Infoshare Database down

On Dec. 21, Loren Mendelson at CCNY reported on CULIBS that the Infoshare database is not working. Their server crashed a couple of days ago and they're have problems bringing it back up.

UPDATE: Infoshare is now working again.

Firefox at the reference desk

My article in Library Journal, "Firefox at the Reference Desk," was just published today in the December 15th issue. You can read it online at the Library Journal web site. One thing that didn't make it into the final version of the article was a list of links to the resources discussed in my article:

BookBurro
http://bookburro.org/

Book Borough
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/1498

Firefox 1.5
http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.htm

Firefox 2
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

IE Tab
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1419/

Internet Explorer 7
www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/

L2
http://lib20.com/blog/

Mycroft
http://mycroft.mozdev.org/

OpenURL Referrer
http://www.openly.com/openurlref/

Pearl Crescent Page Saver
http://pearlcrescent.com/products/pagesaver/

Snapper
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2703

If you'd like to try some of these things out, the staff PC at the front right corner of the reference desk has Firefox installed with these extensions: Book Burro, L2, IE Tab, OpenURL Referrer, Pearl Crescent Page Saver, and Snapper.

Vendor Printer

The vendor printer was reading "service required" at 7pm Wednesday evening and wasn't working. I sent a request for service to the Help Desk.

Paper for Printers in room 238

The paper supply is running low in room 238. Nelson has been notified. He stated that the suppliers are scheduled to arrive today (Dec. 13th) to save the day.

Preview LexisNexis Academic redesign

There's a bit of information available on the LexisNexis Redesign 2007 page about the upcoming changes. (Thanks to Rita for sharing this with me.)

Databases that require patrons to set up free accounts

A handful of our databases require patrons to register for a free account before they can access the database at all:

• Audit Analytics
  
• Books24x7
• Gartner (you have to have a CUNY Portal login to get to this database)
  
• LearningExpress.com
• MRI+
  
• netLibrary
• RefWorks (no remote access yet)
  

Some databases don't require registration but offer it (or request an e-mail address at the outset) so that you can get useful personalization:

• CCH Business & Finance
• CCH Capital Changes
• CCH Tax Research
  
• ebrary

If I forgot a database, please add it in the comments section of this blog post.

Wilson to offer retrospective Library Literature databases

Just saw an announcement that next January H.W. Wilson will launch Library Literature; Information Science Retrospective: 1905 -1983.

New Videocamera Loan Service

I've just created a videocameras page in the wiki that details everything I know about this new service. Please add any other details to the wiki page that you think should be there (just click the "Edit page" link on the videocameras page, login using the password that we've always used for logging in to the wiki, type in your corrections or additions, and then click "Save.")

Investigative Journalism Web Links

Barbara Oliver, Director of Research for the NY Times, was a guest lecturer at my Research Methods course at the Graduate Journalism School last week and was kind enough to share the following list of links used at the Times for investigative stories.

The sites might be useful for helping students at the reference desk and for updating online subject guides.

Jerry

Here are the links:

Public record finder

http://www.brbpub.com/pubrecsites.asp



State Courts

http://www.ncsconline.org/D_KIS/info_court_web_sites.html



Incarceration records by state

http://www.vi nelink.com/index.jsp



National Sex Offender registry

http://www.nsopr.gov/



Updates on law, media and technology

http://www.bespacific.com/



Targeted leagl research

http://www.llrx.com/



CT case lookup

http://www.jud.state.ct.us/jud2.htm



CT professional licenses

http://www.dcpaccess.state.ct.us/DCPPublic/LicenseLookup.asp



NJ Civil Motion calendar

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/acms/MOTN/CV0390W0E.ASP



NJ Professional licenses

http://www.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/consumeraffairs/search/searchentry.pl



NY Professional licenses

http://www.op.nysed.gov/opsearches.htm



Federal Tax Court

http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/docket.htm



NYS Attorney look-up

http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/attorney/html/AttorneyWelcome.html

NYC Civil Servants

http://www.citylaw.org/cityadmin.php





HEALTH AND MEDICINE

http://denison .uchsc.edu/education/eval.html



Evaluating Risk

http://www.stats.org/stories/media_distort_nov21_2006.htm



Questionnable Doctors

http://www.questionabledoctors.org/



The Cost of Poverty

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err26/err26.pdf



BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS



Public Company Information

http://www.sec.gov/



Business filings by state

http://www.llrx.com/columns/roundup29.htm

Simmons Choices III and Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy available again!

Saad has set up a new CD-ROM server, thereby returning access to Simmons Choices III and the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. These two databases may only be accessed from selected PCs in the library.

SimNet tutorial

According to the 11/20/06 Ticker, the SimNet tutorial will no longer be free and available through the BCTC.
Reasons were not given in the article.

Students will have the option of purchasing a $35 SimNet study guide from the Bookstore starting sometime in the Spring 07 semester. SimNet is an assessment test on Excel that must be passed in order for students to be able to take CIS 2200 or STA 2000. It takes 1 hour 15 minute (max) and is administered all year by the Office of Testing and Evaluation. Students will have the opportunity to take it a number of times, with a 30 day wait period.

I suspect we will see increased interest in Excel (e) books (and BCTC workshops).

Student research and satisficing

Interesting post today by Steven Bell at ACRLog, "Moving Students Beyond 'Good Enough'" that addresses ways that college assignments might be designed to combat the habit of students to follow a satisficing model when looking for information.

CUNY Policy Documents Site

80th Street has announced a new Web site where CUNY policies are posted:

http://policy.cuny.edu/

American Chemical Society Journals

We have unfortunately lost off-campus access to this database again, due to systematic downloading. Saad is investigating further.

SWOT analyses

After the discussion at yesterday's ISD meeting about how to assist students working on SWOT analyses, I stopped by Louise's office to discuss the matter further. I believe we should probably do something other than just direct students to search Business Source Premier (and also Business Monitor Online) to see if there is a SWOT analysis for the company they are researching. (Louise and I agreed that at a future ISD meeting we should have more discussion about whether we point students to the Business Source Premier SWOTs at all, or if we do, how we should frame that recommendation.)

I'd like to share a couple of tips that Louise gave me in assisting students. First, students should always start by reading specific portions of the company's 10-K if the company is public: Item 1 (the "Business" section), Item 7 (the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" section, and Item 7A ("Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.")

Then students may want to look for analysts' reports in Investext Plus and industry reports in the usual databases. Once students have the necessary background information, then they are ready to look for articles on specific topics they might include in their SWOT analysis.

If students want in-depth instructions about how to do a SWOT analysis, a good source is Craig S. Fleisher's Strategic and competitive analysis : methods and techniques for analyzing business competition.

I also like to recommend a few notable websites offering instructions on how to do a SWOT analyses:

• Danca, Anthony C. "SWOT Analysis."
• MindTools. "SWOT Analysis."
• UCSD Libraries. "Get Started with Business Research."
  

Rebooting instructors' computers in classrooms

The instructor's computer in 130 had a frozen blue empty desktop screen yesterday. The desktop came back when rebooted. However, it is necessary to hold down the power on/off buttom very firmly, and for several seconds, until it reboots. Saad said that this is often the case with newer machines.

American Chemical Society Journals

Off-campus access has been restored.

Stewart's presentation today on WorldCat.org

Here are links to things that Stewart discussed today at the ISD meeting:

• WorldCat.org
• Lorcan Dempsey's blog (and his post, "Making Data Work Harder")
  

Euromonitor GMID

Should be working from off-campus now.

Factiva now works in Firefox

Until recently, Factiva only worked in Internet Explorer. I just discovered today, though, that the database now works fine in Firefox (previously, Factiva would give you an error message if you tried to load the database in any browser other than Internet Explorer). One more reason to give Firefox a try and start enjoying all the bells and whistles that make it a richer and more efficient way to browse the web.

Roundup of database woes and issues

This post provides a quick update on a number of database access issues that have been reported in the past few weeks and months:

American Chemical Society Journals (ACS): No remote access.

ebrary: Users must download the ebrary reader before they can view an e-book.

Euromonitor GMID: No remote access.

NetLibrary: Baruch students may only access e-books in NetLibrary that are clearly owned by Baruch. There is no way that Baruch students can view e-books that are owned by libraries at other colleges in the CUNY system.

RefWorks: No remote access.

Simmons Choices III: There is no access to this database at all. We are working on a solution. In the meanwhile, students should inquire at the reference desk to see if MRI+ might be able to provide them with the marketing data they need.

ABI INform Global log in problems

Is anyone else having problems logging onto ABI Inform Global? I have alerted Mike.
Rita

Update on American Chemical Society Journals: no remote access

Updating my post last night about the lack of access to American Chemical Society Journals, I'd like to note that on-campus access does work. It is only off-campus access that is being denied by the vendor.

No access to American Chemical Society Journals

If you try to connect to the American Chemical Society Journals, you get a long error message from the database vendor indicating that our access has been disconnected. Here's the gist of the message:

Access to ACS Publications has been blocked from this IP Address because of suspected systematic downloading of content from an ACS Journal Web Edition or the ACS Journal Archives.

