The Lord of the Libraries: Return of the Book

Sometimes when you go to register you find you have a hold on your account. For some it is for a long forgotten library book that must be returned. This is the story of a brave band of students at the University of Kansas who must go on a quest to seek the help of the Lady Librarowyen. So before you embark on a quest for knowledge remember to Ask -A- Librarian. http://libweb.sfasu.edu/proser/ris/

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

Hey!! Give me a way to search for books and articles at the same time!

You got it!
It is available now in STEENFIND, the Steen Library catalog.




Choose the Everything tab on the STEENFIND search page, then…
put in your search term(s) and click Find.




The screen will split into two distinct sections: one for "Books and More" and one for "Articles and More"!  This is your “one stop research shop”!


If you want learn more just Ask a Librarian

Tina Oswald toswald@sfasu.edu rm. 202f 936.468.1861 Subjects - Elementary Education, and Secondary Education/Educational Leadership

Presidential Papers in Government Documents @ Steen Library

Finding the Public Papers of the Presidents can be somewhat challenging because they are not all together in one place.  A recommendation in 1957 ensured that an annual series of the President’s papers would be compiled beginning with the fifth year of the Eisenhower Administration.  Provision was also made for retrospective collections.  An earlier resolution of July 27, 1894, directed Congress to gather and publish “all the annual, special, and veto messages, proclamations, and inaugural addresses” of the Presidents from 1789 to 1894.  This work was prepared under the Joint Committee on Printing under the direction of James D. Richardson, a representative from Tennessee.  Not every early message and presidential paper is included in this set, and other sources may need to be consulted.  The Steen government documents collection located in the SE corner of the 2^nd floor houses the following compilations:

• A compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897 by John D. Richardson. Washington, GPO.  1896-1899, 10 volumes. SFA Stacks: J81 .B96 Vol.#
  
  
• (A later edition of 20 volumes contains additional material through the Wilson Presidency, and paging is renumbered) SuDoc: Y 4.P93/1:3/1917 vol # (some volumes also available online through Google Books)
  
  
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States  (Herbert Hoover — Ronald Reagan,excluding Roosevelt) SuDoc: GS 4.113: (Herbert Hoover - Bill Clinton [1931-2002] online at:http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/ppotpus/ )
  
  
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States  (Ronald Reagan [1984] –George W. Bush) SuDoc AE 2.114: (papers of George H.W. Bush—George W. Bush also online at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pubpapers/search.html)
  
  
• The Congressional Record (contains Presidential addresses to Congress and other messages not of a routine nature.  Check the Record Index under “President of the United States.” SuDoc  X 1.1 (Indexes, Print and Microfilm 1784-2004, 1833-1873 Online, 1998-Present)
  
  
• American State Papers.  Documents, legislative and executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vol. SuDoc SERIAL SET 01-38
  
  Some additional library sources include:
  
  
• The writings of George Washington: being his correspondence, addresses, messages and other papers, official and private, selected and published from original manuscripts.  12 vol.  Jared Sparks, contr.  Boston: Russell, Odiorne and Metcalf, 1834-1840. ETRC Call no. E312.7 1834x
  
  
• Papers of Thomas Jefferson.29 vol. and 6 vol. index.  Julian P. Boyd, et al, contr. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950.  Call no. E302 .J442 1950
  
  
• The public papers and addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 13 vol. Samuel Irving Rosenman, contr.  New York: Random House, 1938-1950. Call no. E 806 .R749
  
  
• The State papers and other public writings of Herbert Hoover.  2 vol. William Starr Myers, contr.  New York:  Kraus Reprint, 1970. Call no.  E801 .H66 1970x

Kayce Halstead halsteadkay@sfasu.edu rm. 202g 936.468.1574 Subjects - Government Documents, Collection Development

Think outside of the box!

We have all heard that phrase used when the person speaking is trying to get us to try something new or come up with a new idea. And, that is what the Texas Library Association was doing when they instituted the idea of Library Snapshot Day in 2010.
When it was announced that it was to be held this year and that a library could pick any day in the month of October of 2010, the Steen Research and Instructional Services Librarians decided to bring the idea to the SFASU campus and the Ralph W. Steen Library.  


