February/March 2006 (Vol. XIII, No. 3)
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Library: New copy/print card system coming soon
The UT Southwestern library will be implementing a new copy/print card system with startup targeted for April 2006. This new system — using software and hardware from Blackboard Inc. — will replace the older system established in 1993.
With the new system, several significant improvements will make client use of the system more customer friendly. These improved features include a single card style that will be used for both credit/account cards and standard debit/cash cards and the ability to print and copy from all library computers and photocopiers with the single card.
An implementation plan has been developed to ease the transition to the new system. The following overview outlines the expected responsibilities of and the anticipated effect to credit/account and debit/cash card holders.
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Credit/Account Card Holders: The library’s accounting office will contact account holders with a list of all users currently authorized on their accounts. This list should be edited and returned promptly to the library to ensure the most accurate information is listed. Account holders will be issued new credit/account numbers and will be sent new copy/print cards based on the information they return to the library. Old photocopy cards will cease to function after the launch date.
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Departments Using Debit/Cash Cards: The library will offer a 30-day exchange period, which will begin the first day the new system goes online. During this period, old debit/cash cards may be exchanged for new ones, and details will be clearly posted in handouts and on the library’s Web site as the launch date approaches.
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Individuals with Debit/Cash Cards: Current holders of debit/cash cards will exchange their cards for new ones after the launch date either in the library administration offices (E3.314) during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or at the south campus library’s information desk (after hours and on weekends). Any cash value on the cards will be properly converted in the exchange.
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Students Using ID Badges: Students will continue to be able to use their ID badges as copy/print cards within the library. After the official launch date, students who currently have value on their badges will need to come to the library administration offices (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) to have their badges reset to work with the new system. Any cash value will be properly converted.
As the launch date of the new system approaches, we will release more information. If you have any questions about the library’s copy/print card services, please call 214-648-3392.
Information Resources offers telephone tips
Looking for a campus phone number? Forgot how to change your personal greetings in PhoneMail or VoiceMail? Tired of waiting until a message from a long-winded colleague stops before you can get to the next phone message?
All these issues and many others are addressed in the Telecommunications User Guide posted by Information Resources (IR). Just select “Telecommunications” from the left navigation menu on the IR home page at http://utsouthwestern.edu/ir and then pick the part(s) of the user guide that you need.
As a quick reminder, SpeechSite — the automated campus telephone operator system — can find persons and departments for you. Just dial the campus general information phone number at 214-648-3111 and say the name of the person or department you are interested in contacting when prompted.
You can also locate phone numbers from the faculty, staff and student telephone directory posted on the campus Web site at http://utsouthwestern.edu. From the campus home page, pick “Faculty & Administration” and then “Administrative Departments.” Then, pick “Online Telephone Directory” from the left navigation menu.
A link to the same faculty, staff and student telephone directory is available from the IR home page under “Directories” in the left navigation menu and from the Mednet Menu under Web Links (Start --> All Programs --> Mednet Menu --> Web Links --> UT Southwestern Faculty & Staff Directory).
For those with OAS access, the HRMP (public HRMS) function still offers BTEL and BORD screens for phone number access.
Online resources offer RSS feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are becoming increasingly common throughout the online community. RSS is a format for the delivery of news and other content from frequently updated Web sites.
Feeds consist of headlines and short summaries of news articles, blog entries or search results. The feeds are viewed within an RSS feed reader, which can either be a Web-based tool or a specific program that you download to and install on your computer. But you should be aware that different RSS readers display and act differently
PubMed
PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?otool=utswmlib ) now offers free RSS feeds. After completing a PubMed search, users can set up an RSS feed by clicking on “Send To” and selecting “RSS Feed” from the drop-down menu, then clicking on “Create Feed” and following the instructions.
Once you complete a PubMed search and select the RSS feed option, you will receive daily updates of relevant articles with links back to PubMed citations. More information on this new PubMed feature is available in the May-June 2005 NLM Technical Bulletin at http://165.112.6.70/pubs/techbull/mj05/mj05_rss.html.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
RSS feeds are included as part of the library’s new online subscription to The Chronicle of Higher Education ( http://chronicle.com/ ). Any authorized user can receive news feeds at their desktop.
