University Library Reference

The ? character or * character (asterisk) may be placed at the left, right or middle of a portion of a word, but it can never be used more than once in a text string.

The # symbol can be used to find varient spellings in cases where one version of the word has one more chararacter than another version. For example, colo#r will find both color and colour; and arch#eology will find both archaeology and archeology.

The ! character can be used to find varient spellings in cases where a single character may vary. For example, wom!n will retrieve both woman and women.

The % symbol, followed by a number, may be placed between two words to indicate that you want the words to appear within a particular distance from each other, and you don't care what order the words appear in. For example, england %3 ballads will retrieve Ballads of England , Ballads of Merry Olde England and England and Her Ballads.

The ! character, followed by a number, may be placed between two words to indicate that you want the words to appear within a particular distance from each other, and in the same order in which you type the words. In this case, ballads !3 england will retrieve Ballads of England and Ballads of Merry Olde England but not England and Her Ballads.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 02:33 PM | Permalink

Sept. 16, 2005

MyMinerva
1. Current students, faculty and staff:
Net ID : NetID
Password: Unix password (same as Unix e-mail, WebMail & WebCT)

2. Others with borrowing privileges:
Net ID : Barcode on courtesy borrower card (if no barcode, call Circulation, 442-3569)
Password : Barcode verification code (obtained from Circulation, 442-3569)

NetID/Unix Password problems: If the NetID is not known refer patrons to ITS user help (LC-27 or 442-3700). If Unix password is unknown, the patron needs a PIN to reset it. If the PIN number is unknown, refer patron to the ITS PIN Hotline (442-3700), available during regular Help Desk hours. The patron will have to give their EMPLID to get a PIN. (A substitute for the SSN, the EMPLID may be known to the student as their “Student ID” and is a 9-digit number usually starting with 3 zeros. A faculty member may know their EMPLID as the number they use to access their electronic time card.) Once the patron has a PIN, they should reset their Unix password at the ITS website https://p0l0.albany.edu/itsacctmgmt/reset/accountsManagement.jsp
(This URL does not have p-zero-one-zero in it; it's p-zero-lowercase L-zero.) It is recommended that the Unix password be changed to be the same as the MyUAlbany password. For further password questions, refer patrons to ITS help (LC-27 or 442-3700). Other problems: If the patron knows their NetID and their Unix password and cannot access MyMinerva, log onto telnet://itsunix.albany.edu with the same NetID/Unix password, paying particular attention to lower/upper case. If unable to log onto Unix, refer patron to ITS help (LC-27 or 442-3700). If able to log onto Unix, refer patron to a staff member in Circulation (442-3569) to verify patron record is valid and accurate in ALEPH. If the patron is registered in ALEPH and still cannot access MyMinerva, refer patron to Library Systems (442-3595 or libsys@albany.edu).

Off-campus Access to E-Resources
1. Current students, faculty and staff in good standing with University Libraries:
NetID : NetID
Password: Unix password (same as Unix e-mail, WebMail & WebCT)
(Note: current students, faculty and staff can also use #2 while it is available.)

2. Others with borrowing privileges, e.g. Emeriti (excludes courtesy borrowers and DAP):
User Name: Barcode on SUNY card
Password: First 3 letters of person’s last name
(Note: this option will eventually not be available.)

NetID/Unix password problems: See under “MyMinerva,” above. Other problems: When helping patrons, refer to http://library.albany.edu/databases/proxy.html and http://library.albany.edu/databases/proxyfaq.html . If patron still can’t access material, refer patron to a staff member in Circulation (442-3569), to verify that their patron record is valid and accurate. For technical problems that cannot be resolved by Reference or Circulation, refer patron to Laura Cohen (442-3492).

ILLiad/UA Delivery
1. Current students, faculty and staff:
UAlbany NetID: NetID
Password: Illiad password

2. Others with borrowing privileges, e.g. Emeriti (excludes courtesy borrowers and DAP):
UAlbany NetID: Barcode on SUNY card
Password: Iliad password

Problems: If they do not know their ILLiad password, they should go to https://illiad.albany.edu/illiad/forgotpassword.asp to get a new password. In order to reset their ILLiad password, the patron may use the temporary password of “ill”. (That’s ILL in small case.) It is recommended that they change their password to match their MyUAlbany and Unix password. For other problems, refer patron to ILL (442-3613).

