Campus Community Update #231

January 30, 2009
 

January Updates to COAST Bring More Improvements

Redesign:

The University Library's COAST online catalog has a new look and improved functionality.

Request Password Resets

With this upgrade, it is now possible for anyone to request Library Password resets online 24/7.  Why is this important?  Prior to this upgrade, requests to reset passwords (when anyone in the CSULB community forgot theirs) required staff assistance, which meant that these requests could only be processed during building hours. 

Spell Check Improves COAST Search Accuracy 

The Spell Check feature that will help insure better searches with more accurate results.  Prior to this upgrade, if a word was accidentally misspelled (or mistyped) during an Advanced Keyword Search, COAST responded with "NO ENTRIES FOUND" and no suggestion of what to do next.  The library user might have concluded that nothing is available on her/his topic.  Now, instead, a screen like the one below will appear, suggesting alternative spellings and providing links that will launch a new search under the correctly spelled term.

We don't want any student to miss the great information resources that the library can provide because of something simple like a typographical error; Spell Check will help insure that this doesn't happen, that more searches produce the results the scholar is seeking.

Cite This

Students often have a difficult time interpreting the data they see in COAST in order to create bibliographic citations for their research papers.  One of the new features in COAST is the "cite this title" link which gives students information to help them cite the books they find in a variety of citation formats (APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA and Turabian).

Look for more improvements in the near future.