Cranfield University

New subscription to Historic Digimap

We are pleased to announce that we have enhanced our access to Digimap by subscribing to one of its new map collections.

Historic Digimap provides access to historic map data. Users can view maps through web browsers, save maps for printing and download the data for use in geographical information systems.

Although we have subscribed to Historic Digimap on behalf of Cranfield University staff and students, new users of Digimap will need to create a personal account to use the database. To do this, log in to Digimap using Shibboleth, click on the Ordnance Survey collection and then fill in the registration pages as requested. You will receive an email from EDINA within two working days to let you know your Digimap account is active. 

Existing Digimap users do not need to re-subscribe and should be able to access the new collection when they log in.

Content information

The Landmark historic map data are digital scans of OS paper map sheets including:

• all available County Series maps at 1:2,500 and 1:10,560 scales published between 1843 and 1939;
• all available Town Plans at 1:500, 1:528 and 1:1,056 scales published from 1848 and 1939;
• all available National Grid maps at 1:1,250, 1:2,500 and 1:10,560/10,000 scales published from 1945 and before the introduction of the Ordnance Survey's digital Land-Line product.

Self-service machines now available in the Kings Norton Library

The Kings Norton Library is delighted to announce that the new self-issue machines are now active, enabling customers to borrow, renew and return items themselves.

As well as enhancing the service that we are able to offer our customers during our extended opening hours at evenings and weekends, the installation of the new machines has given us an opportunity to redevelop our staff areas on the first floor and to improve access to our resources. Here is a summary of the main changes that have taken place:

Redevelopment of the first floor

The Customer Service and Enquiry Desks may have moved, as have the printers, but staff are still available to help you with any queries you may have.

Changes to loan policies

Now we have extended our opening hours, we are no longer lending reference items overnight, as this could deprive other customers of using these items in the Library either late at night or over the weekend.

Furthermore, our printed journal collection is now available for reference use only. This is intended to improve access to the collection by ensuring printed journals are always available for consultation.

Collecting interlibrary loans

To collect an interlibrary loan from us, please visit us during our core working hours (Monday – Friday, 8.30 am – 9.00 pm). If you are off-campus and in the UK, please contact us and we will send it out to you by registered post.

The Management Information and Resource Centre (MIRC) in the School of Management will be unaffected by these changes.

Changes to Saturday opening in the Kings Norton Library from January

From January, the Kings Norton Library will be open on Saturdays from 11.00 am until 6.00 pm and will be staffed by out-of-hours library assistants. You will be able to use the Library as a study space with use of the PCs and will be able to borrow stock using our self-issue machines.

If you require specialist help in using Library resources, please contact library staff during core working hours (Monday – Friday, 8.30 am – 9.00 pm).

The Management Information and Resource Centre (MIRC) in the School of Management will be unaffected by these changes.

Important changes to interlibrary loans

Kings Norton Library extends opening hours

We are pleased to announce that from Monday 31st October the opening hours of the Kings Norton Library will be extended as follows:

From Monday 31st October until Thursday 22nd December:

Mondays to Thursdays: 8.30am – 12.00pm (midnight)*
Fridays: 8.30am – 9.00pm
Saturdays: 9.00am-5.30pm
Sundays: 11.00am-6.00pm*

From Tuesday 3rd January until Wednesday 5th September:

Mondays to Thursdays: 8.30am – 12.00pm (midnight)*
Fridays: 8.30am – 9.00pm
Saturdays and Sundays: 11.00am-6.00pm*

* From 9pm – midnight on Mondays to Thursdays, and all day on Sundays (and Saturdays from January), the Library will be staffed by student assistants.  Customers will be able to use the Library as a study space with use of the PCs and access to printed stock for reference only.  The following restrictions apply during these times:
• No borrowing or enquiry services will be available, although books can be returned using the book drop by the main door.
• You will not be able to view Reference Only interlibrary loans or buy photocopy cards.
• Please vacate seminar rooms by 11.45pm.  (Seminar room 2 will not be opened during these hours).

The opening hours of the Management Information and Resource Centre (MIRC) will not change.

Upgrade to Refworks 2.0

Over the next few weeks we will be gradually upgrading to Refworks 2.0. You will already be able to see a link to the new version when you log into Refworks. Feel free to try it out - you will be able to move between the two versions without disrupting any data you have.

To help users, Refworks are running training sessions on the new version and have also produced a video to show you how to navigate the new interface.  

On the 10th October we will switch over to the new version, so you will see it by default when you log in. You will still be able to use the previous version (RefWorks Classic) by following the link in the top right hand side of the RefWorks screen, which will be available until the end of the year.

2010 Journal Citation Reports now available

Journal Citation Reports (JCR) offers a systematic, objective means to critically evaluate the world's leading journals, with quantifiable, statistical information based on citation data. By compiling articles' cited references, JCR helps to measure research influence and impact at the journal and category levels, and shows the relationship between citing and cited journals. The 2010 edition has just been released and includes:

* More than 10,000 of the world's most highly cited, peer reviewed journals in 238 disciplines
* Nearly 2,500 publishers and 84 countries represented
* Over 1,300 regional journals
* 1,075 journals receiving their first Journal Impact Factor

Use our new Library Catalogue app

You can now download a free app to access the Cranfield campus Library catalogue on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.  Called BookMyne, it allows you to search the Catalogue, renew your loans, reserve items, and check your account.

Download BookMyne from the Apple Store, and it will immediately identify any participating libraries nearby.  If you aren’t on campus, you can click on the globe icon to find Cranfield University Library, and then save the link to a personal list to save yourself time in future.  The first time you use the application, you will need to log in with your Library ID and PIN.  It will then remember these details on future visits.

Access selected Library content via Google Scholar

We have registered our electronic collections with Google, so you can now search Google Scholar and link to the full text of electronic journals, books etc that we subscribe to. 

In order to see the Cranfield University links in Google Scholar, Cranfield University must be activated as your Google Scholar Library Link. If you are accessing Google Scholar from anywhere on our campuses this should be enabled automatically. If you are off campus you will need to set this manually.  

To do this:
• Click on the Scholar Preferences link, next to the search box on the Google Scholar home page
• Enter ‘Cranfield’ in the Library Links search box
• Check the Cranfield University (Cranfield University - Full-text@Cranfield Uni) option
• If you are a Refworks user you can select the ‘Show links to import citations into Refworks’ option from the Bibliography Manager drop down menu
• Save preference

Once you have completed a search in Google Scholar you will notice the following links added to numerous result items:

Full-text@Cranfield Uni – will take you via the ‘SFX’ window to the full text document.  [Note: if you are off campus you will need to log in to the full text using the relevant username/password for the resource]

Links@Cranfield Uni – will take you to the SFX window. Although the full text is not available electronically, you can search the Library catalogue to see if we take the item in print.

As previously, you will also be able to see the citations / bibliographic details / abstracts of any content held within databases that we do not subscribe to, so it could give you some useful leads to follow up using our interlibrary loans service.