Engineering Case Studies Online

The Library is offering a trial to Engineering Case Studies Online, an online resource from Alexander Street Press that includes 250 hours of video and other resources that provide analysis of key engineering failures. It provides in-depth coverage for the most frequently taught and seminal engineering case studies and failures—from the Titanic to the Challenger space shuttle explosion.

Because Engineering Case Studies Online addresses cases from a variety of angles, including their legal and ethical implications, the collection has broad applications for fields including architecture, business, law, urban planning, health and safety, environmental studies, science, sociology, media, and technology. Materials in the collection include:

•          Feature-length video documentaries of major failures.
•          Monographs explaining cases in detail and describing key engineering concepts and issues.
•          Simulations depicting precisely what went wrong.
•          Primary footage of accidents, including related news segments.
•          Event timelines and maps.
•          Audio footage and transcripts.
•          Testimonies from participants, victims, and witnesses.
•          Images, accident reports, blueprints, and other key archival content whenever available.
•          Bibliographies of authoritative materials from newspapers, Web sites, and journals.
•          Specially written cases that explore engineering ethics.

Investigate Engineering Case Studies Online before the trial ends in February 2015, and tell us what you think by completing the Database Trial Evaluation form. Please direct any questions to David Nelson, Head, Collection Development and Management.

Image courtesy Encyclopaedia Britannica ImageQuest

PolicyMap -- Database Trial

The Library is offering a trial to PolicyMap, an online mapping application for presenting data through custom maps, tables and reports. PolicyMap contains over 15,000 US data indicators related to demographics, neighborhood conditions, real estate markets, federal programs, money and income, jobs and economy, education, crime, health, and more.

PolicyMap is  appropriate for undergraduate and graduate curriculums related to sociology, urban studies, community and economic development, public administration, public health, policy and political science, education, business (real estate and marketing), and geography, among others.

Investigate PolicyMap before the trial ends on April 15, 2014, and tell us what you think by completing the Database Trial Evaluation form. Please direct any questions to David Nelson, Head, Collection Development and Management.

SciFinder Scholar now has links to full-text holdings

Use the Full Text link in SciFinder Scholar to find the full text online, in the library, or through interlibrary loan. Make sure your browser has pop-ups enabled for cas.org.

When you find an article in SciFinder Scholar, click the 'Full Text' link:



The article may open up in another database, like ScienceDirect:



Or you may see online or in-print retrieval options:



If it's not available, use the interlibrary loan link to request it from another library:



Find more sources on the Chemistry Information Sources page. Find help with your research on the Guides and Help page.

Journal Citation Reports webinars

What is journal impact factor and how can you identify the most important journals in the sciences and social sciences? Learn the answers to both questions by attending one of these online training sessions for Journal Citation Reports.
"2010 Journal Citation Reports - Available NowJournal Citation Reports® offers a systematic, objective means to critically evaluate the world's leading journals, with quantifiable, statistical information based on citation data. By compiling articles' cited references, JCR Web helps to measure research influence and impact at the journal and category levels, and shows the relationship between citing and cited journals. Available in Science and Social Sciences editions." (Thomson Reuters web site)
Learn how to identify the most appropriate, influential journals in which to publish and find the current reading list in your field.
Sign up for one of four upcoming training sessions offered on the Thomson Reuters web site.

Saturday Power Outage

A campus-wide power outage on Saturday, May 14 means that library online resources, including Infosearch, will be unavailable from 4:30pm on Friday until sometime Saturday afternoon when power is restored. Thanks for your patience.

Website Security Error

This week when you click on a database link from the library homepage, you may encounter this error screen:

Click Continue to this website to gain entry into the database. We promise nothing bad will happen if you do.

We will fix this annoying research roadblock as soon possible.

Downloadable E-books

Some of the ebooks in our NetLibrary collection are now available for download to your laptop or selected ereaders and mobile devices. You can find ebooks in the Infosearch library catalog as well as directly in the ebooks databases (NetLibrary and Ebrary are the largest.)