Posted by Jane Kessler at 02:31 PM | Permalink

Sept 28, 2005

Audio (All)
Resources coded in the MARC record as recordings of sound or music on CD, cassette, phonograph, or electronic format, including periodicals.

Audio (Musical)
Resources coded in the MARC record as recordings of music on CD, cassette, phonograph, or electronic format, including periodicals.

Audio (Non-musical)
Recordings of nonmusical sounds on CD, cassette, phonograph, or electronic format in ULIB, GovtDoc, IMC, Science, Dewey, Online, including periodicals.

Book
Books in the general collections in ULIB, IMC, Science, Dewey, SPE; Software in the IMC; Juvenile collections; online databases and e-books.

Computer Software
CD-ROMs and floppy disks in GovtDocs, IMC, Science, Dewey, including periodicals.

Conferences
Resources coded in the MARC record as conferences.

Government Documents
Print, electronic, media, microform resources, maps in GovtDocs.

Journals – Print & Online
Print, electronic, media, microform periodicals in ULIB, IMC, Science, Dewey,
SPE, including those online that we provide access to.

Journals--Online
Electronic journals, including those that that are also in print.

Juvenile
Resources in the Juvenile Collection in ULIB; Historical Children’s Collection in SPE

Law
Resources in the Law collections in ULIB and Dewey.

Maps & Atlases
Resources in the Map Collection and the Govt.Doc. Map Collections; resources with the subject words “maps” or “atlases” or coded as maps/atlases in the MARC record, including periodicals.

Media
Resources shelved in the audio or video collections.

Microform
Microfilm, fiche, cards in ULIB, GovtDoc, Science, Dewey, SPE, including periodicals.

Newspapers
Serial publications coded in the MARC record as a primary source of written information on current events, either local, national and/or international in scope, including online newspapers we provide access to.

Online
Electronic resources we provide access to, including periodicals.

Reference
Print, media, microform, map resources in the reference collections of ULIB, GovtDocs, Science, Dewey, SPE; includes ReadyRef and Law.

Scores
Resources coded in the MARC record as notated music, whether in print, electronic or microform.

Serial
Print, electronic, media, microform, maps resources coded as serials in the MARC record, including periodicals.

UA Dissertations and Theses
Resources with both “albany” and “thesis” in a specific note field of the MARC record.

Video (All)
Visual recordings on DVD, videocassette, videodisk, or electronic in ULIB, GovtDoc, IMC, Science, Dewey, Online, including periodicals.

Video (DVD only)
DVDs in GovtDocs, IMC, Science, Dewey, including periodicals.

Video (VHS only)
Videocassettes in GovtDocs, IMC, Science, Dewey, including periodicals.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 02:30 PM | Permalink

UPDATE AS OF 9/13/04: Cross references are very slowly being added to Minerva by an automated process. So, don't be surprised if a cross reference appears where it didn't yesterday!

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Some cross references are not displaying in ALEPH.

For example, if you search the author "Hsiao, Cheng" you will get no hits in Minerva or the GUI.

If you search ADVANCE by the same name, a cross reference will tell you to "See" the correct form of the name, "Xiao, Zheng." You can see in ADVANCE that we own at least one book under this name.

This situation affects author, subject and series searching. We are working with ExLibris to fix this problem. Until that time, use ADVANCE as a back-up for searching for alternative forms of these headings.

If you have questions, please let me know.

Karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:51 PM | Permalink

As of Tuesday, July 27th, URLs (non-SFX) can be found in the Full record in Minerva.

Example: Journal of experimental biology

Prior to July 27th these URLs were accessed by selecting the "Holdings" link from the Full record.

