I looked at my travel coffee mug this morning and noticed the surface rippling slightly, like in the movies when something big is coming towards the main character. The first thing they notice is a conveniently-placed container of liquid that suddenly begins to quiver, and by then it's too late.
I think it's a few thousand feet marching toward Gallaudet. It's Fall, and it's coming.
In that spirit, here's the first post of What You Need to Know. For the first couple of weeks, I'll be collecting all the previous posts and categorizing them according to what's in them -- librarian profiles, research tips, available resources. You'll see some of the same posts under different headings; that's partly because I do try to pack a lot of information into a single week. The Questions of the Week are also to blame, because they usually cover different topics from the main posts; these will be organized separately next week.
Once that's done, I'll move on to more focused posts for the new Gallaudet students, as well as clarifying what exactly has changed over the summer in preparation for the Fall semester.
First things first: The first post, which clarifies exactly what this blog's purpose is and why you should be reading it. This also serves as a good introduction to me in particular. Another good way to get an idea of what goes on in my life as a Gallaudet librarian is to read this sort-of-FAQ post.
The Librarians
Jane Rutherford
Management of Information Systems, Computer Science, Education, Educational Foundations and Research, Administration and Supervision, Family and Child Studies
Diana Gates
The entire Deaf collection
Patrick Oberholtzer
Government & History, PE & Recreation, Business, Economics and Finance, Accounting, Biology, Foreign Languages, Literatures & Cultures, Chemistry & Physics
Laura Jacobi
Reference, Social Work, Psychology, Sociology, Communication Studies, Counseling
Our Collection
March Movies
Albeit a tad outdated -- we've gotten many more movies since March -- this should give you some idea of what kind of films we have to offer. We also welcome donations, by the way!
Book Recommendations
Stuff our librarians like. We're an exceptionally well-read bunch, so when we recommend something, you know it's good!
Graphic Novels
A discussion of graphic novels in general; some of ours are highlighted. We've also gotten quite a few more, which I will be updating you on soon. I promise. Just as soon as the Library quits having so much stuff to write about.
Summer Reading
MORE librarian recommendations. I told you we read a lot. These books were pushed as good for summer reading, but honestly, they're also good in the fall. Also the winter. And, I believe, the spring. In fact, let's just call them all-around good reading all year long.
New Book Cart Day
This will probably become a regular feature -- we get cartloads of new books in, you get to find out what's on them and assume your positions so you can snap them up once they're on the shelf. This represents the last cartload of popular fiction that arrived for this year, but we do have a healthy stream of donations coming in, so keep your eyes peeled until we start the new year and begin buying books again.
Deaf Memories
This post details how the most popular parts of the Deaf Collection work, including Deaf School Yearbooks and Periodicals. It's all located on the first floor of the Library.
Equipment/Important Resources
A Comprehensive Overview
I'm not kidding when I say "comprehensive." This post covers all the equipment we have, from TVs to microform readers to magnifiers for people with visual impairments. If you need some kind of doohickey and you think the Library might have it for you to use, check this post.
Behind the Scenes
Go inside the belly of the beast. What are we hiding behind that big old desk? Read this post and find out!
Our New Web Site
A quick overview of our Web site, which was redesigned in May.
That should be enough for this week. Next week will be a collection of posts discussing research at the Gallaudet Library and the Questions of the Week, organized by category. If there's room (which I doubt), we'll also compare this coming-previews post from May to how things are looking here, at the other side of the summer.
Question of the Week
What's going on with all the construction around the Library? My friends and I noticed it the other week and were trying to figure it out.
It's actually less construction and more maintenance. You may have noticed that the Library has a few skylights at ground level. While they definitely add a nice aesthetic touch to campus and add a lot of natural light to the Library, there are also some practical considerations involved. As with any other architectural element made of glass, the panes need to be cleaned and re-sealed every few years. Also, the skylights have brick abutments to protect the glass from the elements, which means the bricks themselves are vulnerable to cracking or chipping. Because of this, we also replace any damaged bricks while working on the skylights, killing two birds with one stone and incidentally keeping things nice and fresh-looking in the process!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Meet Laura Jacobi
Without much preamble, we're going to meet Laura Jacobi today. Laura is actually kind of a bigwig. Her official title is Manager of Instruction & Reference Services, which means she's my supervisor. Bureaucratic considerations aside, though, she's also a hard-working librarian like Jane, Diana, and Patrick, someone who has to be quick on her feet and with her wits. She's also spent some time in prison and may, in fact, be an extraterrestrial. Read on to find out more!
