University Library Reference

Mary C. set out an email with an update from JSTOR about the free access through 6/30/09 to the new 19th Century British Pamphlets collection. I've added it to the Primary Sources page. The link will take users directly to a page where they can browse or search this collection specifically. Of course, since it's part of JSTOR, results from this collection are included in any JSTOR search.

Here's the link: http://www.jstor.org/action/collectionInfoPage?selectCollection=britpam

Jane

Posted by Jane Kessler at 11:48 AM | Permalink

Hi everyone,
I got a Choice review card for this Web site and thought it would be very useful to students, but I’m not sure where to list it on the reference pages. As you know, we don’t have a great collection of foreign language cds, most of what we have is old and on cassettes. This site is from the Foreign Service Institute and is free. Here’s the review (emphasis is mine). Let me know if you have any ideas where we could link it. I suppose we could put a record in Minerva. Jane

FSI Language Courses
http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/
This site provides easy access to language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute. Created by the US government, these materials are in the public domain and thus freely available. At present users may select from 34 languages, but new materials are added frequently. The work of adding materials to he site appears to be done by volunteers. No advertising appears on the pages. For each language, users may access either printed textbooks or digitized audiotapes online, and in many cases, both. Often once can select from various dialects (e.g., users wanting to study Arabic may choose Classical, Levantine, or Urban Hijazi Arabic). Disciplined students will find these materials very helpful. In fact, this site is a wonderful free tool for language learners wanting extra practice or exposure to a new language. In addition to the audiotapes, links to podcasts of authentic conversations in various languages are available. Users may also participate in open forums that discuss the study of specific languages. Libraries could spend thousands of dollars to obtain foreign language materials of this quality. This site adds a significant amount of material for a large number of languages that are not represented in the collections of many libraries. Summing Up: Recommended. Libraries that provide foreign language materials to users; lower-level undergraduates through professionals, and general readers. C. Pracht, Southeast Missouri State University.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 03:22 PM | Permalink

Take a look at faceted browing through Aqua Browser at Queens Library and The University of Chicago and through Primo at Boston College and University of Iowa Search Smarter.

To give you a feel for what faceted browsing is -- this message from Iowa: “The new and improved Smart Search on the UI Libraries website provides a single search box that searches the InfoHawk Catalog, the Iowa Digital Library, E-resources, E-books, E-journals and even journal articles.”

Posted by Carol Anderson at 02:53 PM | Permalink

September 18, 2007

Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site
By RICHARD PEREZ-PENA

The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web
site, effective at midnight Tuesday night.

The move comes two years to the day after The Times began the
subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or
$7.95 a month, for online access to the work of its columnists and to
the newspaper's archives. TimesSelect has been free to print subscribers
to The Times and to some students and educators.

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will
also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without
charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public
domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to
1986, and some will be free.

The Times said the project had met expectations, drawing 227,000 paying
subscribers -- out of 787,000 over all -- and generating about $10
million a year in revenue.

"But our projections for growth on that paid subscriber base were low,
compared to the growth of online advertising," said Vivian L. Schiller,
senior vice president and general manager of the site, NYTimes.com.

Copyright 2007 New York Times

Posted by Jane Kessler at 04:25 PM | Permalink

There is a trial of AnthroSource available on libstaff. AnthroSource is a full-text online resource created and maintained by the American Anthropology Association (AAA) and University of California Press, and covers all the core publications of the AAA. The trial period ends 5/31/2007. Feedback, as always, is greatly appreciated. Please send comments to me directly (cconnor@uamail.albany.edu).

Thanks!

--Christina Connor

Posted by Jane Kessler at 09:56 AM | Permalink

Temporary ISBN display changes for FS, WCRS, and WCAS

The ISBN display will temporarily change in the WorldCat and Group Catalog databases as seen in FirstSearch, WorldCat Resource Sharing, and WorldCat Collection Analysis Services. ISBN searches will continue to cover all variations of ISBNs, but the display of the record may show only one version of the ISBN for several months while OCLC adds the needed information into records.

Any 10-digit ISBN now has an equally unique corresponding 13-digit ISBN beginning with the numbers 978. When publishers’ 10-digit ISBN run is finished, new ISBNs will 979. ISBNs starting with 979 will have no corresponding 10-digit ISBNs.

Through February 17, 2007 any record in WorldCat and Group Catalogs with a 10-digit ISBN or a 13-digit ISBN starting with 978 will display both ISBNs. Starting February 18, both ISBNs will remain searchable, but only one ISBN will display while OCLC starts to insert the corresponding ISBN into the stored data of all records. It will take several months for every 10-digit ISBN to display with both it’s paired 13-digit ISBNs. In the first few days, the newest records may have the 13-digit ISBN starting with 978 but not the 10 digit ISBN displaying. These records will be converted first, so that they will soon show both ISBNs. Then over the next several months the rest of the records in WorldCat and Group Catalogs will start to display both ISBNs also.

Throughout this time all ISBNs will remain searchable, even if both ISBNs are not visible in the record display.

Dawn Hendricks
Manager, Cooperative Collection Services Platform

Posted by Carol Anderson at 12:56 PM | Permalink

One of the premier science journals – Science magazine – is now available online through a site-wide license paid for by the University at Albany libraries! To access it, go to the library web page http://library.albany.edu/ . Select “Journals –Print & Online”, then type in the title “Science”.

Older access is available from JSTOR:

( v.1-3(1880-1882); v.1-23(1883-1894); New Series: v.1-286(1895-present latest 5 years unavailable) ) Available from JSTOR
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS ONLY
Click to access full text

The best current access is available from the journal web site:

( v.275:no.5296(1997)- ) Available from journal website
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS ONLY
Click to access full text

Off-site access should be available, if you access this resource through the online catalog, and go through authorization –there is more information at http://library.albany.edu/databases/proxy.html.