At this time, selecting the "Holdings" link on the Full record does not provide additional information about the title or its holdings. The intention is to remove it from the record when we can so it is no longer an option

Questions? Speak to Deborah Bernnard, Chair, OPIC

Karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:50 PM | Permalink

Interested in becoming a skilled searcher in ALEPH using a command language?
This document on the staff Intranet lists commands, examples and indexed fields for WORD searching:

http://libstaff/divisions/techserv/cataloging/wordsearchinginguiandminerva.htm

This document may change as indexing is refined.
The location of this document will change when we have a permanent home for ALEPH documents on the staff Intranet.

Questions? See Karina (Please do not report problems associated with indexes that are labeled: In development. Thanks)

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:25 PM | Permalink

Confused about indentifying holdings for a newspaper?
Don't know when to click on the SFX button?
You might want to refer to the following document on the staff Intranet:
http://libstaff/divisions/techserv/cataloging/journalsminervajuly6.htm

The contents of this document may change as we refine Minerva's display of journals and newspapers.

The location of this document will change when we have a permanent home for ALEPH documents on the staff Intranet.

Karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:16 PM | Permalink

Everybody-

When searching by title (including series title), you need to drop initial articles when searching titles (such as: a, an, the for English, or le, la, les in French). We currently have a number of records that have incorrect coding, but we're working on cleaning these up.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

-Timothy

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:15 PM | Permalink

We have been able to suppress from the WebOPAC the bibliographic records noted below. If you discover anything problematic, please let me know.

Thanks,

-Timothy

There are about 4500 bibliographic records that we had to convert from the acquisitions file so they could be connected to orders in ALEPH. However, they are proving to be a bit problematic in ALEPH. All of these lack holdings and many of these are duplicate records for titles that we have a full bibliographic record with holdings (see the title "Reassessing revitalization movements" as an example). We are working to suppress all of these records from the WebOPAC/Minerva.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

-Timothy

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:14 PM | Permalink

When searching hyphenated personal names (e.g. Martinez-Brawley)during a Keyword search in Minerva, drop the hyphen. (Do the same when searching ALB01 using Scan search in the GUI.) This problem should be fixed the next time we reindex.

There is no problem searching hyphenated personal names in the Browse search in Minerva or the GUI.

Questions? Contact Karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:13 PM | Permalink

The "Author (with title display)" browse search in Minerva is an alternative to the "Author" browse search. As with the Author search, enter last name first, e.g. shakespeare, william. Even though this search was formerly known as the "Author/Title" search, entry of a title is not required. Only enter title when the full and accurate form of the author is used: shakespeare, william 1564-1616 taming of the shrew.

For more information, refer to this document on the staff Intranet:
http://libstaff/divisions/techserv/cataloging/authorwithtitledisplaysearch.htm

Questions? Speak to Karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:12 PM | Permalink

Minerva is our online catalog. Patrons with borrowing privileges can use MyMinerva, by clicking on "MyMinerva account" at the top of the screen in Minerva. MyMinerva allows patrons to view their profile, see which books they've checked out, and to access the records they've saved to E-shelf.

Here are the two categories of users with the option to use MyMinerva and the login/password they should use:
1. Current students, faculty and staff:
Net ID : NetID
Password: Unix password (same as Unix e-mail, WebMail & WebCT)

2. Others with borrowing privileges:
Net ID : Barcode on courtesy borrower card (if no barcode, call Circulation, 442-3569)
Password : Barcode verification code (obtained from Circulation, 442-3569)

Here are some guidelines to resolving problems with accessing MyMinerva:

NetID/Unix Password problems: If the NetID is not known refer patrons to ITS user help (LC-27 or 442-3700). If Unix password is unknown, the patron needs a PIN to reset it. If the PIN number is unknown, refer patron to the ITS PIN Hotline (442-3700), available during regular Help Desk hours. The patron will have to give their SSN to get a PIN. Once the patron has a PIN, they should reset their Unix password at the ITS website: https://p0l0.albany.edu/itsAcctMgmt/accountsManagement.html . (This URL does not have p-zero-one-zero in it; it's p-zero-lowercase L-zero.) It is recommended that the Unix password be changed to be the same as the MyUAlbany password. For further password questions, refer patrons to ITS help (LC-27 or 442-3700).

