Collection News, April - May 2007
New Login System Coming this Summer
This summer, the Libraries will be changing our login screens to an easier-to-use and more secure system. This will affect:
- remote access to databases and electronic journals
- access to electronic course reserves
- viewing your own library account of checkouts, holds, fines, and saved searches
- placing holds and recalls
You will no longer use your nine-digit University of Arkansas ID number for these login functions. Instead, you will use your UARK Account, your official University of Arkansas Email username and password. This is the same username and password that you currently use for email, campus computing labs, AskIT, ISIS, WebCT, BASIS, and other campus systems.
Will this change affect my ILLiad Interlibrary Loan username and password?
Not at this time. At a later date, the ILLiad usernames and passwords will also be merged with the UARK account system.
What if I don't know or use my UARK account?
Many distant students, faculty, and staff may not make regular use of their UARK email accounts. If you have never activated your account, go to the new user page on PASSweb2.
What if I use a walton.uark.edu account?
Unfortunately, this system works only with the campus uark.edu user names and passwords. If you have forgotten your UARK username and password, see the next section for help with retrieving them.
What if I have forgotten my UARK password or username?
PASSweb2 allows you to set up a reminder question and answer. If you don't have a reminder question and answer, or if you have forgotten the question and answer:
- Students should visit the Office of the Registrar with your University ID card.
- Distant students who can't visit the Registrar's Office in person must send a written request with your signature and a phone number where you can be
reached for confirmation to:
Office of the Registrar
146 Hunt Hall, University of Arkansas
Fayetteville AR 72701
You may also send your written request with your signature and a phone number where you can be reached for confirmation by FAX to (479) 575-4651.
- Faculty and staff should visit the University Information Technology Services (UITS) Help Desk at ADSB 100A; 155 Razorback Road, (479) 575-2905.
Anyone can contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@uark.edu for more assistance.
What if I am affiliated with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, but don't have a UARK Account?
Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Extension Service or the Experiment Station System may apply for affiliated faculty privileges. This status allows patrons borrowing privileges, remote access to library databases and electronic journals, and Interlibrary Loan privileges.
If you are a faculty or staff member in the Arkansas Agricultural Extension Service or the Experiment Station System and already have applied for library privileges, you can still use your last name and UA ID number to log into library functions, including remote access to library databases.
If you have not yet applied for library privileges, visit our Agriculture Extension Service / Experiment Station information page for details on applying.
What if I am a community borrower and have a library card, but don't have a UARK account?
Community borrowers, alumni, and other users who have borrowing privileges but not UARK email accounts will still be able to view their library accounts, view and renew checkouts, and place holds on items by logging in with their last name and University of Arkansas ID number. Community and Alumni borrowers generally do not have remote access to library databases and electronic journals.
Will anyone with a UARK account be able to access library databases remotely?
No. Licensing agreements with publishers generally limit remote access to current students, faculty, and staff only. Other users are welcome to access library databases and electronic journals while in the library building.
What if I have questions about remote access and my library account?
For questions about your library account, contact the Circulation Department at (479) 575-4104 or toll-free (866) 818-8115; email: circserv@uark.edu.
For questions about remote access to library databases and electronic journals, use our remote access help form or call (479) 575-4665.
For assistance with database searching or library research, contact the Reference Department at (479) 575-6645 or toll-free (866) 818-8115; email: refer@uark.edu. You can also chat with a librarian 24/7.
Journals Review Project
The University Libraries have begun a process of reviewing journal subscriptions this past fall and are working with academic departments to ensure that resources continue to support the instruction and research needs of students and faculty. There are several reasons why this review is being done:
- Price increases for journal subscriptions have been averaging between 10 and 11 percent each year for the past three years.
- The availability of online formats has increased dramatically to meet the demands of students and faculty.
- Academic programs have been re-focused to reflect shifts away from more conventional models to emerging models such as area studies.
- Brand new areas of instruction and research have been introduced in recent years.
