Borrowing Books Over the Break

Just a reminder about how to answer students how want to borrow or renew books over the break:

• Students enrolled for Spring can bring their ID and books to the Circ desk. Circ will verify registration and extend their borrowing privileges.
• Students not enrolled for Spring can bring their ID or DL, have their account converted to a community borrower, and borrow or renew 2 books over the break.

All of this needs to be done in person.

Proquest platform migration

Does anyone have an objection to me migrating the Proquest, CSA, and Chadwyck-Healey databases to the new Proquest platform next week?

Market Research Academic

There is a trial to Market Research Academic on the trials page. The navigation is a bit tricky. Look for the 'Download Report button above the purple 'Abstract' tab.
Let me know if you have any feedback.

Status report on reference move

I just wanted to update the reference staff on where we are with the reference move. We're under such time pressure at this point that it's getting a little scattered. If any of you have time in our remaining days before break your help will be appreciated.

1. Zinia has her students pulling books that you've marked to be moved to the stacks. She started with the 3rd floor call numbers.
2. I've been going through the 000-300 ranges and moving those books to the empty range at the start of reference so her students won't have to hunt for them.
3. I hope to start the same process today with the 800-900s -- i.e. move them to the very end of the reference ranges to separate them from the retained reference books.
4. I also have been identifying additional books for withdrawal and am putting them on the back of range 104. You are welcome to do the same should you feel the urge. These will be processed after everything else has been finished.
5. Our next project will be to start compressing the reference books that we will keep onto the shelves that will remain. Whatever can't fit on those will get moved to the back end of periodicals to be held until sections are added to the back ranges.
6. Once we have compressed the retained books onto shelves we can get an exact count and decide how many sections need to be added to the back ranges. We may not need all that we have planned for.
7. As soon as Gale's students are completely done with pulling indexes for withdrawal they will start working on shifting in periodicals to get ready for sections to be added back there. They have to clear the books from the first section of every range that gets an addition, so that will be quite time consuming.
8. I will notify everyone today that if they have students who want to work up to break we can use them. Budgets will be reimbursed from the Commons fund.
9. Kristen Keene plans to put up some "Excuse our Mess" posters and to put information on blog, etc. to explain what is going on once the shelves have been torn out.
10. An interesting number for your consideration: 1.2 miles of shelves are being moved from the front ranges to accomodate our new commons.
11. Almost 100% of the shelving will be kept in the building. On the upper floors several 10-section ranges will be added to each floor in the southeast corner. This will result in surplusing 6 quad carrels on each floor but there will be room left for some double carrels or casual seating. Collection Management is also getting a few ranges for more storage.

Pipeline Login for Retirees

Retirees who don't already have one can apply for an email address and Pipeline account by completing this form and returning it to Cope Room 003, Fax (615)898-5720. The retiree must have an M number, so he or she may need to make a trip to the ID office first.

Presumably, this will allow the retiree to login to library computers without obtaining a guest password each time.

You can determine whether or not a retiree has a Pipeline login by calling the ITD help desk at 5345.

-Amy

Continuing withdrawals from Reference

Update on Nov. 23.

After further discussion with Sharon I'd like to propose a solution to the items we're finding that librarians want to withdraw. We can set aside a couple of sections on the back side of Range 104 (between the end of the indexes that we're keeping and the cluster of JSTOR volumes that we're keeping). Those sections could receive reference books that you want to discard. We wouldn't do anything with them until everything else that is in process has been taken care of. We could assess what's there and decide whether to notify faculty again.

Let me know if you want to do that.

My previous post:

We have so many processes going on simultaneously with the various materials that we are either withdrawing or moving within the building that we need to halt new withdrawals. I know that some of you are spotting things in your section that you want withdrawn rather than moved but the deadline on that expired months ago now. We need to wait now until the dust has cleared on the rest of the process before we handle more withdrawals.

In addition to logistical concerns, we need to not withdraw anything very significant because we have sent the faculty multiple invitations to comment on withdrawals and risk some push back if we then toss titles that weren't listed.

If you think something needs to be gotten rid of please just leave it in reference for now and plan to go back next summer to weed it.

Thanks,

Mayo

Paper Cutter Maintenance

The rotary paper cutters in the reference and DMS areas require periodic maintenance. Two replaceable parts, the blade assembly and the cutting mat, affect cutting performance (see figure 1 below).

figure 1 - replaceable parts

The blade assembly screws in and out and should be replaced when the blade is dull.