Here is what you will see when you find a downloadable ebook in NetLibrary (you must click on View Details in a search result list):

You'll need to create a free account to download books, and an additional software download (Adobe Digital Editions) may be required. The book will be accessible to for 3 days and then it will become locked, though you can access it again online through the NetLibrary database. The ebook downloads work well on a computer, and they are supposed to be transferrable to several devices, but this librarian couldn't get one to work on an iPhone. If you have luck getting one on your Nook, Sony Reader, or other compatible device (not the Kindle, though) let us know.

Instead of reading the book, try watching the movie

We have thousands of books and articles to help you with your history research, but the best way to connect with history is to watch how it happened. Find American History in Video on the History Information Sources page or in Databases A-Z list. This collection consists of 2,000 hours and more than 5,000 titles all streamed to your desktop. The collection includes awesome documentaries from the Discovery Channel, History Channel, and A&E, as well as old newsreel and government films. You can literally see history in the making. Imagine the perspective you will gain when you see actual footage of emigrants arriving in America or listen to Martin Luther King speak. Transcripts of documentaries are available to print, and the database is easily searched by era, topic, place or person. If you need more assistance or have questions contact the reference desk.

Learn about Library of Congress Primary Sources

The Learning, Teaching, and Innovative Technologies Center is hosting a workshop for faculty by Dr. Stacey Graham on Teaching with Primary Sources.
The workshop will help faculty use the Library of Congress website to find primary sources to use as educational tools.
Register today and learn how to enhance your curriculum with primary source material.

InfoSearch Faculty Preview Day

Faculty Preview

Monday, August 23

10 a.m.

Library 264A

You've heard the Walker Library converted to a new Integrated Library System and catalog. This system replaced Voyager. What does this mean for you? Bottom line, it makes it easier to find books, articles and other resources. Come see it in action. This look at the Library’s new catalog will be fun and informative.

This new system has many benefits such as:

• A Google like search feature


• Spell check and “Did you mean” help


• RSS feeds on searches of interest


• Simple advanced search options

We are encouraging faculty to take advantage of demos, Q & A sessions and training. It is more important than ever to sign up for Library instruction classes for your students.

Taking the GRE?

The Walker Library's Learning Express Library database can help you prepare for the GRE and other standardized tests such as the PRAXIS, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.
You can also take licensing, certification, and aptitude practice tests for fields such as Nursing, Emergency Medical Services, Law Enforcement, Military, and Real Estate, to name few.
You must complete a free registration to save your answers to questions. This resource is available to all Tennesseans through the Tennessee Electronic Library, so tell a friend!

Training: Web of Science and Web of Knowledge

Do you need to use electronic resources like Web of Science and Web of Knowledge for your classes, but you don’t quite know how to find what you need? Several online training modules have been released that may be of use to you then!

Would you prefer to take part in a live web seminar? If so you can find more information on what is offered, when the seminars are offered and sign up for the live web seminars here.

If you prefer recorded training materials that you can use at your leisure, there are many to recorded sessions on a number of databases available here. You can also find further information from Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports which may help you with other research needs.

Web of Science Training

A Thomson Scientific trainer, Tracy Matthews, will be visiting MTSU on Friday, February 5 to conduct two training sessions on the library databases Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports. Web of Science includes the Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Science Citation Index.

Science Citation Index Expanded tracks 6,650 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals across 150 disciplines. Social Science Citation Index tracks 2,200 journals in the social sciences. The indexes also allow you to search the times cited for each article and search articles that have cited references in common. It’s a very powerful tool. Come learn how to use it to your advantage.



Tracy Matthews will also demonstrate Journal Citation Reports (JCR). JCR measures research influence and impact at the journal and category levels, and shows the relationship between citing and cited journals. With JCR authors and editors can identify the most appropriate, influential journals in which to publish and researchers can discover where to find the current reading list in their respective fields.

