News and tips by and for staff providing reference services at the Newman Library, Baruch College (New York, NY).
We may get some questions about the Contexts and Comparisons website for ENG 2800 and 2850, the Great Works of Literature Courses. This site is down until further notice because it was not ADA compliant. But a pdf of the book is on ereserve for those who may need it this semester. It can be accessed here:
https://guides.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/er.php?course_id=51863
The password is: contexts
You may have noticed on the databases page that there are now links for MLA through both Gale and Ebsco. As of January, Ebsco will have exclusive rights to MLA, and Gale will no longer offer it. Ebsco will offer a full-text version of MLA, but so far we do not have access to that. CUNY Central is providing access and we may get full text at some point.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Students who need to access the Contexts and Comparisons guide for the Great Works courses can find it by searching the title in the library catalog. It used to be under ‘digital collections’ on the old web page. I will add a link on the English libguide.
I just talked to the help desk, and was told that the printers in the library will be down for the next few hours. There is one printer that works near the stand-up terminals, otherwise students will have to go to the sixth floor for printing.
There is a new page from bctc that will help students who want to print with their own laptops. There are instructions and software students will have to download for it to work.
I’ve noticed that there is a new version of the Internet Explorer tab for Firefox. This is helpful with guest logins, so you can print them out clearly. You will have to download the add-on and then add the guest login link to it for it to work. If anyone has trouble with it, I can show you how it works.
The computer on the front left side of the desk as you sit down (the one next to the phone) seems to be infected with some kind of adware. It was blocking me from using various programs. I sent in a request to the help desk, but wanted to let everyone know that right now it’s not really usable.
I was teaching a couple of sections of English 2100 yesterday, and the professor wanted the students to search for newspaper articles, among other things. When they find articles in databases like Academic Search Premier, the “Find It” link brings them to a Factiva or Lexis Nexis search page. I was able to help them get what they needed, but they were confused when they came to another search box. Have other people encountered this? I know we can search the Times directly, but it would be helpful for the students if the link brought them to the article.
The reference schedule says the practicum will be in Room 135 tomorrow morning at 10, but my class will be there until 10:45. Room 130 should be free from 10-11, though. Thanks.
I have an email question from a faculty member about surveys and polls in Lexis Nexis. She wrote that there used to be more surveys and polls there, but they seem to be gone now. I saw that the Gallup polls are there, but she said there used to be more than that.
Frank and Linda suggested the ICPSR and Tablebase databases as other places she could go. Does anyone else have suggestions?