KSL News Blog

Monthly Archive Index for KSL News Blog

Take a Free Class--CaseLearns Fall Schedule is Here!

Try one of the 11 new classes this fall semester, in the CaseLearns Fall 08 Schedule! Sign up for new classes in Adobe products like the new conference tool Adobe Connect, or technology, multimedia, Microsoft Office applications, copyright, searching for academic, business and medical interests, and much more.

The CaseLearns website brings you more details, the Attendance & No-Show Policy, and convenient online registration. Over 60 classes are held multiple times—find out out which classes can be held on-site in your department, and when & where the fall schedule's classes are held at Case Libraries.

There's a free class and a time for you—choose from morning, lunchtime, early and late afternoon, Sundays through Fridays, or the Sunday Series from the Freedman Center. Sign up today!

CaseLearns provides free instruction & learning resources in support of learning & instruction for Case Western Reserve University's current faculty, students, staff, emeriti faculty, alumni, Senior Scholars, and CIM conservatory faculty and students. The CaseLearns schedule is also available on the CaseLearns site, and has additional information for non-Case registrants, policies, and contact information.

See Darwin & Students @ KSL

KSL staff members were discussion leaders in group sessions on Friday 22nd, hosting new students & discussing this year's common reading book. If you've read it & would like to know what some of the reviews said, use a few Case library databases.

Try Books In Print for very brief snapshot reviews about David Quammen's The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution. Find brief reviews plus a list of citations for other reviews from the LA Times & New York Times Book Review, complete with date & reviewer's names for more in-depth followup.

Other databases help you get ahead quickly so you can better understand what the book is about: try Literary Reference Center for a first look at brief articles & overviews, plot summaries and more.

Better yet, use Academic Search Complete and
- check "Document Type" for Book Review
- then Sort by Relevance & set the results view to "Detailed"
- browse for the reviews you'd like to read.
- added bonus: Click on the left side options for "Academic Journals" to reduce the 16 results to 6 that are more scholarly, like Bioscience or Journal of the History of Biology!

KSL's Karen Thornton, Mark Eddy, Brian Gray, & Angela Sloan enjoyed student groups:

You still have time to read the book—get a copy on the OhioLINK Catalog and have it delivered to a library near you! Also explore The Complete Works of Darwin Online, from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Databases are licensed for Case faculty, students, & staff and require an activated VPN network authentication.

Chronicle of Higher Education Now Online

The Case Libraries have added a subscription to the Chronicle of Higher Education. As long as you are on the Case wired network or using VPN, you should have full access from their website.

The link to the Chronicle can also be found in several locations including the KSL Newspapers page, the eJournal Portal, and the Research Databases list.

OhioLINK Expands Storage - Requires Downtime

In order for OhioLINK to add more storage space, some services will be taken offline this weekend. Starting Saturday, August 16, at about 5 p.m. the following services will be offline for at least 2-hours:

• Electronic Journal Center,
  
• Digital Media Center,
  
• Digital Resource Commons,
  
• E-Book Center,
  
• and the OSearch databases.

Historical Photos of China Online, Plus Data on Today's China

Just as China presents the Olympics this week, a new collection offers a window into China of the past, via the 5,000 image Sidney D. Gamble Photograph Collection from Duke University Libraries. A sociologist, China scholar, traveler and photographer, Gamble used his photos from 4 China trips to illustrate his monographs. The digitized collection is the first public access to this collection of China, Korea, Japan, Russia and San Francisco from 1917-1932.

Search Tiananmen Square to see a 1917 student demonstration, and use the tags on the left to refine your search to Bejing, demonstration, or to find other categories, and more. The collection offers search tools, an interactive map that chronicles the photo travels, a Research Guide, Timeline, and multiple-language cloud tags:

Include an image of a stunning gate or city from this new online collection in your teaching, research, and private study, following the stated copyright guidelines on the collection main page. More about the discovery of the nitrate negatives, handwritten and typed notes from Gamble, and other reference items, at the project website.

Here at Case, you can research news, statistics, and more about today's China with China Data Online, a database that provides monthly & annual macroeconomic statistics & reports on China's development. Data is authorized by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, and is distributed by the China Data Center at the University of Michigan.

Remote access authentication to China Data Online requires an active VPN client or your library PIN.

Major Update/Redesign for EBSCO Databases--August Research Spotlight

Favorite databases get a major redesign with new features and streamlining this summer (all EBSCO databases like Academic Search, Business Search, CINAHL Plus, SocINDEX, Gender Studies & more). The simplified search screen and features are the result of intensive user studies, and you can read the details on the KSL August Research Spotlight.

Just a few of the major changes:
- 'Breadcrumb trail' at the top center of your results list shows you what you searched
- Prominent preferences link-create a folder, change # results per page, and more
- Image QuickView-use the magnifying glass icon, see abstract text/details ( and save it to your folder) without ever leaving the result list
- Right side: use the slider bar to reduce search results to only the years you need
- Left side: find related search terms to use & refine the search, narrow by source type like book reviews

One of our most popular databases is Academic Search Complete—logon and try out the new features! Read more about it all in the KSL August Research Spotlight.

View the EBSCO databases in dozens of subject areas by clicking on the "Choose Database" link at the very top of any EBSCO database like Academic Search Complete. EBSCO databases are OhioLINK resources and remote access requires you to logon to your VPN client or enter your library PIN.

Remote Access to OhioLINK--Unavailable Tues. August 5 & 6

OhioLINK upgrades its authentication servers this week—system changes will temporarily disable the remote authentication procedures on Tuesday, August 5th and Wednesday August 6th. Intermittent access issues may also affect OhioLINK services.

If you're on the Case network, OhioLINK resources remain available & will not require additional authentication:
- The OhioLINK Central Catalog is always Internet-available for viewing and identifying information
- On-campus access to OhioLINK is not affected (except for potential intermittent issues during the upgrade)
- Case VPN remote access to OhioLINK resources is not affected

If you use name & library PIN to remotely access OhioLINK resources, they'll be unavailable on Tuesday 5th.

As expected, work on OhioLINK authentication service will continue until all services are restored, and services may return at various stages.

Upgrades are needed for internal functionality and Shibboleth installation. Shibboleth provides a standardized method for web single-sign-on (within an institution or across institutions) while also protecting access to proprietary resources.