in the Proquest Medical Library window click the publications tab.

It is then possible to navigate to your required journal title within the Proquest interface.

We are working to resolve this problem as quickly as possible. This post will be updated when a solution is found and in the meantime we apologise for any inconvenience.

Home page links to ‘Resources by Profession’

Resources for specific professions are currently accessed via the ‘Electronic Resources’ menu in honni.  To find them it is necessary to click on ‘Electronic Resources’, then on ‘Resources by Profession’, and finally on the specific profession of interest.

To shorten the route to these resources the honni team plans to place buttons linking to specific subject areas on the honni home page.

Menu link to ‘Renew Books’

We also plan to introduce a ‘Renew Books’ link to the main honni menu.  This will allow you to quickly log in to your library account and renew any books you currently have on loan.   Watch out for the changes in July 2010

In addition to any of the libraries which are part of the Medical & Healthcare Library, HSC library members are also entitled to use the University’s new, purpose-built library.  The  McClay Library, located beside Belfast’s Botanic Gardens, is a modern building which brings together state of the art computing and study facilities, blending the best features of a traditional library with the latest technology.

You can bring your own wireless laptop and connect to our network, avail of the library’s ‘laptop for loan’ service, or log on to one of the desktop PCs available.  Please note that you will need to bring your library card to gain entry.

For further information about the services available visit The McClay Library page on the library website.

Those of you who are members of the honni Consultative Group normally receive honni Update by email.  Where appropriate it provides links to this blog where you can post comments on issues raised. 

The Library has recently implemented Microsoft Sharepoint for sharing information and working collaboratively.  It is possible to create a work space within the Library Sharepoint site to allow Consultative Group members to log in and follow honni developments, contribute to discussions, and open discussions of their own. 

We are keen to know whether this would be of interest to existing or potential Consultative Group members.  Post your comments here to let us know what you think.