Defective Blogger...and also more upgrades

It's all my fault. I am a busy person, to be sure, but I made a commitment to this blog that I have not kept. We were off a whole month for Christmas Break but this is no excuse as to why I have not blogged SINCE NOVEMBER. I'm a defective blogger and I beg your forgiveness before I resolve to be better in the future.

But on a bright note, I have lots of fun things to tell you. We have made some improvements recently and added some fun stuff that I know you'll want to check out. Here is a rundown of what's been happening at the J.E. Cobb Library since November:

1. New A-Z List and E-Journal Portal -- Our "Research Databases" have a new look. This is a new way of organizing our databases and other electronic resources so that users can conduct a more thorough search of our offerings. E-journals can be searched by title or subject; the databases themselves can still be searched in the traditional manner. One great feature I'm excited about is that the search can be limited to e-books. I never knew we had so many until I played around with this!

2. Scientific American Archive Online -- Although the title of this says it's an Archive, it's actually up-to-date access to Scientific American. You can view the most recent issue or any issue back to 1993. This electronic access has replaced the print version on our shelves. Some may disagree with removing a print journal from our shelves but keep in mind that this is full-text access and you can still read any article you want. Also, it created significant more space on our periodical shelves.

3. American Theological Library Association Historical Monographs Collection (ATLA) -- We've just signed up for a free trial of the BETA version of ATLA's Historical Monographs Archive. This is an archived collection of historical monographs (or books) that is searchable and viewable from any EbscoHost database. This is a beta version so some books might not have full access. We are previewing it right now and if we decide to purchase it; many more items and wider range of copyright dates would be available.

* The collection can be accessed by clicking on "Academic Search Premier" from our A-Z list and looking for the "NEW" star at the very top of the page. It should say "Try our new Historical Digital Archives Beta!"

* Search for a book or monograph by keyword. Once the user clicks on a result, the book will open and a document map will appear that allows for easy navigation. The book itself can also be searched by keyword by clicking on the "Search" feature on the left-hand side of the screen.

* There is also a slider across the top of the toolbar so the image can be manipulated for a larger or smaller font.

I am very excited about all of these improvements. Particularly the new A-Z list. Coming soon is the addition of a proxy server for the library website that should ease the struggles of faculty and students trying to gain off-campus access. Very excited about that!!