Refman's World

Sports scores, etc.

2011-09-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

Recently, Google partnered with ESPN and Major League Baseball so that additional information will now show up in search results. For example, current and upcoming games, including scores and TV listings. I think we all know that we have a few customers who frequently call the Call Center looking for this particular information.

Let's say there's a call asking about either NFL scores or TV schedules. Simply perform a search in Google for nfl espn:

In the image above, we see the results of our search. The two most recent games that have already concluded have scores, including links to the right for a recap (news article of game) and the box score (statistics). Future games are listed as well, and include the scheduled game time to the right.

Clicking on the 1:00 PM (ET) link will take you to an ESPN page previewing the game:

Here we can see that the game will take place in New Orleans at the Superdome, and will be televised by FOX at 1:00 PM.

Back on our results page, we see a link at the bottom of the list to show more games:

Clicking on this will expand the list to display the full schedule for the upcoming week:

Similar searches can be performed for Major League Baseball games too.

In Google, search for mlb.com:

The results list will display in a similar fashion as our nfl espn search. Notice that in the image above, the game between the Mets and Nationals is ongoing, as indicated by the bottom 1st link to the right of the listing. The game is 0-0 in the bottom half of the first inning. Games that have not yet started include a link with the scheduled start time; clicking on the link opens a game preview page on mlb.com, along with radio and TV broadcast information:

Hopefully this will make some of those sports questions from our regulars a little bit easier to answer. To find out more information, see Google's Inside Search blog.

Resource Spotlight: Directory of Obsolete Securities

2011-08-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Directory of Obsolete Securities (332.67) This source can be used by investors who are trying to identify old stock certificates (often inherited), with details such as former company names, mergers and final action making it obsolete (example - "each share Common $1 par exchanged for $4.20 cash).

I blogged about some of the print resources for investing information (including the above) in the past, but I thought it might be helpful to have a concrete example of the source in use.

Today in Reference, a customer was searching for stock information in order to help a client who had recently inherited stock in a company. Specifically, he needed to see if Atlantic National Bank had ever ordered a stock split between 1967 and 1985. He needed to calculate his cost basis for the security, which through years of mergers and acquisitions was now Wells Fargo. Fortunately he knew some of the dates and company name changes along the way.

My first thought was that the S&P Stock Guides might be the place to look, since our holdings roughly fit his timeline. Also, because they were organized on a monthly basis, they might more easily show the stock split information instead of having to pouring through the daily stock tables in old Wall St. Journals on microfilm. After he looked at the Guides, he determined that wasn't what he was looking for. That's when the Directory of Obsolete Securities came to mind.

The Directory lists the manner in which the company's stock became obsolete, along with the new name (if applicable) and date of the action. As I said before, the customer knew the basic timeline for the various mergers, and this helped greatly. He knew that Atlantic National Bank had been bought by First Union in the mid-Eighties, which later became Wachovia, which is now Wells Fargo. Our holdings of the Directory are not complete, with a gap from 1978 to 2002. Using the 2002 edition, we were able to locate a listing for Atlantic National Bank (Jacksonville).

As you can see from the listing, there may be multiple companies with the same or similar names, so be sure to check the location. From this entry, we learned that ANB was acquired by Atlantic Bancorporation in 1968, and "public interest eliminated." This means that they were no longer a publicly-traded company, but a private business, which is why the customer couldn't locate them in the S&P Stock Guides. We then looked across the page to the listing for Atlantic Bancorporation.

Eureka! The information that he needed: a 2 for 1 stock split on September 6, 1983. This also confirms his rough timeline, with the name changes to First Union and later, Wachovia.

Update: It turns out that the customer came back later and needed more detailed stock price information for certain days in the late 1960s, in which case he searched the stock tables in the Wall St. Journal microfilm. The point is that searching for old stock information can be a bit like detective work, but with the right tools it might not be that painful. Feel free to thumb through a few pages of the Directory the next time you're roaming in Reference, just to get a feel for the information that's included and how it's organized.

New Items in Reference - 8/15/2011

2011-08-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Library Management Tips That Work (025.1) "is an anthology for public, academic, special, and school librarians looking for successful examples of management when so much is changing in the profession: how to manage staff, time, boards, emergencies, finances, stress, patrons, technology, and related topics day after day with budget and staff cuts," while providing planning guidance and tips on execution.

Working Americans, 1880-2010, vol. XI: Inventors & Entrepreneurs (304.4097309) A biographical series focusing on the economic and social aspects of the lives of working Americans, in this case - inventors and entrepreneurs. The book is divided into sections by decade, with profiles examining subjects' lives at both home and work.

The American Economy: A Historical Encyclopedia, revised ed. (330.973003) Including over 600 short entries, 31 essays and 32 primary sources, the Encyclopedia "has been thoroughly update with information on the accounting scandals of the early 2000s and the recession of 2008, including the government stimulus and bailout programs and the recession's impact on key markets."

New Items in Reference - 6/13/2011

2011-06-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

Breaking News - for those of you who need to be constantly connected to Refman's World - the site has now been optimized for viewing on smart phones!

A Librarian's Guide to an Uncertain Job Market (020.2373) A timely resource just for us, Librarian's Guide deals with the issues that face those who work in libraries during this period of budget-cutting. Includes tips on recession-proofing your present job, dealing with sudden job loss, composing a resume and a job-hunt primer. This will be kept beneath the Reference desk - take a look at it while you're there.

Florida Business Directory, 2011-2012 (338.00294759) A great resource. Published by ReferenceUSA (remember them?), the Florida Business Directory contains over 900,00 businesses, arranged by city, yellow page category, major employers and SIC Code.

The Municipal Year Book, 2011 (352) Issues, trends, resources and statistics for local governments.

Weiss Ratings' Financial Ratings Series (360s - kept in slipcase) Consumer guides for various insurance and financial products, including variable annuities, homeowner's insurance and long-term care insurance.

American Wholesalers and Distributors Directory, 2011 (381.2029473) As the name implies, it's a directory covering nearly 30,000 wholesalers and distributors; geographic and alphabetic index.

The American Heritage Medical Dictionary (610.3) Over 25,000 definitions.

Handbook of United States Coins, 2012 (737.4) Also known as the Official Blue Book; identification and pricing guide for US coins from 1793 to date.

Theatre World, v.66 (792.05) An annual guide and record of the American theatre season.

The Penguin Atlas of World History Volume 1 (911) The only question is will this tome of world history have future volumes or end at the first? (see Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part I)

New Items in Reference - 5/20/2011

2011-05-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

Public Papers of the Presidents: Barack Obama, 2009, v.1 (353.035) The first in a series of volumes that will contain President Obama's papers and speeches that were issued by the Office of the Press Secretary from January 1 through June 30, 2009.

Garner's Modern American Usage, 3rd. ed. (423.1) Covers usage, pronunciation and style.

Directory of Professional Resume Writers (650.142029) Lists Marilyn Feldstein of Jacksonville (http://careerchoicesunlimited.com/index.html) who specializes in the field of career development and offers - among other services - writing resumes for customers (fee-based of course).

Encyclopedia of Literary Romanticism (820.9145) Contains a section of alphabetical entries, a chronology and select bibliography of secondary sources.

New Items in Reference - 5/12/2011

2011-05-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

The following are new and/or updated books in the Reference collection:

CQ Researcher 2010 (300) A good source of information on issues recently in the news. Each issue of CQ Researcher (this edition contains all 2010 issues into one bound item) "opens with an overview of that issue's topic, followed by a discussion of three key questions that drive debate surrounding the topic." In addition to the Opposing Viewpoints database, the CQ Researcher might be a complimentary resource to refer to students working on "pros and cons" papers on topical issues.

Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance, 15th ed. (331.702) Similar to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Besides covering job and industry-specific information, the Encyclopedia contains career guidance information including applications, resumes and interviewing. The previous edition is located in NF and is available for checkout.

Weiss Ratings' Guide to Banks and Thrifts, Summer 2011 (332.1) Ratings and financial data for financial institutions; published quarterly.

SRDS Newspaper Advertising Source, 2011 (338.4) Contains rate-planning information for advertisers on daily papers, newspaper groups, ethnic newspapers, religious newspapers, college newspapers, comics and newspaper-distributed magazines.

Weiss Ratings' Guide to Health Insurers, Summer 2011 (368.382) provides "policyholders and prospective policy purchasers with a reliable source of insurance company ratings and analyses on a timely basis."

American Women of Science Since 1900, 2 vols. (509.2273) Contains biographies on notable American women scientists. Includes an index, listing of disciplines, a chronology, scientists by discipline index and listing of women Nobel Prize winners in the sciences.

Brands and Their Companies, 35th ed. (602.750973) The first volume contains an alphabetical listing of brand names, along with the owning company; the second volume has an alphabetical directory of the company contact information. Located on the Ready Reference shelf.

American Inventors, Entrepreneurs & Business Visionaires, Revised ed. (609.2273) Containing almost 300 biographies of such business leaders as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey, American Inventors attempts to convey "the history of American invention and entrepreneurialism" in one concise volume.

Florida Cruising Directory, 2011-12 (623.892) Includes such useful data for sailors & boaters as tide tables, boat ramp locations, marinas, cruising guides, sketch charts and bridge schedules.

Rand McNally Road Atlas, 2012 (912.7) 3 copies; one located in Call Center, and one each beneath the Ask Here desk in Reference and Non-Fiction.

Business & Career Guidance in FEL

2011-05-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is just to highlight some new eBooks that are available to libraries throughout Florida via the Florida Electronic Library.

To access these (and other) eBooks, go to the Florida Electronic Library.

From the homepage, choose Available Resources and click on View All Resources:

From the alphabetical list of available resources, scroll down to "G" and select Gale Virtual Reference Library:

To access the business titles, click on "Business" in the publication subject listings:

You can choose a particular title by clicking on the hypertext link. If you do not see a title listed, you can search for it by scrolling back to the top and choosing Advanced Search. In this example, I've changed the search field to Publication Title and entered "american buyers":

Articles from American Buyers: Demographics of Shopping will result. To view more information about that title, including a Table of Contents, Index and Illustration Listing, click on the title in the record:

You can then access the other features of the eBook:

When you have free time, explore some of these titles in Florida Electronic Library:

Career Guidance

· A-Z of Careers and Jobs

· IQ and Aptitude Tests

· Ready-made Job Search Letters

· Successful Interviewing and Recruitment

· Ultimate Interview

· Ultimate Job Search

Business Development

· American Buyers: Demographics of Shopping

· Green Property

· The Growing Business Handbook

· How to Understand Business Finance

· Winning New Business

Spotlight on Business Reference - Part 4

2011-02-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

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Mercifully, today we conclude our four part look into the world that is Business Reference.

4) Who is my customer, where are they, and what do they do?

The final area of the core four - consumer/statistical information - can be summed up by the term demographics. This also encompasses business statistics, consumer research, marketing and advertising.

Demographics and Statistics

DemographicsNow (online database) The number one place to go for demographics and statistics. The database is fairly easy to use - choose a geographic limiter (or limiters - you can compare up to 16 different locations) and then choose a report package to create - that's it, and you're done. Besides the standard geographic descriptions, you can also compare locations by drive time or custom radii.
DemographicsNow Tutorial

University of Michigan's Government Documents Center (Web) A wonderful site full of statistics, divided into categories like Agriculture, Business & Industry, Foreign Trade, Education,
Statistical Abstract (Web) is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. We also have the print version located on the ready reference shelf.
U.S. Census Bureau: Statistics of U.S. Businesses (Web) that provides national and state-level data on numbers of businesses and employees, broken out by industry.
Sourcebook of ZIP Code Demographics (304.6) the 23rd edition has statistical information - including households, income, race and income - organized by ZIP and by state.
Statistical Yearbook (310.58) We no longer receive this title (last rec'd. 2006), but it contains international production statistics; may be consulted for historical data.
Demographic Yearbook (312.025) Same as above.
Florida Statistical Abstract (317.59) Similar to the Federal version, but with a limited to state of Florida statistics; kept at the ready reference shelf.
Quality of Life Progress Report (317.5912) This JCCI publication should not be overlooked, as it contains some local demographic and statistical information.
The CRB Commodity Yearbook (338.973) Contains industrial production statistics by commodity type (aluminum, coffee, hogs, tobacco, etc.). No longer received, so should be consulted for historical data only.

