Safari Tech Books Online now Available to the Penn State Community
Are you one of those who consume tech books? Is your bookshelf overflowing with "animal" books (from O'Reilly, whose tech books each feature a drawing of a particular animal)? Is your desk regularly the place for spreading out the SAMS "Teach Yourself Whatever-it-is in 21 Days," or any of the many handbooks and guide books from Que, Microsoft, Addison Wesley or any of the others?
If so, you owe it to yourself to have a look at a major new resource for materials relating to information technology, now available to Penn State faculty, staff and students. It's Safari Tech Books Online, and it provides searchable, full-text access to over 600 technology books from major information technology publishers.
A look at the Web interface will quickly give you a sense of the breadth and depth of this new resource. It provides a number of pre-defined searches by category, including Applied Science, Business, Certification, Computer Science, Databases, Desktop applications and Desktop publishing, E-Commerce, Enterprise Computing, Graphics, Hardware, Human-Computer Interaction, Internet/Online, IT Management, Markup Languages, Multimedia, Networking, Operating Systems, Programming and Software Engineering. In addition, you may search for all instances of a specific phrase in a title, or even in the full text of all the books. You can pull up code fragments and examples, as well as explanatory text.
Search results are returned as book sections. These are less-than-chapter length to facilitate screen browsing. While these sections are viewable and printable, they're not so easily printed that you'd want to print an entire book, additionally, our license specifically forbids such things. The real purpose of the service is to permit users of tech books and manuals to accomplish a fast specific search across the entire Safari collection and retrieve the relevant sections from the books. Titles included are reviewed regularly by librarians to keep the full text database current and the collection will be updated several times a year.
Safari Tech Books Online can be found on the Penn State Libraries "E-Resources" list, at http://www.lias.psu.edu/alall.html. Take a look! If you have any questions or comments, you can direct them to Michael Pelikan, Technology Initiatives Librarian, at mpp10@psu.edu.
Over the next several months, the University Libraries will be migrating many of its Web pages to a new server. Because of this move and in an effort to provide quicker and easier access to the Libraries' Web site, the Web addresses of many of the existing Libraries' pages will be changing.
Should you attempt to access a page that has moved, you will either be redirected to the new address or taken to a custom error page containing a directory and search engine to help you find the new location.
Please remember to change your bookmarks as you are directed to new Web locations.
For more information, contact Brian Hoffman of the Libraries' Department for
Information Technologies at bjh1@psu.edu or
814-863-3214.
Penn State Libraries have been actively involved in providing virtual, or digital, reference services to its users since 1991. As more and more resources such as The Cat, article databases, and full-text journals have become available through the Libraries website, allowing people to work from their homes or offices, the Libraries has responded to the critical need to support these remote users and to provide a mechanism for them to contact the Libraries with problems or questions.
In the early years, virtual reference was accomplished by e-mail, and later using e-mail based web-forms. Today virtual reference is provided through a combination of a locally developed ColdFusion application that handles Web form submissions and a commercial product, "LSSI Virtual Reference" for real-time chat sessions with a librarian. The ASK! service (http://apps.libraries.psu.edu/questions/comments.cfm ) packages together e-mail, chat, frequently asked questions, documentation and contact information for subject specialists and campus/college librarians. The bright green ASK! button found on many of the Libraries Web pages is recognized by more and more library users as a convenient access point for seeking assistance from the Libraries faculty and staff.
The ColdFusion application operates much like a typical helpdesk. Library patrons enter their question or comment using a Web form. This data is stored in a database. Library personnel log into the management side of the application to answer patron submissions. Answers are e-mailed to patrons through the application.
The LSSI Virtual Reference application provides real time chat along with co-browsing. In a co-browsing session the librarian can "push" a Web page to the patron via the patron's Web browser. This allows both parties to see the same information and to share control.
Beginning in June 2003, the libraries will pilot a new integrated reference management system called "Virtual Reference Toolkit". This commercial product integrates the LSSI Virtual Reference product with RefTracker, a form-based reference product that will replace the locally developed application. In this integrated environment, a librarian engaged in a chat session with a patron will be able to refer the patron's question and the chat transcript into the RefTracker. This is particularly useful for questions that require more time for research or the expertise of a subject specialist. Similarly, this system will support collaboration and referrals across the over forty Web-based service points supported by the various libraries and units across the Penn State campuses.
The Virtual Reference Toolkit will also allow the libraries to collect detailed reference statistics in a single system and to build a common knowledge base.
These FAQs will help to answer questions you have about the installation of Express LIAS Workstations and the Libraries new authentication requirement. Members of the Libraries' staff are ready to assist you with any additional questions.
