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Database Highlights & Trials

Journal of Visual Experiments (JoVE) Available Online via UST Libraries

JoVE The Chronicle of Higher Education has a nice article on the online Journal of Visual Experiments (JoVE). JoVE is an entirely new scholarly publication format, combining journal article and video documentary of scientific experimental methods.

The UST Libraries recently subscribed to this video journal to support our science disciplines. Note that while the Chronicle article mentions that JoVE is published in five topical and one general section, UST at this time can only afford to subscribe to the general section (watch for the “G” icon in search results). Articles from JoVE are indexed in PubMed and other indices.

Each article presents citation information, an abstract, links to video “chapters”, and other features in addition to the video article itself. JoVE is available via our databases page, the Journals A-Z list, several science discipline research guides, and directly at: http://www.jove.com.ezproxy.stthomas.edu/general.

JoVE article

JoVE cartoon

October 31, 2012 by

Database Highlights & Trials

Hurricane Sandy

Just because we’re landlocked and nearly as smack-dab in the middle of the country as you can get, don’t think for one minute you’ll be completely free of Hurricane Sandy’s wrath. No matter how far the distances, we are living in a very small and connected world. What happens on the eastern seaboard can most definitely impact us as we go about our daily lives. Power outages effecting the major grids on the east coast can impact our grids out here in the midwest. Those outages will require server farms located out east to rely on backup generators – but how long can those last? There’s an interesting infographic that shows what could happen should a major hurricane hit the cloud. We subscribe to thousands of eresources – databases, ebooks, ejournals. Some of them may be housed on the east coast. We may lose access to some of our subscriptions. There’s no way to predict. I guess I just want to make everyone aware that there may be Internet outages because of the storm and just to stay flexible and patient while those who are in the thick of it work things out.

We suspect that we were already hit with one such scenario this weekend. EStatement Studies, a resource that has financial ratios, was down on Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday. They are located in Philadelphia. Their offices are closed today because of Sandy. Chances are they were making preparations for the upcoming storm and moving or migrating content. This is just speculation on our part, but it makes sense. EStatment Studies came back up yesterday afternoon and is working fine now. In fact, we’ve heard from several of our vendors that their offices are closed and to please be patient. They wanted to allow their “employees and their families to prepare for and remain safe in the severe weather.”*

On the flip side, while we brace ourselves for the possibility of losing content, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have opened their paywalls for unlimited free access during the storm. The headline was catchy: Hurricane Sandy blows down paywalls at NY Times, WSJ.

Still report all access problems to any database, ebook or ejournal, but also just try to remember that it’s a small world and things may not be working for us here because they’re REALLY not going well somewhere else.

*Email correspondence from Johns Hopkins Project Muse rep.

October 29, 2012 by

Database Highlights & Trials

TRIAL – Docuseek2

Cindy Badilla-Melendez writes:
Docuseek2 is an online streaming video collection delivering about 180 titles from Bullfrog films and Icarus Films. Subjects include Environmental Studies, Social Sciences, Political Science, Latin America, Globalization, Earth sciences, Indigenous People, Sustainability and more. Be aware: for the purpose of this trial, this database only can be accessed on campus. If you have any questions or comments , please contact the Media Librarian, Cindy Badilla-Melendez.

Ends 11/25/12.

October 23, 2012 by

Database Highlights & Trials

TRIAL – New international newspaper database

How often have you read a story about an important news event taking place in another part of the world and wanted to know more about it? Or what about wanting to know how world events are perceived in other parts of the world as opposed to the North American perspective? The Access World News Research Collection from Newsbank provides full text access to over 6,000 international news sources including newspapers, newswires and magazines.

You may enter keywords or phrases just as you would any other article database –

The real power of this database is the ability to take the topic you want to learn about and then pick the news sources you want to use. You can start out broad and look for newspaper sources from all over the world, you may choose to search specific regions such as all of Asia, or you may decide to drill down to specific countries. You may choose the countries you would like to search with menus or you can click on colorful maps that put the countries you are interested in into context with the rest of the region.

Finally, if you decided that you wanted to get a very local perspective instead of a larger, global view of an event, you can use The Access World News Research Collection to search North American and state sources. Just as you can click on individual countries to find their newspapers, so you can click on states for regional stories and opinions. This way you can read views on the Arab Spring from as far away as Kazakhstan, or as close to home as Delano, MN.

In full disclosure, the University of St. Thomas does already have two databases that contain the same level of international and local news coverage, however after trialing this database I have to say that this beats them both in terms of ease of use. If you have used either Factiva or Lexis-Nexis before I believe you will find The Access World News Research Collection a breathe of fresh air. And if you have not searched either of those news databases then I think you are in for a treat.

Either way I would love to hear your opinion! This trial will continue for three months so you have plenty of time to explore and compare it to what we currently own. Regardless if you agree with me or not, I would love to hear your opinion! Please send any and all comments or questions you have to me.

October 2, 2012 by Andrea Koeppe

Database Highlights & Trials

TRIAL – New World Cinema

Cindy Badilla-Melendez writes:

New World Cinema: Independent Features and Shorts, 1990–Present, an online streaming video collection, delivers approximately 200 fulllength feature films from leading independent distributors such as Kino Lorber, First Run Features, Film Movement, MK2, and the Global Films Initiative, along with approximately fifty award-winning shorts

Trial ends 11/30/12.

