Thursday, March 30, 2006

Periodicals check-in

Just a reminder that the check-in capability has not been working since we upgraded to Aleph v.16. We are sending the latest issues we receive down to the shelves and keeping our own records, but there is a discrepancy between what's on the shelves and what's on CUNY+. If a user is looking for a current issue of a title we subscribe to, please have them check the Periodicals stacks on the 3rd floor. CUNY central is working on the problem.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Summer Schedule of Classes

The Schedule of Classes for Summer 2006 is posted online and paper copies are available at the Registrar's Office.

Baruch's SPA releases 2nd Nonprofit Executive Outlook Survey

The second New York City Nonprofit Executive Outlook Survey done by Baruch's School of Public Affairs NonProfit Group and the SPA Survey Unit, was mentioned in the 3/27 online edition of Crain's New York Business which is www.newyorkbusiness.com.

According to the Crain's article, more than 60% of the leaders of New York City human services agencies say conditions for poor families in the city are worse than a year ago. More than 40% said conditions are worsening for immigrants, young people at risk, and the elderly. The Baruch survey was released Monday, according to Crain's. The Crain's story mentioning the Baruch survey has been picked up and distributed by a nonprofit listserv from the Foundation Center, which is how I learned of it.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

AICPA's interactive game offers students prizes for solving

Catch Me If You Can: The Case of the California Con is an new interactive game from a series that American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has developed that allows students to apply what they have learned. Free registration is required. There's a contest involved with this new game, worth $2,500.

Help with foreign exchange assignment

Today I helped a student who has an assignment to explain possible reasons for the movements in the yen, dollar and Euro day by day for a given time period. I suggested possibly looking several days before the selected time period to see what was being reported. We found some good results with this search:

Use Factiva, we selected Reuters as a source (available in many languages, which can be selected, and also covering markets around the globe) and subject selected: Foreign exchange news and a search (yen or dollar or euro and up or down or drift or increase or decrease or drop or lower or higher). (We got some of these terms by looking at a story. If you only type in yen or dollar or euro, you may only retrieve the daily closing values, without an explanation.) One of the main things traders were waiting for was the news from the Federal Reserve Board, which met today and raised rates. But the articles also indicate other government reports, such as new home starts, employment, consumer buying, the weather, as factors.

When he said he needed it day by day, we tried limiting it day by day, which works. I suggested if he had a certain number of days to search, to use the feature on Factiva to bring up the results showing the oldest first as this would indicate what factors were being considered from the first day of the period. We also took into consideration the time differences around the globe.

Tips for helping students find statistical studies mentioned in newspapers

Catherine and I were discussing this assignment, which frustrates many students (and some librarians).

You may be asked for help with this assignment in which the students are to find a statistical study mentioned in a newspaper article and then also find the study published in a journal since the beginning of the semester. In the past, when students didn't have any idea, I suggested the Science section of the New York Times as a start to identify studies

But, Catherine and I thought of another search. We realized that studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA frequently receive news coverage. We suggest the following:

Use Factiva to limit your search to The New York Times as the publication.
Then enter keywords (new england journal of medicine or jama) and (survey or study)
and limit your search to 3 months or Feb. 1 to today's date.

This retrieves NYT articles mentioning studies, or surveys, reported in either publication. The NYT usually summarizes how many people were involved in the study, the author(s) and what issue of the publication the study is being published in. (We did retrieve some results that indicate the study is yet to be published but was mentioned at a medical conference.)

We have the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA online so this reduces the frustration students might experience if they find a new article about a study but then learn the journal in which the study is published is not easily available--frequently, meaning online today.

I also tried the search in the Wall Street Journal, revised as (study or survey) and medical and published
and limiting it to the last three months. This retrieved some articles, but it also retrieved some articles mentioning studies published last fall, such as in an article following up on a young scientist's new research.

We hope these tips are helpful.

Catherine and Rita

Keys

I've added a Keys page to the reference wiki. Feel free to add other keys to the list on this page.

PlanNYC

"A new website from the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at NYU. PlanNYC, available at www.plannyc.org, is a web-based tool to give citizens and organizations interested in housing and development in New York City easy access to facts, news, and events related to major urban planning projects and development proposals in their neighborhood.

PlanNYC is a complete urban planning web portal, with news summaries and links to development-related articles, official documents such as environmental impact statements, and a calendar of upcoming planning events that includes local community board meetings as well as citywide panels and hearings. PlanNYC brings together information from advocacy organizations, government agencies, academic institutions, neighborhood groups, and media organizations - all in one location."

