Fall 2009, Rutgers University
Libraries Economics Newsletter
Ryan Womack, Data and Economics
Librarian, rwomack@rci.rutgers.edu
Introduction
The Libraries are meeting budget challenges by actively renegotiating contracts, cancelling duplicate and lesser used subscriptions, and pursuing a number of other efficiencies. Our ongoing cancellations led to a significant amount of money available at the end of last year to make one-time purchases, the most relevant of which are described below. However, we are facing more cuts, so we continue to be unable to add any ongoing subscriptions.
Collections
Newly acquired by the libraries:
· ScienceDirect Backfiles have been purchased for dozens of major journals published by Elsevier. Now, pre-1995 articles are immediately available online. You can consult a complete list of the titles with dates of coverage here.
· The most significant database change is the substitution of Westlaw Campus Research for LexisNexis Academic. Westlaw has complete coverage of legal cases, codes, legal journals, and more. Westlaw has a much better and more sophisticated system for finding and browsing cases by subject, and analyzing current law through citing and cited cases. Westlaw also has good coverage of general news sources and some coverage of business publications. If you used LexisNexis primarily for news, you may also want to try Access World News, the McClatchy-Tribune collection, or Factiva.
Training sessions for Westlaw are available.
· The Making of Modern Law is a full-text collection of legal monographs published in Great Britain and the United States from 1800 to 1926.
· Cambridge Histories Online This is the online version, including downloadable PDFs, of the authoritative history series. Includes the Cambridge Economic History of Europe, … of Britain, … of US, … of India, and more.
· Off topic, but enjoyable, the Classical Scores Library provides printable PDFs of over 15,000 musical scores, including the famous names you might expect.
Cancelled:
· LexisNexis Academic – see
discussion of Westlaw above.
Services
· Data
Snapshots – There are now three video introductions to data sources,
covering ICPSR,
Roper,
and World
Development Indicators. New
additions will be announced on the RutgersData
blog. These are the type of
instructional videos that I can also produce for classroom use, if you are
interested.
· Data
Services – After the summer’s recarpeting, the Data Services PCs in
the Alexander Library reference room will be up and running again this
week. The Data Services PCs provide
access to SPSS, SAS, R, GIS software, as well as CD-ROM sources such as Global
Development Finance and specialized files for the 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000
Census from Geolytics.
· Copyright questions about your own publications or classroom materials can be
answered by the Libraries. Just write to copyright@rutgers.edu, or consult our Copyright
guide.
· “New Stuff”
in the Libraries – All newly acquired books, journals, media,
and electronic files can now be browsed on a monthly basis using the “New Stuff”
link. Browse by subject or use this link
to go directly to business and economics titles. Note that government documents are listed
separately.
Other news
· If you would like would like to investigate data for your research or instruction, to schedule instructional sessions for your classes relating to library databases and resources, or would like individual consultation about any information resources related to economics, please contact me. Also, feel free to list me as a resource for your students on your syllabi, web pages, and courseware.
· More comprehensive guides to available resources in Economics and Numeric and GIS Data can be found under "Subject Research Guides" on the library home page.
· Please e-mail me if you have any other suggestions and comments about the Libraries’ information resources or services.
About…
This newsletter describes news relevant to economics from the Rutgers University Libraries, and is distributed to the Department of Economics and Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics in New Brunswick. It is typically issued once a semester, with occasional ‘special editions’ for important breaking news. For more regular updates on data developments, consult or subscribe to the RutgersData blog at rutgersdata.wordpress.com.
For Assistance…
You can chat with me live using the chat box at the RutgersData blog, or via Skype (using the name rutgersdata). Rather than holding specific office hours, I will now be online whenever I am in the office (i.e, weekdays when I am not in a meeting). Of course you can continue to contact me for assistance by e-mail, phone (732-932-7129 x131), or in person (at Alexander Library or I can drop by your office).
Archived Newsletters
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2009
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2008
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2005
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2005
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2005
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2004
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2003
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2003
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2002
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2001
Last updated 31 August 2009