Archive for the 'online @ the library' Category

Library Hours for Spring Break

Published by Barbara on March 21, 2008 in around the library and online @ the library. 0 Comments

Please note the University Library’s Spring Break hours:

  • We close at 4:30pm on Fri., Mar. 21st
  • We are closed over the weekend of Mar. 22-23
  • We are open 8am-4:30pm for the week Mar. 24-28
  • We are closed Sat. Mar. 29th
  • We are open only 6pm-midnight on Sun. Mar. 30th

Normal semester hours resume on Monday, March 31st.

Remember that the Library Catalog (which contains many links to online books and government documents) and article databases are available when the Library is closed.

You can renew checked out items online by logging into your “Personal Record” with your 7-digit UWW ID number and your last name. Students may renew items once, unless another patron has requested an item. If you have questions or difficulties with this service, please contact the Circulation Desk (262-472-5511 or email circdesk@uww.edu).

New Free Legal Research Site Online

Published by Barbara on February 28, 2008 in online @ the library and tips for research. 0 Comments

As you may know, the University Library provides two subscription legal research databases (LexisNexis Academic and West’s Campus Research). There are also free legal research sites such as FindLaw; see the Library’s Law Resources web page for links.

Public Library of Law logo

A new free site, currently in beta, is The Public Library of Law. I haven’t played with it extensively, but it looks promising. Available there: federal and state court cases and rules, statutes and constitutions, regulations, and legal forms.

First Stop: Class Assignment Guides

Published by kyle on February 4, 2008 in online @ the library and tips for research. 0 Comments

Now that the semester is officially underway (and the Super Bowl is over), you might actually have started to think about starting to work on research projects for your courses. A great place to start your research would be the class assignment guides. Have you had an instruction session about library resources in your class - you know, either when taking a field trip to the library or having a librarian come to your classroom? Chances are pretty good that there’s a class guide made just for the project that you have to research. The guides contain links to library resources as well as credible Internet sites to begin the research process.

To find the class assignment guides, hover over Guides on the Library’s home page and click on Class Assignments or use the following link to go there directly: Class Assignment Guides.

Where to Invest in 2008

Published by kyle on December 19, 2007 in around the library and online @ the library. 1 Comment

When people think of the library, they don’t necessarily think to turn to us for investment advice. While we wouldn’t advise anyone on where to put their money, we can point you to credible and respectable sources for that sort of information. Conveniently enough, Morningstar, one of the top investment analysis firms and financial resource, has released their picks on the stocks and funds that will perform well in the coming year. Reknown for their mutual fund Where to Invest in 2008 contains information on the ‘Four Funds for an IRA,’ the ‘10 Best Companies in the World,’ the ‘Best Funds for 2008,’ and ‘Tune Up Your Portfolio in the New Year.’

To access the Morningstar report, use the following link - the report is linked under Important Articles in the center of the page.

Be on the lookout in March for an upcoming library session about the investing resources that we offer!

Numbers, anyone?

Published by Barbara on December 13, 2007 in around the world, info.gov and online @ the library. 0 Comments

Looking for international statistics? Country info? The United Nations may have just the numbers you need!

United Nations logo

There are several United Nations statistical databases available free (for non-commercial use) online at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/databases.htm:

  • Census Knowledge Base
    The Census Knowledge Base, a fundamental part of the resource centre for the 2010 World Population and Housing Census Programme, is a repository of documents relevant for the field of population and housing census taking. more…
  • Common Database (UNCDB)
    UNCDB provides selected series from numerous specialized international data sources for all available countries and areas. more…
  • Demographic Yearbook system
    Statistics on population size and composition, births, deaths, marriage and divorce, more…
  • Distat, the United Nations Disability Statistics Database
    Basic statistics on human functioning and disability, more…
  • Good practices database
    View this valuable source of information in good practices in official statistics, more…
  • InfoNation
    Experience this global learning project for middle and secondary students with statistical information on countries. more…
  • Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI)
    View the monthly oil data for the countries reporting to UNSD, more…
  • Millennium Indicators Database
    48 indicators, to measure progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Declaration development goals. more…
  • National Accounts Main Aggregates Database
    Contains a complete and consistent set of time series of main national accounts aggregates from 1970 onwards, more…
  • Population of capital cities and cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants
    Population of city proper urban agglomeration, more…
  • Population and housing censuses: census dates
    Population and housing census information, more…
  • Population and Vital Statistics on Internet
    Quarterly report on the latest census and mid-year population; latest vital statistics of births, deaths and infant deaths, more…
  • Service Trade Statistics
    UN ServiceTrade, the United Nations database with Statistics on International Trade in Services, contains annual detailed trade in services data. more…
  • Social Indicators
    Tables with social indicators covering a wide range of subject matter fields such as education, housing, health, water, more…
  • Statistics and indicators on women and men
    Statistics and indicators on six specific fields of concern: population, families, health, education, work and politics and human rights, more…

On the same web page you’ll see a couple of subscription (”restricted”) databases also, which are not available. However, the University Library’s first-floor Periodicals Collection does contain Monthly Bulletin of Statistics issues (which provide economic data for countries and regions) since 1971 (and a few other earlier years as well).

