From the Campuses of Monash University
The Library has purchased an institutional subscription to ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Time Series Service, giving unlimited access to students and staff for the purpose of education or research.
The service comprises over 90,000 times series and features the data from many of the ABS's most important publications. Topics covered range across:
Data from the Reserve Bank of Australia is also included.
Some of this data is not available in any published ABS source. The time series extends back often 15 to 40 years, compared with the average 4 years available in printed publications.
The service is updated daily and will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
To access the service you require Internet access and a spreadsheet package loaded onto your workstation. You can view ABS tables online and can download them using Excel or an equivalent spreadsheet package.
The service is not to be used to support commercial activity.
If you would like the Library to search any of these databases for you, contact Sue Little (ph. 990 52654) or email: Suelit@lib.monash.edu.au
The Library has access to a wide range of online and CD-ROM databases.Below is a short description of these services, which can be easily accessed from staff computers in depart-ments. You may need to re-register for passwords if you have already been using some of these services.
Further information is also available at the Library Home Page located at: http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/
or you can ask for help by contacting your Subject Librarian, or sending an email to your branch library:
Biomedical Library:
lib-helpbmed@lib. monash.edu.au
Caulfield Campus Library:
lib-helpcaul@lib. monash.edu.au
Gippsland Campus Library:
lib-helpgipp @lib. monash.edu.au
Hargrave Library:
lib-helpharg @lib.monash. edu.au
Humanities & Social Sciences Library:
lib-helpmain@lib.monash.edu.au
Law Library:
lib-helplaw @lib. monash. edu.au
Peninsula Campus Library:
lib-helppen @lib.monash.edu.au
CARL is the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries. Through its UnCover database, CARL provides access to the multidisciplinary journal collections of large numbers of research libraries.
UnCover is continuously updated and can be searched by topic, author or journal title. To accessUnCover, users need a computer and a terminal connected via AARNet to the Internet. There is no charge to search UnCover, but costs do apply if users take the option to order articles and have them faxed. This service normally takes 24 hours. An additional service, UnCover Reveal, enables users to set up user profiles to create and store search strategies, which are run on a weekly basis against the UnCover database. New citations are automatically sent to the user's email address. Table of contents information for new issues of journals selected by the user can also be delivered regularly by email. Access information and costs associated with article delivery and user profiles can be obtained from your Subject Librarian.
FirstSearch is a US-based online system which provides easy access to a variety of databases and indexes in the humanities, engineering, life sciences, physical sciences and business areas. It is primarily an index, but full-text document delivery is available for some of the databases.
Access to the FirstSearch Catalog is through the Internet. The Library has purchased authorisation cards which will allow a specified number of searches in FirstSearch databases. Users (limited to postgraduates and staff) will need the authorisation number and passwords printed on these cards in order to gain access to the service.
The Current Contents database provides access to tables of contents for more than 3800 international journals covering all disciplines. Complete bibliographic information is provided for each article, letter, note and editorial listed. Searchable abstracts are also available for about 75% of the documents.
The Current Contents service is accessible via the Internet and allows for printing, downloading or emailing of records. Subject Librarians can supply details of access and passwords.
Nexis is a full- text online database containing a range of sources including newspapers, magazines, wire services and broadcasts, newsletters, journals and company reports.
While Nexis focuses on news and business information, it also covers a wide range of subjects from over 2300 publications. For example, full-text articles are available from newspapers such as The Times, The Washington Post and Le Monde; as well as journals such as Computerworld and Psychology Today.
The Lexis service covers law reports and other law-related information for countries all over the world, including Australia. It is available only to Law Faculty staff and students, who must register for a user-ID number.