The cutting mat requires the most attention because it wears out much more quickly than the blade. A long thin plastic mat that fits into a slot on the cutter, the mat has four cutting surfaces that can each be used before the mat needs to be discarded (see figure 2).

figure 2 - cutting mat

If you see that the paper cutter is performing poorly, please check the cutting mat and rotate or replace it as necessary. If the mat is fine, then please replace the blade.

Extra mats and blades are in the 2nd floor User Services supply room. If you can't retrieve and replace the part yourself, please let Lynda (for DMS), Gwen or Kristen W know.

Jackie Morton went to extraordinary measures to obtain extra cutting mats. Thank you, Jackie!

Criminal Justice Abstracts

CJA will be moving from Proquest to Ebsco by the end of the month. There will be some additional full-text in the Ebsco version.

Hours and Website links for Library Partners

Amy Y. added links for the LT&ITC, University Writing Center, and the Adaptive Technology Center to the hours page on the library web site.

This is a first attempt to help patrons (and us) locate information about services in the building that aren't provided by library staff.

In the future, we may put additional links elsewhere.

Search WorldCat Local for Table of Contents

WorldCat Local contains tables of contents that are not included in our catalog. For example, a student was looking for the play "Crumbs from the table of joy" today.
A catalog search found one anthology that is checked out.
Searching WorldCat local revealed that the play is also in another anthology that is not checked out.
I've had similar success with other searches that are coming up empty, because WorldCat Local includes more tables of contents than our OPAC.
You can find WorldCat local on the Databases A-Z page.

Access World News

Newsbank has offered us use of Access World News until 3/31/2011. Access World News includes over 3,800 sources that we do not currently have access to. It mainly contains international newspapers and media transcripts.
I've added it to Databases A-Z, Newspapers, and Country Studies.
Please let me know what you think of the resource.

Proquest platform demo

For those of your who missed the Proquest trainer's demonstration last week, here's a demo of the new platform. We'll likely be transitioning to the new platform over the holidays.

New ProQuest Platform Demo

Pick your 10 or 15% of reference

Thanks to everyone for great work in choosing reference books to withdraw. Now we are on to the next phase.

It is time to decide what reference materials can be moved to the stacks. Because we weeded a large number of volumes we only need to move between 10 and 15% of the remaining materials.

It's important that everyone do this in the same way to avoid confusion. Here's what we need.
1. Remove any stickers from books that are going to stay in reference (other than the blue ready reference, of course). This will mostly be the orange dots we used to mark books that had been recently used.
2. Work through your area and identify at least 10% of volumes (not titles) to move upstairs. If you hit 15% or even a little more that's ok. When calculating your 10% ignore the big sets of periodicals indexes. Select 10% of what will remain when they are moved or withdrawn.
3. Designate these books by putting a red, yellow or orange dot on the spine and then laying the book down on its spine. We have already used orange and red on some of them and I'm leaving some yellows down at the desk as well.
4. Let me know when your entire Dewey classification range is ready. If someone else works in the same area please coordinate with them. Try to get this done by Thanksgiving. Unless plans change we will be tearing out the front reference shelves during or just after Christmas break, so it's coming fast.

Once an area is reported to be ready we will "check out" the books to a dummy patron so that we can keep track of them. Collection Management will begin working on these one truck at a time until the end of the semester, when we will need to pull everything remaining.

Other developments:

• We expect to move Periodicals indexes that we will keep to the Periodicals area this weekend. They will be shelved in call number order on range 104. Collection Management will get the location code changed for each title as soon as possible.
• We also will begin working on indexes that will be withdrawn soon. You will see students in the stacks with a laptop. Each volume will be checked out to a dummy patron but the volumes will stay on the shelves until we are ready to take them out of the building.

Let me know if you have questions. More information is available on our wiki: refshuffle.pbworks.com.

Mayo

New interface for 19th Century masterfile

Dear Ms. Pozzebon,

From Paratext:

I’m very pleased to pleased to inform your library that Paratext has just released a new introductory portal for your library’s 19th Century Masterfile resource. It includes a quick guide for non specialists, as well as a more intuitive introduction to the over 13 million citations (often with full text links) now within the service.