Marketing & Advertising

SRDS Newspaper Advertising Source (338.4) The various guides provide media rates and related data for advertisers, and lists rates, editorial content and circulation statistics for a variety of media which are selling space.
SRDS Consumer Media Advertising Source (659.1)
SRDS Business Media Advertising Source (659.132058)
LexisNexis Advertising Red Books (659.1058)
nota bene - these items were formally housed on the Investment Resources shelf, but have been returned to their respective Dewey areas.

5a) [unofficially] I want to start a business.

I need help with my current business.

What part of core four do you not understand?

Obviously, the core four is only a general guideline, as we do get questions about anything (as Call Center veterans are reminded hourly). With that in mind, I'd add another area that we are asked about quite often: information about small businesses and entrepreneurship.

This is an area that we just don't have a lot of resources in Reference for - at least of the print variety. The 658 area had some dated and incomplete sets, and so has been largely purged. That is not to say that other sources - such as statistics and marketing information - cannot help those seeking small business help, but most customers should be directed to our NF resources and databases regarding entrepreneurship.

Probably the best bet will be the Small Business Resource Center (SBRC) and the previously mentioned DemographicsNow. SBRC is great because it contains the electronic version of Gale's Encyclopedia of Business Plans (one of the aforementioned incomplete sets that was removed), which lets customers see actual business plans from real companies. Another great feature are the quick link buttons, which take customers to browseable lists of frequently asked about small business topics, types of businesses, business plans and important "how to's" regarding entrepreneurship. A fifth quick link takes customers out of SBRC and into Gale's Legal Forms Database. A keyword search for "small business" yields over 230 business-related legal forms.
SBRC Tutorial
Legal Forms Tutorial

And though not located in Reference, we have a tremendous amount of materials in the Non-Fiction collection (primarily Dewey 658) that can be checked out by customers. **And if you're taking anyone to that area, be sure to point out the SBA Program fliers on display [658.022 shelf] when workshops are scheduled (usually in April and October, though we may add more if there is a demand).**

5b) Hey, I'm at the desk, and I'm still not comfortable using the resources.

Finally, we also have books designed specifically for staff, helping guide us through the myriad business and investing reference resources. Besides the following three titles, I'm working on getting a few ALA guides for librarians ordered too.

Guides to Business/Investing Information

Strauss's Handbook of Business Information (016.33) Section One covers business information and its various modes of availability (directories, periodicals, loose-leaf, etc.); Section Two looks at specific topics, including finance, marketing, investment and insurance.
Source: The Complete Guide to Investment Information (332.603) This guide explains how key investment ratios (P/E, yield, etc.) are calculated, explains warrants & options, and mutual funds. With a publication date of 1999 it is dated, but can be a source for understanding what sort of data customers are looking for and how they might use it.
Industry Research Using the Economic Census (338.0973) Designed to be a handbook for the Economic Census mentioned in the post about industry information, Industry Research explains Census concepts and methods, and helps users located data.

That's all folks. Hopefully this series has helped you to have a little better understanding of the basic business reference questions that are asked, and where to go for the answers. For more information about the core four - or business reference in general - I highly recommend Celia Ross' Business Reference 101 class (via RUSA) the next time it is offered.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. Feel free to stop by anytime to chat about these and other topics - my cubicle has no door (at least I have a window).

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Spotlight on Business Reference - Part 3

2011-02-24T10:05:00.000-08:00

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Enough about industries and NAICS and SIC codes. Let's talk stocks and bonds!

3) How can I find out more about company x's stock?

Investing information is sought after regularly by our customers, both in-person and in the Call Center. Though most of the information needed is of the current variety (or even the future, as is the case with options contracts), historical data is sometimes needed too, when estates or amended tax returns are concerned. Most of our resources on this topic are housed in the Investment Resources shelf near the current periodicals, though searching online is sometimes the most efficient option.

Business & Company Resource Center's Financial Tab contains a wealth of information that would be helpful to a customer doing investment research. For a given company, you can find income statement, balance sheet, cash flow and investment ratio information on an annual or interim basis, from current back to the last six periods. The Financials Dashboard tab contains current stock prices and charts, along with important news stories affecting the company. BCRC Tutorial (Financial Tab)
LexisNexis Library Express (online database) also has a stock chart and brief financial data on its snapshot page in company profiles. Search by company name or ticker symbol in Get Company Info.
Google Finance (Web) This is a useful site for getting current or historical stock prices, and especially for finding a particular company's option chain. Visit the wayback machine to review finding option chain information in Google Finance.
Big Charts (Web) Bought by MarketWatch, Big Charts is still a good place to find current and historical stock prices also, though the option chain information is a bit more cumbersome than Google Finance.
Bondsonline.com(Web) Though not asked for as often as stocks, bond information - corporate, municipal and treasuries - can be found at this website.
Morningstar Mutual Funds (Investment Resources) Long considered the top source of mutual fund ratings and information. Funds are rated on a five-star rating system (5 is the highest) in a variety of areas.
Value Line Investment Survey (Investment Resources) The individual stock counterpart of the Morningstar Ratings, the Value Line Investment Survey rates stocks on a scale of 1 to 3 (one is highest) on timeliness, safety and technical factors. Each week's report focuses on stocks from a particular segment (ex.- pharmaceutical stocks) and gives a brief overview and outlook for that industry, followed by the individual reports in alphabetical order.
Value Line Mutual Fund Survey (Investment Resources)
S & P's Stock Reports (Investment Resources) Published semi-monthly, the Stock Reports offer detailed reports on almost 2,000 publicly-traded companies. Features include an overview with business description & product commentary, income statements & balance sheet, dividend and stock price range. More current data can be found online, and the Value Line Investment Survey has more timely ratings.
S & P's Stock Guide (Investment Resources) This is offers more comprehensive (7,000 companies) coverage, less detailed look at stocks, including dividend yield, brief balance sheet, market capitalization (price x outstanding shares), last five annual earnings statistics, P/E (price to earnings ratio) and stock price.
S & P's Bond Guide (Investment Resources) Similar to the Stock Guide, except with bonds. Lists corporate bonds' balance sheet information, price range, yield and rating.
Bond Tables of Probable Future Returns (332.6323) An evaluation tool for investors, Bond Tables provides information as to the mathematical likelihood of a bond's future price direction for specific probabilities.
Wall Street Journal (microfilm & online database) The WSJ can also be used to determine prices of stocks on various dates.

Obscure & Obsolete Stocks

National Quotation Service (Investment Resources) Also known as the "pink sheets," these pink-colored volumes contain stock pricing information for "penny stocks," or those smaller capitalization companies that are not offered on the major markets (NYSE, AMEX) but are instead listed over-the-counter via dealers. We are no longer receiving this title, but it can be consulted for historical prices.

Robert D. Fisher Manual of Valuable and Worthless Securities (332.632) This multi-volume set includes information on over 750,000 companies that "have been reorganized, merged, liquidated, dissolved, or which have forfeited their charters for failure to pay taxes, etc." Covers companies from the mid-1920s to early 1940s; not used that often, but in case it is, you'll know where to look.

Stock Values and Dividends for (date) Purposes (332.6322) Holdings include 1965 to 1996. This is historical data that can be used for finding stock prices & dividend information for the close of business of the previous year (ex. - the 1996 edition contains prices as of close of business 1995)

Walker's Manual of Unlisted Stocks (332.6322) and Walker's Manual of Penny Stocks (332.63223) can be used for historical data on tiny, low-priced, small-cap stocks.

Directory of Obsolete Securities (332.67) This source can be used by investors who are trying to identify old stock certificates (often inherited), with details such as former company names, mergers and final action making it obsolete (example - "each share Common $1 par exchanged for $4.20 cash).

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Spotlight on Business Reference - Part 2

2011-02-23T07:12:00.000-08:00

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Yesterday we talked about finding company information. Let's take a look at industry information.

2) "I'm looking for information on x industry".

The databases are a good place to start here, but we also have print sources and government web sites that also have lots of industry information and analysis too, so keep that in mind.

Industry Information

Business & Company Resource Center (online database) mentioned above, but it's worth pointing out that you can perform searches by industry, with a built-in NAICS and SIC code lookup feature. It's sources include the electronic versions of Gale's Encyclopedia of Global Industries, Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries and Encyclopedia of American Industries, among others.

Gale Power Search (online database) Includes full-text coverage (1983-current) to Industry Week, and much more. Simply perform a publication search using the keyword industry to find industry-specific journal titles (Beverage Industry, Farm Industry News, etc.).

U.S. Census Bureau: Current Industrial Reports (Web) Find data on production and shipments of selected manufactured products as reported by the Manufacturing, Mining and Construction Statistics division of the Census.

Bizstats (Web) This is a free site that has business ratios for various industries. This is a good alternative for the RMA Annual Statement Studies (the bible for business ratios - our copy is dated and may be put back on standing order). For more information on business ratios, click HERE.

Encyclopedia of Global Industries (338.003) The 3 Gale Encyclopedias of ...Industries are included in the Business & Company Resource Center, but it's good to know where the print versions are located.

Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries (338.003) Covers new industries, such as Blogging, Digital Mapping and Extreme Sports.

Hoover's Handbook of Industry Profiles (338.03) Over 300 industries are covered; profiles include industry overview, competitive landscape and products, operations and technology sections.

Encyclopedia of American Industries (338.097303) Detailed reports covering every industry included in the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system.

S & P Industry Surveys (Investment Resources shelf) Formerly, these came in smaller, industry-specific reports. Now, the Industry Surveys are two large volumes that arrive monthly. Included with each report is a current environment survey, industry profile, industry trends and comparative analysis.

Tomorrow, we're on to investment information sources.
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Spotlight on Business Reference - Part 1

2011-02-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

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A customer has entered the Reference department, spies the Ask Here desk, and makes their way over to ask you a question - a business reference question.

What do you do?

Exactly. Pretend like you didn't hear them, avoid eye contact and hope that they wander over to Fiction or something.

Unfortunately, they'll probably still be standing there when you finally look up again. And most likely, they will have asked you a question that roughly falls into one of four categories, known throughout the business reference industry as the Core Four.

The Core Four consists of

Company Information
Industry Information
Investing/Financial Information
Statistical/Consumer Information

Now I don't know about everyone else, but sometimes when I think about our business resources in reference, I get a little overwhelmed. Sure, there are only a few things in 658, but unfortunately the topic is spread around a bit more than that, covering several Dewey areas (338 - Economics - Production, 380s - Commerce and 658 - General Management). Knowing all of that and keeping the Core Four in mind, I set about to organize our resources* by type so that I could have a better understanding of what we have, what it's for and where it's located. And just maybe, you'll find this information helpful too.

1) "I need information on company x".

Of course, "company information" could mean many different things, but generally speaking, this is a request for basic information that is usually found in a profile - contact info., executives, overview, etc. - and can be found in most business directories.

Business Directories (International, National, State, Local & Chamber of Commerce)

International Directories

Business & Company Resource Center (Online Database) Contains thousands of company profiles (worldwide), global business intelligence reports and corporate parent/sibling relationships.

LexisNexis Library Express (Online Database) Covering 43 million companies, LexisNexis' Company Dossier and Company Profiles modules provide company information and customizable company lists.

Thomas Register (Web) Great for "who makes what" questions, especially when the company in question is a manufacturer or distributor. Covers the United States and Canada, and can be filtered by state/province.

Hoover's (Web) To get all of what Hoover's has to offer, you must be a subscriber. However, a good deal of company information can be gleaned from the free section too. Mostly national, but does contain international companies.

Hoover's Handbook of World Business (338.74025) Includes company profiles of over 300 of the most influential global enterprises.
International Directory of Company Histories (338.7409) Lots of worldwide companies are listed, giving detailed company information, including corporate history. This source is also included in the Business & Company Resource Center.
LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations (338.802573) Our copy is now dated, and its content should be covered in LexisNexis Library Express database; could be consulted if the electricity is out.
D & B Principal International Business (380.1025) This is "a world marketing directory presenting up-to-date information on approximately 50,000 leading enterprises throughout the world." Organized by geography, industry classification and alphabetically.

