The Copac team would like to wish all of our users a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Hayfield: photo by Ashley Sanders
The Copac office will close for the Christmas break on 22nd December, and re-open on 3th January. The Copac service will be available over this period, but there will be no helpdesk support. Any queries sent over this period will be dealt with when we return.
We are reloading the King’s College London catalogue to reflect local catalogue changes. Consequently, some of the KCL catalogue will be unavailable on Copac next week.
Apologies for the short-term loss of availability of this material.
We’re pleased to announce that the holdings of Middle Temple Library Rare Books and Manuscripts collection are now available to search through Copac. 
Founded in 1641 by Robert Ashley, Middle Temple library has a very large collection of early printed books (i.e. printed between 1450 and 1800). As Middle Temple is primarily a legal library geared towards practitioners, Copac will be adding the early printed books collection which covers a wide range of subject matter, from astrology to zoology. Middle Temple library holds a number of unique books printed on the Continent, as well as many rare items. In addition, they have the largest holdings of John Donne’s own personal library.
To browse, or limit your search to, the holdings of Middle Temple Library, go to the main search tab on copac.ac.uk/search and choose ‘Middle Temple Library’ from the drop-down list of libraries.
We are currently reloading the holdings of the V&A National Art Library to reflect local catalogue changes, and a small proportion of data will be unavailable on Copac until next Monday.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
EDIT 12/9/11: this reload has now finished, and all the data is available on Copac.
We are currently reloading the Imperial College London catalogue to reflect local catalogue changes. Consequently, a small percentage of the Imperial catalogue will be unavailable on Copac this week. The full catalogue should be available from next Monday.
Apologies for the short-term loss of availability of this material.
**Update – the catalogue load is complete, and all material is available on Copac.
We’re pleased to announce that the holdings of the National Maritime Museum Caird Library have been added to Copac.
The National Maritime Museum is the largest maritime museum in the world. It houses important holdings on the history of Britain at sea, totalling nearly 2.5 million items, 
including maritime art, cartography, ship models, scientific and navigational instruments, and manuscripts, and the world’s largest maritime reference library. The Museum’s Archive & Library collections are a nationally and internationally important resource, with items as diverse as rare books, diaries, log books, letters, manuscripts, maps and charts. As a Place of Deposit designated by the National Archives, the collections contain important public records including in-letters of the Board of Admiralty, Lieutenants’ logs of the Navy Board, and crew lists and Certificates of Competency and Service (Masters’ certificates) of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen.
To browse, or limit your search to, the holdings of the National Maritime Museum Caird Library, go to the main search tab on copac.ac.uk/search and choose ‘National Maritime Museum’ from the drop-down list of libraries.
Many thanks to those of you that gave us feedback on the recent trial of the new Copac user interface. We really appreciate the time you put into testing and responding to us through the feedback form, email, and twitter.
I’ve summarised the feedback below:
We are continuing to work on the interface, reassured that we are moving in the right direction for most of you. In the next stage we’ll be incorporating colour as well as adding the missing search screens. We will also be making changes in response to comments or requests relating to individual features, as well as ensuring that it works well for as wide a range of browsers and devices as possible.
You’ll be able to try out the new interface again in a few months time and provide input into the final version before the work is completed.
We are pleased to announce that the holdings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers library have been added to Copac.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers was founded in 1847 and the library collection has evolved throughout the Institution’s life. One of the best mechanical engineering collections in the world, the library holds many rare and specialist resources, including an extensive historical journal collection, and a specialist standards collection which includes many hard to find American standards.
The collection covers the industry areas of : railway, process engineering, automotive, aerospace, medical engineering, building services, waste management, power systems, pressure systems and manufacturing. Core subject areas include: machine mechanics, machine design, mechanisms, kinematics, fluid dynamics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, combustion, power drives, materials, renewable energy, product design, machine tools, project management and finite element analysis. The archive includes collections of personal papers from important engineers and engineering companies.
To browse, or limit your search to, the holdings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers library, go to the main search tab on copac.ac.uk/search and choose ‘Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ from the drop-down list of libraries.
We are developing a new style of Copac interface with greater search flexibility, new functionality, and clearer displays. Following initial user testing we’re now opening up the trial interface for further comment. We’re making the early draft interface available for a week from 12.00 noon 23rd May to 12.00 noon 30th May. This is your opportunity to try out the new interface, and let us know what you think!
Access the Copac Alpha trial interface.
Please note: The interface is very pared down, and there is no colour scheme. Some elements are just placeholders for planned options. The interface is designed to work in the latest browsers – you might experience issues with display/functionality in older browsers, such as IE 6 and 7.
We’d really appreciate your input into this work. There are feedback options on the screens and all comments will feed into the ongoing development process. You can also email copac@mimas.ac.uk with your feedback.
There will be further opportunities to comment on the interface redevelopment as the work continues. This is part of the complete redevelopment of the Copac service and additional interface facilities will become available at later stages on the work.
We are pleased to announce that the holdings of the University of York Library have been added to Copac.
The University of York Library is rich in resources.The collections include over 1.2 million volumes, and access to over 60,000 print and electronic journals, along with research and special collections. The collections are housed over three libraries:
The JB Morrell Library is the main University library located on the Heslington West campus. It houses collections to support learning, teaching and research in all subject areas.
Raymond Burton Library for Humanities Research, also located on the Heslington West campus, holds special collections. Highlights include: an extensive collection of books and prints on Yorkshire; over 1000 books relating to the Heath family of 18th century engravers and a large collection of medical books dating from the 16th century. All the material in this library is for reference use only.
The King’s Manor Library is part of the city centre campus at the University of York. It houses collections relating to: architecture; building planning; conservation of historic architecture; gardening & landscape design; heritage management; history of architecture & building; stained glass and town planning. It also has smaller collections on the medieval period, archaeology and the “long” eighteenth century.
To browse, or limit your search to, the holdings of the University of York library, go to the main search tab on copac.ac.uk/search and choose ‘York University’ from the drop-down list of libraries.