Reference at Newman Library

Year: 2013

Off Campus Access to Mediamark Reporter Is Restored

We found a workaround that lets our students and faculty access Mediamark Reporter from off campus (previously reported here on this blog).

As a reminder, all first-time users of MRI+ (which is where Mediamark Reporter is located) will have to register on the site with their Baruch email address. They will be asked to create a personal password as well. Every time they go to MRI+ thereafter, the only login they will be asked for is the one they created for themselves on that first visit. Off campus users will no longer see our remote access login  page; instead, clicking on our link to the database will bypass our proxy server and take them straight to the database.

If you have any questions or encounter any problems, let me or Mike know.

Two New Primary Source Databases from Gale

We just added two new digital collections of primary sources to our database collections:

  • America in Protest: Records of Anti-Vietnam War Organizations, The Vietnam Veterans Against the War
  • Black Economic Empowerment: The National Negro Business League

These two collections join another one we’ve had for a while, The Savings and Loan Crisis: Loss of Public Trust and the Federal Bailout, 1989-1993, as part of the Archives Unbound platform from Gale. You’ll find link to these collections on the main databases page and on the history databases page. If there are other database pages where these should be listed, please let Mike know.

Mediamark Reporter within MRI+ Not Available Off Campus

There is a portion of the MRI+ database that is not available from off campus: the Mediamark Reporter. If you try to clink the link to it, you get this error page:

We have been working with the vendor to identify the source of the problem and get it fixed. In the meanwhile, on-campus access to Mediamark Reporter is fine as is off-campus access to the other portions of MRI+.

11/5/2013 UPDATE: This problem has been fixed (details).

Change in Factiva Sources by Industry Option

Effective October 22, 2013, Factiva has revised the industry code hierarchy from 30 to 17 headings. While some of the former Source Groups will be moved into a new Source Group (i.e. “Computers/Electronics” will now be under “Technology” in the hierarchy), others will be eliminated altogether. The following is a list of the Source Groups removed and whether they have been moved into new ones:

Accounting and Consulting
Advertising and Public Relations
Aerospace and Defense
Airlines
Banking and Credit (Now use new Business/Consumer Services and/or new Financial Services)
Chemicals
Clothing and Textiles (Now use new Retail/Wholesale)
Computers and Electronics (Now use new Technology and/or new Consumer Goods and/or new Industrial Goods)
Environment and Waste Management
Food, Beverage and Tobacco (Now use Consumer Goods)
Hotels, Restaurants and Casinos (Now use new Leisure/Arts/Hospitality)
Insurance (Now use new Financial Services)
Internet and Online Services
Investing/Securities (Now use new Financial Services)
Machinery and Industrial Goods (Now use new Industrial Goods)
Metals and Mining (For Metal Products, use new Industrial Goods)
Paper and Packaging
Pharmaceuticals (Now use new Health Care/Life Sciences)

These changes will significantly alter our student’s ability to conduct trade journal searches since many source groups have either been removed or changed in order to make it less explicit what new source group to search.

Look for additional changes to Sources by Industry which will take place on December 10.

New database: Simmons OneView

We recently acquired Simmons OneView, an online decision-making system intended to assist marketers with determining a wide range of potential marketing considerations through the customization of creating crosstab reports. Surveying US and local populations by asking questions about themselves (demographics and psychographics), products and services used, and media outlets accessed, the system allows marketers to pose a variety of questions to gauge marketing potential.

Aside from Adults, other studies available include Top 10 DMA, Teen, Kids, and Hispanics. With the most recent data being Fall 2010, there is a two year lag behind in data available to academic institutions versus corporate. Please note there is a limit to 5 users at a time.

For quick tutorials on using SimmonsOneView, consult the “Resources” section. Look for an announcement about training sessions to be organized in the coming weeks.