Purdue Libraries News

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.

The Hicks Undergraduate Library is hosting a display for the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue as part of their “Our Heroes Tree” project. For more information on this program, click here.

The Purdue Libraries are one of more than 70 libraries statewide hosting a tree to help the community honor a soldier, sailor, airman, marine, coast guardsman, military veteran or fallen service member by creating a personalized ornament for display on the tree.

Templates for ornaments and supplies are available with the display. The Purdue Libraries display was made possible with support from PEFCU, and the tree will be on display through the end of December.

Physical Properties of Crystals: An Introduction

Siegfried Haussuhl
John Wiley and Sons © 2007

“This first international edition of a classic German standard integrates the latest developments in the field, including two-dimensional crystals and Giant Magneto-Resistance. Its aim is to impart the knowledge necessary to comprehend the manifold peculiarities of crystalline substances in a comprehensive and easily accessible manner. The book devotes much space to a coherent introduction to tensor calculation, making this the first to address the topic in a readily understandable way. Supplemented by 40 exercises with their solutions, this is an ideal textbook for students of physics and chemistry, solid state physicists and chemists, and materials scientists, but also a comprehensive resource for those who wish to get an overview of this important topic.”

Students use a new interactive classroom and computer lab that is equipped with Smart Board Technology in the newly renovated Management and Economics Library. (Purdue University photo/Mark Simons)

Purdue University Libraries isn’t just about books and resource materials anymore.

A new 40-seat interactive classroom aimed at engaging students in participatory activities has been completed in the Management and Economics Library on campus. It is the first phase of a three-part, $4.2 million renovation project that will transform the Management and Economics Library – also known as MEL – into a state-of-the-art business information center.

As Dean James L. Mullins and his Purdue Libraries faculty and staff recently celebrated completion of the first phase, he announced the beginning of a second phase. He detailed the project at the annual fall meeting of the Libraries Dean’s Advisory Council.

Students are already taking advantage of the project’s first phase. The interactive classroom and computer lab has Smart Board technology, group work stations and tools for instructors to increase student engagement. Work also is finished on the Corporate Study Room, a quiet study area for group work, meetings or individual study.

“The reconceptualization of MEL space from a more traditional book-centered facility into a collaborative student learning place changes the essence of a library,” said Tomalee Doan, associate professor of library science and head of the Division of Humanities, Social Science, Education and Business for Purdue Libraries. “The MEL redesign provides faculty with the opportunity to develop new teaching pedagogies and for students to benefit from those new methods. Students are no longer just recipients of knowledge, but also are collaborators and producers of knowledge, and they’re much more active participants in their own learning and discovery process. Everyone benefits.”

The renovation has drawn good reviews from students using the facility.

“MEL has provided students a much-needed place to study in a comfortable, quiet community setting,” said Brett Schwab, a senior in the Krannert School of Management and student ambassador. “It has allowed students to interact with some of the most advanced computer lab technology on campus with the use of interactive screens and other various presentation equipment.”

Elizabeth Jenkins, also a student ambassador and senior in the Krannert School, said, “The new Learn Lab is amazing. The professors are able to teach more easily with the high-tech boards, and the computer pods are great for team work. I look forward to having more class meetings there.”

The second phase will include several team collaboration media stations, a mulitmedia production center, two semiprivate group study rooms, and a business information mini-classroom to support the accounting and finance curriculum. The third and final renovation phase will include a coffee shop and gathering space.

Writer: Jim Bush, 765-494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu

Source: Tomalee Doan, 765-494-2928, tdoan@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

PHOTO CAPTION:
Students use a new interactive classroom and computer lab that is equipped with Smart Board Technology in the newly renovated the Management and Economics Library on campus.(Purdue University photo/Mark Simons)

A publication-quality photo is available at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2009/smart-boards.jpg

To the News Service home page

Original article: http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2009b/091102DoanMEL.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: CountryWatch, from CountryWatch, Inc.

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

Description/focus: CountryWatch provides up-to-date news and information on each of the recognized countries of the world.

