2009 Word of the Year

Today the New Oxford American Dictionary, part of Oxford University Press USA, announced its choice for Word of the Year:  unfriend.  According to Oxford, unfriend is a verb that means, “To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.”

While the word certainly has a new meaning, it’s not really a new word.  In fact, when searching the Oxford English Dictionary Online, references will be found for the verb “unfriend” back in the 17th century — well before the Facebook era. Other words in the running for this year’s top word included birther, green state, deleb, hashtag, intexticated, funemployed and netbook.   If you’re wondering what any of those means, check out this blog post by Oxford.

If you’re ever curious about the development of a word or phrase, give the Oxford English Dictionary Online a try; this authoritative source tracks the history and usage of the English language.

Finding Journals at Ramaker

Finding journals can be a little tricky.  Sometimes Ramaker has journals in print on our shelves, sometimes we subscribe to a single journal in its electronic version and sometimes we have access to a journal through a database subscription.

If you wonder whether we have access to a certain journal, your best first step is to visit our Journal Finder.  (It’s the link at the very top of our Quick Links list on our home page.)

Here, type in the name of the journal you are looking for.  NOTE: The search function here is for journal titles; entering an article title or article keywords will not return relevant results.

For example, let’s say you were looking for the Journal of American History.  Type that title into the search box.

On the results screen, scroll to your title.  The list below the title shows Ramaker’s holdings.   Journal of American History is available in Academic Search Premier, E-Journals from EBSCO, History Cooperative, JSTOR and in the stacks at Ramaker.  Be sure to pay attention to the dates; not all issues are available in all locations.

If you have any questions, please let a librarian know.

A New Look for BioOne

BioOne, one of Ramaker’s full-text biology databases, has recently acquired a new look and enhanced features. If you are familiar with BioOne, you will certainly notice the new look:

Do note the search function is in the top right corner, and the advanced search link is right below it. If you are interested in looking at what titles are available or in scanning the contents of just one publication, click the Browse link in the center of the page.

One enhancement to BioOne is the ability to create an account and save your searches. Even better, BioOne now has new titles in its Open Access collection, increasing the number of full-text journals available to Ramaker students and faculty.

If you have any questions about the new design of BioOne, please contact one of the Ramaker librarians.

LexisNexis

LexisNexis is a full-text database providing information from U.S. and world newspapers, business publications and legal publications. It’s a great resource to use when you are researching any of the following:

• Current and recent events, both domestic and foreign
  LexisNexis has full-text archives of over 350 newspapers from around the world, some going back for 25 years
• Businesses
  LexisNexis includes business and financial news, actual SEC filings and industry reports.
• Legal issues
  Both primary sources such as Supreme Court decisions and legal statutes and secondary sources such as legal news and analysis are available. 
• Health information
  Because it indexes so many newspapers, magazines and journals, LexisNexis can be a good spot to find recent medical news stories.

Looking for full text? Now, it’s easy!

This year Ramaker Library has been in the process of implementing a new piece of software called WebBridge.  WebBridge is an open-URL link resolver, which is a fancy way of saying . . . “now, it’s easy to find full text!”

As you search in the myriad of online databases that Ramaker Library has to offer, you may find a citation or abstract that looks promising for your research needs.  But, now you have to figure out where to get the full text of the article.  Enter WebBridge.

While in a database, you will see a link called Find It @ Ramaker Library.  When you click on the link, it will take you to your options for full text of the article (if we have access to the full text).  Otherwise, you will receive the option to request through interlibrary loan.  Even making an ILL request is easier with WebBridge because you don’t have to fill in the article data.  WebBridge puts the data into the form for you!

 

 We hope you will take advantage of this great new resource!  If you have any questions, contact any library staff member.

 

Database for Nursing Students

CINAHL with full-text is an important electronic resource for Nursing faculty and students.    It indexes journals in nursing, allied health, biomedicine, and healthcare with over 580 journals available in full text.

As a nursing student you can find interesting articles on many topics such as caring for premature babies, emergency room and trauma care, treating teens with diabeties, or operating room personnel.

For your next nursing assignment, use an article from CINAHL w/ full-text!

