UMBC now has trial access to The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. The trial runs through August 4, 2011.

The Johns Hopkins Online Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism is an indispensable resource for scholars and students of literary theory and discourse. Revised extensively to reflect a decade of rapidly changing scholarship, the Online Guide features 48 new entries and subentries. Compiled by 275 specialists from around the world, the Online Guide presents a comprehensive historical survey of the field's most important figures, schools, and movements. It includes more than 240 alphabetically arranged entries on critics and theorists, critical schools and movements, and the critical and theoretical innovations of specific countries and historical periods.

For off-campus access, please login via VPN first (http://vpn.umbc.edu), and follow the link to the UMBC Library Homepage. Then follow the link under "News & Events" on the library homepage. For more info on remote access, see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/services/remoteaccess.php.

Please let us know what you think. Send your comments to Janet Hack at jhack@umbc.edu.

The Dissertation House is comprised of a series of workshops, meetings, and seminars that are held on college campuses and at conferences to facilitate successful completion of the doctoral degree. The workshops emphasize writing the dissertation, preparing for the defense, and communicating with faculty. The Dissertation House is a program of the National Science Foundation’s PROMISE: Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) and is supported by the Graduate Schools at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), the University of Maryland College Park, and the University of Maryland Baltimore.  Growth of the program is also attributed to the Council of Graduate School’s Ph.D. Completion Project.

Patrons have been reporting problems accessing their library (catalog) accounts. This problem has been reported to ITD and we are waiting for a response.

Here is a brief description of the problem. When you try to log into your catalog account (either through the 'My Library Account' link on our website our through the 'my account' link in the catalog) the log in process starts as expected. You are asked to select your campus, then you get taken to the UMBC single sign-on screen (if you are not already logged into a UMBC account). After logging in you get a blank screen for a lengthy time which eventually switches to a basic catalog search, but it doesn't show you as being logged in you and have no access to your account.

We have a similar problem with Research Port. You are able to get into Research Port both on and off-campus. From on-campus, as long as you don't try to log into Research Port, everything seems to work fine. If you try to log in (either on or off-campus) it doesn't show as being logged in (your name doesn't appear) and there is a limited selection of databases available. The odd thing is that when we access the databases from off-campus via the proxy links on our website we are able to log in with no problem.

We hope to have this issue fixed soon. Thank you for your patience.

Greetings to all graduate students who are working on dissertations. Dr. Carter has posted the Summer 2011 Challenge!  We will have Dissertation House sessions in Maryland this summer, but anyone — in any state, in any country — can join us online. Click here to join us: http://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/summer-2011-challenge/ .  If you’ve participated in our challenges in the past, or if you are still working with us in the Winter 2011 Challenge section, we invite you to join us in the summer section.

Good luck … we look forward to supporting you!

The following one hour drop in sessions will be held in Engineering 025. DoIT staff members will be available to work one-on-one with with users who show up during the designated times.

Additional dates and times may be added as demand warrants.