Ohrstrom Blog

eResource Search: What is it?

Lura Sanborn — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:30 +0000

The eResource Search serves as a search tool to the library’s digital content, both eBooks and ePeriodicals (digitized magazines, journals and newspapers). Search for a particular ePeriodical title, and the eResource Search will identify which of the library’s databases contains the title. In addition to identifying which database contains the digital title, a direct link to that same title is provided. Use the eResource Search to determine if the library’s databases provide access to digital titles such as: the Concord Monitor, American Fern Journal or Western Folklore. If the title is also physically held at the library, this information will be included as well.

In the same fashion, the eResource Search indexes the library’s many eBooks. The eResource Search will identify which of the library’s eBook collections contains a given title and provide a direct link to that same title.

eResource Search provides groups of eBooks and ePeriodicals by subject. One can request a list of just eBooks on a given subject, just ePeriodicals or both.

Questions about the eResource Search? Please feel free to contact Ms. Sanborn (lsanborn at sps dot edu) with any questions about or to arrange for a personal tour of this product.

New Reference Book: The Thirties in America

Lura Sanborn — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:00:03 +0000

The Thirties in America edited by Thomas Tandy Lewis, Salem Press, 2011.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 973.92 SA3 1930

Almost 700 essays span this 3-volume set. Essays focus on important people, ideas, and innovations of the 1930s. Volume three also contains several lists pertinent to the 1930s including: Major films, Academy Awards, Broadway plays, TV Shows, Legislation, and Best-Selling Books. Following this selection of lists is a year-by-year breakdown of key events that occurred during this decade.

Read about: Bingo, Charles Chaplin, King Kong, Sports in the United States, Works Progress Administration

Helpful for research and fun for browsing!

Access the online version of this Reference set (and other decades) by clicking HERE.

Helpful for: Humanities, History, Popular Culture, Topic Finding

Database Trial: Access World News

Lura Sanborn — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:00:50 +0000

Newsbank has generously allowed for a trial of their Access World News product to take place during the 5^th form paper.

Clicking through from our Newsbank Historical U.S. Papers database now includes a link to Access World News. This product contains global news coverage (including newspapers and video news), translated into English, from 1996 to the present date.

A complete listing of titles is available here.

If you have a chance to use it I’d love to know what you think! [Contact Ms. Sanborn by email: (lsanborn at sps dot edu).]

New Reference Book: The Book of Fungi

Lura Sanborn — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:00:02 +0000

The Book of Fungi: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species from Around the World by Peter Roberts and Shelley Evans, University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 579.5 R54b

600 fungi are pictured and given a full page of treatment. Includes family, distribution and spore color among other fungi facts.

Examples:

Copper Spike
The Deceiver
Hairy Hexagon
Lea’s Orange Bonnet
Rhubarb Bolete

Helpful for: Ecology, Biology, Eco-Action, Botany

New Research Guide: Humanities 5

Lura Sanborn — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:00:45 +0000

A new research guidefor the Humanities 5 annual research project is available on the library’s website. Use this guide to identify and review: reference materials, library catalog (printed books & eBooks), newspaper collections, NBC newsreels, journal & magazine articles, and Noodlebib citation tutorials.

Also included: Research Flow Chart, Noodlebib tutorials and an xtranormal animated intro to the library’s eResource finder.

The majority of the sources contained in this guide are purchased/subscribed to by SPS. These sources are not available freely on the Internet.

Please feel free to contact Ms. Sanborn (lsanborn at sps dot edu) for a research consultation and/or to discuss any of the items in this guide.

Locating a Contemporary Topic

Lura Sanborn — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:00:50 +0000

Starting the Hum. V paper & looking for a Topic? The sources below may lead you to an inspiring focus.

Credo Topic Pages – What is it? Credo Reference provides SPS with 600 digitized reference books. The Topic Page feature includes background information from these reference books on topics that have spent some time in the public eye (Liberal Democrats, social welfare, water power). In addition to background information from reference books, Credo will present information from other library sources, all within the same Topic Page.