Government Printing Office logo

The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

Renew Your Books & Videos Online

Published by Barbara on December 10, 2007 in online @ the library. 0 Comments

Yes! You can renew your books and videos online!

How to do it
From the University Library’s home page click on “My Accounts” in the upper right corner of the purple banner. The middle login option is for “Personal Record/UB Account.” In that section, type your 7-digit UWW ID number and your last name, and then click “Login.” (When you are using the Library Catalog just click on the purple “Personal Record” button and login.)

Your “Personal Record” shows the items you have checked out from the UWW University Library, as well as any you have checked out from other UW libraries (UB requests). It also shows when they are due. To renew items click the “Renew?” box at the left of the title(s) and then click the “Renew Items” button at the bottom. The new due date should appear.

What if the due date doesn’t change?
There are limits to renewals. Students can renew materials only once. Renewals must be done before the due date (i.e., if the item is already overdue the renewal won’t work). Also, if an item has been requested by another library user, you will not be allowed to renew it.

Questions?
Contact the Circulation Desk (262-472-5511) or the Reference Desk (262-472-1032).

Keep Up With Congress: CQ Weekly

Published by Barbara on December 5, 2007 in online @ the library. 0 Comments

CQ Weekly is a weekly magazine devoted to all things related to the activities of the U.S. Congress (its subtitle is “Congressional Quarterly’s Magazine on Government, Commerce, and Politics”). Get a recap of major actions of the past week, an analysis of major issues currently under consideration or coming up soon, roll-call votes, news about the latest political skirmishes, etc. It’s addicting! Keep up with Congress by reading a new issue every Monday.

How to use it:
The home page features the contents of the latest issue (click on the titles that you want to read). Use the options on the left side to browse other issues (click the “Read Recent Issues” drop-down and select a date), or search for articles or floor votes by keyword(s), topic or date. The advanced search allows a number of options including specifying committees, searching by bill numbers, and changing the way results are ordered. You can set up an account and save searches or create automatic email alerts (start by setting up your profile–another option on the left-side margin).

How far back does it go?
UWW students and faculty/staff have access to articles from this respected publication online starting with October 1983. In the University Library’s Reference Collection is the annual summary volume, Congressional Quarterly Almanac, going back to 1959.

In addition, the Weekly is actually part of a suite of CQ databases available to the UWW community for political research. Go to CQ Electronic Library and search any or all of these components: CQ Weekly, CQ Researcher, CQ Congress Collection, CQ Public Affairs Collection, and CQ Voting and Elections Collection.

Elusive Advertising Rates

Published by kyle on November 14, 2007 in around the library, online @ the library and tips for research. 0 Comments

If you’re working on an advertising or marketing project and you need radio and TV ad rates, you’ve probably figured out that they’re not easy to find. Rates for print are easier to find, as you can use SRDS Media Solutions to find the rates right there. Unfortunately, it’s not as clear cut for the broadcast media.

On the other hand, using a combination of library and free internet resources can provide a good estimation of the elusive advertising rates for radio and television. How do you do it? I’ve created a guide (based heavily on Carol’s fabulous print guide that we had at the Reference Desk) that explains what you need to find information that you need to calculate ad rates. If you have any questions, make sure to ask me!

From the Library’s home page, hover over Guides then click on By Subject. The guide (will be) linked under 5) Media: Ad Rates, Audience & Circulation. Or just go straight there - Media: Estimating Radio & TV Ad Rates.

Using LexisNexis From Off-Campus

Published by kyle on October 16, 2007 in online @ the library. 1 Comment

It has come to our attention that sometimes when trying to access LexisNexis from off-campus brings up the company’s login prompt, even after logging in through the library’s proxy server. Don’t worry, we’re working with the folks at LexisNexis to resolve the issue. In the meantime, LN’s tech people have recommended clearing the history and clicking on the link for LexisNexis again. I’ve also noticed that just going back to the library’s website using the back button and trying again has worked as well.

If you encounter this problem, please let us know, either by calling the Reference Desk at 262.472.1032, sending us an e-mail, or commenting on the blog. We hope to have this issue taken care of as soon as possible.

Would You Include Libraries?

Published by kyle on August 15, 2007 in around the library, around the world and online @ the library. 0 Comments

The Chronicle of Higher Ed’s The Wired Campus blog featured a post last week about a list of the Top 100 Tools for Learning and how libraries were not included. The question posed to “e-learning experts” was What are your Top 10 tools for your own personal learning or working and/or for creating, delivering or supporting learning? I personally think that the Top 100 respondents focused more on the technical production of the e-learning experience, not the inspiration or the intellectual, research-driven component of e-learning. As was pointed out in the comments, the majority of the experts don’t work in academia, so they may not have access to a research library.

I think that they should ask students the same thing. I would expect slightly different results. What do you think?

direct link to Wired Campus post, “A List Without Libraries“