Start with this hint: On your own you should explore the features listed on the left side of the home page, especially CountryWatch Data and Country Wire, but access to the main value of the database begins with Country Review.  Select a country from the dropdown list and the resulting page is the “Country Overview,” a very brief sketch of the country’s basic information.  Each of the links on the left, however, leads to a detailed report on that topic in that country.  For example, if you select Pakistan, the section on “Political Conditions” is a nearly 60 page report and includes updates from just two weeks ago. Any topic that includes “Index” in the title will lead to a comparison chart with the ratings or rankings of all countries.  This is also true of some other listings, such as “Control of Corruption.”

Why you should know this database: Each CountryWatch listing includes economic information, information on the investment climate, social and political information, and an environmental overview.   The Bibliography provides titles of books as well as links to both U.S. and international sources of information.

How this database can be integrated into the curriculum: At the top of the CountryWatch home page is the link for More search features.  Students can compare countries for a product such as cotton, or subject such as taxation, or a concept such as child labor.

Cost: $1600.00, 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.

An exhibit showcasing Purdue founder John Purdue is now available online.

“Portrait of a Founder: John Purdue and Purdue University” can be viewed at www.lib.purdue.edu/spcol/johnpurdue/. Purdue Libraries Archives and Special Collections hosted the physical exhibit this past spring in the new Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center.

Purdue was born on Oct. 31, circa 1802. Purdue University was founded in 1869, making 2009 the 140th anniversary of that historic occasion.

The exhibit covers various themes, including John Purdue’s early life, business activities, his time as a farmer, the founding of Purdue University, and his death and funeral. Fitting with his Halloween birthday, one of the spookier items in the collection is John Purdue’s death mask, a plaster cast of Purdue’s face, which was common practice in many cultures.

Other items in the online exhibit include letters, school writing exercises, business ledgers, portraits of John Purdue, and books written about his life and the University’s history.

For a list of upcoming display exhibits and other online exhibits, visit www.lib.purdue.edu/spcol/?page=exhibits.

Purdue University’s flight archives, already steeped with historical artifacts from U.S. space history, is growing thanks to two alumni astronauts.

Janice Voss and Roy Bridges Jr. will donate personal papers to the Purdue Libraries Division of Archives and Special Collections. The papers will join those of astronaut alumni Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, and Eugene Cernan, the most recent person to do so.

Purdue President France A. Córvdova will announce the addition of the new materials on Wednesday (Oct. 28) in the Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center. Both Voss and Bridges will attend the invitation-only event.

Purdue has 22 astronaut alumni and another who began training in August as an astronaut candidate.

“I’m thrilled that two more astronauts have chosen to donate their papers to this university,” Córdova said. “Our alumni have taken part in nearly 35 percent of all manned U.S. space flights. They, along with Purdue, have played a defining role in space history. These generous gifts help cement Purdue’s place in space and will serve future generations as a historical record and as an inspiration.”

Voss, who was born in South Bend, Ind., and attended high school in Wilbraham, Mass., earned her bachelor’s degree in engineering science from Purdue in 1975. She was selected by NASA in 1990 and became an astronaut in 1991. She is a veteran of five space flights, the first of which was aboard the STS57 from June 21 to July 1, 1993. She later was part of space missions in 1995, two in 1997 and the last in 2000. The last mission was an 11-day flight during which the international crew aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour mapped more than 47 million square miles of the Earth’s land surface.

Voss, who considers Rockford, Ill., her hometown, currently serves as payloads lead of the Astronaut Office Station Branch. She had previously been science director from 2004-07 for NASA’s Kepler Space Observatory, launched to discover Earthlike planets orbiting other stars.

While on campus, Voss will speak to two sections of a Women in Engineering seminar for first-year engineering students on Thursday (Oct. 29). She has often spoken to women engineering students during visits to campus.

“I hope that sharing my personal papers will help motivate the Purdue students following behind me, as taking classes in Grissom Hall did for me,” Voss said. “Knowing that someone else got from here to there brightened many of my days at Purdue. Maybe my papers will help someone else feel that they aren’t that different from me. If I can do it, then so can they.”

Bridges who was born in Atlanta and grew up in Gainesville, Ga., earned a master’s degree in astronautics from Purdue in 1966. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1980 and was the pilot aboard space shuttle Challenger in 1985. The journey was the first pallet-only Spacelab mission and the first to operate the Spacelab Instrument Pointing System. It carried 13 major experiments.

