Previews, Reviews, and Collection Development
For many researchers at all levels, investigation starts with an individual—the person who made a startling discovery, launched a movement, or reformed a corrupt or ineffective system. The resources covered in this column are for those researchers. All of these databases—the Dictionary of National Biography and the American National Biography from Oxford University Press, Cambridge [...]
Last April, David Prosser, Executive Director of Research Libraries UK (RLUK), a consortium of 30 British and Irish research libraries, put his foot down in a letter to England’s Guardian newspaper. The letter referred to the libraries’ “big deals,” agreements under which they buy access to bundles of journals—some of which are core to their [...]
Danilov, Victor J. America’s College Museums: Handbook & Directory. 2d ed. Grey House. 2011. 689p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781592376742. $185. Online: Ebrary, Gale, MyiLibrary, NetLibrary, OverDrive REF Danilov (Hands-on Science Centers) opens this update to the 1996 edition with a brief historical overview of American academic museums. The seven following chapters provide a quick [...]
Adam Matthew Education; amedu.com/Collections/Rock-and-Roll.aspx; for a free trial, go to amedu.com/Online-Trials.aspx CONTENT Rock and Roll, Counterculture, Peace and Protest (RRCPP) collects international archival materials. The database offers original manuscripts and typescripts; photographs; letters; pamphlets; advertisements; clippings; censorship documentation; leaflets; government files; images of posters, pins, and other period memorabilia; video clips from ITN Source and [...]
IGI Global; igi-global.com/eresources/infosci-medical.aspx Content IGI Global’s InfoSci-Medical is part of IGI’s Global Research Collection, which offers books and journals on a wide variety of information technology topics. The medical collection currently consists of 114 ebooks, most of which are classified as reference titles by IGI but are in fact regular volumes. The medical collection covers [...]
Infobase Learning. Films on Demand. 2012. ffh.films.com/digitallanding.aspx REF This large, growing collection of streaming videos for academic, public, and school library audiences provides works in 28 categories (e.g., anthropology, business and economics, health and medicine, and music and dance) from producers such as Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Cambridge Educational, the BBC, and PBS. [...]
Librarians at this week’s Electronic Resources and Libraries conference in Austin, TX (as well as those who “attended” the portions of the conference that could be subscribed to online), got a handy primer in collecting feedback on databases their institutions are thinking of adding. “Trials by Juries: Suggested Practices for Database Trials” was presented by [...]
It looks as though the lifetime achievement award bestowed upon Statistical Abstract of the United States at this past ALA midwinter awards was premature. Dismaying librarians, the government announced last year that publication of the demographics powerhouse would cease with the 2012 issue. Today, however, database aggregator ProQuest announced that it will continue publication of [...]
By Lauren de Bruin As a library staff trainer based in Alberta, Canada, I often visit small, rural libraries with limited resources where people who do not have an accredited library degree or a library technician diploma are on the front lines of customer service delivery. Sometimes they’re the only workers at that library, apart [...]
Napoleoni, Loretta. 10 Years That Shook the World: A Timeline of Events from 2001. Seven Stories. Mar. 2012. c.192p. bibliog. ISBN 9781609804121. pap. $12.95. REF Napoleoni (Rogue Economics: Capitalism’s New Reality) covers the people, events, and other factors—such as the growth of social media, developments in science and technology, new economic policies, and environmental concerns—that [...]
LJ Reviews Social Club