Reducing Barriers to Off-Campus Access

Next time you want to use an online resource (database, e-book, or e-journal) from off-campus you have the option to use your UNL credentials to authenticate your identity for access. The Libraries, in collaboration with ITS, has launched the option for UNL students, staff, and faculty to authenticate into our subscription e-resources using their UNL credentials. This option moves the Libraries and University closer to a single sign-on for campus resources, allowing users to reduce the number of separate passwords they needed to remember. 

“The major advantage to UNL students and faculty is that they can log into the UNL system and navigate between campus tools, such as Canvas and the Libraries e-resources more seamlessly and without having to remember a separate login,” explained Elizabeth Lorang, Interim Associate Dean, University Libraries. “We also hope that people now have a better sense of how to proceed when they come across a library resource that requires authentication, because the login process will look like other login options across campus,” Lorang continued.

The new login option was launched for testing in mid-July. An initial assessment indicated that the authentication process is working as planned. If users encounter problems in accessing the Libraries’ online resources, however, they should contact an AskUs service point.

Lorang explained that the Libraries’ own login system, called “MyLibrary,” still remains and gives affiliates like visiting researchers and vendors a way into the Libraries resources. UNL students, staff, and faculty may also continue to use their MyLibrary accounts to track and renew checked out books and other materials.

UNL Students Share Favorite Books

UNL students told us what their favorite books were, now we have a compiled the list. 

How did we collect the titles?
A blank white board was left out in Love Library during the spring semester with one question written on it -- "What is your favorite book?"
All of the titles have been collected and can be found here: http://unl.libguides.com/content.php?pid=597703&sid=4928473. 

Some of your favorite books includes Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Perks of being a Wallflower, A Game of Thrones, The Hobbit and many more.  Follow the link to the entire list, find where they are located at in the library and you can even look through a list compiled of students least favorite books.    

Library Depository Remote Facility (LDRF) Opens for In-Person Research Visits

Starting January 13, 2014, the Library Depository Remote Facility (LDRF) will be open to the UNL community for research visits by appointment only.  The LDRF contains more than 500,000 volumes of books and journals and is located near the Tractor Test Facility on East Campus.  Appointments for research visits will be available Monday through Friday, from Noon to 4:00 p.m. and should be made at least 24 hours in advance.   Researchers should include a list of materials they want to review with their appointment reservation request and send the list to the email address ldrf@unl.edu.

Gary Dolan, the LDRF manager, explained that the goal of opening up this new service to UNL faculty, staff, and students was to assist the person needing to look through numerous items at once. 

“While most patrons request one or two items from the LDRF through ILLiad and receive the scan of the article they need within 24 hours, we have some patrons that need to sit down with numerous texts and it would be convenient for them to use our facility and equipment to do their own scanning,” stated Dolan.

Staff at the LDRF will retrieve the items on the researcher’s list in advance of the visit. Browsing the LDRF collection is not possible because all materials are stored by size in boxes and many materials will need to be retrieved by forklift.

A workspace equipped with a computer and scanner has been set up for the research visits.

 

Any materials from Special Collections that are stored at the LDRF will still have to be ordered through the Special Collections Department, and can only be reviewed at the Archives Reading Room in Love Library. All materials held by the LDRF can be requested via the UNL Libraries’ ILLiad (interlibrary loan/document delivery) system.