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research

Database Highlights & Trials, Libraries, Services

Technical Difficulties (off campus only) – APA PsycNET

 

UPDATE: ALL ACCESS HAS BEEN RESTORED!

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PsycNET and all of it’s associated databases (PsycINFO, PsycBOOKS, PsycTESTS, and PsycARTICLES) changed their interface on Monday, July 17. Since that time, these resources have not been available for access from off campus. This is a problem being widely experienced across universities, and APA is actively working on a solution.

During this time, the resources ARE accessible on campus, but if you need an alternative database to use from home, check out these helpful research guides for undergraduate psychology research or graduate psychology research.

We apologize for the inconvenience!

Faculty News, News & Events

Faculty Feature: Celebrating Faculty Scholarship

faculty_scholarshipAs you may have seen in your email, this fall, the Libraries are collaborating with Faculty Affairs, the Center for Faculty Development and the Grants and Research Office to celebrate UST faculty scholarship.  In preparation for an event on November 20th, the Libraries are putting together a list of faculty publications between July of 2014 and September of 2015. 

We monitor faculty publications throughout the year and already have a good start on this list. In an effort to make the list as comprehensive as possible, we’re making  additional request of you to send us the citations of your publications – including (again, from July 2014 – September 2015):

  • Books
  • Chapters
  • Articles
  • Refereed Conference Presentations

We’ll be creating a physical and virtual display of what we know will be an impressive collection of the scholarly and creative output of our faculty.

We’d hate to miss anything! Please send your citations to Laura Hansen at O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library. Any questions, please call Laura at 962-5011.

Thanks!

Database Highlights & Trials

SCHEDULED SERVICE INTERRUPTION: ProQuest Databases (Including RefWorks) Down for Maintenance Saturday Night

ProQuestLogoOn Saturday, August 8, ProQuest will be upgrading its systems infrastructure to improve performance, security, and overall reliability of its products. The window is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. and will last for eight (8) hours.

During this time access to the ProQuest products listed below will not be available:

Research databases

  • Databases on the ProQuest platform (search.proquest.com)
  • Databases on the ProQuest Congressional platform (congressional.proquest.com)
  • Databases on the Chadwyck-Healey platform
  • ProQuest Digital Microfilm

Reference management

  • RefWorks

Bibliographic and catalog enrichment resources

  • Books in Print®
  • ProQuest Syndetic Solutions™
  • Resources for College Libraries

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause!

Database Highlights & Trials, Libraries, News & Events, Services

Do you Summon?

Hi Students! As your research is gearing up this semester, we have a question for you:

Do you Summon?

Summon is a Google-like search tool here at UST Libraries, and you can use it just like you’d use Google…Go ahead and search our databases, book catalog, video collection, and more – all at once!

We know your professors ask you to find specific types of resources for assignments.  With Summon, you can easily filter for peer-reviewed articles, items published in a particular time range, and more.  Even better, it automatically refers you to a relevant UST librarian if you need more help!

Watch the short video below for more great tips and hints about using Summon, and (as always), Happy Searching!

Archbishop Ireland Library, Circulation

Far from campus?

Outside7CountyMetroSummer is wrapping up.  Did you spend time on-campus working towards a graduate education degree and are lamenting that you’ll be far away from campus and easy access to resources for your studies?

If you’re outside of the seven-county metro area, you’re in luck!  UST Libraries offers distant students the following services:

  • Electronically scanning and delivering book chapters and articles from periodicals.  Make a request through ILLiad.
  • Discussing research topics, little and large, via online chat or over the phone, 651-962-5001.
  • Mailing books from our circulating collections free of charge.  Check out the “Interlibrary Loan for Distance Students and Faculty” section here.
  • Plus mailing books other libraries lend to us for us.  This includes CLIC collections in addition to our local region and beyond!
  • And, of course, accessing our ever growing collection of e-books, full-text articles, and online reference works is as easy as logging into your email through the proxy server.

If you are finished with all of your course work and working on your final project or thesis, be sure you are considered active and “on the books” so your access to these resources isn’t cut off!  Each academic department handles this a little differently, so contact your registrar for details.