Other problems: If the patron knows their NetID and their Unix password and cannot access MyMinerva, log onto telnet://itsunix.albany.edu with the same NetID/Unix password, paying particular attention to lower/upper case. If unable to log onto Unix, refer patron to ITS help (LC-27 or 442-3700). If able to log onto Unix, refer patron to a staff member in Circulation (442-3569) to verify patron record is valid and accurate in ALEPH. If the patron is registered in ALEPH and still cannot access MyMinerva, refer patron to Library Systems (442-3595 or libsys@albany.edu).

(The above information was gathered from a variety of sources. If you have questions about the above, contact Karina. Questions that go beyond the above should be referred to your supervisor. Thanks)

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:11 PM | Permalink

The holdings/location display on the brief record has changed yet again. Now you will be able to see a line for each sublibrary in which the item is available. We were told by Ex Libris that this was not possible, but, in fact it is. We are planning on suppressing the display of the Online location line as soon as we get the global change routine to work properly.

Any questions... ask Dan mcshane@albany.edu

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:11 PM | Permalink

The Law Collection is now searchable and complete on Minerva. Also, when you search the Reference Collection, books in the Law Collection can be retrieved as well. (Karina June 2005)

Original text of this ALEPH Bulletin:
Since, on Thursday, Sept. 2nd, problems were found while searching the Law Collection on Minerva, the option to search this collection was removed. It will be reinstated after the problems are resolved. Of course, materials in our Law collection are still available via Minerva when searching the Full Catalog.

karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:10 PM | Permalink

As of Sept. 15, 2004, you can sort on Minerva when you have a results list! There are 7 sort options, with the default of Year, in descending order. You cannot sort when the results list is over 1000.

Please send questions/concerns/suggestions about sorting to Deborah Bernnard.

Karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:09 PM | Permalink

If you're doing a keyword search via the WebOPAC, you need to add a ? after "and, or, not" to avoid a parsing error. Example: search the title "Not under forty" via keyword. If you search "Not? under forty" no problem.

Doing a Find search in the GUI is still problematic. More infomation later.

Thanks,

-Timothy

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:08 PM | Permalink

When you perform a search on Minerva after choosing a collection or format, you should retrieve all the titles available now. (karina 6/2005)

Original contents of this ALEPH Bulletin:
When you perform a search on Minerva after choosing a collection or format, you may not retrieve all the titles available. We are working to fix this problem. Until a solution is found, all materials are retrievable searching the “Full Catalog.”

If you do search by a specific collection or format, be aware that the material that is not retrieved depends on which collection or format you are searching. Here are some examples:

Often the materials not retrieved are those owned solely in microform or media. For instance, if searching the “Government Documents” or the “Journals – Print & Online” collection, you will not retrieve any titles owned solely in microform or media in those collections. (Online titles are retrieved.)

If searching the “Journals – Print & Online” collection or the “Book” format, you will not retrieve any titles owned solely in Oversize.

If searching the “Microform” format, you will not retrieve any titles owned solely in microfiche.

If searching the “Juvenile/Historical Collections” you will not retrieve any titles owned solely in the Historical Children’s Collection. To avoid confusion, we’ll temporarily remove the reference to “Historical.”

If searching the “Reference” collection you will not retrieve any titles owned solely in ReadyRef or GovDocs.

If searching the “Computer Software” collection or “Video” format, you will not retrieve any titles owned solely in GovDocs.

Questions? Speak to Karina or Deborah Bernnard

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:07 PM | Permalink

Minerva is currently displaying duplicate “Location” fields for some serials and sets. It doesn’t matter which “Location” you select—-the information retrieved is the same for each. This is happening to serials and sets converted from ADVANCE, but only after we’ve received the first volume in ALEPH. Some examples are: Education department reports; Recommended publications for legal research; West’s federal supplement.

This is not happening to periodicals (a.k.a. “journals”).

We have reported the problem to ExLibris.

Karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:05 PM | Permalink

Cataloging Services is in the process of removing the SFX button from the brief records in Minerva. SFX access to e-journals from Minerva is NOT going away.

For those journals for which we have removed the SFX button from the brief screen, the SFX and non-SFX URLs have been consolidated. For these titles, access the e-journal by selecting the "Online" Location from either the brief or full record. You will then be able to view all available URLs and journal availability. Select the desired URL.

