Library Facilities and Administration
- Is the Library open to the public?
- Is there wireless internet access within the Library? If so, is this wireless service free?
- What can I use the Library’s workstations for?
- What are the rules on access and usage of the Library facilities?
Library Membership and Services
- How do I apply for the membership?
- Is membership attached with an annual fee?
- Why does the Library need to charge a refundable deposit of $200 for external users?
- Why does the Library not accept payment by Nets/Credit Cards?
- What happens if I have overdue books?
- What happens if the title I have borrowed is lost or damaged?
- How do I renew my book?
- Can I photocopy library materials in the Library?
- How can I prevent Info Alerts from being delivered to junk mail?
Library Collections
- How did the Library decide what books to buy and what journals to subscribe?
- How frequent does the Library acquire new materials?
- Is there a way that I could contribute to the Library collection?
- How soon can users see the new materials?
- How long does it take for a book to be processed and ready for loan?
- What is the cataloguing standard used by the Library for its print collection?
- What is the classification system used by the Library?
- Where can I find e-publications and databases?
- Can ISEAS affiliated researchers access subscribed online databases when they are outside ISEAS Library?
- How to build my own booklist in SEALion? (Login required)
- How to build my own booklist in SEALion? (No login required)
- Why are some materials not on open shelves? Can they not be brought up into open space for easier access?
- How does the Library keep its collection safe and protected against misplacement and loss?
- What kind of housekeeping management the Library has put in place for proper management of its collection?
- How do I access NewsLink?
Library Facilities and Administration
Is ISEAS Library open to the public?
Yes, since 2013 the Library is open to the public who are interested in the studies of Southeast Asian region. There is no special permission required to access the library except a simple registration form to be filled up for the first time user.
Is there wireless internet access within the Library? If so, is this wireless service free?
What can I use the Library’s workstations for?
- Browsing, searching and accessing of the Library Collection (e.g., sealion.iseas.edu.sg) and Resources (e.g., e-journals, e-newspapers and databases);
- Research/Educational purposes (e.g., surfing the internet for information; utilizing of programs available such as Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Adobe Reader)
What are the rules on access and usage of the Library facilities?
- Food and Drinks
- Handling original documents/photographs in the Library
Library Membership and Services
How do I apply for the membership?
A first time user is required to fill up a simple registration form, which is available for download from the library webpage. Alternatively, a copy of the registration form can be requested at the library service counter. First time users will need to bring along one of the following items below for completion of their registration.
-Student card
-Staff Pass
-IC
-Passport
Is membership attached with an annual fee?
No.
Why does the Library need to charge a refundable deposit of $200 for external users?
Why does the Library not accept payment by Nets/Credit Cards?
We do not have the facility to process credit card payments due to the low volume of Nets/Credit Card transactions and the need to pay a usage fee to the bank.
What happens if I have overdue books?
With effect from 2 January 2019, Library members may incur a late return charge of $0.10 per day, per overdue book. The fee will not be charged on days where the Library is closed. To avoid disruption to your borrowing and renewing privileges, we encourage Library members to return their borrowed books on time. Please login to your Library account on SEALion to check your account status.
What happens if the title I have borrowed is lost or damaged?
How do I renew my book?
Renewal of books can now be made online at the comfort of your own home or office, 24 hours a day via the SEALion (Southeast Asian Library Integrated Online) Catalogue.
To renew your loans, please follow the following steps:
Step 1. Go to My Account.
Step 2. Click on Renew my materials.
Step 3. Enter your User ID and PIN and click List Charged Items.
Step 4. You may choose items to renew by selecting the book(s) using the checkbox(es) or use the Renew all option to renew all books (see circled in red) and click Renew Selected Items.
Please contact the ISEAS Library at libcir@iseas.edu.sg if you encounter any problems accessing the database.
Can I photocopy library materials in the Library?
Library users are allowed to photocopy published materials found in the Library in accordance with the Singapore Copyright Act. For unpublished materials, such as private papers, conference documents and academic papers/thesis, the citation and copying of such materials (including digital scanning and capturing) is subject to the respective deposit agreements.
How can I prevent Info Alerts from being delivered to junk mail?
The info alert issues provided by the Library are currently collated and delivered using a 3rd party software known as Constant Contact via their email platform. As your email provider may not recognise this email, the Info Alert may have been automatically redirected to your junk mail folder. To address the issue and to reduce such occurrences, you could follow the steps outlined below:
Gmail
Step1. Select the Contacts option from the drop down menu on the left.