To view a list of currently available feeds, go to http://chronicle.com/help/rss.htm. This page also provides tips and instructions on how to view the feeds through an RSS feed reader.
news@nature.com
A new science news service provided by the Nature Publishing Group — news@nature.com (http://www.nature.com/news/index.html) — combines daily news and interactive multimedia features with blogs, opinion, columns, news and features, plus science career news from Naturejobs. RSS news feeds are available in targeted areas such as medical research, drug discovery and biotechnology.
The library has a “premium plus” subscription, which includes full advance access to all news from contributing journals. This site is said to provide more depth of coverage and quality than the typical news sites and services.
Information Resources announces support for larger conference calls
Conference calling is available on the UT Southwestern campus in two separate varieties. You can make a conference call for up to eight participants from ROLM and Siemens phones on your own. For larger groups, you can arrange conferences for up to 100 participants using our partner vendor, Genesys.
For help in setting up smaller conferences, see the Information Resources (IR) Telecommunications User Guide, which is available either in hard copy from our client services division or in electronic format on the IR Web site. Go to http://UTSouthwestern.edu/ir and click on the “Telecommunications” link in the left margin.
If you need to set up a large conference, we have a relationship with Genesys Meeting Center. Genesys provides a conference bridge service that can handle up to 100 participants.
When you set up an account with Genesys, you get an “800 number,” a meeting number, and a PIN for the "owner" of the bridge. After that, you can use the bridge any time you want. Just tell your participants to call the toll-free number and to enter the meeting number when prompted.
The conference won’t start until you call the conference line, at which time you will enter the meeting number and PIN when prompted. The bill for this service will come directly to your department. Currently charges are $0.09 per minute for each participant who calls the toll-free number. (For international callers and others who call the non-toll-free number, the charge to your department is $0.05 per minute.)
For more information, see the “Conference Calls” link in the Telecommunications pages of the IR Web site.
Information Resources changes “secret question” rules for password self-service
Information Resources (IR) will soon require that users must answer only two “secret questions” to reset passwords, instead of three.
Resetting a forgotten or locked password continues to be the IR Call Center’s most frequent request. In recent weeks, IR’s client services division has studied this issue and found that the secret question involving the “personal code” has been a significant obstacle to our clients’ ability to reset their own passwords. With the help of the development and operations division, we will soon make some changes aimed at improving the self-service user’s experience.
Presently, to reset passwords users must answer three questions of a personal nature — e.g., first car, best friend in school, mother’s maiden name. New users must perform an online procedure to select these three questions from approximately a dozen possible options and provide answers to them for future use.
Users who were at UT Southwestern before password self-service was implemented filled out a paper form called a Personal Codes Form. All such users were asked their first car and best friend in school. They were also asked to provide a personal code — a series of letters and numbers of their choice. These three questions and answers have been carried forward into the self-service system and remain in place for users who have not updated them. For these users, we find that almost none can remember the personal code.
We’ve also gotten a significant amount of input that suggests that three questions are too many. So in an effort to address both issues, we will delete the personal code question from the system and reduce the number of questions required to two. This pertains to both the process of setting up your questions, and of resetting your password. For users who have selected three questions which did not include a personal code, one of their three questions will be deselected at random.
Remember, you may update your selections at any time. When you do so, you will be asked to select and answer two questions instead of three. Thereafter, when you use self-service to reset your SouthwesternID password, you will only need to answer two questions for authentication.
To set up or modify your secret questions and answers, go to http://iaim.swmed.edu. When you do so, remember to use answers that will be short and easy for you to recall when you need to reset your password. For example, if you choose the “first car” question, we suggest you use an answer like “ford” or “red ford.” Avoid answers like “dirty red 1947 ford pickup truck with two dents in the left front fender and fuzzy dice with some of the spots missing hanging from the rear view mirror.”
Library: Updates on electronic resources
The library recently purchased several new electronic resources for use by faculty, staff, students, residents and fellows of UT Southwestern Medical Center and UT Southwestern University Hospitals. These resources include:
Please note that publishers' license agreements restrict use of most electronic resources to the Campus Wide-Area Network (CWAN) or through Virtual Private Networking (VPN) software. The CWAN does not include computers or networks at Parkland Health & Hospital System or Children's Medical Center, but all users are welcome to visit the library to access electronic resources via the public computers, except as noted below.
