Main Library Extended Hours 30 Oct-18 Nov 2010

The Main Library will be open for longer hours during the exam period, beginning on Saturday 30 October 2010 and ending on Thursday 18 November 2010. Opening hours are as follows:

Mon- Thurs    8.00-10.00
Fri                 8.00-7.00
Sat-Sun         9.00-7.00

The other branches' hours are unchanged.

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Unitec Library goes Green this Week

Conservation Week runs from 12 to 19 September, so we thought this week would be a good time to showcase some of the great information resources we have on all things 'green'. Take a look at our new 'green' guide: http://libguides.unitec.ac.nz/green

Check out the Conservation Week display in the Main Library (next to hub - Mt Albert campus). This display includes related books, dvds, and journals, plus a thought-provoking powerpoint presentation by one of Unitec's 'green' lecturers Peter Mellalieu.

To see more resources you can browse the shelves for library call numbers like: 333, 338 and 658 amongst others. But remember that alot of the most up-to-date resources are only available in electronic form as ebooks and ejournals, so use LibrarySearch as well as browsing the shelves. For ebooks search the Catalogue for phrases such as "sustainable development' and "environmental aspects". To access full text ejournal articles just login to LibrarySearch and search under 'databases'.

We would love to get your feedback on what you would like to see the library doing to go even greener. Plus we encourage you to share any other great 'green' resources you know about. Just leave a comment at the end of this blog, or use our suggestion form, or email: libadmin@unitec.ac.nz

For more about Conservation Week nationwide go to the DoC website.

from Dept of Conservation poster for Conservation Week

ScienceDirect and Scopus unavailable

On Sunday 29 August the ScienceDirect and Scopus databases will be unavailable from 12.30 to 9.30am, due to scheduled maintenance.

Library Survey Results

The results of the Library survey that was carried out in May 2010 are now available. The Report states that "The Library recorded an overall score of 79.1%. This places Unitec Library in the top 25% of libraries that have surveyed with us over the last 2 years". 

This is an outstanding achievement given the level of our resourcing against the 37 benchmarked libraries (4 NZ university libraries; 28 Australian university libraries; 4 Australian polytechnics; one Australian tertiary health services provider). This result proves (among other things) the value of what we're doing and the way we are working for our users.  Unitec chief executive Rick Ede wrote: "Congratulations to the whole team for an excellent result and for having the courage to brave the waters!"

What next?

The Library has determined the 'factors for improvement' it will prioritize. Our short list includes the state of the facilities at Building One, which had a number of comments made about it. We are also focussing on the following categories from the survey:

•  'I can find a quiet space in the Library to study'
• 'A computer is available when I need one'
• 'Printing, scanning and photocopying facilities in the Library meet my needs'
• 'The items I'm looking for on the library shelves are usually there'.

I want to express my thanks once again to everyone who took part in the survey. To see the full survey report, click here.

Peter Hughes

Library Director

Library Orientations

Come to the Information Desk at the Main Library to put your name down for a Library Orientation. They are being held on

Monday 26 July from 1.00-1.45

Tuesday 27 July from 12.00-12.45

Wednesday 28 July from 12.45-1.30

There is also a session specifically for Chinese students:

Thursday 29 July from 12.30-1.15pm

The orientation will teach you how to search the catalogue and find resources for your first assignment. It will take about 40 minutes.

Come on a Library Tour

Tours are being held of the Main Library during the first two weeks of the semester. They are on

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 12.00

Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1.00

Tours take about fifteen minutes. There's no need to book - just come to the Lending desk and join the other students.

Introducing LibrarySearch

LibrarySearch is the Library's new search tool. It replaces the old Library Catalogue as well as the database Multi-Search tool. With LibrarySearch you can search for all the Library's resources using a single interface.

Use the tabs to choose whether you want to search the catalogue for books or DVDs, search the Library databases for journal articles, search the course reserve collection, or search for exam papers.

When you click on the Databases tab, you will see a dropdown menu of subject areas to choose from.

 

Each subject area contains a set of databases selected as the most appropriate for that subject. Before searching databases you need to log in with your username and password - otherwise you won't see any results. You also need to log in if you want to put any books on hold.


Click on My Account to see what books you have out, and to see the status of your requests. You can also use My Account to save your favourite searches, to make lists of books and articles, and to create your own set of databases to search.

When you've performed a search, use the facets in the menu on the left of the screen to narrow down your results.

Library Survey - Winners Announced

Thank you to everyone who responded to the Library survey. We hope the results will enable us to improve our services to you. 

We are pleased to announce that the winners of the Westfield vouchers are Jennifer Haven (Health student) and Kimberley Eddy (Education student). Kimberley said that she was so so so happy and that it was a pleasure answering the survey.  She also says that she feels that Unitec library is a great help towards her studies.

When we've received and analyzed the results over the next two months, we will post a summary of the survey findings.

Unitec Research Bank

The research outputs of Unitec, including theses, are being collected in a new institutional repository called the Unitec Research Bank. The Research Bank replaces Coda, the old institutional repository that ceased operations at the end of 2009.

Links to the theses from their records in the Library Catalogue will be created in due course, but for the present you can access theses by searching the Research Bank.

Waitakere Library Earlier Opening

Level 3 of Waitakere Joint Library and Te Puna Ora o Waitakere (Room 1001, Building 500) are now open at 8.00am from Monday to Friday.

Access to Level 3 is only by the airbridge from Level 3 of Building 510. Levels 1 and 2 of Waitakere Library remain closed until 8.30.

EndNote training session

A training session in the bibliographic management software EndNote for staff and postgraduate students will be held in the Library Training Room on Wednesday 14th April from 2.00 to 3.30. The session will cover the new features of EndNote X3, the latest edition, and use the new 6th edition of the APA Publication Manual.

EndNote is a software package that allows you to store and manage bibliographic references. It assists with creating bibliographies, making it a very useful tool for writing academic papers.

Registration for the session is essential. You can register by emailing infolit@unitec.ac.nz. Please allow the full 90 minutes for the session.

Easter Hours

The Library's Easter hours are as follows:

Main Library
Good Friday 2 April   Library Closed
Easter Sat 3 April      9.00am - 4.30pm
Easter Sun 4 April      Library Closed
Easter Mon 5 April     Library Closed
Easter Tue 6 April      9.00am - 4.30pm

Building One

Good Friday 2 April  Library Closed
Easter Sat 3 April      9.00am - 4.30pm
Easter Sun 4 April      Library Closed
Easter Mon 5 April     Library Closed
Easter Tue 6 April      Library Closed

Waitakere
Good Friday 2 April   Library Closed
Easter Sat 3 April      10.00am - 4.00pm (Te Puna Ora Closed)
Easter Sun 4 April     10.00am - 4.00pm (Te Puna Ora Closed)
Easter Mon 5 April     Library Closed
Easter Tue 6 April      8.30 - 8.00pm (Te Puna Ora Closed)

North Shore
2 April - 6 April             Library Closed

Library Tours

Tours of the Main Library are being held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 12.00-12.30.

There's no need to register for a tour. Just come to the Lending Desk at 12.00 to meet your friendly tour guide.