Thursday, March 27, 2008

Advanced Endnote Workshop on April 2nd

The library is presenting a free workshop on EndNote, a bibliographic management software program.

Managing your Research using EndNote: Advanced EndNote.

For those who are using EndNote already but have specific questions or want to learn how to take advantage of ALL the advanced features and customization options. Learn how to customize filters and output styles, attach pdf documents, attach objects/images, figure numbering, create footnotes, term lists and a traveling library.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 @ 12:00-1:30 PM
Melville Library, 1st floor, Classroom A

Additional sections of these and/or other workshops may be scheduled for any group of 5 or more. We will also work to accommodate individual sessions as time permits. For a full description of all the workshops available upon request, see the Library Homepage, http://www.stonybrook.edu/library, click on Library Instruction and click on “Library Workshops.” Contact: Janet Clarke, Head of Instruction, at 632-1217 or Janet.Clarke@stonybrook.edu.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Digitized Collections Document the History of Stony Brook University

In celebration of the Stony Brook University's 50th Anniversary, there is a new website for the University Archives. The site includes a history and timeline of the University, information about print, photographic, and multi-media collections, and links to newly digitized collections.

You can now read the digitized versions of publications created by SBU's faculty, staff and students. Collections are fully keyword-searchable and include: the campus newspapers Statesman, Stony Brook Press and Blackworld; reports from administrative departments; material created by university governance; technical reports from College of Engineering and Applied Science; and the Long Island Historical Journal. Issues of the Specula (the University's official yearbook) can be browsed beginning from 1961. A wide array of videos can also be viewed ranging from archival footage of Poetry Center events to faculty authors discussing their recent publications.

Special Collections and University Archives acquires material in all formats that document the history of the University, including faculty papers, photographs, and memorabilia. Visit www.stonybrook.edu/libspecial for more information.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Health Sciences Library - Catalog Upgrade

The Health Sciences Library will upgrading their catalog over the weekend (3/14-3/17). Their catalog will be unavailable during the upgrade.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Galaxy

by Arielle Brechisci, Journalism Major

Last month, Stony Brook University debuted new software that will simplify the daunting task of searching databases one by one and instead allow students and faculty to access up to 50 at a time.

On February 5, Aimée deChambeau, the Electronic Resources Acquisitions and Access Librarian, demonstrated the advantages of a new federated search system called Galaxy to Stony Brook University Journalism students. Instead of searching each of the library’s 250 databases one at a time, Galaxy aggregates up to 50 of them in one interface. Galaxy is “one of those Holy Grail things for libraries,” said deChambeau.

The library plans to terminate Galaxy if students and faculty members don’t find it helpful.

Adopting Galaxy makes Stony Brook part of a trend amongst other universities. SUNY New Paltz employed a similar system called WebFeat about two years ago. North Carolina State University has used Endeca Profind since January 2006.

When students and faculty members want to research a subject, they click the Galaxy link on the Stony Brook Library website. After typing in the subject and choosing from one of several subject categories, Galaxy gathers the information within a few minutes. When Galaxy finishes searching, the user has a list of search results from up to 50 databases. If the user clicks on the name of the article, Galaxy brings them to the database containing the original record.

Previously, if a student wanted to research the same subject from 50 different databases, they would need to repeat this process 50 times. Now with Galaxy, the user only does it once.

Galaxy clusters search results by date, journal, topic, author and source. The user can narrow down their search by choosing from one of these clusters.

“I think it would definitely be easier than searching one at a time,” said Caroline Knoepffler, an undergraduate Stony Brook student who has used the library databases for writing assignments. “I would absolutely use it.”

Since not all databases work exactly the same, some cannot be used with Galaxy. The library already pulled three out of the original 50 databases because of technical problems. They haven’t been replaced yet and the list may get longer. “Factiva is not working that well,” said deChambeau.

Federated search systems were only developed over the last several years, although the idea has been around for much longer.

Dean Chris Filstrup and the library staff decided to finally subscribe to Galaxy with the interest of Stony Brook students in mind. “The real interest is to get the information to you,” said deChambeau. DeChambeau hopes Galaxy can “make people better researchers” by helping students decide which choice to try out first when faced with many search results.

DeChambeau also hopes Galaxy changes the way users search databases in the future. “One of the big advantages of Galaxy is that it can help you discover places to look where you wouldn’t necessarily think to look,” said deChambeau. For example, searching a medical term can return articles from places students would not normally think to search, like a business management database. Using new databases exposes the user to information from a variety of sources, instead of just one or two sections that the researcher is familiar with.

Serials Solutions, a division of ProQuest, hosts Galaxy along with several other online library operations at Stony Brook including Article Linker. The library receives a big discount for customer loyalty and pays about $9,000 per year for the subscription to Galaxy.

In addition to controlling the software and building the connections to the databases, Serials Solutions provides user statistics to the library. Using these statistics, deChambeau and other librarians can measure usage by comparing it to statistics gathered before introducing Galaxy. The statistics inform the library how often students use Galaxy, what subjects they search by, and what databases they click on.

If the library discovers that user statistics are low because they didn’t promote Galaxy enough, the library will focus more on advertising. If Galaxy is successful, more databases will be added in increments of 25.

