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Lynch School of Education Library Newsletter
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4 Feb, 2003 |
Volume 1, Number 1 |
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BC Libraries
Online Databases E-Journals E-Books GUIDES: Educ. Rankings Educ. Research Educ. Statistics Philosophy of Educ. Other Libraries Scholarly Communications Research in the Electronic Age: A Guide for Students |
Welcome, This is the first issue of a new Library/Lynch School newsletter. At a time when we are all bombarded by a plethora of information in a variety of formats, I wondered about the advisability of subjecting you to yet more! Still, as so much is happening, electronic and otherwise, in BC’s Libraries and in the wider world of information, I thought that a short newsletter might be a useful vehicle for alerting you to relevant news, developments, issues. Best, Brendan Rapple (rappleb@bc.edu ) x24482 Contents:
Electronic Journals at Boston College Libraries It is easy to tell whether BC Libraries subscibe
to an electronic journal. Search under title in
Quest
(don't forget to select Journal Titles Catalog from the pull-down menu
at the upper right). When you retrieve the journal record click on "View Holdings"
to see which years/vols/issues the library has. If there are any issues available
in electronic format there will be a hyperlink "Link". Now click on "Link"
to retrieve the electronic issues. Another strategy to ascertain BC Libraries
e-journal holdings is to access the BC Libraries'
Electronic Journals
page <http://www.bc.edu/libraries/resources/ejournals/>. (You
may also access it by going to BC Libraries home page and clicking on the
Electronic Journals link in the left hand frame). More and more journals
are putting at least some of their issues in electronic format. On the
Electronic Journals
page there is a very lengthy list, in alphabetical order, of journals
with electronic issues -- each entry also indicates the databases from where
these issues may be accessed. For example, if one is looking for Review
of Higher Education one may see that it is available from Fall 1996 to
present in the database
Project Muse
. In this case there is a direct link to the online journal. Often the
link is to a database which one may search for individual full-text articles
from the journal in question -- however, one cannot access the complete issue
of the e-journal from "cover" to "cover."
Sometimes the Library may not have the journal issues you want in electronic format. While some collections of e-journals have many of their back issues available electronically, for example JSTOR , many other collections, for example Project Muse and Emerald Library , only provide more recent years of journals in electronic format. Frequently the Library begins a new subscription to a journal starting with the current year. Perhaps the journal has been in existence since 1970 and the last five years, let''s say, are available elecronically. However, in this case only the current year will be accessible to the BC community electronically. In short, much depends on what the publisher provides as well as on what BC Libraries pay for. return to top Automated Alerts or Current Awareness Services A number of databases and collections of electronic journals provide an alert feature whereby you can set up a search profile/strategy. These are automated current awareness services that result, depending on the type of profile or strategy, in table of contents of your chosen journals or a list of individual article citations being e-mailed directly to your e-mail box. For more information click Research Guides: Automated Alerts return to top RefWorks: Bibliography and Database Manager Automatically format your footnotes and bibliographies in over 90 different styles, including APA, MLA, Turabian, and Chicago with RefWorks! The Libraries and Academic Technology Services are bringing RefWorks to Boston College students, faculty, and staff! RefWorks is a web based bibliographic citation management
tool which allows users to create personal collections of citations.
