Purdue Libraries News

Purdue Libraries will have reduced hours over the Thanksgiving holiday. All libraries are closing at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25 and will be closed Thursday-Friday November 26-27 for the University observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. A full listing of hours is available at http://www.lib.purdue.edu/libraries/hours/2009/thanksgivinghours.html.

Specialty Chemicals – Source Book (4th Edition)
Michael Ash and Irene Ash
Synapse Information Resources, Inc. © 2009

“This book has been extensively revised and expanded and now contains approximately 18,000 monographs on this group of chemicals with 70,000 cross-referenced chemical synonyms, and more than 60,000 trade name equivalents.  This reference contains integrated information on these chemicals, their properties, functional and application market sectors, manufacturers and distributors.”

Engr Seminar Series for Nov. 17 is being held in the ENGR Conference Room, B50 at 5:30p.m.

It is being held by Amy Van Epps.

Purdue Libraries is hosting its third annual GIS Day event. Building on the response from last year’s event, it will not be held on the official GIS Day (Nov. 18), but rather on November 23 to avoid some other events that tend to conflict. All are welcome (both geo* types and curious public alike) and light refreshments will be served (e.g. coffee, cookies, chips & salsa).

Schedule of Events

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Geocache Locations are posted, players are invited to begin hunting

Monday, November 23, 2009

• 2:30-3:15 p.m. — Poster session in Stewart Center room 206
• 3:15 p.m. — Geocaching winners announced (STEW 206)
• 3:30-5:00 p.m. — Presentation session (STEW 206)
• 5:00-6:00 p.m. — Posters remain on display for viewing

For more information and updates on the geocaching coordinates, visit http://www.lib.purdue.edu/gis/gisday/.

An exhibit of photography by J.C. Allen, titled “Agriculture in Focus: Through the Lens of J.C. Allen,” is on display in the Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center from November 3-December 23, 2009.

Allen came to the Purdue College of Agriculture in 1909, where he photographed significant advances in extension activities, teaching, research, and completion of new agriculture buildings, in addition to chronicling the progress and significant milestones of Purdue. His photos were used in agricultural publications including Prairie Farmer, Successful Farming, and Farm Journal, and his archive of Purdue photos includes images of Amelia Earhart, the Purdue Memorial Union construction, and Ross-Ade Stadium.

Allen spent more than 70 years taking photos of rural life — and Purdue University — and created an incredible collection of photos documenting American agriculture during the early 20th century.

In the 1970s, Allen began presenting roughly 20,000 prints, glass plates and negatives to Purdue for archival purposes.

The College of Agriculture maintained the Allen Archive until the completion of the Karnes Archives Research Center was completed, and the collection has been given to the Libraries for preservation.

The Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center is located on the fourth floor of the Humanities, Social Science, and Education Library in Stewart Center, and is open Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.lib.purdue.edu/spcol.

Library hours for the Thanksgiving Break are located at:

http://www.lib.purdue.edu/libraries/hours/2009/thanksgivinghours.html

Welcome to Database of the Week — a feature from the Management & Economics Library (MEL).  These weekly database snapshots will give you basic information about our most relevant and beneficial online resources.

This Week’s Featured Database: LexisNexis Statistical, from LexisNexis, Inc.

Link: www.lib.purdue.edu/mel, in the pull down Quick Access to Business Databases alpha list below the Libraries’ search box.

Description/focus: LexisNexis Statistical is a collection of statistical tables and datasets collected from federal agencies, the United Nations, the World Bank and other sources.

Start with this hint: Admittedly the LexisNexis Statistical interface is less than elegant.  Selecting from the basic table/publication menu on the left will get different results for the same term since they are searching different sources. A search in Find a Table for “small businesses” nets 866 hits.  If you switch to Find a Publication, be sure to check the box next to Limit to abstracts that have full text attachments; the resulting list for “small businesses” here will be 322 hits. If your term doesn’t get any results, go to the link for the Subject List next to the search field.  Contrariwise, if there are too many results, narrow your results by selecting one parameter, such as Geographic.

Why you should know this database: LexisNexis Company Statistical, though not our friendliest interface, is worth the patience it may call for.  Troll the list of subjects to see the extensive coverage available.  The results can be limited to statistics from the Federal government,  state governments and private sources, or international sources.

How this database can be integrated into the curriculum: Statistics are critical for decision making and with LexisNexis Statistical students don’t have to hunt for the right government agency to find the data they need.

Cost: $44,253 paid by the Libraries annually.

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Database of the Week comes to you from the Management & Economics Library (MEL). Our intent is to give you a brief introduction to a database that you may not know.  If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact kranlib@purdue.edu.  Database of the Week is archived  at http://blogs.lib.purdue.edu/news/category/MGMT/.  For more Purdue Libraries news, follow us on Twitter (@PurdueLibraries).

If you would like us to promote your favorite database, send an email to mdugan@purdue.edu.

Practical Statistics for the Analytical Scientist: A Bench Guide, 2nd ed.
SLR Ellison, VJ Barwick, and TJD Farrant
RSC © 2009

The application of statistics is central to the assessment of data quality and an understanding of statistics is essential for the interpretation of analytical results.

‘Practical Statistics for the Analytical Scientist, A Bench Guide’ was first published by the RSC in 1997. This well structured manual was designed to help practicing analytical scientists and students identify the correct statistical parameters and tests to apply to their data. Completely revised and updated, the second edition contains new sections on method validation, measurement uncertainty, effective experimental design and proficiency testing.

Welcome to Database of the Week — a feature from the Management & Economics Library (MEL).  These weekly database snapshots will give you basic information about our most relevant and beneficial online resources.

This Week’s Featured Database: LexisNexis Company Dossier, from LexisNexis, Inc.

Link: www.lib.purdue.edu/mel, in the pull down Quick Access to Business Databases alpha list right below our banner.

Description/focus: LexisNexis Company Dossier is business information segment in LexisNexis Academic. This is the first in a mini-series of snapshots of the LexisNexis products provided by the Libraries.

Start with this hint: If the company of interest is a private company, enter the company name and LexisNexis Company Dossier will give you a list of guesses.  As with any database offering company information, however, when searching for a publicly traded company, it is quicker to get results if you have the ticker for your company.  In the ticker field enter luv or the symbol for another publicly-traded company.  Each section on the resulting Snapshot page expands to the complete information in that field.  On the left are more links, including Legal Information and Intellectual Property Information.  Go back to the search page (hit Return to Company Searches at the top) and switch to Company Profiles on the left.  This will bring up a list of reports from the LexisNexis sources such as Disclosure, Standard & Poor’s, Hoover’s.   When you use the Dossier Compare Companies feature on the search page,  the ticker symbols are especially important.

Why you should know this database: The Financial Information link on the left on the Snapshot page brings up tables that can be expanded to include historical information, including ratio analysis.

How this database can be integrated into the curriculum: The breadth of information on the LexisNexis Company Dossier snapshot page, as well as the opportunity to expand for more, presents students with reliable and complete company information, including news reports.

Cost: LexisNexis Company Dossier is part of LexisNexis Academic, a subscription paid by the Libraries annually; for more information contact mdugan@purdue.edu.

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Database of the Week comes to you from the Management & Economics Library (MEL). Our intent is to give you a brief introduction to a database that you may not know.  If you would like more information about this database, or if you would like a demonstration of it for a class, contact kranlib@purdue.edu.  Database of the Week is archived  at http://blogs.lib.purdue.edu/news/category/MGMT/.  For more Purdue Libraries news, follow us on Twitter (@PurdueLibraries).

If you would like us to promote your favorite database, send an email to mdugan@purdue.edu.