I am horrified to see that I haven’t posted anything since last May!  Is anyone still bothering to visit this blog?

It’s not that things haven’t been happening but rather that too much is going on and I seem to be continually playing catch-up.  But enough whining on my part.  Let me up-date you.

Xuemei Li joined out staff in August.  She has an MLIS from University of British Columbia, PhD (Webometrics) and MSc (Computing) from University of Wolverhampton, UK and B.A (Economics) from China.  In addition to sharing general reference work, Xuemei is taking over the responsibility of building our finance collection and supporting finance students including those of you who have WRDS accounts. I have enjoyed working with finance students and faculty and I know I leave you in good hands with Xuemei.

We are subscribing to IBISWorld. This database includes US and global industry reports and a business environment database. Many of the industry reports are for smaller industries not included in Mergent, and Datamonitor 360 etc.

SSB students participated in the BAT (Bloomberg Assessment Test) for the first time.  We expect the results late in December.  We are looking at participating again in April.

If you haven’t checked out our Business Online A-Z list you may find some databases that are new to you.

We’ve updated our Research Videos to reflect changes in databases such as Investext.

Our IM chat reference service continues to be very popular but your tolerance for waiting for service is decreasing.  Please be patient and give us more than 30 seconds to respond.  We are often multi-tasking and may have someone at the reference desk.  You can access our IM chat reference service from http://www.library.yorku.ca/ccm/BG/ Look for the BizResearch dialog box on the left side of the screen.  We are available during reference hours.

For those of you who are MAC users, I have some bad news.  Investext will not work on your MACs.  I checked with Thomson Reuters, the database provider and they have confirmed that it only works with IE browser.  They have no plans to expand service to other browsers such as Safari.  You will need to login to one of our public workstations unfortunately.

Well I think I’ve covered what ‘s new.  I will be updating this blog much more frequently.

Good luck with your exams.

Congratulations to all of our graduating students.  We know how hard you have worked and the sacrifices you have made.  You made it!  Now you have time to spend with family and friends who have supported you and to make new friends, travel, read something just for fun, take up a hobby or just relax and do nothing for a little while.

Some of you may be jumping right into a new job or returning to your work with a sense of renewal and energy.  No doubt you have lots of ideas to try out and share.  Have fun – you’ve earned it!

Our staff at the Bronfman Business Library have gotten to know many of you and we hope you will keep in touch and let us know how you are doing.

But going forward what can you expect from the York University Libraries?

After you get your alumni card you can save 75% off the cost of getting an annual library card.   To get a library card, please bring your alumni card to any circulation desk and for an annual fee of $25 you can borrow print materials from any of York’s libraries.  Unfortunately we cannot provide remote access to our databases because of our license agreements with the vendors.  You can however, get a one day guest account that allows you to access the databases from library workstations for personal research only.

If you have research questions, our research staff will offer advice on resources that are freely available on the Internet and that may help you find the information you are seeking.

And this is a gentle reminder that if you have any outstanding library fines please pay the fine as your diploma will not be issued if you have any unpaid  fines and this includes parking fines.

To quote T. S. Eliot ” What we call the beginning is often the end/ And to make an end is to make a beginning/ The end is where we start from”

My wish for you is that the end of your education at the Schulich School of Business or whichever Faculty you call your home faculty, be the beginning of a fantastic career in your chosen field.

Well done!

I hope you enjoyed Reading Week because as we all know crunch time is coming.  It’s hard to believe that there are only about 6 weeks left of classes and you need to research, absorb, analyze and write those assignment, papers, cases, etc.

This makes me think that a few timing saving ideas might be just what you need. So here they are.  If anyone has others please send them in the comments.

QR codes for Group study Room bookings

At the Bronfman Business Library we are using QR (Quick Response) codes to help you get faster access to the group study room bookings web page.  We generated a QR code that when scanned by a smartphone opens up today’s group study room booking schedule for the Bronfman Business Library. Each group study room has a QR code displayed on the door so that you can access the schedule easily once you download an application that can read QR codes.

Below is the QR code if you want to try it. Here is a list of urls where you can download a QR code reader for your type of smartphone.

Here are some more ideas.
Scrapbook
Helps you to save Web pages and organize the collection.

Read It Later
Save pages to read later with just one click. When you have time, access your reading list from any computer or phone, even without an Internet connection!

Zotero

This Firefox extension helps you collect, manage, and cite your reference right from your web browser. Learn more and download Zotero.

