SEMLS News

As a member of SEMLS, your library can receive many benefits through our membership to Nelinet. http://www.semls.org/what/coop/nelinet.html

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners is pleased to announce that it has awarded contracts to Thomson Gale, ProQuest CSA and EBSCO Industries for statewide, online magazine, newspaper and reference book databases to begin on July 1, 2007. More info...

SEMLS is offering trials for databases that are part of our group database subscription program. We are currently coordinating group subscriptions for Ancestry Library Edition, Ebsco Auto Repair Reference Center and Xreferplus. Several other trials are available to solicit feedback from members. If you think SEMLS should coordinate a group subscription for one of the other databases, please send an e-mail to klussier@semls.org.

SEMLS Support E-mail Addresses
Need immediate assistance from SEMLS?

Sending an e-mail directly to a SEMLS staff person may not be the best way to get a quick response because that person may be on the road or on vacation. To ensure that your message gets to a staff member right away, use one of our support e-mail addresses below.

delivery@semls.org – Use this e-mail address to report delivery problems or to report a library closing that will require a stop or change in delivery.

ce@semls.org – Use this e-mail for any registration questions or to cancel participation in a class.

helpdesk@semls.org – Use this e-mail for any database troubleshooting or access questions, including IP updates.

info@myowncafe.org – Use this e-mail address for any My Own Cafe questions or to request admin status for a teen volunteer.

semls@semls.org – Use this e-mail for any other general questions.

As always, you can also contact us by phone at 877-923-3531 (members only) or 508-923-3531.

SEMLS has added the Providence Journal to the ProQuest newspaper collection. ProQuest had made this title available in eLibrary for several years, but this new subscription will make it easier for your patrons to search it among other newspaper titles.

Be sure to update your database descriptions and links so that they reflect the current statewide and regional offerings.

SEMLS is mailing out database access reports for all libraries containing current user names and passwords. You can also get your access information by sending an e-mail to helpdesk@semls.org.

SEMLS has funds to subscribe to a new regional database this year. We have set up several trials to science and health databases under consideration. Please help us select a new database by testing these databases, using our evaluation packet as a guide, and providing us feedback in our online survey. Survey results are due by May 31, 2008.

Just a reminder that we have set up several trials to science and health databases. Please help us select a new database by testing these databases, using our evaluation packet as a guide, and providing us feedback in our online survey. Survey results are due by May 31, 2008.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our recent evaluation of science databases. After reviewing the feedback and discussion the options with the SEMLS Executive Board last week, SEMLS has decided to wait until the fall to select a new database. The top three choices were  Science Reference Center from Ebsco, Science Online from Facts on File, and eLibrary Science. We didn’t feel we had enough feedback to make a  choice among those three titles.

SEMLS still intends to subscribe to a science database. However, we would like to wait until school is back in session in the Fall before we take a second look at these three titles and try to get member input into the process.

Now that fall has arrived, SEMLS is taking another look at selecting a science database. Please check out our database trials to the three science databases that ranked the most highly in last spring's database survey. SEMLS is also planning to schedule a demo day for members to evaluate the databases. We'll post the date here as soon as it has been confirmed.

Ebsco, Facts on File and ProQuest (eLibrary) will be demonstrating their science databases at the Middleborough Public Library on October 16. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take a look at what could be the next regional database.

Please sign up if you are planning to attend.

Science database trials are still available through October.

Since September, SEMLS has offered trials to three science databases as we determine which will be the next subscription for the region. We hope you have been able to try each of the databases under consideration.

Now is the time to tell us what you think! Please fill out our database survey to let us know how you rank the three databases under consideration. The survey should take only two minutes of your time. The trials will be available until the end of October, so please give us your input into this decision.

As many of you know, SEMLS has selected Ebsco’s Science Reference Center as the new database subscription available to SEMLS members this year. The funds for a new database subscription were made available after the state took over the region’s ProQuest newspaper subscriptions.

Ebsco has finished setting up access for SEMLS members. Since we already subscribe to Literary Reference Center through Ebsco, the access information is similar to what you use for that product. To access Science Reference Center and Literary Reference Center from one link, use the following URL:

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,cookie,uid&custid=xxxx

With this URL, you need to replace xxxx with your library's Ebsco customer ID. This is the same customer ID that is used in your library's link to Literary Reference Center. It usually starts with the letter s and is followed by seven numbers.

If you want to link directly to Science Reference Center, the URL is:

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,cookie,uid&profile=scienceref&custid=xxxx

Once again, the xxxx needs to be replaced with your library's Ebsco customer ID.

If you have any questions about setting up access for this subscription or cannot find your Ebsco customer ID, feel free to send an e-mail to helpdesk@semls.org.

Ebsco’s Literary Reference Center will continue to be available for SEMLS members through June 2010. The state was unable to fund statewide access for this resource, but SEMLS has picked up the subscription for the region for another year.

If you have any questions about accessing Literary Reference Center or any other database, please send an e-mail to helpdesk@semls.org.

As library teachers settle back into the school year, the SEMLS office handles many calls and e-mails to help them reconnect to the online databases. Below are some updates and reminders to help you get started for the school year:

• If your school uses cookie authentication, the password to access InfoTrac has changed. The SEMLS office sent out letters with the new password in June. If you have misplaced the letter, please send an e-mail to helpdesk@semls.org to get the password.
• SEMLS was able to continue funding for Literary Reference Center. Please visit the SEMLS Web site at www.semls.org/what/databases to see a full list of databases to which you have access.
• Libraries are able to provide direct links to individual databases within the InfoTrac and ProQuest collections. These direct links are available on the SEMLS Web site at www.semls.org/what/databases/links.html.
• If your library uses cookie authentication for the databases, please do not share passwords with students, teachers or even other library staff. These passwords should only be shared with those people responsible for setting up database access. Once a cookie is properly set on a computer, the database should no longer request a password. If your library is unable to get the cookies to stick, please contact SEMLS at helpdesk@semls.org for assistance.
• If you have any questions about setting up database access or need assistance in using or promoting the database, feel free to contact the SEMLS office at helpdesk@semls.org at any time.