 
Disposable cameras were placed at service desk throughout the library, with signs asking users to “take a picture, and leave the camera.” 








Some of the Library staff got in the act using digital cameras.


 

 
 

 

There were over 150 photos taken with the 10 disposable cameras.



















 Library users were shown using the computers in the lobby and LINC,




 


sleeping on the new furniture in the New Books area,







attending a Library Instructional session,























 





 getting tutoring in the AARC, etc.




 






 





        

So, on October 21 , 2010, we created a “snapshot” of a day in the life of Steen Library.


 

 
  If you did not participate, don’t worry!

 










 

We hope to make this an annual event!

 

Hunt for tech books on Safari

Safari Books Online is the premier on-demand digital library providing technology, digital media, business books, and videos online. Safari Books Online, is paid for and licensed by Steen library. Currently a Custom Safari Books Online Library that contains a specially-tailored subset of 115 titles available through Steen library's website and increasingly through the catalog SteenFind. Now when searching for books about Windows 7, your Smartphone, or on more technical topics, you will find the latest titles available online in full-text. For a more thorough search of the tittles, and to search the full text of these books go directly to Safari.

If there is a computer science book you would like to see the library purchase or a specific topic represented feel free to contact Phil Reynolds. New titles both online and in print are acquired by the library on an ongoing basis. Suggestions for the Computer Science Subject Guide are also welcome.

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

There is a new and easier way to find books at Steen Library.

On Monday, July 12^th, the library rolled out a new library catalog called SteenFind. SteenFind will allow faculty, staff and students to search for books and other library materials faster and easier than before by combining the advantages of the traditional structure of library catalogs with the ease of search engines.

Check out the new catalog at http://library.sfasu.edu/find/.

SteenFind will feature patron empowerment services and we believe will greatly enhance your search for materials. Please contact me or any of the Research librarians if you have any questions or comments.

What to do When “No” is the Wrong Answer

Sometimes while doing some online research the database you are using will return no hits. You may see a message saying:

“No matches found”

“No records matched your search”

“No results were found”

This can be frustrating when you need the right answer, right article, or just the right book. Fortunately, there are a few of quick steps you can take when “No….” is the wrong answer.

First, check your spelling, most of the time when a database can’t find anything matching your query it is because you misspelled something. While Steen Library does not currently have any books on kenisiology it does have several about kinesiology. With Google You can find almost 3500 web pages about kenisiology, you might want use one of the 930,000 or so pages Google returns for kinesiology.

If you are still getting no hits on your search your next step is to make sure you are using the right database. When doing online research the axiom “use the right tool for the right job” holds true. If you want to find a book in Steen Library, use the library’s catalog. If you need a journal article, use a “General Database” or “Subject Database” listed on one of the library’s “Subject Guides.” If you need a web site check the “Websites” section of one of the Subject Guides, or use a search engine like Google, Yahoo, or Bing.

Next, make sure you are using the right terminology. Many times when searching refereed or scholarly journals searchers will use different terms than those used in the discipline. While you may tell someone you broke your collarbone, you would probably want to find the latest treatment methods by searching for articles about a broken clavicle.

Of course, you can always Ask A Librarian. Whether you Ask A Librarian at the beginning so you can get the information you need faster, or wait and ask as a last resort, the librarians at Steen Library are ready to help.

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

Related Posts:
RIS Recommends: Find a 4 Letter Word in the Library: HELP!
RIS Recommends: Quick Tips for Searching

Burn This Book

Burn This Book: PEN Writers Speak Out on the Power of the Word, edited by Toni Morrison

Burn This Book has been chosen as the NetLibrary Book of the Month for October in acknowledgment of Banned Books Week (26 September – 3 October). Banned Books Week is an annual celebration of our First Amendment rights and our freedom to access information through reading.

Burn This Book is a collection of essays by prominent literary artists who discuss the importance of expressing ideas from various social and/or political viewpoints free from the fear of censorship. Emphasis is placed on both the importance of writing about real situations and the difference that writing can make. Contributors to Burn This Book include Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk, David Grossman, and others.

