Responding to feedback collected last year from students and staff, our fabulous Library Systems team spent this summer making changes to SuperSearch and the online catalogue.

From the start of Semester One 2009, searching for a journal article or library book should now be much easier and faster. We have also created links between the catalogue and other systems so that, if an item is unavailable at Melbourne, you can easily request an inter-library loan without abandoning your current search.

There are a few problems we can’t yet fix. For example, you may still need to retype your password occasionally when using SuperSearch – but we have significantly reduced the number of times this is likely to happen.

Students, staff and alumni can access SuperSearch and the Library catalogue directly from the Library’s home page, or via the Learning Management System (LMS). The main catalogue is also available to the public.

Bouquets, comments and suggestions for further improvements are always welcome – email  info-futures at unimelb.edu.au to let us know what you think of the SuperSearch and catalogue searches.

Each week, we will post a few questions (and our answers) on this blog.

Question: Where can I find a copy of this document? Bridgland, A., Brodsky, M., Kealy K., Page, H., Yeoh, A. 2007, 10 Year Space Plan for Collections, Corporate Records, Library and IT Services 2008-2017.

Answer: The 10-year Space Plan is available from the Information Services intranet web site. We have provided a link from the Key Reference Documents page on the Information Futures Commission’s web site.

Question: Will there be discussion about the accessibility of technologies selected for essential activities such as Learning Management System, the student portal, SuperSearch and the new student administration system?

Answer: The project team is keen to hear proposals about how to address equity and access issues as they relate to scholarly information and technologies. The Commission’s web site provides information about submitting a response during the consultation phase.