Details regarding all recent enhancements and the latest content added can be found at www.paratextsupport.com . You can also jump right to searching by visiting http://poolesplus.odyssi.com/

We appreciate your continued support of 19th Century Masterfile as it continues to grow in content and functionality. Please note that, although your library does not currently subscribe to all 19th Century Masterfile*, incentives are in place now to acquire full access at a reduced rate if acquired by the end of 2011.

Voyager links

The night time library elves have been busy hiding links to Voyager in product interfaces for us to discover. If you find one, please let me know.

Oxford Reference MARC records

Without even asking for a kickback, Beverly reloaded the Oxford Reference Online and Oxford Digital Reference Shelf MARC records today.
For those of you who noticed that many new titles in these collections were not loaded in the catalog, now is the time to open the expensive bottle of wine you've been saving for a special occasion.

Econlit

Econlit is moving to Ebsco. We may or may not be getting the full-text version. I'll let you know when we decide. I've changed the link in LibData.
Soon we will never have to see the CSA search screen at all. Merry Christmas.

Duplicate results in Keyword

The problem of duplicate results in the advanced search is now resolved.
http://161.45.205.102/search/X?SEARCH=a:(Scott%2C%20R.%20Neil)&searchscope=1&SORT=D
Yeah for small victories.

Reference Questions from University of Nebraska-Lincoln

I'm trying to trouble-shoot an odd problem. Can you let me know if you've had patrons affiliated with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln contact the Reference Desk for help?
If you could give me as many of the details as you can remember, that would be great.
Thanks!

Article Results in InfoSearch

Everyone isn't thrilled with the placement and format of the article results in InfoSearch results.

Ann is going to investigate the options to make the division between book results and article results more obvious. She is also going to find out why article results still appear when you limit to the print books facet.

The display options for article results are top, middle, or bottom. Feel free to comment here about your preference.

Firefox and My Library Account

Just wanted to let you know that we are aware there is a connection problem to My Library Account through Firefox. David is working with ITD on this. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Ann Funkhouser

Instant Messaging

There are no stupid questions in the library, right?

So, if you feel you need a refresher on Pidgin, are not sure how to open or set up Pidgin, or you need a tutorial on transferring questions, please let me know. I promise to not tell you it's a stupid question.

Kristen

Ebsco visit 9/29 10-11, 4th floor conference room

Our Ebsco rep will be here next week to talk about our current subscriptions, products moving to Ebsco, and their plans for NetLibrary.

Vanderbilt Access Cards

An update on the Vanderbilt cards we circulate via Reserves.

Vandy updated their cards/general access policies and supplied us with new cards. We now have three -- two for graduate students and one for undergraduate students. While that sounds somewhat scary, Vandy does have open hours for the public from 7:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. So after 7:00 p.m.
on weekdays and 5:00 p.m. on weekends, the card is required to get in.

Here is the link with info:
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/central/access.shtml#public

-Christy

Bio 3230 Assignment

Biology 3230 students may ask for reference help this week with an assignment that asks for examples of primary, secondary and tertiary literature. In addition, the assignment requires the use of Current Contents, a publication that is shelved in the current periodicals area. (This assignment isn't new; it's the same one from previous semesters).

Linked to this post are my handwritten notes that may help you direct students to the correct types of examples. Please don't give students examples outright, but try to help them determine what types of resources fall into the three categories and help them determine where to find examples of those resources. Tertiary literature is the most difficult of the three concepts for students to grasp. Examples are abstracts, indexes, article databases, bibliographies, or any type of list). The definitions of secondary and tertiary literature vary depending upon authority, but my handwritten notes reflect what the students are told in this class.

Also, the students had a library session about this assignment on Sept. 8, and their textbook talks about it in depth.

-Kristen W.

LexisNexis vendor visit

Our LexisNexis rep will be here next Wednesday 9/15 at 11 am in 272. She'll answer any questions we have about LexisNexis and also share information on their two core digital suites, LN Congressional and LN Statistical.

Patrons sharing URLs

Around this point in the semester we start getting calls from faculty and students who have shared URLS that don't work from off-campus.
Please refer patrons to this Common Questions answer about using persistent URLs from off campus.
I've been able to configure some databases to include the ezproxy prefix in persistent URLs, but most databases do not have that feature. Patrons do not know that when they share a persistent URL with an off-campus user, they must include the proxy prefix.

