January 2010 Archives

The Walk-In Research and Writing Clinics at Cabell Library are designed for students with research and/or writing questions. Anytime the clinic is open, a librarian or Writing Center consultant can provide one-on-one assistance to find library resources or assist in the writing process. These clinics are targeted to students in ENGL 200 and UNIV 112, and open to anyone working on a research paper. Attending these open, hands-on clinics can help students save time and stress!

Walk-In Research & Writing Clinics
James Branch Cabell Library
Library Instruction Classroom, Room 319

• Mon, Feb 8, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.*
• Mon, Feb 15, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
• Tue, Feb 16, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.*
• Wed, Feb 24, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.


• Wed, Mar 3, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.*
• Thu, Mar 4, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Mon, Mar 8, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.*
• Wed, Mar 10, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Tue, Mar 23, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
• Mon, Mar 29, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.*
• Tue, Mar 30, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.


• Wed, Apr 7, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.*
• Thu, Apr 8, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Wed, Apr 14, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Mon, Apr 19, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
• Tue, Apr 20, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
• Mon, Apr 26, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
• Thu, Apr 29, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

*Technology Services Classroom, Room 320

Researchers and writers are encouraged to stop by anytime the clinics are open. For a list of library instruction classes and events on both campuses, visit the VCU Libraries Events page.
 

Several databases offer special features to help you place your research in context with today's economic environment.

• In Mintel, look for the Economy in Crisis section under what's hot. In addition to brief news items, there are full text market research reports on topics like the Budget Shopper, DIY in a Down Economy, or Weddings in the Recession.
• Track economy recovery with daily updates Dow Jones Factiva. Look for the Financial Crisis page on the News Pages drop down list.
• ABI/Inform recently added a number of new subject terms, including the American Recovery & Reinvestement Act 2009-US, Emergency Economic Stabilization Act 2008-US, food prices, and many more--all retrospectively indexed so researchers can compare similar events though time. You can also search with recession, bailouts, or economic crisis as your keywords.
• Try the term financial crisis in Business Source Complete, and try a keyword search with global financial crisis 2008-2009 in the library catalog for books on the topic.

You can access all of these resources from the VCU Libraries homepage. Look for the Databases A-Z list or the Catalog search box.

Please contact Bettina Peacemaker (828-8960) of you have any questions.

IBISWorld contains over 700 U.S. industry reports, covering everything from apiculture to zinc mining. Detailed reports cover key statistics, market chracteristics, competitors, industry  performance, and much more. You will also find 300 business environment reports, a small collection of global industry reports, and over 150 industry reports for China.

You can find IBISWorld on the the library's A-Z list of databases. From the main search page, you can browse U.S. industries by NAICS code or try a search across any or all of the database areas. For reports from China, look for the China site link under the search box. You should also see buttons for Global Industry Research and Business Environment.

Please contact Bettina Peacemaker (828-8960) if you have any questions about IBISWorld.

Business Source Complete now includes videos from the Harvard Business School Faculty Seminar Series. The series features 55 lectures from professors and experts presented during executive education programs at Harvard Business School.

To find the series, look for the Videos source type on your results list or try a search for Harvard Business School Faculty Seminar Series to browse a list of available videos. Please contact Bettina Peacemaker (828-8960) with any questions about the video series or Business Source Complete.

If you are used to using Crossfire Beilstein and Gmelin from the library home page, you will notice they are no longer listed as such. They are being replaced by Reaxys, available from the library's A-Z list of databases under "R." This new search and discovery tool supports research and fuels discovery by integrating reaction and substance data search with synthesis planning. It incorporates Beilstein (organic chemistry database), Gmelin (inorganic chemistry database) and Patent Chemistry, thereby creating a single architecture for convenient search of chemistry data.

Reaxys is Web-accessible for maximum flexibility. It has an intuitive interface, thus it is easy to learn and use. Its powerful search takes users to credible, accurate data. Its results management tool, analysis tools, synthesis-route planning and collaborative reports, support chemists' work-flow. It also contains new tools to evaluate hit sets, propose synthesis strategies, and move more quickly from a basic idea to a target compound.