1) Where are you from, anyway?
My heart is in the Klaatu Nebula, but I'm also a proud daughter of
the Garden State (Exit 135 on the Parkway). I now live in Takoma Park, aka Berkeley East. I occasionally see other Gallaudet faculty and staff members as we get our exercise in Sligo Creek Park.
2) How did you get here?
Usually by car (ask me anything about the Jersey Turnpike) or Amtrak. I came to attend what was then called Trinity College, hung around to work here, went to graduate school at Catholic U, and married a local guy. I thought I'd work for a business, but instead started out as a children's librarian. I worked for many years in a variety of jobs in a variety of branches of the Prince George's County public library. I also worked for Prince George's Community College. My other jobs have included: clerk, dictation typist (ask your grandparents what a typewriter is), and -- very briefly -- maximum security prison librarian. Anyhow, eventually it was time for a new challenge, and I certainly found it here!
3) How long have you worked here, and can you give me an idea of some of the more interesting things you've seen in your tenure at Gallaudet?
I've been here since 1993. The biggest change is that the Internet has become so absolutely an essential part of our lives. As a librarian, I think it's fun to find (not search for) information, and the web has expanded our ability to find stuff easily, far beyond anything I ever imagined. Technology for deaf people has changed too -- I used to think ttys were high tech. It’s always neat to see students start out as freshman, advance to senior year, march in their caps and gowns, and come back as grad students or with their spouses and children. And of course it's been very interesting to watch Gallaudet politics over the years.
4) I don't think a lot of people know that the librarians here at Gallaudet tend to specialize in specific subjects. What are your specialties?
A cool part of my job is deciding which books, journals, and online sources to buy for my specialties -- Reference and “Human Relations.” Reference books are designed to be used to find specific information very quickly. Now people usually prefer web resources to books for quick information, so we buy lots of online reference sources. They’re available in the ALADIN computer system. “Human Relations” refers to the disciplines of Communication Studies, Counseling, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology. I pick books, journals, and databases for them too. And until you came along, I used to have the fun of selecting pleasure reading and viewing books and videos – I miss that! I regularly ask the faculty in my disciplines to tell me what I should buy, and I like to get suggestions from students too.
5) What can you do for students or faculty in these fields?
First, I try to make sure we have what students and faculty need before they even know they need it. Also, we have cool new software called “LibGuides,” and I’m writing some guides on different subjects and, I hope, for specific courses – faculty and student suggestions are welcome! I can go to classes or do workshops in the Library to help students research particular topics, and anyone can make an appointment to work with me in private without interruptions.
6) Can you list some of the resources that you use the most in working with students and faculty? Why are they good resources to use?
This is a hard question, because ALADIN has 60+ databases. I particularly like ERIC and PsycINFO, which are two education and psychology databases, because you can use their built-in thesauri to do very specific searches for very complex topics. One example might be: How can I find quantitative research reports on psychological services for disadvantaged minority deaf-blind people? Another nifty database, mostly created by former Gallaudet librarian Tom Harrington, is the Gallaudet University Library Guide to Deaf Biographies. Have there ever been any deaf totem pole carvers? That’s the place to find out.
7) What do you like the most about working here?
Wow, I have a long list! I work with some really smart librarians who know a lot more than I do and like to share information too. I love it when my help transforms a student from confused or frustrated to satisfied and confident. I never know what people are going to ask next. And they’re going to ask it in sign language! (I learned to sign pretty late in life, and it’s still a thrill to understand and be understood.) Because we’re a fairly small library, I do a lot of different things -- checking out books, making schedules, learning new databases, trying to figure out how to explain complex things simply –- so there’s always something fun or challenging to do. And I get to learn for a living.
8) There's been some talk about a new library building in the works over the next few years. What's the one thing you'd most like to see included in the new one?
Long before I decided to become a librarian, I always loved the feeling of walking into a library – a spacious, serene place full of things to be discovered, and they were there for me. Whatever the physical space is like, as long as the space and staff inspire that feeling in students, it will be all right.
9) Last question, I promise: What's your favorite color?
Blue, but then there’s green, and they’re best in contrast to red and yellow …
Good grief. That finishes off all the librarians in the public eye (including me). There are actually a few others on staff, but they're kind of more behind the scenes, and although they will be profiled later, I ... I feel like I've been collecting trading cards or collectibles and just finished the set. What am I going to do now?
This has plunged me into a funk. Just ... read the Question of the Week and I'll see you next week, when we start on a series of What Arriving Students Need to Know ...
Sigh.
