Books from the catalogue images

If a book's ISBN does not provide you with an image via Syndetics, there is another option.

1. Go to the web and find a viable image of the book - one that will hopefully have a stable url. 
2. Right click on the book image and Copy image location
3. Go to the Cover Art box of your book entry, select the Other radio button, and paste in the book image url. 
4. Save Book Info.

APA electronic referencing guide changes web address

The APA Style Guide to Electronic Resource which we have password protected at http://www.jcu.edu.au/intra/journal_access/APA_style_reference.pdf and linked to from Horizon and the APA LibGuide is being moved to a new permanent address here: https://www-internal.jcu.edu.au/libcomp/assist/referencing/JCU_097386

The book listing under the referencing tab in the Generic content boxes guide now has the new address. Please change any lisiting in your guides so that it links to the book link in the Generic content boxes guide.

One Search RSS feeds

If you haven't tried it yet go to One search and once you have a search strategy you like click on the RSS feed button. You can then use this feed url for a customised rss feed box in libguides for all sorts of things. I have used it recently for books on specific topics like education, journalism, poscolonial narratives etc. It is not as pretty as having a featured book with a nice book cover but if you sort it by latest then it will show new additions from the catalogue with little effort on your part.

Here are some examples:

• http://libguides.jcu.edu.au/content.php?pid=96188&sid=720118#2654773
• http://libguides.jcu.edu.au/content.php?pid=81862&sid=685829#2656320
• http://libguides.jcu.edu.au/content.php?pid=81862&sid=607596#2654832
  

Book cover images

By now I hope that you are all using Syndetics book cover images when you add Books from the Catalog content boxes because this takes students direct to the Tropicat record for the title.

If you find that Syndetics don't have a cover image for your book, and an Amazon image is not available or you don't want to use it, you can add a "placeholder" so that the space that would be taken by a cover is taken by either a "Cover image unavailable" message or a blue rectangle the same size as a cover image.

For the "Cover image unavailable" copy and paste this URL into the Cover Art field:
http://lgimages.s3.amazonaws.com/nc-sm.gif

For the blue rectangle use this URL
http://lgimages.s3.amazonaws.com/gc-sm.gif

Both of these URLs are for small images, but if you want medium or large images let me know and I'll provide different image URLs.

New feature: Book cover images

Just before Xmas Springshare did a deal with Syndetics to provide LibGuides subscribers with free access to book cover images.

When you add a Books from the Catalog content box you now get the option to add cover images from Amazon or Syndetics (click on the blue S).

Syndetics images are available in 3 different image sizes - 94px, 187px and 400px - so you have the option to use a larger image if you want to highlight a "Book of the week/month".

Unlike Amazon, Syndetics can use 13 digit ISBNs which is also great.

The beauty of the Syndetics images is that they use the URL that you have entered to take the user straight to our Tropicat entry if they click on the cover image.

The downside is that the quality of some of the small images in Syndetics is poor - I have raised this as an issue with Springshare and will let you know if they have a solution.

If you select an Amazon or a Syndetics image and it doesn't exist in their database you will get a blank space in your guide where the image would normally appear. If you have used Syndetics and the user clicks on that blank space they still go to the Tropicat entry. If you use Amazon they will be taken to the Amazon website.

Deep linking to Tropicat

In the training sessions we looked at how you would use the Books from the Catalog content box. The instructions for deep linking to items in Tropicat have been amended - there is no need to change the profile. Please check the revised instructions at Deep linking to the catalogue and always double-check that your links work.