Category Archives: databases

Accessing Library resources off-campus

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While studying off-campus, you will still be able to access the Library’s databases and resources using your own device. We recommend that you first sign in to Primo, our online portal to e-resources, as this will make the process easier.

Once you have accessed Primo, you will need to use the Find Databases tab to access the e-resources you need for your studies. The majority of these services simply require an Institutional/Shibboleth login. More information and advice on using these resources and Shibboleth access can be found in the Accessing e-resources guide.

A set number of our databases also require an IP Address Authentication when logging in on-campus, and you can find out more information on them in this guide. In order to use these off-campus, you will have to use our Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). Full instructions on accessing this are available from the Remote Access pages on the University Toolkit.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com

If you require any further information or advice on this matter, then Library staff are happy to help. The Subject & Enquiry Team can be found at the Information Centre on Floor 1 of the Sir Duncan Rice Library, or in their offices on Floors 5 & 6. Alternatively, please email us at library@abdn.ac.uk.

Online Information Skills workshops for PhD researchers: now open for booking

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As you begin, or continue your PhD, it is important that you feel confident that you are locating and managing all the literature and information you require to achieve your research aims.

The Library Service is here to support your research so we will be running a series of three Online Information Skills Workshops starting at the end of June 2022. The workshops’ aim is to help you understand the resources available to you as researchers here at the University of Aberdeen, and how to get the best out of them. Read on for further information on the workshops.

28 June
Literature searching: Part 1 – Planning a search, resources, access and support

  • Planning your search, using Boolean operators and applying search rules
  • Using Primo to identify possible resources to support your research
  • Accessing resources (authentication – Shibboleth and other routes)
  • Library help and support

28 June
Literature searching: Part 2 – Primo, ebooks and Google

  • How to get the best out of Primo (the library catalogue and discovery tool)
  • Ebook collections
  • Streamlining your searches in Google, Google Scholar and other search engines

29 June
Literature searching: Part 3 – Scopus and Web of Science databases

Overview of the features and options within the two largest and broadest databases that we have access to. The training slot is one hour, however, there is an option to re-join the session later in the morning to ask questions once you have had the chance to try things out for yourself.

Feedback from those who have previously attended these sessions has been positive and highlights how after attending, students felt better equipped to find and manage the materials they need for research. One quote from a previous attendee nicely sums up what we are aiming for with these sessions:

“I will definitely be searching smarter than before”

Our aim is that after you attend, you will also leave feeling this way.

To find out more, and to book onto the different workshops please visit www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and look for Information Skills classes.

Library Event – Gale Primary Sources Seminar, March 9

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The Sir Duncan Rice Library will be holding an event next week to help our students access a wonderful range of historical primary source materials, produced by Gale, that are all available online.

The Gale Primary Sources Seminar will be taking place in the Sir Duncan Rice Library, in the Lower Ground Floor Seminar Room, on Wednesday March 9, at 2.00 – 3.00 p.m.

The seminar will be delivered by the University of Aberdeen’s Gale Student Ambassador, a student here that is passionate about helping fellow students understand and use this great collection of materials that contains historical newspapers including The Times and Financial Times, historical books, and other high quality and varied primary sources. You can see the full range of Gale products available at Aberdeen here.

Please take your own device with you if you choose to attend, so that you can try out the collections yourself.

This is the first in a planned series of events that will be delivered by our Gale Student Ambassador. There is no booking for this event but attendance will be limited, and face-masks will have to be worn.

Did you know…? – Off-campus access to OnePetro

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OnePetro logo

In a previous post, we told you about accessing e-resources off-campus. In this post, we would like to draw your attention to OnePetro, an important database of technical literature for the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) industry.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), who own the OnePetro database, have an authentication (login) system based on the IP address of the user’s PC. Signing in is very straightforward when users are on-campus using University networked PCs. However, it is a 2-step process when off-campus, as users are required to come into the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) first so that their personal device will look as if it is campus-based.

Please follow the guidance on the Remote Access section of Toolkit – select the Remote VDI link in the ‘Guides’ section. Once you have logged in to the VDI, navigate to ‘Library Resources’, and from there to Primo.

Library staff have created a very useful guide on accessing and using OnePetro.

Please note that via the VDI you can also access classroom software associated with your login details and your H: drive.

Susan McCourt, Elaine Fitzgerald, Lena Papadakou

Information Skills workshops for PhD researchers: now open for booking

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As you begin, or continue your PhD it is important that you feel confident that you are locating and managing all the literature and information you require to achieve your research aims.

The Library Service is here to support your research so we will be running a series of Information Skills Workshops starting at the end of October 2019. The workshops’ aim is to help you understand the resources available to you as researchers here at the University of Aberdeen, and how to get the best out of them. Read on for further information on the workshops.

