| A Newsletter of the Reference Services Division, Olin·Kroch·Uris Libraries, Cornell University | |
| Vol. 6, No. 4 | Fall 1996 |
On behalf of the Olin·Kroch·Uris Libraries Reference Services Division, I'd like to welcome those of you who are new to Cornell as well as those of you returning from the summer break. While I don't have space here to describe all that we do, I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you a bit about O·K·U Reference and some of the services and programs we offer. Our most visible services are, perhaps, the Reference and Information desks in Olin and Uris Libraries. O·K·U is a large research library complex; the Reference and Information desks are staffed by highly-skilled reference librarians and information assistants whose role it is to help you navigate through this complex and find the information you need quickly and efficiently. Do not hesitate to seek their help. In addition to walk-in service at our desks, the reference librarians are available for in-depth research consultations and assistance by appointment. We also offer reference service via telephone--call 255-4144 for the Olin desk and 255-2339 for the Uris desk--and via e-mail at okuref@cornell.edu.
An integral part of our work, of course, involves the Olin and Uris reference collections. The collections consist of over 50,000 volumes of bibliographies, indexes, encyclopedias, handbooks, and other types of tools. We also provide access to hundreds of databases mounted locally or available through the Internet. In addition to reference materials, the Olin reference collection houses many United States government documents. We also serve as a United Nations Depository Collection and have a research-level collection of UN documents. If you would like to suggest a title for inclusion in the reference collections, contact the Reference Collections Coordinator, Suzy Szasz Palmer, at 255-9493 or sms5@cornell.edu.
O·K·U Reference is also home to the Library's Map Collection. Housed in the Map Room located on the lower level of Olin Library, this is a circulating collection of more than 200,000 maps, atlases, reference books and digital cartographic products. The map librarian and her staff are available to answer your questions and to help you identify and locate pertinent materials. They can help you to interpret cartographic materials, to locate maps for classroom presentations, to verify citations, and to use a variety of digital mapping programs. The map librarian is also available for in-depth research consultations and assistance by appointment. For further information, contact the Map Librarian, Susan Greaves, at 255-9566 or via e-mail at sjg4@cornell.edu.
One of our most important services is instruction. The O·K·U Reference Services Division offers a variety of educational opportunities for students and faculty. Last year, we presented 344 sessions to 4,404 participants. A large number of the classes we teach are for courses offered as part of the Freshman Writing Program. We also offer sessions for upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses. In addition we offer non-course related workshops such as Humanities Resources on the World Wide Web, Introduction to HTML, and Introduction to Nexis. We present these sessions in either our comfortable lecture/demonstration classroom in Olin Library or our state-of-the-art, hands-on Electronic Classroom in Uris Library. To schedule a session, contact our Instruction Coordinator, Mary Ochs, at 255-7148 or via e-mail at mao4@cornell.edu.
As a division, we exist for you, the users of Olin, Kroch, and Uris Libraries. If there is anything we can do to assist you or your students, to make your research more productive, or to develop new programs or services of interest to you, please let us know. Feel free to contact me at 255-3319 or via e-mail at pjc6@cornell.edu . For further information about our programs and services, please inquire at the Olin or Uris Reference desk, the Map Collection, or check the Division's Web site.
Paul Constantine, Division Head
pjc6@cornell.edu
Web Corner: Two New Reference Sources on the Web
Two new reference sources are now available via the World Wide Web--Periodical Contents Index (PCI) and Britannica Online.
PCI indexes the contents of over 1,200 journals in the humanities and social sciences. It is especially useful for historical research, as the indexing begins with the journal’s first issue (some dating as far back as the 1800s) and runs through 1990/1991. The scope is international, including journals in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and other Western languages. Each year new journals are being added to the database; you can preview the complete list of over 3,200 journals identified for inclusion in PCI.
You may search for articles by words or phrases in their titles, author, or journal title and can restrict your search by the language of the article, name of the journal, subject, year of publication, or a range of dates. You can also include or exclude book reviews or search them alone. The database includes citations to articles only; there are no abstracts.