Reaxys provides more complete information about a reaction pathway, therefore providing a new way to solve research problems. VCU faculty, staff, and students in biochemistry, biology, chemical engineering, chemistry, life sciences, medicine, medicinal chemistry, nursing, nutrition, pharmacy, and other related disciplines, will find this new tool to be an immense improvement over Crossfire. 

Direct questions and comments to:

Ibironke Lawal
804-828-8739

Haiti was shattered by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010, destroying much of the area near the capital of Port-au-Prince. The selected resources on the Earthquakes and Other Natural Disasters Resource Guide will link you to various earthquake news, science, and relief Internet sites.

Resource Guides on a number of different topics are available online from VCU Libraries. Ask Us if you need research assistance on this or any other topic.

Fifty years after the student-led sit-ins: where are we now?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
7:30 p.m.
W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts
922 Park Avenue
Richmond, VA

In February 1960, African American students and others began to participate in sit-in demonstrations at lunch counters throughout the South. These protests against segregation in public facilities received national attention and precipitated the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which extended voting rights and outlawed racial segregation in schools, the workplace, and in public facilities. Join us for a panel discussion exploring the legacy of those protests, including the state of Black America and race relations 50 years after the student-led sit-ins.
 
Panelists:

• Jenny Jones, PhD, Associate Professor of Social Work, VCU
• Napoleon Peoples, PhD, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, VCU
• Jill Rowe, PhD, Assistant Professor, African American Studies, VCU
• Shawn O. Utsey, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology and Chair of African American Studies, VCU
• Moderated by Njeri Jackson, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science and Special Assistant for Diversity in the Office of the Provost, VCU
  

Free and open to the public. Parking is available for a fee in the West Main Street and West Cary Street parking decks. If special accommodations are needed, please call (804) 827-1165 or (804) 827-1163 prior to February 5, 2010.

The eighth annual VCU Libraries Black History Month Lecture is sponsored by the VCU Friends of the Library. More information about Black History Month is available on the VCU Libraries Webpage.

VCU Friends of the Library, faculty, staff, and students are all welcome and encouraged to become a part of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award process by reading and reviewing this year's eligible novels. Over 30 books have already been submitted for the 2010 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and additional titles will be arriving in January 2010. Your participation will be extremely helpful in narrowing down the selection for the judges, who will then determine the winner of the award from a short list of finalists. The deadline for you to read novels and submit your reviews is Wednesday, March 31, 2010.

The books are available for check out from Media and Reserve Services, located on the third floor of the James Branch Cabell Library. A valid VCU ID or VCU Friends of the Library Donor Card is all you will need to check out a book and start reading. A list of the novels and their current availability can be found in the VCU Cabell First Novelist Catalog. The VCU Libraries Course Reserve Catalog can also be searched by words in title or author, Course Number (First Novelist Award), or Instructor (Cabell First Novelist Award). These books have a loan period of seven days, and may be renewed once. After checking out a novel and reading it, the most important thing for you to do is review it. Paper copies of the review forms will be available with each book at the Media and Reserve Services Desk. Please take one, fill it out, and return it to Media and Reserve Services along with the book.

Thank you for your interest and participation. Your help with this process is greatly appreciated, and you will enjoy reading these first novels by promising new authors.

Presented annually by the VCU MFA Program in Creative Writing, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award honors the best debut novel published during a calendar year. The VCU Cabell First Novelist Award is sponsored by the VCU Department of English, James Branch Cabell Library Associates, VCU Friends of the Library, VCU Libraries, VCU Honors College, and VCU College of Humanities and Sciences.

VCU Libraries will conduct a series of surveys over the next year to learn how our faculty, students, and staff use library resources and services.  Your feedback is extremely valuable and will help improve VCU Libraries resources and services.  The survey has been designed in concert with consultants, and responses will be confidential.

Surveys will be administered once a month at each library for a two hour time period.  The dates and times have been randomly selected and will vary each month.  The next survey will take place at Cabell Library on Thursday, January 14, 2010.