Fulltext Referrer

These Firefox and IE extensions from OCLC’s Openly Informatics converts citations on web pages to URLs and even adds a FindIt button to any web page you visit.  It can produce three types of links: Google Scholar, Google News and Web COinS. Read about it and download the OpenURL Referrer.

EazyPaper Zotero integration
Integrates Zotero’s database into EazyPaper, a Microsort Word add-in that formats your entire AMA, APA, MLA, or Turabian / Chicago Manual of Style paper and references in seconds.

DeeperWeb
Use this FireFox Add-on to easily navigate through Google search results using a fast, simple and useful Tag-Cloud technique. Use the Topic-Mapping-Technologies for quick access to web pages, news, videos, blogs, Wikipedia and more. Install now and improve your search results.

Dropbox

Dropbox works just like any other folder on your computer, but with a few differences. It offers some of the best backup features and sharing features available, including an iPhone tool.  Any files or folders inside Dropbox will get synchronized to Dropbox’s servers and any other computer linked to your account.

Research Help at the Bronfman Business Library

And don’t forget about the research help that is available to you in person, by phone, my email or via our IM chat service.  If you can’t find that resource you need, we can help you.  Don’t waste your time searching the Internet when experienced business librarians are here to help you find what you need in the fastest time possible.  During reference hours we can help you in person, or by phone (416-736-5139 and ask for our reference desk) or by our IM chat service.  After hours send us an email (bgref@yorku.ca) and we will answer within 24 hours.

If you want to see examples of how to cite the databases etc to which the Bronfman Business Library subscribes, see our Citation Guide.

Don’t forget if you have any time saving suggestions share them with us by posting them in the comments.

It’s always fun for me to look back over the monthly reports I have written in 2010 and pick out the highlights.  This year is a blend of personal and operational achievements.

Toni Olshen, one of our business librarians, received the OCULA (Ontario College and University Libraries Association) inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.  Her contributions to assessment and diversity are legendary and Toni is well known inside and outside of York University for her work in these areas.  She is very deserving of this award and I am so happy to see Toni being honoured in this way.

Dat Ngo, our evening circulation supervisor and the person responsible for making your Reserves available to you both in print and online, and his wife Yen were blessed with the arrival of their second daughter, Camilla.

David Clink, our circulation coordinator, is a published poet and Monster his latest book of poetry came out this year.  I quote from a review “Monster is a poetry collection that Pandora would want to open, containing poems that Eve would bite into.”

Yes, some of us do have lives beyond the Library!

Dr. James Gillies, the school’s founding Dean, published “a memoir of the most interesting times in my career” entitled From Vision to Reality.  I am honoured by Dr. Gillies praise for our Library. “The goal of having a truly remarkable library has been achieved.  No
one in those early days could ever have imagined a library as
delightful, user friendly, efficient and effective as the existing Peter
F. Bronfman Library in the Schulich School of Business. “  The book is a must read for SSB students and alumni.

We welcomed, actually it was more like shocked, the 2 millionth visitor to enter our library.  Sabrina Stan, a Schulich School of Business 4th year accounting student was the lucky person and David Clink and I presented her with a copy of Dr. Gillies book.

It was a pleasure to welcome to the Bronfman Business Library the first MBA students from the Schulich School of Business India MBA cohort.  They arrived in August.

Meghan Ecclestone, on contract with us for one year, and I wrote and Meghan created a number of instructional research videos on topics such as finding business articles.  They proved to be popular and helpful so I asked June Hill and Sophie Bury to continue to create more offerings such as the ones on SWOT and Investext Plus.  Please see our Research Videos guide for the list of what is available.

Our IM Chat and email services continue to grow.  If you haven’t tried contacting us this way you may wish to do so.  Many students who seek research help using our IM Chat service are very pleased with the results.

June Hill and I offered a new service to some first year BBAs.  We offered to become their Personal Librarians, i.e. we would help to answer their questions re Library policies, procedures and services and to assist them with finding information for research assignments, by helping them articulate their research question, identify the best sources, and formulate  search strategies.  As is typical in other universities that have offered this service, the initial response rate was about 7% and the continuing contacts fell to about 3%.   I am always searching for more effective ways to assist students and I would be happy to receive your suggestions.  You can email me at watson@yorku.ca

Printers were a win/lose experience this year.  Those of you who stood in the long line-ups may be asking yourselves, what was “win” about the situation.  In March, typically the busiest month in the academic year, students printed 132,448 pages and if you were to stack the pages it would result in a stack of paper 44 ft or 13.4 meters high! Now that’s impressive but we have since beaten that record this November by printing 144,066 pages.  The “lose” part is that as we only have 2 printers this has resulted in excessive waiting times during peak periods.  I am happy to announce that we will have a third printer up and running sometime in January.