By my writing this blog post, Mike and Saad will be notified of this problem (they'll automatically get an e-mail version of this blog post).

Ebscohost Down This Saturday

All EBSCOhost databases will be unavailable this Saturday, November 19th, from 6 AM to 2 PM. They are upgrading their power supply.

Reserving the Graduate Consultation Lab

Please see my Nov. 14th post about the lab -- which is used for small group consultations/instructional sessions with graduate students.

The schedule and reservation procedures for the Graduate Consultation Lab can be found on the shared drive (Look under Divisions, Graduate) by opening the file called GraduateConsultationLabCalendar. Or you can open the file by clicking here
The file also has a brief description of the room. A link to the schedule can also be found on the Reference wiki.

Reservation procedures: Contact Linda Rath at Linda_Rath@baruch.cuny.edu or at 646-234-3653 to add your consultation/instruction session to the calendar. If the room is needed immediately and Linda is not available to schedule the reservation, feel free to use the room if it is not already reserved. A librarian must always be present in the lab during a session.

Access to the room: Ask Annette Ruiz or a student assistant in room 420 for the key. Please note that room 420 closes at 5:30pm, so please make arrangements to pick up the key before the room 420 closes.

Graduate Consultation Lab

A friendly reminder that the Graduate Consulation Lab (room 445) is reserved for small group consultations or instruction sessions by appointment with a librarian. Please direct graduate students to contact Linda Rath to request an appointment. Of course, any librarian can also arrange to use the lab for consultations (please contact Linda for scheduling purposes). The lab is not an open, drop-in lab. Also, students cannot request keys for the lab at the Circulation Desk. Thanks.

Direct Marketing Lab Open House

The Direct Marketing Lab is holding an Open House this afternoon from 12:30 to 2 PM and this evening for graduate students from 5 to 6 PM.

Instructor's computer in Room 130-help desk report

I wasn't able to get the instructor's computer in Room 130 to boot up properly at noon. The Daily Quick Scan report remains. I entered a help desk report #1986. Rita

Information Studies Minor Open House 11/21

We are having an OPEN HOUSE to publicize our Information Studies Minor in advance of Spring registration. It will take place next Tuesday, 11/21, from 12:30-2:00 pm in room 135. A light lunch will be available. Students who are interested in coming should RSVP by email directly to me, (Diane_DiMartino@baruch.cuny.edu), or phone me at 646.312.1614, or leave their names and email addresses on a sign in sheet which is at the reference desk. This is short notice but was the only time that this type of event could fit into the schedule. Faculty who teach or who are interested in our program and want to encourage our students to take the minor should plan to attend. And or course, please encourage students to attend. We will be distributing more info in the classes and around the library.

Thanks, Diane (and Jerry) for the Publicity Committee

Aleph installation weekend of Nov. 11

Liborio Campisi posted this today on CULIBS:

As you know we are installing an Aleph "Service Pack" this weekend.Report any problems to the Help Desk (212-541-0981). Gather as much information on the problem as you can and have it available. The exception to this is over the weekend: Either report the problem on this list (culibs-l) or e-mail me.

"Accounting" PowerPoints posted

I've posted the two Powerpoint presentations mentioned in recent blogs on the shared networkdrive: Go to Shared at Divisions/IS/Workshops and Course-Related/. These PowerPoint deal with searching the trial ABI/Inform Global for Accounting and Tax Standards, and searching RIACheckpoint for FASB Literature. I broke the RIA Checkpoint Powerpoint up into 3 parts because of the size.

Question about printing problems--what to do?

With several recent printer problems (e-reserve or other articles) not printing correctly at the student printers,and also not printing sometimes at the reference desk, but then fine when printed from my office computer (third time being the charm) I was wondering is there something to be checked on the printer setup that we can do? If so, could some details be provided? If not, is it best to put in a help desk request or follow another procedure? Thanks.

Powerpoint on Searching Trial of Proquest's Accounting & Tax with Standards

To follow up with the announcement earlier today from Mike Waldman that we have a trial to Accounting and Tax with Standards via Proquest, I've done a short PowerPoint demonstration for accounting students. I've printed it out and put in in the drawer with the Powerpoint on searching RIA and other sources for the gift card assignment. If you would like to receive a copy of the most recentPowerPoint online, please let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

This trial allows you to search the same documents as RIA Checkpoint's Acctg Audit & Corp Finance, including the Current Text of the FASB literature, current as of March 30, 2006 so More current information may be found on the free FASB website and RIA Checkpoint. But, much will be unchanged. An advantage of having this information available on ABI Inform Global is that previously academic access has been limited by FASB to online versions of their literature from private vendors. So, it provides more access for our students.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks, Rita

ILLiad not available from off campus

If you try to click the link to ILLiad from off campus, you won't get anywhere at the moment. I didn't realize that this was an issue until I saw a message about it on the alerts section of the BCTC page (where I went to check the status of Lotus Notes, which today has been unable to deliver our e-mail messages).

Library Room 135

The remote control for the projector in room 135 in the Newman Library will not shut the projector off. I notified the Help Desk a few minutes ago after the morning class. Perhaps the remote needs a battery?
David

Research Consultations sign-up

Students may now sign up for a half-hour research consultation using a form on the library's web site. The link to the form can be found on the graphic on the right side of the home page. There should soon be a link also in the scrolling message that appears near the top of the home page.

I'll be making a presentation at Monday's ISD meeting about this fall's program. In the meanwhile, you may want to take a look at this press release about it that is currently on the college's home page.

Some additional sources to consider for supplier information

In trying to help a student locate information for the BPL 5100 class about suppliers to a particular company (in this case United Parcel Service), the following sources might be helpful.

This information is difficult to find, as Louise noted in her May 16th post Supplier or the Supply. As the student I was trying to help told me that others were looking into UPS's filings, we tried the following:

Search Business Wire or PR Wire on Factiva for possible new contracts/joint ventures/projects, using phrases like "contract with" or "supplier to". If a company lands a large contract or signs on to supply a major company they may make an announcement about it.

Search ABI Inform, Business Source Premier, Gartner, etc for "company name" and procurement or purchasing.

If a company has a "social responsibility report" or "sustainability report" (an optional report), the report might mention organizations to which the corporation belongs. Sometimes these organizations offer awards, such as for diversity support or "greening" efforts. Sometimes the organizations have publications and they might feature a company either that is a supplier. The announcements of the awards might mention particular companies that supply materials to the firm or organizations. On a site about reducing pollution I found that UPS was working with several other organizations and companies to have cleaner vehicles.

Another librarian suggested a google search +supplies to United Parcel Service would bring up results that could be checked out.

copy machines signs requested

Since the copy machine is gone from the 2nd floor, I've asked Jerry about getting some signs made and posted about where students have access to other machines.

What's going up at 23rd and 3rd?

See this post from the Curbed blog for a rendering of the condo being built now.

Census Bureau report on educational attainment and income

Yesterday the Census Bureau released it 2005 report on educational attainment and income.
According to the report: Adults age 18 and older with a bachelor’s degree earned an average of $51,554 in 2004, while those with a high school diploma earned $28,645, according to new tabulations released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Those without a high school diploma earned an average of $19,169

Cambridge researcher to pick up book at "hold for pickup" box

J. Ruescas, a Cambridge University researcher, will return Friday morning to look at The Western Saharans, which is held for him at the "hold for pickup" box at the reference desk. He was referred to us via a Metro Card from NY Public because their copy of this book has gone missing. He appreciates our help.

Tips for accounting assignment re Gift Cards

A number of accounting classes will be working on an assignment dealing with accounting for gift cards. I will be doing some short workshops to help the students as for many, this is their first time searching the FASB literature, trying to understand what they are saying; searching a database, and completing an assignment.

Some faculty have told me that they like it that the library can help students search for the information but can't tell them the answer. (If pressed to tell the "correct" answer, I tell them my grade in financial accounting and that puts an end to asking me for the answer. Also, as with much of accounting, there may be alternatives that are permitted. The alternatives may or may not have specific advantages or there may be a preferred method, but that's for the students to find out.


RIA Checkpoint is the database we have that allows you to search FASB documents. I'm revising a more detailed search guide from last year. (The FARS discs are not being used this year.) I'll post the longer guide when it is available.

Here are some tips:

Tips for the “Gift Card” assignment for Accounting students

This is the first time many students will be using the official accounting standards issued by The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Some things they need to consider: From the facts presented, what might be the significant of the details presented: Time periods? Relationship(s) of the parties? Whether there is any thing that is uncertain or remains to be performed? Whether this is one transaction or a series of transactions, Whether there is a projected income or loss? That the company is public?

The standards are difficult to understand. So, before searching in a database for the standards, students may want to do some background work, looking for explanations that might be helpful.

Several sources:
Listed in databases in Search & Find:
CCH Business Research – Most of the accounting sources are not available on this database but Search Tools offers a thesaurus that students can use to find synonyms to gift card. This may give clues for other terms to search in other databases.

