Featured Online Resource - World Trade Organization (WTO) Statistics Database

This week’s Featured Online Resource is The World Trade Organization (WTO) Statistics Database (http://stat.wto.org/Home/WSDBHome.aspx). This online database from the WTO provides statistical information on the trade profiles of various countries.  This data includes where the country ranks in world trade, when they became a member of the WTO, and the types of commodities that the country exports/imports.  Additionally, the database provides information on the service profiles of the various members of the WTO.  This data includes infrastructure information, including transportation, telecommunications, and financial information.  

An example of a service profile for Belgium is included below.

Every week, the Ort Library brings you a new and outstanding resource from the Web or from one of the library's databases. To get an archive of all FOR entries, click here. Also, you can suggest a website that provides well-organized access to useful info.

American FactFinder Seminar Held July 25

The Lewis J. Ort Library welcomed Ms. Nesreen Khashan, Data Dissemination Specialist from the US Census Bureau, on Thursday July 25, 2013 for a half-day workshop on American FactFinder (http://factfinder2.census.gov).  The workshop provided participants with an overview of Census Bureau Programs and the tools that can be used to find statistical information.  In addition, participants learned about what information can be gathered from the 2010 Census compared with what information can be gathered from the American Community Survey.  The American Community Survey provides information in the following areas: demographic, social, economic, and housing.  Participants also learned how to use EasyStats (http://www.census.gov/easystats/) and learned how to use American FactFinder to map data that has been retrieved.

Participants practicing their new skills.

 Participants practicing their new skills.

 Ms. Nesreen Khashan, Data Dissemination Specialist, US Census Bureau

Featured Online Resource - Smithsonian's Collections SearchCenter

This week’s Featured Online Resource is the Collections SearchCenter from the Smithsonian Institution (http://collections.si.edu/search/).  The SearchCenter provides users with the opportunity to search the over 8 million digital records that the Smithsonian has developed.  Additionally, even though there are over 860,000 digital files that contain images, videos, and journals, this is still a small portion of the actual physical collections that the Smithsonian holds.  

Users can search by keyword, through images, or by browsing by a category.  

 

Every week, the Ort Library brings you a new and outstanding resource from the Web or from one of the library's databases. To get an archive of all FOR entries, click here. Also, you can suggest a website that provides well-organized access to useful info.

 

Featured Online Resource - The National Archives Experience: Digital Vaults

Consider taking a virtual field trip this summer to the National Archives by visiting their Digital Vaults (http://www.digitalvaults.org/).


Digital Vaults is an online collection of some of the National Archives' most important digitized documents.  This can be an entertaining visit for anyone interested in United States history, or it can be a practical research opportunity, particularly if you are looking for primary sources as part of your research.

The Digital Vaults web site allows you to locate documents by performing keyword searches or browsing through assigned tags.

You may also randomly shuffle the documents to see what treasures are available.

 

If you're looking for a challenging puzzle, consider the "Pathways" challenge.   The challenge provides a clue, plus some suggested tags as a starting point.  Choose the tag that you feel is the best fit, and then browse the images to find the answer to the question.  The answer you find to one question will provide the tag "hints" for the next question.

If you're working on a creative project, the web site allows you to create posters or movies with the images available.

Every week, the Ort Library brings you a new and outstanding resource from the Web or from one of the library's databases. To get an archive of all FOR entries, click here. Also, you can suggest a website that provides well-organized access to useful info.

Registration Extended for American FactFinder Seminar

REGISTRATION EXTENDED UNTIL JULY 10, 2013

The Lewis J Ort Library at Frostburg State University is pleased to announce a FREE half-day workshop on the US Census Bureau’s American FactFinder online resource.  Ms. Nesreen Khashan, Data Dissemination Specialist from the US Census Bureau, will be the presenter.  

American FactFinder is an excellent resource for finding data from the American Community Survey and other demographic statistics.  Attendees will learn about the types of information available, and also have the opportunity for hands-on practice in the library’s computer classroom.

The workshop will be held on Thursday, July 25, 2013 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM in the Library Instruction Center (LIC) at the Lewis J Ort Library, Frostburg State University.  The workshop is free, but registration is required.  Please visit the following link for the registration form and more information: http://libguides.frostburg.edu/affseminar. 

If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Hartman at lahartman@frostburg.edu, MaryJo Price at mprice@frostburg.edu, or Theresa Mastrodonato at tmmastrodonato@frostburg.edu

New Library Online Resources and Database Changes

The Ort Library is pleased to announce access to the following new online resources for students, faculty and staff:

·       Education Research Complete:  This database covers education topics from early childhood to higher education and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, testing, curriculum, and leadership.  It provides indexing and abstracts for more than 2,100 journals, as well as full text for more than 1,200 journals, and includes full text for nearly 500 books and monographs.  Education Research Complete replaces the Education Journals database that has been offered by the library.  

·       ARTstor Digital Library:  ARTstor is a resource that provides over 1.5 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research.  Community-built collections comprise contributions from international museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives and artists and artists' estates.

Citations to the content for both Education Research Complete and ARTstor are incorporated into the Library’s OneSearch service.  More information about OneSearch, including user guides and a basic video tutorial, is available on the library’s website.

The databases may also be accessed directly via the library’s website or Research Port.

Subscriptions to the databases Education Journals and Social Science Abstracts will end in early July 2013 and these resources will be removed from OneSearch and Research Port.  As described above, Education Research Complete will replace Education Journals.  Citations from Social Science Abstracts are duplicated in other Library databases and within the OneSearch service.

If you have any questions, please contact a reference librarian via phone (301-687-4424), online, or at the Reference Desk on Floor 2 of the Ort Library.  If you would like to schedule an instruction session for your class, please complete the Library Instruction Request Form. 

Featured Online Resource: Coursera

Are you looking to learn something new this summer?  Are you interested in taking a class with several thousand other people on a topic like Cryptography?  You can if you utilize this week’s Featured Online Resource, Coursera.  Coursera offers free online classes from some of the top universities in the United States, like Princeton University, Stanford University, and the University of California Berkeley.  The courses cover subject such as humanities, social science, mathematics, and computer science.  The courses are taught by instructors who currently teach at these top universities. 

The courses offered, are not credit-bearing classes, but if you are interested in learning more about a subject, this is the perfect option.  You will attend class online with thousands of other students who are interested in the same subject as you.  It offers you the opportunity to interact with others from around the world.

Examples of some of the classes being offered and the institution the instructor is from:

• Roman Architecture (Yale University)
• A Brief History of Humankind (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) 
• General Game Playing (Stanford University) 
• Engaging Students through Cooperative Learning (John Hopkins University)

      Here is a list of some articles about Coursera:

• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/technology/coursera-plans-to-announce-university-partners-for-online-classes.html 
• http://www.zdnet.com/blog/education/coursera-the-new-face-of-higher-education-video/4894 
• http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/18/net-us-usa-college-online-idUSBRE83H0PC20120418

Every week, the Ort Library brings you a new and outstanding resource from the Web or from one of the library's databases. To get an archive of all FOR entries, click here. Also, you can suggest a website that provides well-organized access to useful info.