Reference at Newman Library

Year: 2010

Healthcare and Demographic Data for NYC

Students in the MBA in Healthcare Admin program are currently working on capstone projects – I’ve helped a few students already, Louise has had several, and Rita provided some details of a consultation she had in a recent email. Many of these projects involve site selection for different kinds of medical facilities and doctors offices. While the focus of each project differs and will require them to use different sources, there are a few common, core resources that will be useful to all of them:

For neighborhood demographic data:

  • You can use the US Census Bureau and the NYC Dept of Planning site, which has aggregated much of the census data into convenient profiles. To use these sources, you’ll have to use geography other than ZIP codes, because zip code-level census data is only updated every ten years (thus, the data is from the decennial 2000 census, and is out of date). You can get more recent data if you look at the Census American Community Survey (2006-2008) if you look at special areas called PUMAs (public use microdata areas), which are statistical areas that are similar to neighborhoods within NYC.

    • The charts and maps on this page will show you the PUMA numbers for each neighborhood (for example, the Upper East Side is PUMA 03805). Once you know the PUMA # for your neighborhood, you can browse the NYC population profiles here to get reports for that area (note – these are NOT the community area profiles, which generally contain just 2000 census data), or you can visit the Census Bureau’s page directly to build detailed tables for your PUMA / neighborhood from the 2006-2008 ACS.

    For data on the number of doctors / medical practices in a neighborhood:

  • Go to the library’s databases page and select ReferenceUSA from the list. Once you’re in, select the US Healthcare database. From there you’ll be able to search by the doctor’s specialty and by ZIP code to generate a list of all doctors in that area who specialize in a particular kind of medicine. You can download a complete list using this database.

    • For medical information for specific neighborhoods:

  • Look at the neighborhood profiles created by the NYC Department of Health – they will give you an overview of health-related issues (smoking, obesity, insurance coverage and rates, some vital stats) for each neighborhood (the neighborhoods resemble the PUMA areas that you can download from the census). The site has a lot of additional information so students will want to dig through it thoroughly – one key resource is this map and table of health insurance coverage by neighborhood.

    • For market research of a particular aspect of the medical industry:

  • Go to the library’s databases page and select MarketResearch.com.

    • Re: Access to the 6th floor lab for SimNet exam

    Friday at the reference desk I had a call from a woman, not a Baruch student, who was to take the SimNet exam today.   She said the CD, available in the bookstore, doesn’t work on VISTA, which she had on her home computer.  Today I learned from Arthur the following:

    Folks who need to take the  SimNet exam can do so in the 6th floor lab.  They receive a letter from the testing center that they can present at the entry desk for access.

    I will update the Wiki.

    Color Coding of Questions in QuestionPoint Transcripts

    This Sunday, QuestionPoint will upgrade their software and make some slight modifications to the look and feel of various parts of the service. You can read the full post on the QuestionPoint blog for all the details of the upgrade, but there is only one that seems worth spotlighting here:

    In the Closed folder, session types are differentiated by color, so librarians can quickly scan to find e-mail only questions, or text messages only, or chat only. E-mail transactions remain blue on a light gray background, but chat sessions, including Qwidget sessions, are blue on a white background, and text messages are blue on a salmon background.

    Below is an illustration of what this now looks like. The first and eleventh transactions are e-mail; the second through sixth are all text messages. And the remainder in the illustration are chat sessions.

    Nation’s Restaurant News access via Serials Solutions

    There has been high demand for this title lately (not clear if it’s one person or a class) but the holdings on Serials Solutions are incorrect. They say we have access up to the present when in fact the latest issues in the various databases are at least 2 weeks old.

    I have reported this to Serials Solutions and they are checking it out.

    Prof. Nurnberg’s Acc9805 assignment help

    Accountancy professor Hugo Nurnberg has assigned his Acc 9805 students an assignment that  requires searching the FASB Codification.  All students have received a guide to the three databases that offer the FASB Codification.  As the assignment deals with the division of partnership income and a limited liability medical practice, with some of the doctors owning the voting stock of a separate company that consists of the building and equipment used in the medical practice, I will post via email separately some suggested search strategies and the assignment.  I helped a student today and we found some information that will require further study by the students.  The student had not previously searched the Codification.  Since it became effective last July, many people have not yet searched it.  Please let me know if you have any questions.   Rita

    Guide to help Prof. Carmichael’s Acc5400H class

    I learned today that Prof. Carmichael has assigned his Acc5400H class an assignment dealing with 5 questions and that the paper, about 15 pages, is due May 1.  This is an auditing class.  I have revised my handout on how to access the FASB Codification to include how to access the Audit and Accounting Guides that are available in CCH Accounting Research Manager and RIA Checkpoint–Accounting, Audit.  I sent him a copy of the guide to give the students and I have also posted a copy of it on the shared drive, under IS.  There is a folder 2010 Carmichael assignment.  The handout also suggests looking for articles in ABI Inform and Business Source Complete and Books 24×7.   I had a research consultation with a student today and we worked through some searches on each of the five questions. (That’s how I learned of the assignment.)

    I will post some suggested searches to the listserv as it is too much to handle here.

    C-SPAN Video Archives

    I just finished a chat with a Baruch student who needed to analyze the communication style of Alan Greenspan.  The Fed keeps the transcripts of the former Chairs online; just search by name.  You can also see all of Greenspan’s  Congressional testimony on C-SPAN. They claim to have all programs aired since 1987 in their Video Library. All the Programs are indexed by subject, speaker names, titles, affiliations, sponsors, committees, categories, formats, policy groups, keywords, and location. The congressional sessions and committee hearings are indexed by person too.

    Conversation Hour

    Sponsored by Baruch’s Student Academic Consulting Center, these sessions occur in the Reading Room Alcove on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, from 12:30 – 2:00pm. The are groups of 3-5 students, mostly from English 2100 and 2150 who discuss course issues to improve comprehension and English language facility. It’s a pilot project for this semester. Each meeting has a SACC facilitator.