Fines for overdue interloan items

All students (including postgraduate students) who have overdue interloan items will be fined at the rate of 20c per day as per normal library loans.

Interloans are not automatically renewed – they are loaned for a definitive period of time. Renewals only happen with permission of the library who owns the interloan. Please email interloans@unitec.ac.nz and ask if a renewal is possible.

This change will take place for all interloan items loaned from the 13 July 2015.

See more about fines here: http://library.unitec.ac.nz/services/fines.htm

See more about interloans here: http://library.unitec.ac.nz/services/ill/interloans.htm

Upgrade to Library Subject Guides and the Study Toolbox Guides - now LIVE!

The web publishing platform that hosts our Library Subject Guides and the Study Toolbox Guides was upgraded on 6 July 2015.

This upgrade has changed the look of the guides slightly. See: http://libguides.unitec.ac.nz


Benefits from the upgrade include:

• Display automatically resizes to suit size of device you are using e.g. Mobile device
• Databases A-Z integrated into the platform
• A content management system (CMS) which makes it easier to keep the guides updated as it includes a central asset list for web links and documents in the guides
• CMS functionality enables separately branded groups of guides

Please feel free to email your feedback to libadmin@unitec.ac.nz

Academic staff if you would like additions or changes made to the content of the guide for your teaching area please contact the Knowledge Specialist for your area.

Problem with online forms

We have been experiencing a problem with receiving Library forms filled in online since 25 July.  If you have sent a request via a form since 25 July, please send an email to the appropriate email address below to ask for confirmation of its receipt. Please send your request directly to the following email addresses:

Distance students: 
distance@unitec.ac.nz

Interloans:
interloans@unitec.ac.nz

Course Reserve (short loan):
Mt Albert Hub Library -   library@unitec.ac.nz
Mt Albert Building 1 Library - bld1library@unitec.ac.nz
Waitakere Library -  waitakerelibrary@unitec.ac.nz


We apologize for the inconvenience.

Students Using Unitec Waitākere Library During Mid-Year Break

Mid-year break, 6th – 17th July 2015

The Library will be temporarily located in the CIS Study Lab, Building 500-1005, Level 1.

A Librarian will be there to assist as well as issue laptops. 

Hours are:

8am – 5pm, Monday – Friday

10am – 4pm, Saturday & Sunday

 Please note that on Tuesday 14^th July CIS Lab/ Library will be closed from 9am – midday.  

For urgent book requests please phone us on (09)8154321 ext. 5022.

Alternatively, please use the Hub Library at Mt Albert.  Click here for Hours at all Unitec Library branches

Subject and study guides upgrade coming soon!

Our subject and study guides web publishing platform is being upgraded on 6 July 2015.

This upgrade will change the look of the guides slightly. You can see the BETA test site here: http://unitec.beta.libguides.com

Please feel free to email your feedback to libadmin@unitec.ac.nz

Benefits from the upgrade include:

• Display automatically resizes to suit size of device you are using e.g. Mobile device
• Databases A-Z integrated into the platform
• A content management system (CMS) which makes it easier to keep the guides updated as it includes a central asset list for web links and documents in the guides
• CMS functionality enables separately branded groups of guides

Academic staff if you would like additions or changes made to the content of the guide for your teaching area please contact the Knowledge Specialist for your area.

Changes to Waitākere library during the mid-year break 6-19 July 2015

During the mid-year break, the Waitākere campus library is undergoing a renovation project. The library is re-establishing itself as a stand-alone library across the whole of level 3. The move will mean that the Waitākere Unitec Library’s collections will be on one floor, we will no longer have books on level 2. There will be some disruptions to service during the move which will mean: ·         Only the Course Reserve collection and online resources remain available ·         Level 2 and the Unitec General collection will be closed during this time ·         Increased activity and noise on Level 3 due to project works ·         Opening hours will be Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am – 4pm As a result of the move, you will have: ·         Increased study space ·         More computers ·         More study rooms ·         Improved access to Te Puna Ako student services If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Fran Skilton or Jo Barnes.

Library Databases A-Z is a-changing

We need your opinion on the new Databases A-Z prototype!

This will be hosted on a new platform (Libguides) from July 6th, but we would like you to help us to test it first.

We are decommissioning the old platform (Metalib) because it is too slow. It does not return enough results, and it needs a clunky server. But, it has a useful Databases A-Z feature. We know our users like this feature and that is why we’ve been working on developing a new Databases A-Z using the cloud based LibGuides application.

Next steps

Please give us your feedback on the new Databases A-Z before it goes live!

Here it is:  http://unitec.beta.libguides.com/az.php .

Send your feedback to: libadmin@unitec.ac.nz by Friday 3 July 2015 [ note originally feedback was due on 26th June but we have extended time for feedback until 3 July]

If you wish to compare it to the current Databases A-Z use this link to access the old MetaLib.

In summary:

• Library Databases searching via MetaLib will be decommissioned on Monday 6 July
• Library Databases searching will be provided by Articles-Express and a new Databases A-Z.

 

Background information and slightly more technical details

We have a new Library management system (Alma), and an upgraded version of the search function LibrarySearch (Primo). These core library systems are now hosted on the cloud so we no longer have to maintain production and test servers for these systems. 

Metalib is now the only locally hosted Library system. You may use this as the Databases A-Z function. We’ve reviewed MetaLib and decided that it no longer provides sufficient benefit to warrant continuing its maintenance and support.

So… we are decommissioning MetaLib from Monday 6 July.

Metalib allows federated searching across several databases at once. However, it’s search functionality is very slow and our recently upgraded ‘Articles-Express’ does much better.

Benefits of Articles-Express:

• Returns search results much faster than Metalib.
• Returns all results for which we have full-text access whereas MetaLib does not.
• No need to login before searching whereas MetaLib requires login.
• No server required whereas MetaLib requires a server. The current MetaLib server is 6 years old and frequently needs attention to load updates, patches or improve disc space.