Question of the Week
I'm a new freshman and I just arrived for Jump Start. I went to the Library and asked the person behind the Desk how I could start checking out books and movies, but they said I wasn't in the system yet. Why not? How does the Library get me into the system?
Through the Registrar's Office. Our system only allows students at all levels (undergraduate, graduate, doctoral) to check out items from the Library if they're registered for the current semester, and this is accomplished by an injection of student data from the Registrar every few days. It takes a little bit of time (especially during the crunch that happens before the Fall semester begins), but both the Library and the Registrar do everything we can to get everyone who should be in the system into the system as soon as possible. If you are registered for the current term, but that information isn't showing on your record, let us know about the problem and we'll do our best to find out where the hangup is and fix it.
In the meantime, you are more than welcome to pull books or magazines (Vogue,The Amazing Spider-Man, Hot Rod, whatever) from the shelves and hang out in the Library to read and relax. You can also check out DVDs and videotapes for up to 2 hours in exchange for a photo ID and watch them in the Library -- we have tons of TVs, VCRs, and DVD players. My personal recommendation is room 1220, the Deaf Library Study Center; you can either use the 55-inch flat-panel through the computer that's hooked up to it, or one of the wall-mounted TV/DVD/VCR booths. There are comfortable chairs in there that you can pull up to one of the booths and lounge in with snacks and a refreshing beverage. The only stipulation is that the stuff you're looking at isn't allowed to leave the building. Otherwise, feel free to make yourself at home (so to speak).
1) Where are you from, anyway?
My heart is in the Klaatu Nebula, but I'm also a proud daughter of
2) How did you get here?
Usually by car (ask me anything about the Jersey Turnpike) or Amtrak. I came to attend what was then called Trinity College, hung around to work here, went to graduate school at Catholic U, and married a local guy. I thought I'd work for a business, but instead started out as a children's librarian. I worked for many years in a variety of jobs in a variety of branches of the Prince George's County public library. I also worked for Prince George's Community College. My other jobs have included: clerk, dictation typist (ask your grandparents what a typewriter is), and -- very briefly -- maximum security prison librarian. Anyhow, eventually it was time for a new challenge, and I certainly found it here!
3) How long have you worked here, and can you give me an idea of some of the more interesting things you've seen in your tenure at Gallaudet?
I've been here since 1993. The biggest change is that the Internet has become so absolutely an essential part of our lives. As a librarian, I think it's fun to find (not search for) information, and the web has expanded our ability to find stuff easily, far beyond anything I ever imagined. Technology for deaf people has changed too -- I used to think ttys were high tech. It’s always neat to see students start out as freshman, advance to senior year, march in their caps and gowns, and come back as grad students or with their spouses and children. And of course it's been very interesting to watch Gallaudet politics over the years.
4) I don't think a lot of people know that the librarians here at Gallaudet tend to specialize in specific subjects. What are your specialties?
A cool part of my job is deciding which books, journals, and online sources to buy for my specialties -- Reference and “Human Relations.” Reference books are designed to be used to find specific information very quickly. Now people usually prefer web resources to books for quick information, so we buy lots of online reference sources. They’re available in the ALADIN computer system. “Human Relations” refers to the disciplines of Communication Studies, Counseling, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology. I pick books, journals, and databases for them too. And until you came along, I used to have the fun of selecting pleasure reading and viewing books and videos – I miss that! I regularly ask the faculty in my disciplines to tell me what I should buy, and I like to get suggestions from students too.
5) What can you do for students or faculty in these fields?
First, I try to make sure we have what students and faculty need before they even know they need it. Also, we have cool new software called “LibGuides,” and I’m writing some guides on different subjects and, I hope, for specific courses – faculty and student suggestions are welcome! I can go to classes or do workshops in the Library to help students research particular topics, and anyone can make an appointment to work with me in private without interruptions.
6) Can you list some of the resources that you use the most in working with students and faculty? Why are they good resources to use?
This is a hard question, because ALADIN has 60+ databases. I particularly like ERIC and PsycINFO, which are two education and psychology databases, because you can use their built-in thesauri to do very specific searches for very complex topics. One example might be: How can I find quantitative research reports on psychological services for disadvantaged minority deaf-blind people? Another nifty database, mostly created by former Gallaudet librarian Tom Harrington, is the Gallaudet University Library Guide to Deaf Biographies. Have there ever been any deaf totem pole carvers? That’s the place to find out.
7) What do you like the most about working here?