O·K·U Reference has subscribed to PCI Web. It is available as a Bear Access button in both the libraries and the public labs. Users with Cornell "IP addresses" may also access it remotely, either from the Bear Access menu, the O·K·U Reference Home Page, or by going directly to PCI’s URL.
Britannica Online is an electronic version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. It may be searched by keyword or phrases, or may be browsed using their online index as you would a print encyclopedia. You can also frame your search in the form of a question--such as, "Where were the 1992 Winter Olympics held?"--to obtain relevant articles. The database contains the full text of all articles from the most recent print edition of the Britannica, as well as more recent materials not available in print and selected "Britannica Classics"--articles by well-known contributors from past editions of the Britannica.
Cornell has subscribed to Britannica Online which may be found as a link from the CUL Home Page, O·K·U Reference Home Page, or by going directly to the URL. As with PCI, users with Cornell "IP addresses" may also access this resource remotely.
Susan Szasz Palmer, Reference Collections Coordinator
sms5@cornell.edu
Do you have a quick question about a publisher’s address? A president’s birthdate? Need to know who directed The Last Wave or find the call number for a literary magazine in Olin Library? Are you able to wait up to a day or two for an answer? Instead of calling the Reference or Information desk, why not ask us by e-mail?
Sometimes the number of people waiting in person for service at the Olin and Uris Information desks makes it difficult for us to answer telephone queries immediately. But if your question is brief and to the point like the examples given above, and if your need for an answer isn’t urgent, send us your question via campus e-mail to okuref@cornell.edu. We’ll acknowledge it right away, and in most cases we’ll send you an answer within 24 hours (longer if you send us your question over the weekend).
Because more general or in-depth questions require discussion with a librarian to be answered adequately, we encourage library users to ask for research assistance at the Reference desk. E-mail queries related to renewals, recalls, reserve materials and Library Annex requests should be directed to the Access Services Division in Olin at olincirc@cornell.edu, or in Uris at uriscirc@cornell.edu.
Fred Muratori, Reference Librarian
Fred Muratori, Reference Librarian
fmm1@cornell.edu
The Library has expanded the number of linked periodical indexes available for searching by Cornell students, faculty, and staff. Linked periodical indexes are those which list citations to articles in journals--in some cases to books and articles in books--and which provide campus locations and call numbers for those titles which are held by the Library.
To ABI/Inform, Applied Science & Technology Index, Art Index, Biological & Agricultural Index, GeoRef, Index to Legal Periodicals, MEDLINE, Periodical Abstracts, and PsycInfo, the Library has added the following new files:
EconLit - includes articles from books and journals in the field of economics published since 1969.
LABORDOC - cites publications related to labor and employment from 1965 on; the primary resource for identifying publications of the International Labour Office.
Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) - indexes periodical articles, books & conference papers in linguistics since 1973.
MLA Bibliography - the primary resource for literary studies; coverage extends back to 1963.
OSH-ROM - offers detailed information on occupational health and safety, both domestic and worldwide.
PAIS - covering articles in journals and books on a range of subjects such as international affairs and economics, public policy, and political science; its coverage begins in 1972.
POPLINE - contains citations to books and journals in the areas of population, family planning, & related health care, law and policy issues dating back to 1970 (with some older material).
SOCIOFILE - contains abstracts of journal articles in sociology dating back to 1974.
Statistical Abstracts from the A Matter of Fact Database - a textual database presenting abstracts of statistically supported arguments culled from periodical articles, Congressional hearings, and the Congressional Record.
TROPAG & RURAL - covers the literature of agriculture in tropical and sub-tropical regions published from 1975 onwards.
These files are available for searching through the Bear Access menu. Choose Periodical Indexes Linked to Catalog from the Library Resources menu and select the file you want by entering its abbreviation as displayed on the Library Database Selection Menu.
Fred Muratori, Reference Librarian
fmm1@cornell.edu