Public Fax Service

It's our understanding that no one is offering public fax service on campus right now, until the Student Union copy center opens.

Lost Water Bottle

This bottle has been at the reference desk for several days. Is it yours?

ILLiad weirdness -- 8-16-12

Hi all,

Yesterday I helped a new ILLiad user submit an ILL request through Article Linker (originating in Web of Science). He was able to authenticate into ILLiad, and his ILL article request form was populated with no problems.

He didn't remember ever having set up an ILLiad account though, so I had him check his user information. It was BLANK. I've reported this to Mayo, but wanted you to be on the lookout for similar weirdness with new ILLiad users. I am not able to replicate this "new user weirdness" since I already have an ILLiad account.

Jason

Search all state gov site at once

It used to be that to search federal and state sites you could go to google.com/unclesam. But that has closed (for more information on this click here). However, the people at Research Buzz have created a nifty work around that allows you to search all state government sites. http://researchbuzz.me/2012/07/11/limit-your-google-search-to-official-us-state-web-sites/

Could be helpful.

resource for business startup, SEC filings

http://www.formds.com/

FormDs has information on startups and growing companies of all kinds - stealth mode tech startups... even hedge funds startups.
Free Resource for locating SEC Filings


You can search for people, companies and industries, or by location.

Celebrity Access Database

We have a class assignment right now where students need to use the Celebrity Access database. Celebrity Access is a password controlled database limited to one simultaneous user at a time. It is available from the computer in room 259 otherwise known as the Bloomberg Room. Information about the database may be obtained from the Databases A-Z list.

To use Celebrity Access:
• Reserve room 259 at the Service desk up to one week in advance.
• Obtain the daily password from the Reference desk.
• The Reference desk will open the door to the room.
• Please let the Reference desk know when you’re finished with the room.

The directions for how to obtain the daily password for Celebrity Access through an MTSU email account may be found in the small, white Database Passwords notebook at the desk. Once the daily password is obtained add it to one of the password slips of paper kept with the directions, give it to the student, and let them into the Bloomberg Room. The database URL is http://www.celebrityaccess.com . Thanks.

Sharon

Vogue Archive

The Vogue Archive (1892-present) has been added to Databases A-Z, Art, and Design.

Title list for H.W. Wilson databases in Serials Solutions

Hopefully this mill be my last message regarding this issue.

- Ebsco reports that they made current and correct full-text title lists available to Serials Solutions.
- Serials Solutions reports that they updated their knowledgebase with the new lists.
- Serials Solutions' link team corrected misinterpretation of metadata in open-urls being received by Ebsco databases.
- Serials Solutions turned 'one-click' back on for Ebsco databases, so that patrons go directly to the full-text in Ebsco databases when clicking on the Article Linker button.

If there are any more problems, please let me know. ~Mary Ellen

Rupprecht Reserve Items for HIST 3090

Students in Dr. Rupprecht's HIST 3090 are discovering that essays that they are expecting to access electronically through e-reserve must now be accessed in print from three books available at the Circulation Desk. Dr. Rupprecht has reached the limit of items that she can place on electronic reserves and still be in compliance with copyright law. Suzy Burkhardt has provided us a copy of her entire list of reserve items. I have print outs of the table of contents of the books that are on reserve so that students can determine which one to ask for that includes their essay. Two of the books are also available as ebooks. I have noted which ones on the reserve list. Thanks!

Sharon

Phillips Bookstore Online Textbook Search

As many of you already know Phillips Bookstore is transitioning to being managed by Follett. Unfortunately, the online textbook search option on their page is not working. It may work sometime next week after the bookstore staff finish entering course information. They are making no promises. The phone number for Phillips is 898-2700. Option 2 on their phone tree is for student inquiries about textbooks. This will make it more difficult for us to help students trying to find their textbooks in our collection. Mondays are wonderful!

