Short Loans Online FAQ
- How do I get access to short loans online material?
- Can anyone access short loans online material?
- Can I access these articles without having to re-enter my password again every time?
- Are all reserved materials available electronically?
- My lecturer says that there are short loans items available for my course, but I can't find them in Short Loans online.
- What kind of software will I need to view short loans online material?
- How do I print short loans online material?
- How do I save short loans online material?
- What can I do if I'm having problems opening or downloading PDF files?
1. How do I get access to short loans online material?click to hideclick to show
Go to NEWCAT, the Library Catalogue (http://library.newcastle.edu.au) and select Short Loans. From there you can search for your reading lists by Lecturer's name or Course name or code.
2. Can anyone access short loans online material?click to hideclick to show
Only students and staff of the University of Newcastle will have access to these online materials as authentication is required. Enter your Student Number or Library Card number and PIN.
Need to create a PIN?
3. Can I access these articles without having to re-enter my password again every time?click to hideclick to show
If you access Short Loans Online through the MyLibrary function, you need to put in your password only once. To do this, click on the MyLibrary button on the Newcat library catalogue page. Sign in, click on Search Catalog, then select Short Loans and choose your course list. You can then select various digital items without needing to re-enter your password.
For your own security, remember to logout when you have finished.
4. Are all reserve materials available electronically?click to hideclick to show
Some items listed for your course may be in hard copy format e.g. books, videos, audio lecture tapes and lecture notes.
Others are only in digital format e.g. scanned chapters of books and journal articles, or links to journal articles held in our databases. We have some exam papers and lecture notes which are available in both formats.
5. My lecturer says that there are Short Loan items available for my course, but I can't find them in Short Loans online.click to hideclick to show
Ask your lecturer when the item was submitted. It may take a few days for a document to be processed, or longer in the busiest periods.
If the item is on your list, but it doesn't say 'Electronic Copy Available' and no scanned file appears when you click on it, although it says 'Internet Access - In Library' in the call number field, it may be half completed. That is, it is still in the process of being scanned and attached. If the item is needed urgently, you can contact Short Loans processing on 4921 5849.
6. What kind of software will I need to view short loans online material?click to hideclick to show
You will need the Adobe Acrobat reader to be able to open and view short loans online material. If you do not have this reader on your computer, you will be able to download the software from the Adobe website:
Adobe reader is available within the University Libraries and Computing Laboratories on campus.
7. How do I print short loans online material?click to hideclick to show
To print a document when the item is displayed on the screen, click on the ADOBE printer icon 
located on the top left-hand side of the ADOBE toolbar.
8. How do I save short loans online material?click to hideclick to show
To save the PDF file to your hardrive or floppy disk, click the Adobe disk icon 
on the Adobe toolbar. Or, to save the PDF file using your web browser, select the 'Save As' option from the 'File' menu, and save the document using the .PDF file extension.
9. What can I do if I'm having problems opening or downloading PDF files?click to hideclick to show
- The article may be presently being processed but not yet completed. These will usually be completed within 24 hours, but if the reading is urgent you can contact Short Loan Processing on 49215849.
- You may have made an error in entering your PIN number. If you have forgotten your PIN, you can reset it by clicking on the 'Forgot your PIN' link.
- Internet Explorer may sometimes give an error message or display a blank page instead of the PDF document. Make sure you are using the latest version of Adobe Internet Explorer. Or try opening an alternative web browser such as Firefox, Mozilla or Opera, as these do not have this problem with displaying PDF files.
- Clearing the cache and cookies from your computer may solve the problem. Click here for instructions
- If you are unable to access E-Reserve material from your workplace, it may be that your workplace server has firewalls installed to block access.
- Some scanned files may be slow to download. Some factors which influence download speed include:
- Speed of the internet connection or modem
- Network/internet congestion
- Whether your Internet Service Provider has restrictions on download times
- The size of the scanned document.
Most articles in Short Loans Online have a file size of less than 1 MB, but the size of each file can be found before downloading if required, by searching for the reading by title in the catalogue. If problems persist, please submit your enquiry via ASAPinfo.