Legal Research & Writing Assignment

I have put a copy of Amanda Moore's answer key to her Legal Research and Writing library assignment at the reference desk. This assignment will be given on Tuesday, Sept. 7, and is due Tuesday, Sept. 14.

• The answer key is not to be distributed to students.
• Only use it to help the students advance to the next step in their solution.
• All questions should be answered with print sources that have been covered in their class.
• This assignment does use the Tennessee Code Annotated, which has been moved to the weeding section, so students may need some help physically locating it.

Jason

Heavy Duty Stapler

You have probably seen the new heavy duty stapler in the reference area. It is designed to fasten 2-180 pages, and it works great if operated correctly. However, if you've seen the stapler you've perphaps noticed that it is usually jammed.

I have moved the stapler to the counter between Ref2 and Ref4 so we can supervise its use. The key to successful operation is to follow through when you push down on the lever so that the entire platform lowers into the base (this is what crimps and cuts the staple on the back of the paper). Failure to follow through results in a jammed staple.

Let me know if the location is disruptive.

JSTOR Interface

JSTOR implemented a new search interface last week. I confess I'm too crazy-busy to check it out now, but I thought I would pass along the news.

Interestingly, JSTOR has already made a significant change since the platform update because of backlash about the results list defaulting to all JSTOR holdings regardless of a library's JSTOR subscriptions. JSTOR has published an announcement about the change.

EndNote web connecting to Millennium

EndNote web is now connecting to Millennium instead of to Voyager. To search for catalog records from within EndNote web,
-select the 'Collect' tab,
-under 'Select database or library catalog connection' select 'Mid Tenn St U',
-click 'Connect',
- perform a search
-view or select records, and
-use 'Add to Group' drop down to retain citations in EndNote web.

A question came up today about searching subscription databases from within EndNote Web. While it's technically possible, it would require that the database vendors have created a connection file for EndNote web. If you would like to let me know which databases would be a priority to connect to, I will check with those vendors.

Web of Knowledge on 'Find Articles' starting points

You may have already noticed that Web of Knowledge is now included in the list of 'Starting Points' on the Find Articles page.
I'm hoping to increase usage and awareness of this important (and costly) resource. Web of Knowledge indexes thousands of journals in the sciences and social sciences. It's cited reference utility can help patrons find related articles.

History grad student working in digital projects room

Meghan Fall is a graduate assistant who is working for Dr. Rebecca Conard on developing the Stones River Battlefield Historic Landscape digital collection. She is funded by a year-long special projects grant that the library is a partner to. Meghan will be working 20 hours a week and will be headquartered in room 201b, the digital projects room. She will not have a key to that room so will need to ask librarians at the DMS and reference desks for a key when Ken and Lynda aren't around.

Thanks - Mayo

Two trials and related news

A faculty member asked for a trial to the newspaper The Times of India. It's now available on the Database trials page.
Also available is a trial to Criminal Justice Abstracts from Ebsco. This database is migrating from Proquest to Ebsco. Proquest will be offering a competing product.
Ebsco will also be offering Econlit and Philosopher's Index, two products we currently get from Proquest. I believe we will still have the option of getting those two from Proquest.
In their on-going efforts to one-up each other each vendor is working on new features. NetLibrary books will be cross-searchable on the Ebsco platform sometime around the first of the year. Proquest is working to make all the Proquest, CSA, and Chadwyk-Healey (ABELL, LION) products cross-searchable on a new Google-like platform over the course of the next year.

Logins to ArticleFirst and Electronic Collections Online

Logins are no longer required for the FirstSearch databases. I've removed the login page from the Reference binder.
These resources only appear on Databases A-Z, but they do include some indexing not available elsewhere.
Also listed on Databases A-Z is the Union List of Periodicals. Instructions are provided to go to Worldcat and limit the search to 'Serial Publications'. You can see nearby holdings of serials. This is helpful when a patron needs an article and can't wait for ILL.
On a side note, Ulrichs is a great source for finding where journals are indexed. Remember to click 'Log Out' when you're done with your session because there's only one simultaneous user allowed.

Biology Lab Library Assignment

Last year I updated the recurring Biology Lab Library Assignment, but the old version lives on and continues to show up at the reference desk. You will recognize this assignment as the one that calls for students to find 5 PDF articles (no problem!) and 5 copied from print journals (incredibly cumbersome!). The sample topic is mycorrhizae, but students have the option to pick from a list.