We added three new databases in 2010 – Sustainalytics, Mergent Horizon and SimplyMap.

Sustainalytics: This database rates companies on environmental, social and governance performance. For most performance issue areas, it includes aboriginal relations; community involvement; corporate governance; employee relations; environment; and human rights. The framework calls for a complete examination of each company’s performance record in that area, as well as an evaluation of each company’s record in these areas overall.

Mergent Horizon: A resource for finding company and industry information, including all companies that are actively traded on the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ.  It highlights the relationships between a company’s major customers, suppliers and partners and maps companies from the bottom up, based on actual products and services.

Simply Map: A web-based mapping database that lets users easily create professional looking thematic maps and reports using demographic (Statistics Canada), business and marketing data (Environics) for Canadian geographic areas. You will need to create your own login the first time you use this database.

When you return in January your will find QR codes on the group study room doors.  Try it out or ask at the research desk.

And what’s in store for 2011 – well part of this depends on you.  Talk to me! My door is almost always open S237C, the second door on your left as you enter the Library or email me watson@yorku.ca.

The staff of the Bronfman Business Library wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2011.   Happy Holidays.

It doesn’t seem that long ago when we were eagerly awaiting the first person to come into the new Bronfman Business Library and now we are celebrating the 2 millionth person!

The Library opened September 2003 and we celebrated our 1 millionth visitor on September 5, 2007.  It took us 4 years to reach this milestone.

We reached the 2 millionth milestone on November 19th, 2010 when Sabrina Stan, a Schulich School of Business 4th year accounting student walked through our doors.  This time it only took a little over 3 years to get there!   It is always a pleasure for me to walk through the Library and to see it filled to capacity because this tells me that the students find it a welcoming environment in which to work.  Either that or they are desperate for a place to study but I still like my interpretation best.

David Clink, our Circulation Coordinator and prognosticator of major events, and I greeted Sabrina.   We presented her with Dr. James Gillies newly published memoir From Vision to Reality. Dr. Gillies is the founding Dean of this Faculty, originally known as the Faculty of Administrative Studies and the book covers the period 1965-1972.  by the way it is a great read and I recommend it highly.  You can borrow it from the Library HD 30.42 C3 G54 2010 or purchase it at the Trading Floor.

I am always happy to hear from students about how we can make the Bronfman Business Library even better so email me watson@yorku.ca or put your suggestion in the suggestion box on the counter at the front of the Library.  I can’t promise to do what you ask but I value your ideas.  For example, the music you hear at closing time was the suggestion of one of our students and it replaced the public announcements which some students found annoying.    By the way the music is Leonard Cohen’s Closing Time.

I wonder when we can expect our 3M student?

Well Halloween is over and now comes the scary time. Are you feeling the crushing load of assignments or does it feel like the sword of Damocles is hanging over your head?

November typically is one of the months when students are faced with completing many assignments.  The business librarians at the Bronfman Business Library want to help you find the resources that contain the information you need to do your assignments.

We have developed web pages that recommend the best sources for finding information on companies, industries and finding articles etc.  Check out our Help with Research page.   We also have some research videos including one on finding SWOT analysis.

You can get individual help from our knowledgeable staff.

• in person at the reference desk or by appointment
• by email
• IM chat reference service
• by phone (416-736-5139 during library reference hours)

We look forward to working with you.

I read an interesting post on data recently by Clive Thompson on “Why we should learn the language of data.  He ends the article by stating that “Statistics is the new grammar”.  And while I agree with the sentiment, it gives me pause, as we haven’t done too well with English grammar in my humble opinion.   Understanding data and being able to identify trends is critical to developing a complete picture or scenario.  Too often students who are just learning about statistics will look at a bunch of numbers and make assumptions.  This often results in assumicide and the mark they get on their assignment is the death blow.

Understanding statistics isn’t easy and the way people misuse statistics, often on purpose, is a problem for all of us because we may be basing our research on faulty or misrepresented data.  So it is important that we make a concerted effort to ensure that the data we are gathering is from a reputable source, and that we think carefully about our research questions and the data we need to gather in order to answer these questions.  Once the data is gathered we need to make sense of it.  You might consider taking a statistics course if you haven’t already done so.