CCH Accounting Research Manager—a keyword search for gift cards, or keyword searches for synonyms, will bring up some interpretative information and explanations, that will refer to FASB documents. (Unfortunately, FASB documents are not available in this database—a restriction of FASB to the academic community.)


Before searching the databases, students might want to look for articles about gift cards and accounting. (These keywords work in ABI Inform Global and Business Source Premier, and result in a short list of articles that can be helpful in explaining the issue(s) behind accounting for gift cards.) One could also use a popular search engine. (Don’t tell the students but there is uncertainty about this issue and as their assignment indicates, two ways that one can account for gift cards.)


RIA Checkpoint is the database that includes FASB and AICPA statements.
§ Change practice area from Federal to Accting, Audit & Corp Finance.
§ A basic search to get started is: gift card or gift certificate in the search box and limit the search to FASB




From here on, this is where the accounting students need to read and interpret and come to their own conclusions.

If students want to search specific parts of the FASB publications, after selecting FASB, they should click Table of Contents and keep drilling down until a list of the publications appear. The Current Text has general standards and industrial standards. The general standards, arranged by topic, may be helpful. The current text is not officially part of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) but it provides hyperlinks to the statements and other documents that are part of GAAP, as well as links to explanatory information.

The FASB website, http://www.fasb.org/, does not include the Current Text. It is not easy to search the site by keyword if one does not know the source document needed.


I hope that this is helpful.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks, Rita

Citation styles come with articles sent from Ebscohost

Now, when sending an article from EBSCO Host Databases, the user can also select a particular style (MLA, APA, etc).

Video crew in the library today

As Jerry reported on BBLIB-S this morning, there will be a video crew on the 4th floor of the library today between 2:45 and 4:00 taping an interview with Dean Myrna Chase.

Halloween stats

In case anyone asks for Halloween related statistics, some can be found thru the US Census Bureau on their "Facts for Features & Special Editions" site at this page.

Some stats on this page include: date of first official citywide celebration, # of potential trick-or-treaters, # of occupied housing units that are potential trick-or-treating stops, # of costume rental establishments, etc.)

"Facts for Features and Special Editions consist of collections of statistics from the Census Bureau's demographic and economic subject areas intended to commemorate anniversaries or observances or to provide background information for topics in the news. "

Problem with computer 2085

I've reported to the help desk that on computer 2085 Yoda is now the screen saver. I can't get it back to the normal setting.

Mediaweek's Marketer's Guide to Media

Prof. Luna's MKT3520 class is working on an assignment using this reference title which we have put on reserve.

Thomson Research Down This Saturday

Thomson Research will be upgraded this weekend and will be unavailable from 10 PM to 2 AM on Saturday.

Great new site for Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ)

A week ago, RUSA launched a new RUSQ site that has a blog feed and the full text (!) of articles in the current issue (read the ALA press release here).

Also freely available to the world on this site are the reviews of reference materials from the "Sources" section of RUSQ. At the moment, reviews from 1997-2002 can be found in full text; plans are underway to offer reviews from 2003-2006.

Launching this site is the best thing RUSA has done in years.

What is RefWorks?

On Monday, Rita and I attended a training session for RefWorks, a new web service that is available to all CUNY students, staff, and faculty. You can find it listed with all the databases on our Databases page.

So what is it? Rita and I will likely do a brief presentation on it at an upcoming ISD meeting, but for the moment here are the basics of what you can do with it:

• save your citations in a web-based service
• manually enter your citations (you type them in, one by one)
• automatically enter your citations from a database or catalog search (you export to RefWorks the citations you've saved within the database interface)
  
• generate a formatted bibliography from your citations (you first pick one citation style from one of the hundreds available)
• insert in-text citations as you type in Microsoft Word (requires a small plug-in for this bonus feature)

To get started, you'll need to set up an account. One great thing about the service: you can create as many different accounts as you'd like. Why would you want to do that? What if:

• you were working a group assignment or project and wanted to have a shared space to store citations
• you wanted to keep separate work-related citations from those tied to personal research needs

More details will be provided at an ISD meeting later this fall. It is also likely that the library will offer a special workshop for Baruch faculty to introduce them to this new tool.

No remote access to RefWorks

At the moment, there is no remote access to RefWorks. I've notified Mike about this problem.

USB Flash Drives and Graduate Computer Workstations

If asked ... Please advise graduate students to LEFT click on the USB flash drive icon (it is the one with the green arrow over a flash drive on the lower right corner of the screen) to "eject"/remove their flash drives from the Graduate Computer Workstations. If they try to remove it another way, they will see an error/security restriction message.

(Students are used to right-clicking on the icon, or choosing the drive under My Computer to remove it. Due to the security set-up on the Grad. Workstations, these options are not available.)

Are log-in problems increasing?

In an admittedly unscientific study, based on my perceptions from working on the reference desk and supported by responses from other librarians of whom I inquired, I have concluded that it seems that log in problems are on the increase from last year. I was asked to blog about it.

It may be that use and problems move in the same direction. Assuming that I have made a correct conclusion, is there something that can be done to reduce the problem? Is there something more that the librarians should know to tell students? If I have reached an invalid conclusion, I'm sorry and I'll do an extra shift of guest log-ins.

Citation Indexes at CUNY and NYPL

The Web of Science citation indexes are available online at these libraries:

City College

Science Citation Index - from 1995-

Graduate Center

Social Sciences Citation Index – from 1990-

Hunter

Arts and Humanities Citation Index – from 1996-

Science Citation Index – from 1996-

Social Sciences Citation Index – from 1996-

Note: There is a 3 user limit for each database

Queens

Science Citation Index – from 1999-

Social Sciences Citation Index – from 1998-

New York Public Library –SIBL and Humanities & Social Sciences

Arts and Humanities Citation Index – from 1975-

Science Citation Index – from 2002-

Social Sciences Citation Index – from 1956-

NASDAQ CEO on writing and critical thinking

In his interview here at Baruch last night, Robert Greifeld, President and CEO of the Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc., told Baruch students he was an English graduate from Iona College. When asked later by a student how being an English major had helped him, Greifeld stressed the importance of writing in business. Being an English major had helped his writing as it developed critical thinking skills. He stressed the importance of well-written e-mail communications. The interview was taped so I am sure that it will be available in the future. (Greifeld also earned an MBA from NYU.)

Databases at NYPL

The New York Public Library has been adding to its website. I just noticed that they have a direct link to a list of Databases available from Home.

Update on copy Machines; Coin Machine Down

The status of the copy machines in the library is as follows:

2nd floor - copy machine is down because of an electrical problem - Will not be resolved soon.

3rd floor - 4 copiers are working but copy machine #3694 (located in the middle of the room) is down . Copico needs to replace a part but we don't know how long that will take.

4th floor - copy machine is down - needs a part - Expect this to be fixed Monday.

5th floor - copy machine is working.

Also the coin machine is down; it is not giving correct change.

COPY MACHINES and COIN MACHINE DOWN

Annette Ruiz posted this to BBLIBS today:

I just wanted to bring to your attention that there are several copy machines down. I have put in a call directly to the company and a call to the field service supervisor. At this point we have the machine on the 5th floor and one on the 3rd floor working. The rest are down. The coin machine is also down. I spent over an hour on the copy machines trying to fix what I could and put paper into them. I have informed them that we are at a critical stage and that service must be provided today because we are open on the weekend. I will call again if the tech doesn't come within an hour or so. If anybody spots him let me know. The tech doesn't work the weekends. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

Books about Financial Globalization

If you haven't read Federal Reserve Governor Mishkin's speech at the Weissman Center Distinguished Lecture Series (blogged by Rita yesterday) he makes a good case for why rich countries should support financial globalization. He mentions several books that make the case, for and against, his thesis. All the books are in our collection.

• Global Capital Markets by Maruice Obstfeld and Alan Taylor (HG3881 .O2633 2004)
• Globalization and its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz (HF1418.5 .S75 2003)
• In Defense of Globalization by Jagdish Bhagwati (HF1359 .B499 2004 & in Ebrary)
• On Globalization by George Soros (HF1359 .S65 2002)
• The Elusive Quest for Growth by William Easterly (HC59.72 .P6E17 2001)
• The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else by Hernando De Soto(HB501 .S778 2000)

Automobile Manufacturing in Russia

The other day a student asked for a profile of the automobile industry in Russia. The two best sources turned out to be ISI Emerging Markets and Business Monitor Online.

Executive Biographies in Mergent

Mergent Online just announced it has significantly expanded its biographies of corporate executives. The profiles now include a list of board memberships and affiliations, past employment history, and education. It looks like the data is gathered by mining the web because after each profile there is a statement that says, "This summary was automatically compiled using x number of sources:" followed by excerps from web sites like the SEC, CBS Marketwatch, Crain's, and the company's own website. I looked at the profile of Leon Black who is on the board of Sirius Satellite Radio. Some of the excerpts were from web sites as old as 2000 and 2001. I wonder how the data is vetted and how accurate the profile is?

To see these web bios, first select a company, then from the "company details" menu open "executives." Next to the name of each officer is an information icon marked "web bio."

