Cambridge Journals Online possible service interruptions

Please note that there may be intermittent interruptions in service to our Cambridge Journals Online customers on Sunday, December 21st, and Monday, December 22nd, from 8 pm until 9 pm BST (3 pm until 4 pm EST) each day, as maintenance must be performed on the server. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Learning Commons OPEN for Business!

We are pleased to announce that the UH Libraries’ Learning Commons has officially opened! The Learning Commons is a new space in the M.D. Anderson Library with equipment and resources to help you create multimedia projects or analyze data.

The LC has 17 high-end PCs and 5 iMacs, all equipped with the latest in digital media creation software (think Adobe Creative Suite) and the best in statistical analysis software (MATLAB, SPSS, SAS and Mathematica). In addition, the LC has five digital cameras, five digital video cameras and five “pen-scanners” available for checkout.

Additional services include color and black/white printing (with wide-format poster printing available Spring 2009) and a presentation “practice room” for you to put the final polish on your class presentation.

The Learning Commons will be open anytime the M.D. Anderson Library is open and staff will be on duty to assist you.

For more information, stop in for a quick tour of the LC or contact Mr. Nathan McKee (npmckee@uh.edu) for more information. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Library Quick Search Down 10/25 – 10/26

The library’s Quick Search (or federated search) will be down this weekend 10/25 – 10/26 for upgrades. We apologize for the inconvenience the Quick Search will be back up Monday 10/27.

Chat Reference Service – Technical Difficulties

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties with our Chat Reference Service. If you cannot connect directly with uhlibrarian via chat, please use our Ask-A-Librarian email service (http://info.lib.uh.edu/services/aska.html) or contact us directly by phone at 713-743-1050, (select option 4 to reach the Information Desk).

We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to fix the problem quickly.

Thank you,

Lee Andrew Hilyer,
Program Director for Research & Reference Services

Online Exhibit Celebrating the U.S. Constitution

Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia), considered by many of his Senate colleagues the most learned student of the nation’s founding documents, accomplished a long-standing goal by getting a rider passed in the 2005 Appropriations Bill. The law designates September 17 as Constitution Day. It requires schools and federal agencies to hold educational programs on the Constitution on the anniversary date when, in 1787, the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document.

Of those 55 signers, the University of Houston Libraries’ Special Collections Department owns a number of books written by, and original documents signed by, some of those delegates to the Constitutional Convention: Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Charles Pinckney, and George Washington. This online mini-exhibit is presented during the time in which Constitution Day falls, this year from September 15 — 26, on the TV monitor in the library lobby.

For further information about the U.S. Constitution and Constitution Day, see www.constitutionday.us and www.constitutioncenter.org.

Temporarily Unavailable Materials in Special Collections

 

A number of Special Collections books and all UH theses and dissertations are currently undergoing treatment and cleaning as the result of a recent mold outbreak in our stacks.  Please be advised that the item you wish to use may not be available at this time.

Fortunately, our boxed manuscript and archival materials were not affected and those may be used without difficulty.  But until the source of the mold is specifically determined and our stacks are once again free of any contaminates, we will not re-introduce cleaned books into this environment.

We will issue updates as they are warranted, and sincerely regret any difficulties that may be caused for our patrons as a result of this recent problem.

Extended Hours for Chat Reference

Need research help? Now you can chat up your librarian and get assistance via Instant Messaging nearly anytime the library is open. Use AIM, Google Chat (GTalk), or Yahoo! Messenger to send a message to UHLibrarian or you can visit our Ask-A-Librarian page and use the Meebo chat widget for assistance.

Research & Reference Services,
UH Libraries

New Interdisciplinary Research Resources

These new databases are now available from the University of Houston Libraries:

Book Review Index Plus: This is an online guide to book reviews that includes more than five million review citations from thousands of publications and direct access to more than 630,000 full-text reviews.

CQ Global Researcher: This database provides definitive, in-depth coverage of global affairs from a number of international viewpoints. Each single-themed, 12,000-word CQ Global Researcher report is researched and written by an experienced observer of the given issue. Reports include an introductory overview; background and assessment of the current situation; pro/con statements from representatives of opposing positions; chronology on the topic, followed by short features for extensive context; a sampling of related international perspectives; maps and graphs; bibliographies of key sources; next steps for additional reading; and author profiles.

Dissertations & Theses Full Text: This database indexes over 2.4 million dissertations and theses included from around the world. Nearly one million are available in full text, and the full text coverage dates back to mid 1990’s. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master’s theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637, and more than 65,000 new citations are added to the database every year.

If you have any questions about JSTOR, feel free to contact your subject librarians.

Library Website and Catalog Unavailable 5/28 – 5/29

The library will be performing network maintenance from 8:00 PM tonight (May 28th) to 2:00 AM tomorrow (May 29th). During this period there will be no access to the Libraries’ servers. This includes all library web sites, electronic resources, and the library catalog. We are sorry for any inconvenience.

New Research Resources for Business, Education, and Social Sciences

These new databases are now available from the University of Houston Libraries:

CQ Voting and Elections Collection: It integrates data, authoritative analyses, concise explanations, and historical material to provide a research and reference tool on voting and elections in America. From the American voter, to major and minor political parties, to actual races for Congress, the presidency, and governorships, the collection provides context-driven intelligence on the state of elections in America. Election data can be downloaded.

Educational Administration Abstracts: It provides bibliographic records covering essential areas related to educational administration, including education research, higher education administration theory, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline.

Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HaPI): It provides bibliographic information about behavioral measurement instruments. Information in the database is abstracted from hundreds of leading journals covering health sciences and psychosocial sciences. Additionally, instruments from Industrial/Organizational Behavior and Education are included.

Small Business Resource Center: This database provides relevant, authoritative, and easy-to-understand information about small business. Magazine and newspaper contents are updated daily; reference content and directory contents are updated annually.

If you have any questions about JSTOR, feel free to contact your subject librarians.