These references can be inserted into papers and RefWorks will automatically
format the footnotes and bibliography in seconds. As a web-based product,
RefWorks is available to users across various platforms including Windows,
Mac, Unix, etc. To set up a personal RefWorks account and learn more,
see the Libraries' web page
eResearch & eLearning Tools
. Databases Useful for Ed. Psychology PsycINFO PsycINFO provides access to international literature in psychology and related disciplines. Print edition carries title: Psychological Abstracts. Nearly all records contain nonevaluative summaries, and all records from 1967 to the present are indexed using the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms. The sources include over 1,400 professional journals, chapters, books, reports, theses and dissertations, published internationally. PsycARTICLES The APA Full-Text Article Database contains the full text of articles from APA journals and selected EPF (Educational Publishing Foundation) journals, most from 1988 to the present— see PsycARTICLES Journal Coverage List for a complete list of journals and start dates. The articles are provided in HTML format for direct viewing and printing with your web browser. CogNet The CogNet Library is a growing collection of searchable electronic texts for the cognitive and brain sciences. The Library contains works from the MIT Press, as well as content and links to resources from other publishers, professional associations, institutions, and individuals who are willing to share public access to online work. Mental Measurements Yearbook Mental Measurements Yearbook, produced by the Buros Institute, contains full-text information about and reviews of all English-language standardized tests covering educational skills, personality, vocational aptitude, psychology, and related areas as included in the printed Mental Measurements Yearbooks. This database product contains data from Yearbooks 9 through 15. ERIC ERIC is the most complete bibliography of educational materials available since 1966. The ERIC database is a guide to published and unpublished sources on thousands of educational topics, including diverse aspects of educational psychology, with information from RIE (Resources in Education) and CIJE (Current Index to Journals in Education). HAPI - Health and Psychosocial Instruments Health and Psychosocial Instruments contains information on questionnaires, tests, rating scales and other measurements in nursing and the health and behavioral sciences. Social Science Citation Index The Social Sciences Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences. It indexes more than 1,725 journals spanning 50 disciplines, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals. Some Useful Education Web Sites I've included below a small number of fairly randomly chosen sites that have some relevance to Education. Of course, they constitute just the tip of the iceberg of the vast number of web sites that pertain in some manner to Education and related fields. Google.com seems to be the favorite internet search engine of many of us at the moment. However, there are numerous other search engines as well as very useful subject directories such as The Scout Report, InfoMine, BUBL LINK etc. that facilitate more methodological and focused searching of the vast morass of the web. Please see Researching Education on the Internet below. Students Against Testing Students Against Testing is a "nationwide network of young people who resist high stakes standardized testing and support real-life learning." Includes concrete suggestions (from writing letters to boycotts) for activist students, parents, and teachers to challenge the validity of widely used tests, such as CST (California Standards Test) and college entrance exams such as the SAT. Features links to many national and local organizations, research articles, and Web sites authored by education experts. This site is a selective, annotated list of links to Internet resources on gender issues in education, education of girls, and women's studies programs. It has been developed as part of WSSLINKS, a project of the Women's Studies Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. The World Lecture Hall: WWW for Instructional Use The World Lecture Hall is a very useful virtual library of links to pages and servers created by faculty worldwide who are using WWW for instructional purposes. The instructional/distance education capabilities of the Web, the ability to create/publish interactive hypertext/multi-media courses, educational modules and documents, have become very important in all forms of education. Thousands of examples of such work in higher education will be found here. 19th Century Schoolbooks "This project by the University of Pittsburgh Digital Research Library proves that digital versions of rare books can be as enjoyable as the original print. Currently, digitized versions of over sixty nineteenth-century textbooks selected from the Nietz Old Textbook Collection are available, covering reading, writing, and 'rithmatic, and beyond. The site allows users to page through the books as they would with hard copies. There is a table of contents for each book, including a bookmarkable URL and bibliographic citation, from which one can proceed to chapters and even skip to the pictures. Powerful Boolean and simple searching are provided, with ample help screens. In addition, a searchable citation bibliography contains entries for the complete Nietz Collection, some 16,000 volumes." Search for Public School Districts Database of more than 16,500 school districts in the United States. Searchable by name, city, county, state, area code, or zip code. Each entry includes contact information, grade span, and the number of students, teachers, and schools. DiversityWeb: An Interactive Resource Hub for Higher Education "DiversityWeb offers a compendium of Recommended Resources designed for campus practitioners, from faculty members and administrators to student leaders and graduate students. The Recommended Resources include syllabi, models for faculty development and other materials to help campus practitioners create an environment where diversity is considered part of an on-going commitment to excellence. DiversityWeb also includes 200 Institution Profiles describing the work of individual colleges and universities that have worked extensively on diversity as an educational