Library open 24 Hours for Mid-Terms

The Newman Library will remain open 24 hours for mid-term examinations. The library will open at 7:00 a.m. on October 18 and remain open continuously until 11:59 p.m. on October 25. After midnight, access to the library will be restricted to Baruch College students. Service desks will close at their usual scheduled hours.

Ericsson 20-F filing for 2005 requests

There were 2 individual requests tonight from Executive MBA students for the "10K" filings for Ericsson, which is based in Sweden. Initially, one student said he had been told he could use Reuters here in the library to get it. He approached the desk wondering where in the library he could access Reuters. I explained it wasn't available, except in the Subotnick Center and we consulted the Center's hours.

I asked what it was he needed, and he explained about the needed Ericsson filing for 2005. Both students said that they had searched the SEC Edgar filings for the 10-K, but they weren't able to find it. Since Ericsson is a Swedish corporation trading in the U.S. (and other exchanges), it files a 20-F annual filing so there wouldn't be a 10-k. I didn't help them check the SEC Edgar filings for it, which I am sure would have the filings but we obtained it from Thomson Research and from the corporation's U.S. web site.

However, I would recommend the Thomson Research site as the complete filing with attachments is there (409 pages) and the version posted on the corporation's U.S. web site is 100+ pages. This appears not to have all the attachments but I didn't spend a lot of time looking at the filing. And, of course, it depends upon what information the students need. (The filing would be available in other databases.)

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Rita

Federal Reserve Board Governor Mischkin's speech about Globalization given at Baruch today

"Globalization: A Force for Good?", the speech that Federal Reserve Board Governor Frederic S. Mischkin gave as the Weissman Center distinguished lecture today has been posted on the Federal Reserve Board's web site. I didn't realize it was his first speech since being named a governor. I missed the speech because of the Accounting Resources workshop and so far I've just read the introduction where Governor Mischkin talks about his late father, a City College graduate of 70 years ago, and a benefactor of Baruch.

computer 1158 in room 130

There is a problem logging onto computer 1158 in room 130. The screen to enter logon information is upside down. I have sent a message to Saad about it.

Rita

Extended Hours for Circulation

Access Services staff will again offer extended weekend hours beginning this Friday, October 13th.

The circulation desk will be open Friday, Saturday & Sunday until 7:50PM to enable students to borrow circulating and reserve items.

Frederic Mishkin at Baruch This Thursday

Prof. Terry Martell asked me to share this with you.

The Weissman Center for International Business is sponsoring a talk by Frederic Mishkin on "Globalization: A Force for Good" on Thursday, October 12, 2006 in VC 14-220. (Details here).

Professor Mishkin just joined the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and chose Baruch for his initial speech as a governor. His father is a graduate of Baruch. Please encourage your students to attend.

Flash Drives, CD's, DVD's and Floppy Discs

What options are available on the student workstations?

• There are no floppy drives on any of the student computers.
• At the seated workstations, students can save to flash drives. They cannot open flash drives.
• At the standing workstations, students can save and open files on flash drives and CD/DVD's. In order to use CD/DVD's, they must be formated for Read/Write.

Margin of Safety

Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor written by Seth Klarman in 1991 is a title we own and all librarians should recognize. The book is notorious because it is long out of print and and sellers on Amazon and other websites are asking prices that range from $700 to $2,500 for used copies. Others have tried renting it out on eBay. Recently the book was featured in an article in Business Week ("The $700 Used Book" August 7, 2006). The article is worth reading because it explaines some of Klarman's theories. It says the book has taken on "iconic stature among value investors" and the book is "especially hot among those seeking jobs with value-oriented investment firms."

As for libraries, Business Week claims only 262 libraries worldwide own the title and it is one that is most claimed as lost. Our copy is in our Archive collection and students wanting to read it should make an appointment with Sandra Roff. Because of its condition, the book does not circulate nor can students photocopy pages or chapters.

Pre-CINAHL merged with CINAHL

EBSCO has integrated Pre-CINAHL into its CINAHL database, so now we can access that content as well.

Computer Problems

This morning (Saturday 10/7), I encountered two computer problems both reported earlier to BCTC. First the work station on the gray counter at the southwest corner of the reference desk won't boot up. Second the "Technical Report" page in "Library Forms" won't send in the machine on the southwest (adjacent corner) on the granite counter.
David

Blackboard (Plagiarism & tutorial) quizzes, permissions, and lockouts

Nelson has found out that there is apparently a new policy in uploading the plagiarism quiz to a particular class's Blackboard. The faculty member must contact BCTC either by email (helpdesk@baruch.cuny.edu) or
or by phone (646-312-1010) and ask them to add Nelson Santana as a TA (Teaching Assistant) in her class so that he has rights to upload the plagiarism tutorial.

Note that a high number of lockouts have been occuring when students take a quiz (plagiarism quiz, for example, or the library FRO quiz) in Blackboard.
Students often forget to use the submit button, or may have firewall issues on their home computers. Aisha and Nelson do try to clear them as soon as possible.

GDP and external debt sources

Several students have asked at the reference desk about GDP and external debt sources by quarter. With Harry's help, listed below are possible sources that I have found. If you know of any more, please comment. I have included some that include annual statistics too.

There is a new joint external debt database, a project of the Bank of International Settlement, the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank.

The OECD provides GDP figures by quarter. See SourceOECDStatistics in our databases. (Of course, not all countries are members of the OECD.)

Yearly External Debt by Country in World Development Indicators from the World Bank. See WDI (World Development Indicators in our databases.)

The International Monetary Fund (Build a table using data and statistics)
www.imf.org (There is a possibility of a five day trial to their data, and it appears individuals can give it a try.)

In print, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) International Financial Statistics Yearbook in Reference at REF HG 61.157 2005 has the GDP. Also, in print, in periodicals, the monthly International Financial Statistics from the IMF has quarterly figures for the most recent five years. You will need to look in past volumes to obtain the quarterly figures for all the years.

Another possible source may be a particular country's Central Bank Statistics, frequently available from web sites, or in the database ISI Emerging Markets (in our database list) under Sources, and then look for Central Bank, after a particular country is selected.

Zicklin grad student happy with online directories

Last night while I was on the reference desk, and shortly before 8:50 pm., a Zicklin grad student called to see if we had Nelson's Directory of Investment Managers as he wanted to use it for his job search.

As we don't have a current edition, I told him I would e-mail him information about electronic access to the S&P directories that Mike Waldman alerted us to earlier in the week and also explain how to get the Securities Dealers of North America online. I e-mailed the information to him, as well as that the Nelson directory is at SIBL and Brooklyn Business. He has e-mailed me twice with thanks, the second time to thank me for saving him a great deal of time.

So, here's the information about the directories:

From Mike Waldman:
As part of out subscription to the Money Market Directory of Pension Funds
and their Investment Managers, Standard and Poor's has lauched a new
electronic directory, MMD eDirectories.
It is unfortunately only available via password at this time.
Go to: http://www.mmdwebaccess.com
Click on MMD eDirectories
See the password and log-in information in the wiki, under Passwords


To get to the Securities Dealers of North America, go to Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage. Click on Directories. You can search by company name or personal name or use the Advanced Search to select criteria, including location.

Nelson's Directory of Investment Managers is available at SIBL. At Brooklyn's Business Library the 2006 edition is shelved with Services Directories under Financing (not by call number.)

Rita

SIBL Small Business How-to Videos and Podcasts

http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/smallbiz/video.html
Taken from the website: "View a smallbiz how-to do business seminar! Each session can be viewed in parts, watch the video and text slides together, or download the audio only to an MP3 player. Choose high-speed version for Broadband connections, dial-up for modems. Download QuickTime free software to view, if you don't already have this software on your computer."
Example titles: "Legal Strategies for Small Business", "Pricing Your Product or Service", "Market Research", "Tips for Opening and Running a Restaurant in NYC".

Problem with accessing Learning Express

I've reported a problem of logging onto Learning Express to Mike. The problem was also reported by an accounting professor. Anyone else having a problem?

SPSS and SAS

SPSS and SAS are statistical analysis software packages available on the library's Graduate Workstations and in some of the BCTC labs. Due to increased pricing and a contractual dispute with SPSS, the most current version of SPSS on campus is 11.5 (the most recent release is 15.0). The SPA lab in 17 Lex used to have v.14.0, but had to roll back to v.11.5 due to the dispute. (I checked the SPA lab computers.) We are not sure when the disupte will be solved. This is a CUNY wide issue, and a committee is working on access to a more up to date version.

The Graduate Workstations have SAS v.8, but it has recently expired. I sent a Help Desk request to update to v.9, and hope this will happen soon. SAS v.9 is available in the 6th floor library building lab and the CIS lab.

SPSS 11.5 is also on the newer 3 day and hour laptops (thank you to Eric for sending this info.).

EBSCO experiencing problems

From EBSCO:

EBSCOhost is currently experiencing intermittent access issues, which could cause connectivity delays for some users.
If you experience problems logging in to EBSCOhost, please log out and attempt to access again. This highly unusual situation is currently under investigation by our network specialists.
We expect to resolve the problem quickly, and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

CUNY Proficiency Exam

CUNY just announced some new online resources for students about to take the CUNY Proficiency Exam.

