News and Updates
December 2004 Release Notes
Increased Breadth and Depth of Full-Text Content
In addition to the world’s largest collection of full-text journal articles, ScienceDirect includes an expanding portfolio of books including reference works, book series and handbooks, as well as backfiles. The benefits of online access include:
- Online access to prestigious books means researchers can link quickly and easily within a book, or out to full-text journal articles
- Multiple researchers within an institution have simultaneous access
- Access to further digitized backfiles means researchers can quickly and easily access articles back to volume one, issue one
- Now these indispensable resources are available anytime, anywhere
Handbooks
Elsevier Handbooks on ScienceDirect will launch in March 2005 with seven packages in Chemistry (1), Mathematics (2), Physics (2) and Economics (2). Elsevier’s prestigious handbooks serve as an authoritative reference or review work for researchers, graduates, PhD students and teachers. The content is highly cited and only authors with the highest technical and academic credentials are invited to contribute. Now these important resources will be available whenever and wherever researchers need them.
Reference Works
The collection of Elsevier Reference Works on ScienceDirect continues to expand. There are 40 reference works now available on ScienceDirect. Nine new works will be released and two works will be updated in 2005. With Elsevier Reference Works on ScienceDirect researchers can – after this release – link within the work or out to other full-text resources in a matter of seconds. New features and functionality include:
- Now researchers can link to reference work chapters, to and from:
- Abstracts and journal articles
- Other publishers’ articles via CrossRef
- The glossary offers a simple subject-specific description of terms used in the article text
Book Series
Elsevier Book Series on ScienceDirect give multiple users throughout an institution simultaneous access to an important complement to primary research. There are now around 100 titles available on ScienceDirect. Two new packages in Psychology and Social Science will be launched in December 2004, adding around 40 titles to the package, and intermediate (post 1994) backfiles will also be available in 2005.
With the new release, all books – reference works, book series and handbooks – will be grouped together and accessed by clicking on the “books” tab on the navigation bar. Bringing all of the book content together in one place will make linking and integration easier for the researcher.
Backfile Supplements
Nineteen backfiles supplements were launched between May and December 2004. The Medicine and Dentistry supplement will be launched in 2005.
Urban & Fischer Titles
Journals from the German publisher, Urban & Fischer, have been added to ScienceDirect during 2004. A total of 36 English-language journals will be added to the ScienceDirect full-text collection. Twenty-eight journals are already available through promotional access (until circa April, 2005).
Urban & Fischer on ScienceDirect
Improved User Experience
Every feature, every functionality is designed with the user in mind. Our goal is to make the user experience as efficient and effective as possible.
Green Icon
Previously, when a currently subscribed title merged, split or changed its name, the old title inherited the green “subscribed” icon. We have changed this functionality so that if the library only subscribes to the new title, but not to the previous one, the new title will show the green “subscribed” icon, whilst the non-subscribed previous title will show the white “non-subscribed” icon. This should now reflect the true entitlements of the customer.
Topic Alerts
Now researchers can subscribe to pre-defined search alerts on specific topics. Alerts are sent via e-mail to the address the researcher specifies in My Profile. Most of these alerts will be available in December and all will be available by the end of January.
Shortcut URLs
Shortcut URLs facilitate quick navigation across all content sources efficiently. An overview of all Shortcut URLs can be found on the ScienceDirect Info site at www.info.sciencedirect.com.
Improved Table of Contents
There are a number of enhancements to the table of contents including:
- The order of articles, within a volume/issue, now reflects how it looks in print
- Section headings, which are often included in the print table of contents, have been introduced, to divide a table of contents into broader topics within the scope of the journal/book
- Unicode, a universal character code, has been adopted to represent all characters accurately
Image-based Linking
Image-based linking enables link resolvers to return different images to communicate the status or availability of the requested document at an institution’s site, such as:
- A specific link resolver image (when entitled)
- A blank image (when the researcher is not entitled)
- An immediate overview of the researcher’s full-text entitlements and where they can be found within the library
Single Sign-on
The need for access "anytime, anywhere" is growing. Authentication verification via IP address only, is not meeting all our customers' needs. Users want to be able to use an ID and password to access more functionality and be able to gain access outside of their institute. Currently, support for off-campus access creates considerable overheads for librarians, and multiple IDs and passwords are frustrating for users. Users want a single sign-on access for all their resource sites and the librarian wants less overhead administration.
To address these problems, ScienceDirect is accessible through the single sign-on Athens Access Management System or by using the single sign-on Shibboleth protocols.
Athens
ScienceDirect has been accessible through Eduserv's Athens Access Management System since 2002. This system is extensively used, particularly in the UK Health and Education Sectors.
Shibboleth®
ScienceDirect has been an early adopter of this widely supported authentication scheme, a technology initiative driven by the Internet2 consortium in the US. ScienceDirect successfully piloted the scheme in May 2004 with five US campuses and it is now available to a much wider audience.
Shibboleth allows users to authenticate to a campus' sign-on system, and through the controlled release of information about themselves, access ScienceDirect without additional logins.
Improved Customer Service
Better e-mail alerts for researchers with expired accounts
If an account is expired, there will be a grace period of 30 days before the settings will be permanently deleted. How will you know when an account is about to expire?
- The administrators of the account and the appropriate RSO will receive two e-mail alerts prior to expiration, one at 30 and another at seven days
- The e-mail alert will contain an explanation of what will happen, the researchers who will be impacted and a suggested course of action.