Monash Library News

Issue 9, March 1993

AARNet SEMINAR

All academic staff received an invitation from the Library to attend an introductory seminar on 24 February at which access to AARNet and the Internet would be explained and the resources that are available on the network demonstrated. There was an overwhelming response to the invitation, so much so that a repeat had to be arranged for the same day and a third seminar has been scheduled for 24th March. The Library staff members chiefly responsible for the highly successful seminar preparation were Sue Steele, Systems Librarian, who also did the presentation, and Judith Greenaway, Inter-Library Loans Officer. Anne Reilly, Human Resources Management Librarian and Reena Lingam were responsible for the administrative arrangements. Time constraints made it impractical to cover every aspect of this rapidly evolving area. Accordingly academic staff may wish to contact Ms Steele or Ms Greenaway for general help and guidance or the appropriate Subject Librarians for further help and information regarding electronic information resources in specific subject areas.

CD-ROM ACCESS

Access to CD-ROM Network from Workstations in Staff Offices.

Many staff members would like to be able to access the CD-ROM network from their office and so we often get enquiries about this. However currently three impediments prevent this from being possible in all cases:

(a) Software.
Unfortunately because of the software presently used on the CD-ROM network, several configuration changes must be made to your office PC if it is to function satisfactorily as a networked CD-ROM workstation. These changes are not trivial and a degree of computer literacy is required if you wish to make them. The network is gradually being converted to new software and once this conversion is complete it will be much easier technically to adapt office PC's.
(b) Hardware.
The minimum equipment configuration required is: 386SX machine with 2MB of RAM, Hard disk, Ethernet connection to the Novell network (Banyan and Monet are not acceptable) DOS 5.0. Unless you have this equipment, you will not be able to access the CD-ROM network.
(c) License Restrictions.
Several data bases are licensed for use by a limited number of simultaneous users on a single campus only. Hence even if you have the right hardware and have configured it correctly, we may still only be able to give you access to certain data bases, depending on the location of your office.

For further advice on (a) and (b), please contact R. Sawyer (75-4756). For further information on (c) please contact H. Groenewegen (75-2672).

NEW INFORMATION RESOURCES

MAIN LIBRARY

The following resources are now available for use in the Main Library (Humanities & Social Sciences)

Statistical Record of Women Worldwide edited by Linda Schmittroth 1991 Reference 305.4021 S355S

This very broad statistical collection is derived from seriesranging from United Nations bodies to Fashion Magazines and the Annual Report of the Girls Scout of the U.S.A. Although the title indicates that the information is international 50% of the tables relate only to the United States. Read the source information for details.

It is a very useful resource if you are looking for statistics on women in business, crime, health, domestic life, politics, education, etc.


Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
COUNTRY ECONOMIC BRIEF

Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Burma have been received. Other Asian countries briefs will be received soon. All will be in reference around 330.95... (number varies slightly). These briefs contain summaries of recent developments in the country, and a wealth of economic data and information about Australian economic relations with the country including investment prospects, Australian business presence, tourism and airlinks.

HARGRAVE LIBRARY

The following CD-ROM products are now available in the Hargrave Library.

CD-ROM: Engineering & Applied Science
This CD-Rom provides 8 Australian databases:

ATLIS (Australian Transport Literature Information System);
ENGINE (Australian Engineering Database);
LASORS (Literature Analysis System on Road Safety);
LIMLOG (River and Wetland Ecology and Management Database);
Marcus Agfacts (on farm management, agriculture and animal production);
ROAD (Australian Road Research Board Database);
ROADRES (Road Research in Australia); and
STREAMLINE (Australia's Natural Resources Database).

CD-ROM: MATHSCI (1940-present)
MATHSCI is the CD-ROM equivalent of Mathematical Reviews, an essential tool in mathematics, statistics and theoretical physics.

CD-ROM: GEOREF (1785/1933-present)
GEOREF is the CD-ROM equivalent of Bibliography and Index of Geology; Bibliography of North American Geology; Bibliography and Index of Geology Exclusive of North America; Geophysical Abstracts; and Bibliography of Theses in Geology. These are essential tools in Earth Sciences. The CD-ROMs will give convenient access to a major proportion of the literature of this subject. Coverage is 1785-present for North America and 1933- present for the rest of the world.