E-reserves for CUNY Online BA Students

Please note that in Docutek all CUNY Online BA courses are grouped together as if the CUNY Online BA program were its own department. Look for it in the dropdown menu.

The CUNY Online BA program offers classes in different disciplines (Psychology, Math, History, Computer Scicence, etc..) but these classes are not listed under any of these departments in Dokutek.

FRO (Freshman Orientation)

For the benefit of those who were not able to attend today's IS Division meeting, I thought I'd recap what Aisha Peña had to say about the library's participation in the FRO (Freshman Orientation) program. I've also added in some additional info from the Baruch web site.

First, according to the Baruch faculty handbook, FRE is:

A required 12-week non-credit course for freshmen...[that] offers students an opportunity to engage in the Baruch community during the initial, and sometimes unsettling, first semester on campus. Led by a faculty or staff member and a trained upperclassman, freshmen seminars provide information about college life and the College. The program helps students learn and adopt methods to be successful in college. Structured class exercises encourage participation and provide an avenue for interactions with the students. Seminar leaders play a vital role in helping students adjust and in influencing their educational objectives.

This fall, there will be close to 2000 freshmen in FRO seminars. Starting in the next week or so, they will be taking the "New Students Library Tutorial" by following these steps:

1. With the instruction sheet provided to them by the instructors in their FRO sections (we have extra copies at the reference desk), the students will come pick up three paper handouts from the library (#1 is at the reference desk, #2 is at the circulation desk, and #3 is at the 3rd floor service desk) and one electonic handout (#4) that is available as a PDF via a link on the Ask a Librarian page of the library web site.
2. After getting the handouts, students will log into Blackboard, go to the FRO course page (students in the Learning Communities will see a course labeled "2006 Freshman Learning Communities" and everyone else will see "All Fro 1000 Fall 2006"), click the appropriate course listing, then click "Assignments" on the FRO page, and take the quiz.
3. Students must get an 80 on the quiz for it to count as successfully completed. Students may retake it as many times as they need to.

If a student reports being locked out of the quiz (i.e., the student can get into Blackboard and onto the Assignments page with the quiz but they can't actually launch the quiz), then tell them that the problem will be fixed by the next day (we have to manually "unlock" those quizzes that have been so frozen and will do so on a daily basis).

A smaller subset of students in the FRO seminars are part of the Learning Communities, which the faculty handbook describes as follows:

Faculty who participate in Learning Communities build on the advantages of block programming by highlighting intellectual links between courses and by scheduling co-curricular activities that complement course material. In a Baruch learning community, faculty members develop their courses collaboratively and confer regularly with each other and with their students, both in person and on line.They also create a range of other activities that supplement in-class instruction, increase engagement, and reinforce the collegial ideal of students and faculty working together on the common project of education.

The Learning Communities sections of FRO have to do a second tutorial and quiz:

1. In the "Assignments" section of their FRO course page in Blackboard, students should look for a link for the "Newman Library Help" tutorial (the direct URL for this is http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/help/tutorial/home.htm)
2. After reviewing the tutorial, they should go back to Blackboard and do the "Exercise" that is linked to on the Assignments page (it's another Blackboard quiz).

As with the quiz for the "New Students Library Orientation," students may find themselves locked out of the quiz (particuarly if they abandon the quiz without completing it). Just tell students in this situation that the quiz will be unlocked by the next business day.

If you have further comments or clarifications, please post a comment to this blog entry. If you have further questions, you may want to contact Aisha Peña directly.

Updated map of NYC emergency incidents

The NYC-themed blog, Gothamist, offers a new mapping service that locates on a Google map recent emergency incidents (fires, bank robberies, motor vehicle accidents) in near real-time.

Quick Start Guides for ebrary

Copies of ebrary "Quick Start Guides" are available at the reference desk to give to students. I will also put some copies in the stand next to the desk.

Using ebrary

The visit this week from the ebrary account consultant, Kerry O'Day, was especially useful because it cleared up the most frequently asked question from our students, "How many pages of the book can I print?" The answer is five pages at a time or a maximum of 40 pages per browser session. If the student is copying text the 40 page limit also applies but only one page of text can be copied at a time and images cannot be copied. Of course, students can close their browser and start a new session if they need to print or copy additional pages.

Kerry also answered some access questions. Ebrary allows unlimited simultaneous multi-user access. All links (to books or chapters) are persistant links and can be used in Blackboard and accessed from off-campus.

Expanded index to this blog now visible

This morning, I did some tinkering with the way the index of blog topics and subjects is displayed. In the past, the home page of the blog showed about a dozen key index entries. As an experiment, I've now decided to make the whole index visible on the right side of the blog. My hope is that this change will open up the archives of blog posts more and make older posts more findable.

In case you were not aware of my humble indexing efforts, I tag each blog post with 1-5 different subject terms. If you click on one of the tags in the index (such as technical problems) you can see all the posts that are on that topic (additional tags added to each post detail other facets of what that topic is about). We are now just shy of 700 blog posts since we launched the blog over two years ago; each of these posts has been tagged.

Please leave comments to this blog or contact me directly to let me know your thoughts about this change.

RefWorks now available

CUNY centrally purchased a subscription to RefWorks. We can now access it from the Databases page on our library web site. Once you enter RefWorks for the first time, you'll need to set up your own account.

Follow up to waiters in Manhattan question

A number of you e-mailed me in response to my blog post where I asked for help finding the number of waiters in Manhattan. I have pulled together your responses, added in my notes about them, and posted them all on an updated version of that earlier blog post.

ABI/Inform login problem (computer at reference desk south)

When trying to connect to ABI/Inform at the reference desk computer (south corner), I got an error message "Authentication error 1011". All other tested machines log into ABI/Inform properly. A message has been sent to Saad and Mike.

No access to Simmons Choices III

We seem to be unable to connect from any PC to Simmons Choices III. Lisa and Saad are aware of this problem. In the meanwhile, Lisa recommends that in many instances, MRI+ might actually be a more useful database for some marketing research (unless the student is looking for psychographics of consumers, in which case Simmons Choices III is the better option).

Number of waiters in Manhattan

To follow up on a tricky chat reference question this week, I've been searching databases trying to find an article that happens to mention the number of waiters working here in Manhattan. Nothing has been looking terribly promising so far. If you have any recommendations for sources to consult, please add a comment to this blog post or contact me directly.

Thanks.

UPDATE 9/28/06: I am amazed by how quickly my colleagues here responded and how helpful they were. Thanks to Rita, Diane, Sandy, and David for providing the following suggestions:

• Contact the Waiters Association
• Check the web site of the New York State Restaurant Association (here's the best link on their site that I found) and consider contacting them directly
• Look at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (this is the best page I found)

None of the resources I was able to find specifically indicated how many waitpersons are in Manhattan alone. The data I found either gave me the number in the NY metro area (from the BLS) or the number of all people (chefs, waiters, busboys, etc.) employed in NYC by the restaurant industry (NY State Restaurant Association). I recommended to the patron that he contact the two associations to see if they had the more specific data he needed.

SEC to Transform EDGAR

Yesterday the SEC announced that they are awarding a contact to modernize the EDGAR database to use "interactive data". The announcement is the SEC's first step toward requiring companies to file reports in XBRL- Extensible Busines Reporting Language. With XBRL investors will not only be able to view reports but also download and analyze the financial data without re-keying. To keep up-to-date on the SEC's Interactive Data inititative see the Spotlight section of their homepage. To use current SEC reports filed in XBRL use our EDGAR Online I-Metrix database.

Business Week Online Edition

Articles from Business Week Online as well as articles from the print edition of Business Week are included in Business Source Premier. They are not in ABI-Inform. I discovered this while trying to track down an article that I found on Google.

Web Mail Problem

On the main college home page the drop down menu under "Computer:" "Web Mail" is hanging and ultimately leading to an error message. I reported this to BCTC for correction a few minutes ago.
David

Short Story Index

Per Wilson, Short Story Index is unavailable (you will not see it in the Wilson list of choices) but should be back tomorrow 9/26.

No remote access to Euromonitor

There continues to be no remote access to Euromonitor GMID. Access does work here on campus, though.

How to use ebrary

To read ebooks in ebrary, it is necessary to download and install the ebrary reader. A link for the ebrary reader can be found on the main ebrary page in the section labeled "Getting Started."

If the user wants to save any notes or highlighting in books he/she has viewed, he or she should first click the purple "Sign In" button in the upper left corner of the screen. On the Sign In page, the first-time user will want to click "Do you need to create a new bookshelf?" to get to a page where they can set up a free, password-protected account that will allow them to build their own, customized "bookshelf" of titles they have annotated, highlighted, or bookmarked.

Due to copyright restrictions, there are varying limits set on how many pages may be printed at a time (and sometimes even how many pages may be viewed at a time). Here's how ebrary states these restrictions:

• You are not allowed to print out or copy the entire book.
• There are limitations on the number of pages you may print and copy.
• Some publishers also place limitations on the number of pages that can be viewed.

