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