Author: Liz

Database of the Month: Business Insights Global

Liz

Business Insights: Global is Gale/Infotrac’s revamped collection of company and industry information. It replaces Business & Company Resource Center; you’ll find some of the same content, and some new, with several more tools and ways to search. The database contains thousands of articles, reports, case studies, reference articles, rankings, and profiles. Business Insights: Global, while technically a new database, continues Business & Company Resource Center’s role as one of the Bentley Library’s key resources on company, industry, and country information, with an emphasis on strong international coverage.

Tools

Company Finder

The company finder (in the top toolbar) allows you to make a list of companies from around the globe using a number of criteria, including NAICS, number of employees, and revenue. You can then download the list to a CSV file (up to 500 results).

Charts

One of the most useful features of Business Insights: Global is the user’s ability to create custom charts. Click on “Comparison Charts” in the top toolbar, and create a chart comparing companies, countries, or industries on a number of different metrics. You could, for example, compare revenue or sales per employee among Google, Microsoft, and Apple, or compare countries on several metrics, including literacy rates, wage equality, tariff rates, and many more. For example, see the chart below comparing exports of goods and services between China and the United States. (Click the image to see the fine print.)

Search

Business Insights: Global features a single search box, and displays results grouped by source type. For example, a search for “solar energy” turned up most of the source types the database contains, including:

  • company profiles
  • industry profiles
  • case studies
  • association profiles
  • market research reports
  • journal articles
  • news articles
  • videos (with transcripts)
  • rankings

Everything is linked – for example, the company profile for Solar Energy Host (a Canadian company) links to competitors, industry codes and profiles, and charts for both company and industry revenue (to which you can easily add other companies or industries to compare).

Browse

Using the top toolbar or the advanced search, you can search specifically for any of the sources in the bulleted list above. Especially interesting are the rankings, pulled from Gale’s established reference work Business Rankings Annual – they include everything from lists of the largest companies in each state to “World’s Most Ethical Construction Companies” to “World’s Top Airports.”

Connect to this Database:

You will find Business Insights: Global listed on the library’s Databases A-Z page, as well as under the Companies & Industries database subject page.

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Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to an important research database, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases) please contact the Reference Desk.  If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact our Coordinator of User Education, Elizabeth Galoozis.

Workshop Alert: Citing Sources ~ Why, When, How (with the Writing Center)

Liz

It’s October, which means it’s time for the annual installment of the Writing Center and Library’s joint workshop to help you take the mystery out of citing sources. Check out the two times offered below, and RSVP if you plan to come!

Citing Sources: Why, When and How

Why do your professors spend so much time talking about citations? Does it feel like busywork? Come learn how to cite sources for any format. We’ll show you how to do it, where to find resources, and why you should care.

Have sources or a bibliography you need help with? Bring it with you!

Offered at two different times:

  • Monday, October 22,  5:00-6:00
  • Tuesday, October 23, 5:00-6:00

Both sessions take place in the Research Instruction Center (RIC), Room 11, on the library’s lower level.

Presented by: Greg Farber-Mazor, Interim Director, Writing Center and Liz Galoozis, Reference Librarian

Email library@bentley.edu to reserve your seat now – and tell us which session you’ll be attending!

Get Informed! Resources for Voters

Liz

Vote!The 2012 elections are coming up fast, and there are a lot of races on the ballots of all states – not just the presidential one. Arm yourself with the best information from library resources and the web with our Election Resources Research Guide. It includes voter information (including specific information for Massachusetts voters*), and the best places to get nonpartisan and bipartisan information. Check it out before you go to the polls!

*FYI: The registration deadline to vote in Massachusetts is October 17. Look at our guide to see how to register!

October 11 is National Coming Out Day

Liz

October 11 marks the anniversary of the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987, and every year since then, it has been celebrated as National Coming Out Day, and October more generally as Coming Out Month. We thought we’d take the opportunity to highlight just a small number of the library’s many LGBTQ-related resources. A shout-out to Bentley PRIDE for reminding us of Coming Out Day, and contributing suggestions!

Our collections include a wealth of books, films, and e-resources. We’ve hand-picked some suggestions for you to start with: just check out our Pinterest board we’re calling “Out in the Stacks.” Never read Alison Bechdel’s award-winning graphic memoir Fun Home, or seen the classic documentary The Celluloid Closet? Check them out, or try some recent acquisitions like It Gets Better, a book of essays stemming from Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project.

Or take a look at the Gender & Sexuality section of our streaming film database, Films on Demand, to see videos ranging from interviews with transgender people to documentaries on LGBTQ people in Latin America and the Arab world.

For even more books, check out the complete list of winners of the Lambda Literary Award, given to books that make a significant contribution to LGBTQ literature and nonfiction.

For more information about the history of National Coming Out Day, take a look at the Human Rights Campaign’s website.

Start Your Journey @ the Library!

Liz

Welcome, all new students! At the beginning of your Bentley journey, we’d like to invite you to drop in to our open house during First Week:

 Passport to the Library

Wednesday, August 29 and Thursday, August 30

10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Drop in anytime between 10:00 and 1:00 to meet the friendly library crew, hear about all the ways we can help you, and get a head start navigating around this campus hub. On the self-guided tour, you’ll discover that the library is way more than just books. Collect six or more stamps on your library passport, and be entered to win a Kindle, Red Sox tickets, and other fabulous prizes!