CopiCo

Brian Barry is no longer our primary point person for CopiCo printer/copier problems. According to Stanton, a man named Joe is and he can be reached on his cell at 860-250-7107. CopiCo Service can be contacted directly at 1-800-726-2679. If a problem occurs during regular hours, please continue to go through Annette Ruiz at 1655.

Monday, March 27, 2006

ICPSR Secure Data Enclave open

ICPSR has opened a Secure Data Enclave which gives researchers the ability to access data that is not available to the general public because of respondent confidentiality concerns, under circumstances that provide sufficient controls on the researchers' use of the data and sanctions for violation of respondent confidentiality so as to reasonably ensure the continued confidentiality of respondent identifying information.

Applications for access to this data, and more information can be found at:
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/access/restricted/index.html

Friday, March 24, 2006

Research Consultation Clinics

The Library's program of research consultation clinics will start April 4th and run through May 4th. Students can sign up online at the "Instruction" page of our website. Posters and flyers announcing the program have been distributed. If you would like to publicize the program with a Webmail version of the flyer, please let me know.

Access to WRDS (Whartons)

WRDS (Whartons) has be down for the last few days. We are investigating.

FARS handout being added to Electronic Reserves

The FARS handout that I have developed for my short FARS workshops is being added to Electronic Course Reserves. It will be listed under my last name, Ormsby, as instructor, and also in REF 0000, which has a number of reserve items. (A print copy of the Powerpoint presentation I prepared to search FARS Online, the version that some students have access through their textbooks, is available in REF 0000. It is also available on Blackboard under the Accounting Department's web site.) I thank Barbara Carrel for the suggestion.

I learned of one specific assignment using FARS this week. It is the Worldwide Wires case. The students have two questions about how the company should recognize revenue. A place to start might be in the Current Text, General Standards, R75 Revenue Recognition. I heard that another assignment is to deal with pension accounting. The Current Text, General Standards, have several standards relating to pensions. That's as far as I can help.

Berkshire Hathaway purchases Business Wire

Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company headed by Warren Buffett, "the sage from Omaha," and second in wealth to Bill Gates among Americans, recently completed its purchase of Business Wire, the leading global distributor of corporate news, multimedia and regulatory filings. The purchase was noted at the NYSE earlier this week.

The Subotnick Center receives the Business Wire feed, among other news feeds. It is available full-text on Factiva and I frequently use it to help accounting students and faculty determine when companies have announced particular news or specific financial matters--such as restatements, etc. Announcing news on Business Wire meets public disclosure requirements of the SEC. A lot of people follow Buffett's investments.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Other ways to remotely access databases

If a patron is having trouble with remote access (e.g., they have a new ID card that isn't in the system yet), there are other options for getting to databases, though not necessarily all the ones our library subscribes to:
  • Access the core set of databases that all CUNY libraries have via the E-Journals & Reference Databases page on the CUNY Office of Library Services page (a Social Security Number or a library ID number may be used to authenticate)
  • Access library databases from one of the local public libraries using a library card
  • Access databases from the New York State Library using a NY state driver's license or DMV non-driver photo ID.

NASD webcast re Importance of Ethical Behavior

The NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers) has added a short (8 minute) webcast, and some accompanying materials , on The Importance of Ethical Behavior, to its homepage. It stresses the importance of ethical behavior for one's reputation and also its importance to the capital markets.

Remote access fix for Euromonitor GMID to take time

A solution to get remote access back to Euromonitor GMID will take a bit of time. For now, there is still no remote access to this database. As soon we can get it back, it will be mentioned here.

Encyclopedia Britannica requests Nature retract article about accuracy

Citing invalid research, among other things, the Encyclopedia Britannica is requesting Nature to retract its Dec. 2005 article that stated Britannica's science coverage was only slightly more accurate than Wikipedia's. (Britannica's request is 20-pages long.)

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Google Finance launches today

Google Finance is probably meant to be a competitor with Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, MarketWatch, and other business portal sites. It's interesting to compare the results of typing the ticker symbol for Microsoft, MSFT, in the search box for Google Finance and in the one for the main Google page:

Reporting problems with CUNY+

If you are encountering problems with CUNY+ (e.g., bizarre search results, no connectivity, etc.), please try calling the help desk at the CUNY Office of Library Services before you send out an e-mail on CULIBS. The phone number is 212-541-0981.

