Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries provides reviews of materials of interest to those in higher education. Each year they publish over 7,000 reviews of books, electronic resources and Internet sites. These reviews are one tool used by many librarians across the country, including those at Langsdale, to aid in discovering new resources and deciding which ones to purchase.

Now, students and faculty can view the Choice reviews online. Whether it helps determine which book to purchase for oneself, or to recommend that Langsdale purchase a book for the library, Choice can be a valuable tool.

Currently this is available on campus only at http://www.cro2.org
Contact Susan Wheeler at x4299 or swheeler@ubalt.edu for more information.

Labels: langsdale, news, resources

Yes, you read that right. The Office of Citizen Services and Communications at the U.S. General Services Administration has created a new blog about government information, with a different blogger for each day of the week (meet them here). They'd really like to hear from you, the public, so check out the blog and leave comments or drop them an e-mail.

Blog Link: Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog

Labels: gov docs, news

From Compiler: Wired Blogs:

Google To Add Embedded Videos to Default Search Results

We're here at Google's Searchology event in Mountain View. Google's Marissa Mayer has announced that the company is launching a new, integrated search experience Wednesday called Universal Search.

This means no more searching for videos, images or web results independently. Google will now combine search results for everything -- books, news, images and video -- onto default search result pages. Universal Search will re-draw Google's default search results pages as we know them, but the coolest development is that YouTube and Google Video players will now be embedded within search results.

Read the rest of the article: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/05/google_to_add_e.html

Out of curiosity, I tried a search for "Bob Barker," the soon-to-be-retired game show host. In the old Google, if you wanted to find an image of Bob Barker you had to click on the Image link above the search box and then type his name; if you wanted video of Barker telling contestants to "Come on down," that was a new search.

In the new Google, you only have to search once and then you can pull up the type of results you want. You still get the default Web results, but you can click on one of the menu options in the upper left-hand corner for images, video, news, and even maps (where Bob Barker's production offices popped up). There is also a pull-down menu with other results options, including Google Scholar; that's where I found a 1996 article from The American Economic Review entitled, "The Price is Right, But are the Bids? An Investigation of Rational Decision Theory" (and Google Scholar tells me the full text is available at UB in Business Source Premier).

While the new Google Universal Search may take some getting used to, it should make searching a lot easier.

Do you like the new Google? Give it a try and let us know what you think.

More on Universal Search from Google Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/behind-scenes-with-universal-search.html

The Official Google Press Release: http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/universalsearch_20070516.html

Labels: Google, news, reference, resources

Great news! The New York Times recently announced that it will give free access to Times Select, including their archives (back to 1851) to people with a .edu e-mail address.

Here's the press release (via the ACRLog):

Beginning on March 13, subscriptions to TimesSelect will be available for free to all registered college students and faculty with a .edu in their e-mail addresses. TimesSelect is NYTimes.com's paid offering that provides exclusive access to 22 columnists of The Times and the International Herald Tribune as well as an array of other services, including access to The Times's archives, advance previews of various sections and tools for tracking and storing news and information. Current student subscribers will receive pro-rated refunds for their previously paid subscriptions. College students interested in registering for free TimesSelect subscriptions should go to www.nytimes.com/university for more information.

This should be wonderful for students and faculty members in History--easy access to primary sources (newspaper articles) online. It also gives you access to the op/ed pieces which are not available on the public side of the New York Times website.

You have to register directly with the New York Times to access this (it doesn't go through Research Port), but it's fairly painless.

In the past, libraries would have to pay thousands of dollars a year for this type of online access to the Times. Now, you can get it for free. Go out and try it!

Update 4/3/07: The free account with TimeSelect no longer includes articles from before 1981.

Please note: your complimentary university subscription to TimesSelect does not provide access to articles published before 1981. You may be able to access this material through your university intranet or library.

For older articles, the library has microfilm of the New York Times. Many of the public libraries in the area also have subscriptions to ProQuest Historical Newspapers, which will provide access to the New York Times back to 1851. It's not free, but your public library is footing the bill.

Labels: news, NewYorkTimes, primary_sources, resources

Langsdale Library has named Jeffrey Hutson as its head of reference. Hutson, who had served for the previous 16 months as a reference librarian and manager of the reference collection in Langsdale, will be in charge of an ongoing program that over the next year will establish new and innovative services for students, faculty and other users of the library.

Hutson received a master's degree in library and information studies from Simmons College in 1999, where he graduated with honors. He also holds a master's in theology and a bachelor's in education, from St. John's University School of Theology and St. John's University, respectively.

--
Posted by Michael to langsdale at 6/22/2006 09:53:00 AM

Labels: langsdale, news, reference, staff

Ever wonder what staff at Langsdale do when we aren't teaching classes, circulating books and DVD's, providing reference assistance, cataloging books, acquiring new databases, creating reserve pages, getting articles and creating finding aids?

Now you can find out about our additional activities on the Staff News and Notes page.

--
Posted by Michael to langsdale at 4/11/2006 03:50:00 PM

Labels: langsdale, news, staff