Halloween Outage

Both Lexis Nexis Academic and Science Direct will be unavailable through the late evening and overnight hours of Saturday, October 31 to Sunday, November 1.

These databases will be down for system maintenance for approximately 9 hours, between 9:00pm EDT on October 31 and 5:00am EST on November 1.

If you notice any problems before or after the update period, please email mahoneyonline@cse.edu, or call the reference desk at 973-290-4248.

Online & Print Journals List Unavailable Saturday 10/24

Mahoney Library’s Online & Print Journals List will be down for a system upgrade on Saturday, October 24, 2009 from approximately Noon to 6:00pm 3:00am-9:00am. It likely will only be down for 2 or 3 hours, but should any problems arise, may not be available until 9:00am.

This also means that when you search a database, the ‘Search for Full Text’ link will not work in leading you to full text, as it uses the Online & Print Journals List to point you to it.

The CoolCat Online Catalog will tell you if we have a print subscription, or you might check the spiral-bound Periodicals Collection guide available in both the Periodicals Room and Reference Room (this includes online subscriptions, but not what might be in our full-text databases).

To check if a journal’s full text is available in a database, use the CUFTS Journal Search Tool. Click the checkbox to ‘Limit to fulltext’ and search for the title of the journal. You’ll get a list of databases and the dates for which full text is included. It will not link you to those databases. You will then have to check those databases against our Databases, A-Z list until you find one that matches. Then search by the journal title and find the issue that you need (or search by the article title).

Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory will also be down from Noon to 6pm 3:00am-9:00am Saturday. If you need to determine whether a journal article is peer-reviewed (Ulrich’s does this), you will have to rely on your judgment. You might also try looking up the journal’s page on the publisher website. For more on what goes into a peer-reviewed journal article, see these tutorials from NC State University Libraries:

• Anatomy of a Scholarly Article
• Peer Review in 5 Minutes

For help with either of these processes – finding full text or determining if an article is peer-reviewed – please call (973-290-4248) or stop by the reference desk.

Snapshot Day, October 14, 2009

On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, Mahoney Library will participate in Snapshot Day, a statewide initiative to measure and highlight the impact that New Jersey libraries have on their communities on any given day.

Why do you come to Mahoney Library? Do you do your research from the library’s website? How does the library help you?

Stop by the library on Wednesday and tell us your ideas. Hope to see you there!

October is National Information Literacy Awareness Month

President Obama has declared October National Information Literacy Awareness Month:

“Every day, we are inundated with vast amounts of information. A 24-hour news cycle and thousands of global television and radio networks, coupled with an immense array of online resources, have challenged our long-held perceptions of information management. Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation.”

Read the rest of the press release.

Learn more about information literacy:

Introduction to Information Literacy

Project Information Literacy Channel on Youtube

Tips on Financial Literacy for College Students

Financial literacy is a growing concern for teenagers of all socioeconomic backgrounds.   President George W. Bush signed the Executive Order 13455 on January 22, 2008, creating a council of 16 members to oversee financial issues among college and high school students. This council is represented by corporations, non-profit organizations, faith-based groups, state government agencies, regulatory agencies and academic institutions.

Jump Start Coalition for Financial Literacy is a  non-profit organization that provides educators with online and print resources to teach students to manage their finances and to become responsible decision makers.  The President’s Advisory Council has used results from the Jump Start Coalition National Survey as well as other surveys  to assess the knowledge of college students on money management.  The 2008  results  of the Jump Start Coalition National Survey for Financial Literacy of  High School Students and College Seniors showed that  62.2% passed the 31 question exam. American college students are close to becoming financially literate and will grow with life experience. They need to be familiar with the basic skills of maintaining a budget, balancing credit and saving for the future.

For further information, feel free to access these publications through our Online and Print Journals or Databases, A-Z. Links to websites for additional resources are also listed below.

REFERENCES

Billitteri, T. J. (2009, September 4). Financial literacy. CQ Researcher,19, 717-740. Retrieved September 22, 2009,  from CQ Research Online.

Hoffman, M., McKenzie, K., & Paris, S. (2008, September). Paper or Plastic?. CPA Journal, 78(9), 16-20. Retrieved September 23, 2009, from Business Source Premier database.

Steverman. Ben (2009, July). Financial Literacy: The Time Is Now. Business Week (Online), Retrieved September 22, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. (Document ID: 1806516111).

USA Funds; Financial Literacy Program for College Students Goes Online. (2009, May). Investment Weekly News, 377. Retrieved September 22, 2009, from Banking Information Source. (Document ID: 1700359791).

WEBSITES

2008 Annual Report to the Executive Summary
http://www.treas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/financial-institution/fin-education/council/exec_sum.pdf

Jump Start Coalition
http://www.jumpstartcoalition.org/

Young Investor (Fleet Bank)
www.younginvestor.com

Students.Gov
http://www.students.gov/STUGOVWebApp/Public

Education Finance Council
http://efc.org/cs/root/resources/resources

NSLP Financial Literacy Online
http://www.nslpflonline.org/flonline/flonline.php

ProQuest Outage

An outage is scheduled from Saturday night, September 26 to Sunday morning, September 27th. You may not be able to access ProQuest databases,  MLA International Bibliography (Chadwyck-Healey platform), CSA databases, and RefWorks. 

