News & Blog

Did you know that open access materials, like journal articles, can be found using UCF Libraries’ library system Primo? Sandy Avila, Science Librarian, shows you how to search Primo for OA resources with just a few easy steps.

For more information about locating resources for your research, contact your subject librarian. For more information about open access visit our guide or contact Sarah Norris, Scholarly Communication Librarian.

The UCF Libraries presents a Fall 2021 Foundations of Data Management Library Workshop Series starting in September. These workshops are a part of the Research Computing and Data Workshop Series, which is being jointly presented by UCF Library, UCF Graduate and Research IT, and UCF Advanced Research Computing Center (ARCC). The UCF Libraries will hold workshops in September and October 2021 remotely via Zoom. Topics include: finding data sources from a multi-disciplinary perspective, finding discipline-specific resources for the social sciences and STEM, and data organization in spreadsheets for social scientists. Come join us!

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021 | 4:00 PM–5:00 PM

Finding Data Sources Part One: An Introduction

Location: Online Session, please see registration link for details.

Session Description: Data and statistics play an important role in conducting research, yet understanding how to find, analyze, and manage data can be complicated. If you are interested in developing data skills, the first of two workshops on finding data sources will provide an overview of introductory information to aid you on your path to being a data expert. The workshop will introduce the basic concepts of data and examples of how it is used in supporting research, including copyright concerns to be aware of. Additionally, information on UCF STARS, our institutional repository will be shared with a review of government related data resources.

OCTOBER 20, 2021 | 1:00 PM–3:30 PM

Carpentries: Data Organization in Spreadsheets for Social Scientists

Location: Online Session, please see registration link for details.

Session Description: This hands-on workshop will cover how to tackle data organization by applying simple practices using Microsoft Excel. Good data organization is the foundation of any research project and learning to organize data in spreadsheets is one way to ensure your data collection is off to a good start. Some of the principles that will be reviewed during this session include good data entry practices by formatting data tables properly, basic quality control and data manipulation in spreadsheets, and how to export data from spreadsheets. Please bring your own device and have a spreadsheet program downloaded on your device prior to the workshop date.

OCTOBER 27, 2021 | 2:00 PM–3:00 PM

Finding Data Sources Part Two: Subject Discipline Resources for the Social Sciences & STEM

Location: Online Session, please see registration link for details.

Session Description: In the second workshop of the series on finding quality data, Government, Social Science, and STEM resources will be presented that are applicable in a variety of disciplines. Data source examples will also highlight open data sources, subscription-based sources available through the UCF Libraries, along with grey literature and preprint sources will be discussed.

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For more information about the workshops offered through the Research Computing and Data Workshops Series visit: https://rci.research.ucf.edu/workshops/2021/

Our featured question for February 2021 is: “What do I do if the article/book I need isn’t available through UCF Libraries?”

Interlibrary Loan is the service for you!  Does your article have the Request Item/See Options link?  Have you searched the Books/Catalog for a title and it doesn’t come up in your search results?  If so you can use the free service available to UCF students, faculty and staff.  They can borrow a physical book for you from another library or get the PDF of an article.

The video that was here is out of date and has been archived. Click here to download the video for viewing.

For more information go to library.ucf.edu/services/borrowing-from-other-libraries/

Our featured question this month is: “Why can’t I log in to access online resources off campus?

Here are some options you can try:

• Use another browser
• Clear your cache and cookies
• Reset your NID password
• If you logged in through WebCourses and used Library Tools, try logging on directly through the library website instead
• If you are logging in from your workplace, you may be trying to access OpenAthens from behind a firewall.  Please contact your workplace IT to see if there is a work around

Tried all of the above and still having issues?  Please email our eResources team at eresourc@ucf.edu Provide the browsers you have used, the options you have tried and error messages you have received.

Welcome to the Libraries new blog topic: Ask A Librarian Featured Questions. Our popular virtual Ask Us reference service supports the UCF community from wherever they are located. It provides options for chat and text from the UCF Libraries’ homepage in addition to phone and email support.

The most asked question on Ask Us: “How do I open this article?”

This question comes to Ask Us staff largely through our most used mode of contact, our chat feature.  

When someone clicks on an article in a result list accessed through QuickSearch, there is a link to our chat widget “Ask a Librarian Chat” below the article record.

Taking a look, we can check the left side of the page and see which link is provided.

• Find Full Text – click this button and on the next page select the link: Full text from (database name). The database should open with the article information and a PDF link, if not, you can copy and paste the article title into the database search box.
  
• PDF Full Text – click this link and it will go directly to the PDF of the article
  
• Request Item/See Options – this link indicates that this article is not available through QuickSearch. Please note that not all of our Databases are searched when using QuickSearch. Click on the link and another tab will open with links to check other options. A good one to try first is “Search for (journal name) in Publication Finder” to see if we have access to the journal and year the article is from. If so you can click on the Database link that contains the article, and search for the article title in that Database. Another option to try is: “Search for this article title in Google Scholar” sometimes it may come up and have a PDF link to the right of it. If after this you cannot access the article you can click on the link: “Request this item through interlibrary loan.”  This will bring you to the NID login and then to the auto-filled request form. ILL will access the PDF for you from another library, this usually takes 3-5 days.

Make sure to visit Ask Us to ask questions about research, library resources, services, and policies. We look forward to assisting you!

The video that was here is out of date and has been archived. Click here to download the video for viewing.