I've just updated the entry on CUNY Plus in the wiki to reflect this recommendation. (Yes, it is odd that I've had to spell out CUNY+ as CUNY Plus in the wiki; the wiki software doesn't allow you to put symbols like the "+" sign in the titles of wiki pages.)

Sunday, March 19, 2006

FARS workshops

I'll be doing FARS (Financial Accounting Resource System) workshops this week and next. Students do not need to sign-up in advance, they can just come to the room.

Here's the schedule:

(All workshops in the library). They will each last about 30 minutes, unless there are a lot of questions from students.

Monday, March 20, 5:40 p.m. Room 130 here in the library. Tuesday, March 21, 10:45 a.m. Room 135
Wednesday, March 22, 5 p.m. Room 130
Thursday, March 23, 12:50 p.m. Room 130
Friday, March 24, 6:15 p.m. Room 135
Friday, March 31, 6 p.m. Room 135

Also, FARS will be covered (briefly) in the Accounting Resources workshops Thursday, March 30, at 12:45 in Room 135. Students will need to sign up for this workshop.

Unlike past semesters, I have not received copies of the assignments. There is a FARS handout in the Reference Desk file drawers, along with the FARS CD disc.

The FARS handout covers the different ways that students may access this information.

Briefly, the FARS disc is the Financial Accounting Standards Board standards and, pronouncements,etc. that make up the "generally accepted accounting standards." The FARS disc is only updated once a year. Students may access the information using these discs; some have access to FARS Online through Wiley through their text books.

Of the library's databases, RIA Checkpoint's WG&L Financial Reporting & Management is (I think) the better database to use. It offers many hyperlinks, which reduces the number of searches students will need to do. CCH's Business & Finance, in Securities tab, in SEC's Accountants' Module, in Financial Accounting Standards, has the same information, but there are no hyperlinks. The FASB's free website, www.fasb.org, lacks the current text, which has the current information relating to the standards, but is updated at least once a week. (Some new standards have been issued since the FARS disc was made in June.)

There is a tutorial on how to search FARS online posted on the accounting department's blackboard site. There is a handout in the reference desk drawer. Students should read these and try to search on their own. In the past, some students have sought my help without reading these materials first.

The CCH Accounting Research Manager, new this school year, does not allow student access to FASB or EITF, but the interpretation and examples for GAAP can provide helpful information. This database is in Information Resources. We have a limited number of simultaneous users.

Please let me know if you have any questions. You are welcome to come to any of the workshops.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Library Open 24 Hours During Midterm Exams

The Newman Library will remain open 24 hours for mid-term examinations. The dates for these extended hours were chosen by Undergraduate Student Government. The library will open at 7:00 a.m. on March 20 and remain open continuously until 11:59 p.m. on March 27. After midnight, access to the library will be restricted to Baruch College students. Service desks will close at their usual scheduled hours.

CUNY+ Results List

Eric just announced that there is a date sorting problem with results in CUNY+. The most recent items are supposed to display first but this is not happening for newly added records. A batch job to fix this will be run during spring break.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Downloading From SDC

If you are troubleshooting with students having problems downloading into Excel from SDC Mergers & Acquistions one possible cause is the data item "deal synopsis." Deal synopsis is part of SDC's Comprehensive Summary report and it is a data item that can be included in a custom designed report. It is a text field and should not be included in reports that are saved in Excel format.

TableBase

There is a problem logging into TableBase. (cannot display page). I reported it to Mike and Saad.

Database trials now listed in the reference wiki

...on the Database Trials page.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

New Search Tools in EBSCOhost Databases

At Monday's IS division meeting Stephen alerted us to some new features of the the EBSCOhost databases. If you haven't had a look yet, please note:

-There is a drop down menu below the search box that allows you to change databases.

-The search results show suggested subject headings to narrow the search. These are on the left in a yellow box.

-A visual search tool from Grokker has been added. Use the blue tab labeled "Visual Search."

NY Times to end daily stock price listings in April

The New York Times has announced that starting April 4 it will cease publishing daily stock price listings on Tuesdays through Saturdays. Complete financial tables will continue to be published on Sundays.

It will have two pages of market and economic information, including performance listings of the top 100 stocks in the S&P 500-stock index, and other information, detailed in the story.

It will offer a new package of interactive tools and market information on its web site. Complete financial tables will continue to appear in the Sunday issue of the paper.

