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Books/Journals/Databases Suggestions for all Libraries
(Dec 13/21) Hello, can we expand the online database t to include lexis nexis and/or westlaw? The reason being that most of the health law articles and journals are published in the LAW journals rather than HEALTH journals.
However these are very relevant articles to healthcare.
Seriously consider. Thanks.
Library response: Our HSL's website lists the databases that are most relevant to health, but the University Library's Databases list will have many additional sources.
And we have good news for you: we subscribe to Lexis (Nexis Uni) - https://library.mcmaster.ca/databases/lexisnexis - and have some Canadian legal sources via Bestcase, on Westlaw -
https://library.mcmaster.ca/databases/bestcase. HeinOnline might also be worth a look - https://library.mcmaster.ca/databases/heinonline.
I hope these suggestions help: library@mcmaster.ca can also assist with searching.
(Dec 13/21)
Answered by: Janice Adlington (Head, Collections & Content Strategy)
(Jul 6/18) My name is Dustin Burlet and I am a PhD student at McMaster Divinity College (Old Testament).
I have received your email via your business card that was given to me by Kim at the McMaster
Mills Library here at McMaster University.
I expressed to Kim my concern about the BS section of the library on the fifth floor, in
particular, the moveable stacks and the high degree of usage that that section receives. I
voiced a desire to see if it might be possible to put these items in a non-moveable stack
section of the library and Kim informed me that you, Anne, were the person to speak to with
respect to this matter, hence this email.
I wonder Anne, what might possibly be able to be done to help to facilitate a change in this
area. I do not wish to petition the library, nor do I wish to start a campaign or a flood of
emails and such. I only wish to know what possibly might be able to be done to begin (and
expedite) the process of transferring the BS items on the fifth floor to a non-moveable stack
section.
Thank you very much for reading this email Anne and for any consideration that you might give
to this request. Have a great day,
Sincerely and with respect,
Dustin Burlet
Library response: Good morning Dustin - I believe I have addressed this issue via email with you directly, but am happy to post the response here as well. Anne
We understand that the books in the religion call number ranges are well used compared to many othother areas of the library, and we're glad that this collection is active. Currently, we're not able to relocate the religion call number ranges without disrupting the flow of the stacks floors, which would make them even more difficult for users to navigate. We are working internally to develop ways to make our print collections more welcoming and engaging for users. We may also have some opportunity to re-arrange the stacks in the future, but the collections spaces are just too tight to permit this at the present time
I do want to make sure you are aware of our new virtual shelf browse feature which is available via the catalogue:
Search/browse by call number. Here you can browse the books in a call number range, then if you wish to use one of them click the Request button and our staff will retrieve the items and bring them to the main floor service desk area for you. If you need only a single chapter, you can also request this via the catalogue, and Library Services staff will scan and send it to you electronically.
We appreciate your patience as we work through various collections related issues in the library. (Jul 6/18)
Answered by: Anne Pottier (Associate University Librarian, Library Services/Facilities/Learning Support/Collections)
(Oct 24/17) Hi Mac Libraries - Is it possible for us to get a subscription to The Financial times? Given
the current state of our global economy, I think it would be beneficial for our students and
faculty to have access to this credible resource. Thanks!
Library response: The library has online coverage from several providers with a one-month embargo, and our Innis library receives the print newspaper - http://discovery.mcmaster.ca/iii/encore/record/C__Rb3077411?lang=eng. Unfortunately, pricing for digital access for libraries is very different than that provided for individuals - the papers want to stay in business! - and to date, our combined print/embargoed access is the best we can do. Agreed that this is a good source! (Oct 26/17)
Answered by: Janice Adlington (Head, Collections & Content Strategy)
(Oct 12/17) Hello,
I am very confused with the new catalogue on library computer. It only seems to show e-books and
the regular library catalogue is blocked for some reason. Normally Id just go on my phone to the
library catalogue, but the wifi coverage in the upper floors of Mills that even this is
frustrating.
Thank you
Library response: I'm sorry to hear that you're finding the new catalogue confusing.
There are three different kinds of searches that you can do:
The Quick Search tab simultaneously searches the library catalogue and the contents of several subscription and open access databases. The search results on this tab do include the Library's catalogue of both print and online resources, but the additional databases being searched mean that you will often see many more online resources.
The Catalogue tab provides the same interface, but searches only McMaster’s library catalogue. This tab will show you both print and online resources, but only those that we have added to the McMaster libraries' catalogue.
The Classic Catalogue link on the Library homepage takes you to a different interface. This site supports browsing of the library catalogue by author, title, subject, and others, as well as a keyword search. The search results here will include both print and online resources from the Library's catalogue, presented in a more traditional interface.
You can move from Quick Search to Catalogue by clicking the appropriate tab on the Library's homepage or in the search results screen. The Classic Catalogue is separate from the other two. Follow the link on the Library's homepage to search there.
