About MyLibrary

About MyLibrary

MyLibrary is a user-driven, customizable information service hosted by the SU Library.

Features

MyLibrary is a new kind of Web page allowing you to define what is displayed. It is:

Content rich - The database supporting MyLibrary contains links to information-rich content including full-text databases, data sets, bibliographic databases, electronic texts of all kinds, ready reference materials, and most importantly, direct access to librarians.

Portable - Because you create for yourself a MyLibrary username and password you can login to MyLibrary just about anywhere there is Web browser.

Customizable - By selecting the customizable options, you choose just what items you want displayed, or, more importantly, what items are not displayed.

Dynamic - Global messages, as well as discipline-specific messages, help keep MyLibrary fresh. Because MyLibrary is easy for us to maintain, MyLibrary's content is continually kept up-to-date.

Pro-active - Because the networked environment is constantly changing, MyLibrary allows librarians to send you messages or information (like lists of recently received books) on a regular basis. Of course, you will only be contacted in this way only if you turn these features on.

Focused - Most of the time, MyLibrary allows you to list only the information you want listed. Consequently, you do not have to be bombarded with "noise". At the same time, you are not limited to the number of items you have on your page.

Platform independent - To use MyLibrary all you need is a Web browser. The browser must support cookies and it must be configured to not look in its cache for its content. If you access MyLibrary from a non-Syracuse University domain, then your browser must support a protocol called Secure Socket Layer (SSL) for security purposes. For more information, see the page listing end-user computer requirements.

Private - The configurations you make to MyLibrary are held in the strictest of confidence. Just like the doctor-patient and lawyer-client relationships, there exists a librarian-patron relationship that is held in the strictest of confidence. For more information, see our Privacy Statement.

Technically speaking

A brain-child of the Digital Library Initiatives Department of North Carolina State University, the technical foundation of MyLibrary is a relational database, a Web server, and a set of scripts providing mediation between the two. A more complete description of the how's and why's of MyLibrary is also available online.