Library Christmas vacation opening hours and book loans

Season's Greetings from Library Staff.  Over the Christmas vacation the Library is open as follows:

• Monday 17 December to Friday 21 December the Library is open 08:00 - 23:00
• Saturday 22 December to Sunday 23 December:  the Library is open 11:00 - 18:00
• The Library will be closed Monday 24 December until Tuesday 1 January inclusive
• Wednesday 2 January the Library is open from 08:00 onwards and will be open 24/6

Please see the Library web site for the Christmas Vacation and Spring Term opening hours:
http://www1.aston.ac.uk/library/openinghours/

Please remember you will need your uniCARD to swipe in at all times.

If you have books on loan, then please make sure you return them by Friday 21 December, or renew them each week online via My Library Record on the Library Catalogue. Books which can't be renewed can be posted back - fines will accrue on overdue books so keep an eye on your Aston University email.

Please note: the out of hours book return box is closed when the University is closed for holidays (from Monday 24 December until the Library re-opens on 2 January).

We wish you all a very good break. 

Introduction to EndNote Web

Bob Green, from Adept Scientific, has recorded a 20 minute "Introduction to EndNote Web" video. EndNote Web is web-based bibliographic management software which can help you find and store useful references quickly and accurately, and create formatted citations and bibliographies in seconds.

This video will be a useful resource whether you're simply fact-finding or you're a new user getting started, and is best viewed in HD (720p).  The video starts from the EndNote Web login page (www.myendnoteweb.com) and you can register for your EndNote Web account using the Sign Up link on that page.  Note that if you are off-campus, you will first need to "Log in via your institutional login" to allow you to register.

 If you have any questions about using EndNote Web, please e-mail the Library Help Desk.

Tips to save money on college textbooks

USA based ideas to cut the cost of buying textbooks - Blast Magazine. December 10, 2012 (accessed through Nexis UK, locate from A-Z list of Databases in SmartSearch).

Dawsonera unavailable 10am-6pm on Saturday 8th December

This Saturday, the 8th December 2012, Dawson will be performing an essential upgrade on the dawsonera e-book platform and will require an outage between the hours of 10am and 6pm, GMT.

RSC Going for Gold

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) have recently launched a “Going for Gold” scheme, where institutional subscribers to their journals packages are entitled to complimentary Open Access article credits.  In Aston’s case, this translates into 5 credits for Aston authors who wish to publish in RSC journals before the end of 2013.

The RSC publishes a broad range of journals, including many inter-disciplinary journals, so it is likely to have a wide relevance across SEAS and LHS.  Publication timescales can be very fast, particularly for the publication of communications articles.

One Aston author has already taken advantage of this initiative to make their 2012 article Open Access:

Lychnos, G., Amdouni, R., Davies, P. A. (2012). Concentrated seawater brines for use in solar-powered desiccant cooling cycles. RSC Advances, 2 (21), 7978–7982.

Allocation of credits will be administered by Georgina Hardy in Library & Information Services, so please contact her on g.c.hardy@aston.ac.uk for further information or to register your interest.

***Update: we have been advised by the RSC that we have 5 credits available (not 15 as originally thought)