National Directories

Business & Company Resource Center (Online Database) See above section.

LexisNexis Library Express (Online Database)

Thomas Register (Web)

Hoover's (Web)

Hoover's Masterlist of US Companies (338) Like Corporate Affiliations listed above, this is a good source that unfortunately we own an older edition of. Includes both public and private companies, but until we can get an updated volume, try other sources.
Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies (338.7402573) Sometimes difficult to find, this volume contains information on private companies, mutuals and cooperatives, not-for-profits, joint ventures, partnerships, universities, government-owned corporations and other organizations (Texas Lottery Commission, etc.)
D & B Million Dollar Directory (338.740973) Contains information on top companies (public and private) meeting the following criteria: a) more than 180 employees at single location (900 if company is a branch); and b) greater than $9,000,000 in sales volume. The first 3 volumes are arranged by business name alphabetically, while the last two volumes are organized by geography and SIC codes.
D & B Directory of Service Companies (338.761) Focuses on companies that are specifically based in the service industry (as opposed to manufacturing), as defined by the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes 70-81, 83, 87 and 89.
LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations (338.802573) see section above.
S & P's Register of Corporations (339.058) Covers over 70,000 corporations, with an emphasis on personnel information, with the names and titles of over 400,000 executives and over 70,000 biographical sketches of upper management. Volume 1 is arranged alphabetically by company name, and Volume 2 contains an alphabetical listing of officers and executives by name. Also includes 6 indices.
American Wholesalers & Distributors Directory (381.2029473) Like D & B's Directory of Service Companies, this niche directory focuses on a segment of business, this time wholesalers and distributors. Includes small and large, public and private companies (nearly 29,000).
Headquarters USA (384.602573) Contains listings for over 113,000 businesses located in the U.S. Important note - sometimes toll-free numbers for companies are hard to come by, but this set contains over 45,000 listings with such numbers. Organized alphabetically by both name and subject.
Brands and Their Companies (602.750973) This is a great source when you're trying to find company information when you only have a brand or product name. For example, someone trying to "contact Kleenex" really needs to speak with someone at the Kimberly-Clark corporation. Over 350,000 consumer brands are included. The first volume contains the brands by alphabet, while companies are listed alphabetically in volume 2. ** The Business and Company Resource Center can also be used to search by product (advanced search).

Florida Directories

Florida Business Directory
Harris Florida Manufacturers Directory (338.00294759) One volume arranged by geography, SIC code, alphabetically by business name, by product and includes an all-in-one index. Companies listed alphabetically in the geographic section have a sequential number (G-xxxx) which is then used for cross-referencing in the other sections.

Jacksonville/Regional Directories

D & B Regional Business Directory (338.74025759) Includes company information for the Jacksonville/Orlando region. UPDATE - CANCELLED AS OF MARCH 2011

Other

World Chamber of Commerce Directory (381.06) As the name implies, if you're looking for a chamber of commerce somewhere on this planet, use this.

That's it for the first of the core four. Look for the next exciting installment soon.

*This is meant to be an overview - not an comprehensive survey of our collection - and a place to start your own review of business materials.

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Google Art Project

2011-02-12T05:54:00.000-08:00

The Google Art Project is a pretty cool site. Well-known works of over 400 artists in museums worldwide have been photographed with super high resolution cameras, allowing users to zoom in to the brushwork level to view details not normally seen by looking at a picture of the painting in a book. I haven't had a chance to explore it too much yet, but it might prove to be a useful tool in our art reference kit. Check it out.

More information about the project from the Google Blog

Here is a behind-the-scenes look at how the site was created:

New Items in Reference - 2/12/2011

2011-02-12T05:33:00.000-08:00

America's Top Rated Cities: A Statistical Handbook, 2010, 7th ed. (307.76) is a "concise, statistical, 4-volume work identifying America's top-rated cities with populations over 100,000." Each volume features one of four geographic regions (South, Central, West, and East), and provide a narrative background, rankings, statistical tables and appendices (more lists, tables and rankings).

Almanac of Architecture & Design, 2011, 12th ed. (720.05) contains architecture and design firms' directory information, company profiles & rankings, award winners and a chapter on green design. Includes indexes by name and site.

UNF's Small Business Development Center

2011-02-09T07:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Mark and I were able to visit with the staff of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of North Florida (UNF). Our goals were to learn a little bit more about what they are all about, and to also share with them the types of business-related resources and services that we offer here at JPL.

We were pleasantly surprised to learn that they already have a fair knowledge of our holdings, and in fact refer clients to the Library often (unless their clients are students, they are unable to use the library at UNF so JPL is a great option). They were also very intrigued by our databases, in particular the Small Business Resource Center and DemographicsNow, which they think can be helpful to them and also to recommend to their clients.

The SBDC is funded by the Small Business Administration (SBA), and receives support from UNF and private organizations as well. In addition to the UNF location they have offices in downtown Jacksonville, in Gainesville and Ocala, and serve 18 counties in the region (this is where our e-card comes in handy). The staff is comprised of certified business analysts who offer workshops (both face-to-face and webinars) and counseling services, including business plan assistance and reviewing strategic business processes with potential and existing entrepreneurs. And even though their focus is primarily on for-profit businesses, they also offer workshops for non-profit organizations.

SBDC director Janice Donaldson welcomes referrals for their services, so this is an organization that we should keep in mind when dealing with customers who are looking to start a business, or need help with their existing operation. Please note that while counseling services are free, most of the workshops that they offer are fee-based.

New Items in Reference - 1/27/2011

2011-01-27T07:30:00.000-08:00

Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary (394.26) -- "includes over 3,000 holidays, festivals, commemorations, holy days, feasts and fasts, and other observances from all parts of the world." It is organized alphabetically by name of holiday, includes 13 informative appendices, and chronological, special subject, and general indexes.

This title - along with Chase's Calendar of Events (394.2) - may be a helpful resource when it comes to creating displays and specialized programming.

A couple of other items from JCCI have been placed beneath the Ref desk:

Quality of Life Progress Report for Jacksonville and Northeast Florida, 2010, 26th ed. -- The nation's longest-standing community quality of life survey, Quality of Life is a "yardstick for community improvement" designed to help civic and community organizations in planning policies and evaluating the outcomes.

Race Relations Progress Report for Jacksonville, Florida, 2010, 6th ed. -- Race Relations serves as a "report card for measuring our progress in reducing - and eventually eliminating - race-based disparities. Similar to Quality of Life, the study acts as a planning and evaluation tool for government and civic leaders.

New Items in Reference - 1/14/2011

2011-01-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

Descriptionary: A Thematic Dictionary (423.12)--Sort of a reverse dictionary, Descriptionary uses descriptive synonyms of words to help you find the word that you are thinking of, or--as in the words of the publisher--you are "tempted to use words such as watchamacallit, thingamajig, or doohickey."

Oxford Atlas of the World (912)--includes not just maps with the latest satellite imagery, but also topics such as world food supply, world statistics tables and an updated Gazetteer of Nations, with country profiles.

Historical Dictionary of the Holocaust, 2nd ed. (940.531803)--includes updated chronology, introductory essay, bibliography, "and more than 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant events, personalities, issues, and films & literature."

New Items in Reference 1/10/11

2011-01-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

The United States Navy (359.00973)--a chronology of important naval events from 1775 to 2010.

Weiss Ratings' "Financial Ratings Series" (various 360s - kept in a princeton file at end of shelf)-- titles include consumer guides to issues such as long-term care insurance, homeowners insurance, variable annuities, term life insurance and Medicare prescription drug coverage.

Graduate & Professional Programs, 2011, 6 vol. (378.1553)--offers comprehensive information on graduate programs at over 2,300 colleges and universities. The 2010 edition is available for customers to checkout in Non-fiction.

Official ABMS Directory, 2011, 43rd. ed., 3 vol. (610.25)--a listing of board-certified specialists by geographic location; includes contact information and certifications & degrees.

Physicians' Desk Reference [PDR], 2011, 65th ed. (615.058)--includes prescribing information and FDA labels for pharmaceutical products.

"New features for this edition include color-coded indices (designated with white, pink, or blue pages at the front of the book), and a Generic/Brand Cross Reference Table in Section 2, which can help you quickly locate the brand names associated with specific active ingredients as well as the associated product indications. In addition, manufacturer-supplied information on dietary supplements is now listed separately in Section 6."

Who's Who In American Art, 2011, 31st. ed. (759.13)--includes over 400 new entries.

The International Who's Who, 2011, 74th. ed. (920)

Finding Option Chains in Google Finance

2010-12-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry that it's been so long in between postings - I've been playing the part of Shiftman and Bizman more than Refman lately.

Now, if you're like me, finding the option chain information for "Mr. Bigcharts" can be a bit difficult at times. And even once you find it, it's not always presented in an easy-to-read format, especially when the customer is looking for future option expiration dates.

However, I may have stumbled upon a better, well, option.

While exploring Google Finance the other day, the term "option chain" in the left sidebar caught my eye. Sure enough, you can now find option chains while in Google.

First, go to Google Finance. If you can remember the URL, you can type in finance.google.com and go directly there. Or from the main Google search page, click on the "more" dropdown menu from the toolbar:

Once the menu drops down, select "finance."

From the Google Finance main page, type in the stock symbol - in this case AAPL for Apple - and press enter or click "get quotes:"

The main stock screen for aapl will then be displayed, featuring current pricing, charts and news items. From the left sidebar, click "option chain:"

You will then see the option chain for your selected stock. To my eyes, it's a bit easier to find and to read than in Bigcharts. Right above the option chain is another dropdown menu for changing the view by expiration date:

Give it a try the next time "Mr. Bigcharts" calls.

Finally! - The Nook is Operable

2010-12-20T05:53:00.000-08:00

I was recently fortunate enough to come into possession of a Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader device, and for that I'm grateful. However - as those of you who frequently use our website are well aware - figuring out how to get Overdrive books onto it to read was a struggle.

Though a book bought from B&N could be read on the device, books that I downloaded from Overdrive could be read on my computer and transferred to the Nook, but not read from there. I kept getting the error message "user not activated." Well, I had a B&N account, an Overdrive account and an Adobe ID (more on that later), so it didn't make any sense.

So, as best I can tell, you should do the following:

Download Adobe Digital Editions (this is the software that allows one to download DRM-protected materials and transfer the files to e-readers)
Get an Adobe ID
Authorize Adobe Digital Editions
Plug Nook into computer to activate the device in Adobe Digital Editions
Use Overdrive to download books to e-reader

Now, I understand that these are not the clearest instructions, but I'm still not totally confident in knowing how the thing works anyway. That's why we have the Internet.

Thankfully, there are some competent people out there who have figured things out and are willing to share their tips and tricks. I found the blog Pigs, Gourds, and Wikis, which had nice instructions on how to actually download a book from Overdrive to a Nook (I found these to be better than the FAQs on our Overdrive site). Her blog post helped, but I was still having some issues, so another google search led me to Nookboards.com's forums, where I found that someone else had the exact same problem that I was experiencing, along with a suggested solution (it worked!).

So bottom line - if you come into an e-reader this Christmas and you run into problems, I may be able to assist, though I wouldn't hesitate to tap into the wealth of (possibly) helpful information that can be found online too - it can't hurt to get a second opinion (or more).

Yarrr, me sea rats 'n winsome lassies - th' new books be in!

2010-09-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

International Literary Market Place 2011 (070.50254 International)

Dictionary of the Bible, 2nd ed. (220.3 Dictionary)

The Statesman's Yearbook 2011 (305 Statesman)

TheStreet Ratings' Guide to Stock Mutual Funds (332 TheStreet)

And, probably the most important reference item we've received in years:

Pirates of the Americas (910.45 Marley, 2 volumes!!) Resplendent with its color reproduction of the great Howard Pyle's illustration of Captain Kidd from The Ruby of Kishmoor (nice, but I might have gone with another of his paintings, or something from N.C. Wyeth's illustrations from 1911 edition of Treasure Island), Pirates of the Americas "offers hundreds of entries on the most famous - and infamous - buccaneers of the 1600s and 1700s, separating fact from fancy as it describes the men, their exploits, and the era in which they prowled the seas of North and Central America."