For more details on how to use ebrary, see this help guide (PDF).

Remote access to LexisNexis is back

I just checked here from home.

Posting to blog using reference desk user name

If you are at the reference desk and want to write a post for this reference blog, it is preferable to sign in to Blogger with the user name and password assigned to you. If can't remember that and just want to get the post published ASAP while at the desk, you can use the generic user name and password created for that purpose (the user name/password combo can be found in the reference wiki on the "Passwords" page). When using the generic user name and password to compose a blog post, though, please remember to always add your name at the end of the blog post (you don't need to do this if you've logged in with your personal Blogger account).

No remote access to LexisNexis

Over the weekend, our remote access to LexisNexis went down. I noticed it today (Sunday) after a number of students logged in to our chat reference service asking why they couldn't get in. I just tried myself from home here and can't get in. After getting past our EZ Proxy authentication screen, I get a LexisNexis page asking for a LexisNexis ID and password.

UPDATE (9/19/2006) Remote access seems to have been restored (I just checked from home).

Access to Choices 3 and MRI Restored

Students can access Choices 3 and MRI from workstations behind the Reference desk.

LACUNY Program Today

Today's LACUNY program "Instructional Technology from the Reference Desk to the Classroom" will be held in Room 656 from 2 pm to 4 pm. (Please note this is a room change.)

Dr. Sylvie Richards from the School of Professional Studies and Prof. Beth Evans from Brooklyn College are the featured speakers. Dr. Richards presentation is titled: "Blackboard Building Blocks - Blogs, Wikis, Journals, Podcasting and the New CUNY Online BA." Prof. Evans will talk about "MySpace, Facebook and Academic Libraries."

A few seats are still available. Let me know if you would like to attend.

Known Glitches

The workstations behind the reference desk are experiencing the following problems which are in the process of repair:

1. Once the bluesocket (logout) window is closed, it may not load again even when clicking on the login/logout icon on desktop. You may need to reboot in order to logout.

2. Simmons Choices 3 is not loading. You will receive a "forbidden IP" error message. Refer students to the three workstations to the right of the reference desk where Choices 3 does load. The database is also accessible from reference desk terminals.

3. Students are logging off the system completely by going to "start" then "log off." Terminals are then left with logon screens. Simply reboot workstation in order to return to bluesocket login screen.

Simmons Problem

As of approximately closing time last night 9/13 we were experiencing login problems to Simmons from a few of the computers at the reference desk and to the east of the desk. First thing this am I reported the problem using the Tech form on our web site.

An interesting student encounter

Although all student encounters at the reference desk are interesting, this morning I helped a student get on to the CUNY portal so he could blog for the assignment. The student, who was born in 1919, is auditing a course. He said he had used a computer for word processing but everything else was new. He shows you are never too old to learn new things or worry about getting assignments done. After two calls to the BCTC helpdesk, he was on his way.

ABC-Clio and EBSCOhost partnership

According to this Library Journal story, full text links to EBSCOhost contents appear in ABC-Clio's databases, America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts. Both ABC-Clio databases already feature direct links to JSTOR and Project Muse; adding EBSCOhost links is a nice addition.

Having just run a search in America: History and Life, I see that the links are already appearing (they are labeled as "Ebsco.")

Fitch Credit Ratings

Does anyone know if we have access to the credit ratings from Fitch? I'm trying to follow up on a question about them received in our chat reference service recently.

Important Information About SIMNET

Important Information About SIMNET
A new version of the Simnet exam will be available at the end of September 2006. Practice materials for this exam will not be available before Monday, September 18, 2006. In order to be fully prepared for the exam it is highly recommended that students purchase the Simnet Enterprise Edition CD, which is available at the Baruch College Bookstore. Once you login using your individual passcode you will be able to access learning modules and practice exams (after Monday, September 18, 2006) for the Simnet exam (Excel) and several other important Microsoft Office 2003 applications. This CD is highly recommended for Freshman Seminar, Freshman Learning Communities and new transfer students. This CD serves as a pre-test practice and review guide, as a post-test study guide for those who need to retest, and as an excellent reference for learning and practice other Microsoft concepts (e.g. Access 2003 Basic, Fundamental Computer Concepts, PowerPoint 2003 Basic, and Word 2003 Basic) throughout your college career.
Book used up to now has been I-series Excel 2002 Introductory, by Stephen Haag and James T. Perry, available in Reserve. HF5548.4.M523 H3 2002
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/cis1000/ Diane

ISBNs to have 13 digits beginning in January

When answering a question about an ISBN number for a student this morning, I learned that beginning Jan. 1, 2007, ISBNs will have 13 digits starting in Jan. 2007. For details, please see transition information from ISBN.org.

Library signs: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Check out this Flickr slideshow of library signs, which is intended to be a source of good as well as bad ideas.

BCTC workshops now included on library sign-up form

The workshop signup form on the library web site now includes BCTC workshops, too. Users can sign up for library workshops and BCTC ones at the same time.

Factiva News Page

When going to Factiva News Pages, please notice that there are 2 options on the top left of the News Page: Group Pages and Factiva Pages.

The default is lately sometimes coming up as Group Pages, with the message: "You have no Group News Pages assigned to you. Please contact your administrator."

Just go to the Factiva News Pages, where the news will appear.

Context and Comparisons

Context and Comparisons, A Student Guide to the Great Works Courses (Eng 2850) can be found at Newman's digital collection page.

http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/search/digitalcollections.html

http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/digital/2000/c_n_c/default.htm is the actual link.

We're checking to see if it can be linked through E Reserve.

Searching Euromonitor GMID

The default search screen for GMID is by geography and category (industry/product) and retrieves the full market reports. I was helping a student search for company data and the easier way to find company profiles is the Keyword Search (from the tabs at the top of the home page). It is also possible to use the "Browse Reports" tab but this pulls up a very long alphabetical list of companies.

If you haven't used "Browse Reports" yet, it is the best way to find Euromonitor's special reports. Consumer Lifestyle reports have data on disposable income, expenditures, eating and drinking habits, health and home ownership. Future Demographics reports include projections of the population by age group and market segment out to the year 2020. Global Reports are world surveys of industries but also include reports covering trends in marketing, retailing and demographics (this is where you find the reports on the baby boomer generation).

Graphing calculators all gone

As of 5 PM, all the graphing calculators for the fall semester have been loaned out.

CUNY Online BA Student ID Card

A message from Curtis Kendrick, University Librarian:

Attached is a sample of what the identification cards look like for the CUNY Online BA students. The ID cards are issued through the School of Professional Studies and are picture-less but there should always be a current semester validation sticker. Students will be expected to produce a photo ID along with their CUNY Online BA ID card.
Please brief your front-line staff about the new ID to help ensure that the CUNY Online BA students are afforded a proper welcome when they arrive at your library. Thank you.


[Note from A.D.: If a holder of this card does not provide a matching photo ID, access should not be granted. Please let Security make the determination.]

Bus 9100 E Reserve Problem (Prof Schepers)

Prof. Schepers and his Bus 9100 classes are having trouble accessing articles through E-Reserves from off campus. Please advise anyone who asks you that we are working on trying
to resolve the problem.

Today's (9/5) Reuters Workshop still OPEN

The workshop registration for this afternoon's Reuter's workshop says "closed" on it. That is in error. There are still many open sits. Saad is trying to resolve this. In the meantime, if students ask, please encourage them to attend. 1pm-2:15pm, SFSC.

Nearly 50 graphing calculators left

As of 10 AM today, there are about 50 graphing calculators left for semester-long loan. Students should get their library accounts validated at the circulation desk before proceeding up to the 3rd floor service desk to borrow a calculator.

UPDATE: As of 5 PM, they are all gone.

Printing E-Reserves Documents -- Some Problems

Some articles on E-Reserves are not printing properly. (The printout is indecipherable, only part of the page prints, etc.) It is either a problem with printer setups or the version of Adobe on a computer. One of the articles for a STA9708 class sent to the student printers and to the Reference desk printer was indecipherable, but printed fine using the Circulation Desk printer. A Helpdesk request was sent.

Re: Reber 1976 article for Experimental Psy class about implicit learning

A student last night had an inaccurate citation from the professor for the following article:

Reber, A.S. (1976). Implicit learning of synthetic languages: The role of instructional set.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 2, 88-94. It is available in print and we have the journal on the 3rd floor. However, I looked at the copy this morning and it is in very poor quality and has been taped back together with parts of a paragraph missing. It isn't available in electronic format.

I will let the professor (Hosie) know about the citation and the poor quality of our copy.
Ester has said she will order a better copy for electronic reserve. The professor is Hosie and the course is Psy 5020.

Rita

Databases page working again

The database of databases that operates behind the scenes of the Databases page is now working again (sorry for the excessive use of the word "database" in this sentence).

Reminder: How to check if someone's library ID is valid for remote access

I thought it might be good to post this message that Saad provided by e-mail several years ago.
I tried it last night and it worked.

