Hello everyone,
The semester is slowly coming to a close and it´s time for another library update. This time it´s a mixture of good and bad news…
1) The funding of the Helsinki University Library is facing a major budget cut next year. The large savings have an impact on material purchases, e.g. we are unable to continue all current journal and database subscriptions. To keep the materials cut as limited as possible we are re-evaluating our services and reducing some of our facilities in a controlled way. The Kumpula campus library will continue to operate as usual.
· List of unsubscribed databases: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/librarynews/kumpulan-meilahden-ja-viikin-kampusten-tieteenalojen-lakkautetut-tietokantatilaukset/ (in Finnish, ProQuest subscription level change does not affect CS)
· List of unsubscribed journals: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/librarynews/kirjaston-lopetetut-lehdet-2016/ (in Finnish)
· More information: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/librarynews/2015/12/03/large-savings-will-impact-material-purchases-significantly-2/?lang=en
How does this affect CS materials? Fortunately none of our CS databases (ACM, IEEE and others) have been cut, but there have been some cuts in journals. We are unable to continue subscriptions to the following:
· Computer Journal (Oxford University Press)
· IEEE Spectrum
· MikroPC
· SFS-Tiedotus
· SIAM Online Journal Archive
· SIAM Journal on Computing
· Several mathematics journals that are also relevant to CS research (SIAM journals for example)
The vast majority of current CS titles will continue to be available, but this funding cut will significantly affect textbook orders next year. On the bright side we have fortunately managed to increase CS textbook amounts for several key courses this Autumn, including for some courses that are starting early next year. We are also working with the CS department staff to make the best of the situation, for example trying to make sure that when new titles are selected there are e-book versions available with good licensing terms.
Feedback can be sent to the address e-library@helsinki.fi
2) Our Mendeley Premium account deal is ending this year, but we still have free license upgrades left! Mendeley is a fully featured reference manager with social network features and a PDF reader with note taking and highlighting capabilities. You can create a free account on Mendeley.com and then upgrade it via this form: https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/60432/lomake.html
The account upgrade gets you the following:
- Increase in personal library size for each user, from 2 GB to 5 GB
- Increase in group storage, from 100 MB to 20 GB
- Increase in private group size, from 3 to 25 members
- Increase in number of private groups, from one to unlimited.
3) We have been testing new altmetrics software, PlumX, that gathers visibility data on publications. In Kumpula we´ve started with computer science and have enlisted five voluntary researchers to take part in this pilot. The goal in altmetrics is to look at what happens outside of the traditional world of citations: social media, blogs, download counts and so forth. At this point our focus has been on evaluating the software, so the publication lists are currently still incomplete. Our goal is to build a voluntary automated visibility profile service for researchers. An early version of the service is now open so you can all see what it looks like: https://plu.mx/helsinki/g/kumpula/compsci
4) The new CS ResearchGuide site (all library CS materials in one place, directed at department students and staff) is closing in on 2000 page views. Thank you everyone for making it a success! The site will continue to grow and evolve next year. I´ll start by updating the curriculum requirements page early next year.
5) Misc. Notes
· The library part of the bachelors thesis seminar in CS will be expanded next year among other things to include a section on LaTeX usage
· The Kumpula library RefWorks course will become bilingual and improved to include other popular citation management programs such as Mendeley and Zotero
Best regards,
Valtteri
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Valtteri Vainikka
Information specialist, Metrics
Services for Research, Helsinki University Library
Phone: +358 504488705