Out of the library’s 250 databases, the librarians handpicked 50 to include in Galaxy. About 30 librarians chose them based on questions asked by students and relevance to undergraduate research.

The library catalog is called STARS, so the library chose the name Galaxy for the new system because it follows the same theme.

The original release date for Galaxy was mid-January but the holiday season caused a delay.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Science and Engineering Articles Workshop on March 27th

Are you sometimes frustrated when looking for articles online? Not sure which database to search for the specific information you need? Did you struggle with that biology assignment on finding articles? Then this workshop is for you.

Where are the Science and Engineering Journal Articles?
Discover which databases are best for these specialized subject areas.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 @ 10 AM

Sign up at http://naples.cc.stonybrook.edu/lib/libforms.nsf/tours.

Not a science or engineering student but still need help finding articles? Read on...

Additional sections of these and/or other workshops may be scheduled for any group of 5 or more. We will also work to accommodate individual sessions as time permits. For a full description of all the workshops available upon request, see the Library Homepage, http://www.stonybrook.edu/library, click on Library Instruction and click on “Library Workshops.” Contact: Janet Clarke, Head of Instruction, at 632-1217 or Janet.Clarke@stonybrook.edu.

Government Information Workshop on March 26th

Let librarian Elaine Hoffman guide you through How to Find Government Information. Learn how to find the many sources of information that the government provides, where it is located and how it is categorized.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 @ 10 AM

Sign up at http://naples.cc.stonybrook.edu/lib/libforms.nsf/tours.

Additional sections of these and/or other workshops may be scheduled for any group of 5 or more. For a full description of all the workshops available upon request, see the Library Homepage, http://www.stonybrook.edu/library, click on Library Instruction and click on “Library Workshops.” Contact: Janet Clarke, Head of Instruction, at 632-1217 or Janet.Clarke@stonybrook.edu.

Using the Internet for Historical Research Workshop on March 25th

Our first workshop after spring break features Librarian William Glenn presenting a new workshop on Using the Internet for Historical Research.

"More and more valuable historical information can now be found on the Internet, especially primary source material being digitalized by libraries and research institutions around the world. This workshop will highlight some of the most interesting Web sites and discuss search methods to help you find quality historical information when you need it."

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 @ 3 PM

Sign up at http://naples.cc.stonybrook.edu/lib/libforms.nsf/tours

Additional sections of these and/or other workshops may be scheduled for any group of 5 or more. For a full description of all the workshops available upon request, see the Library Homepage, http://www.stonybrook.edu/library, click on Library Instruction and click on “Library Workshops.” Contact: Janet Clarke, Head of Instruction, at 632-1217 or Janet.Clarke@stonybrook.edu.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Winter 2008 Library Connections online

The Winter 2008 issue of the University Libraries' newsletter, Library Connections, is now available.

Highlights include:

  • SUNY Shared Collections
  • President's and Chancellor's awards received by library staff
  • The new Criterion DVD Collection
  • The Library Club's "Books for Africa" project
  • An update from Special Collections
  • A short Q&A on the new Galaxy search system
  • and much more....
To read the latest issue, go to
http://www.stonybrook.edu/library/newsletter/2008Feb.pdf

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

EndNote Workshop on March 11

Managing Your Research Using EndNote: Basic Skills

Creating the bibliography is often the most tedious part of writing a research paper. Using EndNote, a bibliographic management software program, this task just became much easier. In this workshop learn the basics of: how to download results from a literature search into EndNote, and then into a MS Word document, and manage several lists at the same time.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 @ 12 PM

Additional sections of these and/or other workshops may be scheduled for any group of 5 or more. For a full description of all the workshops available upon request and for the request form, see the Library Homepage, http://www.stonybrook.edu/library, click on Library Instruction and click on “Library Workshops.”

Contact: Janet Clarke, Head of Instruction, at 632-1217 or Janet.Clarke@stonybrook.edu

Extreme Googling Workshop on March 12

Extreme Googling

See a Librarian reveal some of the secret powers of Google's amazing search engine. Learn new ways to defy ignorance and the merely unthinkable. See Google challenge scholarship and lose! Watch as Google redefines the law! Go places you never dreamed were possible sitting down!

Discussion and live demonstrations of:
Google Images, Google Video, Google Maps, Google Local, Google Earth, Google Statistics, Google Scholar, Search Operators, Number Searches, Definitions, Google Geekery, Google Trends.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 1 PM

Additional sections of this or any other workshop may be scheduled for any group of 5 or more. For a full description of all the workshops available upon request and for the request form, see the Library Homepage, http://www.stonybrook.edu/library, click on Library Instruction and click on “Library Workshops.”

New Galaxy Workshop Added

An additional Galaxy workshop has been added. Join us to learn more about the new research tool from the library and find out what it can do for you.

Federated Search: an Introduction to Galaxy.
Galaxy is the Library's new federated search system that allows you to search across multiple databases at the same time. Learn how Galaxy works and how to use it most effectively.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 @ 11 AM


Additional sections of these and/or other workshops may be scheduled for any group of 5 or more. For a full description of all the workshops available upon request and for the request form, see the Library Homepage, http://www.stonybrook.edu/library, click on Library Instruction and click on “Library Workshops.”

Contact: Janet Clarke, Head of Instruction, at 632-1217 or Janet.Clarke@stonybrook.edu