Step 2. Select the create contact option that is represented by a person and plus icon.
Step 3. Key in @constantcontact.com into the pop-up window and click Add.
Step 4. Repeat step 3 for @iseas-edu.ccsend.com
MSN
Step 1. Select the settings Email|Junk email from the bottom left corner.
Step 2. From the Email settings screen, select Junk E-mail Guard.
Step 3. Key in @constantcontact.com and click Add.
Step 4. Repeat step 3 for @iseas-edu.ccsend.com
Outlook (Formerly Hotmail)
Step 1. Select the rotating wheel icon followed by Options.
Step 2. Under Preventing Junk Mail, select Saved and blocked senders.
Step 3. Select Safe senders.
Step 4. Key in @constantcontact.com and click Add to list.
Step 5. Repeat step 4 for @iseas-edu.ccsend.com
Outlook 2003, 2007 and Express
Step 1. Open any Info Alert email sent from Constant Contact.
Step 2. In the toolbar options at the top, click Safe Lists.
Step 3. Select Add Sender’s Domain and key in @constantcontact.com to the Safe Senders List.
Step 4. Click OK.
Step 5. Repeat steps 3-4 for @iseas-edu.ccsend.com
Outlook and 2010 and 2013 (ISEAS email is using this edition)
Step 1. Select the Home option followed by Junk.
Step 2. Select Junk email options followed by Safe senders.
Step 3. Click Add, key in @constantcontact.com and click OK.
Step 4. Repeat step 3 for @iseas-edu.ccsend.com
Yahoo
Step 1. Click the address book icon and select New Contact.
Step 2. Key in @constantcontact.com and click Save.
Step 3. Repeat steps 1-2 for @iseas-edu.ccsend.com
Library Collections
How did the Library decide what books to buy and what journals to subscribe?
The selection of Library materials is a joint effort of the librarians and researchers. Materials like books, journals, etc., in the Library are selected principally by librarians or recommended by users, and then endorsed by ISEAS researchers. Anyone may suggest materials to be considered for purchase, subject to researchers’ and Library’s final approval. The librarians select most books and journals in line with research focus of ISEAS, and the researchers also recommend materials in the areas of their expertise to meet the research needs.
How frequent does the Library acquire new materials?
The Library acquires books every month, whilst serial titles such as journals and newspapers are acquired annually to support research programmes, subject to researchers’ endorsement and Library’s final approval.
Is there a way that I could contribute to the Library collection?
Yes, you can help enrich our collections through a number of channels.
If you have any particular title(s) in mind which you think are essential for our collection, you may make a recommendation of this title to us. Upon submission, the Library will assess the recommendation and proceed to acquisition of the title once considered as valuable. Recommendation can be submitted online through SEALion by clicking on “I Need Material” in the menu tab and selecting “Recommend to Order”. Alternatively, you may also make a recommendation by personally approaching our counter staff and submitting a recommendation form.
Additionally, if you are in possession of any materials which you consider would be useful for ISEAS collection and wish to make a donation, the Library would be more than happy to accept them as part of our collection as well. Some of the examples of these materials would be, but are not restricted to: books relevant to ISEAS collections, conference reports, and theses.
Should you have any other feedbacks which would help improve our collections, you can submit them via our online feedback form.
How soon can users see the new materials?
Majority book titles may take one month to arrive at the Library upon the confirmation of order. Some particular titles ordered from overseas may take two months or even longer. Ad-hoc book that stock is locally available will take three to five working days to receive upon users’ request. Please do note that it generally takes one week for the new book to be catalogued and processed and made ready for loan.
How long does it take for a book to be processed and ready for loan?
The Library implements a KPI of releasing 95% of newly acquired books on the shelves for consultation and loan within 14 working days. A corresponding info-alert highlighting newly arrival of such materials is also sent out to researchers and the Library members on a fortnightly basis.
What is the cataloguing standard used by the Library for its print collection?
In August 2014, the Library adopted the Resource Description and Access (RDA) standard which provides a simplified format that gives greater flexibility to libraries in describing collections that are multimedia in nature. This in turn facilitates search and retrieval by users, thus improving the information discovery accuracy. Furthermore, with the elimination of Latin abbreviations and symbols and their replacement with English words, the presentation of information in catalogue records have become more user-friendly.
What is the classification system used by the Library?
Like most research and academic libraries, the Library uses Library of Congress Classification (LCC) to assign call number for its library materials. Using this classification system, it provides the Library with relatively unlimited expansion of call number, not requiring whole-scale revision.
Where can I find e-publications and databases?
