Category: databases & e-resources

New Database: CIAO – Columbia International Affairs Online

Lisa

CIAO logoColumbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) is a new addition to the library’s collection of databases. CIAO has a specific focus on international politics and related fields, such as security studies, global finance, diplomatic practice, humanitarian law, global governance, development studies, and environmental studies. CIAO is owned and published by Columbia University Press (CUP).

What’s Included?

Researchers can use CIAO to find scholarly journal articles, working papers, policy briefs, analysis and commentary, e-books, and videos. CIAO also provides basic country data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The content provided in CIAO is aggregated from 300 international publishing institutions, including government research organizations, independent think tanks, NGOs, universities, and scholarly journals.

There are two ways to search for information in CIAO – a standard search box and the Discover Content navigation menu.

Search

Construct a keyword search using the single search box at the top of the screen. There are no advanced search options, but you can utilize these search tips to construct a targeted keyword search:

  • Boolean operators are supported, but they must be typed in all caps – AND, OR, and NOT. The default search is an implied OR, which will search for all terms independently.
  • Use quotation marks to restrict your search to an exact phrase rather than searching for individual words. For example, “European Union”.
  • Use the facets in the left column to refine your search results based on criteria such as topic, geography, or content type.
Keyword search example. Click to view larger image.

Discover Content

Use the Discover Content faceted browsing menu options to locate materials by:

  • Topic
  • Political Geography
  • Content Type
  • Journal
  • Publishing Institution
  • Author
  • Publication Year
Your search will be narrowed with each option you select from the faceted menu. For example, you may choose a Topic (e.g. Foreign Policy) and a Political Geography (e.g. China) and a Content Type (e.g. Working Paper) to get a targeted set of search results. To remove a facet from your search, simply click the “x” next to the term.
Discover Content search
Discover Content faceted browse menu. Click to view larger image.

How to Access CIAO

Access CIAO from the library’s Databases A-Z page. Please note that CIAO is currently only available to on-campus users, but we are working on a solution to provide off-campus access.  If you have any questions about this new resource, or would like additional help searching the database, please contact the Reference Desk.

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Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to a useful website or Library database, highlighting key features you should know about. If you would like more information about this free web resource (or any of the library’s databases), please contact us for research assistance. If you would like a demonstration of this resource for a class, please schedule a research instruction class using the instruction request form.

Database Downtime Alert! ProQuest & RefWorks Offline at 10pm Sat. 1/28

Lisa

All ProQuest databases, RefWorks and Ancestry Library will be offline for product upgrades from 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 28 until 7:00 a.m. Sunday, January 29 (EST). Please contact the Reference Desk at 781.891.2300 or refdesk@bentley.edu if you have questions or need assistance.

Database of the Month: IMDB.com

Katie

film reel and slate

Awards season is just around the corner when Hollywood bestows various honors related to film and television. Whether you are a cinephile or a casual viewer, the Internet Movie Database, or IMDb, can be a wonderful resource to help you navigate the ins and outs of the industry.

IMDb (www.imdb.com) is a freely available database that originally started in 1990. The database includes millions of records and is considered to be an authoritative source for film and television.

Content includes:

  • Records for movies and television shows
  • Entries for industry professionals and celebrities including actors, directors, writers, composers, producers, and more (including filmographies and brief biographies)
  • Trivia
  • Quotes
  • Industry news & event coverage
  • Box office charts & trends
  • Release calendars

Found movies on IMDB that you would like to watch? Bentley Library has a number of DVDs and streaming films.

Search the Bentley Library Catalog to find our available DVDs or search one of our streaming film collections:

  • Films on Demand offers educational film titles in a variety of subject areas.
  • Kanopy includes many various collections including films from the Criterion Collection, documentaries, films appearing at various international film festivals, Academy Award winning films and nominees, and more! Browse collections or search for specific titles.
  • Swank Digital Campus includes both classic and contemporary films. Some past award winners such as American Beauty, Argo, The Hurt Locker, and The Departed are available in our collection. Can be searched by title or genre.
Image Credit: thumb_film_reel_2_1. By ScypaxPictures, 2010, (Flickr). Used under Creative Commons License BY-ND 2.0 with no modifications.

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Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to a useful website or Library database, highlighting key features you should know about. If you would like more information about this free web resource (or any of the library’s databases), please contact us for research assistance. If you would like a demonstration of this resource for a class, please schedule a research instruction class using the instruction request form.

Database of the Month: Project Euclid

Matthew

Project EuclidProject Euclid is a mathematical sciences database that seeks to advance scholarly communication in theoretical and applied mathematics and statistics through partnerships with independent and society publishers. It was developed by the Cornell University Library and is now jointly managed with Duke University Press. It was originally created to provide a platform for small scholarly publishers of mathematics and statistics journals to move from print to electronic in a cost-effective way.

