Effective Research Data Management

The Cambridge Office of Scholarly Communication has conducted research over the past 18 months to look at the challenges associated with financially supporting RDM training.

Amongst their conclusions was that “research data cannot be effectively shared if it has not been properly managed during the research lifecycle”.

Read the full post here and contact rdm@exeter.ac.uk for further information on managing your research data or creating a data management plan.

Document Delivery Service – Price Increase

The University Library offers a Document Supply (Inter-Library Loan) service which provides access to material not held within Exeter University whilst also supplying material from its own stock to other libraries.

A wide variety of electronic and printed material can be obtained from the British Library and some printed materials can be borrowed from other Libraries within the UK and overseas, including:

• Books, including individual chapters
• Journal articles
• Conference papers

The British Library have increased their prices for this service and this necessitates an increase in our Library Document Delivery Service pricing in order to ensure the viability of the service.

From 1st January 2017 the cost of using the Library Document Supply Service will rise to £14:00 per request.  The current charge is £13.50 so this is an increase of 50p per request.

Postage and supply costs for international document supply, where items need to be sourced from outside of the UK, have also been rising.    The Library will continue to make a standard charge of 3 tokens for all non UK requests in order to meet these higher costs, which will equate to £42 at new January 2017 pricing level.

We will be continuing to supply tokens to colleges via the usual route.  You can request up to 100 tokens at a time by emailing .  This is managed through a journal transfer process – no need to raise an invoice!

The arrangements in place to support document delivery to the College of Humanities and College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences staff and students will also continue, although requests will be billed at the increased £14 per request from 1st January 2017.

If any College budget holders would like statistics on annual requests per College in order to aid with budget forecasting for 2016/17 ILL expenditure, please email and we will be happy to supply this information.

Library Study Space – new for September 2016

Over the summer, the Forum Library has benefited from refurbishment, improving ventilation to the Law Library and adding 97 new study seats by remodelling existing spaces across the 3 floors.

A variety of new seating options are available, including 13 new bookable group study areas near the Law Library.

We’ve added a few illustrative pictures below, to give you a flavour of the refurbished space, but come along and explore the new spaces for yourself!

Picture1

You’ll find remodelled space on the Level 0 entrance level and on the balcony space on Level +1. A range of seating layouts and services are provided, to suit different study needs.

More furniture is arriving to provide even more seating capacity in these areas in the first few weeks of term.

 

pic3

We have added an extra seating area on Level -1, providing an additional 25 seats for individual study.  You’ll find them outside the Group Workroom.

If you need to get your head down for some individual study then these will be ideal study spaces.

Picture2

The study area adjacent to the Law Library and Library courtyard has been remodelled and offers 13 new bookable group study areas.  A few finishing touches are taking place in this area over Freshers Week and Weeks One & Two.

You’ll be able to book these online via the Student Room Booking service towards the end of Week Two.

The Open Science Framework (OSF) for data and project management

The Open Science Framework (OSF) for data and project management is a science-focused tool that can manage their all kinds of research data during a project and also deal with other types of data created during a project, e.g. steering group minutes, presentations, interview permissions.
Some of the advantages are:
– Very quick start up time– it’s possible to get a project up and running in a couple of minutes.
– Possible to upload and categorise all kinds of data and files. For example, ‘methods’, ‘hypotheses’ and ‘communication’.
– Ability to store versions of data – revisions to each file can be stored.
– Different files can have different levels of permission.
– Ability to create public versions of parts of projects, with citations.

Webinar: Big Data and Social Research Ethics

27 October 2016
Online, 15.00-16.00

Big data is everywhere – or at least it seems to be. It may seem that all social research is now devoted to big data in various forms: social media, administrative data, transaction records, geo-spatial data, and more.

This is an introductory webinar aimed at researchers interested in big data and social research ethics.

The webinar will consist of a 30 minute presentation followed by questions and answers.

To find out more and to register go to the UK Data Service Site here.

Encore Catalogue System Upgrade

On the night of Monday 22nd August from 10.00pm until 1.00am we will be doing some maintenance on the Encore catalogue – http://encore.exeter.ac.uk/iii/encore/?lang=eng   this is where we direct you to search for full text journal articles currently.

