How are we doing?

If you have a few minutes, take a quick survey and tell us about your experience with government information.

The Blume Library is a Federal Depository Library, and has been one since 1964. The Federal Depository Library Program was established by Congress to ensure that the American public has access to its Government's information. Since becoming a Depository, we have accumulated what we hope is a valuable collection of print resources from the Congress and many government agencies. We have reports from Censuses back to 1960, Statutes at Large (pictured on the right) back to 1964, primary diplomatic source material in the Foreign Relations of the U.S. back to 1914, and the Congressional Record (and antecedents) back to 1789! Plus much, much more.

In recent years, the government has been increasingly making its information available online and the Blume Library offers guidance in navigating these resources through tools available on our website. We offer a Government Information on the Web Subject Index, a State Government Information Index, a series of guides to government information, and more.

So take our survey! It covers access, services, and collections. Results of the survey will contribute to efforts by the Government Printing Office, the agency which operates the Depository Program, to address the value of Depository Libraries. Let us know how you have used government resources in the Library and online, what works for you and what could be improved. Thanks!

Library Subscribes to Value Line online

The Louis J. Blume Library recently subscribed to the online Value Line Research Center. The Research Center provides research on stocks, mutual funds, options, and other types of investments. The Value Line Research Center is available on-campus and off-campus to currently enrolled students, faculty, and staff at St. Mary’s University.

The Blume Library also subscribes to several other databases that provide investment information. These databases are:

• Morningstar Investment Research Center – mutual funds, stocks, portfolio analysis tools
• NetAdvantage (Standard & Poor’s) – stocks, mutual funds, company and industry information
• Business Source Complete – business journal articles, newspapers, magazines, etc.

You can find the Value Line Research Center, and the other databases, on the Blume Library website at http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/indexes/bus.htm.

Contact any Reference Librarian if you have questions about this subscription or any other Blume Library database.

Voter information and links to campaign websites

Are you are registered to vote in Bexar County? Take a look at http://stmarytx.libguides.com/vote for links to candidates' sites, where available.

If you have already voted, thank you for voting. For those who haven't, Early Voting runs through Friday, October 29 in Bexar County. Election Day is Tuesday, November 2 and your local polling site will be open 7am-7pm. Links to the Bexar County Elections Department information about voting is available at http://stmarytx.libguides.com/vote

Participate in LexisNexis® QuizWhiz student competition for a chance to win valuable prizes!

Current St. Mary's University students are invited to participate in the LexisNexis Academic (one of the Blume Library's subscription services) QuizWhiz contest. Win points and prizes while exploring the content of LexisNexis Academic.

Sign up today. Registered students answer multiple choice questions on legal, news, business and more. Each correct answer earns points that may be redeemed by students for a variety of gift cards from national retailers in values of $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100.

Competition runs from September 13 through November 15, 2010 with questions updated as frequently as twice a week for opportunities to earn more.

See http://www.lexisnexis.com/quizwhiz/ for more information!

33 Years of Magill's Literary Annual Reviews Online

With the receipt of our 2010 Magill's Literary Annual, we have online access to 33 years of past Magill's Literary Annuals. The database includes over 6,900 reviews and essays covering fiction and nonfiction, across subjects, genres, and countries. Each year, Magill's Literary Annual critically evaluates 200 major examples of serious literature, both fiction and nonfiction, published during the previous calendar year. You can find the link to this database under Salem Literature on our web site or linked in our catalog record for Magill's Literary Annual. Search this resource to learn about recent publishing trends or to see how your favorite contemporary author or work of contemporary literature has stood the test of time.

Howdy, Partner!

Having trouble finding good, reliable, government information on a specific topic, like the Electoral College or Recycling? Or perhaps you'd like to browse a collection of useful government links on a broad topic like Education or the Military, and find a jewel of a useful website?

You should try our Government Information on the Web Subject Index!

