April 2015
Volume 1, Issue 1
On Shelf
The University of Malta Library Newsletter
Reaxys: A New Research Tool at the Library
Attention academic staff and students within the Faculties of Science, Medicine &
Surgery, Dental Surgery and Health Sciences!
The University of Malta (UoM) Library has recently licensed Reaxys!
You can access this research tool through the Library‟s online portal HyDi.
To locate Reaxys:
 visit the Library website
 click on HyDi
 select the „Find Databases‟ option (top right hand corner)
 type Reaxys in the Name field, or click „R‟ under the All Databases tab.
OAR@UoM and Open Access:
Martin Lochman - ERASMUS Intern
Open Access (OA) is one of the six basic principles of
Open Science - a movement which strives to make all
kinds of scientific research information freely available
and accessible to all interested parties, including both
professionals and amateurs. Michael Nielsen, a
renowned Australian physicist and a promoter of this
movement, defines Open Science as “the idea that
scientific knowledge of all kind should be openly shared
as early as is practical in the discovery process”.
The main purpose of OA is to ensure the immediate and unlimited access to scientific
publications and knowledge on the Internet, and in doing so, offers an alternative to
the traditional model of the scientific publication process. The OA movement gained
substantial popularity at the beginning of the 21st Century, and to date, many
scientists across multiple disciplines all over the world have adopted this concept. Its
main principles have also become an integral part of the biggest European Research
and Innovation programme, Horizon 2020.
In September 2014, the University of Malta Library successfully launched the first
Institutional Repository (IR) on the island - OAR@UoM. This IR serves as an online
archive that collects, preserves and disseminates scholarly material produced under
the auspices of the University of Malta. Most of the content deposited on OAR@UoM
is freely available in OA. Despite being initially launched as the University of Malta
repository, Maltese national output and heritage will also be accepted for submission
on OAR@UoM.
OAR@UoM is set up on DSpace, a versatile open source software package
commonly used for creating OA repositories. DSpace offers various features which
enable long-term storage and preservation of the digital content as well as easy
access and search capabilities including simple, advanced searching and browsing.
It also provides additional services such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds to notify
registered users of new material relevant to their particular field of research.
By using the repository‟s user friendly interface, scholars and researchers can easily
create the metadata record by filling in the basic fields such as author, title, date, type
of material, language, abstract and subject keywords, and then upload the electronic
copy of their work. The platform is capable of accommodating a variety of different
types of items and formats, such as articles, books/book chapters, theses/
dissertations, conference proceedings, presentations, audio-visual materials, 3D
objects and computer programmes.
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Once approved by OAR@UoM Team, the material becomes immediately identifiable
and accessible by both the academic community and the general public.
The advantages and benefits of adapting the principles of OA are numerous.
These include increasing the visibility, readership and impact of the academics‟
works and current research carried out at the University of Malta; increasing the
readers‟ ability to find relevant literature; creating new avenues for discovery in
digital environment; enhancing interdisciplinary research and accelerating the
pace of discovery and innovation.
Future Events
Open Access and its Impact on Research and Scholarship – Training event
being held on Friday 29th May 2015 at the Dolmen Hotel, Qawra, St. Paul’s Bay
The University of Malta Library in collaboration with FOSTER (Facilitate Open Science
Training for European Research) will be organising a one day training event on Friday
29th May 2015 at the Dolmen Hotel, Qawra, St. Paul‟s Bay.
The main objective of this event is to raise awareness and highlight the benefits of
Open Access (OA) amongst researchers, scholars and post-graduate students.
The event will include presentations about copyright issues in relation to OA
publishing, training on how to submit research onto the University of Malta Institutional
Repository - OAR@UoM and the importance of developing and implementing OA
policies. The presentations will be delivered by local and foreign experts in the field.
For more details about the training event, kindly visit the
Library website or the Library Facebook page.