It should not affect use of the main catalogue or your ability to access online e-resources in any way.

You can search for journal titles on the main catalogue as normal and access all our databses via the A-Z and subject searched.

If you do have any issues rememeber you can contact us by e-mail at

FT.com – the next generation!

From 15th August, you’ll see a few changes to FT.com, the Financial Times online interface, as they move to their new NextFT site. If you already use FT through the university’s subscription, you won’t need to re-register, and you can easily switch back to the old interface if you need to. You can try out the new look site by logging in and clicking on the “try our new website” banner near the top of the screen.

The new site allows you to customise your view, follow topics or individual journalists, save articles, and share lists with colleagues or peers. You’ll find a quick overview in video below.

If you’re not already registered to use FT.com, log in via the library catalogue, and register, using your University of Exeter email address, to get full access to FT content.

Access issues to e-resources

We apologise but there is a problem with access to some e-resources, our IT team is currently working to fix it.

While this issue is ongoing you may be able to get around the problem by the following methods.

OPTION 1

Find the resource via a web search and look for an option to login via the site.  This will usually be signed as something like ‘login via your institution’, ‘Shibboleth’ or ‘UK Federation’.  Then select ‘University of Exeter’ and login normally.

OPTION 2

Find the resource via the Library site.  If the link gives a ‘too many redirects’ or ‘502 bad gateway’ error then amend as follows.

Have a look at the link you are trying to access: if it has the bits in red and bold

0-dx.doi.org.lib.exeter.ac.uk/10.1017/CBO9780511729973.

Then remove these from the link so it looks like this  –

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511729973

Once you have done this, go to the site and login as in option 1.

OPTION 3

Have a look at the link you are trying to access: if it has the bits in red and bold

0-dx.doi.org.lib.exeter.ac.uk/10.1017/CBO9780511729973.

Then remove these from the link so it looks like this  –

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511729973

and it should work.

If you are off campus and having problems with this method, you need to go via the VPN and also remove the parts from the link as above.

If you need help please get in touch with us at: Email:

 

Phone:
+44 (0) 1392 723867

Law Library Improvement Works

We are undertaking some Building works on level -1 Forum Library for the remainder of the summer vacation. Some works will be noisy and we are therefore recommending that levels 0 and +1 are preferred for study/research during this time.  All library stock will remain accessible throughout the work, although a fetching service will be in place for two weeks for Law Library materials, in order to facilitate ventilation works.  Full details below.

1. Law Library – Closure for Ventilation Works

Dates: Monday 18th July – Sunday 31st July 2016

During this period, work will be taking place in the Law Library area to improve the ventilation system. This will ensure more pleasant environmental conditions for study and research for the coming term.  Our student user feedback has highlighted the need for these improvements to take place.

You should be aware that:

  • The Law Library area will be closed to library users from Monday 18th July – Sunday 31st July 2016
  • During this period we will operate a fetching service for stock at various points during the day.  This will ensure continued access to all materials throughout the works. Users can ask at the Library Reception desk, phone or email us with requests
    • Phone: 01392 723867
    • Email:
    • In person: at Library Reception Point
  • Some of the works will involve floor drilling so will be noisy in the areas adjacent to Law Library on Level -1.  We recommend that library users make use of study space on Levels 0 and +1 for the duration of the works.

 

2. Law Library Study Booths Area – Closure for Refurbishment

Dates: Monday 1st August – Beginning of term

  • The Law library study booths area (adjacent to the Library Courtyard) on Level -1 will be closed from 1st August 2016 over the summer vacation for refurbishment.
  • The newly refurbished space will reopen in time for the new academic session.
  • Student feedback has highlighted that the current use of the space is less than optimal as booths are monopolised for long periods of time, causing problems at busy periods.
  • The space will be reworked to provide a different study space layout to address this issue and also to accommodate some bookable space in order to improve shared student access and use of the space.
  • Some noisy work will take place during this refurbishment and we recommend that users make use of  study space on Levels 0 and +1 for the duration of the works.

If you need any assistance to locate or access materials or study space during these works, please see Library staff or contact