The Index provides a single portal to link collections on particular subjects, taking advantage of the varied organizational schemes and terminologies developed by librarians around the country.

And the Index has just had its value acknowledged at the highest level—it's been designated an official Service Partner of the Government Printing Office, one of a handful of operations nationwide that "assist GPO to provide enhanced services to Federal depository libraries."

We are deeply honored to have our work so recognized by GPO, and are very excited at the national exposure that St. Mary's and the Blume Library will enjoy, especially in the library community, as a result of the Partnership.

Depository libraries receive tangible government publications, access to electronic publications (some of which are not freely available to the public), training, and support from the Government Printing Office. Established in 1813, the Federal Depository Library Program's purpose is to "to ensure that the American public has access to its Government's information." At St. Mary's, both the Blume Library and the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library are depositories. Across the nation, there are over 1200.

Government information can be useful in all sorts of research projects. Check out the Index, by all means, but if you need further assistance in finding government data or reports, ask a Reference Librarian.

Fun with local health statistics

How healthy are the residents in the county where you live? Do the local residents eat lots of fruits and vegetables? Is there a low incidence of obesity? What percentage of the local population smokes? You can easily find this information through several health statistics web sites. The Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) site allows users to view data for any county in the United States. The site is a partnership between federal agencies and several private non-profit organizations. The data is obtained from a number of federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, Census Bureau, and Department of Labor. You can even easily generate a 12-page booklet with the data and graphics for your county. After selecting the state and then the county you which to examine, select the Print Full Report option on the right side of the screen and your booklet will automatically be formatted!

Another site that makes a game out of comparing one city (really the county) against another on several health and quality of life measures is Community Clash, provided by MeYou Health, a private well-being company that encourages people to pursue, achieve and maintain a healthy life through education and fun. Play Community Clash and see how your city compares to the rival city of your choice!

There's an App for the OECD Factbook 2010

Several weeks ago we noted that the World Bank Group opened their data to all. Now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is making their OECD Factbook 2010 freely accessible through a downloadable app available for your mobile device. The OECD Factbook is arranged by 12 themes such as population and migration, macroeconomic trends, and globalization. Each indicator includes a table showing the latest available data for the 30 OECD countries, and data for Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russian Federation and South Africa where available. The data in the OECD Factbook are available in several formats. The mobile app for the OECD Factbook 2010 can be freely downloaded at the App Shopper site.

[image and information from OECD and App Shopper sites]

Deepwater Horizon...

...what a poetic-sounding name for a horrific event. And its full impacts won't be known for weeks, months, or perhaps even years.

If you want to keep up-to-date on what's happening with the Gulf oil spill—efforts to cap the leaks, predictions as to movement of the slick, and efforts made to minimize the damages as it makes landfall—we can help.

A diligent government information librarian in Alabama is compiling this bibliography of links to government and news sources. Their emphasis is, naturally, on the Alabama coastline, but they also include big-picture coverage.

Some of the government agencies most concerned with the spill are:

• NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, who offers this informational page on the spill (the image on the left above is from their website)
  
• NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which provides rather chilling satellite imagery of the area, including the example on the right, which came from this NASA web page
• EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, who offers this page on efforts to monitor the environmental impacts
  

World Bank Group opens data to all

The World Bank Group now provides free access to more than 2,000 financial, business, health, economic and human development statistics that had mostly been available only to paying subscribers in the past.

This means that researchers, journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), entrepreneurs and school children alike will be able to tap into the World Bank's databases via a new website at data.worldbank.org

The World Bank's open data initiative has the potential to stimulate more evidence-based policymaking in developing countries by bringing more researchers and innovative analysis into the development process. The move might also stimulate demand for data and increase countries' capacity to produce it.

For the first time, data will also be available in languages other than English, with an initial 330 indicators translated into French, Spanish and Arabic. Read more at http://go.worldbank.org/MZ29WQLWK0

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Congratulations to 4th Annual Library Undergraduate Research Award recipient

On Friday, March 26, 2010, the recipient of the Fourth Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award was recognized at the Eleventh Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. The award recognizes a student researcher who demonstrates skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project.

