The new, improved version of Discovery is now live, giving easy access to many of Heriot-Watt’s online resources. New features include:
If you’re still seeing the old “green” Discovery, please visit https://discovery.hw.ac.uk/ and update your bookmarks to the new improved “blue” version.
Please send any feedback or questions about Discovery to libhelp@hw.ac.uk
Posted by Kirsty Thomson on 13 July 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/07/13/new-discovery-now-live-update-your-bookmarks/
We’ll be moving to a new version of Discovery on Sunday 9th/Monday 10th July.
Improvements include:
You’ll still be able to access the same content in Discovery, including all our library catalogues, over 70,000 full text eBooks, and over 50 million full text journal articles.
Posted by Kirsty Thomson on 06 July 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/07/06/new-discovery-coming-soon/
Users are reminded to remain vigilant as yet another international cyber-attack affects computers across the globe.
Machines affected by this attack will display a message like:
Repairing file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
One of your disks contains errors and needs to be repaired. This process may take several hours to complete. It is strongly recommended to let it complete.
WARNING: DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR PC! IF YOU ABORT THIS PROCESS, YOU COULD DESTROY ALL OF YOUR DATA! PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOUR POWER CABLE IS PLUGGED IN!
CHKDSK is repairing sector xxxxx of xxxxxxxx (x%)
If you have this or a similar message displayed on your screen disconnect your PC immediately and contact ithelp@hw.ac.uk
See Global ransomware attack causes turmoil to keep up to date with this story in the news.
Posted by Moira Stephen on 28 June 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/06/28/ransomware-strikes-again/
Happy International Women in Engineering Day! Today is dedicated to celebrating the careers and achievements of women in engineering and technical roles. With that in mind, we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight some of the most recent works published by our female colleagues in the School of Energy, Geosciences, Infrastructure and Society and the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences. There are too many to list all of them here, but some examples include:
To find more books and articles published by our researchers, why not search our Research Portal.
For more information about the Women in Engineering Society, and Heriot-Watt University’s involvement, please see our website.
The Subject Guides also have lots of information about finding and using information in Engineering, including links to useful resources and professional societies:
Posted by RWHITTINGTON on 23 June 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/06/23/international-women-in-engineering-day/
Reading lists for items for the start of semester 1 should be received by 21st July 2017.
Please note that if your reading list has no changes from last year you do not need to submit it again.
Please let us know about new books or editions that you want, or if the number of students on your course has greatly increased (we will then need your reading list and number of students). If your course is completely new please submit your full reading list with plenty of time for us to provide all the books.
Via email – please send us the following information:
Edinburgh or Orkney Campuses
If books are needed at the Edinburgh or Orkney campuses please send your reading lists to libord@hw.ac.uk with the information below or use the book order form.
Dubai or Malaysia Campuses
If you also need copies of books to be available at the Dubai and/or Malaysia campuses please contact their libraries directly as they place their own orders for stock. They can be contacted at DubaiLibHelp@hw.ac.uk and MYLibrary@hw.ac.uk respectively.
Scottish Borders Campus
If books are for the Scottish Borders Campus please contact J.H.McIntyre@hw.ac.uk
IDL students
If books on your course are needed by IDL students please make sure that the books are available as eBooks before your list is given to students. Unfortunately not all titles are available as eBooks and IDL students have previously reported problems reading material recommended by staff. Please let me know if you want more information about this.
ALP students
If titles on your course are needed by ALP students please be aware that we do not purchase books for ALP libraries and individual ALP libraries are responsible for their own purchasing. However ALP students do have access to our eResources so will be able to use any eBooks on reading lists.
Via the online form (for Edinburgh and Orkney campuses only currently):
Items on reading lists can also be requested using the book request form which is accessed from the link on the “Suggest a book” page . Please select ‘Yes’ from the drop down menu at the first question ‘Is this book on a reading list?’.
To request books to support students’ wider reading for research, dissertations, theses, projects etc please again use the request form link on the “Suggest a book” page and select ‘No’ from the drop down menu at the first question ‘Is this book on a reading list?’. These items are automatically forwarded to the School’s Library Representative for approval and will not be purchased until he or she has approved them.