Includes more than 500 alphabetical entries; brief chronological timeline of events at the end of each volume; 48 images of ships, harbors and maps; select bibliography and glossary at the end of each volume; and a comprehensive index.

Enjoy, me hearties.

Proctor, Proctor - give me the news!....

2010-09-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

Call Center customer: "Do you [JPL] provide proctoring services?"

(Ever since this question came to me in the call center, I've had Robert Palmer's Bad Case of Lovin' You stuck in my head, but I digress.)

Of course, the answer is "no, we most certainly do not," but then I'm never sure where to refer the customer who is looking for proctoring services.

It just so happens that the National College Tester Center provides a free referral service through their Consortium of College Testing Centers, primarily to facilitate distance learning. There are two members in our area:

Note: Both sites offer proctoring by appointment-only, and are fee-based.

If you find other local sources, feel free to list them in the "comments."

New Item in Reference - 9/7/2010

2010-09-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

Just an FYI --

The 2010 Official Florida Driver's Handbook has been "added" to Reference. It was left on a table unclaimed, so it was absorbed into our collection. It has not been given a barcode or added to Workflows, but it has been labeled and will be kept beneath the desk with our other local services periodicals.

And I Thought There Were A Lot Of Books in Pre-shelving!

2010-09-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

This has nothing to do with reference, but I though this bit of trivia was interesting. Using an algorithm that crunches numbers from libraries, national union catalogs and WorldCat, Google estimates that there are over 129 million books in existence!

I'll try to remember this the next time I'm routing in books in Call Center and convince myself that things could be worse.

Photo from La Gatera de Beguemot.

Ask A Librarian

2010-09-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hello! If you're not one of my dozen or so regular readers who have this blog's URL emailed to them and have stumbled upon this site as you travel through Googledom, welcome!

I'm not sure what keywords brought you here - information on referees or Airplane movie quotes - but I'm glad you stopped by. You look like you might be interested in the Ask A Librarian remote reference service. Got a question? We'll help you find the answer!

For a demo of how the Ask A Librarian service works, click here: http://info.askalibrarian.org/demo/

To access the service, simply follow this link: http://www.askalibrarian.org/jpl

We hope to hear from you soon - thanks for dropping in!

New Items in Reference - 8/11/2010

2010-08-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

American Library Directory, 63rd ed. (027)

Weiss Ratings' Guide to Property and Casualty Insurers, Summer 2010 (368.006573)

The Handbook of Private Schools, 2010/2011 (370)

Protecting Your Home and Property From Flood Damage: Mitigation Ideas for Reducing Flood Loss (693.892 Located on the Infodesk Shelf) Produced by FEMA, this resource covers risk assessment, prevention techniques and flood insurance.

The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 40th ed. (741.50973)

Schroeder's Antiques Price Guide, 2011 (745.1075)

The Real Yellow Pages: Some Are More Yellow Than Others

2010-08-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Just an FYI about the new phone books (the new phone books are here! the new phone books are here!):

Apparently, the business white pages, along with the outlying areas' (Beaches, Maxville, Orange Park, Yulee, etc.) residential white pages are both located in the front of the new Yellow Pages. Conveniently, they are still white as to differentiate those sections from the yellow subject pages. Also, the blue pages (government listings) are located in the Yellow Pages as well, though they are also white with blue edges. The new slimmed-down White Pages contain Jacksonville residential numbers only.

National Fire and Electrical Codes Reminder

2010-07-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

Occasionally customers will ask for either the National Electric Code or the NFPA 1 Uniform Fire Code, both of which are located in Reference. However, in the event that the item being requested is in use or otherwise shelved incorrectly and cannot be found, customers have the choice of viewing the codes online at NFPA's site.

According to the site:

As part of its commitment to enhancing public safety through the adoption and enforcement of key ANSI codes and standards, NFPA is making all of its codes and standards available for review online by the public.
"On-demand review of NFPA's consensus documents conveniently places important safety information on the desktops of traditional users as well as others who have a keen interest," said NFPA President James M. Shannon. "NFPA is committed to serving the public's increasing interest in technical information, and online access to these key codes is a valuable resource."

To review NFPA's codes and standards online:

Visit NFPA's Document Information
Select the document you want to review.
On the Document Information tab, scroll down to the heading "View the document online (read only)" and click on the link "view xxxx edition online". Note: you will be asked to "sign-in" on NFPA's Web site in order to view the document online.

Refman will return July 12

2010-06-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, I'm celebrating my own Summer of George.

New Items in Reference - 6/7/2010

2010-06-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

Not much to report, except I will point out that we received the latest editions of the TheStreet.com Ratings Consumer Guides to various topics, including variable annuities, life insurance, medicare prescription drug coverage, homeowner's insurance and long-term care insurance. They contain unbiased information and recommendations, along with helpful planners in each guide.

Although these guides are cataloged throughout the Dewey 360s, they are kept together in the binder (pictured to the left) at the end of that shelving range.

Just For Us!

We also received an ALA publication, Boomers and Beyond: Reconsidering the Role of Libraries. Targeting professional librarians and associates, the book "challenge[s] librarians and others to explore the implications of extended adulthood on professional practice." The editors hope that their work will "serve as a text for library education," offer "opportunities for individual enrichment and professional development," and serve as a resource "for institutional and service planning" to enable libraries to adapt their services for older users.

Public Library Catalog

2010-05-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

Among my many laborious tasks and duties, I am a member of the Collection Development Advisory Council. Recently, as a member of said council, I have been reviewing our Collection Development Policy, as it has been in existence for five years now and may be in need of revision in some areas. In doing so, I discovered a neglected reference source that may be of some value to you while performing collection management (weeding) in your assigned Dewey area(s): The Public Library Catalog.

"JAXCAT? Seriously? Why the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks would randomly scrolling through a list of books that we own, help me determine which books that we should own? Refman is an idiot!"

Thank you Anonymous Commentator, for questioning my intelligence - I'll eventually find out who you are! I may in fact be an idiot, but you'll have to use different evidence.

I do not refer to our OPAC of course, but rather the book The Public Library Catalog and it's various supplements (REF 017.1 Public). The Catalog "lists non-fiction books published in the United States, or published in Canada or the United Kingdom and distributed in the United States" and is intended to highlight recommended reference items within topics, subjects or fields of interest. It is arranged by Dewey classification, and includes "complete bibliographic data and descriptive and critical annotations" to help you make informed decisions when weeding and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your assigned area.

Be sure to give it a look before it gets weeded - unfortunately the editors neglected to list their own book.

New Google Search Features

2010-05-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

Let's say someone just happens to call and ask about the birthdate of a particular actor who played Matt Dillon in the TV series Gunsmoke, that is currently airing on TV Land. I know, that's crazy - nobody would ever call and ask about that!

Anyway, Google is now using Squared technology in their regular searches, helping to find the answers to brief, factual questions (sound familiar?). For example, if we search in Google for the answer to the question above, we would search for James Arness date of birth.

The results list will look like this:

Instead of a clickable link, at the top of the results list we find the answer to our query in bold print. By expanding the Show Sources link, you can see several different sources for the answer, which is May 26, 1923. This lets you choose from multiple sources to verify the answer quickly:

However, as with most reference work - let the searcher beware. Though this new feature can be useful, it can also be inaccurate. Trust, but verify. Also, similarly phrased searches as the example we used above may or may not list an answer with sources at the top of the results list. Like all search engine indexing, it is a never-ending work in progress. However, in the course of preparing this post I did find that one of my sample searches had been changed hours later. I tried a search for prime minister of united kindgom, only to initially find a bolded result listing Tony Blair as the answer. Whoops! A few hours later, I was unable to replicate that same result with that search. It could be a case where someone searching and finding the same result used the Feedback button (listed above Show Sources) to alert Google of potential errors.

Read more about this feature on The Official Google Blog.

Resource Spotlight: Business Index ASAP

2010-05-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

As part of InfoTrac's database lineup, Business Index ASAP provides bibliographic references, abstracts or full text of articles from more than 800 business, management, and trade publications, covering topics such as banking, investment, companies, industries and new technologies and products.

If you've ever used any of InfoTrac's databases, Business Index ASAP will look familiar to you, and it has many of the same features.

In the picture above, we see the default search screen, which is keyword search. On the left sidebar, you'll notice that there are links to the five different types of searches that you can perform: Subject guide, Relevance, Keyword, Advanced and Journal Search. There is also a start over function which will clear all inputs and previous searches.

Below the search field, there are limiting options, that allow you to refine your search to full text or refereed journals only, and by date.

Let's take a look at a subject guide search:

In the sample search above, I've chosen to search for precious metals. In a subject guide search, it is best to use only one or two words if possible. Note: the word and is ignored, and or and not are treated as logical operators and will result in a keyword search being performed.

If the search is successful, a subject guide will appear:

From the subject guide, we see more options. You can view 3,057 articles about the subject precious metals, or choose see also for related subjects. You can also refine the subject search by choosing narrow to see subdivisions within the subject heading.

Let's narrow precious metals by subdivision:

In this example, we'll choose consumption data to view the article:

In the body of the article, our subject - precious metals - is highlighted in red. This allows you to scan through your chosen article to quickly find your search terms to see if the content is relevant to your query. Just to the left of the article's citation is a check-box which allows the user to mark an article. Articles and searches can be marked to create a list that can be retrieved later, and either printed or e-mailed. On the left sidebar, you'll notice several options for viewing or distributing the article: print, e-mail or view a list of current marked items.

Another way to find items in Business Index ASAP is to use the relevance search function.

While keyword searches look for search terms as long as they appear at least once within an article, performing a relevance search will assign articles a higher relevancy score when they contain terms more often, or when they contain terms that are found in relatively few other articles. In short, the results should be more unique, or relevant, to the user's search query.

An important thing to remember when performing a relevance search is that boolean operators cannot be used. Instead, punctuation and symbols are used to denote and, or and not in the search field. For example, if you want to search for a phrase you would use quotation marks: "miami dolphins." To find articles that must include a given word, use the plus (+) sign: +commodities would include the term commodities in the search. Alternatively, use the minus (-) sign to signal the search engine to find article that do not contain a given term: -management would find articles that do not contain the term management.

To search for a specific journal, use the journal search. Unlike JAXCAT, you may leave in stop words such as a and the, since InfoTrac can still perform the search while ignoring those terms. Let's find Harvard Business Review, shall we?

First, type the title into the journal search field and click "search." From the results list, click on the title link. This will take you to a page with individual issues from the available years archived in the database:

Choose the appropriate year, then select a particular issue. Then you will see a list of all available articles for that issue:

Feel free to give Business Index ASAP a spin when you get some free time. It can be particularly helpful for customers who are looking for articles dealing with banking, investment and management issues.

New Items in Reference - 4/26/2010

2010-04-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

The Readers' Advisory Handbook (024.54)

Public Library Services For the Poor (027.6)

Political Handbook of the World, 2010 (320.904)

2010 The Municipal Year Book (532)

City of Jacksonville, Florida Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, 2009 (352.171)

World Chamber of Commerce Directory, 2010 (380.106)

The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins, 64th ed., 2011 (737.4)

As always, these have been placed beneath the reference desk so that they can be previewed.

Let's Celebrate!

2010-04-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

As proclaimed by the mayor and resolved by the city council, it's Library Appreciation Month in April!

A bottle of Sprite and some bean & corn salsa have been left in the Periodicals Workroom for your refreshment. Enjoy!

Pictured above, from left to right: John Peyton, Mayor; Amy Morales, Library Board of Trustees, member; Barbara Gubbin, Library Director.

Pictured above, left to right: Mark Wood, Library Board of Trustees, chairman; Barbara Gubbin, Library Director; Richard Clark, City Council, president.

New Items in Reference - 4/12/10

2010-04-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Just a handful of books today:

Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression (616.895)

Warman's Antiques & Collectibles, 2011, 44th ed. (745.1)

CultureGrams World Edition 2010, v.1-4 (909) A good place to direct customers who ask "I need information about fill in country name here."

