Vermont is first state to establish "low profit" corporate entity

The Vermont legislature recently approved the country's first "low profit" limited liability corporation statute, which seeks to blend features of for profit and non-profit corporations. Here's a link to the legislation as it was proposed:
http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2008/bills/intro/H-775.htm. (This is not the final version of the law.)

Some expect an outcome of the law is that nonprofit organizations will seek to incorporate under Vermont law, much like many for-profit corporations seek to incorporate in Delaware because of some features of Delaware corporate law.

Psychology assignment

An assignment for a psychology class (Prof. Kehn) requires students to research the history of the Psychology Department at Baruch. The department's website does not provide historical information. I suggested the following to a few students (to see how courses have changed emphasis, faculty have changed, events, etc.):

• The Ticker Digitized Archives- (Choose Digital Collections, then click on "The Ticker" in the right sidebar)
• Lexicon yearbook - Ref. LD 331.B66457 L4
• Undergraduate Bulletins - Ref. LD 331.B66428 B37
  

The assignment is due Wednesday, June 25th.

Any other suggestions?

The HUB at the University of Kentucky

The first session I attended at SLA was one given by Stacey Greenwell from the University of Kentucky on "Applying the Information Commons Concept." Some of her tips about things they did in designing their commons for undergraduates that were successful include:

Furniture: Put everything you can on wheels. Buy many more whiteboards than you think you need - students love them. The Hub has 20 but could use another 20 more. Do not use TV monitors for signage. They are not as easy to program as simple projectors.

Services:They have replaced their reference desk sign with one that says "Help * Help * Help. They have a mobile reference desk too but are still looking for ways to increase reference traffic. They now offer workshops in RSS and SecondLife. They are partnering with their IT department to offer a laptop clinic. They have a tutoring kiosk (through a video conference/chat system) that allows students to get help from the writing center while in the library. They are going to set up a kiosk in the IT labs for students to get help from librarians. They have trained students to be "navigation assistants."

A description and pictures of The Hub are on their website along with links to more pictures on Flickr.

Tips for Contacting the BCTC Help Desk

If you need to contact the BCTC Help Desk (x1010) while working reference, please keep in mind the following:

• The BCTC home page has a "Help Desk Alerts" section that you may want to check first to see if the problem you're reporting has already been noted

• When you report a problem to the help desk, the staff there logs your problem into a ticketing system. Please ask for the ticket number so that when you or someone else calls back for followup, you can refer to the original ticket number.

• If you post a message to the reference blog about the problem, include the ticket number in your post if your problem resulted in your calling the BCTC help desk.

• Although Saad and Arthur automatically receive copies of all blog posts via email, you may also want to call Saad's staff or submit your request also to the library's own help desk system (there's a link to it on the toolbar of all reference desk PCs). Indicate to Saad's staff that you've already contacted BCTC and provide the ticket number. You should know that any problem reported to the online help desk system for the library is automatically routed via email to Saad and his staff.

In reviewing this blog post before I published it today, Arthur reminded me of BCTC's plans to launch a searchable knowledgebase for tech issues. Christian Keck from BCTC spoke to the IS Division about this project a number of months ago and invited us to help contribute content related to library technology when the system is ready.

MRI+ Database

A student came in today from Marketing 3250, (Advertising and Marketing Communications), and needed to use the MRI+ database for information about consumers of Maxwell House coffee. There is a username and password for MRI listed in the wiki, but students may want to create their own account. It also seemed as if the database would not work in Firefox, but it worked fine in Explorer.

Once the student logged in, we went first to the 'Mediamark reporter' tab, and then chose 'Fall 2007 product.' There is an option to choose a report based on the type of product, or to search by keyword. We searched for coffee and found that 'ground coffee' was one of our results. There were many different brands listed, including Maxwell House. After that, you can generate reports for the past six months.

It sounded as if this is a group project for the class, so there may be other students coming in to use MRI+.