Just 3 of the over 500 journals available in CINAHL

Remembering our Veterans

It’s Veterans Day today, a time we acknowledge the service of the men and women who have volunteered in the armed forces in America. Every Veteran has a story about his or her time of service – what it involved, what they experienced, what happened after. The Library of Congress has been collecting these stories, whether they are in oral interviews, letters, photos or personal memoirs.

To search their extensive collection, visit the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. It’s a great way to learn more about the people who served our country in this way and to learn more about the time in which they served.

ARTstor

Want to add authentic art images to your research project?   Then checkout ARTstor -a digital library of more than 500,000 images of paintings, sculpture, architecture, photographs, manuscripts, fabrics, costumes, cartoons, posters, etc. Art work is available dating as far back as 2000 years BC and from geographic locations around the world.

Note:  for best results, use Mozilla Firefox as your browser and turn off your

Pop up Blocker.

If you want to Save groups of images, login and set up a username & password.

If you want to Download images, open an image by double clicking on it, click the save icon, accept the Terms & Conditions of Use, agree to ARTstor as a safe website and Save.

ARTstor – a great library resource for Northwestern students and faculty!

Presidential Election Display

Ramaker Library has recently created a display all about the presidential election, including information on the candidates, political strategy and major issues.  Stop by to check it out.  (The photo was taken at high noon, so there are some serious shadows – my apologies.)

If you’re interested in getting information about any of this year’s major topics, whether it’s ANWAR or the economy, Ramaker has resources where you can learn more. A good place to get background information about a topic is CQ Researcher. This database contains full-text reports written by seasoned journalists, and each report includes the background and chronology of an issue, an assessment of the current situation, pro/con statements and bibliographies.

Faculty Collection

You are invited to browse and check-out books from the Faculty Collection.  Faculty members of Northwestern College have a long tradition of publishing in their fields.  Thus, in the collection, you will find earlier works by Dr. Keith Allen, Professor Emeritus of Theatre, and Dr. Syl Scorza, Professor Emeritus of Religion.  Likewise, the collection includes recent works Dr. Joonna Trapp, Dr. Jim Mead, Dr. Sara Tolsma, and Dr. Jackie Smallbones.  Along with publishing in their fields, Northwestern faculty grapple with how to integrate their scholarly expertise with the Christian faith.  Their thoughts on integrating faith and learning are found in the Tenure Papers that are included in the Faculty Collection.  The staff of Ramaker Library invites you to peruse the works of our faculty. 

Ramaker: Anytime, Anywhere

The Northwestern community — faculty, staff and students — can access Ramaker Library’s virtual holdings from off-campus. To do so, simply enter http://vpn.nwciowa.edu in your address bar. You may see a Microsoft message indicating that “this is not a recommended site.” Simply disregard the message and continue.

At the prompt, enter your campus login information. Once you are logged in, click the Ramaker Library Resources link.  You can now browse the library’s resources, including our online catalog and databases.

You can also access the VPN from the link on Ramaker’s home page. Look for the Off-Campus Access graphic: 

Do note that the network runs more slowly when accessing it via the VPN.  Also, you can only access the VPN when off-campus.

Changes for JStor

JSTOR, one of the journal databases available to students, recently made significant changes to its web site.

In addition to a new look, JSTOR also changed some functional aspects of the site:

• You can create an account and save citations indefinitely, allowing you to better track your research.
• You can limit searches by discipline and by journal title, making for more targeted results.
• When you are presented with a Results list, you can search within those results as well. 

The Quick Tips box on the search page is helpful and is a great place to go if you want to learn more.  And, of course, you can always ask a reference librarian if you have any questions about JSTOR.

What’s that word mean?!

So, you’re doing your reading assignment for one of your classes and run into a word you don’t know.  What in the world does [blank] mean?!

How can Ramaker Library help you answer this question?  It’s easy!  Just use Oxford English Dictionary Online.  Go to www.nwciowa.edu/library and select the Oxford English Dictionary link under Quick Links at the left.

We can easily help you find the answers to questions such as these . . .

Is studying soporific for you?

Does it drive you nuts when people flummer?

Is your roommate a valetudinarian, a gadabout, or a solitudinarian?

Have fun with these and other definiendums and definiens!