The Problem
While many of the journals and electronic databases the Libraries currently subscribe to have price “caps” built into license agreements, many of the journals and other resources are not covered by these guarantees, and prices have risen at an alarming rate. For example, journals from professional societies that have been taken over by commercial publishers have often risen by 60 percent and some by more than 100 percent.
The Libraries must continue to make the transition from print to electronic format of important journals as students and faculty increase demand for ready access to electronic resources and as students and professors increasingly expect rapid delivery of materials to their desktops.
Changes in the focus of academic programs in response to changing societal needs and economic issues in the state and nation have resulted in the need to add resources that the Libraries had not hitherto been collecting. In addition, emerging new programs have resulted in the Libraries having to acquire new resources that had not been requested in the past.
The Procedure
The Libraries are currently looking at journals and other resources with an eye toward considering whether or not to renew subscriptions. Are there other methods of acquiring some of these journals that would be equally effective as annual subscriptions in terms of cost and use?
Library selectors and the director of collection management will meet with campus departmental representatives to review journal titles and to discuss the best methods for acquiring needed research and instruction resources.
The first group of titles to have been reviewed consisted of high-cost items in a number of fields. The departmental recommendations concerning those titles can be viewed on our serials review page.
Please contact Judy Ganson, Director for Collection Management and Systems if you have particular concerns or suggestions regarding journal subscriptions.
19th Century Newspapers Database from Gale
During April, try out the 19th Century U.S. Newspapers database. 19th Century U.S. Newspapers provides access to approximately 1.7 million pages of primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. The collection encompasses the entire 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life among other subjects. Users can search by keyword or newspapers, and limit results to editorials, features, advertisements, or images. A list of titles included can be found on the Gale Web site (MS Word format).
PILOTS Database Now Available
CSA has recently added access to the PILOTS (Published Literature on Traumatic Stress) database. Produced at the headquarters of the National
Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in White River Junction, Vermont, the PILOTS database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Its goal is to include citations to all
literature on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health sequelae of traumatic events, without disciplinary, linguistic, or geographical limitations, and to offer both current
and retrospective coverage.
Subject covered:
- post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder (with or without reference to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)
- the assessment, description, prevention, or treatment of any psychiatric disorder, especially dissociative identity disorder (formerly called multiple personality disorder), other dissociative disorders, or borderline personality disorder, associated etiologically or epidemiologically with exposure to a traumatic event, or to an event experienced as traumatic by the population under discussion
- the preparation or provision of mental health services to a traumatized population or a population at risk of experiencing traumatic events
- issues of professional ethics, scientific methodology, or public policy relating to traumatized populations.
You can search PILOTS together with related databases such as Sociological Abstracts and Social Services Abstracts by choosing the change databases link on the search form.
ERIC adds Find it! Links, more full Text
Okay, we know ERIC can be a little confusing -- there's so many versions to choose from! ERIC, the comprehensive index to articles and studies on all aspects of education, is available from Ebsco, from CSA, from FirstSearch, and also from the Department of Education's own ERIC site at http://www.eric.ed.gov.
While all the versions have pretty much the same content, they each have the different search functions and features offered by the host site. For example, the version of ERIC from Ebsco lets you search ERIC together with PsycINFO, while ERIC on the CSA platform allows you to combine searching with the sociology databases. All three versions-- from FirstSearch, CSA, and Ebsco --allow you to locate full-text articles and place Interlibrary Loan requests through the Find it! button. And now the Department of Education site does, also.
If you are on-campus, look for the "Find in a Library" link at the bottom of most journal article records. This will lead you to a Find it! window showing any available full text, a link to the library's catalog record, and the option of requesting an interlibrary loan for items not held locally.
You can read more about Find it! on our info page.
ERIC has also begun a large project to scan and digitize of 339,000 ERIC documents published from 1966-1992. These documents were originally published as microfiche. As the documents are digitized they will be made available in the ERIC database. More than 100 documents have been posted to date. The project is expected be complete by March 2009.