Revision to Jobs & Careers Recommended Websites page

2010-04-07T06:39:00.000-07:00

With the help of Linda Eckersen and approval of the REVU committee, the Careers & Jobs page has been tweaked a bit to better display some of our occupation resources.

First, graphic buttons have been added for aesthetics which will hopefully attract customers' attention:

Testing & Education Reference Center link
Ed's Resume Maker
A link to the Worksource program schedule

Next, even though these links may appear in other places on our site, we wanted to make sure that unemployment help was available under Careers & Jobs as well, especially given our current economic climate.

New headings were added also, hopefully giving a better description of the links that follow. Under Find A Job, links have been divided into three different categories: local resources, national sites and niche sites. Our old page had too many links which could sometimes be confusing for customers, so I tried to pare down the selection. Of the local and national sites, most were already on the old page, though a few new ones have been added, including indeed.com and simplyhired.com.

The niche job sites was an entirely new segment, and gives some needed diversity to our recommended sites. These include job search sites targeted at women, seniors, teens and the non-profit sector among others.

Finally, the Job Search & Assessment Tools and Resumes, Cover Letters & Interviewing sections were beefed up, consolidating smaller groupings found on the previous edition of the page. Especially interesting is VisualCV, which allows users to create a graphic, interactive representation of their education, work history and skills sets.

When you have a moment, take some time to familiarize yourself with the links and share them with our customers.

One final note: Though Linkedin, Facebook and Craigslist (Jacksonville Job listings) didn't make the final cut, I still think they merit consideration. Use your best judgement.

New Books in Reference - 2/7/10

2010-04-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

Historical Dictionary of Terrorism (306.6250321)

Florida Statistical Abstract (317.59) Placed at the Ready Reference shelf (infodesk)

Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies, 2010 (338.7402573)

Florida Cruising Directory 2010/2011 (623.892)

Miller's Antiques Handbook & Price Guide, 2010-2011 (745.1075)

Strange Cases: A Selective Guide to Speculative Mystery Fiction (813.087209) For all of the reader's advisory queries we receive.

The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 7th ed. (820.9)

Encyclopedia of African American History, 2 vol. (973.0496073)

Special Announcement - Refman's Paper Accepted at Conference

2010-04-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

I've been quietly working on this very important paper for awhile now, but now that it has been accepted by the review committee, I can make this announcement.

I'm very proud to say that my paper - On The Visualization of a Search - has been accepted for inclusion in this year's Information Technology: New Horizons conference to be held in Vancouver next month, where I'll be making a presentation on how librarians are using search engines to help propel forward new technologies in the field of digital information and communications.

I've embedded the paper for your reading pleasure:

On The Visualization of a Search

Mobile archive

2010-02-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

Gale has a new app for the iPhone that allows users to access databases on their mobile device. Dubbed AccessMyLibrary, the app "uses GPS to find public libraries within a 10-mile radius of the user's location, then gives them free, unlimited access" to our Gale online resources — without the need to authenticate.

Gale is marketing this as a way to boost usage of our e-resources and databases. Customers can download it from this link which takes them to iTunes, or they can use the app store on their mobile device.

For a demo, stop by Refman's luxuriously appointed cubicle sometime.

New Items in Reference - 2/13/2010

2010-02-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

The Value of a Dollar 1860-2009 (338.520973)

International Directory of Arts 2010, 3 vol. (700)

Handbook of United States Coins (737.4)

Trailer Life RV Parks & Campground Directory (796.54025)

Writing Reviews for Readers' Advisory (808.066028)

Encyclopedia of American Popular Fiction (813.5409)

The 2009 Annual Register: World Events, 250th ed. (905)

NEC 2008

2010-02-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

It has come to my attention that we do not have the latest National Electric Code (NEC) in Reference (hat tip to Janine). We have the 2005 edition in Reference, while two copies of the 2008 edition are in Non-fiction (and currently checked out). As soon as one is returned, it will be put in Reference.

In the meantime, in the rare event that a customer requests the 2008 edition, we can at least point them towards the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) website which offers free access to the online version. Although it is free, customers will need to register with NFPA to view the document.

New Books in Reference - 1/25/2010

2010-01-25T10:24:00.000-08:00

Magazines for Libraries, 2010 (016.05)

TheStreet.com Ratings' Guide to Property & Casualty Insurers (368.006573)

McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Technology, 2010 (503)

Conn's Current Therapy, 2010 (615.505)

Writing & Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook (808.06602)

Critical Companion to William Butler Yeats (821.8)

Mapco Street Guide, Jacksonville, 2010 (placed beneath the Reference desk - home location: infodesk)

New Books in Reference - 1/9/10

2010-01-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

D & B Regional Business Directory, 2010 (338.74025759) Placed on Infodesk shelf.

2010 Harris Florida Manufacturers Directory (338.74025759)

2009-10 Book of Lists (381.5097591) Kept underneath the Reference desk.

2010 Editor & Publisher Market Guide (658.8)

2010 The Blue Book, Building & Construction (670.25759)

2010 Who's Who in American Art (759.13)

Discover Jacksonville, 2008-09 Kept beneath the Reference desk.

New Items in Reference - 1/7/10

2010-01-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

The Dream Encyclopedia (154.6303)

Critical Companion to The Bible (220.61)

Oxford Bible Atlas (220.61)

Whitaker's Almanack, 2010 (314)

North American Financial Institutions Directory, Jan - Jun 2010 (332.10257)

The State of Working America (338.973) "...prepared biennially since 1988 by the Economic Policy Institute, includes a wide variety of data on family incomes, wages, taxes, unemployment, wealth, and poverty - data that enable the authors to closely examine the effect of the economy on the living standards of the American people."

Encyclopedia of Elder Care (362.19897)

College Blue Book (378.73) Find out how much your used college is worth.

The Directory of Mail Order Catalogs (381.142)

Oxford Companion to Cosmology (523.1)

Darwin's Universe: Evolution from A to Z (576.803)

The Official ABMS Directory, 2010, v. 1-3 (610.25)

Embalming: History, Theory, and Practice (614.6) Finished as the runner-up for this year's JaxRead's selection.

Rand McNally Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide, 2010 (912)

Quick Search Tip: Population and Unemployment Rates by State

2009-12-09T13:57:00.000-08:00

A quick hint for searching for population and unemployment rates by state:

In Google, type population FL to find the population of Florida.

In the results, you'll see this:

If you click on the graph, you can mouse over various points on the chart to find population numbers for past dates.

Unemployment rates work the same way. For example, to find the unemployment rate of Georgia, simply search for unemployment rate GA:

Notice that the sources for both searches come from government agencies - US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Labor.

New Books in Reference - 12/9/09

2009-12-09T13:45:00.000-08:00

The World Almanac, 2010 (317)

South American Handbook (918.04)

Songwriter's Market, 2010 (780.65)

2010 Catholic Almanac (202)

The Best Plays of 2007-2008 (808.2)

Hiring, Training, and Supervising Library Shelvers (023.3)

Libraries Got Game (025.2896) From the back of the book: "The idea of making board games available in libraries isn’t new, but the concept of aligning them with the curriculum is. According to Mayer and Harris, modern games—often called designer games—offer many more opportunities for combining fun and learning than educational games or old-fashioned board games, where the most exciting part of play is rolling the dice."
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/editions/webextras/mayer10092/mayer10092.cfm

TheStreet.com Ratings' Guide to Banks and Thrifts (332.1)

Electrical Cost Data (621.319)

Who's Who in America, 2010 (920)

New Books in Reference - 12/4/09

2009-12-04T07:27:00.000-08:00

Death Gods: An Encyclopedia of the Rulers, Evil Spirits, and Geographies of the Dead (202.3)

J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax, 2010 (336.24)

TheStreet.com Ratings' Guide to Health Insurers, Winter 2009-10 (368.382)

Patterson's American Education, 2010 (370.2573)

Encyclopedia of African American Artists (700.8996073)

Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, 11th ed. (769) Ironically, this book will soon be worth more than most of the world's paper money.

Abraham Lincoln on Screen, 2nd ed. (791.43651016)

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Enncyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945 (940.53185)

New Books in Reference - 12/1/09

2009-12-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

Almanac of the 50 States (317.3)

County Courthouse Book, 3rd ed. (347.7302025)

The Insider's Guide to the Colleges, 2010, 36th ed. (378.78)

Bond's Franchise Guide, 2009 (381.1302573)

Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market, 2010, 35th ed. (706)

Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, 2010, So-Z (769.56)

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. (808.06615)

Digitized Life Magazine

2009-11-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Google Books - the project to digitize several major research libraries' collections - includes magazines as well. Starting today you can browse all of the weekly issues of Life from 1936 to 1972 (over 1,860 issues). You can read more about it here.

Browse issues of Life here.

One of the nice things about this is that it supplements our digitized edition of Life through InfoTrac Academic OneFile, which indexes the title from January 1, 1965 to May1, 2000, and has full-text available from January 2, 1965 to May 1, 2000. The InfoTrac version is in html and does not include photos, whereas the weekly issues scanned for Google Books are fully digital copies of the original. You can also search photos from Life using Google Image search. Hint: search specifically for Life photos in Google Images by searching for keyword source:life.

New in Books Reference - 10/23/09

2009-10-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

AHA Guide, 2010 (362.11025)

U.S. News & World Report's Ultimate College Guide, 2009 (378.73)

Headquarters USA, 2010 (384.602573) Placed on the Information Desk shelf.

Antiques & Collectibles 2010 Price Guide, 26th ed. (745.1075)

Dozier's Waterway Guide, Southern 2010 (797)

Shakespeare Studies, v.37 (822.33)

PDF Quick View

2009-10-09T07:54:00.000-07:00

Google has added a Quick View link for search results that are in PDF form:

In the example above, form 1099 was searched, which is in PDF format on the IRS website. Normally you would click on the PDF link to download and open the document in Adobe Acrobat. By clicking on Quick View, the PDF is able to be opened directly in the browser window without changing it's format, by using technology used in Google Docs.

Because of our limited bandwidth and slow connection issues, this would be a good feature to point out to customers printing tax forms and other PDFs, as Quick View seems to load documents into the browser window more quickly than they can be downloaded. This would also come in handy when on those rare occasions that customers are unable to open and view a PDF at all.

New Books in Reference - 10/8/09

2009-10-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

TheStreet.com Ratings' Guide to Life and Annuity Insurers, Fall 2009 (368.32)

2010 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, 19th ed. (769.49796)

Contemporary Authors, v. 188 (920)

International Vital Records Handbook (929.1072073) Contains application forms and ordering information for various vital records, including driver's licenses, passports, jobs, social security, and proof of identity.

Two copies are also in the Genealogy Department if the copy in Reference is being used.

In addition, links to the various states' vital records offices can also be found online at VitalRec.

Google Chrome

2009-10-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that there is a funny little icon on the Ask Here desk monitors, or saw a strange looking page left open from a previous user, but you're not quite sure what it is. Chances are, it's Google Chrome - an alternate web browser to Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE).

Of course, it's totally optional to use and IE is still the default browser. However, if you'd like to give it a shot, there are a couple of features that I'd like to point out that make Chrome unique (at least compared to our older version of IE).

First, Chrome uses tabs. This allows the user to go to a new page or site, without having to open up an entirely new window. Simply click on the + to the right of the current tab, and a new page is opened. Simply type in the desired URL, choose a bookmark link, or click on one of the icons on the newly opened page (these are frequently viewed pages specific to that terminal - one click will load the page).

Next, Chrome's address bar is actually a multi-function tool as well, which they call Omnibox. You can perform Google searches right in the address bar without having to go to Google. In the example below, I've searched for "bar code wiki," so that I can get the Wikipedia page for "barcode." (It's the 57th anniversary of it's invention)

As you can see, once you start typing into Omnibox, it will recognize your phrase as either a URL or as a Google search. Options automatically dropdown as you type; you can either choose and click one of the options, or press enter to bring up the Google search results page:

If you decide to use Chrome, try these shortcuts out - hopefully they'll save you some time and make searching a little bit easier.

