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Database News

Spring Semester 2010

March

JSC business faculty and students have come to depend on our print edition of The Value Line Investment Survey for timely analysis of companies and industries for years. Until recently, we have subscribed to the loose-leaf publication, but that format has been replaced by an electronic version only.  Our last print issue was filed for February 12, 2010.

To access the 2010 online version, use the Library's Find Journals tab on our home page. When you enter a title search for Value Line, the results list will display a clickable link to the JSC Library Electronic Holdings collection.

With this transition to the electronic-only format, we have discovered some irregularities. For either on- or off-campus access, there is a screen message about logging in

(“To continue and log in, please click here”) even if you have already been authenticated from off campus, or even if you are here in the library.  It is confusing, but just click on the first red link to access the various issues of Value Line where you’ll recognize such standard sections as Ratings & Reports and Selection & Opinion. Until we have resolved the access problem with the publisher, please make certain to logout of your session.The log off link is in the upper left hand corner of the page.

The first reviews of our electronic version of Value Line have been quite positive. Online features such as screening and reporting were not easily accomplished by studying the paper issues, and no doubt we will discover even more benefits as we become familiar with the interface.

January

Long-time users of the Gale Cengage family of databases will notice the new look in this extensive collection of resources, which is offered through our participation in the Vermont Online Library. You’ll see changes in the interface for many of our most popular databases such as Expanded Academic ASAP, Business & Company Resource Center and Academic Onefile with its 20 subsets. Teresa Faust, Special Services Consultant for the Vermont Department of Libraries, reports that audio and video files are available in some

(not all) articles in some (not all) databases. Many Gale databases provide options for translating articles too. As Faust points out, these enhancements will certainly improve access for print-disabled and ESL users, but we should be aware that the features are not standard from one resource to another.

New this semester is our subscription to the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary, the undisputed heavyweight title of word origins in the English language. Electronic access to this massive work of scholarship has many benefits. Most importantly, you can actually read the entries without eyestrain, and searching through individual print volumes is now accomplished with an advanced search. To use the database effectively, you will want to take the tour of the system, print out a quick reference guide, look at some search examples and familiarize yourself with the many help options on the home page of the OED Online. Links are posted on the FIND ARTICLES A-Z list and the Writing, Literature & Style Guides page.

Fall Semester 2009

For the start of the academic year, we have several databases to add to our growing collection of online resources. This week we'll feature new titles in the environmental sciences and education and answer these questions: What happened to Lexis-Nexis Environmental? Where is Education Full Text?

Environmental Sciences

Lexis Nexis has sold its environmental content to Proquest, and our access to Environment Abstracts is now through a different search platform. Before all this occurred, our link  to EA was located in Lexis-Nexis Environmental; now it is on the Find Articles page under Environment Abstracts. Interestingly, two other databases were included in the transaction. Links to EIS: Digests of Environmental Impact Statements and Sustainability Science Abstracts are also on our A-Z list.

Education

After a thorough evaluation, the Vermont State College reference librarians recommended that we drop the Wilson database, Education Full Text, and replace it with EBSCO's Education Research Complete (ERC).  This was a soul-searching decision because librarians have long revered the Wilson product with its history of excellence in indexing the education literature.  JSC's print volumes extend back to 1929.

Education Research Complete boasts indexing of almost 3000 journals, plus full text of books and conference proceedings. In a 2007 research study, ERC was found to be a more comprehensive database than ERIC, once considered the unrivaled resource for education researchers since 1966.