This book is a must-have for librarians, teachers, and aspiring writers! Burn This Book will be available for free through NetLibrary until October 31, 2009 so be sure to take a look!
To Access NetLibrary via Steen Library you should first go to the Steen Library home page at: http://libweb.sfasu.edu then click on the Databases A-Z list on the left side of the page.

Once the database page appears click on the letter N or scroll down the list of databases until you arrive at the listing for Net Library.

Off campus, users will need to access NetLibrary and the library website via mySFA to gain access. After ther first visit to NetLibrary users can set up a personal account that will allow them to access NetLibrary anytime they are off campus without going through mySFA.

Other posts about Net Library on the RIS Recommends Blog include:

The Naked Roommate by Tina Oswald
eAudiobooks,NetLibrary and You by Kayce Halstead
SFA Internet Books by Bernice Wright

Erica Lopez z_lopezer@titan.sfasu.edu rm. 202j (936) 468-6270 Subjects - Anatomy & Physiology, Astronomy, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Limnology, Math/Statistics, Microbiology, Physics, Zoology

Reading, Writing and RECON : Military Professional Reading Lists

Roughly stated RECON is a mission to obtain information about an adversary, or the characteristics of an area. Today military professionals must know more about their profession and the world they live in, than ever before. For many gathering this information includes books, both electronic and digital. All branches of the military have recommended and/or required reading lists. The Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) at Fort Leavenworth, has one of the better-maintained list of these lists on the web. Their page of Military Professional Reading Lists links to more than twenty-five different lists. However, between the five branches of the military, their schools, commands, and civilian government the number of lists is almost impossible to enumerate.

As part of Steen library's collection development efforts, librarians will often use tools such as bibliographies and professional reading lists when purchasing materials to support learning, instruction, and research at SFA. For Military Science, the library has made a specific effort to acquire all of the books on "The U.S. Army Chief of Staff's Professional Reading List." (2004, this list has been superseded by the U.S. Army Center for Military History Professional Reading List) In addition many other titles from other military reading lists are part of the library collection. In an effort to make locating the hundreds of titles available at Steen Library from several of these lists, I recently created a spreadsheet this information and posted it on the web. The page "Combined Military Professional Reading List" provides easy access to titles owned by the library from many different lists. Links to some of the official lists are on the "List of Lists" page of the spreadsheet. The library owns almost all the titles from "The U.S. Army Chief of Staff's Professional Reading List", as well as many or most of the titles found on other reading lists. Through inter-library loan any additional titles not currently owned by Steen Library are readily available to the SFA community.

If you would like to recommend a favorite title or list of titles for Steen Library, contact your reference librarian.

R. Philip Reynolds preynolds (AT) sfasu.edu rm. 202b 936.468.1453 Subjects - Computer Science, Military Science, Philosophy, Religion, Political Science, Geography, Kinesiology

The Naked Roommate

The Naked Roommate: and 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into at College 3rd ed., by Harlan Cohen.

“What an interesting title for a book!” That is what I thought when I saw it listed as the NetLibrary Book of the Month for July. (For information on NetLibrary and how to use it, see below.) This book contains all the information a new college student needs to be able to survive and thrive, during that confusing and challenging first year of college. Your parents will claim that, “I wish I had that information before I went to college.” However, don’t discount the book due to that statement!! There is good information here with funny stories and vignettes to complement the information being given. There are chapters on everything from dorm life to finances. Great information like: always were flip-flops in the community bathrooms, and the fact that you will do better in your classes if you actually go to class! So, go to NetLibrary and see what the book is all about. You may decide that you need a paper copy of this title, either for yourself, or your younger sibling or a friend.

Tina Oswald, Research Librarian

NetLibrary is one of the databases the Steen Library subscribes to and is actually a collection of e-books. Yes, you can get there easily! Follow these steps:

Go to the Library Home Page and click on Databases A – Z.

At the Databases page, click on “N”, or scroll down to the “N” section.

Click on NetLibrary, and you are there!!

Tina Oswald toswald@sfasu.edu rm. 202f 936.468.1861 Subjects - Elementary Education, and Secondary Education/Educational Leadership

Who Is It?

Using the clues below, can you figure out who this person is?