Wow, I have a long list! I work with some really smart librarians who know a lot more than I do and like to share information too. I love it when my help transforms a student from confused or frustrated to satisfied and confident. I never know what people are going to ask next. And they’re going to ask it in sign language! (I learned to sign pretty late in life, and it’s still a thrill to understand and be understood.) Because we’re a fairly small library, I do a lot of different things -- checking out books, making schedules, learning new databases, trying to figure out how to explain complex things simply –- so there’s always something fun or challenging to do. And I get to learn for a living.
8) There's been some talk about a new library building in the works over the next few years. What's the one thing you'd most like to see included in the new one?
Long before I decided to become a librarian, I always loved the feeling of walking into a library – a spacious, serene place full of things to be discovered, and they were there for me. Whatever the physical space is like, as long as the space and staff inspire that feeling in students, it will be all right.
9) Last question, I promise: What's your favorite color?
Blue, but then there’s green, and they’re best in contrast to red and yellow …
Good grief. That finishes off all the librarians in the public eye (including me). There are actually a few others on staff, but they're kind of more behind the scenes, and although they will be profiled later, I ... I feel like I've been collecting trading cards or collectibles and just finished the set. What am I going to do now?
This has plunged me into a funk. Just ... read the Question of the Week and I'll see you next week, when we start on a series of What Arriving Students Need to Know ...
Sigh.
Question of the Week
I'm a new freshman and I just arrived for Jump Start. I went to the Library and asked the person behind the Desk how I could start checking out books and movies, but they said I wasn't in the system yet. Why not? How does the Library get me into the system?
Through the Registrar's Office. Our system only allows students at all levels (undergraduate, graduate, doctoral) to check out items from the Library if they're registered for the current semester, and this is accomplished by an injection of student data from the Registrar every few days. It takes a little bit of time (especially during the crunch that happens before the Fall semester begins), but both the Library and the Registrar do everything we can to get everyone who should be in the system into the system as soon as possible. If you are registered for the current term, but that information isn't showing on your record, let us know about the problem and we'll do our best to find out where the hangup is and fix it.
In the meantime, you are more than welcome to pull books or magazines (Vogue,The Amazing Spider-Man, Hot Rod, whatever) from the shelves and hang out in the Library to read and relax. You can also check out DVDs and videotapes for up to 2 hours in exchange for a photo ID and watch them in the Library -- we have tons of TVs, VCRs, and DVD players. My personal recommendation is room 1220, the Deaf Library Study Center; you can either use the 55-inch flat-panel through the computer that's hooked up to it, or one of the wall-mounted TV/DVD/VCR booths. There are comfortable chairs in there that you can pull up to one of the booths and lounge in with snacks and a refreshing beverage. The only stipulation is that the stuff you're looking at isn't allowed to leave the building. Otherwise, feel free to make yourself at home (so to speak).
Friday, July 17, 2009
Databases, part 4: What's next
I may as well go ahead and make a habit of it. Here goes:
What did Jim the Librarian read this week?
I read The Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke. I've been hoping for a chance to really read through it since it arrived but it wasn't available for checkout until recently. Even librarians can get beaten to the punch by enthusiastic readers. Anyway, it's about this guy who accidentally burns Emily Dickinson's house to the ground -- with two people in it. He gets sent to prison for ten years, where he befriends a very strange group of bond analysts, and when he gets out, he goes off to college, where he meets a woman and marries her and has a couple of children with her ... all without telling her about his sordid past. It's when the truth comes out at last that everything goes all fruity and our bumbling, possibly slightly-sociopathic protagonist stumbles across secret after secret and ends up back in a place he thought he'd never see again. All along the way is this hilarious trip through literature: he meets a man whose brother has a flaming hatred for a writer who wrote only one book, a professor who thinks Mark Twain is a -- ahem -- feminine apparatus, a hideously masculine New England Writer and the real New England Men who hate him, and the general absurdity of the memoir craze of recent years. It's literary satire, and extremely well-done at that.
Once again, it's on the display table by the entrance facing the JSAC if anyone would like to check it out. I highly, highly recommend it.
Okay. Enough of my gushing. On with the show.
For the past few weeks, we've been discussing various aspects of life with databases: how to get in from off-campus, why you'll see such a wide variation in database access through our Library, and the reasons for limiting access and the costs thereof. Today, we're going to get away from all that and take a look at the wishlist we librarians have in mind for our next few electronic acquisitions.
We'll cover databases first, and then move on to individual journals -- many of which have ended up on the list by faculty or staff request. We always welcome feedback and more requests, incidentally; feel free to comment on this post or get in touch with one of us if you want to suggest possible new acquisitions.
