Thursday, August 28, 2008

The two Avery Indexes

The two Avery Indexes, Information from Kitty Chibnik:

The contents (the records) of the Avery Index via OCLC and via Wilson are the same. Honestly, I use and show students the OCLC version most of the time because *it includes our local call number (Avery No.)* at the bottom of the record itself. They can just note down the citation information and the call number and go to the stacks and get the volume. Quick and easy. This eliminates having to explain "E-Link" or the need going back to CLIO to search for the journal in order to get the call number Of course, it misses finding an e-article which students love, but that's hit or miss in the architecture field in any case.With both the OCLC version and the Wilson version, you can search multiple databases simultaneously, but each vendor offers a different lineup of databases, so depending on the question, you might pick one version over the other. Say the question is about work done by a contemporary artist who is working on a public art project in a park (for instance, Battery City) so articles might show up in art journals and in architecture journals. In that case, it is worth using the Wilson version because you can search the Avery Index, Art Full Text, Art Retrospective, and others in one shot. But you have to explain the call number bit.Similarly, you should at look at the lineup of databases in OCLC to see what combinations might be worth doing. For instance for a more real estate oriented or general question , you could combine an Avery Index search with ArticleFirst and ABI Inform. or for a artist/architect (say, Michelangelo) , you could search Avery along with the Bibliography of the History of Artt (BHA). Only the Avery Index records will have our call numbers included; any other results would need E-link.On the surface the interface in Wilson may be a bit easier to use in terms of doing limiting because it is boxes to click and dropdowns to choose. But, I don't think you can specify multiple illustration types (say, the student wants both elevations and drawings of a building) which you can do in OCLC by using keywords.
OCLC: http://www.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/cul/resolve?ALD2229
Wislon: http://www.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/cul/resolve?clio6383857

I (kdd) found that the results varied when I used the exact same words in each database, hence Ted Goodman gave this explanation:

Hi- it's very simple--I did both searches again and got your same results: negroes and housing.the reason is that in OCLC it only gives you results for the actual term negroes whereas in Wilson it gives you results that include negro (both the singular form as well as the spanish term for black), negroe and negroes.==thus 22. if you look at the Wilson results you'll see many that are not relevant because they are in spanish and refer to the black house, etc.In OCLC to get similar results you should truncate negr? and housing although even this only returns 19. It may also be bacause OCLC hasn't been updated since April. They have been having a loading problem which should be resolved this week.

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

New BobCat

Check out NYU's new BobCat, powered by ExLibris.

I know some may be sentimental about the old system, but I say, it was about time!

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

New Databases August 13, 2008

Anthropology Plus
Anthropology Plus combines Anthropological Literature from Harvard University and the Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute from the UK. Anthropology Plus provides worldwide indexing of journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works, and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, and interdisciplinary studies. The index offers coverage of all core periodicals in the field in addition to local and lesser-known journals. Coverage is from the late 19th century to the present.

The Birds of North America Online
This database provides scientific information for each of the 716 species of birds nesting in the USA and Canada, with image and video galleries showing behaviors, habitat, nests, eggs and nestlings, recordings of bird's songs and calls selected from the collection in Cornell's Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds. Includes also an extensive bibliography for each species.

Clotel
The first African American novel, Clotel was published when its author was still legally a slave. This digital edition presents, for the first time together, the full extant texts of the novel's four versions, published between 1853 and 1867. Imaged and coded, the fully searchable texts may be read individually or in parallel and are accompanied by generous biographical, critical, and historical commentary as well as line-by-line annotations and textual collation.

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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

swipe CUID to enter Butler

You now need to swipe your ID, rather than wave it at security to enter Butler. From an email to CUL Notes from Aline Locasio (login required to read)

"From now on, every time you enter the building,instead of showing your CUID to the officer at the desk, pass it over the card reader before entering the library.

"You do not have to remove your card from many types of card holders and wallets, just place it on the reader mounted in the center of the desk. You'll hear a beep and the light will turn from red to green indicating the card is valid for entry."

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Friday, August 08, 2008

new electronic resources - August 8

American County Histories to 1900
These books include chapters with detailed coverage of local history, geology, geography, weather, transportation, lists of all local participants in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, government, the medical and legal professions, churches and ministers, industry and manufacturing, banking and insurance, schools and teachers, noted celebrations, fire departments and associations, cemeteries, family histories, health and vital statistics, roads and bridges, public officials and legislators, and many additional subject areas.

Documents on British Policy Overseas: Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century
Documents on British Policy Overseas provides users with access to a wide range of primary source documents from Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, shedding light on throughout the twentieth century. Selected and edited by the official historians of the FCO, Documents on British Policy Overseas includes many documents specifically de-classified for inclusion in the series.

Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 represents the single largest compilation of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. The distinctive collection features hundreds of Hispanic American newspapers, including many long scattered and forgotten titles published in the 19th century. Based on the “Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project,” a national research effort directed by Professor Nicolás Kanellos, this digital resource is the first in a new American Ethnic Newspapers series, available within America’s Historical Newspapers.


Historical Guardian and Observer
The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.

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