We’ve moved!

In the process of juggling servers, we decided to integrate the blog into our website, which has also moved.

Our website now lives at http://library.usao.edu/home/

From now on you will see any news right on the front page!

You can subscribe to us at:

http://library.usao.edu/home/rss.xml

Nash Library has subscribed to a free trial (through July 17, 2007) of the Historical Statistics of the United States (HSUS), the first revised and updated edition of the Historical Statistics to appear since 1975. The online edition includes the complete contents of the five volume print version in a powerful, searchable online platform. Users will find Historical Statistics Online the ultimate research tool: you can quickly download, combine, or graph tables, and even export data into Excel or other spreadsheet programs. HSUS contains more than 37,000 annual time series of historical information covering virtually every quantifiable dimension of American history: population, work and welfare, economic structure and performance, governance, and international relations, all from the earliest times to the present.

To look at the site, go to: http://192.146.206.181:2048/login?url=http://hsus.cambridge.org.

During the trial, you will be able to access the HTML tables and essays of all Parts (Volumes) of the site — but you can access PDF files for Part A (POPULATION) only. For tables and essays on other parts of the site, a price will display next to the PDF link — but you should be able to access the table or essay itself by clicking its name. If we decide to purchase the database, then we will have complete free access to all PDFs in all sections.

Below are the browser requirements for use with HSUS:

1)Historical Statistics is optimized to work on the latest versions of IE (6+ on PC, 5+ on Mac), as well as Safari and Firefox and other major browsers.

2) Popups and javascripting should be enabled. Session cookies should be allowed.

3) Browser security settings should be on Medium or lower. Settings that disable scripting will cause a problem with the site’s functionality.

As always, I encourage your feedback so that we can make an informed decision as to whether or not you think this resource will aid you in your coursework and/or your research.

This seems to be a question ask people ask themselves more than they ask us. It’s a shame too, because we lose an opportunity for shameless self-promotion to show you a lot of helpful information. As of June 11, 2007, the website is getting a new look as well as new features that should see a lot of tweaking and additions as time passes. As we improve the site, we will update this post to let you know what’s new.

In case you didn’t know, the site is at:

http://www.usao.edu/library

Update — June 22, 2007

• The Trend Archive is now integrated into the website
  • You can search issues of USAO’s student-run newspaper, The Trend dating from 1919 to 2003
  • http://www.usao.edu/library/collections/trend

Update — June 15, 2007

• Faster loading electronic reserves!
  • Filesize of most reserves has been reduced by 90%
  • Viewing reserves now requires Adobe Reader 7 or higher

Updates — June 11, 2007

• Basic search of the catalog from the front page
• Electronic reserves accessible from front page
• Library Tech support!
  • If you are having trouble using the Library’s electronic offerings, let us know by filling out the form at –> Services –> Tech Support.
• Better compliance with Section 508 accessibility standards (this will continue to improve)
• XHTML 1.0 Transitional markup for more consistency between browsers

Need to know how to cite a book but don’t have a style manual handy? Check out the new “Cite This Item” feature in WorldCat. Just go to WorldCat, type in the book title and other important information such as author, publisher, and year of publication. A list of books will appear. Make sure you pick the right title in terms of year and publisher (some books are published by more than one publisher and/or in several years). Then click on the “Cite This Item” link and you’ll see a list of how the book should be cited in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and Turabian styles. Just copy and paste the appropriate style into your bibliography or reference list. Be sure to read the disclaimers at the end of the list.

Here is an example of how this works. I searched for the title “Finding George Orwell in Burma” and got the following result (click on the image to enlarge it). Note the “Cite This Item” link.

Then I clicked on the “Cite This Item” link and got the following screen (click on image below to enlarge it):

Nash Library is pleased to announce a free trial for the Points of View Reference Center, a full-text database designed to provide users with a series of essays that present multiple sides of a current issue. The database provides 200 topics, each with an overview (objective background/description), point (affirmative argument) and counterpoint (opposing argument).

Topics covered include: affirmative action, cloning, DNA profiling, HIV/AIDS status disclosure, immigration, Iraq, Israel & the Palestinians, Katrina and FEMA response, nuclear proliferation, separation of church and state, standardized testing, stem cell research, tax cuts, voting machines, and many more.

Points of View Reference Center contains a balance of materials from all viewpoints, including 600 main essays, leading political magazines from both sides of the aisle, newspapers, radio & TV news transcripts, primary source documents and reference books.

The database also offers guides to debate, developing arguments and writing position papers. Points of View Reference Center provides the basis from which students can realize and develop persuasive arguments and essays, better understand controversial issues and develop analytical thinking skills.

To access the database, click the link above or go to: http://192.146.206.181:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=pov

Latino Literature includes nearly 100,000 pages of fiction and poetry and nearly 400 plays. It represents the Chicano culture and all the different ethnicities of Latin American writers with a Hispanic background working in the United States. The materials are presented in their original language, English or Spanish; in cases where authors produced more different language versions of their work, both are included. Although the collection includes materials from the Nineteenth Century, the vast majority of the materials are from the Chicano Renaissance to the present. About 30% of the database is previously unpublished or rare materials from various sources including institutions such as the Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos at Hunter College, scholars’ personal archives and the authors themselves. The three major groups are represented, Chicanos, Puerto Rican and Cubans, as well as Argentineans, Dominicans, and other Central and South Americans. Through their literature they represent their different immigration experiences, their efforts to adapt to a new culture and new language without losing their own, while they pursue social, political and economic advancement.