The First Place Award of $200 was granted to Rebecca Denise Lopez for her project, "Enhancing Learning: Modifying the Learning Practice Inventory for Use in Health Care." The faculty mentor for the project was Dr. Andrea Berndt.

Congratulations, Rebecca!

Stand up and be counted

Well, you don't actually have to stand up. You can be counted sitting down. And it's so easy to do you can even be counted lying down if you prefer. There's very little energy required.

Every 10 years, as specified in the U.S. Constitution, the Census Bureau conducts a count of every single person in the land. At least, that's the theory. It only works if each of those people cooperates and participates.

This April 1 is Census day for this decade. The last time it happened was April 1, 2000, and it won't happen again until April 1 (presumably) 2020. Every household is to respond to the questionnaire as of that day. Not the day before or the day after. [I was so disappointed that my son barely missed getting counted in the 1980 census—he was born a week later!]

The form is very short and only takes a few minutes to complete. You can take a look at it here. The more detailed questions that used to be a part of the Census are taken care of in the American Community Survey, which is an ongoing survey and only questions a sample of the population.

Simple as it is, there are a couple of areas you might have questions about:

• If you live on campus, your parents shouldn't count you on their form at home. You'll be counted in the dormitory. Here's more information on this count.
  
• The Census folks intend for Hispanic origin (which has only be noted since the 1970 Census, by the way) to be considered a separate characteristic from race. That's why there are two separate questions on the form. But race is self-reported. So if you're not comfortable marking white or African-American for race, there's a place for you to fill in what you consider yourself. The whole race question is very complicated and fraught with linguistic, emotional, and political baggage. The Library's Census guide has a section on comparability of Census data in this area. But suffice it to say that a perfect solution has yet to be devised.
• If you have any questions about getting a form or filling it out, here are some information phone numbers.
  

The main thing is to be counted! Census data is used for apportioning seats in the U.S. and Texas legislatures, for awarding grants, and in the research papers of generations of college students. So don't be left out!

Apply for the Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award

Are you entering a project in the Undergraduate Research Symposium?

Consider applying for the
Fourth Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award

First Prize: $200
Second Prize: $100

The Award recognizes student researchers who demonstrate skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project. The Award is restricted to undergraduate students.

You must enter the Undergraduate Research Symposium (deadline Friday, March 12, 2010) to be eligible for this Award.

The Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award application deadline: Monday, March 22, 2010 at 5pm.

Photo of 2007 Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award winning project posters.

Photographs and Memories …..during Women's History Month

We celebrate Women's History Month every March in the United States. This year, St. Mary's University is hosting several programs to honor the contributions of women. Take a look at the 2010 St. Mary's University's Women's History Month program.

I hope you will visit the Blume Library to see our display celebrating Women's History Month: Snapshots of Women's History. I designed the display to focus on the way photographs can challenge our assumptions about the diversity of female experiences. The pictures on display show women contributing to society in a variety of ways including as artists, teachers, students, protestors, writers, business owners, and athletes. All the photos on display come from the Flickr Commons project, a repository of publicly-held photographs from archives and libraries throughout the world. The display also includes books from the Blume Library collection that focus on women in photography, either as subjects of the photos or as photographers.

The Blume Library Art Exhibit area highlights the two themes of women and photography this March with the opening of a photo exhibit by local artist Melanie Rush-Davis. The exhibit will run from March 7- April 16th and a reception will be held on Wednesday, April 7th from 4-5:30pm.

I invite you to stop by the library to view these displays and think about women's contributions to society, both now and in the past. I also encourage you to take advantage of all the wonderful Women's History Month programs occurring this month on our campus!

