New Delivery Platform

In recent weeks eTV has had to migrate off its old delivery platform and onto a new platform as the old network was being shut down with very little notice. As you can imagine with over 30,000 programmes this was not a small scale exercise.

During this process it was identified that programmes recorded prior to October 2011 were in an older format (.MOV) and required to be transcoded again to work in the current day browsers (.MP4) and on the new delivery platform.

This has taken longer than we expected and this is why you are experiencing some videos not playing in the new eTV V4. We can assure you that this will be resolved and the content has not been lost however it will take between 7 and 10 days to complete this transcode process and so we thank you for your patience and understanding while we complete this task.

Campbell Downie
Learning Resources Manager
eTV

For the interest of acquisitions staff, liaison librarians and others involved in collection development: e-books from the JSTOR platform are now available as a selection choice (no DRM) in YBP’s GOBI database. JSTOR is the latest provider to come on board with GOBI.

[A news item will also be placed on Library News] There will be some maintenance on the Library’s links to EBL e-books this coming weekend due to some changes happening with the remote hosting server. Users may experience some “dead links” due to these changes. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

From EBL “We are pleased to inform you that in early August EBL will be moving from the Textbook lending model to a 3-user model.
The 3-user lending model will increase patron access to titles, by reducing the likelihood of turnaways. 3-user titles have a limit of three concurrent users. Concurrent use is determined by time spent in the Online Reader, not by loan length. In addition, libraries are able to permit downloads while preserving online access to popular titles. Upon launch, all existing Textbook titles – including owned titles – will become 3-user titles. Titles previously purchased in the Textbook model will now be more accessible to your patrons with no additional cost to you. Additional information regarding this change will be sent to you in mid-July”

(Note: this change doesn’t affect titles we own/make available through the non-linear lending model; they remain multiple user access)

From Knowledge-Basket – An invitation to take a look at the New Zealand Index on the test TKB website/search engine (and the behind-the-scenes-super-servers)

Estimated timeframe is mid March 2014

If you’ve had a look already you will have found that the search system is lightning-fast and provides a few great new features (load more records, exclude records from the results screen, get results in reverse date order…)

The website is clean and modern, happily adapts itself to mobile devices, and provides a lot more flexibility for adding updates/news/blogs. It’s still in development stages but will soon be put out for wider testing before our official launch.

To re-cap, the New Zealand Index:
• is a collection of 16 indexes and bibliographies (and we’re adding new collections as they become available see below)
• includes many gems – from the NZ Science Indexes to the full text of the NZ Herald Classified Personals (updated daily)
• also includes all of the National Library’s INNZ records
• users can select specific collections or search the whole suite in one go
• continues to be a must-have for New Zealand libraries

Next to be added to the New Zealand Index:
• Waikato Index of more than 4,000 records (thanks to Hamilton Libraries this extensive index will be up and running shortly)
• and… the Publications New Zealand collection (the National Library’s record of publications from, or about, New Zealand)
• and… our databases are a collaborative effort – we’re always keen to explore new relationships with suppliers (i.e. libraries, publishers, indexers, authors)

You can go straight to http://test.knowledge-basket.co.nz and take it from there.

BBC Academy College of Journalism is a new subscription for 2014. Our access has already been activated so it is available now at http://ezproxy.canterbury.ac.nz/login?url=http://bbcjournalism.oup.com/

The BBC College of Journalism website includes hundreds of videos, audio clips, discussion pages, interactive modules, and text pages covering every aspect of TV, radio, and online journalism. Much of the material features BBC TV reporters and hosts known around the world. The subjects covered range from craft skills (e.g. writing or directing video) to subject briefings on critical events and topics such as climate change and the conflict in the Middle East, to the many ethical issues now facing journalists. The site is continuously updated, its coverage driven by the practical needs of BBC journalists around the world, as well as current events in the news.

Peter H.

A new JSTOR collection: Business IV is now available. A description of the collection and title list is available at: http://about.jstor.org/content/business-iv
The collection currently has 21 titles in economics, management, and industrial relations. The collection will also contain titles titles in microeconomics (especially behavioural, labour, health, urban, and development economics) and management (including supply chain management and decision science). It will eventually have a minimum of 50 titles when completed.
Titles can be accessed now through the journal A-Z and should be available in Multisearch in a few days time. We will receive catalogue records in mid November.

Peter H.

A new version of Choice reviews is now available and it has moved to the Highwire platform.

More information here: http://www.cro3.org/

Peter H.

Those of us who grapple with use statistics may find this presentation from Griffith interesting – the bibliography also has some links to similarly interesting articles
Tim S

Library Managers Meeting discussed a few changes to the Electronic Resources Trial and Recommending Continuing Resources standard operating procedures. Links to the revised documents given below. The main changes are a) broadening the criteria Datasets will consider in deciding whether to approve a trial and b) to incorporate the new Information Resources Advisory Group (a new subcomittee of the Library Committee) into the workflow.

Electronic Resources Trials SOP
Recommending Continuing Resources SOP

Tim Stedman