1. His father worked in a brewery , but during prohibition, his father lost his job and began working in a zoo.


2. He was a wild college student at Dartmouth and edited the Jack-o-Lantern.


3. In the 1930's, he wrote for Life and Vanity Fair.


4. During WWII, he published a series of war posters for the United States.


5. Later in his life, he published fanciful children's books.

Who am I?

Books written by this famous author are available in a collection on the 4th floor of Steen library. This collection of children's books is called the Curriculum Collection. Librarians at SFA renamed the children's collection years ago because the books and textbooks from this collection are frequently by education majors when creating lesson plans. The books in the Curriculum Collection have the letters CURR appended to the front of their call numbers. Often students see this and assume it means something like current fiction. This is an easy mistake to make, but the library tradition of Curriculum Collection continues.Other info on book labels for the Curriculum Collection might include J or JR. Usually this means the book is geared for students in the 3rd grade up to the 12th grade. Another label might have an E which indicates that the book is an easy book for students from Pre-k to 3rd grade.

Visit the Curriculum Collection today and remember those times when you were younger and read and reread a favorite book, or pick out a book to read to your own children and start them down the path of loving and reading books.

	Marthea Turnage mturnage@sfasu.edu rm. 202c 936.468.1896 Subjects - Accounting, Criminal Justice, Economics and Finance, General Business, Law, Management/Marketing/International Business, Nursing, Psychology

Sweetest Industry on Earth: The Sweet Industry Group

What do Russia, Thailand, South Korea, India, and Portugal have in common?

They are part of the "sweet industry group, chocolate confectionery". In fact, I don't think there is a country in the world that doesn't have a confectionery company making some kind of chocolate chocolate candies. A great place to find out about the chocolate industry around the world or any other type of industry, is the library resource, Marketline. Marketline currently provides 3,024 industry profiles. Each offers all sorts of info such as market volume, segmentation, forecasts, and leading companies for each industry.

As for the Russians; the sweet industry group report reveals that they favor packaged or boxed chocolates. Is their romance in the air?

	Marthea Turnage mturnage@sfasu.edu rm. 202c 936.468.1896 Subjects - Accounting, Criminal Justice, Economics and Finance, General Business, Law, Management/Marketing/International Business, Nursing, Psychology

Is the Whole World Going Broke?

Over the past couple of weeks many of us have been growing more and more concerned about the fiscal crisis on Wall Street that is spreading to what the pundits call "main street" (in other words, all the rest of us who don't work on Wall Street). Over the last couple of days it has become apparent that there is now an international crisis. This morning everything sounds so bad that a worldwide depression is being talked about.

For sometime now our university faculty has added international studies to the curriculum in a growing number of disciplines. International business, hospitality, nutrition, political science, anthropology, communication, etc. I won't even attempt to name every program that includes international or intercultural components. All of us have become more aware of how internationally intertwined so many aspects of our lives have become.

Here in the library we often have questions from students looking for demographic, trade, and cultural aspects of other countries. This semester we are pleased to announce the addition of a database to our library that will help immensely with the cultural aspect of these assignments. The database is called CultureGrams Online. Aside from the population and government statistics that you can find in a number of country profile products, this database includes information on family, housing, diet, recreation, dating and marriage customs and several other aspects of lifestyle. Check it out when you have a chance. You'll find that it will not only be helpful academically, it will also be useful for Scout Troops, university and civic organizations, or planning your next vacation. Everything from recipes to common courtesies and greetings is covered. As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing."

Bernice Wright bwright@sfasu.edu rm. 202j 936.468.1528 Subjects - Agriculture, Forestry, Human Sciences, Human Services, Speech/Communication

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin, new VP candidate for the United States, and her opponent Joseph Biden ...

NEED TO KNOW MORE -

Use the library to find out more about the candidates and other influential people. Look in the library resource, Biography Resource Center (Sorry, only SFA folks can use it). When trying to find information about a person, the Biography Resource Center can offer accurate info in addition to journal articles and websites. When you need to know more about a person, go to the library. Ask a librarian.

	Marthea Turnage mturnage@sfasu.edu rm. 202c 936.468.1896 Subjects - Accounting, Criminal Justice, Economics and Finance, General Business, Law, Management/Marketing/International Business, Nursing, Psychology