Sharon

Final Exam Schedule Web Page Down- Pandamonium Ensuses

The final exam web page is temporarily down. Students can call 2600 or just ask us. Scheduling is sending us a copy of the schedule, which will be put at the service desk and ref desk. People are kinda freaking out over this!

SciFinder Scholar - now unlimited users

SciFinder Scholar now has unlimited users. References to the simultaneous user limit are being removed from LibData.

60,000 pgs of TN newspapers from 1850 to 1876 now online at TN State Lib

"More than 60,000 pages of Tennessee newspapers dating from 1850 to 1876 are now online at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Through a project called Chronicling America, selected papers from cities and towns across the state are being converted to digital format and made available for free searching online.

Dozens of Tennessee newspaper titles have been scanned, indexed and posted on the Internet, with focus on the Civil War era. It's through a partnership with the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of Tennessee.

The site is http://www.tn.gov/tsla/resources/index.htm ."

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/apr/26/old-tenn-newspapers-now-online-at-state-archives/

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/apr/26/old-tenn-newspapers-now-online-at-state-archives/

ACS stduy guide

Hey all,

A number of students are coming over asking for the ACS study guide or 1010 chemistry study guide - their instructor told them we had it on the shelves. It is actually- Preparing for your ACS examination in general chemistry : the official guide / Lucy T. Eubanks and I. Dwaine Eubanks- and it is in reserves.

Library Privileges for Unenrolled Students - Summer 2012

Students who are not enrolled for Summer 2012, and perhaps not yet for Fall 2012, but who need borrowing privileges and off-campus database access over the summer in order to work on a special project may complete the non-enrolled student form and submit it the circulation desk. The form requires a signature from the student's faculty advisor. Privileges will be provided within a day or two of form submission.

Kristen

Where do I print?

FYI

The computer that is located at the Library Tech Services desk right hand side sends it print jobs to the EIC print stations.

Checking out books over Summer Break (2012)

I can never remember how this works, but Peggy clarified it for me this morning...

Students enrolled for Fall 2012 (but not Summer 2012) may check out books over the summer. The check out period is 28 days. They may still renew online, but if they are home in Alaska (or wherever) and someone puts a hold on the book, they are still responsible for getting it back to us.

Jason

Queen Victoria archive goes online

BBC News - Queen Victoria archive goes online

Rarely seen documents chronicling the life and reign of Queen Victoria have been made public on a new website marking this year's Diamond Jubilee.
The Royal Family released its archive of letters, journals, painting and photographs for the launch.

http://bbc.in/I7a8vP

Historical Maps Go Digital

USGS Release: Historical Maps Go Digital (4/19/2012 7:00:00 AM)


The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has publicly released more than 161,000 digitally scanned historical maps spanning in excess of 130 years and covering the conterminous lower 48 states. This Historical Topographic Map Collection provides a comprehensive repository of the landscape of our Nation and tracks changes through time,


http://nationalmap.gov/historical/

This is great for geneologies, history, geography and environmental sciences

Article Linker and Wilson databases

I asked Serials Solutions to remove article-level links for Wilson databases from Article Linker and instead they removed them from Article Linker entirely - whooops. Apparently, it's not possible to remove just the Article Level links. I've asked them to put the Wilson databases back in.
I also asked them to make the Interlibrary loan link available every time, instead of only when Article-level links are not available. So when there really is no coverage, there is easier access to the Illiad request form.
Lastly, I asked them to turn on one-click for all databases. We'll see which ones are having continuing problems with one-click and just disable those.
Let me know if you have any questions. Below is an e-mail from Serials Solutions that outlines their continuing work with Ebsco to improve the knowledgebase.
_______________________________________________________________

Serials Solutions Support Center

Hi Mary Ellen,

I got a great update from my coworker Christene. It appears that EBSCOhost is aware of this issue "EBSCO Support Case #885143 ER 57294". They are in the process of update their databases. At the moment we are not getting updates for many and we are manually updating the databases ourselves. Update below:

"In regards to your request for the title list to OmniFile Full Text Mega to be available on our FTP site, I have recorded this as an Enhancement Request, which allows me to pass your feedback on to our developers and to track requests of this nature from our customers going forward.

