Frequently Answered Questions
Electronic resources are information resources in electronic formats that support teaching, learning, and research. Examples of e-books, journals, etc.
Students, researchers, lecturers, staff, members of the University community, and other authorized users.
The UDS Library subscribes to many high-quality academic databases which provide access to over 120,000 e-journals such as Wiley, IEEE, Taylor & Francis, Emerald, Sage, Agora, Hinari, Jstor, Project muse, etc. There is also a list of open-access databases which include ERIC, Core, Base, OAPEN, etc.
You can access the library’s e-journals by either an on-campus and off-campus connection.
On-campus connection is using the university’s network (LAN or Wi-fi ) to access the library’s databases.
To access the library’s databases using an on-campus connection, visit the library’s website and follow these steps; click on ‘services’, then click on ‘A-Z Databases’, and the list of available databases will be displayed.
Off-campus connection is using any network other than the university network to access the library’s databases.
To access the library’s databases using an off-campus connection, visit the library’s website, click on the “Off-campus access” tab on the homepage or under the “services” tab, enter your login credentials and access the e-journals/databases.
Off-campus access enables you to access the library’s e-journals without connecting to a campus network (LAN or WiFi). It means you can use any internet-connected device (modem, phone) to access our resources either on campus, at home, in your hostel, or on the road.
Yes, a password is required to use the off-campus access portal. However, you will not need a password if you are connected to the University’s internet (LAN or WiFi).
Please refer to the table below:
|
Similarity code |
Similarity Score |
Note |
|
BLUE |
0% |
Zero similarity |
|
GREEN |
1% – 24% |
Low degree of similarity |
|
YELLOW |
25% – 49% |
Moderate degree of similarity |
|
ORANGE |
50% – 74% |
High degree of similarity |
|
RED |
75% – 100% |
Very high degree of similarity |
|
GRAY |
– | Similarity report yet to be generated |
Source: turnitin.com
Yes, the library also provides a list of other free and open access databases as well as e-books websites to augment our e-resources collection. Click on the “Free books and Journals” tab to access the list.
There will be a welcome message either at the top or bottom of the homepage. The message will read “Access provided by University for Development Studies” or similar. Sometimes, the UDS Library Logo will be present on the database homepage.
Please contact someone from the library close to you or send a mail to this email
Please contact someone from the library close to you or send a mail to this email
Yes, there is. Access is only to the content of the e-journals in the databases. The databases may contain other e-resources besides e-journals (e-books, case reports, magazine articles, etc.) which you may not have access to.
Yes, you can download and save all documents in the e-journals databases for free.
Please check your institutional email for your login details or send a mail to this email with your full name, institutional email address and department
Please contact the nearest library for assistance or send an email with your full name, student ID, Faculty, Department and Level to this email
Content is gathered by self-archiving or mediated archiving.
Self-archiving is where the author of the publication is registered as an e-user on the system and hence can make a submission anytime by himself/herself.
Mediated archiving on the other hand is when the staff of the IR receive content and submit it on behalf of the author to be archived on the system.
An e-user/electronic user of UDSSpace is a recognized user of the system who has some privileges assigned to his/her account. As an e-user, you have access to
- Submit your publications for archiving on the system
- Receive email alerts when new content is archived
- Save search history
You do not need a password to access the content of UDSSpace. A password is only needed if one is registered as an e-user of the system.
The UDSSpace is open access and therefore is freely available over the internet to everyone.
Some of the materials available on UDSSpace include; research publications, conference proceedings, theses, speeches, pre-prints and post-prints, images, teaching notes, etc
UDSSpace is the name given to the UDS institutional repository (IR). The purpose of UDS Institutional Repository (IR) is to make the University’s digital scholarship available to a global audience and to serve as a reliable digital storage.
An institutional repository is an open access online archive of the scholarly output of members of an institution.
No, all services in the library are free of charge except for bindery and photocopy services and overdue (keeping a borrowed book after the date it is due to be returned) charges
Reserved books are those books in the library’s collection that are not allowed to leave the library. This is usually because they are books in high demand or the copies are limited. Reserved materials can be borrowed and used only over weekends.
