Does anyone have any thoughts about how we might approach roving reference now that the rows of computers on the 2nd floor extend far back into areas that are equally populated by students poring over books at tables and cubicles? Before we had the new computers, you could safely walk by the rows of computers and announce, “Does anyone need help?” to nobody in particular. Now if you do that too far back on the 2nd floor, I wonder if the folks who aren’t on computers but are studying or reading might find it annoying to have someone like me asking aloud if anyone needs help. Maybe we can just rove these areas in the back silently?
RefUSA unavailable at the moment
I am working on getting us back on.
EBSCOhost Integrated Search
EBSCO has launched its own federated search, EBSCOhost Integrated Search, and we have a trial. It is in the list of databases under EBSCOhost Integrated Search. At present it is “out of the box” but will probably change as we play with it, but only the databases provided by CUNY are part of this trial. If you have comments or suggestions, or care to compare with Bearcat, that would be appreciated.
The Corporate Library’s white paper on “Say on Pay”
The Corporate Library has a free white paper on say on pay that can be downloaded from its website. I think the 10-point test can be helpful for students, or others, researching this topic.
Working paper from Baruch’s Center for Nonprofit Strategy re use of the Internet
I received the following announcement this morning and thought it should be shared:
Baruch College’s Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management of Baruch College has added a new Working Paper that deals with the use of the Internet as a strategy for representing a nonprofit organization’s mission, identity and brand.
The paper, “Static Strategy for a Dynamic Age: Assessing Nonprofit Internet Innovativeness in the 2000s” is by Sarah E. Ryan of the University of Texas at El Paso The paper may be found at:
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/spa/researchcenters/nonprofitstrategy/documents/Ryan_StaticStrategyinaDynamicAge.pdf
Ryan’s study is based on a content analysis of donor-supported nonprofits in New York City as a way to understand nonprofit Internet communication. Her research reaches the conclusion that “many nonprofits still prominently display static content such as formal mission statements in their Web sites. As such, they have not fully realized the potential for dynamic storytelling in cyberspace.”
Prof. Ryan was a SPA faculty member until accepting the position in El Paso this fall.
A list of all Baruch CNSM Working Papers is available at:
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/spa/researchcenters/nonprofitstrategy/workingpapers.php
This information was from
Susan M. Chambré
Professor of Sociology and Editor, Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management Working Papers [email protected]
New database: Oxford English Dictionary
We have added the Oxford English Dictionary to our list of databases. English word definitions, word pronunciation, word history and usage.
Assignment re Katharine Graham
In doing email reference today several students have either chatted or emailed about their communications assignment to find articles about Katharine Graham and her son Donald E. Graham, who have been publishers of the Washington Post. (Mrs. Graham, now deceased, took over after her husband’s suicide, and her son succeeded her, after holding several positions at the Washington Post. Mrs. Graham was the publisher of the Washington Post during the Watergate crisis in the early 1970s. John Mitchell, the attorney general at the time, made a very famous quote about Mrs. Graham.) One student was misspelling Mrs. Graham’s first name, which might have been problematic in searching the databases.
I was somewhat surprised when I tried Academic Search Complete and the Communications database and learned if you do a people search or subject search for Katharine Graham no results are available. A search in all text is successful. There are a number of articles about her after she died. Another database that can be searched is People on Lexis-Nexis, which has a number of results for either Katharine Graham or Donald E. Graham. Her son is also referred to as Don Graham sometimes. Two books, one written by Katharine Graham, are available in our collection.
Almanac of American Politics 2010
A class has been instructed to use the U.S. Government Manual to identify officials in the current administration, but the most current edition of that book, which is behind the reference desk, is not up-to-date. A better source is The Almanac of American Politics 2010 (Ref JK 1012 .A44).
Economic Census 2007
The Census is slowly releasing data from the 2007 Economic Census and they are presenting the data in a new report called Industry Snapshots . These reports give a graphic picture of industries at the 2 and 3- digit NAICS levels and include graphs of total shipments/sales, shipments/sales per employee, and a map of shipments/sales per capita. A table of industry ratios is included. Read more about these reports in this FAQ.
From any of the Snapshot reports, you can link to the Industry Sampler, the old familiar data page for an industry.
question about Simnet exam
Some students came to the desk asking about the Simnet CD that they had been told by someone from academic advisement they could borrow from the library. (They said someone from academic advisement came to their class.) Has anyone heard of this? I told them about access to the Simnet Express on the computers in the library and the 6th floor BCTC.