Try Summon!

We invite you try Summon if you are frustrated by the current options for finding literature on a topic:

- Searching numerous resources one at a time, with different search interfaces and syntaxes, and trying to remove duplicates by hand, or

- Searching up to 12 resources at once with Metalib, but only being able to perform a simple search, having to wait for each resource to return its records to Metalib, and only getting up to 30 records from each resource initially, or

- Searching Google or Google Scholar which offers a quick and simple search but few tools to refine the huge number of hits you find, and having to follow each link to work out exactly what it is that Google has found, or

- Searching a single 'academic' resource and hoping that you don't miss too much.

We think that if you try Summon you might find that it offers the best of all worlds:

- A single search box, so no choices about which resources to search (all searches include the Library Catalogue too)

- Very fast results because it harvests data from our subscribed resources and builds them into a single database (like Google does)

- Clear display of results: it tells you when you have found a journal article, a book, a dissertation, etc.

- Powerful features to refine your results (so if you search for 'Europa' you can easily limit your results to just ones likely to be about the moon of Jupiter called Europa)

- The ability to save records and export to EndNote or RefWorks, as you'd expect

Summon is being developed by Serials Solutions and we are one of a handful of global beta development partners (others include Dartmouth College and the University of Sydney).

Summon is still only in beta release and we have identified some known issues, but please try Summon and use the feedback mechanism in Summon to tell us what you like about it - and what you don't - so that the developers can improve it to meet your needs.

Caribbean Literature now available

We have purchased the Caribbean Literature database from Alexander Street Press and access is now available from:

http://cali.alexanderstreet.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/

or via the Library Catalogue or Metalib.

Caribbean Literature is a searchable collection of poetry and fiction produced in the region during the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the titles selected by our editors are numerous rare and hard-to-find works written in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and various Creole languages. Future releases will also feature journals, reference works, and interviews with key writers. New content is uploaded on a biweekly basis, giving users immediate access to a steadily growing treasury of classic, rare, and contemporary literature. The database currently has over 63,000 pages.

You can learn more about the Caribbean Literature database.

British Literary Manuscripts Online, c.1660-1900

We have purchased British Literary Manuscripts Online, c.1660-1900 and access is now available from:

http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/menu/start?prod=BLM1&userGroupName=livuni

or via the Library Catalogue or Metalib.

British Literary Manuscripts Online, c. 1660-1900, presents facsimile images of literary manuscripts, including letters and diaries, drafts of poems, plays, novels, and other literary works, and similar materials. Searching is based on tags and descriptive text associated with each manuscript. Images of the complete manuscript can be viewed, manipulated and navigated on screen. Please note that the text of the manuscripts themselves is not searchable.

You can read more about British Literary Manuscripts Online, c.1660-1900 or take a guided tour.

T&F Journal Archives: Politics, Strategic Studies now available

We have purchased two more collections of journal archives from Taylor & Francis, which give access from the first volume up to and including 1996:

Politics, International Relations & Area Studies
Strategic, Defence and Security Studies

Among the titles included in these collections are:

Mediterranean Politics
Environmental Politics
Local Government Studies
Third World Quarterly
The Pacific Review
Irish Political Studies
Development in Practice
Strategic Analysis
West European Politics
Journal of European Public Policy
Diplomacy & Statecraft
Terrorism and Political Violence
Studies in Conflict & Terrorism
Survival

The collections have already been activated in SFX / find it @ liverpool and are in the process of being added to the library catalogue.

Guardian/Observer, Irish Times, Scotsman archives

We are in the processing of purchasing the archives of The Guardian and The Oberserver, and The Irish Times and The Weekly Irish Times. All of these newspaper archives can be accessed from:

http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/login

and scrolling down to the Historical Databases area.

The Guardian covers 1821-2003, The Observer 1791-2003, The Irish Times 1859-2006 and the Weekly Irish Times 1876-1958. The collections includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.

We are also trialling the Scotsman archive at the same site and are consideration purchasing that. Note that the Scotsman archive starts with the first issue in 1817 but only covers up to 1950.