Note: Although I personally like Chrome, I will point out that it's not perfect. One of the problems - specifically for staff here at JPL - is the way that webmail is displayed in Chrome. Some of the features are missing (like the ability to move an item into another folder) and it looks a bit different, so if you're checking your email or doing reference email you might want to stick with IE for those tasks.

New Additions of New Editions - 10/7/09

2009-10-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

Guinness World Records 2010, (032.02) Happy 250th Birthday, Guiness! To Arthur!

Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions, 8th ed. (200.973)

Vital Statistics on the Presidency, 3rd. ed. (324.630973)

S & P's Security Dealers of North America, Fall 2009 (332.62)

D & B Principal International Businesses, 2009/10 (380.1025)

Kovel's Antiques and Collectibles Price Guide, 2010, 42nd ed. (745.1)

Encyclopedia of Jewish-American Literature (810.9) 1st ed., but new to us.

New Title Added

2009-09-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

The reference book fairy had a light load today - just one title (though it contains three volumes).

Encyclopedia of American Religious History, 3rd ed. (200.973) As with the prior editions, this set provides an overview of the people and events that have influenced U.S. history through religion. The 3rd ed. has added a brief section titled "A Short History of Religion in America." The third volume contains a general index.

Recently Added to the Shelves - 9/23/09

2009-09-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

The New Strong's Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (220.52033) Our copy has been missing for some time now, so this is a nice addition.

Gun Control: A Documentary and Reference Guide (344.730533) Written to "bring together a wide variety of documents, organized both by chronology and subject, in order to provide the reader with a fuller understanding of the history, evolution, scope, and consequences of the issue of gun control."

Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 39th ed. (741.5973)

Bing and Google Side by Side

2009-09-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have seen a few of the slick new ads that have been touting Microsoft's Bing as a search alternative to Google. Or maybe you haven't. You are the ones asking, "What the heck is a Bing?"

Now I can't speak for everyone, but when I think "search engine," Google comes to mind. In fact, "googling" has become synonymous with searching to many people, so it will take a lot more than slick commercials to persuade me to make the switch.

However, I'm always open to things that might make searching easier, but it can be tedious trying to compare search engines using multiple windows and switching back and forth. Luckily for us, there's a site made specifically for that: Bing-vs-Google. Bing-vs-Google allows you to enter your search query into a single box and then splits the screen with Bing search results on the left, and Google search results on the right, allowing you to judge the sites side by side.

Similar sites include Bingle and BingandGoogle.

New Books in Reference - 8/12/09

2009-08-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

The following items have been added to the Reference collection:

American Salaries and Wages Survey, 2009, 10th ed. (331.2973021) contains over 2,300 occupational combinations and respective salaries, taken from close to 600 sources, including government statistics and trade journals.

American Wholesalers and Distributors Directory, 2009, 19th ed., 4 vol. (381.2029473) Profiles of over 28,000 wholesalers and distributors - encompassing small & large businesses and public & private sectors - are included. Arranged in broad subject headings, then alphabetically by name. SIC, geographic and alphabetic indexes are included.

Surgery Sourcebook, 2nd ed (617) is designed for laypeople seeking knowledge about typical surgeries, including "oral, eye, gastrointestinal, gynecologic and obstetric, head and neck, heart and vascular, orthopedic, cosmetic and reconstructive, and urological surgeries--associated risks, and potential complications."

Masterplots II: African American Literature, Revised ed., 4 vol. (810.9896073) "...focuses on works by African American writers from the earliest known colonial writings through the beginning of the twenty-first century." Contains over 300 essays, of which one-third were newly commissioned for this new edition. Volume 4 includes a type of work index by genre, a title index and an author index.

In addition, an anonymous donor left one copy of the Jacksonville Senior Services Directory, 2009-2010 and one downtown map (Downtown Vision version) on my desk. I've labeled both "Information Desk," and coincidentally, decided to keep them beneath the Reference desk with the other maps and directories. Thank you Mysterious Philanthropist!

As always, these books can be reviewed at the Reference desk before I shelve them next week.

New Books in Reference - 7/9/09

2009-07-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

Library and Book Trade Almanac 2009 (020.58)

Library Resource Guide 2009-10 (025.0025) An additional copy has been placed at the Ask Here desk.

American Library Directory 2009-10 (027)

The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology & Legend (201.303)

TheStreet.com Ratings' Guide to Stock Mutual Funds (332)

North American Financial Institutions Directory (332.10257)

World Monetary Units (332.40321) New book containing current and historical information on the currency units of over 200 countries; arranged alphabetically by country.

The Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy (337.03)

International Organizations (341.2025) "provides a concise and balanced reference guide to approximately 250 international organizations, multilateral groups and worldwide forums serving political, security, social and cultural purposes."

Government Assistance Almanac 2009 (353.0082025) The information contained in this book is based on the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), which is no longer available in print form. Please note that while customers who are looking for "grants" who do not have a 501(c)3 designation may be directed to this source as an alternative, be sure to let them know that most of the entries in the book are for institutions and not individuals. You know, like our regular spiel we give to those wanting free money.

World Chamber of Commerce Directory 2009 (380.106)

Jane's All the World's Aircraft 2009-10 (629.105)

Scott Catalogue, 2010, v. 3, G - I (769.56)

The Literary 100 (809)

Facts About the Presidents (973.099)

Square It

2009-06-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

A new tool has been created in Google Labs which may be helpful in certain searches.

Google Squared works much the same way a regular Google search would, but the results are displayed in tabular formation. It's good for comparing items side by side.

For example, a search for "lcd television" or will list products, description, price, etc. in a table. You can delete whole rows or columns by clicking the "x" in the desired section.

Sample screenshot:

You can also add values - in the form of new columns - to your search results. For instance, the search "tallest buildings" returns by default values for Item Name, Image, Description, Status, Architect and Location. By clicking in the "add columns" field, you can add a new value such as "height ft/m." (As you type, the auto-suggest function is engaged for ideas)

As it is still being tested in Google Labs, there are some limitations. I tried a search for "super bowl" and the first thing that I noticed is that the results are not in numerical order. Though values can be added or deleted, they cannot be clicked to change the sorting of results. I added the values "mvp" and "winning team" and got mixed results. While most MVPs were listed, only a small minority of winning teams made the results list.

Still, it's another way to gather facts from the Internet - it might be worth taking a look at just to try it out.

Go to the Official Google Blog to read more, get sample search suggestions and watch the demo video.

New Books in Reference - 6/11/09

2009-06-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

~~Florida~~ ~~Real Estate Exam Manual~~ ~~(R 346.759043 MIX~~) This item has been changed to "circulate" at the request of my biblio padawan - the force is strong in that one.

TheSteet.com Ratings’ Guide to Health Insurers (368.382)

Cassell’s Latin Dictionary (473.21)

Woodall’s Campground Directory, 2009 (647.9473)

The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins, 2010 (737.4)

Handbook of United States Coins, 2010 (737.4)

Scott Catalog, C-F, 2010 (769.56)

International Who’s Who in Classical Music, 2009 (780.922)

Music In Latin America and the Caribbean: An Encyclopedic History (780.98 MIX)

International Who’s Who in Popular Music, 2009 (781.640922)

Rand McNally Road Atlas, 2010 (912.7)

The Princeton Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (932.003)

Google PowerMeter

2009-05-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

Though not strictly reference news, this is green information, and may prove useful for both staff and our customers.

Google has announced their first eight utility partners for their PowerMeter tool, a gadget "that can show consumers their personal electricity consumption right on a home computer" using new smart meters.

Local utility provider JEA is among the group of initial partners working with Google on this project. Currently it's available to a limited number of users, but if the pilot program is successful, the service will be expanded to more users next year.

Note: Thanks Ed for sharing your electrical consumption with us!

The Empire Strikes Back

2009-05-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

As we mentioned previously, Wolfram Alpha looks to push the envelope of web searching by going beyond organizing and retrieval of information to computing answers to factual questions, creating what Stephen Wolfram calls a "computational knowledge engine."

Google Labs is working on a project called Google Squared. The idea is to add structured data to results displayed in spreadsheet form, giving context and meaning to the unstructured information freely floating about the Web. Blogs Chris Dawson for ZDNet:

...between Wolfram Alpha, Google’s efforts in semantic search, and a host of competitors that will be popping up in this field, we may very well be on the edge of Search 3.0. This is good news for our students, teachers, and library scientists struggling to help our students get the information they want from the billions of pages of junk (and millions of pages of interest) floating around the web.

Rest of article here

Click here for more news results about Google Squared.

New Books in Reference - 5/13/09

2009-05-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

The Newberry & Caldecott Awards, 2009 (026.162 Newberry)

Never heard of 'em. I think they're kind of like the Heisman Trophy, but for college hockey or something.

CQ Researcher 2008 (300 CQ 2008)

Offers detailed and balanced research on controversial topics in each issue. This bound volume contains the entire collection for 2008.

S&P Security Dealers of North America (332.62 Standard)

The revised 174th edition contains a security dealers directory arranged in "geographical-alphabetical sequence." Includes three indices: Firm Name Changes, Discontinued Listings and Location of Investment Firms.

Encyclopedia of the United Nations (341.2303 Moore)

An encyclopedia, the topic being the UN.

TheStreet.com Ratings' Guide to Life and Annuity Insurers (368.32)

The latest quarterly ranking includes six sections: Index of Companies, Analysis of Largest Companies, Recommended Companies, All Companies by Rating, and Rating Upgrades & Downgrades.

The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word & Phrase Origins, 4th ed. (422.03 Hendrickson)

Revised edition includes 2,500 new words and phrase origins.

Warman's Antiques & Collectibles 2010 Price Guide, 43rd ed., incl. DVD (745.1 Warmans)

The latest edition has been updated to reflect currents trends and offer "a fresh, 21st-century perspective to the collecting world." Includes price guide, full-color pictures for identifying items, a Future of the Markets section for antique investment guidance and a comprehensive guide to art market. The DVD includes a discussion of fakes and reproductions.

Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalog, Vol. 1, A-B (769.56 Scott)

An identification and price guide for philatelics.

Note: These will be placed in their customary location for previewing; three items do not have spine labels yet, nor have they been added to the catalog, so be sure to return them to the holding area.

Google Search Options

2009-05-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

Google is launching a new tool called Search Options. In it's simplest form, Search Options allows the user to customize how the results are ordered and displayed. They can be ordered by type (review, image, etc.) and time, among other options:

The Search Options panel also gives you the ability to view your results in new ways. One view gives you more information about each result, including images as well as text, while others let you explore and iterate your search in different ways...We think of the Search Options panel as a tool belt that gives you new ways to interact with Google Search, and we plan to fill it with more innovative and useful features in the future.

This video explains all of the new features, including Timeline and Wonder Wheel:

When A Search Engine Isn't A Search Engine

2009-05-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

The other day, I read a story whose headline hailed a new software that would quite possibly "change the Internet forever."

Jeesh, sounds pretty important. I'll bite.

The website is WolframAlpha, and the story goes on to suggest that it's significance lies in the fact that the software will be able to communicate in everyday language, rather than computer-speak:

The new system, Wolfram Alpha, showcased at Harvard University in the US last week, takes the first step towards what many consider to be the internet's Holy Grail – a global store of information that understands and responds to ordinary language in the same way a person does....The real innovation, however, is in its ability to work things out "on the fly", according to its British inventor, Dr Stephen Wolfram. If you ask it to compare the height of Mount Everest to the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, it will tell you. Or ask what the weather was like in London on the day John F Kennedy was assassinated, it will cross-check and provide the answer. Ask it about D sharp major, it will play the scale. Type in "10 flips for four heads" and it will guess that you need to know the probability of coin-tossing. If you want to know when the next solar eclipse over Chicago is, or the exact current location of the International Space Station, it can work it out.

There are limitations, though, especially when it comes to pop culture:

Wolfram Alpha has been designed with professionals and academics in mind, so its grasp of popular culture is, at the moment, comparatively poor. The term "50 Cent" caused "absolute horror" in tests, for example, because it confused a discussion on currency with the American rap artist. For this reason alone it is unlikely to provide an immediate threat to Google, which is working on a similar type of search engine, a version of which it launched last week.