Here are some tips for finding biology articles in our PRINT periodicals collection.

1. Search for the student's topic in the Biological & Agricultural Index Plus database w/ “Peer-Reviewed” limit. (**Date option will help. See below.)

2. Click the "Library Owns?" link to see if the library owns this title in print. This will sometimes give you two catalog entries. Select the one that says, "1st Floor – Periodicals” to see the exact holdings/dates that are available in the library.

** Note: We cancelled a lot of print biology subscriptions after Dec. 2007. If you are having problems finding print articles from 2008 to the present, revise your search and limit the date to “To: 2007.”

**Update: I heard from the faculty member who coordinates the Biology lab GTAs. He inadvertently sent out the old version to the GTAs, but then followed up with the newer version saying to use that instead. I have printed the full assignment and left it at the reference desk.**

Jason

JSTOR volumes in stacks are on the move

As part of our plan for shuffling reference books to the stacks we are moving all of the JSTOR journal volumes that were relocated to the stacks back down to periodicals. We will use shelves removed from reference to make room for the volumes to be incorporated into the periodicals collection after the winter break.

In the meantime, Neal Pistole and crew are bringing them down and shelving them in call no. order on the very last range of Periodicals, facing the south wall. If everything goes well with a global change in Millenium we will have the location fixed soon.

You're not likely to get any inquiries about these but if someone comes to the desk because these aren't in place in the stacks you will know where they are. They of course are available online through JSTOR. - Mayo

Reference USA is back on

Reference USA is now available again. There is are tutorials on the new features at http://www.referenceusa.com/Static/VideoTutorials

Public Copiers

The upper floor copy rooms are now group study rooms, each with one table. All public copiers are in the 1st floor copy center.

Research Coach form

Thanks to Mary Ellen's editing skills, we have a Research Coach request form at http://library.mtsu.edu/reference/res_coach.php

You can find a link to the Research Coach page on Library Forms and on the Library Help page at
http://library.mtsu.edu/help/

U S Government Manual

Please keep an eye open for the 2009/2010 United States Government Manual. The call number is R Un3g 2009-2010. It belongs at the reference desk.

Also, note that the United States Government Internet Manual is now titled the eGovernment and Web Directory.

Lexis Nexis links in Journal Locator

They're now going to the new interface since Lexis Nexis' migration is complete. You may remember that during the migration we were using the new interface but the Journal Locator links were going to the old one.
http://mtsurefstaff.blogspot.com/2010/01/lexis-nexis-links-in-serials-solutions.html

STAT-USA

STAT-USA is going extinct. Apparently the internet has encroached on it's habitat and food source.

Campus Fax Services

I confirmed today that students may receive a fax at the Phillips Bookstore as well as send a fax.

The cost for receiving is $0.49 per page plus tax. Sending is $1.00 per page plus tax for a local number, $2.00 per page plus tax for a long-distance number.

The fax number is 615-898-5680. Faxes are held at the service desk at the front of the bookstore for a few days and then discarded if not picked up.

CRSP & Other Software

Don't forget that the BAS computer lab has a variety of special software applications, many for use in specific business classes.

A student yesterday was looking for CRSP, a subscription service that provides securities price information. He insisted he had used it at the library in the past, which sent a few of us scurrying around for a bit, until Sharon saved us by checking the software list at the BAS.

http://www.businesslab.mtsu.edu/Lab/

Visiting Scholars and Faculty

Visiting scholars and faculty can receive borrowing privileges by turning in a completed form that provides information and signatures from the sponsoring department.

The form is located at http://library.mtsu.edu/circulation/visitingschol.pdf

It is also listed on the Forms page as Visiting Scholar/Faculty Library Privileges Form.

Placing a Hold

Something to know about placing holds--

If you initiate a hold from the advanced catalog (Millennium) you are allowed to select the expiration date for the hold.

If you initiate a hold from InfoSearch (Encore), the hold is placed without allowing you to select an expiration date. Sounds great, except that the system automatically assigns an expiration date 30 days from today, regardless of how many holds are in front of you. Thus, your hold could expire before you come up first on the hold list.

Ann has contacted the vendor about this, but please be aware when helping patrons place holds.

EIC Chairs

The new chairs in the EIC are prone to a loose adjustment knob underneath the seat. I've tightened many knobs and replaced several that fell off completely.

