What do the metadata team get up to?

Based in St Augustine’s Courtyard, the Metadata team is a group of seven who primarily ensure the accessibility and discoverability of all the University’s online resources. As what is available is regularly fluctuating the team work on e-resource management as it happens, often consisting of checking that e-resources are switched on and available. Working within Library Services they manage the smooth running of 567 databases, 87,621 eJournals, and an absolutely huge 1,411,269 eBooks. On top of this, the Metadata team also catalogue print resources, classify things, and troubleshoot user access problems – which might be where you’ve come across them.

What are your top tips for students accessing UoB e-resources?

Here are our top e-resources based tips for students!

• You will always be recognised as a University of Bristol user when you click on links from the Library site
• If you are having trouble accessing something, including recurring error messages, try using a different browser and clearing your caches – this often does the trick!
• Always search for journal articles by title in Library Search
• Looking for a specific database? Or just want to peruse your database options? Our huge A-Z databases list is for you
• Following that: don’t bookmark databases! A bookmarked database won’t allow you access as they must be accessed through our site. We recommend bookmarking our A-Z page instead! 
• For eBooks; when using Library Search keep your search options to our library, though the worldwide search does show more results but we are way less likely to have it. Also, once you have searched your results on the left facet list select e-book to be sure we have it in that format
• Lastly, utilise your Subject Librarian (find yours on our Subject support page). They can provide one-on-one advise on conducting your searches to help you find what you need, plus they’re the ones to go to if you need access to a resource we don’t have yet, but more on that in the next question!

What happens when we don’t have access to an article or an e-book?

There are two main options for students when we don’t have access to resources they need. If we don’t have access to a specific articles, you can request Inter-library loans. This is when we source an e-resource from another institution, so does depend on how widely available the article is.

For eBooks we don’t have access to that you would like to read, you can Suggest a book purchase to your subject librarian who can purchase new resources where relevant.

Are there any exciting things are on the horizon at the moment for you and your team?

In February, OCLC are implementing updates to improve visitor experience. This will positively impact how students receive feedback from us after submitting queries or reporting issues.