CD-ROM: Selected Water Resources Abstracts (1967- present)
Selected Water Resources Abstracts is an essential tool in Civil Engineering. It is produced by the US Geological Survey and covers citations and abstracts on a broad range of topics related to the characteristics, conservation, control, use and management of water resources, derived from the technical and scientific literature from across the life sciences, physical sciences and social sciences.

CD-ROM: General Science Index
The Wilson General Science Index (GSI) is a guide to current information in 109 English-language science periodicals, and seems to be the general science equivalent to the very popular Hargrave CD-ROM, Applied Science and Technology Index (ASTI).

CD-ROM: MOVE - SAE Mobility Engineering Technology
MOVE offers complete coverage of technical papers, conference proceedings and other literature produced by SAE, a leading international authority on automotive and aerospace engineering. It is a valuable tool for Mechanical Engineering.

CD-ROM: Computer Select
Computer Select is a fulltext database of computer articles which has proved both useful and popular at Caulfield and Frankston campuses.

Other products:
Current Contents with Abstracts on Diskette: Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences
Current Contents on Diskette: Engineering, Technology and Applied Sciences

SHORT COURSE PARTICIPANTS BORROWING PRIVILEGES

Short courses are non-award courses conducted by Monash teaching departments and centres for a fee and are outside the University's normal academic programmes. Consequently the participants on these courses are not eligible for Monash University student IDs and library privileges. Short course participants will need to become fee paying borrowers if they wish to have borrowing privileges from the Monash libraries. However teaching departments are required to contact the library to arrange special library cards for short course participants. The fees vary according to the duration of the course. 3 month card $40.00 6 month card $70.00 12 month card $120.00 The borrowing privileges accorded by these fees will depend on the level of the course being taken. For example :- Participants of undergraduate level courses will become eligible on payment of the borrowers fee for undergraduate loan privileges. Participants of postgraduate level courses will be eligible on payment of the borrowers fee for postgraduate loan privileges. If you require clarification of the University Library's fee paying policy contact the MONINFO Manager, Leigh Oldmeadow on ext. 75 2690. UnCover and UnCover2 -------------------- The Article Access and Delivery Service from CARL The University Library has recently subscribed to an electronic database called UnCover. UnCover is produced by CARL (the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries) and contains records describing journals and their contents. It includes more than 3,000,000 articles taken from 13,000 journals in many disciplines, with over 750,000 articles added annually. Every article cited in UnCover is available for purchase through UnCover2. Users can perform searches, place orders and handle payments from their homes, offices or libraries. A copy of the full text an article may be ordered online and delivered to a specified fax number within 48 hours. Users may decide to pay by personal credit card (VISA or MASTERCARD). The Library is subsidising users of this new service for a 12 month introductory trial period and will reimburse some of the costs (up to a designated amount) for the delivery of articles from the UnCover database. Some faculties have appointed a CARL UnCover Liaison person who will be able to provide guidelines on usage limits and eligibility for reimbursement of costs. These are : Faculty Contact Extension SCIENCE B. Ward 4609 EDUCATION Rosamund Winter 2906 MEDICINE Wendy McPhee 579 3188 ENGINEERING B.W. Cherry 4913 ECOM Dr. T. Fry 2415 PROF. STUDIES Prof.John Levett 2955 A brochure has been produced to provide introductions on accessing the database; search procedures; order, delivery and payment details.A copy is included with the paper issues of Library News, additional copies will be available through your library. It should be noted that, the Library will make use of UnCover to supplement its Interlibrary Loans procedures. Enquires may be made through the Interlibrary Loans Office of your Branch Library. For further inquiries contact your subject librarian or Judith Greenaway in the Main Libary phone 752657 or email: judgreen@lib.monash.edu.au). MONASH UNIVERSITY LIBRARY NEWS #9 VISITING STAFF: LIBRARY PRIVILEGES Visitors, honorary and sessional staff will need to obtain a Monash University identity card before they can be provided with library borrowing privileges. The card is available on request from Human Resources Services. Departmental Chairmen should provide a written request for the issue of a card, specifying the nature of the visit and its duration. For further information contact Pauline Whalley, Human Resources Services on ext. 75 6027. After receiving their identification card, visiting staff members can then use the card to obtain library borrowing privileges from any of the branch libraries.