What's New at the Library

Beginning July 1, there will be a number of changes to the library's database collection. Several databases, funded in whole or in part through an Institute of Museum and Library Services LSTA grant awarded by the State Library of Ohio, and that are available to all Ohioans through Libraries Connect Ohio (a collaborative effort of OhioLINK, OPLIN, INFOhio, and the State Library of Ohio), will change. So, what's changing?

Biography Reference Bank will replace American National Biography. Biography Reference Bank provides biographical information on approximately half a million people, from antiquity to the present, along with thousands of images.
Consumer Health Complete (an EBSCOhost database) provides convenient access to easily understandable health and medical information including medical encyclopedias, popular reference books and magazine articles.
Science Online will replace AccessScience. Science Online presents a broad range of scientific disciplines through extensive definitions, essays, diagrams, biographies, and experiments.
World Book Web (includes World Book Dictionary, World Book Atlas, World Book Advanced, World Book Kids, and Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos) will replace Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, Encyclopaedia Britannica School Edition and Enciclopedia Universal en Español. World Book Web is a suite of online research tools that delivers encyclopedia articles, primary source collections, educator tools, student activities, pictures, audio, and video, complemented by current periodicals and related Web sites.

In addition, OhioLINK will not be renewing its subscription to Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals and Bibliography of the History of Art. The Library has opted not to renew Hein Political Science Online, CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online), and Columbia Earthscape. All of the databases that have not been renewed have been removed from the library's database pages. New databases will be added as they become available to us.

Finally, the library's subscription to Philosopher's Index has been switched to the familiar EBSCOhost platform.

EBSCO Databases to Get New Look, New Features

EBSCO has announced it will launch a new search interface, EBSCOhost 2.0, in July. The new interface will provide a simplified search screen (with a Search Options link to get you to the limits and other options currently available on the initial search screen) and enhancements on the search results page. Among those enhancements will be links to images in EBSCO’s Image Collection, a preview pane to let you see some of an individual record without leaving the results page, enhanced folders capability to help researchers organize and save results, access to details on how to cite articles according to various bibliographic formats such as MLA, APA, and Chicago (remember, the library provides online access to the complete Chicago Manual of Style as one of its 100+ databases), and easy access to similar articles.

You can test the new interface by going to Academic Search Complete (choose Databases/Indexes from the library's Web page and then click the link for that database) and then click on New Features in the upper, left of the page. This will take you to a page that gives you a chance to "test drive" the new interface.

Hiram Reads! is Back

The Library is pleased to announce the "re-launch" of Hiram Reads! The site is now a blog to allow readers to add comments to the reviews.

Hiram Reads! is an online community of readers and book lovers with a connection to Hiram College. If you would like to submit a review (250 to 500 words), just email it to David Everett at everettdd@hiram.edu.

Click here to see the new Hiram Reads!

Friends of the Library to Sponsor Film Festival

Beginning this September and running throughout the academic year, the Friends of the Hiram College Library will sponsor Flicks with Friends: The Friends of the Library Film Festival. Dates, times, locations, and films will be announced as the information becomes available so keep your eyes open for those announcements! The Friends are subscribing to a film series from Film Movement, which provides one-time public performance rights (and the library keeps the DVD for its circulating collection) to award-winning, first run, independent and foreign films from top festivals such as Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto.

Library Adds New JSTOR Collection

The Library is pleased to announce the addition of the Arts and Sciences VI Collection to its JSTOR subscription. Arts and Sciences VI will contain at least 120 titles upon its completion in 2010. Subject emphasis will be on economics, education, linguistics, political science, and area studies. With this addition, the Library continues to offer the Hiram College Community access to every title available in JSTOR. Among the titles announced for the new collection, but not yet available, are: Africa Today, Foreign Language Annals, Human Ecology, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Middle East Journal, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Reading Teacher, and Women’s Studies Quarterly.

You may also notice that the Library no longer provides access to the Business II Collection. All titles that were unique to that Collection are now incorporated into Arts and Sciences VI (or another Arts and Sciences collection). As a result, the Business II Collection becomes redundant for Hiram.

JSTOR provides complete backfile runs for some 1100 scholarly journals. Coverage begins with volume 1, issue 1 and continues to within a specified number of years, usually 3 to 7) of the current year. Each January another year’s worth of issues is added to the database. JSTOR itself is keyword searchable and there are links to JSTOR articles in almost all of the library’s index databases.

OhioLINK Adds to Electronic Book Center

OhioLINK has expanded the content in its Electronic Book Center (EBC) with the addition of some 50 reference titles from Gale. Among the titles added are Business Plans Handbook, Writers Directory 2008, National Survey of State Laws, and titles from the Information Plus: The Information Series on Current Topics, including Gambling: What’s at Stake, Genetics and Genetic Engineering and Health Care System.

The EBC contains the full-text of some 35,000 electronic books from publishers including Oxford, Springer, and ABC-Clio. In addition, the EBC provides links to five other collections of electronic books (American and English Literature, Safari Computer and Tech Titles, Humanities E-Book, Oxford Reference Online, and selected titles from NetLibrary), all of which are available to Hiram College students, faculty, and staff.

OhioLINK Adds Lexi-PALS Database

OhioLINK has added the Lexi-PALS database from EBSCO. This data was available within the Health Source database, but has now become a separate, stand-alone database. The database provides some 1450 Patient Advisory Leaflets (PALS), with nearly half also available in Spanish. Each leaflet provides patients important information on a specific medication, including side effects, monitoring recommendations, and brand names for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Introducing AP Images

AP Images is the new name for the AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archives. With the new name, comes a new look for the database. The database continues, however, to be a wealth of visual information, serving as a selective archives for Associated Press photos (with the earliest dating back to the 1840s), graphics (maps, charts, diagrams, etc. that are used in newspaper stories), and audio files. The database is updated throughout the day to provide up-to-the-minute coverage.

Library Launches New Periodical Holdings List

The Library is pleased to announce the launch of a new periodical holdings list that allows you to search only one place to determine if the periodical is available. The new list tracks all of the library's periodical titles, whether popular or scholarly, print or online, in a single list that is more comprehensive than the previous two options. The list now tracks some 36,000 periodical titles and the library staff continues to add more of the print titles to the list.

The list, for which we have partnered with Serials Solutions, allows you to browse by title, search by title, search by keyword, or browse by broad subject heading. The new list is linked from the library's home page.

To see what the new list looks like, click here.

Catalog Now Includes Reviews

The Library staff is pleased to announce the catalog now features links to book reviews for selected titles. Just click on the book jacket image with the words "Reviews and More." You'll be linked to reviews from Choice, Library Journal, Booklist, and/or Horn Book. For an example, click here.

This is the latest feature library staff have added to the catalog in an effort to re-design the catalog and make it even better and more useful. Look for more features to be added during the next several months.