The procurement problem that put our CUNY-wide subscriptions to Oxford and Grove reference databases is now a thing of the past. Access is back. I have removed the workaround link we had to the NYPL’s subscription to the OED.
No Remote Access for GuideStar Pro
I am working with support from Candid to resolve the problem that is making the GuideStar Pro database inaccessible from off campus. On campus access is fine, though.
Tech Loan Kiosks Are Working Again
Students should be able to check out and return laptops from the kiosks now.
Reference USA Historical Data Renamed as Infogroup Historical Business
The listing for Reference USA Historical Data on the databases pages will now be displayed as Infogroup Historical Business. What’s also news here is that the data is now available on the WRDS platform. Ryan Phillips provided this updated description:
(Baruch users only) Provides calendar year-end snapshots of local business data from 1997 to 2024. It contains business identification, location, industry, corporation hierarchy, employment, sales, and most other attributes available in Reference Solutions (including XY coordinates that allow the data to be plotted and mapped using GIS software).
Please note that this name change doesn’t affect our listing for Reference Solutions, which provides current information. Here is the description for that database, which was previously known as Reference USA and continues to focus on offering current information only:
Detailed information on more than 14 million U.S. businesses, 210 million U.S. residents, 855,000 U.S. health care providers, 1.5 million Canadian businesses, and 12 million Canadian households.
A-Z List for Journals in OneSearch
With the latest Primo release, the interface in OneSearch now features an A-Z way to browse journals by title (it’s just below the search box on the Journals page). Given the vast number of periodicals we have online access to, the A-Z route isn’t an efficient way to look up a title. For my test today, I went looking for the literary journal Callaloo and found that it was title number 850 in the C’s; that was a LOT of paging through results to verify that we do indeed have access to Callaloo (and that was after I changed the default display from 10 items per page to the max of 50).
Printing Credit Kiosk in the Library Is Now Working
The BCTC folks were able to fix the problem last night that was preventing credits paid for in the kiosk from being applied to the patron’s printing account. The kiosk is now working again (the one on the 6th floor computer lab, though, is still out of order).
Bluetooth on New Desktop PCs for Students
The new desktops that BCTC installed a few weeks ago have Bluetooth set up and available (that wasn’t the case on the old PCs that were just removed). If students need to listen to audio or watch video on those desktops, they can now connect things via Bluetooth like earbuds, headphones, and hearing aids.
New Interface in June for All EBSCO Databases
The new interface for EBSCO databases that was first launched last year will be live for Baruch in June (exact date isn’t determined yet but it will probably be late in the month). With this new UI, anyone who has done a instructional video demonstrating an EBSCO database, embedded screenshots in a research guide, or built a custom search box to an EBSCO database will need to revise what they have.
If you’d like to take a peek at what the new interface looks like, we have ready and easy access to it here:
https://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=https://research.ebsco.com/c/kusd2j?db=a9h
Once we officially switch over, the existing database links on the library website and any permalinks we’ve shared should redirect. As is our usual procedure when there is a new set of URLs for an existing database collection, though, we will still update the database links on our website so we don’t have to count on EBSCO’s redirect to work.
Four Datasets on WRDS Temporarily Unavailable
These four datasets on the WRDS platform are not available right now:
- I/B/E/S
- SDC Mergers & Acquisitions (WRDS)
- SDC New Issues (WRDS)
- Thomson Reuters Institutional (13f) Holdings
As soon as access is restored, an updated will be posted here.
Other datasets on WRDS are not affected.
Laptop Kiosks Not Working
BCTC is looking into the problem with the laptop kiosks. As a workaround, students can still stop by the Tech Loan Desk on the 3rd floor during weekdays and the Circ Desk on weekends to borrow laptops.