Databases
Gale Literature Resource Center (LRC)
This is our number-one priority at the moment -- as soon as funds are available, we'll be snapping this up. It's also the one I'm most excited about at the moment. It's basically a huge repository of literary analysis and criticism on nearly everything from Stephen King to Ernest Hemingway. Super-useful for those required English classes and full of good reading if you're a literature nerd like me. This will also enable us to get rid of some print subscriptions, freeing up shelf space and budgetary room for other things.
Counseling and Therapy in Video
Currently containing close to 300 videos about social work, psychotherapy, and psychiatric counseling, this is a pretty unusual resource for us. And yes, before you ask: each video is accompanied with a synchronized transcript that will follow along with the video, highlighting what's being spoken and allowing you to skip to various points in the video by clicking on the section of the transcript you want to watch.
CountryWatch
A database of country-specific data and other types of information that strives to remain as up to date on the country of your choice as possible. Good for courses in the following programs: Business, Communication Studies, Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Government, History, and Sociology.
Philosopher's Index
Indexes philosophical books, articles, contributions to anthologies, and anthologies themselves. Good for courses in the following programs: Business, Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Government, and History.
Global Issues in Context
Essentially, a database of issues and linked resources that help explain the background of those issues, such as child slavery -- in which countries is this practice prevalent? What's the history behind it? What global organizations are working to stop it? Good for courses in pretty much every program.
JSTOR Africa Collection
An expansion of our JSTOR access, this will let us into their extensive coverage of the African countries and historical academic coverage. Good for courses in: Business, History, Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Government, Sociology.
E-Journals
Career development for exceptional individuals
Communication disorders quarterly
Focus on autism and other developmental disorders
Human factors
International social work
Intervention in school and clinic
Journal of disability policy studies
Journal of early intervention
Journal of emotional and behavioral disorders
Journal of English linguistics
Journal of learning disabilities
Journal of positive behavior interventions
Journal of social work (JSW)
Journal of social work in disability and rehabilitation
Journal of special education
Language and speech
Neurology
Qualitative social work
Rehabilitation counseling bulletin
Remedial and special education
Topics in early childhood special education
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Other than the LRC, none of the items listed here have been prioritized in any way; although we do have some preferences for which items to get first, this is just our basic shopping list for the next few months after we've sacrificed a few virgins to appease our budget.
Okay. This completely and totally wraps up our database series. Next week will be our last librarian profile for a while, and then we'll move on to the back-to-school collections of super-important posts for new and returning students.
Enjoy your weekend!
What did Jim the Librarian read this week?
I read The Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke. I've been hoping for a chance to really read through it since it arrived but it wasn't available for checkout until recently. Even librarians can get beaten to the punch by enthusiastic readers. Anyway, it's about this guy who accidentally burns Emily Dickinson's house to the ground -- with two people in it. He gets sent to prison for ten years, where he befriends a very strange group of bond analysts, and when he gets out, he goes off to college, where he meets a woman and marries her and has a couple of children with her ... all without telling her about his sordid past. It's when the truth comes out at last that everything goes all fruity and our bumbling, possibly slightly-sociopathic protagonist stumbles across secret after secret and ends up back in a place he thought he'd never see again. All along the way is this hilarious trip through literature: he meets a man whose brother has a flaming hatred for a writer who wrote only one book, a professor who thinks Mark Twain is a -- ahem -- feminine apparatus, a hideously masculine New England Writer and the real New England Men who hate him, and the general absurdity of the memoir craze of recent years. It's literary satire, and extremely well-done at that.
Once again, it's on the display table by the entrance facing the JSAC if anyone would like to check it out. I highly, highly recommend it.
Okay. Enough of my gushing. On with the show.
For the past few weeks, we've been discussing various aspects of life with databases: how to get in from off-campus, why you'll see such a wide variation in database access through our Library, and the reasons for limiting access and the costs thereof. Today, we're going to get away from all that and take a look at the wishlist we librarians have in mind for our next few electronic acquisitions.
We'll cover databases first, and then move on to individual journals -- many of which have ended up on the list by faculty or staff request. We always welcome feedback and more requests, incidentally; feel free to comment on this post or get in touch with one of us if you want to suggest possible new acquisitions.
Databases
Gale Literature Resource Center (LRC)
This is our number-one priority at the moment -- as soon as funds are available, we'll be snapping this up. It's also the one I'm most excited about at the moment. It's basically a huge repository of literary analysis and criticism on nearly everything from Stephen King to Ernest Hemingway. Super-useful for those required English classes and full of good reading if you're a literature nerd like me. This will also enable us to get rid of some print subscriptions, freeing up shelf space and budgetary room for other things.
