With the Small Business Expo just around the corner, I have updated our Hot Topic – Small Business, Starting and Building as well as the Business and Investing page on Databases A-Z.
Prior to the fair you may want to brush up on our business databases such as BusinessDecisions and ReferenceUSA and get familiar with what is available on the above mentioned pages. This will help you service your users when they come asking questions after May 18th!
Nancy Spidle from ReferenceUSA did a great presentation today on using ReferenceUSA. You will notice in the next couple of days two new features will be added to our site – Data Visualization and Heat Mapping.
Nancy will also be at the Business Fair May 18th at Sahara West Library talking up ReferenceUSA with small business owners about what this database can do for them in building their business.
She would be happy to do patron training anytime at your library. If your interested, give her a call at 402.836.1473 or email her at Nancy.Spidle@infogroup.com
Be sure to check out our Hot Topic – Small Business, Starting and Building or the Databases A-Z – Business and Investing page for more updates and information on ReferenceUSA.
The following GDL titles have been added to the database Gale Directory Library:
Encyclopedia of Associations: International Organizations, 52nd ed.
Encyclopedia of Associations: National Organizations of the U.S., 52nd ed.
You may have noticed that there have been some new offerings with ReferenceUSA. The latest enhancement is Data Visualization – more specifically, the ability for you to now see data in a new way. We know that a lot of folks will download large lists of data that they in turn will use to create charts and tables to include in presentations and reports. Coupled with that is their discussions on just how much data they can move – now by being able to easily extrapolate this data into Heat Maps, Pie Charts and Bar Graphs, the need to download copious amounts of records is dissipated. To learn more about it read Data Visualization
Is there any interest in having ReferenceUSA come out and do training in Early May on this new feature and ReferenceUSA?
If so, please post your interest on this post in the comment section.
Money Smart Week is just around the corner. Are you ready? During April 20-27, organizations around the country will be educating individuals on a variety of personal finance topics. Morningstar has two special events this year which you may want to promote.
The first event will be Wednesday, April 24th at 5:30pm Central. Morningstar’s Christine Benz and Adam Zoll will discuss how to prepare your finances for life events ranging from college planning to saving for retirement. Watch the live stream video or the recording.
In addition to their regular training sessions, they are offering a special Money Smart Week training for Morningstar Investment Research Center users. Login to the webinar and call in to their teleconference on Friday, April 26th at 12pm Central. They’ll focus on navigating the database, using the screening and portfolio analysis tools, and where to find helpful information.
Want to spread the word at your library? Print or post their overview sheet with more detailed information: http://library.morningstar.com/mkt/mirc_moneysmart_2013.pdf
And don’t forget to utilize their new Investing for the Long Run book – A free guide with strategies and solutions to help you shape up your personal finances – to promote Money Smart Week to your community!
To streamline your experience with OverDrive, they’ve moved all of the library and school partner resources to a new, standalone website: http://partners.overdrive.com. There you’ll find:
You may also notice a new web page for OverDrive Media Console (http://omc.overdrive.com), which provides enhanced information for the industry’s leading eBook app as well as links to install it on all major operating systems.
For those of you who have not been to Databases A-Z or Search by Topic since last Thursday, you may want to take a look. These two sections are now linked to our Hot Topic service where we can highlight or pull content closer to the surface to make it easier for our users to find the information they are looking for in the Library. Since September, the Virtual Library has been working on this project. From the database usage, especially down to the content level, it appears to be working. Last year 2011-2012 database views totaled 377,558 views. Through January 2013 (just 7 months) views total 344,524.
Please share your comments and suggestions as this is a work in progress.
Downloads have been increased to 250 internal and 50 external. Please past this on to your users.
“O” logo used by Opera Software as the browser logo. Since a single letter cannot be copyrighted, this image is in the public domain. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
IT started using Opera on the Info Stations a couple of months ago to prevent patrons from accessing the Internet but still allowing them to access the Library’s databases. It works with most of our databases with the exception of two – Press Display and Antiques P4. These databases websites have not kept up with the technology. In order to work with Opera, they need to re-do their websites. At this time we are not sure they will. Antiques P4 has indicated they will but no time frame has been given. Any patrons wishing to use these two databases will need to reserve a computer in your computer lab.