Will you please help by tightening the occasional knob (directly underneath the seat near the back of the chair) when you push in a chair and notice the back is extremely loose? Better to tighten instead of deal with a knob that has fallen out and been lost.

Thanks

Two new databases: Books and Authors and CQ Almanac

There are two new databases. Books and Authors, from TEL, is on the Book Reviews page. CQ Almanac is on the Political Science and History pages.
Happy searching!

Four Alexander Street Press Trials until 8/31/10

A faculty member requested trials to the databases listed below, available on the Database Trials page.:

Jazz Music Library
The Romantic Era Redefined
Alexander Street Literature
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries

Additional titles in America's Newspapers

For the time being, additional titles will appear in America's Newspapers. I'll try to give you notice before they go away, probably at the end of the Fall semester.

Paper

Paper, Printers, Copiers, and Systems Calls

Paper used in the Library is purchased from three separate budgets. There is copy center paper, public printer paper, and staff paper. All paper has to be kept separate so we are working out paper handling procedures to ensure this happens.

4th Floor Systems is handling all calls regarding staff computers and printers.

• All computer, printer and equipment problems should be reported by calling Mike (5043), Lucas (8508), or David (2572) in the Systems office.
• Staff paper for copiers and printers should be ordered as supplies through the Administrative office by contacting Jackie Morton. Jackie is also the contact person for staff copier toner or to report operational problems with staff copiers.

1st Floor Systems (x5666) is responsible for:

• Circulation of laptops, headphones, and ethernet cables.
• Handling all calls regarding non-staff computers, printers, and copiers.
• Students are assigned to refill printers every other hour and to deliver paper to the EIC and the Digital Media Studio. In addition, they clear paper jams and replace toner cartridges as needed.
• Specialized students will work on other system specific calls such as computer troubleshooting and maintenance kits.

Note: The STAs in the EIC and the Digital Media Studio will be handling printer and computer problems in their areas. The only exception will be for maintenance kits and toner which will be handled by the 1st floor systems staff and students.

-Ann

Reserves are on the move

One more item crossed off the list: Reserves functions have moved!

• Laptops now check out from the Periodicals Desk.
• Headphones now check out from the Periodicals Desk.
• Systems students at the Periodicals Desk will help patrons with simple periodicals questions and refer more complex questions to the Reference Desk.
• All other reserves collection items now check out and are returned at the Circulation Desk.
• Either now or very soon, ext 5666 will ring in Rachel Whitten's office in Periodicals and will continue to be the number to call for technical help beyond what the EIC students do.

Kristen W.

Ezproxy login page

The Ezproxy login page now uses the University template. I know the previous template was an old and trusted friend, but it was time to go.
http://ezproxy.mtsu.edu/login

Logging on to "My Account"

For now if students or faculty want to access their accounts online (to renew books, place holds, rate resources, etc) they need to log on using their name and their barcode.

InfoSearch in LibData

I am replacing Voyager search boxes used in CourseLib and LibData pages with an InfoSearch advanced catalog search box. I'm doing the same thing for any mention or link to Voyager catalog.

Right now, there are two InfoSearch resources in LibData:

• InfoSearch - an Encore search box (functions like the search box on the library home page)
• InfoSearch Advanced Catalog Search - an advanced catalog search (Webpac search)

Feel free to modify your pages as you see fit. The search boxes are primitive--I may be able to do more with them later when I have learned a bit more and when more material types are available for use.

Please let me or Mary Ellen know if you see a need for a different kind of searchbox or LibData resource.

Kristen W.

Journal Locator

For the time being, the Walker Library Holding link will not appear in Journal Locator. These links go to Voyager right now and it will take some time to create a new list for Serials Solutions of journal holdings with links to Millennium.
Keep in mind that consequently, Article Linker won't indicate if an article is available in print. Watch the database to see if it says "title is held locally," which is a good indication we have a print copy of the title.

Time Products Leaving LexisNexis

Time, Inc. withdrew its publications from all LexisNexis products today (LN Academic had 2yr rolling coverage for Time titles). Titles affected are:

• People


• Fortune


• Time


• Entertainment Weekly


• Sports Illustrated


• In Style


• Money


• Business 2.0


• Field & Stream

Testing 1 2 3

This is a test post to make sure the necessary individuals are receiving email notice of new blog posts.

