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CONNECTIONS: The VDOT Library E-Newsletter

New eBooks and Live Chat Features Added To Knovel

by Ken Winter on 2023-03-03T11:30:00-05:00 in Construction, Engineering, Environmental, Health & Wellness, Planning, Project Management, Safety & Security, Structures | 0 Comments

Screen capture showing new knovel content and new chat features.
Two new subject categories (left) now appear when you use the "Browse" option in Knovel. The "Library Chat! widget appears on the far right.

 

Results are in from last quarter's month-long trial of four new content categories being considered for addition to VDOT's Knovel subscription...and by the time you read this there will be an additional 536 new eBook references in Knovel!

 

The new subject categories selected for VDOT's current contract (up for renewal in next fall), include: 

Environment & Environmental Engineering (431 books): Covers soil and ground remediation, water treatment, solid waste management, recycling, air quality monitoring, environmental pollution, indoor air quality control, and total life cycle design.

Fire Protection Engineering & Emergency Response (105 books): Covering fire dynamics, modeling performance of suppression and ventilation systems, planning for the effective egress of people, staging of first responders and emergency management planning, and fire protection systems in manufacturing and industrial applications. 

 

In addition to the two categories above the Safety & Industrial Hygiene category of 383 books had some highly relevant titles, so if the library has adequate funds in the next budgetary cycle it stands at the front of the line, so to speak.

We found this not to be the case (at least not enough) for the 
Sustainable Energy & Development category, which had some interesting titles but overall was just too far out of scope for what most VDOT employees need. 
 


 

In other news, the library worked with programmers at Elsevier to code in a nifty feature to the Knovel interface, namely the "Library Chat!" widget you'll now see located on the right side of the Knovel search and results screens.

Clicking on the tab causes the widget to slide out during normal business hours. Just enter your name and contact information to start a chat and in seconds you'll be connected to a librarian who can answer your questions and interact with you in real time!

What about "after hours" you ask? Well, live chat is not staffed 24/7, so after hours and on weekends and holidays the widget allows you to do one of the following:  

Search our questions/answers database

Submit a question using an online form


 
Image showing what the new chat widget looks like in Knovel.

 


 

At the end of the day the VDOT Research Library is working hard to give VDOT employees the best content, the best tools, and the best service possible, so look for more resources added to our collections that support more than just transportation engineering and civil engineering...which we've had pretty well covered for years. 

 

If you've read this far but you've never used Knovel (especially because it didn't have materials on topics like environmental or fire safety!) now's a great time to give it a try. 

 

Check out this Quick-Start Guide for instructions or simply dive right in, at: http://library.virginiadot.org/resources/knovel 

 

Questions? We're here to help!

Ken Winter
(434) 962-8979
VDOT Research Library


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