PowerBlog

On the surface, nothing's changed.  Our homepage looks the same as it did yesterday.  But below the surface, a lot has changed.  That white search box?  The one under "Start your research here"? It's a whole lot different. The consortium of university and college libraries in Nova Scotia (you know it as Novanet) has invested in a new and better way to get access to our vast print and online collections.  Now, when you type some words into that box, it will be easier than ever to find the books, fulltext articles, e-books and other materials you need. The new, streamlined interface offers many things we think you'll love, including :  Immediate indication whether a book is available (or not) Just one click to get the fulltext of articles Improved subject indexing Easy access to your Novanet account so you can request materials or renew loans online Access to LiveHelp chat for assistance with your research questions So the results page will have a...

There now exists a real opportunity for you to directly influence future online access to Canadian historical materials... The Canadiana Heritage Historical Documents Digitization Project is a partnership with Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Knowledge Research Network and others. Canadian universities, including Saint Mary's, have invested several million dollars in their work. The Project is now seeking input on which paper historic documents are most important to digitize. The Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J9T6PHP (Please note that it closes December 19, 2014) asks you to  select the paper documents which you would most like to see digitized.  The Heritage Project will use survey input to guide future work. So I encourage you to take a moment to fill in the survey, and pass it along to others who might be interested. - Peter Webster Associate University Librarian, Information Technology Patrick Power Library 902-420-5507  pete...

In the coming year, Statistics Canada will be moving to a new, reorganized web site.  This could have a significant impact on how Saint Mary’s researchers access Statistics Canada data.  So we encourage all of you to have a look at the site redesign and provide feedback.  Changes to the way CanSim socioeconomic data is delivered is of particular importance for those who use that resource.  If you have any questions about Statistics Canada webpage changes and changes to data delivery,  please contact: Peter Webster Associate University Librarian, Information Technology Patrick Power Library, Saint Mary's University 902-420-5507  peter.webster@smu.ca For a bit more background (and links), here's what it says on the Statistics Canada site: "Statistics Canada is testing a new way to organize its statistical information.  Our goal is to make sure that our products are user friendly and easy to find on our website. ...