Keeping safe our copy of Margin of Safety

If anyone asks about our copy of Seth Klarman's 1991 book, Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor, be aware that there are unusual access policies in place for it because of the book's value on the used book market:

• the book is in the archives
• it does not circulate at all
• anyone who wants to look at it must make arrangements in advance with Prof. Sandra Roff, who will sit with that person as he/she reads the book
• limited numbers of pages may be photocopied by Prof. Roff at her discretion

If you'd like to read why this book is valued so highly, check out this 2006 article from BusinessWeek: "The $700 Used Book."

Guest login system down

Around 1:15, Chris and I noticed that the guest login system was down and reported it to the BCTC Help Desk. I just called the help desk again to check on the status and learned nothing new. I asked the help desk staff to please call us at the reference desk as soon as the system is back up.

Get Historical Stock Prices with CRSP

We have been getting a few questions from students looking for historical stock price information. Prof. Liu reminded us you can find data up until 2006 using CRSP.

1.) Select CRSP
2.) On the left select monthly stocks
3.) Enter the ticker symbol
4.) Under the variables section tick off "price"
5.) Then select Submit request

Thanks to Prof. Liu

New database: Literature Criticism Online

The News
We now have access to a new Gale database: Literature Criticism Online (LCO), a useful complement to Gale's Literature Resource Center (LRC), which we've long subscribed to.

What's Unique about LCO
Backfiles from ten essential literature reference series from Gale:

• Contemporary Literary Criticism
• Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism
• Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism
• Shakespeare Criticism
• Literature Criticism 1400-1800
• Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism
• Poetry Criticism
• Short Story Criticism
• Drama Criticism
• Children’s Literature Review

What's Not in LCO
A number of valuable Gale and St. James reference series are in LRC instead (such as Contemporary Authors).

When to Use LCO
If a student needs to find criticism of a specific work of literature, I'd start with Literature Resource Center (LRC) first, then move on to LCO, then finally to MLA International Bibliography.

If the student wants an overview of an author, then LRC first, LCO next, and don't bother at all with MLA International Bibliography.

LCO and Bearcat Search
LCO is not yet connected in Bearcat Search. I'll post a note here when it is. Speaking of federation, Gale promises that someday soon we'll be able to search LCO, LRC, and MLA International Bibliography from a single Gale search screen (as we can do with EBSCOhost databases); right now, if you go to LRC and run a search, it will automatically include MLA International Bibliography results too unless you unclick the checkbox at the bottom of the search screen.

Worldscope

We now have access to Worldscope. This database provides financial information on public companies worldwide. It is available through Datastream, which is available on the computers at the reference desk (some professors also have it in their office).

Photocopy Machine 2 Key

Although I was able to open the photocopy machine 2 in the print room on the second floor of the library I was unable to relock it.

New Street Atlases

In addition to the Manhattan Block by Block Atlas that Louise mentioned in an earlier post, we have recently received a new NYC 5 Borough Street Guide. Both of these atlases are behind the reference desk. A new Rand McNally Road Atlas for the US, Canada, and Mexico is on order for the desk, and hopefully will arrive soon.

EZProxy error when connecting to databases

Saad sent a message stating the connection to Aluka has been fixed. I noticed there are other databases bringing up the same EZProxy error message when trying to connect: American Accounting Association, Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, Mergent WebReports, and Zephyr (a trial database). I sent a Helpdesk request regarding these databases. -Linda

Recent book acquisitions

I thought I would highlight some of the new books that are coming through. These are more or less random choices but I am trying to cover all areas, we are really getting some interesting material! They'll hit circulation tomorrow afternoon.

Ogden Nash: the life and work or America's laureate of light verse, by Douglas M. Parker (PS 3527 .A637 Z79 2005). Parker follows Nash's life from infancy to death, frequently interspersing Nash' s own verses (there is a 4 page Table of Poems). A bibliography of primary and secondary sources and a number of pictures make this a very useful source for anyone working on Nash.