Jus a reminder, you can check if someone's library ID is valid for remote
access using the following URL:
http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu:2048/login

Rita

What to do when the toner in the alumni room printer is low

I learned from Theresa and Stanton this morning that when the toner in the alumni room printer is low and needs to be replaced, one should call the Baruch College Alumni Association at 646-660-6080. (Don't call Alumni Relations and don't place a help desk request like I did yesterday.) The Baruch College Alumni Association is responsible for the toner for the printer.
When I called, the person said she will come over during her lunch hour today as she has no one else in the office today.

toner needed in alumni room

An alumnus stopped by my office to say that the printer in the alumni room needs toner. I have put in a help desk request. The request was made about 5:50 p.m. so I don't know if it will be done today. Rita

Databases are Down

The database of databases has crashed. Systems is working on the problem. In the meantime, you will not be able to connect to any of our datases. We will keep you posted.

UPDATE: Databases can still be accessed from links to them on other pages in the web site, such as the subject guides.

Requesting books in CUNY libraries

I've added a new page to the wiki: Requests. This page details the new intra-CUNY borrowing service. I've updated references in other pages in the wiki for "recalls" and "holds" with "requests," as this is the prefered terminology for this service.

As you'll see, this new page is a bit lengthy. As always, feel free to edit it.

Library services to CUNY Online BA students

Joe and I have been working on a new page in the wiki: CUNY Online BA Students. This page details the library privileges that students in this new program have.

I have been slowly working on adding such information for each of the categories of users we have here. You can see a full list of different types of users on the User Categories page. Please help by adding any information you know to these pages. If you can add the raw content to the page, I can format it later.

I am trying to get each of the user category pages to have the same format:

• Introduction (defining the user, links to relevant web pages, etc.)
• Library Privileges (divided into two subsections, one detailing what that user has, the other listing what the user doesn't have).

Filming Today

For the filming today in the library we have temporarily removed the "No Cell Phones" signs.

Student Lockers on Campus

Starting Sept. 5th, students can rent lockers for the Fall 2006 semester through the Athletics & Recreation Center (ARC).

For campus location of lockers, see the wiki entry: http://newmanlibrary.pbwiki.com/Lockers

Library Credit Courses, Fall 06 semester

This is the Fall 2006, credit course schedule. The online schedule had a mistake in the room Lib1015 is being taught in room 130. All other courses are being taught in 135. This has been corrected but may appear differently on students' registration. Signs have been posted in 130 and 135.

ROOM 130
LIB 1015, Information Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, Prof. Pollard, Tuesday & Thursday, 11:10am-12:25pm

ROOM 135
Lib 1016, Information Research in Business, Prof. Ellis
Tuesday & Thursday, 6:00pm-7:15pm

Lib 3010, Economics of Information, Prof. Liu
Tuesday & Thursday, 2:30pm-3:45pm

LIB 3020, Principles of Information Retrieval, Prof. Shelfer
Monday & Wednesday, 6:00pm-7:15pm

LIB 3040, Information in Society, Prof. Bornstein
(COM 3040, PAF 3040)
Monday & Wednesday, 3:20pm-4:35pm

Temporary Computer Lab Closure

The computer lab on the 6th floor is temporarily closed. The reference desk is awaiting update from the BCTC help desk on this closure.

New way to use vendor card printer

With the arrival of new PCs this week across from the circulation desk (specifically, the PCs that require users to stand to use them) comes a new and simpler way to send jobs to the vendor card printer. On these new machines, there is no longer a desktop icon to "activate vendor printer." Here is how users can send print jobs:

1. User opens browser and logs in with a user name and password (same as before).
2. There is no more "activate vendor printer" icon to double-click after logging in (this is new).
   
3. When user is ready to print a selected document, they must go to the "File>Print" command (same as before).
4. In the Print dialog box that opens, user selects "vendor card printer" from the choice of two printers (same as before).
5. Upon clicking "Print" the job is sent to the vendor card printer. No window opens up prompting the user to name the print job and enter a user name (this is new).
6. User goes to the vendor card printer, inserts copy card, and is prompted to enter a user name. Users must now skip this request by hitting the "Enter" key on the keyboard (this is new, as previously the system required the user to type in a user name).
7. The user sees a list of all the print jobs sitting in the vendor card printer system (this is new, as previously the user only saw the jobs he/she sent).
8. User selects his/her job from the list, clicks the "Print" button on the screen, and the cost of the job is debited from the copy card (this is the same).
   

In case of the PCs where users may sit down (the ones at the carrels), the process of printing is slightly different:

• for PCs that don't require the user to login to the web browser (the 8 machines behind the reference desk, the ones to the left of the spiral staircase, and 3 or 4 to the right of the staircase), steps 3-8 above still hold true
• for PCs that do require the user to login to the web browser (the machines at the reference desk and a few of the ones to the right of the staircase by the men's room), the process is mostly the old one. There is still a desktop icon to activate the vendor printer. This icon must be selected after the user logs in to the web. Once the user clicks "Print" to send the job to the vendor card printer, he/she will be asked to name the job and type in a user name. After sending the job, the user can follow steps 6-8.

As the staff from Systems install new PCs in the sit-down locations, the steps to print on those machines will likely become the same as the steps for the stand-up locations. It is probably a good idea to get a copy card and try the system out for yourself to see how it works; that may clarify what I was trying to convey in this long post.

Graphing calculators for fall 2006

The library has 350 calculators that Baruch undergrad students may borrow for the entire fall semester. The library will distribute 50 calculators at a time on a first-come, first-served basis as follows:

• August 30: 10:30 am and 7:00 pm
• August 31: 10:30 am and 7:00 pm
• September 1: 10:30 am and 3:30 pm
• after Sept. 1, any remaining calculators will be distributed on Sept. 5 starting at 9:30 am

Before getting in line on the 3rd floor to borrow a calculator, students must first go to the circulation window on the main floor of the library and show a copy of their eSIMS schedule of classes or a bursar's receipt.

Computer-written financial news articles

A post on the Techdirt blog noted a recent Financial Times story that detailed plans by Thomson Financial to automate the process of churning out short news articles about company earnings reports.

Internet Explorer 7 will have built-in feed reader

The forthcoming IE7 browser will have a feed reader for RSS built right in. As you can see from this screenshot from Microsoft's page about IE7, you can view posts to feeds you've subscribed to from a drop-down box in the browser toolbar. The box allows you to toggle between your favorites (bookmarks), your RSS feeds, and your browser history.

Found here on davidrothman.net (David Rothman is a medical librarian in Syracuse, NY, with a newish and informative blog).

Pew Hispanic Center issues report re impact of immigrants at the state level on employment of native-born workers

Rapid increases in the foreign-born population at the state level are not associated with negative effects on the employment of native-born workers, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center that examines data during the boom years of the 1990s and the downturn and recovery since 2000. No consistent pattern emerges to show that native-born workers suffered or benefited from increased numbers of foreign-born workers. The study was released Tuesday.

Problem with accessing CCH Accounting Research Manager from home and on campus

Tonight a professor e-mailed me wondering if there is a problem with accessing CCH Accounting Research Manager from home as he was denied access. I also was unable to access the database from here on campus. I have sent an e-mail to Saad and Mike about the problem.

I'll be gone Thursday so I hope it is resolved. I'll be checking my e-mail.

Rita

WorldCat on the web...for free!

The free version of WorldCat (at WorldCat.org) is now up and running. OCLC has the background info here; Lorcan Dempsey, VP and Chief Strategist at OCLC, has additional details on this post on his blog.

Internet Connectivity - Fiber Outage at CUNY

Internet connectivity from Baruch and other campuses is sporadic. It may be heat related. See excerpts from emails below:
Dark Fiber ring is a fiber optic network by which some campuses connect to the Internet. If it is not working campuses may experience a diminished ability or inability to connect. (Curtis Kendrik).
As CIS and NYSERnet engineers continue to work to restore connectivity to the Dark Fiber ring, reports indicate that at least some connectivity, via Fiber or ATM has been restored to all but two of the fiber campuses, Baruch and BMCC. Work continues to restore full service.
(James Haggard, CUNY IT Steering Committee)

Remote access issues with Thomson Research

From home last night, I noticed a problem with Thomson Research. After logging in via EZ Proxy and getting a search screen in Thomson Research, I found that running any sort of a search was unsuccessful and generated an error message on the Thomson Research screen. Another bit of weirdness is that the default screen that I saw after logging in was not the sample company info for Thomson Corp, but instead a search screen. On campus access, though, seems to be fine for this database.

I've e-mailed Mike to let him know about this problem.

Marquis's Who's Who database

Inconsistent access to Who's Who. Problem reported to Mike.

David

Dewey Research Advisor

The Dewey Library at MIT, which houses collections in management and the social sciences, has an interesting, searchable database of FAQs in business in economics called the Dewey Research Advisor.