Bridges is a retired U.S. Air Force major general. He served from August 2003 to October 2005 as director of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and before that was director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center for more than six years. He also was commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; for the Eastern Space and Missile Center, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.; and for the 412th Test wing at Edwards. He has received numerous honors, including most recently NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Presidential Meritorious Award.

He is currently an executive with Northrop Grumman Technical Services.

“I was at Purdue a pretty short time, but I’ve always felt that the university has treated me like I was there for years. So, I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Purdue,” said Bridges, who received an honorary doctorate from Purdue in 2001. “I received a great education at Purdue. It’s a great university, and I’m happy to be part of the Purdue family. I hope that my papers will help someone else achieve their goals in life.”

The addition of the papers from Voss and Bridges will expand a rich and growing collection in Purdue Libraries’ Division of Archives and Special Collections. The George Palmer Putnam Collection of Amelia Earhart Papers – the world’s largest compilation of papers, memorabilia and artifacts related to the late aviator – along with papers from 1930 graduate and aviation pioneer Ralph Johnson, also are housed there.

“We are truly honored to be entrusted with preserving these collections and providing them as documents and artifacts for the historical record,” said James L. Mullins, dean of Purdue Libraries. “Purdue’s tradition in U.S. air and space travel will live forever in our archives, thanks to our generous alumni.”

Writer: Jim Bush, 765-494-2077, jsbush@purdue.edu

Sources: France A. Córdova, president@purdue.edu

James L. Mullins, 7675-494-2900, jmullins@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Original article: http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2009b/091027MullinsPapers.html

ACS Publishing has announced the online publication of the first ASAP Articles of the new journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience. The journal will publish high-quality research articles and reviews that showcase chemical, quantitative biological, biophysical and bioengineering approaches to the understanding of the nervous system and to the development of new treatments for neurological disorders.

The inaugural issue will be published at the end of September.

Visit http://pubs.acs.org/journal/acncdm to view the ASAP articles.

Practical Guide to Magnetic Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy
W. Roy Mason
John Wiley and Sons © 2007

“The book is a technical guide for chemists and spectroscopists, and presents a concise description of magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy and how it has advanced the interpretation of molecular electronic spectra.

* Provides a practical guide to utilizing MCD spectroscopy for chemists starting in the field
* Written by an expert with over twenty years of experience in the field
* Helps the reader to visualize the optical spectroscopic effects presented by MCD measurements
* Includes practical considerations for experimental MCD measurements based on the author’s experience
* Written as a general discussion of the subject matter, with illustrative examples provided and discussed in the case studies to show the breadth of application of MCD measurements.”

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: Purdue e-Pubs, from Purdue University Libraries, in honor of Open Access Week, October 19-23.

Link: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/

Description/focus: Purdue e-Pubs is the Purdue Libraries–sponsored database of articles and other scholarly documents produced by members of the Purdue University community. All publishing Purdue researchers have the opportunity to contribute research articles to the digital collections of the Purdue University Libraries through Purdue e-Pubs.

Start with this hint: Purdue e-Pubs is similar to other article databases with a simple keyword search and advanced search options.  What makes it different, though, is the link on the left labeled Submit Research.  If you have published an article and have retained your author rights, you can add it to the Purdue Libraries digital collections and make your paper freely available online. Click on Submit Research, select your department from the resulting list, and create your account.  Don’t see your department?  Contact the Digital Collections Librarian, Mark Newton, who will help your department or research center establish a collection. Mark is also available to answer any questions you may have about Purdue e-Pubs, support for open access scholarship at Purdue, or tools for retaining publication copyright.

Why you should know this database: Purdue e-Pubs is the open access repository at Purdue University. Contributions to Purdue e-Pubs become part of the digital collections of the libraries. In addition, Purdue e-Pubs issues a monthly e-mail telling you how many times your articles have been downloaded.

How this database can be integrated into the curriculum: Students can be directed to Purdue e-Pubs to search for Purdue-specific research, but if they search in Google or Google Scholar, the results from those search engines will include articles in Purdue e-Pubs.

Cost: Purdue Libraries pays an annual maintenance fee for the Digital Commons repository platform.

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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.