29, 30 & 31 October
Literature searching – Part 1: Planning, Primo and Google

5, 6 & 7 November
Literature searching – Part 2: Databases

12, 13 & 14 November 
Literature searching – Part 3: Managing References with RefWorks

Across the three parts, we will look at:

  • Planning your search
  • Looking for books: using Primo and E-books
  • Databases of academic literature
  • Getting the best out of Google
  • Managing your references with RefWorks
  • Formatting Word documents with in-text citations and bibliographies

Feedback from those who have previously attended these sessions has been positive and highlights how after attending, students felt better equipped to find and manage the materials they need for research. One quote from a previous attendee nicely sums up what we are aiming for with these sessions:

“I will definitely be searching smarter than before”

Our aim is that after you attend, you will also leave feeling this way.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The sessions focusing on the management of references is not suitable for research postgraduates in the School of Law, as the software used does not support the OSCOLA referencing style required for legal theses.

To find out more, and to book onto the different workshops please visit www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and look for Information Skills classes. Please note that we will be offering three sessions on each part, with the Tuesday & Thursday sessions lasting 2 hours and the Wednesday sessions lasting 3 hours.

In the meantime, do not forget that Library staff are always here to help with any information needs that you may have. Visit our website for further information on our services. We look forward to seeing you at the workshops!

Library Skills workshops to help you ‘Find it Fast!’

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We believe that you should be spending the majority of your time reading materials and not looking for them, so we have a range of workshops to help you learn how to get your hands on the best books, articles, reports and other information in the shortest time possible.

Our Find it Fast! workshops will be running between October 15 and November 7 to help all undergraduate and taught postgraduate students navigate the library landscape, which can at times seem filled with so much choice.

The workshops are held over lunch time in The Sir Duncan Rice Library and are a great introduction to the resources we provide and the ways in which you can make best use of them. They cover:

  • using Primo, our online resource discovery tool for locating physical and electronic resources
  • how to search for the hundreds of thousands of electronic books which we have access to
  • using the many online databases which we subscribe to. They contain important resources which you cannot find by searching in Google!
  • how to manage your references using RefWorks
  • getting the best out of Google

Invest one hour of your time over lunch to learn tips and techniques that will repay you with time saved when searching for the materials you need for your assignments and exams.

To find out more and to view the full list of Find it Fast! workshops on offer please go to www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and search for Library Information Skills courses.

Search our digital collections using ‘Find Databases’ on Primo

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Primo will tell you about the hundreds of thousands of digital resources available through the University and will link you to one of over 200 different online academic databases to let you read the material that you’re interested in.

Did you know, though, that if you go straight to the website of specific academic databases you can perform even more powerful searches, often looking across every word contained in every item within that collection? A simple search in Primo is the best place to start a piece of research but using the Find Databases option is the next step, improving the quality of any academic research that you do.

These databases often focus on specific subject areas, meaning that your searching becomes more focused and efficient, saving you time looking and giving you more time to read and write. See below for details of how to use the Find Databases feature in Primo to link straight to digital collections best suited to your area of study.

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Use the Find Databases option at the top of Primo. Please remember to log in with your username and password.

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You can search for specific databases or you can filter by subject area. It is also possible to browse an alphabetical listing of all databases available.

Once you have identified an academic database that you wish to search, simply click on its name to link out to it. You may be asked to log in again.

Please note that it is not possible to search across multiple databases at once using the Find Databases option. You must link out to each database that you are interested in and search them individually. This method will allow you to perform the most powerful searches available to you.

For further guidance on using Primo please see our short videos on its various features. For guidance on accessing online resources, particularly when off campus, please see our Library Guide on Accessing Electronic Information and the Toolkit’s section on Remote Access.

Ewan Grant, e.grant@abdn.ac.uk

Workshop on Web of Science InCites tool – places still available

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Places are still available on a workshop next week (Thursday 28 February, 1400-1500) that will guide academic staff and researchers through InCites and Web of Science (WoS), two powerful tools that can play an important part in any research process. See below for full details of the workshop. You can book your place through the University’s Coursebooking site. An earlier occurrence of this workshop is taking place next Tuesday, 26 February, but is already fully booked.

WoS is a citation index that offers comprehensive citation and publication searches across multiple databases to enable in-depth exploration of research.

InCites Benchmarking & Analytics is a customized, web-based research evaluation tool that allows you to monitor collaboration activity, identify influential researchers, showcase strengths, and discover areas of opportunity. 

Independently or together, these tools can be used to create powerful analytics that complement the research process. The software provider (Clarivate) of these products was recently awarded a contract to supply the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) with citation analysis.

This short session, aimed at academic staff, early career researchers and PhD students who have published (or are on the point of publishing), will guide you through the use of InCites and Web of Science. The session will include:

·         Hints and tips for using Web of Science and InCites

·         Advanced searches in Web of Science and InCites

·         Evidencing research strengths, and collaborations

·         Notes on Open Access and Full text publications

·         Analytics: Citations, Collaborations, Journals, Authors, and Trends

·         Brief overview of Alternative metrics

You can book your place on this workshop through the University’s Coursebooking site but please pay attention to the two actions required of you before attending the session.