October 2, 2012 by

Database Highlights & Trials

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES – DSM-IV

Calling all head shrinkers… the DSM-IV is currently experiencing technical difficulties. There seems to be a major server error on the part of the parent company, Psychiatry Online. You can get to the articles/chapters, but all the links within the articles/chapters do not work. At all. The timeline to get it fixed is around October 9th. Too bad, maybe they could have looked up the server disorder in the DSM-IV. In the meantime, looks like you’ll have to come into the library to use the print book. How very 2002.

October 2, 2012 by

Database Highlights & Trials

Core Curriculum – Social Analysis

You only need to take one class to fulfill the Social Analysis requirement. And as it turns out, the classes below with the asterisk also fulfill the Human Diversity requirement. That’s a pretty good deal. Two birds and all that. The goal of this requirement “is to ensure that all students develop basic abilities to perform social scientific analyses of patterns of social interactions.” The goal of this post is to ensure that all students have quick and easy access to the resources that will help them in class.

ECON 211, 251, 252

GEOG 111*, 113*

POLS 104

CQ Electronic Library – follows what Congress is doing.
Oxford handbook of American political parties and interest groups
Political Handbook of the World Online Edition

PSYC 111

SOCI 100*, 110*

October 1, 2012 by

Database Highlights & Trials

Core Curriculum – Language & Culture

Think globally, folks. Think globally. And when you think globally, it might help if you could think in a language other than English. So if you’re taking a foreign language, we have a great source to help you.

Oxford Language Dictionaries Online – Spanish, Russian, Chinese, French, German and Italian. These translate to and from English, so if you’re stuck on a word, give this a try. But it’s more than just words, it’s got grammar, verb tables, and pronunciation.

We also have whole databases in Spanish (you actually search in Spanish and get results in Spanish, so you better be fluent) and ebooks in French. We got even more resources, so check ’em all out on the Languages databases page. Or see if there’s a course guide.

September 28, 2012 by

Database Highlights & Trials, Uncategorized

Direct Export to RefWorks from Gale Databases Temporarily Not So Direct

ATTENTION REFWORKS USERS:

If you are running into problems trying to export citations into RefWorks, check to see if you are using a Gale database.

If you are using one of these databases, chances are you seeing one of two things.

Experience #1

In CITATION TOOLS, you choose REFWORKS, hit EXPORT, and see this:

Lucky you! You get the super easy fix! Just click on the hyperlinked RefWorks and you are on your way.

Experience #2

In CITATION TOOLS, you choose REFWORKS and it asks you to download an .RIS file.

-OR-

Go ahead and save this file somewhere on your computer. You are going to need it to finish the process. The next step is to log in to RefWorks. Once there, choose IMPORT found under REFERENCES.

Next, change the DATABASE to RIS FORMAT; then, browse to your saved file under SELECT TEXT FILE; and finally, click IMPORT.

Gale has been made aware of these problems, so hopefully exporting from these databases into RefWorks will soon once again be direct. Until then, these few extra steps should get you where you need to go. If you encounter any other problems, just remember, we are here to help you!

September 24, 2012 by Kari Petryszyn

Database Highlights & Trials

Core Curriculum – Fine Arts

Art history! Music! Theater! Now we’re talking my language, people! This is where I shine </jazz hands>. As a former art librarian, I am happy to tell you we have wonderful art resources here in the library, the greatest of which has to be ARTstor. Simply the greatest collection of digital art images for museums and universities. You can rotate the works, zoom in, crop, save, and/or download images Admittedly, I’m a bit biased towards this project cuz I was involved in AMICO – the forerunner to ARTstor. It has since merged with ARTstor. Hence the love. Also, it’s wicked awesome! Oxford Art provides all of the text to accompany the images in ARTstor. It’s a HUGE encyclopedia (think of Wikipedia just for art) on all things art – from artists, works, movements, periods, techniques, and more. More art resources. Art guides.

We have terrific music resources, my favorites being the streaming audio databases. Literally hundreds of thousands of songs played directly to your computer. So much fun. Look up genres, instruments, song titles, composers, etc. My particular favorite is the Smithsonian Global Sound because I’m more interested in traditional and world music than classical. But hey, that’s not to say the classical and jazz resources are shabby. These are cool, too – just not my bag. But if it’s information about music you need, and not the actual music, then Oxford Music has got it covered. From world to jazz and classical to folk, this is a one-stop shop for background information on all things music. Also, it’s fun to flip through. More music resources. Music guides.

Theater. Ahhh… all the world SHOULD be a stage. In my previous humanities-based core curriculum entries I’ve given Blackwell Reference a big shoutout. Gonna do it again here people! It’s huge for theater. If you’re the type who likes to watch their theater instead of read it (first, bless you. There’s little that compares to the experience of live theater. Secondly, I hope you support local theater), be sure to check out VAST and Films on Demand for wonderful adaptations of your favorite (or required) plays. Maybe you’re a Dr. Who or Harry Potter fan. Well I’m happy to report that we’ve got David Tennant’s turn as Hamlet from the Royal Shakespeare Theater’s production. This is quality stuff! If you need theater criticism or background, Literature Criticism Online and Literature Resource Center have got you covered. More theater resources.

September 24, 2012 by

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