There will be a morning session from 9-11 a.m. in the Library in room 264a. The afternoon session will be in BAS S137E from 1-3 p.m. BAS S137E is inside the BAS Computer Lab. Faculty and students are welcome. Please RSVP to Gwen Williams at gwilliam@mtsu.edu. Seats are limited, so please reserve your seat early if you plan to attend one of the sessions. Tracy has visited the library previously and she is a very engaging trainer. We hope to see you there.

Finding Full Text Articles

Confused about how to obtain the full text of an article when you see a promising citation or abstract in a database? Never fear, your helpful librarian has heard your cry of frustration and wants to help.

Sometimes, the full text of an article is available in the database--just look for a "full text" or "PDF" link. Otherwise, use the Article Linker or Find Fulltext link to see if the article is available in print or online in another database.

Have you used Article Linker before and that's what prompted the cry of frustration? It can be a bit complicated. This illustrated guide to Finding Articles shows how Article Linker works. Or, auditory and visual learners may prefer watching this 3.5 minute narrated, captioned video.

Still need help, or too frustrated to watch or read a tutorial right now? Visit our Need Help? page and ask a librarian.

Lexis Nexis Webinars

Lexis Nexis conducts webinars that will help you use this important resource more effectively. These upcoming webinars will provide tips for getting the most out of LexisNexis® Academic and more. Upcoming webisodes include:

- Using LexisNexis Academic for Business Research
- Finding Sources in LexisNexis Academic
- Using LexisNexis Academic for Legal Research
- News in LexisNexis Academic

All available from the convenience of your desk… choose the day and time
that is right for you. Register for a webinar today!

TRACFed analyzes Sotomayor's record

The Sotomayor confirmation hearings start today. TRACFed has provided a "case-by-case examination of the sentences imposed by Judge Sonia Sotomayor during her six years as a trial judge in the Southern District of New York."


TRACFed is a library subscribed web-based service for understandable, authoritative and complete information about the federal government - how it enforces the law, where it assigns its employees, and how it spends our money. Keep up with other TRACFed reports with TRAC RSS feeds.

View the Sotomayor report.

CAMIO Art Image Database

MTSU Walker Library now subscribes to CAMIO--Catalog of Art Museum Images Online. CAMIO contains about 95,000 images of fine and decorative art that you can present in the classroom, download for research and study, and use to illustrate papers and other assignments. It includes works ranging from 3000 BCE to the present day, including difficult-to-find contemporary art.

If you are not already familiar with this easy-to-use resource, try it by following this link or visit the Research Gateway Databases A-Z page. For a preview, you can look at sample records here.

Anyone in the library can use CAMIO by following the link above. Off-campus use is restricted to current MTSU students and employees, and requires use of a Pipeline username and password.

If you have questions about CAMIO or our other electronic resources, please ask a librarian.

What is Wolfram|Alpha?

Wolfram|Alpha is a web resource that specializes in providing data and computations on a whole range of topics. “Enter your question or calculation, and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and a growing collection of data to compute the answer.”
Check out this demo, and we think you’ll agree that it’s very cool: Wolfram|Alpha demo.
Give it a try and let us know how you used it!

New Room! - Heritage Quest Training session

Due to a high level of interest in this session, the room has been changed to BAS 137 -E, which is in the BAS lab.
The library will be hosting a training session on the Tennessee Electronic Library's ancestry database, Heritage Quest.
The training session will be Tuesday, 6/16/09 from 3:15-4:30 in BAS 137-E. It will be conducted by Linda Cubias of Proquest. If you are interested in ancestry or historical research, we hope to see you there.

Now You Can Listen to that Scholarly Article!

Well, as long as it's available in HTML full-text from Wilson OmniFile or another Wilson database.

Most Wilson databases now offer ReadSpeaker "text to speech converter," which provides downloadable or streaming audio (in English) of any HTML full-text article in the database. Click on the HTML full-text link for an article, and then click on the "Listen" icon. You can see a short animated demo on Wilson's Web Site.

Now this begs the question, which is less sleep-inducing, reading or listening to 15 pages on "Forecasting U.S. Recessions with Probit Stepwise Regression Models"?