Please contact me with questions!

Sue Kaczor

Science Bibliographer

University at Albany

skaczor@uamail.albany.edu

Posted by Jane Kessler at 10:23 AM | Permalink

There is a trial of Refworks available on libstaff. Refworks is much more expensive than the other 2 citation software products but does offer an import feature. The trial period ends 9/30/06. You can post your feedback directly to the blog entry if you like, as comments. Thanks.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 09:08 AM | Permalink

Many colleges and universities are offering citation software to help students cite properly and avoid plagiarism. I've arranged for trials to Noodletools and Citation Builder, which are available on the staff intranet. I have used Noodletools quite a bit, and find it to be very accurate as well as a good teaching tool. Citation Builder is a fairly new product. Both of these are Web-based and affordable. Noodletools does not have the ability to import records from databases, and I don't think Citation Builder does either. I have also requested a trial of RefWorks, which does have this capability, but which is a much more expensive product. I'll let you know when it is available.

I'm very interested to hear what others think of these products in particular, and whether you think we should provide this type of software in the libraries.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 11:09 AM | Permalink

The Science Resources blog is now linked from the University Library Reference blog sidebar, top right hand corner. Thanks to Mike Knee for the suggestion.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 11:05 AM | Permalink

Consumer Information page:

Better Business Bureau

BBB Aware: Infomericals

Home Buyers: Beware of "Flipping" Scams

Topics in the News/Immigration

Public Agenda Issue Guides: Immigration

Topics in the News/Avian Flu

Avian Influenza: Frequently Asked Questions

Food, Nutrition & Cooking

Food Consumption Trends

Posted by Jane Kessler at 03:55 PM | Permalink

There's a new category on the Medicine & Health page of the online Reference Collection - Diseases & Conditions. I moved the existing resources for Aids and Cancer under this heading and added two new subheadings: Diabetes and Obesity. I will also be adding Heart Disease in the next few days.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 04:01 PM | Permalink

There's a new page up under the Reference Collection - Topics in the News on Earth Day. It was created by our Reference GA, Rebecca Roberts.

Posted by Jane Kessler at 08:42 AM | Permalink

Here's a description of a new site that I've added to the Statistics page of the online Reference Collection.

"The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Research Library's IES Database simplifies the search for world-wide economic indicators. Individual indicators (such as GDP and CPI) are linked, and each link has a description of the data. Included in each record is the title, corporate author, publisher, years covered in the data series, type of publication (text, table, chart), frequency with which the data is published, country of origin, a URL, available languages, subject headings, format (.pdf, .xls, etc.), a summary (where available), and any notes needed to clarify the data. The database is title, country, subject and keyword searchable. The links will be checked regularly to maintain accuracy. Indicators are continually being added."

Posted by Jane Kessler at 10:10 AM | Permalink

RCC is evaluating Red Light Green and would like your feedback. RedLightGreen is a new free interface to the RLG union catalog with a goal of "delivering a Web site that excels at addressing undergraduates' research needs, without diluting or compromising the quality of their research." It uses a Google-like search and links back to local library holdings. The "Information for Librarians" tab in the top right corner of the search page has articles about the project. Please send any comments to me or Amy Schindler by March 30. Thanks.

Jane Kessler

Posted by Jane Kessler at 03:46 PM | Permalink

OpenDOAR is the Directory of Open Access Repositories. It lists, organizes, and describes world wide open access research reportories. OpenDOAR can be searched by subject keywords, or browsed by country of origin, content type, or general subject.

Posted by Michael Knee at 04:56 PM | Permalink

Be sure to make use of our EndNote support site, Using EndNote.

This site explains how to use EndNote, and also offers downloadable filters and connection files for several of our databases, including Minerva. The site was created by our former Web Specialist, Eric Dombrowski.

Posted by at 08:38 AM | Permalink

100 ways to live to 100 is one of the 1405 eBooks available to UA users through NetLibrary, provided through SUNYconnect. Records for NetLibrary books are listed in Minerva and you may search NetLibrary holdings through our database finder.

“What’s New with NetLibrary?” is a session update I attended at ALA Midwinter on January 21, 2006. NetLibrary, a division of OCLC, was acquired about 5 years ago and is based in Boulder, CO. Currently, NetLibrary has 105,000+ eBooks, 55,000 eJournals from 66 publishers, a number of databases, and 1500+ audiobooks.

Since UA access to NetLibrary materials is limited to eBooks, points of information of possible interest to you:

 80% of the eBooks content is frontlist, focused on recent publications; for instance, 19,300 publications are from 2003-2005, and 26,300 publications are from 2000-2002
 Primarily nonfiction
 A recent trend is simultaneous release of print and e-release of titles
 eBooks are in both HTML and PDF, although NetLibrary is trying to changeover to all HTML
 If someone is using all the copies to which SUNYconnect has purchased access, patrons may receive a message of “busy” or “try again later.” Presenters likened this to the book being off the shelf in and use by another patron
 Not all NetLibrary publisher partners allow their titles to be accessed through consortial arrangements – presenter cited Wiley and Gale in particular.

Available each month for a full month and for free is access to an eBook through NetLibrary -- go to www.netlibrary.com. Do you need some help with those New Year’s resolutions? This month’s title is Absolute Beginner's Guide to a Lite and Healthy Lifestyle by Nicole Haywood (Que Publishing, 2005).

Posted by Carol Anderson at 03:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)