Reference & Collections Blog

EBSCOhost domain name change

I received notice about this and forwarded it to Sharon Jarymy who sent me the following message last Friday (June 23) "Hi Katy, we will be running a batch job to change the domain name in the
3700+ serial records already in our catalog. I would like to hold off
until the new domain name starts showing up in the journal pages
themselves to avoid confusing people. For now the links are still
working. I will keep monitoring this and will send out a message on the
blog when we have converted all of our records with the new domain name.

Thanks for the message. Feel free to let the rest of the Ref staff know
if you wish."

How to cite Statistics Canada Products

I have just added this new resource to Reference Tools/Citation and writing guides.

"A new online tool, available today, has been developed to help authors,
editors, researchers, academics, students, librarians and data
librarians. It describes, in three easy steps, how to build a reference
when citing any type of Statistics Canada product — including dynamic
tables, interactive maps, lesson plans and microdata products.

Go to:

How to Cite Statistics Canada Products

Conferences happening!

Hi all -- just so you know...there are at least 2 conferences on campus right now -- one on Lawrence Durrell (mostly in Harry Hickman with a display in Special Collections) and the other is the SIAM Conference on Discrete Mathematics - taking place mostly in MacLaurin. Just in case you get questions, I thought I'd pass this along as I already had several people keen to check their e-mail this morning.

New link in OVID Medline

I've had Lisa add an "Ask a Librarian" link to OVID Medline's interface. If a user clicks on the "Ask a Librarian" link they will be emailing me their question. I hope that's okay with everyone.

Current Index to Statistics - service interruption

Please Note:
The Current Index to Statistics (CIS) database server will be down for about 12 hours on June 27-28 (evening and night, EDT) for a power shutdown for building maintenance.

Island Medical Program Faculty - reminder of their status

Please remember that whenever an Island Medical Program faculty member or student asks a question, whether in person, by phone, virtual ref, Ask Ref, etc., they may be eligible to use UBC library resources that we don't have. Instead of saying that we don't have access to a resource would you please forward their request to me so that I can ensure that they get access to the resource at ubc. Thanks so much!

Database platform change -- Geobase

Geobase is now available on the Elsevier platform and will also contain the subset of Geography.

Description:
GEOBASE provides bibliographic information and abstracts for development studies, the Earth sciences, ecology, geomechanics, human geography, and oceanography. Material covered includes refereed scientific papers; trade journal and magazine articles; product reviews, directories and more. GEOBASE includes the subset database GEOGRAPHY.
Coverage will now date back as far as 1980.
Access is no longer limited to 4 simultaneous users and will be unlimited.
This is a COPPUL agreement that we have recently joined.

Google Scholar versus ERIC

I read today that Google Scholar is indexing the ERIC database. I did a quick comparison of number of citations per year (from 2000-2006) and found that there are large discrepancies between the total number of citations, especially in the most recent years. It would be helpful if GS would provide some explanation.

ERIC and Refworks -- FIXED!!

Yay! The problems with ERIC (Ebsco) and Refworks are now fixed. I've asked Lisa to remove the message she added to ERIC the other day and I've also said to hold off on changing the Frequently Used link to the CSA version. For now it will remain as the Ebsco version unless we run into problems again. I guess this problem took over three months to resolve so I'm glad that's over. Thanks to everyone for following this saga! -- Tracie

ERIC and Refworks Part 2

Lisa has included a note in the A-Z list beside ERIC (Ebsco) that says 'see below for information about Refworks'. She is looking into turning this into a link so people will know to click there for more information. In the meantime, the little "i" will get folks there. Once there you'll see a link to the work around provided by SFU

As well, I've asked to have the Frequently Used Databases link to ERIC changed to the CSA version. Adrian will follow up on this.

Please ask me if you have further questions. Thanks, Tracie

ERIC and Refworks

ERIC citations no longer can be exported smoothly and reliably into RefWorks from either ERIC EBSCO or from the free ERIC. ERIC CSA works as expected. The problem has existed since the last ERIC "upgrade" in March. Apparently CSA found a way around whatever change was made at the time, and that EBSCO did not.

The export from ERIC EBSCO appears to work in that the fields show up properly in the RefWorks database entry when examined, but when one tries to create a bibliography the journal title does not show up in the citation.

I would highly recommend that for now you use ERIC through CSA. We will be adding this one back to our A-Z list of databases but in the meantime if you select any other CSA database (such as Education: SAGE full text), you can then click on specific databases and find ERIC that way.

Please contact me if you have questions. -- Tracie

Psyc 336 assignment

This comes by way of Lynne Serviss:

This assignment requires students to find an article published after Jan 06 that is an empirical/longitudinal study on a Canadian adolescent sample.

1. Search: PsycInfo/Academic Search Elite/PsycArticles
2. keywords: canad* and adolescen* and (empirical or longitudinal)
3. Limit Jan 2006-July 2006
4. Limit to Peer reviewed
5. You get 10 results - one article fits

Statistics Canada Workshop held May 30

Thanks to all who attended, there were 29 in all, coming from Uvic, GVPL, Camosun, and the Legislature Library.

If you did not receive a folder, you will, I have requested extras from the trainer, Marion Smith.

For those of you who did not attend, here is a tip for use on the Reference Desk:

Statistical information is not always published. Using CANSIM users can create UNIQUE graphs and charts from data that exists in CAMSIM tables.

How is this done?

1. From the Databases A-Z list, go to ESTAT http://estat.statcan.ca/content/english/over.shtml
2. Select "User Guides"from the left side menu
3. Scroll down and select the CAMSIM Table Directory (a pdf file; a print copy will be catalogued for Ready Reference)
4. Select from the CAMSIM Table Directory a table whose heading matches your patrons query, i.e. Education > Post Secondary > full time enrollment
NOTE the table number provided by the directory 477-0006
5. Go back to the ESTAT page and select "Search CAMSIM "
in the "Search by"box, click "Table number", then "Continue"
6. Enter the table number, i.e. 477-0006
7. You are now viewing a Subset Selection screen which allows you / the student to choose variables to create a unique table or chart.
You must select something from each of the variable drop down lists:
Choose a geography i.e. a province
Choose from the variables presented (one or more drop down boxes
Choose a Reference period, i.e. a range of years from those provided
8. Select retrieve as:
i. a table (to view data in columns and rows)
ii. a time series ( to view data as a graph )
9 You will then view an output specification screen. Here, select GO.
Experiment with changing the values in the dropdown boxes.
10 The final result is a unique table or graph that students can use. They must be sure to provide the Table number, title, and the variables they chose to create the table.
11. The footnotes are also important!
12. The student should cite the table according to the rules at http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/citation/12-591-XIE2006001.htm

Law Library Backup Catalog

The Law Library also has a backup catlog for use during the upgrade. Thanks again to John Durno.

http://strauss.library.uvic.ca/law/index.php