Advertising Redbooks

Access to Advertising Redbooks has been cut-off temporarily due to an invoicing problem. I am working with them to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

Problem w Reference Desk Phone

The answering machine still picks up when one tries to call the desk from within the library (perhaps elsewhere on campus). I've put in a telephone repair trouble ticket today, 7/26. If you find out the problem is resolved, please let either Nelson, Louise or me know.
Thanks, Diane

Conference call phone in library classrooms

I've just added two new entries to the wiki:

• Conference Calls (how to make them using our special phone stored one of the library classroom closets)
• Telephones in Library Classrooms (phone numbers for each room and instructions about plugging in conference call phone)

LCSH volumes missing from reference desk

Any idea where they have gone?

Two is the magic (search) number

According to a recent study by OneStat.com, most web searches involve two search terms.

Found on Steve Cohen's Libary Stuff (who got it from the SearchEngineWatch blog).

Knowledge Media Laboratory from Carnegie Foundation

The following review is from the Scout Report of 7/21/06 and may be of interest to many of us.

Knowledge Media Laboratory [pdf]

How do students learn in the classroom? How can teachers best utilize new and emerging technologies in the classroom? What can teachers do to seamlessly incorporate technology into the learning experience? These are all questions that are asked by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Knowledge Media Laboratory. On their website, users can learn about their work with communities of teachers, faculty, programs, and institutions over the past several years, and also look over some of their informative case studies. The Gallery of Teaching and Learning is a good place to start one’s exploration of the site, as it contains a number of exhibitions that look at how web-based tools can be used in teaching and how scholarship may change as a result of an increasingly networked milieu. One seminal resource on the site is the KEEP Toolkit. With the Toolkit, teachers and others can create engaging knowledge representations on the web for their own use. For visitors who might feel a bit overwhelmed by this, there is also a nice tutorial that explains how the Toolkit can be used.

Used Up Student Printing Accounts

Students who have used up their Baruch printing account amounts for the semester should be advised to purchase vendor cards and use those to cover the cost of printing. These are available for purchase in room 309. $1.00 is the minimum purchase; $.30 covers the cost of the card with a $.70 credit. Additional value can be added. These cards can be used in the copiers as well as the vendor printer.

Pew Internet Project report on Bloggers

The Pew Internet Project has just released a report on Bloggers.
It can be found at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/186/report_display.asp

Draft environmental impact statement re Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn

The draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Atlantic Yards and Redevelopment Project in Brooklyn is available from the Empire State Development. (More than 1,000 pages, according to the New York Times today.) In opposition to the project is Develop Don't Destroy.

news for fans of the Yankees and Mets

The Bond Buyer had a recent e-mail update today:

The New York City Industrial Development Agency said today that the Internal Revenue Service has given them permission to sell about $1.44 billion of tax-exempt bonds backed by payments from the teams to pay for the construction of two new baseball stadiums for the Yankees and Mets.

Conference Board offers redesigned web site

The Conference Board recently redesigned its web site, to which we have an educational associate's membership. (It is an international membership organization.) They now offer webcasts, and full-texts of some books, as well as continuing to offer their well known economic information and data and research studies on a broad range of work and public policy topics, including but not limited to ethics, corporate governance, management and director and executive compensation, work-family balance, etc. Organizational charts of selected companies are also available for purchase.

(I have inquired about these charts in the past. They are of Conference Board members. The original understanding was that one had to contribute an organizational chart to have access to others, but this policy probably has changed with electronic access and purchase. It was suggested to me by the Conference Board librarian that the pricing is not geared to a student's budget and that it might be good to suggest that faculty purchase a variety of charts. I have not had a request for an organizational chart for several years.)

New report: Investment banks' considering environmental, social and governance issues in their research

The United Nation's Environment Programme Finance Initiative and 10 leading international investment banks released Show Me the Money: Linking Environmental, Social and Governance Issues to Company Value. Form the the foreword: "This will further deepen our understanding how ESG issues impact the risk and reward dynamic in given industry and business sectors."

Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past

Below is a quote from Marc Meola on the ACRL Blog on the above article by Roy Rosenzweig.


"Rosenzweig’s piece discusses the differences between professional historians and amateur wikipedists, Wikipedia’s obsession with Neutral Point of View (NPOV), and compares Wikipedia to Microsoft’s Encarta and the American National Biography Online. Rosenzweig points out that it’s not only accuracy that is problematic for Wikipedia (a problem for all encyclopedias), but poor writing and lack of scholarly subtlety and nuance. Yet he also points out the strengths of Wikipedia–it’s free and available to everyone, unlike the subscription products in our libraries".

The article can be found in the Journal of American History, v 93, n.1, 6/06 (reprinted online here). A interesting if long (51 pages) read.

Help the New Orleans Public Library

A wish list for book purchases has been set up by the New Orleans Public Library on Alibris.

Found on Kathleen de la Peña McCook's blog, Librarian 2.

Do you happened to have this book?

Del Dickson, ed., The Supreme Court inConference (KF8742/.S917/2001) is missing from the shelf and isn't checked out. A faculty member has been looking for it. Just in case anyone has it in his/her office, would you please let me know? Thanks.

Vault.com

The Career Development Center uses a source called Vault, "the online career library". It is available to undergraduate students via the Career Development Center website (via the Hot Links section). Students need to follow instructions to get a password. Some students mistakenly think this is available via the library's website.

When I attempted to get a password to check out the resource, I received the following message, "This Online Career Library is for the sole use of Baruch College undergraduate students. Use by any other individuals or organizations, including without limitation students or alumni of any other departments of this university, is unlawful. Any other use constitutes copyright infringement and theft of services. Any unauthorized use or distribution will be traced and may result in civil and criminal liability."

Is anyone familiar with this resource? Some brief descriptions state that it provides industry and business overviews, and is useful for background information for interviews. I was wondering if, or how, it differs from our library databases.

Laptops now distributed from 3rd floor desk

As of today, the laptops have moved from the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor desk.

Baruch is not a cooling center

If we get any calls asking if Baruch is a cooling center, please let the caller know that we aren't but a list of them can be found on this page of the NYC web site: http://gis.nyc.gov/oem/cc/index.htm

Student Printing Problems

Many students registered for the second summer session are experiencing problems printing to the student printer. BCTC tells me that some student ID's have not yet been uploaded to the system for those registered in summer session 2.

Printing error - Length

A student trying to print a 37 page document earlier this afternoon received a message "zero length job." According to Theresa, student printers only accomodate print jobs up to a certain number of pages, probably between 20-30 pages. The student was able to print upstairs in
BCTC.
Diane

Upcoming event of possible interest

New York-based retailer Crazy Eddie Inc. was one of the largest securites frauds of its time. (If you don't remember the fraud, perhaps you remember the firm's famous television ads.) And, you have probably had questions from students about it. Baruch's Robert Zicklin Center for Financial Integrity will host Crazy Eddie's cousin, Sam E. Antar, a former CPA and CFO of Crazy Eddie, Inc. for a program on Sept. 7. Mr. Antar now speaks about white-collar fraud and defending against securities fraud. The event is free. I imagine it will be popular.

Thomson Research news

In case you hadn't used Thomson Research recently (like me), here is the announcement that is posted on the website:

Dear Valued Client,

In July we will migrate the data center that houses the Thomson Research application to a new state-of-the art facility. This migration is being undertaken as part of a larger Thomson Financial initiative to update and consolidate our existing data centers to three geographically redundant, high performance facilities. This advancement enhances our ability to service clients on Thomson Financial solutions and improves our security, redundancy, and continuity across the Thomson ONE application suite.

We have committed significant time and resources in an effort to make this move with as little downtime as possible to the Thomson Research solution. Over the weekend of July 15/16, however, you may experience brief interruptions service. We will try to schedule these inconveniences during off-peak hours. In the unlikely event that there is a longer than momentary lapse in service, please contact your local support team:

In conjunction with the data center migration, we have made the difficult decision to cease production of our Compact D product, effective July 2006. As such, the Compact D tab in Thomson Research will be removed at the end of July.
We wish to thank you for your business and support.

Library Access Policy

To answer questions regarding access to the library, please refer to the policy posted on our web site under "About the Library". Here is the text:

Access to the Newman Library is generally restricted to current students, faculty and staff of the City University of New York, as well as retired CUNY faculty. Access is also permitted for current faculty and students of Empire State College with a valid Empire State College identification card.

Baruch College Alumni who are interested in library access should contact the Alumni Relations Office (646-660-6097).

Residents of the New York Metropolitan Area who need access to specific materials in the Newman Library that are not available in the public library system should contact their local library about obtaining a referral card.

Other individuals with an ongoing need for access to the Newman Library, including alumni of other CUNY campuses, are encouraged to apply for membership in the Friends of the Newman Library. For more information, including the fee schedule, visit the Friends of the Newman Library Web page.

For further information regarding access to the Newman Library, please contact the Office of the Chief Librarian (646 312-1655).

A poster of this page has been placed at the entrance of the library.

In addition, please note the policy on Access and Borrowing Privileges at CUNY that is posted on the CUNY Libraries web site, which states that "alumni have access only to their home campus library".

The security desk has copies of these policies along with forms to apply for membership in the Friends of the Library. Please let Campus Safety interpret and apply the policy as they do for the other buildings on campus. If there are questions, please defer to Campus Safety and inform me of the circumstances via e-mail.