During the survey period, you will be given a short survey form to complete during your visit.  The online survey will appear when you select library resources from the VCU Libraries Web site.

If you have questions or comments about the survey, please contact Nia Rodgers at the James Branch Cabell Library.

VCU Libraries has a new Website for the coming year! Check out these new items as you're navigating through the site:

Changes to the homepage

Quick Links

Have no fear! Quick links are still on the homepage under "Top Resources." Click on the down arrow to find a listing of all Top Resources available from the homepage.

Looking for research toolkits or the Compass blog?

Click on the 'more>>' link under Research Help. Research help is a new section of the site that provides greater access to the libraries' instructional resources.

Learn more with a guided tour

Take a virtual tour of the homepage, or attend a brief tutorial session at Cabell Library.

New Website features

Tools & Gadgets

From the all-new Tools and Gadgets page, you can add the library catalog search widget to your iGoogle page, link to mobile sites for large databases such as PubMed, and access citation tools such as Refworks.

Mobile access to databases

Check out Databases A-Z! There is now an icon beside each database name for those databases that have mobile access.

New titles in the catalog

Click on all feeds from the homepage and then navigate to New Titles from the Libraries. You'll find a beta RSS feeds for new titles in four areas that you can use to notify when new titles in your subject come into the library. Check back later in the semester for many more subjects.

Search for DVDs or New Titles

Check out the DVDs/Film & New Titles links right in the homepage search box.

Need to ask a question?

The Ask a Librarian form is now linked from all over the site. For example, go to Ask Us and click on the link in the right column that says 'using our online form.'

Tell us what you think about the redesign!

Please take a moment to fill out our survey and let us know if you have questions or comments about the redesign.

Learn about some of the resources available while navigating the redesigned VCU Libraries homepage. More than just an online catalog, the Web site provides access to article databases, online exhibits, library events, news, Resource Guides, and much, much more. These tutorials will be held in Cabell Library and are only about 20 minutes, followed by a brief question and answer session.

• Tuesday, January 19, 5 p.m.
• Wednesday, January 20, 9:30 a.m.
• Friday, January 22, 11 a.m.
• Monday, January 25, 10 a.m.
• Monday, January 25, 2 p.m.
• Tuesday, January 26, noon

All sessions will be held in Cabell Library, Library Instruction Classroom, 319. You can also view an online tutorial of the new home page. For information on additional VCU Libraries events and classes visit the VCU Libraries events page.
 

Become familiar with Cabell Library early and save on hassles later in the semester. Building tours meet inside the first-floor main entrance and last 30 minutes. Participants will learn more about the facility, collections, and resources, as well as how library services and staff can assist students, faculty, and staff in completing their work.

Thursday, January 21
10:00 a.m. 
3:30 p.m. 

Friday, January 22
10:00 a.m. 
1:30 p.m. 

Tuesday, January 26
1:00 p.m. 
4:00 p.m. 

Wednesday, January  27
1:30 p.m. 
4:30 p.m.

For information on additional VCU Libraries events and classes visit the VCU Libraries events page.
 

PBS Newshour has produced a video report on the controversial Google Book Search project. The story aired on Dec. 30, 2009.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy, within the Executive Office of the President, has set a new deadline of Jan. 21, 2010 for community input on public access to federal research publications. For more information and instructions on how to comment, visit the Alliance for Taxpayer Access website.

The VCU Libraries Website will not be available Tuesday morning, January 5th, from 8:30-9:30 a.m. We will be migrating to the new Website design during that time. Access to other library services and systems will be available through the VCU Libraries Alternate Website.

Access will remain open for selected services:

• Databases by Subject and AtoZ: http://metalib.vccs.edu/V/?func=find-db-1
• Library Catalog (including reserves): http://catalog.library.vcu.edu
• ILLiad: http://illiad.library.vcu.edu
• Ejournals: http://sfx.library.vcu.edu/vcu/az/
• Digital Collections: http://dig.library.vcu.edu
• ETDs: http://digarchive.library.vcu.edu