Friday, December 16, 2011

J B Morrell Library refurbishment on schedule for completion Spring term 2012!

University of York Library users will be pleased to know that an end to the disruption is at last in sight: all aspects of the refurbishment are on schedule for completion in 10 weeks' time. The next significant milestone will be the reopening of the ground floor link between the JB Morrell Library and the Harry Fairhurst building, scheduled for Monday 19th December.

Further information about the new facilities to be installed during the Spring term is available on the Library website. Forthcoming developments include a new ground floor cafe, and additional quiet study space on the JBM first floor.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Further details: Brynmor Jones Library: library catalogue and self-service issue and returns

Some further clarification regarding this:

Disruption to services in the Brynmor Jones Library



On Saturday 17 December you will not be able to renew or return items in the Brynmor Jones Library and there will be no access to the library catalogue. You will be able to borrow items with standard loan periods and use short loan items in the library. This is due to the planned disruption of ICT services.


Where possible please ensure that you borrow, return or renew any items before 21:00 on Friday 16 December.

From 16:00 Monday 19 December to 16:00 Tuesday 20 December the same disruption to services will occur due to essential IT maintenance.


If you have any enquiries please call the BJL Reception on 01482 466581 or email libhelp@hull.ac.uk.


Regards


Robert


Robert Sherratt


Head of Student Experience Group


Library and Learning Innovation

Monday, December 12, 2011

Brynmor Jones Library: Library catalogue and self-service issue and returns unavailable 19th-20th December

Library and Learning Innovation will be replacing the Brynmor Jones Library server with a new machine on 19th December. This work will start at 4pm on 19th December and the system will be unavailable for 24 hours until 4pm on 20th December. During this time there will be no access to the library catalogue or the self-service issue and return facilities. A basic issue service will be available from the circulation desk. All other computing facilities within the Brynmor Jones Library will be working as normal.

This work will also affect services at the Keith Donaldson Library in Scarborough in the same way.

We apologise for any inconvenience which may be caused by this work.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Christmas vacation opening hours at the university libraries

Please use the links below to view the opening hours of the university libraries during the Christmas vacation.

In particular, please note that the Brynmor Jones Library at Hull will close at 12.30pm on Friday 23 December 2011 and re-open on Tuesday 3 January 2012 at 7.00am, and the J B Morrell Library at York will be closed from 9pm on Friday 23rd December until Tuesday 3rd January at 8am.


http://www2.hull.ac.uk/acs/library/using_our_libraries/services/opening-hours/bjl-opening-hours.aspx

http://www.york.ac.uk/library/libraries/opening-hours/

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Resolved: UoY journals and databases: current access problems

The access problems to UoY journals and databases now appear to be resolved.

UoY journals and databases: current access problems

Following the power outage at the UoY yesterday, there are currently problems accessing various electronic resources such as databases (including OvidSP Medline) and journals. THe HYMS cross search facilities for journals and ebooks are also affected.

The problem should be resolved soon but in the meantime please try either 'googling' directly for a resource (as it is the UoY routing which is creating current difficulties) or access via the UoH Library links available at http://libguides.hull.ac.uk/medicine.

ICT disruption, 16-18th Dec affecting UoH, HRI, Castle Hill...

FYI, see bold below inparticular:

The University Senior Management Group (SMG) have approved plans to install two new backup generators that will supply emergency power to the Applied Science and Foss data centres in the event of a failure to the primary electrical supply. This work will start at midnight on Friday the 16th of December and will not be completed until 04:00 on Sunday the 18th of December.

Once the work has been completed, the new generators will provide essential resilience and data security for the Applied Science and Foss data centres. In the event of any future disruption to the electrical supply, existing devices within the data centres will provide battery power to all servers and systems whilst the backup generators are brought online. These new generators will then provide all the power required to maintain services for the duration of the power outage and this will be of significant benefit to the whole University community.


Unfortunately, major ICT infrastructure work such as this does come at a cost and as a result, from midnight on Friday the 16th of December until 04:00 on Sunday the 18th of December staff from the ICT Department will have to close down all major ICT services. In practical terms this will mean the loss of all :

  • ICT services on the Hull campus. This also includes ICT services accessed through the: 
    • Student residential network
    • University satellite sites at Castle Hill, Hull Royal Infirmary, the Brocklehurst Building, Oriel Chambers, Blaydes House and the Hull History Centre.
  • Internet access to and from the Scarborough campus, HYMS, the HYMS Education Centre at Hull Royal Infirmary
  • Telephone services on the West campus
  • Hull-based HYMS IT services, including file store, remote access and most websites (including parts of the HYMS VLE)

As can be seen from the above list this essential upgrade to our resilience levels does have a wide impact with regards to the number of ICT services affected and, as a result, the work has been deliberately scheduled out of term time to lessen the impact on users of these services as much as possible. One consequence of this is that work that the Facilities Directorate would have been carrying out in the Venn building, and which had been scheduled for the weekend 3rd-4th of December, has now been rescheduled to take place alongside the work detailed above. As a result of this there will be no electrical power available within the Venn building during the period described above.

The ICT Department and the Facilities Directorate would like to apologise in advance for the disruption that this, and the work in Venn, work will cause to our customers but trust that you can all appreciate the important benefits that the improved levels of resilience will offer. If you would like more information on the planned work, or have information on activities taking place at this time that we ought to be aware of, please could you contact the Service Desk team by telephone on 01482 46 2010 or by email at help@hull.ac.uk

Friday, December 2, 2011

UoY Library: New location of self-service terminals and temporary route to Key Texts

FYI:

Self-service terminals
Now that the hoardings around the bottom of the main staircase in the JB Morrell Library have been removed, we can provide dedicated space in this area for self-service terminals for borrowing and returning books. The terminals formerly provided on the first floor and adjacent to the main entrance have been relocated.

Temporary route to Key Texts
Library users heading for the Key Texts collection, the Raymond Burton Library or the Borthwick Institute for Archives will notice that the route through the hoardings is now slightly different. Follow the signs into the glass-fronted room next to the helpdesk (this room will become a permanent new home for Key Texts in due course), and out through the rear into the RBL lobby. Go through the turnstile on your right into Key Texts, or up the stairs to the RBL and Borthwick.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

UoY staff: University card takes over from the library card 5 Dec 2011

FYI:
On 5th December the  [UoY] Library will be switching over to using the new staff University cards for library borrowing.

Staff with library card and a new University card:

From 5th December your old library card will no longer work and you should use your new University card to borrow books.

This change will happen automatically and your library record and current loans will not be affected. Please note that the new University cards also now link to York Print Plus accounts for photocopying and printing.

If you have not yet received your new staff card please visit the Information Centre on Market Square. Further information about University cards is available at:  http://www.york.ac.uk/about/unicard/


Staff not currently registered with the Library:

Library membership is available to all staff and your new style staff University card is automatically registered as your library card.

Please do take the opportunity to come and visit us and look at the facilities and resources we have on offer. If you have not yet received your new style staff card please visit the Information Centre on Market Square.


Associate Staff:

Associate staff will not automatically be issued with a new style University card. Old style library cards will continue to work for all associate staff and there is no automatic update taking place.

If you are an associate member of staff and have a new style University card please come to the Library Help desk and we will activate it.

Due to the complexity of associate registrations we are advising that individuals should visit the Help desk in the library for personalised information about what to do. The Library Help desk is open 9am-9.45pm Monday to Friday and 10-6 on Saturday and Sunday.

If you have any questions about this please see a member of staff at the Help Desk or contact Jackie Knowles, Customer Services Manager via email jackie.knowles@york.ac.uk