Do not hesitate to contact the Reference Desk at x4248 on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. or e-mail Ask Online if you are having problems. Your patience is greatly appreciated.

Mahoney’s New Databases

There are three new databases now available on the Mahoney Library website. Feel free to peruse or research any of these online databases by simply going to Databases, A-Z under Research Tools.

CAMIO (OCLC’s Catalog of Art Museum Images Online) introduces various types of art from around the world. There are approximately 95,000 images from collections such as Library of Congress, Cleveland Museum of Art, Frick collection and more. Browse work types such as architecture, costume and jewelry, decorative arts, digital arts, drawing and watercolors or by work type of a contributing institution such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Each entry will have a description of the creator, title, date, museum format and dimensions of the art work. Although CAMIO’s collection is much smaller than ArtStor’s 500,000 images, some of their images can be shown in multiple views. This online database has the capacity to save up to 100 images in a folder, view in a slide show, compare images side by side and download or e-mail.

CHOICE REVIEWS ONLINE is an online compilation of 145,000 resources reviewed by Choice Magazine. This authoritative database reviews books, electronic media and Internet resources of interest to the college community for scholarly research and collection development. More than 7,000 reviews may be searched in recent issues annually. Limit a search by interdisciplinary category such as Women and Gender Studies, Food and Agriculture or Electronic Resources as well as by readership level such as undergraduates, graduates or faculty. Other parameters include searching by title, author, publisher, ISBN or reviewer name or affiliation. Simply type in a title keyword in the user-friendly Advanced Search feature and combine it with readership level or by subject such as Music or Business, Management and Labor. Forthcoming title lists provides information on new or soon to be released publications arranged by interdisciplinary categories or by subject.

Salem History provides the opportunity to search across print reference series such as Great Events in History, Great Lives in History and the Decades. Search for a title, abstract or full text on topics in ancient history, American history, western civilization or woman’s history. In the Advanced Search, locate primary sources such as court cases, addresses and speeches by category and limit to a specific geographical location or time frame. Peruse biographies of female politicians by gender. If you are searching for Vietnam War in American History, each entry will provide you with an encyclopedic entry on various aspects of the war; identify the reference work it is using as well as list resources for further reading.

As you begin working on assignments, take this opportunity to search another online tool in addition to those listed in your Subject Guides or alphabetically for an art image; the appropriate book for a Psychology paper; or a primary source for a history assignment. For further assistance stop by the Reference desk, call x 4248 or Ask Online.

CQ Researcher: Health Care Reform

A recent report from CQ Researcher addresses the national debate over reform of health care and health insurance. The introduction and key questions asked appear below:

“Is universal coverage too expensive?

For the first time in 15 years, health-care reform has moved to the top of Washington’s agenda. A new Democratic president and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate have declared two major goals: increase coverage to near-universal levels and stop the huge, annual cost increases that are gradually putting health care out of reach for small businesses and low-income families. Most proposals would subsidize insurance for low-income Americans and create new, government-regulated insurance markets for those without employer-provided coverage. One controversial scheme would create a publicly run insurance plan and require individuals to buy coverage. Congressional Republicans and some Democrats argue, however, that the plan would be too expensive and would allow government to meddle too much in health care. And at angry town hall meetings in August, some even charged, incorrectly, that the arrangement would establish “death panels” that would deny treatment to elderly and disabled patients.

• Could a single-payer health-care system work for America?
• Should reform include a publicly run health insurance plan?
• Would universal coverage be too expensive?”

The full report can be accessed at http://library.cqpress.com.cseproxy1.cse.edu/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2009082800.

Search the latest news on health care topics from Lexis Nexis Academic’s Healthcare News:
http://cseproxy1.cse.edu/login?url=http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/api/version1/sf?shr=t&sfi=AC00NBGenSrch&csi=156896.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor in U.S. Newspapers

To follow coverage of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as it appears in U.S. newspapers and U.S. newswires, search Lexis-Nexis Academic database by clicking on the above hyperlink.

CINAHL with Full Text: Evidence-Based Information

Are you looking for evidence-based articles on the Application of the Betty Neuman Systems Model for your course Professional Nursing Transition (NURS 302)? According to the book Evidence-based medicine: how to practice and teach EBM (2000) by David L. Sackett et. al., individuals in health care require the integration of the best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient value.

I highly recommend searching EBSCO’s CINAHL with Full Text (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature). This authoritative database covers full-text to more than 600 journals in nursing and allied health from 1981 to present. Peer-reviewed articles with evidence-based research and systematic reviews are available through publications such as Journal of Advanced Nursing or Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing. Other features include the ability to limit to types of publications like case studies, dissertations, statistics, research instruments and much more. Also, take advantage of the CINAHL Subject Headings for more relevant results.

You may contact the Reference desk (973) 290-4248 or ask Mahoney Online for additional assistance. For further tips, link into these CINAHL Tutorials:

• Basic Searching – CINAHL with Full Text
• Advanced Searching – CINAHL with Full Text