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Branch Libraries
The Health Sciences Library (HSL)
The Health Sciences Library (HSL) is situated at Mater Dei Hospital and holds a wide
variety of publications related to medicine, health and dentistry including psychology
and medical management. One can also find an interesting Melitensia collection
comprising of publications related to the medical and health literature.
The HSL caters mainly for academics and students within the Faculties of Medicine
and Surgery, Dental Surgery and Health Sciences. Undergraduates, casual staff and
paramedics can borrow up to 4 books for a period of 3 weeks, while postgraduates
and full-time academics can borrow up to 6 books for 3 months.
The entire hall of the HSL is a silent study area and has a seating capacity of 57. The
HSL offers 4 workstations, 1 OPAC, 1 scanner and 2 photocopiers for the use of
academics and students. WiFi is also available by signing in with the UoM IT Account.
Librarians Ms Rachel Grixti, Mr Ivan Portelli and Mr Gordon Carter are always ready
to assist patrons with their information needs.
From left to right: Gordon Carter, Rachel Grixti, Ivan Portelli
“If you only read the books everyone else is reading, you can only think
what everyone else is thinking.”
Haruki Murakami
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Training Workshops
The University of Malta (UoM) Library is committed to provide first rate instruction
sessions and workshops for academics, students and support staff. The scope of
these sessions is to teach patrons how to effectively use information resources and
services provided by the Library.
By accessing the Training Workshops webpage, you can view the schedule
which is updated monthly and book a place. The duration of each workshop is
approximately 1 hour.
HyDi
HyDi (Hybrid Discovery) is your one stop search gateway to both print and online
Library resources. Library patrons have found HyDi as a very useful and powerful tool
for their research. By attending a workshop you will learn how:  simple and straightforward it is to use HyDi
 you can search through all the Library‟s print and online resources at the
same time
 you can meet your needs and expectations in terms of speed, ease of use
and relevance of results
 you can save search results and access them anytime you want
So what are you waiting for? Call or send us an email to book your place now!
It’s Easy! It’s Exciting! It’s what you Expect!
RefWorks
RefWorks is a software that will help you compile your bibliography just with a click of
a button! During the workshop you will learn how to:  add references manually into your personal RefWorks account
 export references from online sources such as Google Scholar and online
databases that the Library subscribes to
 save references in different folders according to your assignments and
research
 create a bibliography in your preferred output style
 use Write-n-Cite - a tool that will help you insert in-text citations and
footnotes in your assignments, dissertations, long essays, projects or
articles, etc.
Compiling your bibliography can be tedious and frustrating, therefore why not
book your place now!
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OAR@UoM
OAR@UoM is the UoM’s Institutional Repository. Its aim is to collect, preserve and
disseminate online scholarly material produced at the University of Malta. This
workshop is designed for academics, researchers and technical staff who are
involved in research and publishing, and for Project Managers who are steering
European-funded projects.
During the OAR@UoM workshops, you will learn how to:  create a submitter account and edit your profile
 search through the different communities, sub-communities and collections
available on the Institutional Repository
 deposit content using the two submit options (mediated or self-deposit)
 fill in the submission forms using appropriate metadata
If you want your research to be more visible and to support the Open Access
Initiative, join us for this workshop!
Electronic Theses & Dissertations (ETDs)
ETDs workshops are designed for final year students who are preparing to submit
their dissertations. In the session, you will learn how to:  organize the dissertation
 add headings, tables and figures
 create a Table of Contents and bookmarks
 name the file
 save the content in PDF format, etc.
ETD workshops for groups and one-to-one sessions are organised on request.
To reserve a place or need assistance, send us an email!
Cannot attend our sessions? Ask us for one-to-one sessions that fit your
schedule or visit our video tutorial!
Contact Details:
Email Address: library@um.edu.mt
Contact Number: 2340 2541
URL: www.um.edu.mt/library
www.facebook.com/uom.libraryservices
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