Important news about the Library

I am pleased to announce that the refurbished ground floor of the Library will open from 8.00am on Monday 1 November 2010. Here is a summary of the changes that you will find, following the refurbishment works this summer:

• The new entrance is at the corner of the library opposite to the Main Building. You can find a route map here. The temporary entrance at the back of the library will be closed from 6.00pm on Sunday 31 October onwards.

• There are new stairs, a new passenger lift and new toilets on all four floors at the front of the building.

• On the ground floor you will find: a Welcome desk; flexible group study space; two computer labs; the short loan collection; a self-service reservations area; self-service machines with fines payment facility; two additional needs rooms; two bookable group study rooms, a Help desk and CaféLibro.

• The Learning Development Centre, printed periodicals, small study areas and the Library staff administration area are on the first floor.

• The second and third floors have not been refurbished at this stage. All of the bookstock is located on these floors, as well as PCs and printers / photocopiers. The second floor can be used for group study for much of the year, but the third floor is reserved for individual silent study only.

• Further information about the library, including opening times and borrowing arrangements, can be found on the library website.

To see the changes for yourself and find out more about how the Library works, please come along to a Library Matters Live session anytime between 11.00am to 3.00pm from Monday 1 November until Friday 5 November. There will be Goody Bags for all first year students and a chance for all students to enter a Prize Draw to win a £100 Bullring Gift Card or a Sony e-book reader.

Thank you for your patience during the refurbishment, especially during the last month when the upper floors of the library have been particularly crowded. We hope you enjoy the new facilities and spaces. To help us to provide a pleasant learning environment for you, please make sure that you observe the Library Regulations.

Please let us know what works well and what doesn't work as well, by emailing library@aston.ac.uk or by completing one of our Have Your Say forms.


Nick Smith

Dr NR Smith
Director
Library & Information Services
Aston University
Birmingham
B4 7ET
UK
T: 0121 204 4509
F: 0121 204 4530
E: n.r.smith@aston.ac.uk
W: http://www1.aston.ac.uk/lis/

Access to the FT.com

Access to the Financial Times web site has now been reinstated. To see the full range of access to the Financial Times, please use the Library catalogue. Choose the title search function and type in The Financial Times.

You no longer need to register or log in before accessing the full web site. However, if you are trying to access the web site off-campus you will need to go through the University proxy server and details of how to do this are available at http://www1.aston.ac.uk/lis/eis/passwords/ejournalsproxy/

If you experience any more access problems please contact library@aston.ac.uk.

Photocopying and printing in the Library

Follow-Me system

You can add credit to your uniCARD in 3 ways:

• Online at http://followme.aston.ac.uk/ (Minimum top-up is £5 maximum is £30)
• Using the credit top-up machine on second floor of the Library (£5 notes)
• Using the credit top-up machine outside the ISA Helpdesk, Main Building East 477 (£5 notes)
  
  

Please contact ISA Helpdesk for help or queries with online payments, email isa_helpdesk@aston.ac.uk and telephone +44(0) 121 204 3445.

Helpdesk Main Building East 477
(8:30am until 5:00pm Mondays to Fridays)

New service offering online access to TV and Radio broadcasts now available on Blackboard.

Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is a new service attached to Blackboard. Now Aston staff and students can, by request, view television transmissions which have previously been shown or book transmissions for the future for use in teaching and learning.

New photos of Library refurb!

Take a look at the latest photos of the refurbishment work that is currently going on at the Library. Work on the ground floor is now well under way and is on target for completion in early November.

Reaxys - have you switched yet?

Reaxys is a web-based, chemical structure search system for chemical compounds, chemical reactions and bibliographic data. It combines the information from the CrossFire Beilstein, Gmelin and Patent Chemistry Databases in a single, web-based tool, providing reaction and substance data with synthesis planning in organic, organometallic, inorganic and physical chemistry.

This database replaces CrossFire, and no further logins to CrossFire will be possible from 1st January 2011.

You can get further information about Reaxys, including a Quick Reference Guide and free webinars, on the Reaxys Information Website.