Kristen W.

New Book Carts

If anymore carts of new books appear at the Reference Desk take them immediately over to Valerie. She only has through Friday to change their status from in processing to available.

Reed Business Publishing Cancels Journals

This news concerning Reed Business Publishing was posted on BUSLIB-L yesterday:

In case you did not notice - on April 30, 2010, Reed Business Information stopped publishing Purchasing Magazine (www.purchasing.com) and over twenty other titles.

Refer to press release: http://www.reedbusinessinformation.com/index.asp?layout=inside&articleId=CA6726615

Excerpt. The following brands have been discontinued:
Building Design+Construction, Chain Leader, Construction Bulletin, Construction Equipment, Consulting-Specifying Engineer, Control Engineering, Converting, Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, Graphic Arts Blue Book, Graphics Arts Monthly, HOTELS, Logistics Management, Material Handling Product News, Modern Materials Handling, Plant Engineering, Professional Builder, Professional Remodeler, Purchasing, Restaurants & Institutions, Semiconductor International, Spec Check, Supply Chain Management Review and Tradeshow Week.

Purchasing Magazine was established 95 years ago and by the late 1990s, it has a website www.purchasing.com . To the supply chain community, this is a very big loss. Several times per day, this publication reported breaking news developments about various industries. More importantly, for a nominal price, it also provided trend analysis and price forecasts for hundreds of commodities. Many businesses, especially small ones on a tight budget, relied on their information which was attainable for a reasonable price. For example, for about $80 per month, one could obtain a copy of executive editor Tom Stundza's Steel Flash Report which gave a monthly average price and forecast for a number of highly used steel products. Publications offering forecast information usually cost thousands of dollars.

As Trip Wyckoff, publisher of Special Issues, could probably attest, all of these ceased publications above offered rankings and annual surveys which those in the industry regularly used. Maybe this is a wake-up call for the users - good information is not free and it disappears if no one wants to buy or support it.


Respectfully,
Danguole Kviklys
Chicago

We have electronic access to Purchasing through several of our databases. I just wanted to let you know since it may take some time for the changes to be reflected in Serials Solutions.

Asian Pacific American exhibit

We have mounted an exhibit of books about Asian Pacific Americans in the tall exhibit cases near the first floor elevators. The books will be in the cases for several weeks -- maybe all of May. This is for Asian Pacific Heritage Month and is in response to a request from a student.

All of the books are checked out to me. The display card in each case tells patrons that if they want to read any of the books they will be available when the exhibit is taken down at the end of May. I will leave a list of the books at Reference.

Thanks -- Mayo

World Bank data now open to all

I am copying this post from the BUSLIB-L digest announcing newly open access to extensive data available through the World Bank.

Sharon

Date:    Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:26:31 -0500
From:    "Gray, Gwendolyn" 
Subject: World Bank opens their data

All,

I just read this and thought I would share.  It’s a wonderful development!

WORLD BANK GROUP OPENS DATA TO ALL

World Development Indicators, Global Development Finance, Africa Development Indicators, and Global Economic Monitor are now free, open, and easy to access at data.worldbank.org

Recognizing that transparency and accountability are essential to development, the World Bank Group now provides free, open, and easy access to its comprehensive set of data on living standards around the globe—some 2,000 indicators, including hundreds that go back 50 years. The data is available in Arabic, French, and Spanish in addition to English.

Gwen

Gwen Gray
Business & Economics Librarian
172 Ellis Library
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, MO  65201-5149

Accounting Research Manager trial

There's a trial to Accounting Research Manager that expires next week. Please check it out and let me know what you think about it.

Thanks for your earlier feedback on EasyBib. We decided not to get it right now.

Public Service materials in Room 144

Sometime at the end of April a collection of notebooks will arrive to be housed in Room 144, on the bookcase opposite Melissa's desk. These are the nomination materials for the University Public Service award. I'm chairing that committee this year and wanted to be sure that we got good participation from committee members. Last year we had a very hard time getting people to come review and vote, in part because the Continuing Ed. office is off campus and has limited hours.

I will post a list of the Public Service committee members at the reference desk (not that this stuff is highly confidential) and will let the Service Desk know about this arrangement as well. . I will be instructing the committee members that they can ask at the Reference desk to be let into 144 if the door is closed. I believe everyone now has a key that works for that door, correct?