We were able to get a look at a library’s new OverDrive catalog and capture how it works for you. Early in January our catalog will be changing to the “Next Generation” so I highly recommend you review how it works before our catalog goes live.
When IT changed the InfoStations browser to Opera, it created an issue with our database Press Display, it will not load it. I have IT and Press Display both working on the issue and we hope to have a solution to the issue soon. Press Display will work on the other browsers, so if you have a patron who wants to view it, see if you can move them to a different computer which is using IE.
We recently were notified that Morningstar has decided to retire the print version of Morningstar Mutual Funds on December 24th but your users can still access Morningstar Mutual funds in Morningstar Investment Research Center online using the Virtual Library. We do have limited licenses to the product, so if you cannot get in, wait 15-30 minutes and chances are a license will free up so you can get use it. I will be monitoring the turn-a-ways and if it’s happening too often we will add additional licenses.
If you have never used Morningstar Investment Research Center checkout the Help & Education tab. Here you will find how-to guides to print and monthly online workshops on how-to use Morningstar Investment Research Center .
Be sure to point these out to your patrons and I highly recommend you review the User’s Guide.
The following title has been added to Gale Virtual Reference Library:
The African American Electorate: A Statistical History, 1st ed – Explores the relationship between voters and political candidates, identifying critical variables, and situate African Americans’ voting behavior and political phenomena in the context of America’s political history.
We just added the following titles to Gale Virtual Reference Library
Many of these have also be added to the Middle/High School Homework website.
We just added a portal (bookshelf) for the DK eBooks found in GVRL. It is linked under DK eBooks on Databases A-Z and under Resources for Elementary Grades on the Search by Topic page.
Links have also be added on the Homework Help PreK-5 under Animals and Science subjects.
Consumer/Lifestyle module has been activated on our account and the prints and downloads have been increased to 100 for your internal and external users. The link to their YouTube channel for the training videos is http://www.youtube.com/Rresourcecenter?feature=mhee.
Our Business and Company Resource Center has a new look!
If you would like to learn more about the updates visit the tutorials at http://www.cengagesites.com/Literature/782/gale-business-insights-global-essentials/transition-tools/
The following have been added to Literature Criticism:
Contemporary Literary Criticism Vol 323
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism Vol 258
Short Story Criticism Vol 167
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism Vol 268
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism Vol 269
The following titles have been added to the Gale Virtual Reference Library. All are geared towards homework help. Remember students can down articles from these titles and read them on a eReader.
9780761499558: Ancient Greece
9780761499565: Ancient Rome
9780761499572: Ancient Egypt and the Near East
9780756688868: Animal Life
9780756682125: Animals Alive
9780761445654: Apes
9781608706990: Arizona
9780756688158: Ask a Bug
9780756688165: Ask a Dinosaur
9781438134420: Bee
9781438133508: Beetle
9781608706242: Birds
9781410304810: Blackbirch Kid’s Visual Reference of the United States
9781410304827: Blackbirch Kid’s Visual Reference of the World
9781420501957: Brett Favre
9781438134437: Butterfly (FOF)
9781608702510: California
9781608706259: Caterpillars and Butterflies
9780756672546: Children’s Illustrated Encyclopedia
9780756688257: Children’s World Atlas
9781608702527: Colorado
9781608702534: Connecticut