commitment. DiversityWeb also provides access to the University of Maryland's Diversity Database, which contains substantial campus, national and international academic resources related to age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion, and sexual orientation." Re-envisioning the PhD This site, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, is home to the Re-envisioning the PhD project, which is tasked with investigating change in doctoral education, in particular, helping to expand the career choices available to PhD students. Gateway to Educational Materials: GEM The Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) Project is a comprehensive, searchable database connecting to Internet lesson plans, curriculum units and other education resources. Conduct full-text, subject, keyword, or title searches, then select desired grade or education level and submit the search. Retrieved records will link directly to the Internet resources they describe. The Gateway is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Library of Education. Its aim is to provide United States teachers with easy "access to the substantial collections of educational materials found on federal, state, university, non-profit and commercial" web sites. The National Education Association, Library of Congress, Microsoft Encarta, and the American Association of School Librarians are among the members of the GEM consortia. Association for Moral Education "The Association for Moral Education (AME) provides an interdisciplinary forum for professionals interested in the moral dimensions of educational theory and practice. The Association is dedicated to fostering communication, cooperation, training, curriculum development, and research that links moral theory with educational practice. It supports self-reflective educational practices that value the worth and dignity of each individual as a moral agent in a pluralistic society." Education Resource Organizations Directory: U.S. Department of Education "The Directory is intended to help you identify and contact organizations that provide information and assistance on a broad range of education-related topics. The Directory includes information on more than 2,400 national, regional, and state education organizations." Does Diversity Make a Difference? [American Council on Education (ACE) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)] "The strong empirical evidence presented in this monograph, comprising three studies of college teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward and experiences with racial and ethnic diversity, demonstrate that campus diversity represents an educational benefit for all students—minority and white alike—that cannot be duplicated in a racially and ethnically homogeneous academic setting. The studies presented here strongly support the proposition that practices such as race-sensitive admissions lead to expanded educational possibilities and better educational outcomes for all students, regardless of race or ethnic origin." ERIC Digests Search a database of more than 2,600 ERIC digests. Each ERIC Digest is a short synthesis on a topic of current interest in education, and provides an overview of information on the topic and bibliographical references. Digests are also listed by date added to the databases. You may also browse through digests from a list by ERIC Clearinghouse (ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, etc.). return to top
Researching Education on the Internet Subject Directories as Navigating Tools To target your research, limit searching to web sites that already have been categorized and/or evaluated. It is important to seek out sites where content has been selected according to sound criteria. This reduces the chance that your "hits" will be useless. The following are several respected and authoritative web subject directories
INFOMINE is a library of over 110,000 Internet resources useful for research at the college/university level. The resources are carefully selected by librarians. "Librarian collection expertise and concerns regarding resource comprehensiveness, quality and general usefulness from an academic perspective guide all INFOMINE resource selection activities." The resources include databases, e-journals, e-books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other types of information. The discipline of Education is well represented.
OAIster
The Scout Report Archives is a searchable and browseable database to over seven years' worth of the Scout Report and subject-specific Scout Reports. It contains thousands and thousands of critical annotations of web sites. Each annotation seeks to provide an overall analysis of each site including general content, attribution (authors, etc.), currency, availability, accessibility and presentation. Most of the items reviewed are free and freely accessible. Many Education and Education related sites are included.
Academic Info
BUBL LINK is a U.K. based catalog of selected Internet resources covering numerous academic subject areas. BUBL LINK catalogues the resources according to the Dewey Decimal Classification. All items are evaluated and the maintainers of the site declare that each resource is checked and fixed each month. Though BUBL LINK points to a relatively small number of resources (over 11,000 resources), it is a useful database for locating quality web sites across all disciplines, including Education. Internet Public Library
The Librarians' Index
to the Internet
There are literally hundreds of different search engines, all with different features and capabilities. Every search engine requires the researcher to learn specific searching protocols since every search engine searches a different database, a different grouping of web pages. Researchers get different results depending on the search engine used. Sometimes the results vary widely; other times the results point to some of the same sites. Learn the various search techniques, and the range of specific databases to better target research efforts. See Search Engine Resources for a comprehensive listing of a large number of search engines. An excellent general introduction for searching the Internet is UC Berkeley Library's Finding Information on the Internet: A Tutorial . Other tutorials and advice of searching the web include: There are scores of other useful guides/tutorials
to searching the web efficiently and effectively.