It's expected to launch in May 2009, which I hope is more accurate than the original "day after Staff Development Day" introduction of the new Workflows. At any rate, it will be interesting to use and see how this tool affects reference services.

Just Say Fou?

2009-04-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

This is my brain:

Apparently, this is my brain on drugs and Taoism:

Now that was a tasty breakfast. Well balanced too if I remember correctly.

New Books in Reference - 4/6/09

2009-04-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Lots of new books in Reference:

Nobel: A Century of Prize Winners (001.44)

Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, 2009 (277.05)

TheStreet.com Ratings' Guides

Stock Mutual Funds (332)

Banks & Thrifts (332.1)

Life & Annuity Insurers (368.32)

Health Insurers (368.382)

North American Financial Institutions Directory (332.10257)

Internal Revenue Code and Federal Tax Regulations (345) ...in all their simplicity.

US Code Congressional & Administrative News (345)

Florida Real Estate: Principles, Practices & Law (346.759043)

Health Care Policy & Politics A to Z (362.10973)

The Princeton Review Guide to College Majors (378.199)

Honor & Respect: The Official Guide to Names, Titles, & Forms of Address (395.4)

A Dictionary of American Idioms (423.1)

Florida Cruising Directory (623.892)

DC Comics Encyclopedia (741.50973)

Comic Book Price Guide (741.50973)

British Film Noir Guide (791.43655)

The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (796.357)

Exit Now: Interstate Exit Directory (917.304)

Due to the high volume of titles, these will be kept on a cart at the Ref Desk for your review.

As always, enjoy.

Teachers 'n Video

2009-04-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

Sadly, this post is not about Van Halen's Hot for Teacher music video, though hopefully it is somewhat informative.

A teacher who frequently visits the library looking for videos and DVDs for her classes was in the other day, and there wasn't a whole lot on our shelves in the subject area that she needed. Since an Interlibrary Loan was not possible, I suggested that she try Youtube for clips to use. She thought that would work since she could connect her laptop to the classroom television.

Lacking any hilarious library stories from that day, I told Mrs. Refman about the episode when I got home, and she knew of a few educator-approved online video sites that might bear mentioning to teachers hunting for videos in the future -- TeacherTube and Discovery Education.

Started by a veteran educator, TeacherTube's goal "is to provide an online community for sharing instructional videos." It has the look and feel of Youtube, and is totally free.

Discovery Education is produced by Discovery Communications (it's in the Discovery Channel corporate family) and is subscription-based. The site "is committed to creating scientifically proven, standards-based digital resources for teachers, students and parents that make a positive impact on student learning."

A Few New Books - 3/7/09

2009-03-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

Proving quite timely, the new Oxford Dictionary of Finance & Banking (332.03 D) has arrived just as our financial system makes the transition from a mixed economy to one of economic fascism, making it somewhat easier to understand things as they happen.

Hoover's Handbook of World Business (338.74025 H) offers profiles of "300 of the world's most influential companies outside the United States."

A third volume of George W. Bush's Public Papers of the Presidents from 2004 (353.035 U).

Dozier's Waterway Guide: Northern 2009 (386.2 W), featuring nautical charts for "Long Island Sound & New England waters from New Jersey to Maine."

New To Reference - 2/25/09

2009-02-25T10:38:00.000-08:00

Short Story Index 2008 (016.808831 Short)

National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States (061.3 National)

Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies (338.7402573 Hoover's)

Public Papers of the Presidents - George W. Bush 2004 (353.035 United) *note - all of the pages have not been colored in yet

Directory of U.S. Military Bases Worldwide (355.702573 Directory)

A Dictionary of Nonprofit Terms and Concepts (361.003 Smith) *will be moved to the Nonprofit Resources Center*

TheStreet.com Ratings' Guide to Health Insurers (368.382 Thestreet)

Private Independent Schools 2009 (370.58 Private)

500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide (741.5016 Kannenberg)

The USA Today College Football Encyclopedia (796.33263 Boyles) *nominated by Refman for best new reference title of the week

American Ethnic Writers (810.9920693 American, vol. 1-3)

The Columbia Gazetteer of the World, 2nd ed. (910.3 Columbia, vol. 1-3)

Territorial Papers of the United States, Vol. XXVIII (973.082 Territorial)

As always, these will be kept underneath the reference desk for perusing at your leisure.

Yes We Can...

2009-02-22T14:40:00.001-08:00

...increase the circulation of print materials by two percent. Please, do your part by weeding the collection, and allowing items to circulate when possible.

This message approved by Refman.

Addendum to New Stuff - 2/4/09

2009-02-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot -- the 2009 World Book Encyclopedia set is now in Reference; the 2008 edition has been moved to Non-Fiction and is available for circulation.

More New Stuff - 2/4/09

2009-02-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

Another shipment of Reference goodies has arrived.

Magazines for Libraries (016.05 M 2009)

The very excellent consumer guides for various insurance products from TheStreet.com (these provide company ratings and selection tips):

Consumer Guide to Elder Care Choices (362.61)

...Homeowner's Insurance (3

68.1)

...Automobile Insurance (368.232)

...Medicare Supplement Insurance (368.3)

...Term Life Insurance (368.323)

...Variable Annuities (368.375)

...Long-Term Care Insurance (368.382)

...Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage (368.3824)

The Directory of Mail Order Catalogs (381.142 D 2009)

What People Wore When (391.009 W)

McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Technology (503 M 2009)

American Cars, 1946 - 1959 (629.2220973 F)

2009 Editor & Publisher Marketing Guide (658.8 E 2009)

International Directory of Arts, 33rd ed. (700 I, v.1-3)

American Art Directory (703 A 2009)

Who's Who in American Art (759.13 Who's 2009)

Theatre World (792.05 T v.64)

The Best American Short Plays 2005-06 (812.5082 B)

The Encyclopedia of Earth (910 E)

Day by Day

2009-02-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, students (and their parents) visit the Reference department needing to write a small report about what happened on the day they were born, or something similar.

Of course, we have microfilm of the Times-Union, which is what most people will ask for. This is just fine, though more often than not, the machines pose a challenge for the new user and they end up frustrated. And nobody wants to get caught by The Boss sitting down and helping said customer!

An alternative resource for this is the Day By Day series. Starting in Dewey 909.82, the 1940s through 1990s are covered, with important events and happenings listed, well, day by day. Not that we should discourage customers from using microfilm, but it's good to have choices too.

More New Books - 1/8/09

2009-01-08T12:04:00.000-08:00

A whole cart load of Reference books arrived, with most being updated editions of previous holdings. Because of the volume, these new items have gone directly to the stacks and won't be available for review at the Reference Desk.

Added to REF:

Literary Market Place (LMP), v. 1-2 (070.502573 LITERARY)
Manufacturing & Distribution USA, v.1-3 (338.7025 MANUFACTURING)
Peterson's Graduate & Professional Programs, Books 1-6 (378.1553 P)
College Blue Book, v. 1-6 (378.73 College)
JK Lasser's Your Income Tax 2009 (336.24 Lasser)
Songwriter's Market 2009 (780.65 Songwriter's)
Photographer's Market 2009 (770. 65 Photographer's)

Added to the Infodesk:

Davenport's Art Reference & Price Guide, 16th ed. (707.5 Davenport's)
Physicians' Desk Reference: PDR, 63rd ed. (615.058 Physicians')
ESPN Information Please Sports Almanac 2009 (796.05 ESPN)
Time Almanac 2009 (031 Time)
World Almanac & Book of Facts 2009 (317 World)
Consumer & Business Guide for Jacksonville, FL and Vicinity (917.591 Consumer) This is AKA the Criss Cross Directory, Lt. Blue version.

Added to Call Center (revolving shelf):

Consumer & Business Guide for Jacksonville, FL and Vicinity
Time Almanac 2009
World Almanac & Book of Facts 2009

New Arrivals - 1/5/09

2009-01-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

New to the Reference Collection this week:

The Handbook of Developmental Psychology (155 Handbook) "is a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the study of human development presented in a single volume," so says the dust jacket.

Several Ratings' Guides from TheStreet.com, including Stock Mutual Funds (332 The-Street), Property & Casualty Insurers (368.006573 The-Street), Life & Annuity Insurers (368.32 The-Street), and Health Insurers (368.382 The-Street). As the name suggests, these guides contain ratings for the remaining funds and insurers who continue to be solvent.

Two new medical reference books have been updated -- Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment (CMDT) 2009 (616.07505 Current) and Adrenal Disorders (616.45 Adrenal). The CMDT replaces the previous 2003 version, making it current again indeed.

Volume 36 of Shakespeare Studies has been added in Literature, and in History, Competing Voices from The Crusades (909.37 Competing) and Profiles of Florida (975.9 Profiles) have found their way to the stacks. Crusades complements ideas expressed in our Opposing Viewpoints database, and Profiles of Florida contains statistics, demographics and comparative rankings.

As always, these can be reviewed on the shelf beneath the Reference desk.

Web-based Applications

2008-12-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

Those of you in the JPL Learning 2.0 training should already know about these, but I thought I'd share them with everybody.

A web-based application is an application that is accessed via a web browser over a network. Basically, you do not have to physically posses the software or any storage media when using web-apps. This can be especially helpful for those without floppy disks or flash drives.

I had a customer tonight who needed to print a document that she was typing, but she had already used her five free copies today. And having coins only, she was unable to use our value-add machines that were hewn out of solid iron during the Truman Administration (seriously, why can't they take change or debit cards in 2008?). I suggested that she use Zoho.

Zoho is an online office suite with web-based applications such as word processing, presentations, spreadsheets, etc. (Another similar option is Open Office, while I personally prefer Google Docs myself.) Either way, the whole process is very simple.

She was able to create a user name and password very quickly (almost at the speed of light compared to signing up for Yahoo mail by comparison), and opened a new document in Zoho Writer. She simply copied her document from Word and pasted it into Zoho, and then saved it. Though you can save to portable media such as floppies and flash drives, you can also save the documents to Zoho's server, and access them again by logging in on any computer (had she saved her document through Word on the T: drive, she would have to use that specific computer to access it again).

Anyway, the next time you're on the desk and it's slow, try exploring some of these different web-based applications. I think that they are a good option worth recommending to our customers.

From the Reference Desk

2008-11-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

Where has the year gone? It's already the week of Turkey Day -- the week when we take stock in things that we are thankful for.

Of course, the obligatory answer is that we're thankful for the fellowship of kith and kin as we partake nature's bounty in the form of cooked fowl, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie, among others. Then Uncle Frank begins to complain about politics, whilst Aunt Edna skeptically wonders why 17 year old second cousin Jolean has dropped out of school with a "stomach ache" she's had for months, bringing the dinner to a crescendo, before the tryptophan kicks in during the second quarter of the Lions' game and everyone passes out in the den.

But mostly just that first part about fellowship -- that's what we're thankful for. Oh, and the leftovers.

Also, as much as we all love being librarians and helping customers & what not, we're also thankful for those brief respites from human contact, such as the one pictured above. Ahh, can you hear that? No, you can't, because you really can't hear silence. You may be hearing a slight ringing in your ears though, which could be tinnitus -- you might want to get that looked at.

Anyway, have a safe trip if you're traveling, and enjoy your time with family and friends! See you in December.

Comings and goings in Ref

2008-11-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

There hasn't bee a whole lot of activity in the way of new materials filtering through Reference lately.

However, we did receive a new addition to the True Crime section.

Congress A to Z is published by CQ Press, and "offers accessible information about the inner workings of the legislative branch...," as well as keeping tabs on America's Most Wanted with "biographies of influential members."

From the Department of Redundancy Department

A special shout-out is in order for Keli from TEEN (Props!). On a recent fact-finding mission that brought her to our collection, she noticed that we had two different sets of the Encyclopedia Judaica. The older set was housed in the 296 area, while the latest edition can be found in 909. The previous edition has been donated to the Friends Group's Book Sale.

Well We're Movin' On Up

In other Encyclopedic news, the Encyclopedia Americana has moved from the 031 area to the Ready Reference shelf, right next to the World Book Encyclopedia. Details for the housewarming party will be made available when known; bookmarks are an appropriate gift.