The Chronicle of Higher Education now available through the Blume Library

The Louis J. Blume Library now offers you the full-text, with graphics and photos, of The Chronicle of Higher Education at your desktop or from wherever you might be.

The Chronicle of Higher Education is where college and university faculty members and administrators turn for news, information, and jobs in higher education. The Chronicle’s online edition is published every weekday. The Chronicle’s site features the complete contents of the latest print issue; daily news and advice columns; thousands of current job listings; articles published since September 1989; vibrant discussion forums; and career-building tools.

Go to the Louis J. Blume Library web site and click on The Chronicle of Higher Education at the top of that page or go to the The Chronicle’s direct link at http://blume.stmarytx.edu:2048/login?url=http://chronicle.com

For other new databases and trials, check the Louis J. Blume Library web site. The Library frequently "test drives" new databases and would very much appreciate your feedback on them.

information provided by Dr. H. Palmer Hall, Director, Louis J. Blume Library, St. Mary’s University

Download netLibrary books to your eBook reader

Did you get an eBook reader recently? If so, did you know that you may be able to download selections from the library’s collection of 50,000+ NetLibrary eBooks onto your eReader?


All you have to do is connect to the Louis J. Blume Library’s website and click on Databases Listed Alphabetically. When you do, you will be able to click on NetLibrary. This will take to the NetLibrary website where you will be able to establish a free account with NetLibrary.

NOTE #1: Initially, you need to do this through the library’s website because Netlibrary uses our IP addresses to authenticate that you are connecting from a library that has purchased the collection. You may also do this from off campus by using EZ Proxy, the server that let’s all of our faculty and students log on to and check the library’s databases from off campus.

Procedure:
From the NetLibrary website, go to "Advanced Search."
Key in your search (by author/title/subject/keyword) and,
Before clicking on the search button, select "Downloadable eBooks."

You will be shown a list of downloadable eBooks that matches your search criteria.
When you get a list of books, click on "Show Details"
and then click on "Check Out & Download this eBook."

NOTE #2: Do have your eReader connected to your computer when you do this. The book will be downloaded into your "reader software" on your computer so you can transfer it to your hand-held device.

NOTE #3: NetLibrary checks books out to you and they will be unreadable on your eReader after 7 days. So, don’t download a whole bunch at one time.

NOTE # 4: NetLibrary is a scholarly collection of eBooks, so don’t look for bestsellers or works of fiction. Get those from the Sony store, Amazon, B+N.com, or other eBook vendors.

Since all of the downloadable eBooks are pdf files, they ought to work on a variety of eBook readers.

NOTE #5: Just another service provided by the Louis J. Blume Library.

Happy Techie New Year!

information provided by Dr. H. Palmer Hall, Director, Louis J. Blume Library, St. Mary’s University

Is this the coldest it's ever been?

Well, it surely felt that way to me this weekend. Especially when we had a heater malfunction Saturday night! But I found out that it was even colder, 'way back in 1886, when the record for January 9 was set, at 12°. Our 16° the other night was close, though!

If you want to find out how cold, or how hot, or how much rain (or how little) has fallen on a certain day—or usually falls in a certain month—or has fallen since a certain date—you can find that on the internet.

The National Climatic Data Center has a nifty Records Look-up web page, and if you look at the chart for Lowest Minimum Temperatures for Texas, on January 9, you'll see a lot of red entries: new records were set elsewhere in the state, right and left!

You can also look up records, as well as current temperatures and forecasts, for all over the country, at the National Weather Service. To find all kinds of records for San Antonio, check out this compendium they provide. It might have made me feel a little warmer, psychologically, if I'd realized the other day that once, in 1917, it was 84 degrees here on January 9!

A handy and reliable non-governmental site (with less annoying ads than you find on weather.com) is the Weather Underground's Weather History page. Despite their goofy name (which is a counter-culture reference perhaps known only to People of A Certain Age) there's a lot of data here.

Enjoy browsing for fun weather facts on these websites. And try to keep warm!