Reference at Newman Library

Year: 2016

Harvard Business Review Case Studies

Another tip from Rita: records for Harvard Business Review case studies (or things that look like they might be records for them) are turning up in confusing places. We’ve all known for a long time that the only way students or faculty can get full text access to Harvard Business Review case studies is to buy them directly from the publisher. But our students will often see things in our databases that look like they might give access. Here are some examples that Rita recently alerted me to.

Article Records That Are About a Case Study

Here is an example of an article record in Web of Science (that can also be found in OneSearch) has a title that can easily lead some users to think that it contains the full text. Note that it includes a “Find It @ CUNY” button. If the user were to click that, they’d get a window suggesting that full text is not available but that the item could be requested via ILL, which in fact would not be possible.

Web of Science-article about a HBR case study

This situation is not unlike those articles that turn up in Factiva announcing the publication of some marketing report that leads users to think we must have access to it somewhere.

Records in Business Source Complete for Case Studies

Until today, I didn’t know that EBSCO has indexed all of the Harvard Business School case studies. If you go to this publications listing for “Harvard Business School Cases” in Business Source Complete, you can browse all the records that are included. Here’s a sample record for one of these indexed case studies:

Business Source Complete--Harvard Business School case study record

Note that this record, too, also features a “Find It @ CUNY” button. Clicking that button will also lead you to a window that mistakenly gives the impression that the item can be ILLed.

What To Do

When users ask about the case studies, there’s not much more we can do than steer them to the publisher’s website to purchase them. We’ll bring these issues up with EBSCO and Ex Libris to see if there’s something to be done about the way link resolvers display for HBR case studies, as this special content breaks the usual patterns and rules we have about ILL, full text access, etc.

New Database: Vault

Each CUNY college now has access to Vault, a great source of career information. This is a database that our students frequently ask us about.

You’ll find links to this database on the following database pages:

  • A-Z list
  • business databases
  • company information databases
  • industry information databases

When I did a query for “libraries,” I found not only career overview articles like this  2009 report on careers in libraries but also profiles of specific library schools, internship listings, job overviews, etc.

Finding Print Books and Other Physical Items on Reserve

  1. Go to the “Course Reserves and Textbook” page on the library website (mouse over the “Students” menu to get a shortcut link)
  2. Click the yellow “Search Course Reserves” button
  3. You should now be in the “Reserves” module in OneSearch. Search by title, author, course number (e.g., 3040), or instructor name.
  4. Use the facets if needed to filter your results

OneSearch--facets for reserve module results

New E-Reserves System and New Course Reserves Page

On behalf of a team that includes Roshnara Kissoon, Monique Prince, Mike Waldman, and Holly Dowell, I’d like to announce important changes to e-reserves and the course reserves system overall.

E-Reserves

  • As of this summer, we no longer use Docutek to host e-reserves. We’ve switched to the e-reserves module in LibGuides.
  • There are still course passwords for each course page. Unlike the old system, you can get to the e-reserves home page (the listing of courses, instructors, etc.) without having to log in with a Baruch username and password. Once you click on a course listing, you’re prompted for a course password (the professors should have provided these to students). Once you are viewing the list of items on a page and have tried to click an item, you’ll be prompted to log in with your Baruch username and password (if you’re off campus).
  • The link on the yellow search bar for “Reserves” no longer goes directly to the e-reserves system but instead to the redesigned Course Reserves page on the library website.
  • Based on usability testing we did in May, we customized the default design to streamline access to content and to make the navigation more comprehensible.

Redesigned Course Reserves Page

  • From usability tests conducted on the search bar system in November/December 2015 and again in March 2016, we realized that users were confused by the way the website had presented e-reserves and reserves for physical items (books, CDs, DVDs, etc.) in separate systems. We redesigned the existing course reserves page (and then tested it in May) so that it would be the landing page for anyone looking for materials on reserves regardless of format.
  • To find physical items on reserve, we’ll be using the Reserves module in OneSearch (the button on the course reserves page will lead you directly there). Start your search there for books, CDs, etc. that have been placed on reserve (it’s the only place to find instructor’s copies). It’s worth knowing that there is a 48-hour delay between the time when the Access Services staff first adds an item to OneSearch’s reserves module and when it is actually findable by users.

If you have any questions about the course reserves system and service, please contact Roshnara Kissoon ([email protected] or x1669) or Monique Prince.

New Database: Loeb Classical Library

We now have access to the 520 ebooks in the Loeb Classical Library. Published by Harvard University Press for over a century, these translations of classical works in Greek and Latin are now available online.

Links to this new resource can be found on the A-Z list of databases and on the subject database lists for English, history, and philosophy.