Dissertations and Open Access

If you are almost finished with your dissertation, or advise graduate students, you know that every thesis and dissertation should be submitted to a company called ProQuest. They create the Digital Dissertations database. They also sell dissertations and theses. Starting this fall they are offering students several publishing options. One new option is to publish using the Open Access model, meaning that anyone can read the entire electronic version and download it for free.
There are many things to consider when making this decision and ProQuest describes them completely in their guide which is linked to from the libraries’ Dissertations and Master’s Theses page. Academic librarians are familiar with Open Access issues; your departmental librarian would be happy to discuss this topic with you.

Bring Your Class to Special Collections!

Class visits to Special Collections provide students with a tangible experience of history. The materials in our collections support teaching in any number of disciplines, from introductory undergraduate courses to advanced seminars. Classroom space can be booked in the Peabody Library, the Garrett Library, or Eisenhower Special Collections, and staff are happy to assist with the selection and presentation of materials to your students. Additionally, all Hopkins students are welcome to make use of our materials for individual research.

Recent class visits have included:

• Civil engineers examining Victorian iron-truss bridge structures
• Art historians poring over woodcuts by Durer and etchings by Piranesi
• English majors tracing variants in editions of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass
• Undergraduates interpreting handwriting in historical documents
• Medievalists encountering illuminated manuscripts

To learn more about the resources in Special Collections or to schedule a visit, please contact Danielle Culpepper, John Buchtel, or Margaret Burri.

Wireless network upgrades in MSE…or Now your mother can use her blackberry in the library

This summer IT @ JH upgraded the wireless network within MSEL. The old network (known as “Standard”) has been replaced with a new network that’s more secure and even works with Vista. For the network knowledgeable, it’s an 802.11 a/b/g 56mbps compliant wireless LAN. The rest of us will be satisfied with calling the new network “Hopkins.”

Set-up instructions are available online at:

• Vista
  
• Windows XP Service Pack 2 or higher
• Apple OS 10.4 or higher

Make sure you have the right equipment to use the wireless. You may need to get adapter or upgrade your wireless card’s network drivers. Or better yet, call IT @ JH Technical Assistance and make an appointment to have them configure your laptop for you.

Now, about your mother’s blackberry…

IT @ JH also hooked us up with access to the JHGuestNetwork. This is a wireless network that doesn’t require you to sign in. That means that guests visiting the library can log onto the internet. Of course, no authentication means there are some limitations on how it can be used – no access to our licensed resources, for example. But you can certainly use it for most everyday web activities. An online brochure gives more details.

The new networks are being rolled out across the campuses, so you may also have it in your building now. We just wanted you to know you can use either in the library now.

Go to this website for more details on all the wireless networks at Hopkins (yes, we’ve got more than two).

LexisNexis Academic - New Interface & Features

Users of LexisNexis (LN) Academic are in for some changes! The redesigned LexisNexis debuted in August. New features include:

• An EasySearch Form allowing for natural language searching and the ability to search across multiple sources
• PowerSearch form supporting full LexisNexis query language and the ability to create ad hoc combined sources
• Ability to display results by categories, sources, subjects and additional options via the clustering feature
• Enriched business sources including Company Dossier for a picture of a company’s structure, financial health, brands, competitors and more
• Shepard’s Citations expanded to cover all federal and state court
• Export citations to RefWorks

The redesign only applies to LexisNexis Academic. The other databases in the LN family, Congressional, Statistical, State Capital, etc. remain unchanged.

A tutorial overview is also available.

Checking Out

Welcome new and returning students! A few basics about checking out materials at the Sheridan Libraries to get your year started.

Homewood students: Your JCard is your library card. Use it to swipe into the library, check out materials, as well as to print, photocopy, and buy thing in the vending machines. Login online to view your account, renew items, and recall check out items. And, register to receive email library notices! When logging on, remember to use your itty bitty barcode number, circled in red at right.

It needs to be activated at the library circulation desk on M-Level before you check anything out or login online.

See more information about the JCard. Students from programs not affiliated with the Homewood Campus: use your divisional library card.

See more information for undergraduates and grad students. Have a question? Ask a Librarian or leave a comment below.

Bookmarks full? Subscribe to The Sheridan Libraries Blog

Are your bookmarks full? Subscribe to this blog to get new library news, tips, and tricks pushed out to you. New to subscribing? Watch the video below for the basics.

Subscribe to the whole blog or check out the categories in the sidebar to focus your subscription.

Rather keep up via email?

Last Chance to Catch the Dixon Exhibition

Stephen Dixon: Endings (an exhibition on A-Level of MSEL) will close on Friday. This is your last chance to catch the exhibition that celebrates the career of one of JHU’s most prolific authors.

Endings have been a continuing motif in writer and Writing Seminars Professor Stephen Dixon’s work over the course of his career. From bad break-ups to tragic deaths, this professor’s fiction has repeatedly examined the terminal.

To commemorate the conclusion of his career at Johns Hopkins and the donation of his papers to MSEL, this exhibition celebrates the Dixon’s life, technique, and creative legacy.

The display will run through August 31 and may be viewed Monday through Friday in the Special Collections department on A-Level. Hours are from 9 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday, with extended evening hours until 8 pm on Thursdays.

PDF Tips and Tricks

As you navigate all of the library’s databases and e-journals, you’ll no doubt run into PDF files. Or perhaps you’re working on a dissertation or article and you’re dealing with PDFs of your own creation. Either way, you might be interested in Lifehacker’s Top Ten PDF Tricks for a few ideas on how to make these faithfully formatted files work harder for you.

Among Lifehacker’s tips and tricks are both Mac and Windows-friendly solutions for:

• converting files to PDF online
• annotating PDFs
• merging and editing files

• turning a whiteboard into a PDF
• managing your PDF files in iTunes

Curious to know more? A few PDF notes from popular databases and sites… Continue reading PDF Tips and Tricks…

Science, Communication, the Web, and Open Access

I have just found an excellent free online journal devoted to cyberinfrastructure and its use by the scientific community in research and communication. It’s called CTWatch Quarterly and the August issue is devoted to the impact of the Web, Web 2.0, and other new technologies on research, communication, and publication in the sciences. Many notable thinkers have articles in this issue: Ginsparg (creator of arXiv), Suber (Open Access leader), and Lynch (Coalition for Networked Information) are just three.
All the authors look toward a time when more information, including data sets, publications, video clips, and other types of information, are more freely available and integrated. While these articles focus on science disciplines, I don’t think the arts and humanities will be far behind. If you’d like a quick primer on cyberinfrastructure, see 7 Things You Should Know About Infrastucture by Educause.
The JHU libraries are very interested in these trends. We have a working group focused on Open Access (online journals freely available to the public). Our Library Digital Programs has programs in data curation and other cyberinfrastructure projects.
All of this is of primary interest to librarians, since our mission involves preserving and making available information. If you are interested or have questions, talk to a librarian today!

Longer Loans for Movies

There are new, longer loan periods for movies available from the AV Center in MSEL!

Hey undergrads and grads, you now have one week — that’s right guys, one whole week — to watch those three DVDs or VHS tapes you checked out.

For the faculty out there, we know how you need to check out as many film noir movies as possible to prepare for that class on mid-century American cinema. You can check out ten items from the AV Center for the week.

After a week, if you haven’t finished analyzing the movie adaptations of Jane Austen’s works for the English paper you have due, remember that you can always renew those DVDs or VHS tapes once.

Happy viewing!