If you require online copies of book chapters or journal articles, then this can be done through our digital copies service.
If you have any questions please contact Ellen Peacock, Aquisitions & Metadata Manager (e.peacock@hw.ac.uk Ext 3573)
Posted by Moira Stephen on 22 June 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/06/22/academic-staff-call-for-reading-lists-6/
Congratulations to all of our students who are graduating this summer in ceremonies held in the UK, Dubai and Malaysia.
We hope you enjoy your ceremony and have an excellent time with your family and friends.
If you are leaving us remember that you can continue to use our library services as an alumnus – see Borrowing from HWU libraries for more information (look under Who can join HWU library).
With our very best wishes for a happy and successful future.
Posted by Moira Stephen on 19 June 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/06/19/graduation-season-has-started/
Information Services will be carrying out improvement work to upgrade the campus Firewall software on Saturday 17th June 2017
This will involve the following campuses – Edinburgh, Ogic, Orkney, Malaysia and Dubai.
Date: 17th June 2017
Times:
Ogic and Orkney 10:00-11:00 BST
Malaysia 12:00 BST (19:00 local time)
Dubai 14:00 BST (17:00 local time)
Edinburgh 14:30 BST
The campus Internet connection will be at RISK during these periods of the day
While this beneficial work is going on there will be disruption to Internet services, including Vision, Office365 and online library resources for users at HWU campuses, for which we apologise.
We recommend that you save your work frequently during this period.
See System Status page for updates
If you have any queries please contact ithelp@hw.ac.uk
Posted by cdonlan on 15 June 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/06/15/firewall-upgrades/
On Thursday 1 June, we wished Mike Roch, Director of Information Services, a happy retirement and best wishes for the future. HWU colleagues from Information Services and across the University got together for a farewell party with speeches, presents and cake to say thanks to Mike for all his hard work and inspirational leadership over the last 6 years.
We hope that Mike and Dilys enjoy many happy years in their cottage in Wales.
Posted by cdonlan on 02 June 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/06/02/mike-roch-director-of-information-services-retirement/
You will have noticed the high profile ransomware attack that has been in the news over the past few days. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-39915440)
Information Services are monitoring our systems and have the necessary precautions in place to minimise the risks from ransomware, however, staff and students should remain vigilant at all times.
In particular, please be suspicious of any emails received from unknown sources with attachments or links:
Typically ransomware will be hidden in emails that look like invoices for goods, communication from the tax office (HMRC) or your bank, requests to authenticate your accounts (confirm your user name and password) following an update etc.
If you use a machine that is not on the managed desktop please ensure that you
Can we remind all users to log out from their machines at the end of the working day. Information Services apply updates and patches to managed machines overnight and some patches do not apply until a machine is restarted.
If you have not logged out and restarted your machine for a few days please do so.
See https://www.getsafeonline.org/protecting-yourself/ransomware/ for more information on protecting against ransomware.
Posted by Moira Stephen on 15 May 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/05/15/ransomware-attack/
Turnitin has released a major product upgrade that will soon be available at Heriot-Watt University. The new version of the service, called Turnitin Feedback Studio, offers all the functionalities of Turnitin, but with a simplified, more intuitive interface designed for the modern classroom. Turnitin Feedback Studio will make it faster and easier than ever to promote academic integrity, provide actionable feedback, and evaluate student learning at Heriot-Watt University.
We plan to upgrade our version of Turnitin to Feedback Studio on 1st August 2017.
Once upgraded, you can expect to see a new interface when you open up a student’s paper in Turnitin. Your students will also experience this new and improved interface when viewing Similarity Reports and receiving feedback.
To get acquainted with the upgraded Turnitin Feedback Studio and prepare for a successful implementation, you can:
To support this transition and build on the use of Turnitin across HWU, a one hour online training session will be available (and recorded for later viewing).
If you have not received a calendar invite to the online training, but would like to attend, please contact ISAdmin@hw.ac.uk
Posted by Moira Stephen on 12 May 2017
https://informs.hw.ac.uk/2017/05/12/turnitin-upgrade-staff-training/