Phil'er Up Please

I've recently finished my action plan for FY 2008-09: To become the Audie Murphy of ILL awards!

Cat Resources

2008-11-24T07:46:00.000-08:00

Some cat resources that I'd like to point out--

The Atlas of Cats of the World (638.8 Kelsey).

The Cat Encyclopedia (636.8 Verhoef-Verhallan).

And when you need the most up-to-date cat information, The New Encyclopedia of the Cat (636.8003 Fogle).

Why do we care? Well, you may not. In fact, this is just a library-related ruse to fulfill a request for pictures of Refman's kittens. So, by popular demand I present Bosco and Toyo:

New Reference Items - 11/15/08

2008-11-15T11:05:00.001-08:00

Just a short update -- only two new items to tell you about today.

The latest United States Government Manual, 2008-2009 (353 United 2008-2009) is in, and located on the Ready Reference shelf. There is a searchable version online as well. And though not quite the same thing, don't forget about the Official U.S. Government Web Portal.

The Fall 2008 edition of Work, Live & Play is shelved underneath the Reference desk with the other local and regional publications. From JCC:

As the official relocation guide of Northeast Florida, Work, Live & Play provides the latest information on developments in residential real estate, education, health care and quality of life affecting our community.

Older editions are kept in the Florida Collection.

Digital TV Transition

2008-11-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

Since this question came up today, I thought it might be a good time to review the digital TV transition that is taking place February 17, 2009.

The transition will only affect customers who view TV "over the air", or those who receive local channels only through the use of an antenna. Those who subscribe to cable or satellite programming, or who have a newer digital TV will not be affected.

Affected customers' options include:

Purchase a digital-to-analog converter box that plugs into an existing television. The boxes, which are expected to cost between $40 - 70 will be available for purchase in 2008. Beginning in February 2008, U.S. households can request up to two coupons valued at $40 each. Each coupon can go toward the purchase of a single set-top converter box that will allow you to continue watching FREE "over-the-air" television on an analog set.

Subscribe to a cable, satellite or telecommunications service provider if all desired local broadcast stations are carried by that service.

Purchase a new television set with a built in digital tuner.

Something the customers will need to know about the coupons: it seems that many customers have found that the boxes are out of stock and then their coupons have expired. They should probably check to see if any are available before applying for a coupon.

Unshelved Comic of the Day

2008-11-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

More of Bill Barnes' Unshelved here.

Google Advanced Search Update

2008-11-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

An update from my previous post.

Google constantly studies how people are using their products and fine-tuning them in response. One aspect they have changed is their Advanced Search feature.

Dan Russell from Search Quality says:

Armed with this insight from field studies, we redesigned the page, simplifying it by removing terms that were unclear to the average user (the word "occurrences," for example, just didn't mean anything to many of the Advanced Search page users), moving rarely used features (numeric range searches, date searches, etc.) into a part of the page that was expandable with a single click. That made them easy to get to for people who knew they wanted to search with those restrictions, but out of the way in a non-threatening way.
One of the other things we noted in the field study was that people often didn't understand how the Advanced Search page worked. So we added a "visible query builder" region at the top of the page. As you fill in the blanks, the box at the top of the page fills in with the query that you could type into Google. It was our way of making visible the effects of advanced search
Read the rest of the article from the Official Google Blog.

Alternatives to Google's Interface

2008-11-03T06:24:00.000-08:00

Show of hands please -- how many of you have ever used Google's Advanced Search page?

Since I cannot see anything anyway, I'll presume* that most of you haven't. I know I have only used it a few times myself. Some feel that it is a bit clumsy in its design, which have lead to third parties creating new front-ends for Google searching.

For example, Faganfinder's site includes several different links to Google searches, including their Google Ultimate Interface. It may in fact be just a bit more clear than Google's own advanced page, though if you're already on Google, you're merely a click away from the advanced search, whereas you might be hard pressed to remember the Faganfinder URL.

Another alternative Google front-end -- and one that is easier to navigate to -- is Soople. Soople's designers explain the page:

Soople is an early English dialect, which means 'to soften, make supple'.
That's exactly what I envisioned for this site ; a site that softens all the
fantastic advanced functions Google offers. This site is meant for all those who
are not yet familiar with all the possibilities of Google and all the required
syntaxes.

Instead of having to remember different prefixes used to initiate the various specific searches that Google employs, you can simply use the appropriate search field for the desired results.

Finally, for those of us who work in Reference at the Main Library, this search engine allows users to find information on old brands that are no longer being manufactured, Saab steering wheels and the font used in Momar's logo.

*defensive measure to avoid hearing "you know what happens when you assume..."

Spotlight on the Collection: Health & Medicine

2008-10-30T07:16:00.001-07:00

In honor of the nursing class that is gracing us with their presence here this morning (and also the gentleman who just told me he had bedbug bites), I thought it would be a good time to spotlight some of the Reference Department's helpful resources for health & medicine.

If you cannot find a particular disease in JAXCAT, Health & Wellness Resource Center is an excellent place to start. Even though it is considered more of a "consumer health" database (as opposed to Health Reference Center Academic and Medline), many entries include articles from academic and medical journals.

Once you've determined what general areas some of their more specific queries fall within that didn't show up in the catalog (what, you knew that Thromboangitis Obliterans--or Buerger's Disease--was a circulatory disorder?), you can then point them in the direction of broad-based reference books to check the indexes.

Omnigraphics' Health Reference Series are a good choice. For one, they are authoritative and comprehensive, which is nice. But even more importantly, they are bright red and easy to find on the shelf. Simply go to the 600s, look for the eye-catching color and choose the correct malady: respiratory, endocrinological, etc., and let the customer enjoy.

If these don't work, you can always fall back on a good Google search. The Mayo Clinic and WebMD have good, practical information as well.

Google Tips: Boolean & Synonym Searching

2008-10-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

Did you know...

Google supports Librarian-approved Boolean operator searching, but just not the way you may be accustomed to?

For example, Google already assumes the AND operator in all searches with two or more words. To use the OR operator, simply use "or" between words or phrases when searching. To use the NOT operator to exclude a search term, choose the minus sign (-keyword). A search for bass -guitar will hopefully yield more results for fish (and beer!) instead of music-related links.

Also, have you ever searched for a keyword but thought that an unknown synonym might be a better choice? By using the tilde character (~), you can perform a similar word search (~keyword).

New Reference Books - 10/27/08

2008-10-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

The Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus (R 232.90803 Encyclopedia). Great, I now have Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" running through my head. Anyway, from Amazon:

This "Encyclopedia" brings together the vast array of historical research into the reality of the man, the teachings, the acts, and the events ascribed to him that have served as the foundational story of one of the world's central religions. This kind of historiography is not biography. The historical study of the Jesus stories and the transmission of these stories through time have been of seminal importance to historians of religion.

Disease Management Sourcebook (R 616.044 Disease). Disease Management Sourcebook addresses Americans' growing health concerns by providing facts about navigating the health care system, communicating with health care providers, and finding and evaluating health information. It discusses patient rights and responsibilities, privacy, medical errors, and health care fraud, and also explains assistive technologies available to help people who have chronic illnesses and provides tips for dealing with legal, financial, and health insurance matters. Facts about medications—including prescription, generic, over-the-counter, and counterfeit drugs—are included. The book’s end section features a glossary and directories of resources for patients and their families and caregivers.

Free Phones

2008-10-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

This has been coming up a lot this week, so I wanted to give everyone a "head's up."

If you haven't already had a customer ask for "free phones," you will soon enough. According to this story, Safelink Wireless is now offering a free phone program for low-income families.

The service is designed for those who are already on government assistance, such as Medicaid, food stamps, etc., though Florida's Public Service Commission offers rebates for qualifying applicants through their Link Up and Lifeline programs.

Most of the customers who have asked about this so far have not been very computer literate, so please be patient while helping them navigate to the application page. Also, as one would expect the free phones seem to be generating lots of demand, so the Safelink page can be slow to load at times.

Refman Receives Coveted Award

2008-10-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

Jacksonville, FL (AP) -- A librarian known only as "Refman" was being heralded as a hero by Jacksonville Public Library (JPL) officials today after finding 100% of the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) requests submitted to the Periodicals Department.

The award was given after it was learned that Refman had found and copied the one article that was being requested this morning.

Heather Campbell, Grand Poobah of ILL, presided over the ceremony, which was attended by many dignitaries, including ILL staff, two visitors and a volunteer of unknown derivation.

"It is my distinct honor and pleasure to award Refman with a "Phil" smiley-face sticker, in a color of his own choosing." Refman chose blue, as it's his favorite color. The smiley face awards given for Outstanding ILL Fill Rates are known throughout the Library industry as "Phils," an obvious and playful take on fill rates. Librarians are of course a rambunctious bunch known for their outrageous sense of humor.

Refman was most gracious in receiving this high honor, and visibly moved.

"There are so many people that I'd like to thank. I don't want to leave anyone out, but this is so unexpected, so please bear with me." His eyes began to mist over as he reflected, "Usually, there is always that one book on knitting dog sweaters that is missing or a Ladies Home Journal partially destroyed by vermin with the requested page chewed in half...." His voice trailed off as he shook his head and tried to regain his composure.

"First, I'd like to thank God, my lovely wife Erin, my mom, my little brother who's always supported me -- Hi Jeff! -- other extended family members, my first mentor GM, boss-ladies Julie Mcneil and Karen Jessee, my friends and colleagues in Reference, Periodicals & Non-Fiction -- I'm sorry I can't name you all -- and indeed, throughout the whole building..."

Someone began to play music on an old cassette deck in the corner to signify that it was time to get back to work, or go to a commercial -- anything. Refman only talked louder and more frantically.

"...all my wonderful sponsors, NEFLIN, FLA, Quaker State, Goody's Headache Powder, the boys back at the shop, the whole crew really, the guy on the elevator who told me 'good luck' when I went for my interview at the old library...."

Finally, Security was called in to politely escort Refman back to the second floor, but not before he got a final word in.

"...and friend and Good Samaritan Jani French, who sat with me while I waited for AAA to come that one time when I had a flat tire and my spare was flat too..."

He was whisked away to his own department where he spent the rest of the day basking in the glory that goes with winning a Phil.

A high-ranking Library official wishing to remain anonymous said that while the award was a great achievement, it was more of a "feather in his cap" rather than being an impetus for a salary increase.

New Reference Items - 10/17/08

2008-10-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

There are only a few new items to tell you about today:

First, we have Life Events and Rites of Passage (R 306 Hill). This includes customs and symbols of major life milestones in the US, including baptisms, weddings & funerals. Inexplicably, library milestones such as the first time you caught a customer watching porn or enjoying a smorgasbord of buffalo wings, jelly-bellies and remnants of partially chewed sunflower seeds while browsing Myspace were not included.

Next, we have the Chronicle Financial Aid Guide, 2008-09 (R 378.302573 Chronicle). Includes scholarships and loans for prospective college students, including contact information. Originally we had two copies, but in my never ending quest to attain the elusive 2% increase in printed materials circulated, I put one in Non-Fiction.

[see JPL's FY 09 Service Priorities]

Finally, I'd like to present Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia (R 503 Van Nostrand's 2008, v. 1-2). Hey, wasn't Kramer's doctor alter ego on Seinfeld called Dr. Van Nostrand? It all makes sense now.

Refman Welcomes You

2008-10-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.

Since I'm now enrolled in the very time consuming and laborious JPL 2.0 Training (note to managers -- if you can't find me, umm, I'm probably doing homework or something), I thought I would apply my newly acquired skills from said training and bring my previous publication -- This Week in Reference -- into the 21st Century and be a bit more interactive.

I plan on using this space to keep everyone up to date on new arrivals, shifting & weeding, and other things that have something to do with Reference.

Also, various Reference-related rants may be published here at my discretion (or indiscretion as the case may be).

If you have a blog, or use a Web-based aggregator such as Google Reader, you can subscribe to this site to be notified of updates. Or I can just email the link each time I guess.

Alright people! Let's get wiki with it!