The following is a selected list of reliable resources to help you get started in finding the data.  But before I list the resources to which the York University Libraries provide access, I want to share with you a great video on gapminder, a tool that enables you to create visualizations from your data.  Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen.

Start by looking at our Library Data Services web page to get an overview of where to find data at York University.

York University Libraries are a member of DLI, the Data Liberation Initiative and students can obtain a lot of Statistics Canada data at no cost when it is required for academic research.

Our Data Librarian has created a website with links to reliable resources and it is organized by subject so finding the resources is easy.  Business students will find the Business, Industry and Trade section particularly useful.  I also recommend the Finance and Economics section.

In addition you will find links to business data in the Business Online A-Z web page I created but you have to search for it.  I hope to create a web page on just statistics for business students this summer.   In the meantime I’ll highlight a few of my favourites other than Statistics Canada which are highlighted in the paragraph above.

CFMRC – TSX: Standard and Poor’s Toronto Stock Exchange database provides current and historical data on stocks traded on the TSX.

CRSP : Provides standard and derived security data available from the NYSE, AMEX and Nasdaq.

Data-Insight Web: This database provides access to time series from numerous DRI-WEFA databanks covering economic, financial, and demographic statistics.

GMID ( Global Market Information Database): Provides business intelligence on companies, countries, industries, and consumers. Includes demographic, economics and marketing statistics for 205 countries.

I ndustry Canada: This Canadian government website contains information and data on a wide variety of topics, e.g. Economic and Market Research Statistics

SourceOECD : Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development e-library offering access to all OECD books, reports, annuals, periodicals, working papers and statistical databases.

World Bank Data:  provides download access to over 2,000 indicators from World Bank data sources.  Includes economic and social indicators.

Yahoo Finance :Offers current and historical company information for companies listed on the major US and Canadian stock exchanges. Includes stock data, charting capabilities, performance, financial ratios (including beta), and comparable companies

As I mentioned this is a selected list, students and faculty are welcome to contact me if you don’t see what you need above.

2009 was an active year in the Bronfman Business Library and we made changes which I think have been of benefit to the students, faculty and staff who visit the library, either in person or virtually.  I asked the staff to identify their top ten changes and here is the list in no particular order.  If you have other items, we would love to hear from you.

1) We acquired a projector which students may borrow for use in the Library’s group study rooms.  This is much in demand and we hope to get a second projector.

2) We acquired a second printer (If you read my last point you will appreciate what this means!)

3) We are playing music for the last five minutes before closing time instead of making announcements over the PA.  A number of you have asked who the artist is and the music we generally play is Closing Time by Leonard Cohen.

4) The Library has been much quieter this fall and we appreciate your cooperation in making this an environment where we respect the needs of all students to have a place that is conducive to studying.  Spring of 2009 was a nightmare and I received numerous complaints from students who couldn’t hear themselves think, let alone study, because of the inconsiderate behaviour of other students sharing the same space. The staff were diligent at the beginning of the fall semester in reminding students that this is a shared space meant for studying and that there is lots of recreational space in the building for those who want to take a break.

5) The soft furniture in the Current Periodical Room was replaced by tables and a counter and this has created a space that is conducive to studying.  The feedback has been very positive to this newly created environment.

6) We installed many new power outlets on the counter area of the mezzanine floor and on the main floor of the library in the Current Periodical Room and Lounge Areas.

7) We removed the garbage and recycling bins from the Group Study Rooms and I am relieved to report that most students remove their garbage and recyling to the bins outside the library.  This removal of the bins was necessitated by a reducation in the services provided by the  York University cleaning staff.

8) Our public workstations were upgraded and MS Office 2007 was installed.  The upgrade has improved the response time at these workstations and has improved the speed of sending printing jobs although it unfortunately doesn’t affect the time to takes to print the longer jobs or the ones with a lot of graphics.

9) We have a great team of student assistants working in the Library and this means that our shelving is done quickly and correctly, the circulation desk is staffed efficiently as well as many little tasks that are completed quickly and which we wouldn’t notice unless they weren’t being done, e.g. searching for missing items.

10) It seems like a long time ago but when we were in the midst of the labour disruption which lasted well into the Spring we know that it was a very difficult time for our students, faculty and staff and we appreciated your understanding and patience.  The summer continued to be a stressful time and things weren’t back to normal until the end of August.  I am pleased to say that we survived and the 2009/10 academic year has been off to a fine start.

The staff of the Bronfman Business Library wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.