I am also working with the Product Manager and our MARC update process to see if there is a timeframe for when these title lists will be loaded to the FTP site. Once I have more information in regards to your request, I will send you a follow-up email."

I wanted to share this information with you. We are looking forward to this being addressed ASAP.

Have a nice week!

Access World News

Newsbank turned on a long-term trial for Access World News last year, but the price was prohibitively expensive.
I've removed the trial from the website and Journal Locator.

Clearing Library Holds during Early Registration

Amanda Damaschun and Peggy Colflesh are checking several times per day to clear registration holds for library fines and fees that have been paid during the early registration period which runs from April 2-13, 2012. Normally, we ask for one business day before the holds are lifted. Keep in mind that those paying after Peggy and Amanda leave for the day or on Sunday will need to wait until the next morning before they get cleared and can register. However, if a student that has paid brings a copy of their receipt to the Circulation Desk at any time we are open they can get cleared immediately. Let's give a round of applause to Circulation for providing timely service to our students!

Sharon

ERIC and Medline

Per request, I changed the links for ERIC and Medline to the Ebsco platform.

Biographies Plus Illustrated

H.W. Wilson's Biographies Plus Illustrated is now Biography Reference Center. Biography Reference Center, like Points of View, cannot be searched with our other Ebsco databases. Here is the product description
We also now have Biography Reference Bank. This can be searched with our other databases simultaneously, and is included in the articles search on the front page. Here is the product description.
Should I create another LibData resources for the latter resource, Biography Reference Bank, or not?

Dixie Price

Dixie will be out this Thursday, March 29th in order to travel to Knoxville to take her comprehensive exams. She normally works at the desk from 3:30-7:00 P.M. Please wish her good luck!

Sharon

Shepard's Citations

There is a Business Law assignment requiring students to use Shepard's Citations. It is now standard to do citation searches online rather than using print citators or the old CD-Rom versions. Shepard's Citations is located in LexisNexis Academic under the US Legal tab on the left-hand frame. Westlaw has a competing product called KeyCite. It is available in Westlaw Campus Research. You will need to click on the Law tab located on the header. From there enter either the citation or the case name in the Find box on the left-hand side. The KeyCite report is a part of the record returned about the case. I have added an entry for Online Citators to the online legal resources guide that explains how to access these important resources. It appears in the same section as the links to LexisNexis Academic and Westlaw Campus Research.

Sharon

Update on Article Linker connection to Ebsco

I received the note below from Serials Solutions today, in response to my concerns about error messages in Ebsco products from Article Linker links.
I've asked Serials Solutions to turn off the one-click feature for all Ebsco databases for the time-being. What this means is that when Article Linker finds that the full text for an article should be available in an Ebsco database, it will go to the Article Linker results page, instead of trying to open the article.
I have previously turned off one-click for Gale databases, so you can see an example of this behavior in this article: Is computer science education in crisis?
Please let me know if you have any questions. ~Mary Ellen

Hi Mary Ellen,

Thanks for checking in on this, and my apologies for the inconvenience. Our link development team has been working on this as a high priority and has identified a fix for this issue that will be applied an upcoming software release. As soon as I have a date from them confirming when this will be corrected, I will let you know.

Thank you again for your patience.

Best regards,
Lisa

Populations for Metropolitan Statistical Areas

Am I the only one who gets regular reference desk phone calls from a guy named Sam about 2010 population figures for Metropolitan Statistical Areas? (And sometimes about radio station output power?)

It always take me a while to fumble around and find MSA populations with American Fact Finder, so here's a direct link to the relevant Census Bureau table. I've also got this link bookmarked on the desktop of Ref2.