Best wishes on teaching this fall and on your own studies!

~ Mason M., fellow graduate student and Ireland Library student staff

Libraries, News & Events

Finding Census Statistics during the Government Shutdown

I blogged last week about government sites that are down because of the partial government shutdown.

If your assignment can’t wait any longer, and you’re scratching your head about where to get government data and stats when so many websites are shut down, we do have some ideas for you!  (We’ll keep this list updated as we hear more, too – so check back!)

  • The Wayback Machine (waybackmachine.org) has done a great job archiving in-depth versions of government sites –  as opposed to just screenshots of homepages – so a lot of data can still be found via their site.  It will not be the most up-to-date, nor will it be complete, but it is better than nothing!

These and some other great hints are published by the Pew Research Center – and more are continually being added by researchers across the country.

As always, if you have specific research questions, please don’t hesitate to ask an UST librarian – we are happy to help out!

Libraries, News & Events, Services

Federal Government Shutdown affects Research

It’s happened: the Federal government has shut down.

For those of you doing research today, you may start to encounter a screen that looks a lot like this one:

census.gov

Because of the shutdown, many websites funded by the federal government are currently also down, including statistical organization websites, public sites, blogs, online surveys, and more. Many of them are used by UST researchers on a regular basis.

Below is a list of websites linked to on our subject guides that we currently know of that have been affected; we will try to keep it up-to-date with anything new we discover. 

If you would like assistance finding alternative resources for your research, please feel free to contact any UST Librarian.

Resource Status
American Community Survey Shutdown
American Factfinder Shutdown
Bureau of Labor Statistics (including Consumer Expenditure Survey) Up, but not being updated
Census Bureau Shutdown
Department of Energy Up, but not being updated
Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Website is down, but content is still available via the ERIC database (EBSCO-owned). No new data is being uploaded to EBSCO.
Fedstats Shutdown
Library of Congress Shutdown – Interlibrary Loan will also NOT be available from any federal library, which could potentially cause delays
National Center for Education Statistics Shutdown
PubMed Up, but not being updated
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Shutdown
United States Geological Survey (USGS) Main site shutdown; some critical subsites still live

Archived versions of these websites can all be viewed on the WayBack Machine (waybackmachine.org).  Other options for alternative sources of information can be seen on this list compiled by the Pew Research Center.

More information about the shutdown and available government services can be found at USA.gov.

Archbishop Ireland Library, Kudos, News & Events, Science, Special Collections and Archives

Chemistry Department & Libraries Work Together to Preserve Books

More Books with Spew

We all know that UST Libraries have a wonderful collection of rare and archival materials. Sometimes, however, taking care of so many old books can be a challenge, especially when they are discovered to be growing things they’re not supposed to. Who knew that we had a real-world chemistry problem sitting right here on campus!? 

Books with SpewBooks with SpewWhen Mr Curt Le May, Director of the Archbishop Ireland Memorial Library, approached the Chemistry department for help in identifying white film forming on the surface of leather bound 300-year-old books, Meghan Talbot, chemistry major and a research student under Dr. Marites Guino-o, was glad to help.

Meghan Talbot

Meghan collected the white film/powder by using a spatula and carefully scraping off the residue found on the surface of the leather bound book, “Histoire des variations des églises protestantes.”  Through a combination of three characterization techniques (FTIR, Mass and NMR spectroscopy), she deduced that the white film/powder is a spew (or speu). A spew is a combination of carboxylic acids that originated from the leather itself, and leather dressing used to increase the leather’s preservation and flexibility.

“Being able to work on a project such as this was a great honor. It was a very interesting experience to be able to work with a book that was evidence of a time in which I had learned about in previous history classes. I am glad that the work that I was able to do has the ability to help the library preserve books, such as this one, as they are such a crucial connection to our past.” ~Meghan Talbot

We at the library are grateful to Meghan for helping us find out what the white substance was, so we could find a way to safely remove it and keep these books for future Tommies. Cooperation across the campus can certainly be a great thing!