The consolidation of URLs is a manual process, so it will take several months before SFX buttons are completely removed from the brief record. If you find a journal that still has the SFX button in the brief record, selecting the button will take you to the SFX menu, as usual.

The SFX button remains on all full records and clicking on it will still take you to the SFX menu.

Cataloging Services and OPIC hope that this consolidation of URLs will make e-journals easier to find.

For reference purposes, consult the following two documents on StaffWeb:
http://libstaff/divisions/techserv/cataloging/determiningjournalholdingsinminerva.htm
http://libstaff/divisions/techserv/cataloging/determiningjournalholdingsinminervacomingsoon.htm

For questions/comments, contact Deborah Bernnard, Chair of OPIC, or Daniel McShane, Electronic Resources Librarian.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:04 PM | Permalink

The Availability field directs users to click all items to check current status. The words, all items, link to the holdings screen in which the status, or availability, of the item is displayed. Clicking on the call number in the location field also displays the holdings screen.

We have added the Availability Field in response to user confusion about how to find out if an item is available for loan.

For questions or comments contact Deborah Bernnard, Chair of OPIC

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:04 PM | Permalink

Publication Years will now display in most of the brief records in Minerva.

This information has been added in order to allow users to more easily determine the date of an item once they have sorted results by date.

Unfortunately, not all items will display dates, so there will be some records that do not contain this information.

Questions or Comments to Deborah Bernnard or Daniel McShane.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:02 PM | Permalink

As Laura's recent e-mail said, we've found a place for ALEPH and Minerva documentation on StaffWeb! Look at the top right-hand box for "ALEPH & Minerva."
http://libstaff/

Staff who use Minerva will find these documents the most useful.
There are also a couple of documents there for staff who use the GUI.

Note that under "Minerva Support Documents" is the newest version of the document on passwords called "MyMinerva, E-Resources and ILLiad Passwords."
http://libstaff/divisions/techserv/Minervadocs/logonpasswords.doc

If you have ideas for other things you'd like to see included please let me know.
Karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:01 PM | Permalink

Good Minerva News!

There are four new Search Options in Minerva:

New Titles
Conferences
Journals-Online
Media

Two of the drop down boxes for Search Options have been combined to form one drop down called: Choose a Collection/Format. You'll find the new options, except for "New Titles," within this new drop down.

"New Titles" can be found above the drop down box. Search "New Titles" in the same way you'd search any other Search Option. This is referred to as Phase I of the New Titles list. Stay tuned for further refinements.

For any questions about display, please contact Deborah Bernnard.
For any questions about contents of the different "Search Options," contact Karina, or refer to the document on StaffWeb called "Search Options (or Logical Base) Contents" at
http://libstaff/divisions/techserv/Minervadocs/logicalbsecontents.doc

Karina

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:00 PM | Permalink

Since we went live with Minerva we have been providing searchers with enhanced keyword searching. It is transparent to the searcher, but if you have searched by Author, Subject, or Series Keyword, then your results list probably was enhanced by this feature.

Enhanced keyword searching helps the keyword searcher who may not know the best keyword to search by. For an example, compare the following two Author Keyword searches in Minerva. You should retrieve the same number of hits for either search (as of today Oct. 25, 2005).
mao zedong
mao tsetung
Although the Library of Congress established this name as “zedong,” the searcher can retrieve the same records searching by either form of the name.

One of the drawbacks of this feature is that you cannot see your keywords in the record. In the case above, it will not matter to you. But there are other times when you will wonder why you retrieved a certain record. If you have a circumstance where you’d like to understand why you retrieved a record as a result of a search, recreate your search and print it, along with your results, and show them to Karina.

Currently, this feature is not active for all of our records. As our database grows and improves enhanced keyword searching will become more active, and more obvious to you. We hope that you find it to be helpful.

For details about how this feature works, speak to Karina.
For your concerns about the use of this feature in Minerva, speak to Deborah Bernnard, Chair, OPIC.

Happy Keyword Searching!

Posted by Jane Kessler at 07:58 PM | Permalink