Trust and honesty: America's business culture at a crossroads, by Tamar Frankel (KF 9351 .F73 2006). Pondering on the the recent business scandals of Enron, WorldCom and more, Frankel, a professor of law at Boston University, invites the reader to examine the state of trust and honesty in American business. What happens to society when deception seems pervasive? And how can we stop this trend? Extensive notes and bibliography.

Dragons at your door: how Chinese cost innovation is disrupting global competition, by Ming Zeng and Peter J. Williamson (HC 427.95 .Z424 2007). According to the authors, the real "Chinese threat" doesn't come from the "cheap, low-quality imitations flooding world markets" but from the ways in which they have been able to harness technology at low cost, offer a an incredibly high number of product choices, even for mass-market products, while also offering specialty products at dramatically lower prices.

Islamic law and the challenges of modernity, edited by Yvonne Y. Haddad and Barbara F. Stowasser (KBP 144 .I83 2004). With globalization, there are an increasing number of clashes between Islamic and Western laws. The authors start by looking at Islamic law from historical and regional views. The book is then divided in two parts, the first one looking at modern legal reforms in the Arab world, and the second examining the impact of these reforms on women specifically. Included are a substantial bibliography and a glossary of terms.

The impact of women in Congress, by Debra L. Dodson (HQ 1236.5 .U6 D63 2006). Looking specifically at the 103rd and 104th Congress, and at three specific areas (women's health, reproductive rights, and health care policy), Dodson examines the complex interactions between women's presence and impact and the institutions they work in. The author conducted a number of interviews and a number of tables appear throughout the book, as well as an extensive bibliography.

Enjoy!

Wiley and Blackwell-Synergy

You may have heard that Wiley bought Blackwell a while ago. Wiley is going through a long process to integrate their two platforms, which should culminate in a totally brand new integrated platform early 2009.

As a first step, Wiley is moving ALL Blackwell content to its own server. This will make it more difficult for us to find the titles we do subscribe to since we only subscribe to about a combined 220 titles out of over 1,600 titles that will be available.

Both sites will be unavailable June 28, 29 and 30.

Latino Survey 2006

MDRC and ICPSR just announced the release of the data from the Latino National Survey (LNS), 2006. The LNS (ICPSR 20862) is a major "national" telephone survey of Latino residents of the United States, seeking a broad understanding of the qualitative nature of Latino political and social life in America. All Latinos, not just citizens or voters, were sampled to be interviewed for approximately 40 minutes on a wide range of political questions, conducted in English and Spanish.

The Latino National Survey (LNS) contains 8,634 completed interviews (unweighted) of self-identified Latino/Hispanic residents of the United States. Interviewing began on November 17, 2005, and continued through August 4, 2006. The survey instrument contained approximately 165 distinct items ranging from demographic descriptions to political attitudes and policy preferences, as well as a variety of social indicators and experiences. All interviewers were bilingual, English and Spanish. Respondents were greeted in both languages and were immediately offered the opportunity to interview in either language. Interviewers also provided a consent script that allowed respondents to opt out of the survey.

Student Lockers

There are students asking about summer locker rentals at the Reference Desk.
Please direct them to this URL:
https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/lockerapp/

NASDAQ to Offer Real-Time Stock Quotes

Most financial websites report stock quotes on a 15-minute delay. NASDAQ announced Monday that it will start a pilot project to supply real-time market data to the websites of Google Finance, the Wall Street Journal and CNBC. NASDAQ will need approval from the SEC to continue the pilot. Read the details in this news story from Reuters.

Reuters I workshop, June 11

There have been a few students asking about a Reuters workshop for Summer Session One.
For future inquires, let students know that Reuters I is scheduled for next week on Wed., June 11th from 12:45-2pm. Alfredo will set up the online registration soon.

Hillary Clinton Rally

We've had a few questions already about the timing and location of the rally this evening. It's being held at the Athletic and Rec Center in the Newman Vertical Campus at 7pm. You can refer people who want tickets to the Clinton website, where they can register online:

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/events/ticketed/20080603NewYork/

An internet search for "Hillary Clinton" and baruch will return this page as one of the top links (easier than giving someone this long url).