Counseling and Therapy in Video
Currently containing close to 300 videos about social work, psychotherapy, and psychiatric counseling, this is a pretty unusual resource for us. And yes, before you ask: each video is accompanied with a synchronized transcript that will follow along with the video, highlighting what's being spoken and allowing you to skip to various points in the video by clicking on the section of the transcript you want to watch.
CountryWatch
A database of country-specific data and other types of information that strives to remain as up to date on the country of your choice as possible. Good for courses in the following programs: Business, Communication Studies, Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Government, History, and Sociology.
Philosopher's Index
Indexes philosophical books, articles, contributions to anthologies, and anthologies themselves. Good for courses in the following programs: Business, Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Government, and History.
Global Issues in Context
Essentially, a database of issues and linked resources that help explain the background of those issues, such as child slavery -- in which countries is this practice prevalent? What's the history behind it? What global organizations are working to stop it? Good for courses in pretty much every program.
JSTOR Africa Collection
An expansion of our JSTOR access, this will let us into their extensive coverage of the African countries and historical academic coverage. Good for courses in: Business, History, Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Government, Sociology.
E-Journals
Career development for exceptional individuals
Communication disorders quarterly
Focus on autism and other developmental disorders
Human factors
International social work
Intervention in school and clinic
Journal of disability policy studies
Journal of early intervention
Journal of emotional and behavioral disorders
Journal of English linguistics
Journal of learning disabilities
Journal of positive behavior interventions
Journal of social work (JSW)
Journal of social work in disability and rehabilitation
Journal of special education
Language and speech
Neurology
Qualitative social work
Rehabilitation counseling bulletin
Remedial and special education
Topics in early childhood special education
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Other than the LRC, none of the items listed here have been prioritized in any way; although we do have some preferences for which items to get first, this is just our basic shopping list for the next few months after we've sacrificed a few virgins to appease our budget.
Okay. This completely and totally wraps up our database series. Next week will be our last librarian profile for a while, and then we'll move on to the back-to-school collections of super-important posts for new and returning students.
Enjoy your weekend!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Databases, part 3: The bottom line
I'm learning to really like three-day weekends.
That's mostly because I had time to finish up Cormac McCarthy's The Road and think about it afterwards. It's the story of a man and his son in a postapocalyptic America; an unexplained disaster has wiped out pretty much every living thing on the continent, except for the people who were lucky enough to be sheltered. The weather has devolved into endless winter and the land to an ashy grey. The man and boy embark on a long journey south along a highway (the eponymous road) in search of warmer, friendlier climes, and encounter some truly disturbing things along the way. It's less science fiction and more fable, a look at human nature in a state of constant privation. This is the guy who wrote No Country for Old Men, and if you've seen the movie, this book probably won't surprise you much. If you're into mindless books with happy endings, I'd avoid this one; otherwise, it's utterly absorbing. I put it on the display table by the East entrance (facing JSAC) if anyone else wants to pick it up.
I seem to be making a habit of mentioning Library books that I've read over the past week. Truly, the Library's a great place to spend time if you're a book addict. Fortunately, I'm not greedy; I'll put any books I've read up on display if any of them catches anyone's interest.
Back to what I'm really supposed to be writing about: databases.
Among all the questions we've gotten about database access over the past few years, there's an ongoing undercurrent of curiosity about why we limit access to Gallaudet students, staff, and faculty. I've already explained most of it by boiling down all the various kinds of subscriptions available to two basic types, but so far I haven't explained why we have to pay for access to knowledge. It wants to be free, right? Not exactly ...
Time to boil the issue down some more: we usually have to pay for access chiefly because of copyright. It's like paying for a DVD: when you buy a movie, you aren't actually paying for the movie itself. You're paying for the right to watch it. The same concept applies to all of our subscriptions. The issue of copyright ensures that the people who did all the work get paid for their efforts, and also means that we have to negotiate licenses with all of the indexes and publishers we use to gain access. Those licenses outline what rights we have to look at their material and use it for academic purposes, as well as the cost of doing so.
And here we arrive at the bottom line: how much do databases cost, anyway? The answer is that it all depends on the pricing structure negotiated upon in the license that allows us access to a particular database. Here are a few different ways we can pay for access:
This is the point at which I usually have to scrape people's jaws off the pavement. Yes, databases are very expensive. No, it doesn't bother us. It's what we're here for. And yes, we do, in fact, freely provide them to Gallaudet students, staff and faculty -- it's all funded at least in part by student tuition. It's also one very important way in which Gallaudet continues to be as academically competitive as possible. Trying to do research without this kind of access would be like watching a single fifth-season episode of Lost and trying to understand the entire show based on that one hour and a few old TV Guides.
