database – Page 2

New Database Trial!

October 15, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

Welcome back from Fall reading days!

We have another database on trial. ProQuest Newsstand is a newspaper database of international, national and regional titles, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Guardian, El Norte, Jerusalem Post, and South China Morning Post. We encourage you to give this database a try and let us know if it’s worth a subscription! We have one month of free access, through November 14th, available on this trials page. And while you’re there, take a look at ProQuest Central! To share your feedback, use this anonymous online form. We appreciate your thoughts and opinions, and use that feedback to make a more informed decision at the end of the trial. Thanks in advance!

HAPI (Not to be confused with HAPPY)

October 1, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

We’re starting a new database trial!

For the month of October, we will have access to HAPI, the Hispanic American Periodicals Index. According to its website,

The Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) is your source for approximately 300,000 journal article citations about Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Brazil, and Hispanics/Latinos in the United States.

The Library is participating in a free trial to determine if the database is useful for student research and something worth adding to our collection. We really would appreciate your feedback. At the end of the trial, we will have to make a decision whether or not to start a subscription, and the more information we have from students and faculty, the more informed our decision will be.

When you have a moment in the next few weeks, please give HAPI a try from on campus and tell us what you think! We appreciate your feedback!

Access to History

January 21, 2013 by Amanda VerMeulen

photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

Today we commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and what better way to do so than to take a look at some of the words and photos that tell his story. The King Library and Archives in Atlanta has a fascinating digital collection of Dr. King’s writings, as well as photographs and documents associated with him. As stated on the Digital Collection homepage, “There are nearly a million documents associated with the life of Martin Luther King Jr.” so what’s online is just a snippet, albeit a fascinating one.

Being able to access a fascinating primary sources online is a result of the hard work of diligent archivists, librarians, interns and technicians who not only preserve historical documents but ensure that they are accessible to the public. Our own St. Mary’s Archives include several digital collections like the Historic Campus Photographs Collection and the St. Mary’s Student Newspaper Archive. The library also provides access to historical documents and primary source materials through online databases like Everyday Life and Women in America, the Picture Post Historical Archive, Victorian Popular Culture, and Historic Documents Online.

So the next time you feel like accessing a piece of history, why not at a library?

New Database Trial: Anthropology Plus

November 12, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

The library will be providing access to the Anthropology Plus online database from now until Dec. 15, 2012 as part of our standard “Try before you buy” online resource vetting process. This resource is a compilation of information found in the Anthropological Index Online and Anthropological Literature, with the EBSCOhost interface we’re all so used to seeing.

Access Anthropology Plus online (while on campus).
For off-campus access, contact one of the librarians for a username and password.

The library relies heavily on input from faculty and students for our electronic resource purchasing decisions, so if you have a few minutes, please take a look at Anthropology Plus and leave your feedback online in our very short user survey.

You can learn more about Anthropology Plus on the EBSCOhost website.

Find The Numbers You Need

October 11, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

What’s the average travel time to work in Florida?
How many people in Colorado are registered to vote?
What’s the average science score for public school 4th graders in Nevada?

A good statistical information question is like librarian catnip. We love ’em. We know that somewhere in the vast infoverse some organization is collecting the data you need and we will try our hardest to find it. We have our usual go-to sources in print and online (I <3 the Statistical Abstract), and now we have yet another great source of numbers: CQ Press’ State Stats.

In State Stats you can find data on questions related to agriculture, the economy, education, government, health, population, transportation, crime, employment, the environment, and social welfare. It’s an easy to use collection of statistical information from a wide variety of sources, perfect for students in any discipline who need to support their arguments with hard data.

Oh, and if you’re curious about the answers to the questions above, they are:

25.5 minutes
2,299,000 people
141 out of 300 (from the National Assessment of Educational Progress)

Research Databases Anytime, Anywhere

September 14, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

Recent changes on the library’s website may have left more than a few people puzzled about how to access our online research databases and journals when off-campus. This is my best attempt at clearing up any confusion and hopefully getting people back on track with their research.

On our OLD site, you always went through Research Port to access databases while off-campus.

On our NEW site, you can use the Database and Journal Search right on the homepage to access online databases and journals whether you are on campus or off campus. This new search puts the search functionality of ResearchPort front-and-center, saving you time and clicks.

Making the Quest for Tests & Measures a Little Easier

August 1, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

Life just got a little easier for students searching for psychological tests and measures. The library now has a subscription to the American Psychological Association’s PsycTESTS online database.

What PsycTESTS does NOT contain: Every psychological test, measure, scale, survey instrument or assessment tool ever written. Sorry, folks.

What PsycTESTS DOES contain:

Over 5,000 actual tests or test items
Primarily unpublished tests (tests developed by researchers but not commercially available as stand-alone testing kits)
Summaries of some commercially available tests along with their purpose, some history of their development, and publisher contact information.
Links to articles describing the development, review, and/or use of the test.

Not bad, huh?

Yes, many of the tests are relevant to psychological research, but there are measures that cover quite a few different subject areas, including education, sociology and health. If you’re working on your SMP or just a research paper and need a test, measure or assessment tool, try searching PsycTESTS.

But don’t forget! If you can’t find what you need in PsycTESTS, we have plenty of excellent print resources for locating tests and measures. Take a look at the Psychology Research Guide for a quick refresher.

New Online Resources from Gale

May 31, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

Three new archival collections from Gale are now available to St. Mary’s students, faculty and staff:

Picture Post Historical Archive, 1938-1957
This collection is a searchable archive of the British photojournalism newspaper (think England’s version of Life magazine). If you’re looking for photos or stories to give you a sense of British culture and popular sentiment from the pre-WWII years to first years of the Cold War, this is a great resource for you.

19th Century U.S. Newspapers
This online resource contains over 1.7 million pages of U.S. newspapers from the 19th century. Major newspapers along with regional and special interest papers are all represented. Take a break from the microfilm reader and click on over to this collection.

The Times of London Digital Archive, 1785-1985
The access provided by this online collection is amazing! I think the product description from the Gale site says it best: “Every complete page of every issue of The Times (London) from 1785 to 1985. Every headline, article and image. Every front page, editorial, birth and death notice, advertisement and classified ad”

Victorian Popular Culture

May 30, 2012 by Amanda VerMeulen

There’s a new archival collection in town, and its name is Victorian Popular Culture by Adam Matthew. This online resource is full of primary source documents perfect for History, English, or Women and Gender Studies students and faculty interested in this time period.

Major topics covered in this collection:

Spiritualism, Sensation & Magic
Circuses, Sideshows & Freaks
Music Hall, Theatre & Popular Entertainment

Documents include posters, playbills, postcards, photos, illustrations, rare books, periodicals and so much more! Take a few minutes and explore Victorian Popular Culture. For more information, visit the Adam Matthew site or talk to a reference librarian about how to use and incorporate this resource into your class or research.