lklusek – Page 6 – Reference at Newman Library

Industry Islands Goes Live

The tutorial, called Industry Islands, developed for BPL5100 and students doing industry research just went live. Until we add it to the library’s tutorials page, you can find the direct link at this URL.

The tutorial is now accessible from on-campus and off-campus. Off-campus users will be asked to login and will be directed to the tutorial following successful login.

Reading the Source Guide will give you a good overview of the sources that were used in the game, how you can use the sources, and additional sources of the same type. The Source Guide was developed to “stand alone” and can be used at the reference desk when students ask how to do industry research.

I will be posting more about the game as I learn how students are using it. If you have a chance to play the game, I’d love to have your feedback.

What moves the markets?

Ryan and I were just working with a student on an assignment where he had to find out what economic news affected the markets during a particular time period. Another student asked the same question yesterday in a slightly different way: What was happening in the economy that changed libor rates during one month in 2007? We found two approaches that work well.

Use Dismal Scientist. Choose the Country pages for the United States from the tab at the top of the page. Then use the drop down menu to pick a date. You can choose any month and year back to 2006. The results are both announcements of the release of economic indicators and market wrap-up news and analysis.

Use Factiva. In order not be be overwhelmed with too many stories, set up your search like this. From “Subjects” in the indexing boxes, open “Content Types” and click on “”Page One Stories.” Also from “Subjects,” choose “Economic News” and “and” it with your page one stories. Then pick a source. You can use just The Wall Street Journal, but I liked the results when I used the Dow Jones Publications from “Sources by Type.”

Researching Current Events

Several sections of COM1010 will be working on current event topics for their first informative speech. Before I met with these classes, I did some brainstorming about sources with Barbara and Randy. Here are some databases and web sites we recommend.

For background, use CQ Researcher or the Facts on File World News Digest.

CQ Researcher has changed its interface and it is now better in most cases to search rather than browse by topic. Their bibliographies are good for identifying research groups and government agencies.

Facts on File is especially good for foreign news summaries or country-focused issues. Search results can be filtered for “Analysis & Background” which includes editorials and primary documents like transcripts and congressional reports.

For News, we found C-SPAN has some good research features. They have “Featured Topics” pages and if you scroll down past the video and news, you will see links to government resources, legislation, House and Senate committees, and public interest groups.

For Polls and Surveys, the web site of Publicagenda.org includes “Issue Guides” and “Research Studies” (a little hidden in the tabs at the top of the page), both topical approaches to current issues.

For news, reports, and links to government agencies, USA.gov is a good place to start. Searches can be filtered by topic, agency or source, or you can just filter for sources with statistics. If you haven’t used this web site lately, it is worth another look.

For reports from think tanks and independent research organizations, we used PolicyFile, one of our databases, and a web site called Policyarchive.org.

The end of FEER

The FarEastern Economic Review will cease publication this year. Probably not a surprise considering the failed advertsing model that is affecting the publishing business today. The Economist has another take on the closing: What if Asia as an idea no longer exists? Read the article, “Without FEER or Favor” in the Septemeber 26 issue.

Welcome Ellen Kaufman

This week Ellen Kaufman joined Newman Library as an Information Services Librarian. She comes with many years of experience in law libraries, most recently as the New York Library Manager at Dewey & LeBoeuf, a top New york city corporate law firm. Ellen has a M.F.A. in writing from Columbia and is an accomplished poet. I hope you will all welcome her to Baruch.

Public Company Shareholders

Thomson One provides ownership information for public companies. The reports can be exported to Excel or saved as a PDF file. To get the reports, simply enter the ticker and then choose “Ownership” from the menu on the left. In addition to the ownership summary, reports are available on:

Investment manager holders
Mutual fund holders
Strategic holders
Insider holders

New Reference Titles

Current Economic Crisis: Accounting and Auditing Considerations (REF HF5667.6 .C87 2009)

Guidance for auditors from the AICPA. Includes a summary of new regulatory developments and information for understanding fair value accounting.

This pamphlet is part of the AICPA’s Audit Risk Alert series, annual updates on auditing and accounting developments in various industries including real estate, banking, e-business, manufacturing and public utilities. Students doing industry research might find these useful since they cover economic and industry developments and new legislative and regulatory initiatives. (Search by the series title as all industry titles have their own call number.)

Book of the States (REF JK2403 .B6 2009)

This edition includes several essays about state budgets and economic development plans in light of the fiscal crisis.

Encyclopedia of American Journalism (REF PN4855 .V38 2009)

A new one volume encyclopedia that focuses on the history of journalism but covers current issues as well. Includes biographies of prominent journalists and profiles of significant newpapers, magazines and other media outlets.

Small Business Sourcebook (REF HD2346 .U5S66 2009)

Suggest this source to students in entrepreneurship classes who are researching various types of retail stores, services, and other small businesses. Volume one has more than 340 specific small business profiles. Other volumes cover general small business topics and list small business programs by state, and U.S. federal government agencies specializing is small business assistance. This Gale title now comes in six volumes. It is not available online.

The Structure of American Industry (REF HC106 .S85 2009)

Scholarly essays on 13 U.S. industries written from an economic perspective by industry experts. The essays cover history and structure of the industry, pricing, performance and public policy. All include a bibliography of books, industry studies and key websites. This is the 12^th edition of this book.

Executive Compensation Study

The Conference Board has just published a 40 page report of their Task Force on Executive Compensation. The report sets forth Guiding Principles for corporate dirctors:

Paying for the right things and paying for performance
The ‘right’ total compensation
Avoid controversial pay practices
Credible board oversight of executive compensation
Transparent communications and increased dialogue with shareholders

The appendices are interesting and include a survey of performance metrics and background on clawback policies, gross-ups and other pay practices.

Students might want to read this report along with the Conference Board’s annual Top Executive Compensation Report, a survey of the five highest paid executives in over 2800 companies and 14 industry sectors.

Growing the U.S. Economy

A current student assignment is to write about an industry or activity that could foster growth of the U.S. economy. One source you might point out to students is our Recession Resources guide, especially the “News & Updates” pages which cover the government response to the financial crisis. The White House does a nice job of covering the Economy in one of their Issues pages.

You can read more about the Recession Resources guide in an interview with Jean Yaremchuk that appeared in the last issue of The Ticker.