Besides, when the math is done, databases are terrific bargains on general principle, because they allow us to get you access to just over 36,000 electronic publications, and that number grows a little bit every year. I've used this word before, but that's an astronomical number! We always do our best to budget for annual subscriptions and even manage to find room in our funds to hunt for new ones to try.
So what new electronic subscriptions might we get over the next few months? Hold on to your seats -- that's next week. After that, we'll have another librarian profile, and then we'll start a back-to-school series that'll collect some older posts and add in a little more of "What You Need To Know ... " for students both new and returning.
That's mostly because I had time to finish up Cormac McCarthy's The Road and think about it afterwards. It's the story of a man and his son in a postapocalyptic America; an unexplained disaster has wiped out pretty much every living thing on the continent, except for the people who were lucky enough to be sheltered. The weather has devolved into endless winter and the land to an ashy grey. The man and boy embark on a long journey south along a highway (the eponymous road) in search of warmer, friendlier climes, and encounter some truly disturbing things along the way. It's less science fiction and more fable, a look at human nature in a state of constant privation. This is the guy who wrote No Country for Old Men, and if you've seen the movie, this book probably won't surprise you much. If you're into mindless books with happy endings, I'd avoid this one; otherwise, it's utterly absorbing. I put it on the display table by the East entrance (facing JSAC) if anyone else wants to pick it up.
I seem to be making a habit of mentioning Library books that I've read over the past week. Truly, the Library's a great place to spend time if you're a book addict. Fortunately, I'm not greedy; I'll put any books I've read up on display if any of them catches anyone's interest.
Back to what I'm really supposed to be writing about: databases.
Among all the questions we've gotten about database access over the past few years, there's an ongoing undercurrent of curiosity about why we limit access to Gallaudet students, staff, and faculty. I've already explained most of it by boiling down all the various kinds of subscriptions available to two basic types, but so far I haven't explained why we have to pay for access to knowledge. It wants to be free, right? Not exactly ...
Time to boil the issue down some more: we usually have to pay for access chiefly because of copyright. It's like paying for a DVD: when you buy a movie, you aren't actually paying for the movie itself. You're paying for the right to watch it. The same concept applies to all of our subscriptions. The issue of copyright ensures that the people who did all the work get paid for their efforts, and also means that we have to negotiate licenses with all of the indexes and publishers we use to gain access. Those licenses outline what rights we have to look at their material and use it for academic purposes, as well as the cost of doing so.
And here we arrive at the bottom line: how much do databases cost, anyway? The answer is that it all depends on the pricing structure negotiated upon in the license that allows us access to a particular database. Here are a few different ways we can pay for access:
- Pay per view: This is pretty elastic -- it can change from year to year based on how much use the database gets. Usually, we pay based on how many articles were downloaded in the database over the course of a year. It's also the kind of plan we use with ScienceDirect, which I explained last week. This can be pretty cost-effective, especially for databases that aren't used quite as much as the two biggies, ProQuest Research Library and Ebscohost Academic Search Premier.
- Pay per user: This is generally based on how many full-time students are enrolled in a given year, among other statistics -- this way, we pay for everyone who could use the database. This also changes from year to year as the student population varies, but is less elastic than pay-per-view plans. Pay-per-user is a good kind of plan for the most heavily-used databases because it lets us pay for everyone's rights to the material without actually paying for the sheer amount of material itself, which can be intimidatingly mountainous.
- Flat rate: More or less self-explanatory. The price can only vary in one of two ways: if we decide we want to change how much access we have to the database, or if the vendor decides to raise the price, which can happen when they add more material to the database. One usually sees this sort of pricing with more specialized databases; either it will not see enough traffic to charge per view, or it will appeal to such a small percentage of the student population that charging based on total full-time enrollment will be unrealistically expensive.
This is the point at which I usually have to scrape people's jaws off the pavement. Yes, databases are very expensive. No, it doesn't bother us. It's what we're here for. And yes, we do, in fact, freely provide them to Gallaudet students, staff and faculty -- it's all funded at least in part by student tuition. It's also one very important way in which Gallaudet continues to be as academically competitive as possible. Trying to do research without this kind of access would be like watching a single fifth-season episode of Lost and trying to understand the entire show based on that one hour and a few old TV Guides.