You’ll learn about essential library resources like:

  • reserving group study rooms
  • checking out free and discounted museum passes
  • getting access to virtually any book or article you need
  • our new collection of downloadable e-books and audiobooks
  • and more!

We look forward to seeing you at the library on Wednesday or Thursday, and throughout the year!

Database of the Month: WorldCat

Liz

Wouldn’t it be great for research if libraries worldwide put their collections together into one searchable database?  Well, WorldCat is just that database. When you search WorldCat for a subject, author, title, or keyword, you’ll be searching the physical and digital collections of thousands of libraries around the world. WorldCat is a service of OCLC, a nonprofit research, libraries, and information organization. It grows every day from member libraries adding new items.

Why WorldCat?

You may wonder why you would want to search WorldCat instead of only searching Bentley’s own catalog and databases, or instead of a bookselling site like Amazon. Here are a few reasons:

  • You can get a comprehensive picture of the research. If you’re trying to find everything that’s been published by a particular writer or on a particular topic, WorldCat covers a larger, different set of items than either the Bentley catalog or Amazon. It includes archival and other local-level items, dissertations, electronic journals, and more.
  • Unique and out-of-print items will always be included. WorldCat provides information about resources for the purposes of research, not sale, so neither its records nor its search algorithms reflect what has sold the most copies, but what’s most relevant to researchers.
  • Many of the same useful features are available. WorldCat includes the capabilities to read and post reviews (it pulls in reviews from GoodReads and other sites), add tags, create lists, and export records in several ways.

See Who Has What

WorldCat also zeroes in locally (based on your zip code) to show you libraries near you who own the item you’re looking for.* While we do our best to build a collection useful to our users, Bentley doesn’t own everything. If you’re looking for an obscure book on the history of horticulture, or maybe pulp novels from the 1950s, your needs are probably better served by another collection. WorldCat will show you a local library where you can find the item, or you can immediately request it through our interlibrary loan service by clicking “Request via Interlibrary Loan.” An example of how you can see libraries near you that own an item is below, using Mad Men: Season One.

 *Always double-check that the library (including Bentley) owns the item, and that it is available to be checked out or examined. Contacting individual libraries is the best way to do this.

Connect to this Database:

You will find WorldCat listed on the library’s Databases A-Z page, and every database subject page. Just look for this box:

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Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to an important research database, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases) please contact the Reference Desk.  If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact our Coordinator of User Education, Elizabeth Galoozis.

March is Women’s History Month

Liz
Strikers ca. 1910-1915

Since 1987, March has been proclaimed National Women’s History Month in the United States. March 8 has also been observed  as International Women’s Day since the early 1900s, born out of the suffrage movements of that era. Learn more about women’s history by delving into the wealth of materials the Bentley Library and the Internet have on the topic!

Starting places on the library’s website include our research guides on both Gender Issues and History, which will point you toward key databases, books, videos, and websites in those areas.

Take a look at the Women’s Studies section of one of our latest databases, Films on Demand, to see videos ranging from a history of women at West Point to speeches given by key figures in women’s rights to a full-length PBS film on the introduction of birth control.

Singer/songwriter Billie Holiday

Our library catalog is packed with books, films, and electronic documents about women’s history; this is just a sampling:

Meanwhile, Bentley’s Women’s Center has its own library of books. Search it right from the Bentley Library’s catalog, or stop by LaCava 120 to browse for yourself. Keep your women’s history local by keeping up with the Women’s Center on Twitter and Facebook, and look for events on HerCampus Bentley, too.

Also locally, you may want to check out the centennial events going on this year at Orchard House in Concord, historic home of writer Louisa May Alcott and her family. More information can be found in this Boston Globe article.*

Learn more about Women’s History Month at the websites of the National Women’s History Project and womenshistorymonth.gov, both of which contain images, histories, and chances to test your knowledge.

The photos on this page came from a Library of Congress flickr set called “Women Striving Forward, 1910s-1940s.”

 

*(Thanks for the tip, Barb!)

Upcoming Workshop: Citing Sources: Why, When, How (with the Writing Center)

Liz

Back by popular demand! The Writing Center and Library are once again joining forces to offer a workshop that takes the mystery out of citing sources:

Citing Sources: Why, When and How

Why do your professors spend so much time talking about citations? Does it feel like busywork? Come learn how to cite sources for any format. We’ll show you how to do it, where to find resources, and why you should care.

Have sources or a bibliography you need help with? Bring it with you!

Offered at two different times:

  • Monday, March 5, 5:00-6:00
  • Tuesday, March 6, 5:00-6:00

Both sessions take place in the Research Instruction Center (RIC), Room 11, on the library’s lower level.

Presented by: Greg Farber-Mazor, Interim Director, Writing Center and Liz Galoozis, Reference Librarian

Email library@bentley.edu to reserve your seat now – and tell us which session you’ll be attending!