Reasons for the change: the rising cost of news print and the availability on the Web of stock quotes and financial information.

For students who are assigned to follow a stock daily in a newspaper, the Wall Street Journal would still be an option. (Perhaps the assignments will change.)

More on Millennials

Prof. Molly Epstein, a communications professor at Goizueta Business School at Emory University, surveyed over 1000 students about their attitudes toward education and came to the conclusion that William Strauss and Neil Howe in their book Millennials Rising (HQ796.H74 2000) were correct in characterizing these students as really different from students in past generations.

In the same article the director of the BBA program is quoted as saying that Millennials “need” grades and will work hard for any kind of credential. She used the Goizueta Library as an example: “Enrollment in optional classes offered by the business librarians on research methods climbed dramatically after the school initiated a business research certificate.”

Read the article, Teaching the Millennial Generation, in the latest issue of Knowledge @Emory.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Flash Drives Available

The Circulation/Reserve desk now has 128mb flash drives available for loan or purchase for a deposit of $15.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Free Gale reference books on the web

Gale seems to be offering an incredible amount of reference sources for free online (details here). Check out the Business Plans Handbook, an eleven-volume set in print, for example.

via lbr (a blog maintained librarian Luke Rosenberger)

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Sending jobs to the vendor card printer

I've just substantially revised the entry on the vendor card printer in the reference wiki. Please let me know if I've missed something (or add it yourself...it is a wiki after all!)

Keeping track of reported problems

If you ever want to quickly find all the blog postings that have reported some sort of problem (database access down, printers not working, etc.), you can easily find those by clicking the link on the far right side of the screen for Technical Problems (look in the section of the page labeled "Index of Topics and Subjects." If any of those problems also generated a helpdesk request, you can quickly see a list just of those by clicking the link for Helpdesk Requests in the same "Index of Topics and Subjects."

If you happen to submit a helpdesk request to Systems and you think the rest of us working at reference should know, please consider adding a blog posting about it and include in that posting the helpdesk request number so we can all check on the status of the request.

Libraries and the Millennials

There is a very interesting review article in the March issue of UI Current LIS Clips from the University of Illinois. It discusses six key articles on the millennials and their information seeking behavior and use of libraries. The youngest millennials, Generation Z, were born after 1990 and have been surrounded by digital technology since birth. That makes them 16 years old, so we have at most two years to prepare for their arrival.

Enhanced Records with Syndetics Solutions

The CUNY+ Public Services Committee reported that they saw a demo of a Bowker product, Syndetics Solutions, at their February meeting. It adds cover images, book summaries and tables of contents to the web opac record. Go to the South Dakota Library Network to see it in use. Search for the book Manga Mania for a colorful example.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

How to report CUNY+ union catalog display problem

In an e-mail message on CULIBS today, Roland Samieske at the CUNY Office of Library Services offered these instructions for how we should report to him any instance where we were searching the local catalog in CUNY+ and were suddenly given union catalog search results instead of the local catalog results:
So far, 5 different CUNY libraries have reported the same problem. I have a trouble ticket open with ExLibris on this. At the moment, they ask me for "scenarios" that illustrate the problem (i.e. they're asking for a lot of detail).

Can you e-mail me the different steps you're going through until you notice this problem?

For example, you might send me the following:

1. I connect to CUNY+ with the URL http://apps.appl.cuny.edu:83/F
2. I'm in my local catalog
3. I do a keyword in title search for "mombasa"
4. The result list is from the union catalog (i.e. the page header says "CUNY Union Catalog") etc.

In addition, also send your workstation's IP address (you can get this from http://whatismyip.com)
Send your comments to Roland at ROLBH@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU.

Slow browser at reference desk PC

I submitted a help desk request today (#4413) to note the problematic browser on the PC at the front the reference desk (the PC by closest to the library entrance). As you may have noticed over the past month, pages often load extremely slowly for no good reason, and when you try to open additional browser windows, they take forever open and load. Clearing the cache in the browser (Tools>Internet Options>Delete Files...) seems to have no effect on the problem.

SSRN creates Entrepreneurship Research & Policy Network

News from SSRN: The Social Science Research Network is pleased to announce the creation of the Entrepreneurship Research & Policy Network (ERPN).
ERPN is sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
and will provide an online community for entrepreneurship research from all academic disciplines and the users of that information.