Besides, when the math is done, databases are terrific bargains on general principle, because they allow us to get you access to just over 36,000 electronic publications, and that number grows a little bit every year. I've used this word before, but that's an astronomical number! We always do our best to budget for annual subscriptions and even manage to find room in our funds to hunt for new ones to try.
So what new electronic subscriptions might we get over the next few months? Hold on to your seats -- that's next week. After that, we'll have another librarian profile, and then we'll start a back-to-school series that'll collect some older posts and add in a little more of "What You Need To Know ... " for students both new and returning.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Databases, part 2: How subscriptions work
There's nothing like the feeling one gets after digesting a six-hundred-page monster book. I just finished up Brothers by Yu Hua (which I originally recommended here), and it really is a fantastic book -- plenty of dirty humor mixed up with trenchant commentary about Chinese culture and a sort of unflinching confrontation of some of the nastier aspects of revolution. It's a big book, but doesn't read like one at all; you don't find yourself counting how many pages you have left before it's over. That's the sign of a good read.
Just thought I'd sneak that in before continuing with our topic for the week, to show that I do read the stuff I recommend and enjoy it! It's on the display table by the entrance facing the SAC for anyone who might want to pick it up.
Anyway, last week, we talked about accessing databases off-campus. Some have asked me about finding journal articles, which I've already covered here, and others became curious about databases in general after reading last week's post, so today we'll talk a little bit about how our electronic subscriptions work. These days, most of the newer non-deaf-related subscriptions coming into the Gallaudet University Library are online-only, and we're working on cutting down on our print issues, so electronic subscriptions are becoming more and more important.
The word "database" is, to use an example I've used before, a lot like the word "fruit" -- apples and oranges are two different kinds of fruit, and very roughly speaking, we have access to two different kinds of databases:
Just thought I'd sneak that in before continuing with our topic for the week, to show that I do read the stuff I recommend and enjoy it! It's on the display table by the entrance facing the SAC for anyone who might want to pick it up.
Anyway, last week, we talked about accessing databases off-campus. Some have asked me about finding journal articles, which I've already covered here, and others became curious about databases in general after reading last week's post, so today we'll talk a little bit about how our electronic subscriptions work. These days, most of the newer non-deaf-related subscriptions coming into the Gallaudet University Library are online-only, and we're working on cutting down on our print issues, so electronic subscriptions are becoming more and more important.
The word "database" is, to use an example I've used before, a lot like the word "fruit" -- apples and oranges are two different kinds of fruit, and very roughly speaking, we have access to two different kinds of databases:
- A publisher: We can subscribe directly to individual journals or to a group of them from a single publisher. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education is a good example of this; it's published by the Oxford University Press, an academic publisher. They have dozens of journals, but we only actually subscribe to that one. Haworth Press is an example of the opposite -- we subscribe to 27 journals from them, including the Journal of Social Service Research and Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, a useful resource for college students if I ever heard of one!
- An index: ProQuest Research Library and Ebscohost Academic Search Premier are two examples of an index. They don't actually publish any journals -- they just basically collect information about them. However, a lot of times, they can strike up deals with the publishers of those journals for full-text access, which they can then turn around and provide to their subscribers. We get the vast majority of our electronic journals through indexes like ProQuest (6,761 listed journals), Ebscohost (5,924), and LexisNexis (11,029!).
- Partial access: The terms for this kind of subscription varies, but our current partial-access subscriptions involve abstract-only for students and faculty, with full-text available on request. Under this plan, we get to pay for each individual full-text article downloaded, which is more cost-effective than paying for the whole shebang. We use this plan for the ScienceDirect index, for example.
- Full-text access: ... when it's available, that is. Sometimes publishers will allow one index to provide access only to abstracts, while making the full text available to another one in order to reach as many scholars as possible. Other times, full-text access can vary even within a single journal for many different reasons, ranging from simply not having had time yet to fully digitize older issues to the publisher's deal with the index in question.
With a brand-new database, we'll usually give it a shot for one year. If enough people use it, we'll try to keep it or expand access, depending on our budget constraints. If the cost can't be justified, then we won't keep it.
So what kind of costs are involved? Well ... that's another post. Next week's, in fact. We will also not be doing Questions of the Week until our little series on databases comes to a conclusion, which will occur the week of July 17th with a blockbuster post detailing the new databases we're getting for the Fall semester! There'll be explosions and stuff. I promise.
Okay. See you next week. Enjoy your July 4th weekend! Just remember: allow yourself enough time to get away before the fuse runs out.
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