-- Jason

Using WorldCat Local to request books through ILL

Here's a tip for helping patrons request books through ILL:

- Find the book in WorldCat Local
- Click the "Request through Interlibrary Loan" link on the right
- Log in to Illiad
- The request will be pre-populated with the book's details
- Review, then click "Submit Request"

Baruss and Bal Article

You may have students asking for "Perceived Parental Attachment and Achievement Motivation" by M. Bal and Imants Baruss. The professor who made the assignment apparently did not provide any additional bibliographical information. The article is available only in print in Psychological Reports. It is in the December 2011 issue which is v.109 number 3 on page 940. It is shelved in the current periodicals area, but will likely wander. Although Psychological Reports is indexed in PsycInfo this particular issue has not yet been added.

Sharon

Bloomberg - problems with streaming media

I am working on a solution to a problem with streaming media on the Bloomberg terminal. I'll put a note on the monitor for the time-being.

They Say I Say, With Readings

Some English classes are using They Say I Say, With Readings, 2nd edition from 2012. We have one copy on reserve, and it's a popular item. We have two reserve copies of the 1st edition from 2008.

Don't hate me, but I've told several circulation students and staff that if a student needs an essay from the 2nd edition that isn't in the 1st edition, and the 2nd edition isn't available, the reference librarians will help the student try to locate the essay online or in another book in the library. I successfully did this twice in the last 30 minutes.

First you have to know the complete essay title and author, so I'm posting the TOC below. I included links to the three essays I've located. If I get around to it, I'll update this as I locate other essays. Now that I went to all this trouble, no one will ever ask this question again, but that's the way it goes!

Kristen

They Say I Say, With Readings 2nd edition (2012)

PART 5 - READINGS

14. IS HIGHER EDUCATION WORTH THE PRICE?
· ANDREW HACKER AND CLAUDIA DREIFUS, Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission?
· SANFORD J. UNGAR, The New Liberal Arts
· DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, Kenyon Commencement Speech
· LIZ ADDISON, Two Years Are Better Than Four
· KEVIN CAREY, Why Do You Think They're Called For-Profit Colleges?
· CHARLES MURRAY, Are Too Many People Going to College?
· MIKE ROSE, Blue-Collar Brilliance
· ROBIN WILSON, A Lifetime of Student Debt? Not Likely

15. IS POP CULTURE ACTUALLY GOOD FOR YOU?
· STEVEN JOHNSON, Watching TV Makes You Smarter
· DANA STEVENS, Thinking Outside the Idiot Box
· ANTONIA PEACOCKE, Family Guy and Freud
· MALCOLM GLADWELL, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
· DENNIS BARON, Reforming Egypt in 140 Characters?
· DAVID CRYSTAL, 2B or Not 2B?
· ROZ CHAST, The I.M.s of Romeo and Juliet
· TOM BISSELL, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
· JASON ZINSER, The Good, the Bad, and The Daily Show
· GERALD GRAFF, Hidden Intellectualism

16. IS FAST FOOD THE NEW TOBACCO?
· DAVID ZINCZENKO, Don't Blame the Eater
· RADLEY BALKO, What You Eat Is Your Business
· JUDITH WARNER, Junking Junk Food
· WIL HAYGOOD, Kentucky Town of Manchester Illustrates National Obesity Crisis
· MICHELLE OBAMA, Remarks to the NAACP National Convention
· MICHAEL POLLAN, Escape from the Western Diet in Pollan’s In Defense of Food
· MARY MAXFIELD, Food as Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating
· SUSIE ORBACH, Fat Is a Feminist Issue probably in Orbach’s Fat Is a Feminist Issue, but I don’t know what pages of the book correspond.
· CARRIE PACKWOOD FREEMAN AND DEBRA MERSKIN, Having It His Way: The Construction of Masculinity in Fast-Food TV Advertising