return to top Visit the Virtual Data Center Stop by the Libraries' new Virtual Data Center and learn how to locate data resources, access statistical software and get customized help for quantitative research projects. Browse the latest news on new datasets and Census data releases. This virtual center, located at http://www.bc.edu/libraries/centers/virtual/ , was developed to help faculty and students find and easily access data for both research and classroom work and to provide information about support for statistical packages and data translation software. A unique feature of the Center is the Statistical Data Catalog which includes key research datasets available at Boston College. Records include descriptions of the data, available formats, documentation, and direct download links whenever possible. Coverage is both U.S. and International. The catalog will expand to support all disciplines, but currently the datasets primarily support the areas of economics, finance, health care, education and social and economic indicators. A particularly useful finding aid is Research Guide-Statistics , an overview of library resources in both print and electronic formats -- organized by U.S., International and Financial and Economic sources. The Virtual Data Center reflects a commitment among research support groups on campus to develop distributed virtual collections of data, software, documentation and services. Key contributing partners include Barbara Mento ( mento@bc.edu) , Manager, Boston College Virtual Data Center, Ted Gaiser, Director, Research & Instructional Technology Services, and FMRC Moderator Kit Baum. return to top O'Neill Exhibit Celebrates Lynch School at 50 -- Closing Soon!! An exhibit on the third floor of O’Neill Library celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Lynch School of Education. The exhibit aims to present a selection of the very numerous publications produced by Lynch School faculty, staff and students over the past 50 years. return to top Reclaiming Intellectual Property Before signing a publishing contract, Lynch School faculty, students and staff should consider carefully how the contract might later affect their usage of the published work in their teaching and research. It is important that Lynch School authors retain the right to include the published work in a coursepack, to place it on their personal web pages and to post and update it in a scholarly e-print server. Frequently, however, the terms of a publisher's contract have access restrictions on work being used in such ways. Consequently, the Library recommends that all authors take care to assign the rights to their work in a manner that permits them to use the work freely, and permits their Boston College colleagues to use the work freely, in their teaching and research at Boston College. Accordingly, we encourage authors to request that the following "scholarship dissemination-friendly" addendum be added to their contracts: "I retain the right to use this work, in whole or in part, in my personal teaching and research activities, for my colleagues at Boston College to use this work, in whole or in part, in their personal teaching and research activities. I also retain the right to post the work, in whole or in part, on my personal non-commercial web site as well as the right to post the work, in whole or in part, in free public e-print servers hosted by Boston College or by scholarly societies and associations."While giving the publisher distinct rights, this also allows the author to place the paper on a personal web site as well as publish online both the preprint prior to peer review and the reviewed postprint on scholarly web sites. Further treatment of the advantages a scholar gains through the judicious management of his or her copyright is available in “Managing Your Copyrights”, a section of Create Change: A Resource for Faculty and Librarian Action to Reclaim Scholarly Communication , a document co-sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries, the Association of College and Research Libraries, and SPARC. return to top Faculty Publications Database Forms Tenure track faculty are now able to submit citations to the Faculty Publications Database using online forms available through the Libraries' homepage. By choosing Online Requests/Forms from the Quick Links choices and clicking Go, they may access the appropriate form for their publication. Tenure track faculty are encouraged to use these forms to ensure that their citations are received in a timely and efficient manner. If using these forms is not a convenient option, citations may still be submitted to Gail White, Reference Department, O'Neill Library or to whiteg@bc.edu . Publication citations that have appeared in the annual Boston College Celebration of Scholarship have already been received and do not need to be resubmitted. return to top
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