Library Web News

October 1999 Web News

PsycINFO Now Available on the Web

The IU Northwest Library recently added PsycINFO, the web version of PsychLit to its expanding electronic database collection. Produced by the American Psychological Association, PsycINFO includes research and practical literature in psychology and related fields such as medicine, psychiatry and social work. The database contains indexes to journal articles, book chapters, books, technical reports and dissertations from 1887 to the present.

This online tool uses an updated version of the Silverplatter search interface which is similar to that used on the web version of Books in Print currently available on IU Northwest campus computers. Due to an incompatibility between the new software and the Library's computer security setup, PsycINFO is not yet accessible from the Library's Online Catalog workstations. It is available, however, from campus offices and labs. To search the database, go to the Electronic information page of the Library's site and select Connecting from On Campus. Once there, choose PsycINFO. Be sure to check forthcoming issues of IU Northwest Library Web News for more details about how to use the database and when PsycINFO will become available on the Library's Online Catalog workstations.

IU Northwest Library Introduces ERIS, Electronic Reserves Informations Service

During this Fall Semester, the IU Northwest Library's Reserves and Computer Systems staff created ERIS, a new electronic reserves information system. Funded through the IU Northwest technology fee program, the service's goal is making course reserves more accessible to IU Northwest students.

Electronic reserve materials are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any computer that can access the Internet. With more reserve materials available electronically, this eliminates special trips to the library to use these materials.

At the present time, only a few professors from selected departments are participating in this program. To see if your professor is among this particular group, check the Participating Faculty page. If you're simply interested in learning more about the system, take a look at the ERIS Home Page. If your instructor is involved with the ERIS program, you will need to obtain a password from him/her to access reserve materials. Passwords are necessary because copyright law requires that these materials only be available to a limited group of people (i.e. students enrolled in a specific class).

To access these materials from any computer connected to the Internet, specific software is needed.

• A Web browser (e.g. Netscape, Internet Explorer, Lynx, etc)
• Adobe Acrobat® Reader. This software is available free from the Adobe Web site or on the IUware CD-ROM available to all IU Northwest students, faculty and staff at the IU Northwest Bookstore for $5.00. If you choose to download the software, be advised that it is between 4 and 6 Mb in size (depending on your operating system). The IUware cd-rom also contains a variety of useful software - for details why not take a look at the IUware page?

, Library News Web Editor