Category Archives: Service announcements

Announcements regarding service changes or updates e.g. drop-ins starting, holiday opening hours

Festive Feedback 2018

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We thought it would good to update you regarding our 2018 festive Feedback campaign, and some of the actions that have taken place in response to your feedback.

We received 72 responses over the festive period covering these areas:

19 positive comments were directed to our library staff including:

“I feel library staff and librarians are very friendly and helpful.”

“I was happy with the quality of response and help I received from my librarian when I e-mailed for help.  She gave me clear explanations and was willing to help further by offering face-to-face help if I had not understood the e-mail.  Thank you!”

“Thank you so much for the drop in sessions. I also got to call in for some referencing clarifications – I was pleasantly surprised all my questions were answered. Wishing you & your family a Merry Christmas”

“Thanks a bunch for all the work you do!”

We also received a further 19 kind comments relating to the library as a study environment including:

“Great place to study! Really enjoying it.”

“Enjoy every moment, every second. Love you :)”

“I think you have done an excellent job in creating a great environment for the students to study in.”

“Very nice and cosy library. Excellent job!”

As with all feedback campaigns, we also look to find areas we can improve on. We received feedback relating to catering, temperature, PC availability, and opening hours.

In relation to PC availability, we have a tracker for our computer usage in the Saltire Centre found here. In addition to this, our lapsafe vending machine on level 0 allows you to borrow a laptop for up to 3 hours – ideal if you need to find a quiet area to study, or wish to use one of our bookable study rooms.

The library continues to support students with extended opening hours during exam times. This included 24-hour opening from 2nd – 25th January 2019. GCU also offers students access to the 24-hr lab in the Students’ Association building 365 days a year.

Comments relating to catering and temperature issues back to our facilities management department, and will continue to liaise with them throughout the year when feedback is received.

Please remember that we are happy to listen to your comments at any point throughout the year. Our roving library staff are available on all floors of the library, so should you need any help please don’t hesitate to ask them. Our library desk on level 0 is staffed between 9am and 8pm Monday –Friday, and between 10-6pm at weekends.

Alternatively you can follow and contact us on Twitter @SaltireCentre, or use our feedback form: https://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/contactus/feedback/.

 

Electronic Delivery of Inter-library Loan items

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Journal articles, book chapters and conference papers supplied by the British Library will now be delivered to staff and students via the DRM Lite service.

Benefits of DRM Lite

  • No need to install plugins or special software.
  • DRM Lite allows you to view the item on any device with internet access.
  • Once you have downloaded the item, you will have access to it for up to 3 years and can print one copy.

How do I get articles via DRM lite?

  • There is no change to how you request the item through our inter-library loan service, Clio.
  • A link to the item will be emailed direct to you. To download it you will need Adobe Reader version 10 or above. This software is installed on all GCU staff and student machines and is available to download free of charge on your own devices.

Full information is available on our web pages. https://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/usingthelibrary/inter-libraryloan/drmlite/

Discover Upgrade: What’s New?

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Over the summer the Library team have been giving Discover, the library search engine, a bit of a face lift. Based on feedback from users we have been making improvements and enabling new functionality to bring you the best user experience we can.

If you have any feedback about the improvements made to Discover, please let us know by using our feedback form on the library website or by emailing library@gcu.ac.uk

Locking filters

In Discover, you can now lock the filters on the right hand side of the page. This ensures that the filter remains persistent during your search session, even if you start a new search. Continue reading →

Free open access publishing for GCU authors in over 2000 journals

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Through the library’s subscription with the publisher Springer, GCU authors can benefit from the Springer Compact open access agreement. This allows staff and research students at GCU to publish articles open access in over 2000 journals, at no cost.

GCU authors can gain from publishing open access in a number of ways. These include increased visibility of your research worldwide, compliance with funder and REF open access policies, and enhanced impact and public engagement of your work.

The list of eligible journal titles can be found here. Once an article is accepted for publication in a journal from this list, the publisher will contact the corresponding author to confirm the institutional affiliation.

The Springer Compact agreement is available to staff until December 2018.

For further information please contact: repository@gcu.ac.uk

Short loan laptops now available

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The Library is pleased to announce the installation of a short loan laptop facility in the Saltire Centre.

Short loan (up to three hours) laptops are available for loan to GCU students and staff. The Lapsafe laptop vending machine is located on level 0 of the library, facing the café counter.

Laptops are provided fully charged for use around campus. You must have your student or staff card in order to use this service.

For further information on this service, please see the following webpage:
http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/usingthelibrary/borrowing/borrowinglaptops/

edShare update: embeddable HTML5 player

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edShare@GCU, the University’s educational resources repository, has now been updated to include an embeddable HTML5 player for all video and audio content. An example record can be accessed via this link: https://edshare.gcu.ac.uk/873/.

This means that instead of embedding a specific derivative, staff will now be able to embed an HTML5 player which selects the correct derivative to play depending on what browser or device is being used. To facilitate this update the abstract page for video and audio files has changed, specifically the tabs located under the player. The system now generates three tabs for each file. Continue reading →

Introducing edShare@GCU

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edShare@GCU is the University’s new educational resources repository. It allows staff to store, share and preserve a wide variety of learning and teaching materials in one central location. Staff can upload and manage their own resources and have the option to share them openly on the internet, with all members of the University, or with a select group of students or staff. The repository accepts any permanent resources created by GCU staff and provides a point of contact for copyright and intellectual property rights (IPR) advice within the GCU community.

Where do I start?

The repository can be accessed at https://edshare.gcu.ac.uk. You can log in with your domain username and password.

Why has this new repository been built?

The repository will enhance learning and teaching by enabling staff to manage, store and share a greater variety of digital resources, providing broader and deeper learning opportunities for students. It also supports flexible learning by allowing Continue reading →

New Evidence Based Practice resources available from the library

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Evidence based practice – access for NHS and Higher Education across Scotland

We are delighted to announce that a range of clinical evidence summary resources are now available here at GCU until 6th July 2016. These resources combine support for direct patient care and for education, through evidence-based and problem-based approaches to learning about best clinical practice, and linking quick guidance to deeper knowledge for self-directed study.

Selection of these resources (procured via tender by NHS Education for Scotland) is based on extensive consultation with practitioners and a rigorous evaluation process which considered scope, access and usability, delivery channels, evidence-based methodology, and design for education. Continue reading →

Library Scanning Service [reminder]

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The library scanning service helps staff make book chapters and journal articles more easily accessible for to your students. Our Scanning team will digitise the material and add the PDF files to GCULearn. You can then link to them from your module pages.

For more information about the scanning service and to request a new scan please complete the online request form on our scanning web page.

If you wish to renew existing scans, please email the team and include ‘Renew existing scans’ in the Subject line of your email. Please include your department, module code/trimester, module title, course leader and number of students. Please submit your requests for 2015/16 as early as possible

If you have any other queries about the scanning service please contact us at clascanrequests@gcu.ac.uk