9780761445678: Crocodiles and Alligators
9781608702541: Delaware
9781420503210: Denzel Washington
9780761499589: Diseases, Disorders, and Injuries
9780756689513: DK Eyewitness Books: Arms and Armor
9780756689520: DK Eyewitness Books: Aztec, Inca & Maya
9780756673772: DK Eyewitness Books: City
9780756688332: DK Eyewitness Books: Computer
9780756663285: DK Eyewitness Books: Economy
9780756676360: DK Eyewitness Books: Endangered Animals
9780756688226: DK Eyewitness Books: Flight
9780756688240: DK Eyewitness Books: Medieval Life
9780756688172: DK Eyewitness Books: Mythology
9780761445685: Dolphins
9781608706174: Donkeys
9781438133515: Dragonfly
9781420501964: Dwayne Johnson
9781420503425: Eli Manning
9780761499701: Encyclopedia of Diseases and Disorders
9780787692995: Endangered Species
9781608702107: Experimenting with Chemistry
9781608702114: Experimenting with Physics
9780756641818: Eyewonder Arctic and Antarctic (UK)
9780756647964: Eyewonder: Big Cats (US)
9780756647940: Eyewonder: Birds (US)
9780756647957: Eyewonder: Bugs (US)
9780756648060: Eyewonder: Dinosaur (US)
9780756648039: Eyewonder: Earth (US)
9780756647995: Eyewonder: Forest (US)
9780756648053: Eyewonder: Human Body (US)
9780756647988: Eyewonder: Mammals (US)
9780756648046: Eyewonder: Ocean (US)
9780756648022: Eyewonder: Rainforest (US)
9780756647971: Eyewonder: Reptiles (US)
9780756648008: Eyewonder: Rivers & Lakes (US)
9780756648084: Eyewonder: Space (US)
9780756648077: Eyewonder: Volcano (US)
9780756648015: Eyewonder: Whales & Dolphins (US)
9781608702558: Florida
9781608706266: Frogs and Toads
9781608701964: Geese
9780761499800: Gods and Goddesses of Greece and Rome
9780761499817: Heroes and Heroines of Greece and Rome
9781608706938: Holocaust
9781608703906: How Do Tadpoles Become Frogs?
9781608703913: How Do Tornadoes Form?
9780761499763: Human Body from A to Z
9781608701971: Hyenas
9781608702565: Illinois
9781438134680: In the Ocean
9781608707003: Indiana
9781608701988: Jaguars
9780761445715: Leopards
9781608702572: Louisiana
9781608701995: Manatees
9781608702589: Maryland
9781608702596: Massachusetts
9781420503289: Michelle Obama
9781608707010: Michigan
9781420501988: Miley Cyrus
9781608702602: Minnesota
9780756642211: Mythology (US)
9781608702619: New Jersey
9781608702626: New York 2011
9780761499633: North American Wildlife
9781608702633: North Carolina
9781608707027: Ohio
9781608707034: Oregon
9781608702640: Pennsylvania
9781420502763: People in the News: Barack Obama
9781420503128: People in the News: Jay-Z
9781420502855: People in the News: Kanye West
9781420503111: People in the News:Jonas Brothers
9781608706181: Prairie Dogs
9781608702008: Raccoons
9781608706198: Rats
9781420502008: Rihanna
9781615908042: Rourke’s Complete History of Our Presidents Encyclopedia (bundle parent)
9781608706204: Scorpions
9780761445722: Seals
9781420503678: Sean Combs
9781438135380: Snail
9781608707041: South Carolina
9781608706280: Spiders
9781608702862: Sports Science
9781608702657: Texas
9781420503159: Tyra Banks
9781608702824: Unusual Diseases
9781608702664: Virginia
9781608706211: Vultures
9781608706228: Walruses
9781608702671: Washington
9781420502015: Will Smith
9781608702688: Wisconsin
9781404210745: World Holidays: A Rosen Guide for Children
9781608704019: World War II: Countdown to Catastrophe
9781608704040: World War II: Global Chaos
9781608704033: World War II: Horrific Invasions
9781608704057: World War II: Terror and Triumph
9781608704064: World War II: The Final Victories
9781608704026: World War II: The First Bloody Battles
Novels for Students, Volume 40
ReferenceUSA has made recent updates to their Consumer databases. The U.S. Census has finally made all their data available and it has been integrated it into ReferenceUSA. They also had a very large increase in record quantity thanks to a significant investment in additional data resources. The attached document will give you all the details on what they have done as well as some upcoming projects.