In addition to sponsoring the network, Robert Litan,
Vice President for Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation,
will serve as the Network Director and the Foundation is graciously
providing free ERPN subscriptions to U.S. universities and not-for-
profit institutions for the first year. Baruch and several other CUNY colleges are on the list of institutions receiving free subscriptions.

ERPN will also include research from Harvard Business School
Entrepreneurial Management Unit and Now Publishers' Foundation and
Trends - Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technological Change. By
including the latest research from the Harvard Business School and
peer-reviewed articles from Foundation and Trends, ERPN is working to
become the most complete online resource for entrepreneurship
research. They plan to offer more journals and institutions in the future.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Freshmen Seminar

Approximately 5 Freshmen Seminar groups all came unexpectedly into the library today during club hours and picked up their handouts. I don't think any additional groups are scheduled to come in but if they do, please let me know.

Diane

UN report on reforms

The United Nations issued a major report on reforming the organization today.

Matrimonial Commission makes recommendations on revising divorce litigation in NYS

The Matrimonial Commission recently released its recommendations to Chief Judge Kaye on reducing the cost, delays and trauma of divorce litigation in New York State. Subheadings include the role and appointment of attorneys for children. Occasionally students have questions and are doing research on family law and this report may be of interest.

Using WRDS Databases

I have been working with several teams of students who are gathering historical data from several of the WRDS databases: CRSP, Compustat, and I/B/E/S. I found that WRDS offers very brief online Demos that walk new users through the databases step-by-step.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Help for Prof. Cherny's Auditing Assignment regarding Audit Failures

I spoke with Prof. Julius Cherny about the assignments given his class regarding cases in which audit failures have occurred. (The 12 cases are in Contemporary Auditing: Real Issues and Cases by Michael C. Knapp. Prof. Cherny gave me a copy of the book and I have placed it on reserve.) I also prepared a guide, which he will post on his course Blackboard site, to resources that students may find helpful. I have placed print copies of this guide in the drawer here at the desk in a folder labeled Cherny's Audit Failure Guide.

The cases are: Enron, Livent, Inc., (which files both in the U.S. and Canada, and has been operating under bankruptcy protection), Health Management, Inc. (HMI), AMRE, Inc., Leslie Fay Companies, Star Technologies, Inc., Lincoln Savings & Loan Association, Crazy Eddie, Inc., ZZZZ Best Company, Inc., ESM Government Securities, Inc., United States Surgical Corporation, and The Fund of Funds, Ltd.

Of the 12 cases, two are probably more work than the others to find financial information. The first, EMS Government Securities, Inc., was a wholly-owned subsidiary of ESM Group, Inc. They were dealers in government securities, of which the SEC had no regulatory authority at the time (mid 1970s-early 1980s.) Oversight rested with state security agencies. However, the text book shows a balance sheet the company prepared in 1984 as customers requested an audited balance sheet. The failure of EMS was a large one, and the textbook mentions a book about the scandal, Bankers, Builders, Knaves and Thieves, which the library owns. The failure was also the subject of a Congressional hearing, also mentioned in the textbook, and we have print copies of this hearing. The CCH Business & Finance database, as well as Accounting Research Manager, may be searched for Accounting and Auditing Enforcement releases regarding this case, as well as others.

The other case that might be difficult to find complete financial filings for is Investors Overseas Services, (IOS), a mutual fund, which was headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and the initial time period is mid 1960s. Again, the SEC actions against Bernard Cornfeld and others may be located in CCH Business & Finance and Accounting Research Manager, and Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis will have the court decisions in lawsuits. There was litigation against the auditors and the Newman Library has the book written about Cornfeld. And, news accounts would provide information. (The litigation in this case went into the 1980s.)

So, with some work, the students should be able to find enough information for the assignment, which Prof. Cherny said is more about "lessons learned" (what the auditor did or didn't do) than locating the financials.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

How to E-mail Your Professor

If you read the recent New York Times article "To: Professor@University.edu Subject:Why It's All About Me " about how students correspond with their professors through e-mail, you might want to send your students this blog post by a professor outlining the guidelines he gives his students to follow when they e-mail him.

Fed to end release of M3 Monetary Aggregates

On March 23 the Federal Reserve will discontinue release of the M3 monetary aggregate which included measures of eurodollar deposits, repurchase agreements and certificate of deposit accounts over $100,000. In announcing this change, The Dismal Scientist pointed out that Central Banks in recent years have favored targeting interest rates rather than money supply measures.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Enron Trial Releases

The U.S. Department of Justice is releasing government exhibits admitted into evidence in the trial of the United States v. Jeffrey K. Skilling and Kenneth L. Lay. You will find these documents along with related press releases at the DOJ's website for "Enron Trial Exhibits and Releases."

