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Three New Trial Databases Are Now Active

librarynews — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:33:11 +0000

The library is happy to announce the activation of three new databases trials. Send feedback to reference@csp.edu

Global Issues in Context (GALE) – Issues and countries form the core of this product, which uses resources to explain the historical and contemporary conditions necessary to understand global issues, conflicts and events. Global Issues in Context supports research in a wide variety of subject areas, including sociology, current events, civics, politics, science, economics, cultural/religious studies, women’s studies, human rights, English composition and many more. Trial runs through April 9th.

Ethnographic Video Online – Covers the study of human culture and behavior – more than 750 hours and 1,000 films at completion. The collection covers every region of the world and features the work of many of the most influential documentary filmmakers of the 20th century, including interviews, previously unreleased raw footage, field notes, study guides, and more. This first release includes 226 videos totaling roughly 152 hours. Trial runs through April 3rd.

Women and Social Movements, Scholar’s Edition – Includes primary historic documents, books, images, scholarly essays, teaching tools, and book and Web site reviews documents the history of women’s activism in public life, and is one of the most heavily visited resources for women’s studies and for U.S. history on the Web. Organized around document projects written by leading scholars, the collection is a powerful research and classroom tool designed to help users develop the skills needed to analyze primary documents and conduct research. Document projects are organized around interpretive questions, each with 20-50 primary documents that address the question. Trial ends March 31st.

Goodbye, BearHunt

librarynews — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:11:03 +0000

QuickSearch via BearHunt will no longer be available beginning May 1st. There are a number of reasons that the library chose to discontinue this federated search service. Most important, as everyone is tightening their belts, BearHunt came at a substantial cost while offering no new content. Also important, usage was low compared to cost. When it first became available, we were excited to try a federated search, but along with other CLIC libraries and the rest of the library world, we’ve realized that the technology needed to support the idea isn’t quite there yet. The relevancy rankings don’t seem to work correctly or consistently, links were frequently broken, searches executed slowly, and the interface left a lot to be desired. We also felt there was a possibility that it was misleading searchers to think they were searching “everything”, while in fact there are a number of both purchased and freely available resources that aren’t included in a BearHunt search. Also, the search is not complete in that it stops at a predetermined time interval instead of continuing until all searches have had a chance to complete. In the end, BearHunt and federated search as it now exists seems at odds with our mission to teach academic research skills tailored to specific situations and inquiries, using the full breadth of our resources. We will look forward to new federated search products with anticipation, especially if they meet our criteria of completeness and have added-value in their presentation.

New Resource Credo Reference is a Great Place to Start Your Research

librarynews — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:16:46 +0000

The library is now subscribed to Credo Reference, the premier Reference database on the market. This is a great place to start your research. Here is the title list. It includes concept maps and an image search in addition to the usual encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, quotations, bilingual dictionaries, and measurement conversions. There are also connections which allow you to jump to some of our other database subscriptions once you’re ready to do more in depth research. From their Website:

“Credo Reference is a full-text online reference service. Our collection includes over three million entries from hundreds of well-regarded titles from some of world’s the best reference publishers. Credo’s collection is intelligently integrated with millions of cross-references and contains dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific titles covering everything from art to accountancy, science to Shakespeare and law to literature.”

Enter at the URL: http://www.credoreference.com.ezproxy.csp.edu/

Look at Our New Trial: AP Images

librarynews — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:38:56 +0000

From the AP Images Website:

“AP Images, a division of The Associated Press, is one of the world’s largest collections of historical and contemporary imagery. Browse AP’s comprehensive archive with millions of images in entertainment, sports, news, archival and creative content.

AP Images collaborates with content and global image partners, offering immediate access to more than 6 million entertainment, sports, news and lifestyle photographs.”

To give it a try, follow this link. Then call or email the CSP Reference Desk for a username and password: (651) 641-8812 | reference@csp.edu

New Trial: Credo Reference

librarynews — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:58:18 +0000

We’ve arranged for a free trial of Credo Reference, which includes concept maps and an image search in addition to the usual encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, quotations, bilingual dictionaries, and measurement conversions. From their Website:

“Credo Reference is a full-text online reference service. Our collection includes over three million entries from hundreds of well-regarded titles from some of world’s the best reference publishers. Credo’s collection is intelligently integrated with millions of cross-references and contains dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific titles covering everything from art to accountancy, science to Shakespeare and law to literature.”

Try Pop Culture Universe

librarynews — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:39:37 +0000

Pop Culture Universe: Icons | Idols | Ideas (PCU) is an authoritative, yet irresistible, digital library of information on American and world popular culture, past and present—in a package as dynamic as the topic it covers.

Built on hundreds of award-winning titles for all levels of researchers, PCU provides a safe haven for investigating topics that appeal to students—without the bias, advertising, suggestive content, or questionable authorship of commercial or fan sites.

This is available for free to Concordia users until mid-November. Let us know what you think. http://ezproxy.csp.edu/login?url=http://pop.greenwood.com/

Reading the Book of the Year?

librarynews — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:18:57 +0000

If you’re reading (or planning on reading) the CSP Book of the Year, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, here are a few things you should know.

-There are 3 copies available on 2-hour reserve at the library.
-As of this writing, there are 5 copies available in CLICnet, one at CSP and 4 requestable from other CLIC libraries.
-The Book of the Year has a Website. Discussion this year is encouraged on the Team of Rivals One-Stop Blog, which is maintained by history and political science professor Dr. David Woodard

Dr. Woodard will be leading Convocation on Wednesday, October 21st, offering a primer in American History. There will be another Convocation on a date yet to be determined in March for a Team of Rivals inspired art show.

Free Literature Resources During Hispanic Heritage Month

librarynews — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:39:24 +0000

September 15 was the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico declared independence on September 16, Chile on September 18, and Belize on September 21. In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 through October 15, Alexander Street is offering free access to select full-text, online collections for libraries. Explore poetry, short stories, folk tales, novels, memoirs, non-fiction, and plays in both Spanish and English from Latino writers around the world.

Latino Literature | Caribbean Literature | Latin American Women Writers

Username: eviews
Password: hispanicheritage

New Style Manuals for MLA and APA

librarynews — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:14:52 +0000

The newest editions (released in August) of the style manuals for both MLA (7th ed.) and APA (6th ed.) are now available On Reserve at the Reference Desk. If you’d like to see one of them, just ask a library staff member. They are filed under LIB001 on the Reserves shelf.

You can also access style and formatting guides on the new editions of the MLA and APA style manuals at the Purdue Online Writing Lab’s Website: MLA and APA

Short Trial Available for American History in Video

librarynews — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:43:16 +0000

There is currently a short trial active for the database American History in Video.

American History in Video provides the largest and richest collection of video available online for the study of American history, with 2,000 hours and more than 5,000 titles on completion. The collection allows students and researchers to analyze historical events, and their presentation over time, through commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries. This release now provides 1479 titles, including new documentaries from PBS and archival footage, equaling approximately 462 hours.

Contact the Reference Desk for login info at (651) 641-8812