SpringShare have just rerun the UC custom link checker for us, and the file is available from K:\information_services\LibGuides\custom_linkcheck_report_2012-03-12.htm.

SpringShare run this special report for us, on request every three months. This is necessary because the linkchecker on the LibGuides interface does NOT check links on Rich Text pages, and most of our LibGuides pages are Rich Text format.

Could all authors of LibGuides please check this report. It does include some false hits (links that do work, particularly internal ones) but it also reports links that are definitely broken, and which have been reported now on a number of previous reports.

Note: Should be OK now.

Apparently there are internet connection problems across the whole University at the moment. ICTS are aware of this.

Catherine

The course code search option in Horizon Staff Pac has been removed because it was searching items in the Reserve Book Room module, which we are no longer using. Please use the Course Code option in Hip instead. This will find items connected to courses in the new system.

Horizon will need to be restarted for this change to be picked up by the client.

Catherine Jane
Library eServices

Every year we get enquiries about checkout dates for research students, because Horizon doesn’t seem to be giving them the allocated 60 days.

This is because their records will be approaching an expiry date – they will need to re-enrol in the next few weeks.

This may also affect their ability to login to their borrower records and renew items for themselves, but it can be done for them on Horizon.

Catherine

The lastest upgrade of Horizon/Hip seems to have left us with a problem with requests and pickup locations. This affects requests placed by distance students, and any requests for daily loans. We have complex parameter settings but they used to work with the previous versions, and they should work with the new versions. We may have to wait for another Horizon/Hip upgrade/patch to get a fix.

Our parameters prevent distance students from choosing any pickup location except Education. In the previous version of Hip, this meant that they were given no choice – Education Library was selected for them. Now, they see all possible locations but only Education will work – if they choose another location the request will fail.

We have tried to improve the message they get on this failure, changing it from “Your request failed. Please contact the circulation desk.” to “Your request failed. See below regarding pickup locations, or contact the circulation desk.”. Below, there is a statement “Distance borrowers: Your items will be posted to you” – this will soon be changed to “Distance borrowers: Choose pick up location Education Library. Your items will be posted to you”.

Unfortunately though, this message about the failed request is also followed by another sentence which reads “Your request cannot be filled because no requestable items exist for this title.” This isn’t something we can control – it’s a message that comes up if you do request a non-requestable item eg an hourly loan, and we don’t want to prevent this to display when it is true.

We also have similar parameters for daily loans which have to be picked up from their owning locations. If another location is selected, the user will get the same error messages.

So there may be some very confused borrowers trying to make requests which fail. Check to see if they are either distance borrowers, or requesting a daily loan, and if so, tell them to ensure they are choosing the right pickup location.

Any questions – please contact eServices.

A couple of changes have been made to the New Titles List, at the request from a small group which had a look recently at how we notify users of new titles.

1. Cover images now display where these are available. This does have the effect of slowing down the retrieval of a very long list a bit, but these lists are designed to be run regularly and customisable to reasonably precise subject areas.
2. There is a new e-books search possible – there is a link on the bottom right of the main page where you can go to a search which limits to e-books only.

Please could you give this new version of the New Titles page a test run. Send any feedback or problems to eServices.

If all is well, in the next day or two I will put up a news item on Library News, alerting users to the new functionality.

Catherine

Our temporary fix for the catalogue is not adequate and we are going to have to rebuild the indexes. This can take several hours – even though the catalogue may appear to be available, the indexes are incomplete and will only come back gradually.

Multisearch may be the best option for the rest of the afternoon.

Catherine

We have had some problems with the catalogue this morning, which we hope we have fixed. However, the problems indicate probable corruption of the keyword indexes, and our fix may not be a total solution. We plan to rebuild the indexes overnight, as long as problems don’t return earlier than that. If they do, we will have to do the rebuild during the day, which we try to avoid as it takes some time before all searches work properly.

Please keep an eye on catalogue searches today, and phone Library eServices (ext 8603) immediately if you encounter any more problems.

Catherine

I was incorrect in saying that fines and recall fines were not to be reinstated until Wednesday. They start today.

So I have changed the parameters on Horizon. Any sessions started (or restarted) before 9.25am should be closed and started again to pick up the fines changes.

My apologies for this – there was some confusion at our end as to what date fines were to be reinstated.

Again, any problems or queries (with Horizon parameters) should be directed to eServices.

Catherine

The circulation parameters in Horizon have been changed to take into account the change in loan periods and number of times items can be renewed. See 23 January – changes to borrowing and Fines

This was completed at about 8.30 this morning. To ensure all changes are picked up, Horizon sessions started before 8.30am will have to be closed and started again.

The most noticeable change is to the default loan period which is now 28 days, including journals. Fine rates have also been changed, but these changes will not be noticeable until Wednesday morning, as exceptions still remain to keep fines suppressed until then. Later note: I was mistaken about this, fines are being reinstated today. Just in the process of fixing this now (9.15am)

This was quite a fiddly job, so if you see errors, or have any questions, please contact eServices (ph 8603) asap.

Catherine