New primary source databases

Have you ever wondered what women's lives were like in Ireland in the 1700's?
How about the daily life and concerns of a Civil War soldier?
Or what it was like to explore the Hudson River with Hudson himself?

Now you can find out -- the College Libraries have subscribed to a collection of databases called The Street, which contains a bunch of really fascinating primary source documents in several categories -- there's a database of British and Irish Women's Letters, one on Civil War Letters and Diaries, a collection of documents regarding Early Encounters in North America, and more -- check out the collections on our Alexander Street Press page.

If you're looking for other primary source material online, start with our History Research portal page, which has links to tons of reliable online sites and library resources to help you with your work.

Bregman Book Discussion Tues. Sept. 19th

Bregman Book Discussion
Tuesday, September 19, 2006 4:00 — 5:30 pm
Crumb Library Lobby

A discussion of : Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje

Integrating historical documents and photographs with fictional narrative, the author presents a unique portrait of one of America’s most famous outlaws.

Led by panelists:
M.J. Heisey, History
Donald McNutt, English & Communication
Danny Smith, Honors Student
Katie Wrobel, Honors Student

New Performing Arts database

Just added to the resources available through the library - the International Index to the Performing Arts.
This will be the most comprehensive search tool available for locating articles in dance, drama, musical theater, and opera. Linking to available online journal content via our SFX services should be available soon. While coverage of most journals is for recent years only, a few journals are indexed back many decades.

Doing education research?

We know that a lot of our students use the libraries looking for information about education, and we're always trying to make sure we have the best possible resources to help you. So, in that spirit, we've made some changes you'll want to know about for this year!

• New ERIC interface: We've changed from the FirstSearch interface that we had used for years and years to a new interface provided by EBSCO. It's the same ERIC you've always used, just in a shiny new package. (We recommend that everyone use the EBSCO version -- we think it's the best one -- but if you like having choices, your options are here.)
  
• New EBSCO education products: We are also offering two great Education-specific full-text databases from EBSCO -- the Professional Development Collection and Education Research Complete. (HINT: To search all the EBSCO education databases in one easy search, click on the blue tab that says "Choose Databases" at the top of the EBSCO search screen, and choose the ones you'd like to use.)
  
• New Education Subject Page: We've reorganized the subject page for Education resources -- http://www.potsdam.edu/library/home/Subjects/Education.php -- so that all the best resources for education projects are in one place. You'll find links for searching for children's books, links to some of our online encyclopedias, links to New York State Curriculum Standards, and much more.

We hope these changes make it easier for you to find the information you need when you're working on education projects and research -- let us know what you think of them by commenting here, sending us an email, or chatting via IM with a librarian at the reference desk. (And, of course, you can always stop by to say hi -- we're at the reference desk in Crumb from 9:30 am to 9 pm.)

Library Expo, Thursday!

On Thursday, August 31, from 3-6 pm, the College Libraries will be hosting a
Library Expo
in the lobby of Crumb Library.

The Expo is designed to introduce new students to the libraries and what we have to offer, from Reference help to computing services to the fantastic Minerva's cafe. The Libraries have coordinated with the Residence Life staff to ensure that our first-year students are coming to the Expo, anyone interested in learning more about services in the libraries is welcome to stop by!

Discussing education: the first Bregman of 06-07

Please join us for our first Bregman Book Discussion of the year!

Tuesday, September 5, at 4 pm, in Crumb Library lobby:
Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, by Lisa Delpit.

Drawing on her own teaching experience, the author illuminates the challenges of creating an effective learning environment for all children.

Our panelists will speak briefly on their thoughts about the book, followed by discussion with the audience. You need not have read the book -- some of the most interesting questions come from people new to the topics we're talking about.

Also... refreshments will be served...

Hope to see you on Tuesday!

New for fall 2006

Recent additions to the resources available through the library web site include, in addition to the Oxford English Dictionary added in early summer, the set of 100+ volumes in Oxford Reference Online. These are concise reference works on broad subject areas - especially good for explanations of terms, persons, events, etc.

A review of the SUNYConnect system-wide resources has resulted in a substitution of the Academic Search Premier collection of e-journals for the InfoTrac Expanded Academic we had previously. While there are some differences in exact content, the scope and depth of the new resource is very similar to what you may have become accustomed to.

The Alexander Street Press collection of documents will be of interest to people in several disciplines. These are mainly primary source documents.

Some fairly minor changes to the library web site for this fall foreshadow a major re-design of our homepage expected before the start of the spring semester.