Do you know what this is?

Last week, we attended the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) 2012 National Spring Meeting in San Diego. Although the conference was a hit, the weather was a big swing and miss. Thousands of people came from all over the world expecting to bask in the California sun, but instead go cold winds and rain for most of the week.

Research Solutions was one of 250 companies that attended the meeting to introduce their products and services to the 14,000 attendees. Our booth had a constant flow of scientists, researchers and students, all coming by to learn about the document delivery service we offer.

We always bring a selection of giveaway items to the conferences we attend, but this time around, there was one item that confused many of the people who came by our booth. It wasn’t the coffee mugs or the plastic bottles filled with M&Ms. No, it was the letter openers. People would pick them up and ask “What is this?” or “What does this do?”. It’s funny how the times are changing. The flow of information has made the letter opener an obsolete tool for so many!

We also held a drawing with a Nook Color as the prize, and David Fick from Epiomed Therapeutics, Inc. was the winner. Congratulations David!

Thank you to the ACS for organizing such a great event and big thanks to all the attendees who came by our booth!

Make sure to note that Research Solutions will open on Presidents Day, Monday, February 20.

We’ll be operating as normal, so if you’re running into holiday closures or having trouble finding what you need, we’ll be ready to help!

We’ll be in San Diego on March 9th and 10th to exhibit at our first conference of the year, the Fourth All-California Joint Institute. The joint venture, put on by SANDALL (San Diego Area Law Libraries), NOCALL (Northern California Association of Law Libraries) and SCALL (Southern California Association of Law Libraries), will be focusing on the current state of California law libraries in what’s being called “unprecedented times”. More information and a schedule of events can be found on the SANDALL website, http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/sandall/scheduleofevents.htm.

We hope to see you there!

If you’ve used our service in the past, then you’ve received an email from us with an update on your order. Typically, this email lets you know that we’ve received your requests and we’re working on them. Sometimes, these update emails may show some of the requests in your order “Completed”, while others are “Canceled” or “Can’t-Filled”. The statuses “Completed” and “Can’t-Filled” are self-explanatory, but “Canceled” seems a bit vague. You may be thinking, “Who canceled the order?” or “Why was it canceled?”

An item is “Canceled” when the request exceeds the maximum cost set by the client, if there’s a delay in obtaining the item or if the citation is incomplete. In an effort to communicate these issues more effectively, we’ve added the status “Pending Client Approval”, which you’ll begin to see in place of “Canceled”.

Our clients will begin seeing this on their order update emails immediately, when applicable. If it shows up on your email, simply review the reason for the alert and respond, letting us know if you’d like to proceed with the request.

If you use DocTrac to manage your orders, you’ll also see a new button on your homepage that will allow you to show those requests that are “Pending Client Approval”. Please review these requests and let us know if you’d like us to proceed.

After thirty days, a “Pending Client Approval” request becomes “Canceled”. However, it is not removed from our system, and the request can be approved at any time.

You should always be careful when providing personal information to an unknown source, especially on the internet.

When requesting a reprint, some of the choices we offer are bound copies with supplemental information, a branded cover page, and to deliver them shrink-wrapped. Similar choices are available for eprints as well. If you’d like to handle the printing yourself, we can also obtain permissions from the publisher on your behalf. Simply give us a call to speak to someone about your needs, and we’ll make sure it’s delivered when you need it.