Express LIAS Workstations provide pre-authenticated access to all of the resources and databases owned or licensed by the University Libraries. This continues the access that has always been provided to our visiting users to the online CAT (the library catalog), over 380 LIAS licensed databases, federal and PA state government Web sites, and a continually growing selection of World Wide Web sites determined to be particularly important to supporting the research needs of all of our visiting users. It does not provide access to email services or totally open access to the Internet except for those online resources selected by the librarians. Any visitor to any of the Penn State system libraries may use the LIAS Express Workstations without supplying identification.
LIAS Workstations that require authentication are intended for the use of Penn State students, faculty, and staff who are authorized to access the Penn State computer network. They provide access to everything available on the Express LIAS workstations, as well as completely open access to the Internet. Only those who are able to authenticate with a current Penn State Access Account may use these workstations.
In this case, "authenticate" means to verify the identity of the user of a particular library workstation.
The authentication procedure is primarily a security measure intended to prevent abuse of the Libraries' computing systems. It brings the University Libraries into compliance with University policies and regulations. The decision to require authentication for network access in the Penn State University Libraries is in response to increasing misuse of the University's telecommunications network and was requested last year by Penn State's Director of Security Operations and Services. Under the federal 2000 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the University is responsible for the security of its network and responding legally to misuse of computer and network resources. Users need to authenticate in LIAS to insure accountability under University computer network policies and computer use regulations, and federal and state laws. Only authorized Penn State users can have access to certain services and resources available on the Penn State network such as personal e-mail, setting up personal Web pages, or open access to the World Wide Web.
The University network is a private educational network intended for use by students, faculty, and staff, and is not intended to provide open internet services to the general public such as you will find in most public libraries. Because of our primary mission to serve the educational needs of Penn State students, our legal obligations to ensure network security, and our own limited computational resources, we cannot act as an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to the public.
When registered students and Penn State employees accept Access Accounts, they agree to accept full responsibility for using University computing capabilities in accordance with University policies and regulations, and federal and state laws.
Most public libraries provide Internet access to patrons. Additionally, the State Library's ACCESS Pennsylvania database and its "POWER LIBRARY" service provide access to many library catalogs and periodical databases, respectively, that are similar to those of the University Libraries. You can use these services from a public library workstation, or from home, if you are a registered public library user and have a public library borrower's card. That registration is valid anywhere in Pennsylvania. General Internet access and Access Pennsylvania are available at the Centre County Library and at the Schlow Memorial Library in State College. For other locations, Penn State Libraries staff will help you identify a public library near you.
All visiting users do have access to the holdings of the Penn State Libraries through the online CAT and to the LIAS licensed databases. This access includes more than 4.5 million titles in the Penn State Libraries throughout the Commonwealth, and use of over 380 research databases containing thousands of articles, many in full text. Additionally, all users, including visitors, have access to federal and PA state government websites, as well as the PA State Library's ACCESS Pennsylvania database and "Power Library" system. This access is the same whether the user is on a pre-authenticated LIAS Express Workstation, or an authenticating workstation. These resources always have been, and will continue to be available to all users of the Penn State Libraries when they visit any of our locations throughout Pennsylvania.
However, Penn State students pay tuition and special technology fees in order to have current Access Accounts and full use of computing facilities and authenticated access to the Internet. The Libraries are funded from a mix of taxes, tuition, fees, and private donations. Most state funding (generally only about 13% of the overall University revenues) that comes to the Libraries is used to purchase collections and access to electronic resources. Our information technology costs are funded out of a combination of student information technology fees, tuition, or from private donations. Our responsibilities to the public are defined primarily by the Federal Depository Library Program Act and Commonwealth legislation covering our status as a state government depository library and as one of the four Statewide Resource Center Libraries.
The University Libraries recognize that visiting users occasionally will have need for broader access to the Internet for their research purposes. Check with the staff at a library service desk for assistance. They will assist you with locating information you need. Under our policies, our Libraries staff will protect your privacy. Although they cannot provide you with access to email services, there are several options available for meeting your research needs that the staff can explain to you.
No, the University Libraries' borrower card only allows you to borrow library materials. It does not provide you with an Access Account. Please consult with the Libraries staff regarding your information and research needs.
No, Access Accounts are not for sale.
Please check at the nearest service desk for more information.
There is no limit. However, we ask that you respect the needs of other users if a waiting line develops. Occasionally, Penn State University Libraries must ask users to limit their times on computer workstations during especially busy times. Note, there is a "time-out" on authenticated workstations. If no key strokes are made for a period of five minutes, the workstation will log you off automatically.
Yes, you will be able to e-mail articles but you will not be able to attach messages to them.
The University's Director of Security Operations and Services and the Dean of Libraries have concurred in this decision. The decision to go to authenticated access with the addition of specialized pre-authenticated workstations for general public access was discussed several times at the Academic Leadership Council (ALC), comprised of all the deans, vice provosts, provost, and president of the university. ALC agreed with the need for authentication and the implementation strategy.
Comments or questions should be referred to Libraries administration, 865-0401.
