Library Blog

In order to deliver a more efficient, higher quality document supply service, the British Library has introduced a number of changes to its service which will affect your Inter Library Loan requests from 1st March

Avoid the expense of unnecessary renewals

The British Library is introducing an automatic renewal for any item which has not been returned on the due date stipulated by them. This will incur an additional cost and, therefore, an additional ILL allocation from your school. In order to prevent a negative impact on school allocation because of this unnecessary expenditure, the library has taken the decision to loan ILL books for a maximum of 4 weeks. This will allow time for the book to be returned to the library and posted back to the British Library. We will still be able to renew ILL material if necessary, but each renewal will also incur a cost of one additional ILL allocation from your school.

No early recall for in-demand items

You will be allowed to retain an item for the normal loan period even when it is　in demand by another user.

More time to retrieve your SEDs

You will have 30 days to open articles emailed to you by the British Library and we will remind you, one week before it expires, if you have forgotten to do this.

New colour copying

 Where possible, the British Library will now scan and photocopy articles and book chapters in colour.

Help and assistance

 Articles emailed to you by the British Library will no longer come from ‘Archie’ but will be from noreply@bldss.bl.uk . as the address suggests, you cannot reply to this address with any queries,but Libray staff are always available to help if you have a problem.

Queen’s University Library carried out a survey in May 2011 to obtain feedback from academic staff and research students on the Inter-Library Loan service.  In particular we sought to gage reaction to some recent innovations and to establish how well the service is meeting the needs of our users.

I would like to thank all the staff and research students who took the time to complete the questionnaire and in particular those who availed of the opportunity to provide additional comments.  The feedback, which has  been analysed and sorted, and written up into a report, has provided us with invaluable information. This will help us to address or explain any perceived shortcomings and will influence future developments.

For full details please see the Report on the Inter-Library Loan Survey.

The 17^th edition of the Requirements for Electrical Installations: IET Wiring Regulations is now available online to Queen’s staff and students.  It is accessed via British Standards Online:

• Go to QSearch and click ‘Find Database’
• Enter your Queen’s username and password
• Search for ‘British Standards Online’ in the ‘Find Database’ list
• Click on ‘British Standards Online’ and search for ‘7671:2008’
• Click on ‘Open Document’

The library has a rather fine bookpage scanner on loan (the book2net Spirit). You can scan directly to a PDF file and save it to your memory stick. Best of all it is absolutely free to use. You can find it on Floor1 of the McClay (to the right of the Information Desk). We only have it unil next Friday and would really like your comments about it, and remember, IT’S FREE TO USE.

Please send your comments to Diarmuid Kennedy (d.g.kennedy@qub.ac.uk)

The McClay Library will be open from nine in the morning until nine at night on Wednesday 28th, Thursday 29th and Friday 30th December.

There will be a limited staffed service available between 9.00am and 5.00pm. Study facilities will be available throughout the building until 9.00pm.

Overnight opening in The McClay starts on Sunday 4th December 2011.

From Sunday 4th December until Friday 16th December and, from Tuesday 3rd January until Monday 23rd January the Library will remain open overnight on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  And, there will be access to all the subject floors until 1.00am.

On Saturday mornings study facilities are available in the Extended Hours Room from 6 o’clock. The rest of the building will open as normal at 10.ooam.

On Fridays and Saturdays the Library will close at 1 o’clock in the morning.

Trial access is now available to C19 UK Periodical Series 2 – Empire.  Simply log onto C19 UK Periodical Series 1 (available via Qsearch) and the Series 2 will automatically be available.  Please note this trial will end on 1st December 2011.

A factsheet on this resource is available here, and a full title list can be found here.

Please send feedback or comments to Diarmuid Kennedy (d.g.kennedy@qub.ac.uk).