Latin American Women Writers <http://192.146.206.181:2048/login?url=http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/lawwlive/> includes more than 100,000 pages of prose, poetry, and essays, and 300 plays. The database brings together the most important writers from 19 countries, as well as the works of the principal feminists, in one single collection. Starting in the colonial period and moving through to the present, the literary works, memoirs, feminist essays, and other materials will give researchers the feminine perspective of the development of an entire continent. The writings will also reveal the personal struggles and histories of the authors themselves.

Many of you may already be familiar with OttoBib but we’ll pass along the info anyway. What is OttoBib? It’s a quick way to generate an APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, or BibTex citation for books (not articles) that you need to include in a bibliography. All you have to do is type in the ISBN (International Standard Book Number), wait for the citation to appear, PROOF IT, and then cut and paste it into your bibliography.

Don’t know what an ISBN is? No problem. It’s the 10-digit (or 13-digit for books published after January 2007) number found on top of the barcode on the back of the book. You won’t find it on any book published before 1966 and you may not find it on some books between 1966 and 1974. If the dust jacket is missing from the book, you can usually locate the ISBN on a page preceding the table of contents.

Nash Library has access to three women’s history databases through March 31, 2007. The databases are:

British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries includes 100,000 pages of published letters and diaries from nearly 500 individuals writing from 1500 to 1900. The uses for the collection will be many and varied. For historians, sociologists, students of literature, researchers in genealogy, and others, British and Irish Women’s Letters and Diaries will prove a dramatic new resource. These diaries bring us much more than the personal. They provide a detailed record of what women wore, the conditions under which they worked, what they ate, what they read, and how they amused themselves. We can see how frequently they attended church, how they viewed their connection to God, and how they prayed. We can explore their relationships with lovers and family and friends.

North American Women’s Letters and Diaries includes some 150,000 pages of published letters and diaries from individuals writing from Colonial times to 1950, including more than 6,000 pages of previously unpublished materials. The collection brings the personal experiences of some 1,325 women to researchers, students, and general readers. The collection is drawn from more than 600 sources, including journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings, much of the material is in copyright.

Women and Social Movements contains the following resources:

• 72 document projects that interpret and present documents, most of which are not otherwise available online. Each document project poses an interpretive question and provides a collection of documents that address the question. Altogether these document projects provide more than 2,100documents, approximately 800 images, and over 700 links to other websites.
• More than 28,000 pages of documents pertaining to Women and Social Movements.
• A dictionary of social movements and organizations.
• A chronology of U.S. Women’s History.
• Teaching Tools with lesson ideas and document-based questions related to the website’s document projects.
• Quarterly news from the archives about U.S. Women’s History.

Be sure to check out the free trial databases for Black History Month. The databases are:

Black Drama contains the full text of 1,200 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 100 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Many of the works are rare, hard-to-find, or out of print. James Vernon Hatch, the playwright, historian, and curator of the landmark Hatch-Billops Collection of black drama, is the project’s editorial advisor. More than a quarter of the collection will consists of previously unpublished plays by writers such as Langston Hughes, Ed Bullins, Willis Richardson, Femi Euba, Amiri Baraka, Randolph Edmonds, Zora Neale Hurston, and many others.

Black Women Writers brings together the many voices of women from more than 20 countries in Africa, North America, Europe and the Caribbean. Writers include Nikki Giovanni, Maryse Conde, Barbara Ransby, Angela Davis, Margaret Walker, Ama Ata Aidoo, Rosa Guy, Olive Senior, Tsitsi Dangaremba, among others.

Black Thought and Culture contains 989 sources with 947 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. The collection begins with the works of Frederick Douglass and is targeted to include the works of W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, Alain Locke, Mary McLeod Bethune, Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Bunche, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Angela Davis,Thurgood Marshall, James Baldwin, Jesse Jackson, Ida B. Wells, Bobby Seale, Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson and many others. When complete, the collection will include the first-ever complete full run of the Black Panther newspaper.

We look forward to your comments about these databases. Be sure to visit them before February 28, 2007.

Have you lost something important and can’t think where else to look? If you spend a lot of time in Nash Library, be sure to ask at the Circulation Desk. Whenever we find something without an owner, we put it in Lost and Found here in the Library. Typical items include cell phones, jump drives, CDs, notebooks, workbooks, textbooks, gloves, hats, and student IDs. We always send Student IDs to Student Services but we keep the other items in case you come calling for it. Be sure to ask us if you’ve lost something.

Items in Lost and Found as of February 3, 2007 include a cell phone, a jump drive, a CD that accompanies a textbook, a course workbook, an umbrella, three notebooks, a pair of gloves, and a couple of hats. If you think you belong to any of these items, come check it out. You will be asked to describe any item you attempt to claim.