I hope that helps to make the catalogue a little less confusing! There is much more information about the new catalogue and some of its extra features in the FAQ document linked from the Library homepage, or at https://library.mcmaster.ca/content/quick-search-faq. (Oct 12/17)
Answered by: Wade Wyckoff (Associate University Librarian, Collections)
(Aug 21/17) Ive been testing out the new catalogue pretty extensively this week and I have to say it falls
short in a lot of ways. Unless Im totally missing it, the place of publication has been
removed from the catalogue listings. And the search by text function is gone. Are these
features that will be added back? I know any new system is going to have growing pains, but
this is really frustrating.
Library response: Thanks for testing out the new catalogue and sharing your comments.
The place of publication information is on our list to add for the new discovery interface; it's not included in the "out of the box" display settings, but we agree it's useful information. It does appear in the Classic Catalogue record display.
When you say "search by text", I'm guessing that you want to browse the catalogue. As with our previous catalogue, the main search box on the Library's website is all keyword searching. You can look for words together as a phrase in that interface by putting the phrase in quotes, but it won't present you with a browse result.
The Classic Catalogue interface does support browsing. With the exception of Keyword, all of the Classic Catalogue indexes are phrase searches and will look for records with your search terms in the order that you entered them. Choose the index that you want to search--author, title, journal title, subject, etc.--from the dropdown to get started.
I hope that helps. If you have additional questions, don't hesitate to get in touch: http://library.mcmaster.ca/justask
Wade Wyckoff
Associate University Librarian, Collections (Aug 22/17)
Answered by: Wade Wyckoff (Associate University Librarian, Collections)
(Jul 15/14) Hi, may I recommend that the library purchase a copy of McMaster alumnus Max Haivens important new book: Cultures of Financialization (Palgrave Macmillian 2014). His recent Crises of Imagination, Crises of Power (Zed Books, 2014) is also worth acquiring.
http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/cultures-of-financialization-max-haiven/?k=9781137355966
Thanks!
Simon Orpana
Library response: Thanks for alerting us to these publications.. The library has purchased "Crises of Imagination' as an e-book, and will buy "Cultures of Financialization: Fictitious Capital..." when Palgrave releases it later in August. Looks interesting!
(Aug 14/14)
Answered by: Janice Adlington (Head, Collections & Content Strategy)
(Feb 19/14) Please add the journal of Medical Internet Research to our access. High relevance and many articles support my research interest.
Many thanks, MSc candidate(eHealth)
Library response: The use and accessibility of this title has been reviewed and the journal title will be added to the HSL collection. (Feb 25/14)
Answered by: mclell
(Jan 24/14) Is there anyway that McMaster students can receive access to a few additional scientific journals? Some of the very common medical journals such as Nature Reviews, Nature Protocols, and even the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) are not available to mac students. As a graduate student, especially those of us in medical research, it is extremely frustrating to be unable to access these articles. Moreover, the few times I have made requests through RACER, the quality of the print was horrible (it looked like it had been faxed over) and impossible to read. Inadvertently, many of us resort to asking our friends at other institutes such as University of Toronto, to send us copies of these articles. As a research intensive university, is there anyway to fix this? Or at the very least, offer better alternatives (i.e. providing a PDF vs a starchy black and white copy).
Library response: Thank you for submitting this concern. The good news is that McMaster currently subscribes to Nature Protocols and a number of Nature Review titles. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have a Nature Review title in mind that we do not subscribe to and I will gladly evaluate this for our collection. I have heard from the University Library that they plan to begin a subscription to JOVE General. I expect this will become available in the near future. You mentioned concerns about the quality of RACER requests. This is a concern for us. If you currently experience poor quality documents I encourage you to contact the Health Sciences Library directly so that we may resolve the issue. Supporting your educational and research endeavours is a priority at the Health Sciences Library. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have further resource concerns.
Andrea McLellan
Head of Collections and Technical Services, X24169 (Jan 28/14)
Answered by: mclell
(Oct 22/13) Hi! I am a grad student who only comes to campus a couple times a week. I depend on reliable remote access to databases and
the catalogue. I am constantly frustrated with the slow loading pages! Though most of the time I can get the catalogue to work
by refreshing things, I do not find the same success with the ATLA database. I am unable to download 9/10 PDF files when
accessing the database from home. I hit refresh MULTIPLE times, sometimes trying for more than 30 mins on one article. The
PDF will load one or two pages but the progress bar stalls just before the end. This means not only can I not download the PDF,
but I also cant read it. Strangely, this does not happen when I have my computer on campus. I am convinced that if the
catalogue and databases worked as they are supposed to (and as they DO work at other universities Ive attended) the
resource-finding stage of my research would take me half as long. In graduate studies, efficiency can make or break you!
Please work to fix the problem and offer me some suggestions in the meantime. Thanks
Library response: Thank you for taking the time to report this. I have a follow-up question so am hoping you will reply to me via the email that this response will generate, namely, have you had this problem specifically within the last few days? I ask because we implemented a fix last week that we thought had resolved these issues, and yours is the first report of issues after the application of that remedy. Hence currency is paramount here. (Oct 22/13)
Answered by: Dale Askey (Associate University Librarian, Library Learning Technologies)