17. WHY DOES IT MATTER WHO WINS THE BIG GAME?
· MAYA ANGELOU, Champion of the World
· WILFRID SHEED, Why Sports Matter
· MICHAEL KIMMELMAN, Women Who Hit Very Hard and How They've Changed Tennis
· JENNIE YABROFF, In Defense of Cheering
· FELISA ROGERS, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Football
· SARA MARATTA, Move Over Boys, Make Room in the Crease
· WILLIAM MOLLER, We, the Public, Place the Best Athletes on Pedestals
· JOE POSNANSKI, Cheating and CHEATING

18. WHAT'S UP WITH THE AMERICAN DREAM?
· BOB HERBERT, Hiding from Reality
· CAL THOMAS, Is the American Dream Over?
· BRANDON KING, American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?
· ROBERT H. FRANK, Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/business/17view.html
· PAUL KRUGMAN, Confronting Inequality
· KAREN OLSSON, Up Against Wal-Mart
· SEBASTIAN MALLABY, Progressive Wal-Mart. Really.
· CONSTANCE M. RUZICH AND A. J. GRANT, Predatory Lending and the Devouring of the American Dream
· BARACK OBAMA, A More Perfect Union

Reference USA tutorials

The Reference USA sales rep showed me these useful tutorial videos.
Reference USA is helpful for a variety of business questions, including industry and entrepreneurship research.
Find company news, stock data, USS filings, and more. The powerful custom search creates reports on a variety of criteria, including geographic area, business size, and financial data, among others. The corporate tree feature (blue arrow) is especially useful for finding information on companies and their subsidiaries.
Remember that Reference USA also include a white pages for 89 million residents.

Lib262-XX computer location

You may not know, as I didn't, that the LIB262 computers are located in the group of carrels to the south of the DMS, and not in room 262, which is now the Media Library.

Kristen

Continuing problems with Ebsco and Article Linker

Ebsco is having a problem receiving open-url links. See the error message in the screen shot below. This article is an example.
I'm working with Serials Solutions and Ebsco to try to resolve the problem.
In the meantime, the only solution is to open Journal Locator in another window and search for the journal, or search for the article in the Ebsco database. The 'Journal' link in Article Linker also works.

One-click and HW Wilson databases

There are some problems with using Article Linker to access HW Wilson databases that have moved to EBSCO.
Instead of the article opening up, you get an error message. You can click on 'Go to Article Linker search results' and click on the 'Article' link to access an article.
I've been corresponding with Serials Solutions about this and hope to have a fix soon.

Celebrity Access Procedures

Celebrity Access is a password authenticated database with a license for one simultaneous user. A daily password is sent from Celebrity Access to log into the database. This password must be given to users each day. If more than one user tries to login with the same password, our access will be discontinued. It’s important that we restrict this from happening.
Therefore it is only available in room 259 through a desktop shortcut. The password will be available via an MTSU e-mail account that will be accessible to the Reference desk.
When a student requests access to Celebrity Access:
1) Go to http://www.mtsu.edu/email/ to look up the daily password.
2) Use Faculty/Staff Exchange to log into the following account:
• User name: erpassword
• Password: [see Reference binder]

3) Give the student the Username, Password, and daily password using one of the enclosed sheets in the Reference binder.
4) Open the door to 259, making sure that the handle is still in the locked position, so it will lock when the student leaves the room.

Adobe Problems

The Reference Desk computers are experiencing sporadic problems with the Adobe reader and printer functions.  If you get an error message or a debug report message while viewing or attempting to print a PDF document, the only solution so-far is to restart (not just log-off and then back on) the computer.  Computer Support suggested that as a precaution, we should manually restart the Reference Desk computers each day instead of just logging-off. 

Library Fees Must Be Paid Online

Just a reminder that patrons must pay library fines and fees online--paying in person at the Business office is NOT an option. To patrons who say they don't have a card to use online, I suggest having a friend use their card, or buying a prepaid Visa or Mastercard to use.

Kristen W.