Thursday, May 14, 2009

Thing #10

The first article I found in Google Scholar that was on my topic and had a link to Pollak Library, resulted in:"
Source:
The economics of global warming [0-88132-132-X] Cline
yr:1992

There were links to look for the item in the catalog or order it through ILL.

I tried again.

Title:
'Little Ice Age'summer temperature variations: their nature and relevance to recent global warming trends
Source:
The Holocene [0959-6836] Bradley yr:1993 vol:3 iss:4 pg:367

The same thing happened.

The third time, was the charm. I clicked on the Pollak Library Find It! link next to this citation
Title:
Making mistakes when predicting shifts in species range in response to global warming
Source:
Nature [0028-0836] Davis yr:1998 vol:391 pg:783
brought me to hyperlinks for Academic Search Premier, as well as the call number for the print version of the article.

I tried putting in the information from the citation (without clicking on Pollak LibraryFind It!) into the citation finder, but it wasn't enough information. I was faced with a list of journals that had Nature in the title. I then went back and clicked on Pollak Library Find It so I could get sufficient information to compare the OpenURL with the link created using the advanced options on the Find it screen. (V. cool, by the way.)

I was still taken back to the screen that gave me multiple options for finding journals with Nature in the title, but not URL for this article.

I then went back to the Find It! page that had the Academic Search Premier link and clicked on that, and copied and pasted the URLs for both the item record and the PDF of the article on the same MS Word page where I posed the URL created using More Options. I didn't see any similarities, but I don't think that I'm using the tools correctly.

I like the constructivism of this assignment, but I don't think I'm getting to the understanding that was intended, so I don't feel like I can comment on the usefulness of OpenURLs b/c I don't understand what they are. I can see the usefulness of the link created using More Options on our FindIt page. It will help make the whole reserves process easier b/c students will be able to access the article directly from our proprietary databases and faculty will be able to add items to their courses w/o having to plan ahead. The same links could be shared btwn students and no copyright laws would be violated.

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I just looked at the Wikipedia entry for OpenURL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenURL
So, what I was looking at when I used More Options was the Open URL. That seems like a bit of a misnomer b/c it's really closed, right? Access is limited to licensed users in our case. However, all the nice things I said above still pertain.

The Open URL I had created for

Davis, A J. "Making mistakes when predicting shifts in species range in response to global warming." Nature 391(1998):783.
http://sfx.calstate.edu:9003/fullerton?sid=google&auinit=AJ&aulast=Davis&atitle=Making%20mistakes%20when%20predicting%20shifts%20in%20species%20range%20in%20response%20to%20global%20warming&id=doi%3A10.1038%2F35842%3BReceived9April1997%3BAccepted27October1997&title=Nature&volume=391&date=1998&spage=783&issn=0028-0836

starts off with information about how to access the article w/in our databases. It then gives author/title info and other citation information. It's nice to see that I could look at one that wasn't working and I would still be able to translate it into a citation and find the item.

Thing #9

This is my favorite Thing so far. I edited a Wikipedia entry. How liberating!

I can see all kinds of applications for wikis, especially in my own work as Education Librarian. Right now we subscribe to a pretty crappy resource that collocates lesson plans, curriculum plans, etc. in one place. It's called Kraus Curriculum Development Collection. Most of its content is found on the World Wide Web and most of it is not applicable to CA teachers. It would be much more useful if our students could access and contribute to a resource that addressed the needs of the CA curriculum. I know that many of their methods classes must require them to find resources, why not get them to annotate them in a wiki -- OK, or a blog? I have to think about it more. But they are already doing the work for their courses. Of course, a blog may be a better tool for this because people can comment on the resources, but then, I find wikis easier to navigate. Most users will be looking for resources, not a discussion. Yep, a wiki it will be.

Wikis can also be used to convey information about our institution to other members of it, say one that addressed the needs of those who need to compile stats for accrediation/PRBC stuff?

Thing #8

Hey, here's the link to our Google Document: http://docs.google.com/ViewDoc?docid=dd7dpj3s_0c5jnbbdf