CQ Researcher & CQ Global – Browse Reports by Topic - What is it? This collection contains multi-page reports, written by journalists that have been hired by CQ. Since 1923 these reports have been respected sources of unbiased information focused on a specific issues of public concern including: economics, politics, technology, health and the environment.

Contemporary newspapers can be a great source to locate a current topic. In particular, Newsbank offers a selection of Special Reports These reports identify current news topics across a variety of disciplines, each accompanied by a handful of news articles.

Individual Reference Sets – the Index Browsing the index of a Reference set with a subject of your interest (science, religion, literature), can often lead to finding and/or narrowing of a topic.

Articles within a Reference Book often begin with a broad topic (i.e. France) and then focus in on a narrower aspect of that topic (i.e. France – agricultural developments in the Middle Ages). Browsing the index of a Reference Book will often reveal the interconnectedness of multiple topics.

Encyclopedia of Bioethics – Index – The library has purchased the digitized version of many classic printed Reference sets, including this popular title. Browsing the index may provide inspiration for a topic. Click on the index entry to be taken to the full Reference article. Similarly, you might be interested in browsing the index to the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences or the Encyclopedia of Sociology or perhaps the Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy.

Looking for Print? Reference Books in Print – A selection of titles from the Library’s larger collection.

Encyclopedia of Philosophy REF 103 B64

Encyclopedia of Bioethics REF 172.4 B52

Encyclopedia of Religion REF 203 EL4

Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion REF 203 Y8

Encyclopedia of Sociology REF 301 B64

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences REF 303 In8

Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice REF 303.48 An2

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children’s Issues Worldwide REF 305.2303

History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflict Worldwide REF 303.6 H62

Violence in America REF 303.6 G71

Encyclopedia of Race & Racism REF 305.8 M78

Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History in America REF 306.76 St36

Encyclopedia of Human Rights REF 323 Ox2H

Encyclopedia of Environment and Society REF 363.7 R53

Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change REF 363.7 P53

Critical Food Issues REF 363.8 P56C

New Dictionary of the History of Ideas REF 903 H78

Conflicts in American History REF 973 F11C

June 5, 1919

Lisa Laughy — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:00:19 +0000

Can you canoe?:

On May 5, canoeing began, accompanied by the usual demand for canoes and the excitement of launching them once again on the Library Pond.

Primary Sources: ebrary

Lura Sanborn — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:00:08 +0000

Many academic books include primary sources (sometimes many, many!). Searching the following subjects in ebrary will locate that document type published in book form. You might also consider a search using one subject below combined with your topic (i.e. Correspondence, Roosevelt; or Sources, Civil Rights).

Correspondence
Diaries
Interviews
Personal narratives
Speeches
Sources

Select the ‘advanced’ search option on the main page.

Adjust the drop down menu to read ‘subject.’ Select the + button to add additional search boxes, if desired.

Narrow the search using the selected subjects offered by ebrary.

Questions about the library’s ebook collections? Please feel to contact Lura Sanborn (lsanborn at sps dot edu) with questions or to arrange for a personal ebook tour.

New Reference Book: British Political Facts

Lura Sanborn — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:00:29 +0000

British Political Facts by David Butler and Gareth Butler, Palgrave Macmillan, 10th edition, 2011.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 320.441 B97b

A compendium of “…essential facts and statistics of recent politics” (xvii), extending from the Third Marquess of Salisbury through the Blair era.

Chapter Examples:

Ministries
Parliament
Civil Service
The Treasury and the Economy
The Media

Helpful for: Political Studies, British Studies, Humanities, History, Global Studies

Spotlight on: Salem History

Lura Sanborn — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:00:06 +0000

Many Humanities IV students locate research topics using the U.S. history chronicles located in the library’s reference room (Call # 973.8 – 973.9).

In recent years, the most popular chronologies have been those published by Salem Press, often referred to as “the decade” series (Call # 973.82).

These volumes are also available digitally. The library provides access to several Salem titles including the decade series. Visit Salem History and click on the plus sign + to the right of the word decades.

Select your chosen decade and view the table of contents for a browseable and absorbing list of events.