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Diana Hacker web site redesigned

One of the best online guides for doing citations--APA, Chicago, MLA, and CSE are all covered--is Diana Hacker's Research and Documentation Online. Recently, the site was overhauled and links to individual pages have all changed. I've updated the entry on "Citation Guides" in the reference wiki with the new URLs for Diana Hacker's site. Also on the "Citation Guides" page you'll find links to a number of other excellent citation guides. For each style, I've broken out links to guides to doing in-text citations and links to guides for creating bibliographies.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

New Federal Reserve Board Survey of Consumer Finances available

The Federal Reserve Board's results of the 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances, which covers changes in U.S. Family Finances is now available. This survey is done every three years and provides insights into family income and net worth. For 2001-2004, (inflation-adjusted) family income before taxes rose 1.6 percent, and the mean value fell 2.3 percent. Three key shifts underlie changes in net worth: strong appreciation of house values and the rise in the rate of home ownership; direct and indirect ownership of stocks declined, as did the typical amount held; and the amount of debt relative to total assets increased "markedly," the largest part of that attributed to debt secured by real estate. Families are devoting more of their incomes to servicing their debts.

The report is frequently cited. It runs 38 pages. Comparisons are available from 1995 -2004.

Data on Outsourcing/Offshoring

I've been helping one of the faculty track down data on outsourcing of jobs from the U.S. and a report that was released last week from the Job Migration Task Force of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) turned out to be very helpful. The entire report, The ACM Report on Globalization and Offshoring of Software, is free at the ACM Website. Be sure to have a look at the annotated bibliography. It includes 16 pages on "Data and Economic Analysis" and equally lengthy citations for subjects including "Education and Training," "India, China & Other Countries Doing Offshore Work," "Offshoring of R&D," and "US, EU & Other Countries Sending Work Offshore."
If you would like to read more about the report, The New York Times covered the release in an article called "Study Plays Down Export of Computer Jobs" in the February 23 issue.

Harvard's Baker Library has a new online series --Historical Returns

Harvard's Baker Library has a new online series on business history--Historical Returns. The first is on Financial Bubbles--starting with the South Sea Bubble of 1720. The series contains a short movie and links to library resources.

New Baruch-NYT MBA case study competition

The Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Responsibility here at Baruch is sponsoring, along with The New York Times, a new corporate ethics and strategic management case study competition for area MBA students. The competition will be March 31. It is a team competition and area schools have been invited to send teams. It appears it will be an annual competition. We might have some inquiries about this at the reference desk.

Euromonitor Market Research (MRM)

Euromonitor's Market Research Monitor (MRM) hasn't disappeared although it is no longer on our list of "Information Resources". It is now part of Euromonitor's GMID database. If you are looking for the market research reports, an easy way to find them is by using the tab at the top of the page that says "Browse Reports". Then you can scroll through their lists of reports in these categories: Global, Country, Industry, Company Profiles, Future Demographic, Retailing, Major Market Profiles and Consumer Lifestyle.

Copy card vending machine not working

Chief Librarian's office has been notified so Brian can look into it.

Audit Analytics: reported problem with remote access

I submitted a helpdesk request (#4388) today to notify staff of a possible problem with remote access to Audit Analytics. The student seemed to be properly following instructions for logging in remotely (as noted on Mike's original post announcing our new subscription to Audit Analytics, login is a bit idiosyncratic); she indicated that she got an error message on her screen that mentioned something about the EZ Proxy server. I've also notified Rita so she can look into it.

Please Lock the Paper Cabinets

This morning we discovered one of the cabinets in the student printing room was unlocked. Please discourage theft and lock the cabinets after use.

If Prof. Neil Sullivan stops by the reference desk

Update: He called me and I have placed the metro card and some other research in an envelope and placed it in the box for pick-up at the reference desk. If he comes in, please call me as I would like to say hello, X3146. (He was my Admin Law professor in SPA.) Thanks, Rita

Please either call me or have him come to my office. He called yesterday about a Metro Card to go read a 1935 Supreme Court brief and oral argument. I told him I would leave the card at the desk but I am unsure of the source he is seeking. He said yesterday that he would stop in today. I have left a message at his office.