Reference at Newman Library

Year: 2009

Problems in Room 135

I had a problem with the projector in room 135 this morning. It would not power on when I used the remote, or when I tried the power button on the bottom of the projector. I stood on the table to see if a cable was loose and saw that the power switch on the back of the projector was turned off. It worked after turning this on. I’m not sure why this would have been switched off–luckily I was in the classroom with plenty of extra time.

On a related note, the PC in that classroom seems to take an inordinate amount of time to boot up–10 minutes or more after you log in. I hope this can be fixed.

New report from the Fed Reserve Bank of New York on how college students form expectations

Among the new research reports from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is:

“How Do College Students Form Expectations?” by Basit Zafar
Because students rely on their subjective expectations when choosing a college major, understanding this process of expectations formation is crucial for education policy recommendations. This paper focuses on how college students form expectations about various major-specific outcomes. The author collects a unique panel data set of Northwestern University undergraduates that contains their subjective expectations about major-specific outcomes. Although students tend to be overconfident about their future academic performance, Zafar finds that they revise their expectations about various major-specific outcomes in systematic ways. For example, students who receive extremely positive information about their ability revise upward their prediction for short-term grade-point average (GPA). Similarly, those who receive very negative information revise downward their beliefs about GPA. Furthermore, students seem to update their probabilistic beliefs in a manner consistent with Bayesian analysis: Prior beliefs about outcomes to be realized in college tend to be fairly precise, while new information influences prior beliefs about outcomes in the workplace. Moreover, students who are more uncertain about major-specific outcomes in the initial survey make greater absolute revisions in their beliefs in the follow-up survey. Finally, the author presents evidence that learning plays a role in the decision to switch majors. Negative revisions to beliefs about graduating in four years, enjoying coursework, and earning an expected salary are associated with dropping a major.
Read the full report:
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr378.html

Rita

Connection Failures in Chat Reference

Recently, the QuestionPoint service has had technical problems that will frequently give you a “connection failed” message on your screen while you are in the middle of a chat session. If this happens, just wait it out, as things will usually sort themselves out in a minute or so and you’ll find yourself reconnected to the patron you were chatting with. You may find, though, that your last message was not transmitted to the patron and will have to be retyped.

I have reported this problem to QuestionPoint and noted that other libraries using the software are seeing the same problems.

student printer problems

I have alerted systems that students are having trouble printing this morning. All students who reported problems have previously been Baruch students and are students for this summer school session.

Some information I learned at the SLA conference

Like Louise, I attended the SLA conference in D.C. two weeks ago.

Harry, Ryan and I did a poster session on Lessons Learned relating to  a workshop we arranged  and conducted for Prof. Cherny’s auditing class last fall relating to lessons learned from one of nine audit failures.  This poster session, organized for the first time at the conference, by librarian Karen McDonald, was very well received and the B& F division plans to make it an annual event.  The different presentations, dealing with information literacy and business information, are available at http://units.sla.org/division/dbf/conferences/2009postersession.html.

I moderated a session on Tuesday morning in which Nell Minow, the co-founder of The Corporate Library, spoke on corporate governance issues, particularly executive compensation.  These contracts are required to be filed with the SEC.  Among her comments were that one should check the media releases about the contracts against the actual filings, which may be made several weeks following the media releases.  The session was well received by those who attended.  Ms. Minow had testified before a congressional committee  on executive compensation the week prior to the conference.

Some news from some vendors:

CCH will soon offer a new format to their web based resources, IntelliConnect.  One will be able to do a federated search of all subscribed CCH products.  Initially, this change will not include the CCH Accounting Research Manager, which will be incorporated into the new scheme in few months.  The change will take place before the fall semester begins.  I will keep you posted.  I think unless students select specific titles or laws or codes, that the results retrieved may be very overwhelming.  However, the results are separated into categories…such as regulations, case law, explanations, etc.

Audit Analytics was a first time vendor at the SLA conference.  Baruch College is one of the largest academic users of this product.  They recently added SEC comment letters to their service for an additional $4,000 a year.

A demonstration of Advertising Database was very interesting as this product focuses on brands and where they are advertised, with ad spending data and titles, email addresses and direct phone numbers for brand and ad agency decision makers.  Advertising Database is located in NYC.  I will pass the information on to Lisa.

Elsevier is offering a reaxys for chemists.  Information about this product is available at http://www.info.reaxys.com/about_overview.  In a vendor demonstration of this product, a chemist could find links to reactions of various chemicals, vendors for the chemicals, and links to research via Scopus that mentions the chemicals, all within reaxys.  I will confess to knowing very little about chemistry but this demonstration was impressive.

A number of vendors expressed thanks for business with Baruch and with CUNY.

Other information:

On Thursday morning, a “tour day”, I visited the National Archives downtown. I had not visited since a remodeling was completed several years ago.  The National Archives is 75 years old this year.  The major documents–the Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc., have been reincased.  They have very interesting exhibits on what the National Archives hold in the entry level to the rotunda where the documents are on display.   (Since you can’t take luggage into the National Archives, it is good to know that you can check luggage only at the 4th St. entrance to the National Gallery of Art, where your luggage will also be x-rayed. This entrance is not far from the Archives.)

One of the special exhibits at the National Gallery of Art is the still lives of the Spanish painter Luis Melendez.  I learned from a guide that he was one of the first painters to show chocolate in his paintings.  At the time, according to the guide,  the English thought ending a meal with sweets was not acceptable and referred to such a practice as being “very French,” an insult to the Spanish. Thankfully, ideas have changed. The National Gallery also has an exhibit of Judith Leyster’s paintings, http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/leysterinfo.shtm.  She was born 400 years ago in the Netherlands.

Vendor Copy Card machine is out of order

The copy card dispenser is down again.  I have put a note on the dispenser informing students to go either to the Reference desk or the 3rd floor Service Counter to get copy cards if they need one.  I have left cards at both counters for distribution to students who need to buy a copy card.  The note also informs students that they can add more money to their copy cards on copy machine #5.  The technician (Felix) from Continental will order a part that is needed to fix the machine.  It will be sent Fedex.  I will check tomorrow to see what the status of the part is and when we can expect the copy card dispenser to be up and running.  Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.  Have a great evening.