There will be blank review forms on the table and a box to receive completed forms. The materials will stay in the library until the end of May.

Thanks -- Mayo

Easy Bib trial

There is a trial to Easy Bib on the Database trials page. Please check it out. This may be our chance to get something better than EndNote Web.

Chat box in EBSCO databases

We now have a chat box in all of our EBSCO databases. Look for it in the right hand column after you make a search. You may have to maximize the area called Middle Tennessee State Chat Library (don't ask me why it has such an awkward name.)

Please let students in your classes know about this option.

Trials update 3/5/10

There is a trial for Sage Reference online until 4/2/10. We're considering the possibility of getting our Sage Reference books exclusively on this platform.
Please check it out. With more and more reference sources going online, the various platforms are an important consideration.
Also, Adam Matthew Digital extended the trial for several of their primary source products.
http://library.mtsu.edu/userservices/eresources/trials.php

High School English Students

Don't forget that Literature Resource Center is one of the databases available through TEL. That fact might be of interest to visiting high school English students, who don't have off-campus access to the resources MTSU pays for.

Easiest way to get to Literature Resource Ctr in TEL is:

http://tntel.info

Click "All TEL Databases" underneath the yellow search bar

Scroll to "Literature Resrouce Center" in the alphabetical list

-K. West

Economist and Arts & Humanities Index trials

There are trials on the Database Trials page to several resources from the Economist Intellegence Unit. These look like great resources for answering those tough international economics quetions. The navigation is a little tricky on the trial, look to the left to access the products.

Also, we have a trial to the Web of Science Arts & Humanities Index. This is our chance to find out what's behind door number three, but only until 3/22. Enjoy!

Chicago Manual of Style

We now subscribe to the Chicago Manual of Style online. It's available on the History subject guide, the Citation and Style page, and Databases A-Z.
Please let me know if it should be placed anywhere else. ~Mary Ellen

Reference Desk Voicemail

Please don't forget to delete voicemail messages from the reference desk after you resolve the question. If there's a message you can't take care of, please write a note for the person relieving you.

When someone else checks voicemail later and hears the old message, it's impossible to know if the question was answered or not.

thanks!

Lexis Nexis links in Serials Solutions

Lexis Nexis links in Serials Solutions products still go to the old interface. This is something Serials Solutions controls and they haven't determined whether they're going to change the links because Lexis Nexis' migration period runs through 6/30/10.

Electronic Resources invoices from Collection Management

Occasionally Collection Management student workers have left ER invoices at the Reference desk when the outside door to 144 is closed.
I've asked that they not do this anymore because I don't want to make anyone else responsible for getting it to me or opening the door when patrons may need help at the Reference desk.
If a student worker forgets, please feel free to ask them to try again or have a CM staff member leave it in my box. Thanks.

Popular Magazines in Gale DBs

To All Libraries:

Over the weekend, TSLA learned that at ALA Mid-Winter EBSCO announced it had won exclusive rights to many popular magazines. The extent of this loss in content in our Gale collections is not entirely known at this moment, but we have spoken with Gale this morning and they confirmed the loss of the Time publications, such as Time, People, Essence, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Time for Kids, Entertainment Weekly, as well as Forbes magazine. Gale will be forwarding us a complete list of magazines (total of 14 titles) and we will pass this along to you all as soon as we receive it.

Gale said that full-text of these magazines would remain in the Gale collections until December 2010. TSLA will be vigilant in monitoring these magazines in Gale to be sure of their availability through that time.

Starting today, we will be working towards finding a way to provide these magazines through TEL and will be exploring ALL of our options.

We have reason to believe that Gale will lose additional magazines and we are working on verifying what content will be moving to EBSCO exclusively. We will keep all Tennessee libraries informed about this as we investigate this matter further.

We are VERY concerned about this loss in content and want you to know that we will be working hard to resolve this issue expeditiously. We want the content available through TEL to be the best and most relevant it can be and we will do all that we can to ensure that it is.

Thank you,



Sue Maszaros
Special Projects Coordinator
TN State Library and Archives
403 7th Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37243
Phone: 615.532.4627
sue.maszaros@tn.gov

Tennessee Code Annotated

You can search the TCA in both LexisNexis and Westlaw Campus Research. Michie's Legal Resources is a freely available site you may want to use. Michie's also has a browsable file for the TCA index, something the other two resources don't have.