InfoTech Briefs: RefWorks, Serials Solutions, Relais, Worldbook
RSSRefWorksâ new interface, new Relais customer, Western Michigan to beta Summons, more.
Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 05/06/2009
- RefWorks launched RefMobile interface
- Academic selects Relais ILL Hosted Service
- Western Michiganto beta Serials Solutions Summon
- World Book adds “How To Do Research,” online tool
RefWorks has launched RefMobile, a new interface that enables students and researchers to use its web-based research management service from anywhere via web-enabled mobile phones, smart phones, and personal data assistants (PDAs). The RefMobile interface gives users immediate access to the most commonly used RefWorks functions, including searching their entire RefWorks databases, viewing references by folders, adding and removing references from folders, creating new folders, and adding comments to Notes fields. Users can also efficiently import new references to their RefWorks account using the new SmartAdd feature. With SmartAdd, users simply enter basic identifying information for a publication, such as ISBN number, digital object identifier (DOI) number, partial title, or author and publication year, and SmartAdd searches the Internet for the reference and import it to RefWorks.
Grant MacEwan College Library has selected the Relais ILL Hosted Service for its four Edmonton, Alta., campuses. The college has about 3300 students both on campus and taking part in distance learning and offers a wide variety of degree, diploma, and certificate programs. MacEwan Library marks the fifth member of the NEOS Library Consortium in Alberta to use Relais. The Hosted Service will include the Relais Access web-based pages that allow library patrons to create and monitor their own ILL requests. Staff will use a new dedicated and enhanced web-based interface to process ILL requests. The system includes the fully integrated Relais Scanning Module for electronic delivery of items to patrons and to other libraries.
Serials Solutions has added Western Michigan University as a beta development site for its new Summon™ unified discovery service. Western Michigan, which will use Summon™ with its VuFind next-generation catalog, joins Dartmouth College, Oklahoma State University, University of Sydney, and University of Liverpool in providing feedback that will refine all aspects of the service. Summon™ bypasses federated search in favor of a single search against preharvested content enabling fast results, in true relevancy-ranked order. Summon™ contributors, which include the massive content resources of ProQuest and Gale, have expanded to more than 80. Harvested content now exceeds 400 million records in preparation for the service’s July launch.
To address the foibles of students performing research only on Google, World Book has introduced “How To Do Research,” an online tool offering tutorials to better equip both students and educators with 21st-century information literacy skills. The student section offers a step-by-step tutorial that covers planning research; conducting research in print and online formats including the Internet and Web 2.0 sources such as blogs, podcasts, wikis, and RSS feeds; evaluating sources for such important criteria as currency, authority, and bias; compiling and organizing data including building citations; and presenting research. The educators’ tutorials, which were developed in consultation with educators who have worked extensively on information literacy projects, cover how to teach research skills. The “How To Do Research” tools are available free through the World Book Student (formerly World Book Online Reference Center) and World Book Discover sections of the World Book Web suite of online reference products.
