Georgia Tech Library News

Shock & Vibration Digest covers essential areas related to shock and vibration, including noise, vibration technologies, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. The index contains 100,000 records, which are selected from the most important sources within the discipline, such as: Journal of Sound and Vibration, Journal of Vibration & Control, etc.

To access this database use the A to Z list of databases on the Find Articles page.

For information on urban affairs, community development, urban history or other areas of urban studies take a look at Urban Studies Abstracts. Records are selected from many of the top titles within the discipline, including Journal of Urban Affairs, Urban Studies, and Canadian Journal of Urban Research.

To access this database use the A to Z list of databases on the Find Articles page.

We’ve had a busy summer. Here are a few new things in the library:

• The HVAC construction is finished in the East building. Now we’ll have better control of AC & heat.

• There is a lot of new equipment for you to borrow at the circulation desk: laptops, calculators, voice recorders, a portable USB hard-drive, and a collection of portable DVD players in both the PAL and NTSC formats.

• The Library West Commons: refreshed all the computers, installed a new print system, added more dual display monitors, new iMacs and scanners, added iWork & iLife software, and added several walk-up / quick-use computer stations.

• 600+ new DVDs: War of the Worlds, Night Watch, Juno, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Last Emperor, and many more. Check them out in the East Commons near the Circulation Desk.

• New search tools. We are beta testing a new catalog interface and a new metasearch engine. (more info to follow)

• Several new faces: Catherine Murray-Rust (Library Dean), William Baer (Librarian for Mechanical Engineering & Distance Learning), and Sherri Brown (First Year English Instruction Librarian.)

• Launched a new virtual reference system. Ask! Us your questions via email, IM, or phone.

• Hosting an exhibit of student work from Professor Emma Crandall’s Spring 2008 English 1102 class. The exhibit is called “Dude Art” and can be found in the lounge corner of the East Commons.

• Processed a collection of historic Georgia Tech ledgers (1887-1999) including accounts payable and receivable records, student rolls, time sheets, dormitory records, budgets, and some correspondence. The ledgers primarily document student and financial records at Georgia Tech, but they also provide documentation of the day-to-day operation of the first fifty years of the school’s existence (1885-1935). The later volumes, particularly those dating from after ca. 1960, contain mainly budgetary and financial information.

The library now subscribes to Literature Criticism Online which provides access to Contemporary Literary Criticism (CLC), Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (TCLC), and Short Story Criticism (SSC). This outstanding reference literature database offers biographical and bibliographical information on over 3,000 20th century and contemporary literary figures (novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers, and literary theorists), as well as scholarly and popular commentary and criticism from books, journals, magazines, broadsheets, pamphlets, diaries, and newspapers.

To access Literature Criticism Online use the A to Z list of databases at http://www.library.gatech.edu/search/databases.php

Corp Tech is an online directory of 100,000 high-tech companies and their key executives. There are 17 primary industry groups (biotechnology, defense, energy, environmental, photonics, etc.), plus many detailed “product codes”. Exclusives include searching by female or minority ownership, government contractor status, and source of capital. Also searchable by SIC and NAICS codes, plus standard geographical variables.

Georgia Tech is one of about 10 universities participating in a soft rollout of SciFinder on the web. For the first month or two, our number of seats will be increased to encourage everyone to try the web version.

Please note the following about the web version of SciFinder:

• Everyone must register and create a user name and password.
• Windows computers require a Java plug-in to perform structure searches.
• Mac computers can search the web version with the exception of structure searching. A structure searching solution for Mac is in the works.
• Remote, off-campus access is available for the web version!

To register and begin searching, please go to the following web page: https://www.library.gatech.edu/sfs/sfs.php

Value Line is a comprehensive source of information and advice on approximately 1,700 stocks in 97 industries, the stock market and the economy. Unique features include providing a beta figure and timeliness ranking for each stock. To access Value Line use the use the A to Z list of databases at http://www.library.gatech.edu/search/databases.php

The CIA World Factbook provides a complete snapshot of the nations of the world at the current time. The amount of data is absolutely amazing. Need to know about the environmental problems of Madagascar? How about the main exports/imports of Bahrain? What kind of government does Argentina have? When is independence day celebrated in Australia? How many miles of railroads are in Turkestan? What military forces are in Hungary? These and many more questions can be answered using the CIA World Factbook, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

RefWorks is a web-based bibliography and database manager that allows you to create your own personal database by importing references from text files or online databases and other various sources. You can use these references in writing papers and automatically format the paper and the bibliography in seconds.

Click on the link to REGISTER by using the “Sign up for an Individual Account” option, and start using RefWorks immediately! This trial will remain active until 3/31/08.

The Group Code for Remote Access is: RWGAITech

Send your comments about RefWorks to lori.critz@library.gatech.edu

Want to know more about it before you get there? Check out the Library’s subject guide on International Affairs! From the Library’s top page click on Resource Guides, then on International Affairs, and then on “Country Information, Multinational”. Nationmaster (http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php) is one of the listed sites, and gives statistics on nations of the world. Some of the most popular statistics include richest, most murderous, most educated, most generous, and more.