Through a combination of support by subscribing libraries* and participating publishers, Project Euclid has made 70% of its journal articles openly available. As of 2015, Project Euclid provides access to over 1.2 million pages of open-access content.

*Bentley Library is not a subscribing library.

Content

Search results display all relevant hits. The tables of contents and article abstracts are freely available to all users, and the following icons indicate whether or not the user can also access the full text for these items.

Project Euclid Access Levels

While the library does not currently subscribe to any licensed content, full-text is available for the following open-access titles.

  • Annals of Mathematical Statistics
  • Bayesian Analysis
  • Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability
  • Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society (1891-1991)
  • Communications in Mathematical Physics (1965-1997)
  • Electronic Communications in Probability
  • Electronic Journal of Probability
  • Electronic Journal of Statistics
  • Hiroshima Mathematical Journal
  • Institute of Mathematical Statistics Collections
  • Institute of Mathematical Statistics Lecture Notes – Monograph Series
  • Lecture Notes in Logic
  • Notre Dame Mathematical Lectures
  • NSF-CBMS Regional Conference Series in Probability and Statistics
  • Osaka Journal of Mathematics
  • Pacific Journal of Mathematics (1951-1996)
  • Perspectives in Logic
  • Probability Surveys
  • Proceedings of the Centre for Mathematics and its Applications
  • Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series A, Mathematical Sciences
  • Stochastic Systems
  • Statistics Surveys

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Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to a useful website or Library database, highlighting key features you should know about. If you would like more information about this free web resource (or any of the library’s databases), please contact us for research assistance. If you would like a demonstration of this resource for a class, please schedule a research instruction class using this form.

Database of the Month: PrivCo

Dominique

Organizations that are family owned or private are typically hard to gather information on. PrivCo serves up private company metrics which would formerly have taken hours to accumulate.  It taps multiple reference sources, articles, and industry info.

PrivCo connects the user to company directory information, financial data on private companies, and investors involved in private company activity.

Who can use it? Who benefits?

Eligible users include Bentley students, faculty, staff, community users.  Beneficiaries are most likely participants in GB 320 who are assigned company research, and any future venture capitalists who will appreciate the due diligence that can be performed with this e-resource.

What’s inside?

Private company profiles and deals about them, laid out in tables. Find:

  • description and history of a business
  • known investors (for example, Uber Technologies’ largest stakeholder is Fidelity with 2.5 %)
  • revenue model
  • competitors
  • court documents

Why use it?

  1. Merger and acquisition information
  2. Venture Capital activity
  3. Private Equity deals
  4. Pre-search for an internship
  5. General private company searching

Sample search for venture capital information:

Imagine an entrepreneur seeking new sources for his next VC deal. He wants to identify companies and view activity within a specific geographic location (Massachusetts) and a certain dollar amount ($50K – $1M). He logs in to his PrivCo account and begins a search so he can analyze who has funded whom, for how much.

  1. In the screenshot below you’ll see the opening page to a PrivCo account. Note VC funding tab pointed out on left of the dashboard. Arrow on right displays log-in name within the profile (we recommend establishing a profile).

    PrivCo search screen
    Click to view larger image.
  2. Input parameters: for the venture capital transactions in question, he wants rounds in the range of $50,000 – $1M in Massachusetts in the last 5 years.

    PrivCo search screen - funding parameters
    Click to view larger image
  3. There are 343 results for venture capitalist activity which meet the criteria of $50K-$1M, located in Massachusetts. The link labeled “deal details” is the heart of the search. See screen shot below.

    PrivCo search results screen
    Click to view larger image
  4. Within the “Deal Details” of the first result for Weave Visual Analytics, Inc., it says this company received $750,00 in funds from Breton Capital. Weave was in its 2nd year of business at the time of the transaction, June 2016.

Where does PrivCo get its material?

Company information is gleaned from public documents such as regulatory documents, court proceedings, reference materials, industry information, and articles in the news.

What sets it apart?

  • Private company information with many links between companies reduces search time
  • Profile data can be exported to an excel spreadsheet, or exported as a PDF
  • Watchlists. I think this is PrivCo’s biggest contribution, an alert system which can connect to your email, for company activity
  • Well organized and has an easy interface to learn
  • Built with redundant navigation making it accessible to many learning styles
PrivCo company watchlist
Watchlist adds value to this database. Above: Uber’s company profile, with “Add to watchlist” circled.
Click to view larger image.