At the moment the library has a limited collection of past questions from a few departments available at the Nyankpala campus. The Library is actively working on an online repository for students to access all past questions.
Each student can borrow a maximum of two (2) books at a time for two (2) weeks subject to renewal for the same period.
Faculty members and staff can also borrow a maximum of four (4) books at a time for four (4) weeks subject to renewal for the same period.
The OPAC stands for Online Public Access Catalogue. It is an online platform where users can view the list of all materials (books collection) available in the library, across campuses. The OPAC enables users to identify which titles are available and where they are located. It is a valuable resource for lecturers in preparing reading lists for courses.
The library’s online catalogue, known as the OPAC, contains the library’s book collection across campuses
You can access the catalogue by visiting the library website: library.uds.edu.gh and click on “Online Catalogue”. Type in the title, author’s name or subject you are interested in, in the search bar to see the results available in the library.
Visit the UDS library website; library.uds.edu.gh and click on “Register”. Fill out the form and submit it. Your username and password will be automatically generated and sent to your email.
Log in with the system-generated password and reset your password to that of your choice.
As a registered library user, you have access to borrow books from the library, request for extension of lending periods, save searches on the online catalogue and place holds on books in the library.
To effectively tackle the instances of similarity in your work, you can do the following;
- Read over and re-present the ideas whilst paying close attention to the wording and sentence structure.
- Duly acknowledge all sources of information and ideas irrespective of whether direct quotations were made or not. Make sure the citation is according to accepted styles.
- Tackle as many of the brighter highlighted colors as possible (red, orange, pink, purple, yellow) since those colors represent higher similarities with other sources.
- Tackle all sources that record higher percentages (1% and above) as this can significantly reduce the overall similarity index.
On the upper right corner of your originality report is the tools bar. Click on this arrow to download. Select current view from the popup message and wait for the report to download. Browse downloads on your computer to retrieve the originality report which will bear the title of your uploaded document in PDF format
The overall percentage on your originality report indicates the percentage of text in your work that matches texts in documents hosted in the software’s repository.
In-text colour highlights, present the various text that match sources. These sources are numbered from 1 (the source with the highest percentage of matching text) to as many sources identified. For more information on interpreting the originality reports, please check the Turnitin guide on the UDS Library website.
For further details on the similarity report, please follow this link: https://supportcenter.turnitin.com/s/article/Plagiarism-and-acceptable-similarity-scores
Step 1: Visit the nearest Library and make a request for an account or send a mail with your request to this email
Step 2: You will receive an email to set up your account from Turnitin in your Inbox (please check your spam folder if you do not receive the email).
Step 3: Please click on the link provided in the email sent to you by the software administrator and provide your last name (surname) and preferred password in the blank fields provided.
Step 3: When you are logged in, set up a class and an assignment. Click on the URL below to watch a tutorial on how to create/add a class and an assignment.
Students can visit the nearest Campus Library and request a scan. Students can also forward their work to this email and the originality reports will be returned when ready.
Visit the nearest campus ICT office to get an institutional email address
Send an email with your name in full indicating the order of your names (first and last name) and an active institutional email address.
To use the software, you would need to have a registered Turnitin account with which you can upload and run a similarity scan of your document. Follow the link below to watch a tutorial on uploading and running plagiarism scans on Turnitin on the Library’s YouTube channel; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpYZ-r8Jqxk&t=20s
Those who qualify to have access to Turnitin accounts include; Teaching staff (lecturers) and non-teaching staff of the various faculties.
Turnitin reveals portions of any written work (theses, dissertations, research papers, etc.) that contains text that is similar to other sources in the Turnitin repository.
Turnitin is the name of the Anti-Plagiarism Software UDS subscribes to.
Yes. As a student of UDS, you need to be a registered library user to benefit from the pool of resources and services available to you. Due to the library’s automation, registered students are given usernames and passwords to access the online catalogue.
It is important to make use of the off-campus portal because it allows the databases to recognize your IP address and grant you full pdf access to the content of the journals.