The Library subscribes to a variety of databases, e-journals and e-newspapers that are either accessible within ISEAS compounds or a specific Library workstation.
Once you have identified and complied with the access restrictions (i.e., within ISEAS or within a specific Library workstation), you can access them through visiting the Library’s “Subscribed Resources” webpage and clicking on each individual journal/newspaper/database hyperlink or by visiting SEALion and clicking on the menu options “Databases” and “E-Journals and E-Newspapers”.
The “E-Journals and E-Newspapers” menu option directs users to a one-search publication discovery platform that includes all the E-Journals and E-Newspapers the Library subscribes to. A hyperlink to this platform is also available on the Library’s Subscribed Resources Page.
Can ISEAS affiliated researchers access subscribed online databases when they are outside ISEAS Library?
The Library subscribed databases are IP based. As ISEAS does not implement proxy service, users can only access them when connecting ISEAS’ network.
How to build my own booklist in SEALion? (Login required)
Steps 1. Go to the online catalogue SEALion. Login to iLink (library user account) at the top right of the screen.
Step 2. Click on “Permanent Lists” to create your own list. In the New List box, type the name you want to assign to the new list, and click Add List.
Step 4. Click +My List for the items to include in the list. Marked items can be unmarked by clicking -My List.
Step 6. You can remove some of the items in your booklist by selecting the check box by the titles to be removed and clicking Remove Checked Titles. To clear the list, click Remove All Titles.
Step 7. You can choose the All, Brief, or Full View of Records to specify the level of detail to display for each record in the list.
Step 8. From the permanent list page, you can choose to view the list online, print the list, or e-mail the list to an address you specify.
How to build my own booklist in SEALion? (No login required)
To be able to export a list of titles you are interested in borrowing or referring to, building your own booklist in SEALion makes this task easier and faster.
Step 1. Go to the online catalogue SEALion.
Step 2. Start a search to find titles.
Step 3. On the search results page or individual record of each title, click Keep for the items to be included in the list. Marked items can be unmarked by clicking Remove.
Search results
You can select “Keep All on this Page” if you wish to shortlist all the titles.
Individual record
Step 4. When you are done shortlisting titles, click on Kept that is found near the top of the page.
Step 5. You can remove some of the items in your booklist by selecting the check box by the titles to be removed and clicking Remove Checked Titles. To clear the list, click Remove All Titles.
Step 6. Proceed to the Options section that is found on the right side of the window.
Under sort by, you can choose for the shortlisted titles to be listed according to their titles, authors or call numbers.
Under view of records, you can choose for All, Brief or Full View of Records to specify the level of detail to display for each record in the list.
Steps 7. You can choose to view the list online, print the list, or e-mail the list to an address you specify.
Why are some materials not on open shelves? Can they not be brought up into open space for easier access?
While the Library intends to maximise the accessibility to the collection for visitors, there are a number of reasons behind keeping a small volume of our collections in the Closed Stacks area. The main reason is due to space constraints. The collection is growing and correspondingly the size of the Library has remained a constant. As part of the shelf programming, books that are least used as well as those titles the Library has multiple copies are transferred to the Close Stacks. Nonetheless they could still be recalled speedily by the Library staff. There are also collections that need guided handling – such as photographs, glass plates, private papers and antiquarian titles that required to be kept in temp and RH regulated storage environment to ensure that they will not deteriorate too rapidly due to improper handling.
How does the Library keep its collection safe and protected against misplacement and loss?
Since 2013, the Library has conducted its annual stocktaking on a rotating schedule to make sure special collections of antiquarian and unique materials being checked on a regular basis.
In addition, the Library entrance and exit are controlled by electronic detection system. Access to secure storage areas and the cases of special exhibit materials are restricted to the Library staff only with the usage record.
What kind of housekeeping management the Library has put in place for proper management of its collection?
The Library has carried out the housekeeping management on a regular basis: returning the materials used daily to their proper locations, proper storage of library materials with stable environmental conditions, proper care of keeping materials and surrounding areas clean, educating users in how to handle archival materials, regular preventive pest control management and conservation treatment by a book conservator.
How do I access NewsLink?
Step 1. To access Newslink you will need to login to the staff intranet. You will need to request for your password to be sent to you if you have forgotten it.
Step 2. After logging into the intranet, hover over the Library label in the menu and click on the NewsLink hyperlink.
Step 3. Click on the “Access Newslink” button to open the database.
Please contact the the Library at libcir@iseas.edu.sg if you encounter any problems accessing the database.
