Quick reminder: Reference services will be closed from 12/24/08 through 1/4/2009. Of course all of the Capella Library databases, guides, and other resources will remain online and available for you to use as you need, but the Librarians will be unavailable by phone and email. Try our Guides & Tutorials for quick help with frequently asked questions and research tips.

If you’re having trouble navigating the redesigned Library website, take a look at Erika’s blog post from 12/9 with some navigation tips. All of the library databases, including Dissertations & Theses Full Text & the ebook databases (ebrary, NetLibrary, etc.) can be found by clicking on the link Articles, Books and More.

If you’ve got New Year’s Resolutions on your mind and are wondering what you could resolve to help you become more successful in your coursework in 2009, try resolving to keep your resources organized with a shiny new RefWorks account. RefWorks will also help you generate Reference Lists in APA format (just be sure to edit it with your human eye, as computer generated ref lists can have errors). Check out the RefWorks Blog Posts we’ve written since we added it in August this year.

Here’s to an organized and efficient 2009!

-Sommer

The library recently added a number of books to its Gale Virtual Reference Library database.  One book that has a little something for everyone is Social Change in America: The Historical Handbook.  As the description states, “Topics covered in Social Change in America include family life; work and employment; housing; wealth and poverty; education; health; crime; volunteer activity; religion and religious affiliation; politics; the impact of the Internet on American society.”  If you need a book with statistical information or historical perspectives about America, this is a good one to check out.  You can find this, and the other new additions to the Gale database, on the Articles, Books and More page in the library.

-Kim

Have you been struggling with or perhaps avoiding using the Capella Library?

Have you been using the Library and feel proficent,  but will be beginning your comprehensive exams or dissertation and would like to bring your library skills to the “next level”?

If you are attending the Anaheim Colloquium, beginning next week, consider attending one the Capella Library’s sessions:

Finding Scholarly Articles and Books is a great overview of the Library for those with maybe a “tinge” of Library Anxiety.

Advanced Searching and Finding Dissertations for those who have been using the Library and want to learn advanced searching techniques and learn about some resources for their comprehensive exams and disseration.

You can also set up a 20 minute one-on-one appointment with a Capella Librarian to perhaps start getting some ideas for resources for your disseration, or any other area where you would like some individual help.

We are in the Green Room (that sounds so “Hollywood”) at the Hilton, so sign up early if you are interested the appointments go fast!

If you are not attending Colloquium you can always call or email us for assistance, we always take as much time as is needed to address your question.

Erin and I look forward to seeing you in sunny Anaheim!    

Robin

I just finished reviewing the new animated tutorial from Capella’s Online Writing Center , Writing a Literature Review . This resource was created by the fabulous Capella Writing Center Faculty (you may have met some of them at Colloquium or taken one of their courses).  It takes you step by step through the process of what to do with all of those wonderful resources you have found for your dissertation in the Capella Library.

What you say, you are having trouble finding resources for your dissertation?  Well take some time and  phone or email a Librarian.  We  can help you get back on track.

Robin

In response to learner suggestions, we’ve made some website changes.   All of your favorite tools are still there!  We’ve just updated our look and organization, so that your research process is more efficient.

Improvements:

Breaking up that big long list of databases by school should offer much faster search options.

Let us know what you think!

– Erika

A recent article by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow from the Boston Globe, “Group Think”, discusses the potential pitfalls of online research.  While the good side of online research is that it allows searchers to access all kinds of useful material that may have been hard to find previously, the problem is that many people only review and access the top results.  Because results are ranked higher the more they are accessed or linked to, this can lead to a sort of “group think” because everyone ends up exposed to only a few points of view.

This is something to watch out for when you are conducting your own research.  Be sure to look past page one of the results or to try a few different searches that will help you pull up a wider variety of information.

As Tuhus-Dubrow states, “The common lesson of all of these phenomena is to be cognizant that the tools we use affect us in ways we may not fully appreciate. We should always be searching, the findings suggest, for new ways to search.”  If you need some ideas for new ways to search, you can find some additional search tools and strategies on the library’s Guides & Tutorials page.

Journal Locator has changed! But for the better. We recently added new searching functionality to the Journal Locator tool. In the past Journal Locator was used just to search for journal titles whenever you have a citation or reference to a specific article.

Well now you can use the newly named Journal and Book Locator to search for not only journal titles, but Book Titles. In the past when you were looking for a specific book in the Capella Library you had to check multiple databases that house ebooks (ebrary, NetLibrary, Gale Virtual Reference Library, Business Source Complete, etc.)

Just type part of the book title in the Journal and Book Locator to search:

Then to access the book, click on the database link:

Although the Journal and Book Locator doesn’t search using topic keywords but only titles of books and journals, there is a search method you can employ to search with keywords in the titles of the books. Just change the search parameters from Title begins with to Title contains all words.

This search found 15 books, including the following:

• Anatomy of a Business Plan : A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Business and Securing Your Company’s Future (6th Edition)
• Writing and Implementing a Marketing Plan : A Guide for Small Business Owners
• How to Write a Business Plan (8th Edition)
• Your First Business Plan
• If you want to make God really laugh, show him your business plan: 101 universal laws of business

-Sommer