The Humanities and Social Sciences Library can now search a number of development databases that have been made available through the Canadian International Development Research Centre. These include:
BIBLIOL - the IDRC research library catalogue
ACRONYM - a database of information about organisations concerned with development issues
AID - the US Agency for International Developments database, which includes technical research and development materials produced by AID programs
FAO - the database of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, which includes documents on conservation, ecology, agriculture economics, human geography, food and nutrition, natural resources, physical geography, etc. in developing countries
UNESCO - the database of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, which includes books, reports, and other material on a broad range of educational, scientific and cultural programs
UNIDO - the United Nations Industrial Development Organization's database, which covers all aspects of industrial development
If you would like the Library to search any of these databases for you please contact Sue Little (ph. 990 52654 or email: Suelit@lib.monash.edu.au)
The Library CD-ROM network is accessible from the offices of Clayton staff who have IBM-compatible machines and accounts on the ARTS, CCS1 or ITS-MENZ servers. It is envisaged that the facility will be made available to staff on other campuses as well as other Clayton campus servers at a later date. Presently contractual agreements with database vendors limit access to the network with respect to geographic location of users and the number of simultaneous users accessing the network. Problems should be reported to the COMPUTER CENTRE HELP DESK on ext. 66777.
Sesame2 is the Monash-wide library catalogue. It provides instant access from your desk. You are able to:
Details of commands and access instructions are available from your Subject Librarian.
A recent enhancement to Sesame2 provides links to catalogues of other Victorian university libraries and ALLI, an index to articles in Australian legal journals. COOL-CAT, the combined catalogue of Victorian academic libraries, is also available.
The service is recommended for people with no other method of access to remote databases. It is intended to be used from the Library's public access terminals and from student laboratories on campus. The preferred methods of access are from the Library Home Page of the World Wide Web, direct telnet from the office workstation, or use of customised clients for services such as NEXIS. The URL for the Library Home Page is:
For further details contact your Subject Librarian, or the Information Desk at any branch of the Library.
Earlier this year the Australian Vice Chancellor's Committee (AVCC) made a research grant to Monash University to conduct a pilot project in the transfer of an existing conventional journal to electronic media. The project involves the University Library, the Unit of Medical Informatics and the UNESCO-supported Institute of Engineering Education (ESICEE), in the Faculty of Engineering.
The journal selected is the Australasian Journal of Engineering Education. It is a journal of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, now the third largest such association in the world.
The first electronic issue (vol. 6 no. 1) contains papers covering a wide spectrum of engineering education, and was published in parallel with the paper version. It is available for viewing on the World Wide Web. The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is:
http://elecpress.lib.monash.edu.au/ajee
Electronic publication permits the inclusion of additional useful features, such as links to other related information of the World Wide Web. The Unit of Medical Informatics has had extensive experience with electronic publishing. Its role in the project is to provide the essential training and advice to the editorial staff in the techniques of World Wide Web publishing.
The purpose of the AVCC's electronic publishing program is to fund projects that will promote scholarly communication and publication in electronic form.The funding for the program is derived from the National Priority Reserve Fund library infrastructure grant. For more information contact :
H. Groenewegen
Deputy University Librarian
Telephone : +61 3 9905-2672
Email : hans.groenewegen@lib.monash.edu.au
Associate Professor T. Berreen
Faculty of Engineering
Telephone : +61 3 9905-3519
Email : terry.berreen@eng.monash.edu.au
The latest exhibition of material in our Rare Book Collection is currently on display in the Exhibition area, 1st floor, ISB. The emphasis is on the usefulness of the collection as a resource tool. It features material such as Johnathan Swift's original manuscripts and Baron Von Mueller's own set of Flora Australiensis, extra-illustrated with watercolours sent to him by his fieldworkers. Other major works on display include Gould's Birds of Australia, and Celia Rossner's Banksias. There are also children's books, cookery books and modern first editions. A free catalogue is available at the Exhibition, or by request from the Rare Books section.
The Reserve section in the Humanities and Social Sciences library requires course reading lists for 1st semester 1996 as soon as they become available.
The following loan periods are offered in order to ensure equitable access to high-demand materials:
Reserve/restricted loan request forms are available from the section and will be supplied on request. The Reserve section will accept lists of essential reading material in any format, provided the list is clearly annotated and legible. Electronic requests will be accepted by arrangement with the staff of the Reserve section.
To ensure the smooth operation of Reserve in 1st semester, please submit requests before 7 Feb. 1996.
For more information, contact the Reserve section on ext. 52626 or 52675.
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Comments to Angela Prior
(Last updated 26/3/96)