For more information on or assistance in using any of these resources, please complete the library's Ask a Reference Question form at http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/library/reference/referenceRequest.cfm.
SciFinder Scholar
SciFinder Scholar (SFS) 2006 is now available for the Mac as well as PCs, and the Mac version will work with OS X 10.2, 10.3, or 10.4. SFS provides graphical access to not only MEDLINE back to 1950 but also the databases of Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) back to 1907, and it covers the full spectrum of chemical and biomedical information. More information about SFS is available at http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/library/sciFinder/sciFinder.cfm.
Important Notice: On March 31, 2006, access to the following versions of SFS will be discontinued regardless of whether they are for Mac or PC:
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SciFinder Scholar 2002
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SciFinder Scholar 2002.1
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SciFinder Scholar 2004
Unlike other databases available through the library's home page, the SFS software must be downloaded to each user's computer before the database may be accessed.
To apply for SFS download and access, go to http://www4.utsouthwestern.edu/library/feedback/sciFinderForm.cfm and fill out the Web form. You will receive download instructions via email by the next working day.
Online Journal Backfiles
Expanded journal backfiles are now available through the library. See below for the list of subjects, along with their top journal titles, that now have earlier backfiles.
Neuroscience (80 journals), with oldest title back to 1959:
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Neuroscience
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Neuropharmacology
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Brain Research Reviews
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Pain
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Trends in Neuroscience
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Brain Research
Organic Chemistry (14 titles), with oldest back to 1957:
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Tetrahedron
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Tetrahedron Letters
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Tetrahedron Asymmetry
Nursing and Health Professions (17 titles), with oldest back to 1966:
Social Science (133 titles), with oldest back to 1949:
Nature Online and Nature Research Archives
The library now provides backfile access to selected Nature Publishing Group (NPG) titles, including one of our most heavily used titles, Nature. This addition to our online collection helps address a growing demand by our clients for online backfiles.
The Nature Online archive includes online backfile access to Nature Online from 1950 to 1986. However, users should be aware that although archival access has been purchased back to 1950, access currently only goes back to 1960 because the NPG is still in the process of adding digitized backfiles. But the NPG has stated the entire archive back to 1950 is expected to be completed this year.
The Nature Research Archive provides extended coverage to the following titles:
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Nature Biotechnology (March 1983 – April 1998)
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Nature Genetics (April 1992 – April 1998)
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Nature Medicine (January 1995 – April 1998)
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Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (January 1994 – April 1998)
The three remaining titles in the Nature Research collection — Nature Cell Biology, Nature Immunology and Nature Neuroscience — were not included as part of this archive purchase because they are each available back to the launch issue as part of the existing electronic subscription.
Electronic Journals
The library now provides access to more than 29,000 electronic journals through the new Ejournals A to Z list, which is available at http://atoz.ebsco.com/Home.asp?id=swmcl. Access to this vast number of journals is made possible by our participation in a consortium of libraries in The University of Texas System.
The UT System library consortium negotiates contracts for “bundles” of journals at favorable prices. In this way, the library maximizes its buying power and as an added benefit can offer access to many journals in addition to the essential health sciences titles.
As electronic journals have grown in number and popularity, the library has responded. It now receives just 268 journals only in print. An additional 469 are received in both print and online versions. Thirteen journals are received in audio format. All others are received as electronic only.
Information Security reminders
Information Resources’ information security division wants to remind all UT Southwestern personnel of the following items:
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Sophos Remote Updater is available for your home PC. Remote Updater enables automatic and manual updating of Sophos Anti-Virus definitions via the internet. These updates can be pushed to networked or remote workstations.
Note: Sophos Remote Updater is only available from within the UT Southwestern network, via VPN, or from the school store on CD. This is to prevent access to non-affiliated persons. Sophos Remote Updater is licensed for UT Southwestern faculty, staff and students for use at work and home. You can download the software here:
http://gw.swmed.edu/downloads/downloads.htm#sophos
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