A special Christmas package of end of term information, just for you!

Michaelmas Term 2011 ends on Friday 2nd December. All books on loan from the Balfour Library must be returned by this date, or can be renewed for further periods unless they have been requested by another borrower. Saturday morning opening has now finished until next term.

Vacation borrowing for undergraduates

We permit the borrowing of books for the whole of the Christmas and Easter vacations for undergraduates.

This means that you will be able to take a maximum of two books away from Cambridge which must be returned by midnight on the first day of the Lent Term (17th January 2012). This applies to Overnight Loan books and Open Shelf books.

You can borrow books for the vacation period from 09:00 on Friday 2nd December. This is on a strictly first come, first served basis. You may not reserve books before borrowing them.

Please see the library website at: http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/booksborrow.html for more information on how to borrow, return and renew books on loan from the Balfour Library.

You may be interested to know that the University Library, and the Central Science Library (on this site) also offer vacation borrowing for undergraduates. See the Zoology Library blog for more details at: http://www.balfourlibrary.blogspot.com/

How to access online resources when you are away from Cambridge

The recommended route for accessing ejournals provided by the University remotely is as follows:

• Go to the ejournals@cambridge website at: http://camsfx.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az
• Enter the title of the journal you need (if it does not appear then there is no online subscription to it)
• Click on the 'find journals by title' button
• Click on the link for the journal title as appropriate for the particular year of publication of the article that you need
• The Raven login box should appear
• Enter your Raven userid and password and click on the 'Submit' button
• You should then be taken to the host page for that journal and you can find the article(s) you need from there
• (You only need to enter the Raven login once per session so you won't have to keep logging in and out each time you need a different journal)

Away from Cambridge, you will not be able to get the full text of ejournal articles through searching PubMed or Google / GoogleScholar, or directly from the journal's homepage for example, as you will not be recognised as being a valid member of the University of Cambridge and will not be allowed to download them. The recommended route as above should guarantee you the access to the content you are entitled to.

It is strongly recommended that you check the ejournals@cambridge website as above to see whether you will actually be able to access particular online journals remotely BEFORE you leave Cambridge. See also the eresources@cambridge website at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/ for access to particular databases such as the Web of Science. See the 'Access Route' link next to the journal or database title to check this. Some online journals are not accessible outside of the University network so you may wish to download or print off articles from these before you leave Cambridge.

Troubleshooting ejournals access

Finally, if you are having trouble accessing ejournals and eresources remotely using your Raven password please see the guidance provided on the Central Science Library's 'Raven FAQs' website at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/CSL/ravenqanda.htm

Library Christmas and New Year closing dates

The Balfour Library will be closed from 16:30 on Friday 23rd December 2011 and will re-open at 08:30 on Tuesday 3rd January 2012.

Thank you for your cooperation.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Best wishes,

Clair & Jane