Locating PrivCo

Well-developed Self-help

  • PrivCo lets you export company profiles as an excel spreadsheet or PDF
  • Rich dictionary of terms
  • 85 page PDF of the entire Knowledge bank (FAQ’s) can be down loaded for further exploration

One last thing

Create a PrivCo profile and accumulate previous searches in one place; it will save time and allow a user to pick up an idea where they left off last. This makes research feel easy.

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Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to a useful website or Library database, highlighting key features you should know about. If you would like more information about this free web resource (or any of the library’s databases), please contact us for research assistance. If you would like a demonstration of this resource for a class, please schedule a research instruction class using this form.

Introducing Free Online Access to NYTimes.com

Lisa

New York Times Group PassWe are excited to announce that current Bentley University students, faculty and staff members now have full complimentary access to NYTimes.com and NYT mobile apps, as well as their international editions, thanks to the library’s new subscription to NYTimes.com Group Pass.*

 

New users activate your Pass for free access to NYTimes.com:

While connected to the Bentley network (on-campus), visit the NYTimes.com Group Pass Account Activation page and follow the registration instructions. You have successfully claimed a Pass when you see the Start Your Access screen.  You must be on-campus to create your account, but once it has been activated you can access NYTimes.com from any location.

Returning users:

Once you have activated your account, login to NYTimes.com from any location.

Mobile Apps:

Visit nytimes.com/mobile to download your free NYT apps.

More Information & Help:

More information about the library’s NYTimes.com Group Pass is available at http://libguides.bentley.edu/NYTimes. This short video also explains the step-by-step process to activate a Group Pass for NYTimes.com access.

Please email, call 781.891.2300 or visit the Reference Desk if you have questions or experience registration problems.

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* Note that Group Pass does not include e-reader editions, Premium Crosswords, Times Insider or The New York Times Crosswords apps. Access to archived articles within the date range 1923-1980 is limited to 5 articles per day, but Bentley users also have full, unlimited access to The New York Times articles from this time period via the New York Times Historical database (ProQuest).

Resource of the Month: Congress.gov

Kimberly

As we focus on the current Presidential Election, a Library of Congress blog post, Time to Say Goodbye to Thomas, reminds us to check in on our other branches of government. THOMAS.gov retired on July 5, 2016, and Congress.gov is now the place to go to find out what Congress is doing.

congressgov

The site provides not only information on what Congress has done and is currently doing, but resources for all who want to understand and get involved in the legislative process. Coverage for legislative information includes committee reports and the Congressional Record starting from the 104th Congress and member profiles are available from the 93rd Congress to present. Need a primary source for a history class? A gallery of U. S. Founding Documents provides lots to choose from.

One can easily create a free account to set up alerts tracking particular bills, congressional members, or any aspect of the business of government reported in the Congressional Record.

Help is available:

You can also follow Congress.gov through various social media channels, view the Ways to Connect at the bottom of the landing page.

waystoconnect

 

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Resource of the Month provides a very brief introduction to a useful website or Library database, highlighting key features you should know about. If you would like more information about this free web resource (or any of the library’s databases), please contact us for research assistance. If you would like a demonstration of this resource for a class, please schedule a research instruction class using this form.

Database of the Month – Uniworld Online

Macee

Uniworld Online is an online business directory that began as two print directories: American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries and Foreign Firms Operating in the United States. It provides information on headquarters, subsidiaries, and branches (including retail locations) of multinational firms that have offices in more than one country.

Both public aUniworldnd private companies are included.

Users often turn to Uniworld to locate corporate hierarchy and/or contact information, develop a list of desired companies for job-seeking purposes, generate sales leads, and to find out the location of a company’s worldwide offices.

Search Keys

The search interface is straightforward, with clearly labeled search boxes. Ways of searching include:

  • Keyword
  • Type of company: public or private
  • Hierarchy status: parent, domestic subsidiary or international subsidiary
  • Country: Domestic or international location of headquarters
  • Industry code: NAICS code from 2 to 6 digits
  • Zip/postal code: exact domestic/international code or within a specified radius
  • Other geography: states/provinces within international countries
  • Other business elements: Revenue or number of employees

Search Results

Directory information for American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.
Directory information for American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.

In addition to standard directory information such as address, website, email and telephone numbers, each company entry includes relevant NAICS codes (useful if you’re conducting company or industry research) and, in the case of retailers, information about local branches (listed as subsidiaries).

Save Searches

Uniworld allows you to save searches using the “My Account” feature. Bentley provides a common user account to which searches can be saved, and searches stay in the account until the user deletes them.

Database Help

Uniworld provides a user guide that walks you through using the database. Report samples of Web, PDF and Excel files are also available for viewing.

Connect to this Database

Please visit the Uniworld Online page to start your research. Please note that this resource is available for on-campus users only.

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Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to a database available from the Library’s website, 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 us for research assistance. If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please schedule a research instruction class using this form.