After using the Scotsman please leave your comments below. You can choose the anonymous option to comment without needing to have a Blogger account, but it helps if you include your name in your feedback so that we can follow up on comments.

You are of course also welcome to comment on our purchases of The Guardian and The Oberserver, and The Irish Times and The Weekly Irish Times!

Impact Factors 2008

The 2008 Journal Citation Reports have been added to Web of Knowledge. You can access them from http://www.isiknowledge.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/JCR.

Note that JCR now includes figures for 5-Year Impact Factor as well as the established (2-Year) Impact Factor.

TIP: The quickest way to get to Journal Citation Reports from the library homepage is to click on Databases and then use the Search Database Titles box (under Locate and Search a Specific Database) to search for JCR. A search for Journal Citation Reports will of course work too, or a even search for impact factors (we try to second-guess you!).

Remember, you can create your own list of favourite databases, see http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/electron/erdatabase_help_my.html

Springer Protocols now available

As part of our purchase of Springer's 2009 e-books collection we have also bought a year's access to Springer Protocols. We have access to all volumes for a year, and if we don't renew next year we wrill retain access to all volumes published in 2009.

Springer Protocols, published by Humana Press, include the following series:

Biological Procedures Online
Methods in Biotechnology
Methods in Molecular Biology
Methods in Molecular Medicine
Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology
Neuromethods

and complements our subscriptions to Cold Springer Harbor Protocols and Current Protocols in Molecular Biology from Wiley-Blackwell.

Springer 2009 e-books now available

We have now purchased the complete collection of 2009 e-books from Springer, following our purchase of the 2005-2008 titles last year. There are already over 2,000 extra titles now available to us at:

http://www.springerlink.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/books/?Language=English&sortorder=asc&cb=2009&ce=2009

As usual, these Springer e-books come as simple PDF files (one per chapter) which you can download and print just as for e-journal articles. We know that you prefer e-books without DRM (Digital Rights Management): the barriers that stop you copying and printing the content you need to use, and that deliver e-books to you a page at a time. We now download more e-book chapters from SpringerLink than e-journal articles!

We will load catalogue records for the January to May 2009 titles soon, and bring our 2008 records up to date.

E-Journal Archiving in Action

Oxford Journals announced this week that the journal Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention, which had been discontinued, will be stop being hosted on the Oxford Journals site and will instead be accessible through Portico (for members of Portico like the University of Liverpool) and through CLOCKSS.

This joins two SAGE journals, Auto/Biography and Graft: Organ and Cell Transplantation, which last year stopped being hosted on SAGE Journals Online and instead became available through these same two e-journal archiving platforms.

These actions demonstrate that publishers are collaborating with global e-journal archiving solutions to ensure the permanent preservation of online journals even when the publisher decides to no longer host the journals themselves. Most major publishers are members of Portico and/or CLOCKSS.

Metalib resource updates

Following this month's update to the Metalib 'knowledge base' the following resources are now available to search in Metalib, or have had their search functionality improved:

- JSTOR: we now offer separate searches of each of our subscribed collections: JSTOR Arts & Sciences I-IV and VII (formerly Complement), Biological Sciences, Ireland. The main entry for JSTOR still searches all JSTOR collections (but note that we don't subscribe to JSTOR Arts & Sciences V or VI). A seperate entry for 19th Century British Pamphlets is not yet available.

- Royal Society Journals: this searches all years of all Royal Society journals. Note that we have full access to Royal Society journals.

- Oxford Music Online: it is now possible to search all areas of Oxford Music Online as a signle resource (though as only 30 searches are initially returned from any Metalib resource you may prefer to search the 4 existing sub-targets for the components of Oxford Music Online).

- Cambridge Companions Online: this is now a fully-functional search, i.e. the records are returned to the Metalib interface (previously we just linked out the search results on the CCO site). The SFX links have been suppressed from the returned records because a much more reliable way to link to the required chapter is to follow the direct link from the full Metalib record.

- Cambridge Scientific Abstracts: the following databases can now be searched in Metalib: Algology Mycology and Protozoology Abstracts, Genetics Abstracts, Oncogenes and Growth Factors Abstracts, Virology and AIDS Abstracts.