New Database: Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center

Sawyer Library recently added a new database via the Boston Region contract that will be a helpful tool for anyone researching contemporary "hot button" social issues, with an eye towards a balanced, both-sides approach to coverage.

Called Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, it is, according to the publisher Gale/Cengage, "a full-text resource covering today’s hottest social issues, from Terrorism to Endangered Species, Stem Cell Research to Gun Control. Drawing on acclaimed series published by Greenhaven Press and other Gale imprints, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center brings together all the information that’s needed to fully understand an issue: pro and con viewpoint articles, reference articles that provide context, full-text magazines, academic journals, and newspapers, primary source documents, government and organizational statistics, multimedia, including images and podcasts, links to hand-selected web sites, and more."

The database is very user-friendly. When you go to the opening screen you will notice that there is a long, two-column list of some of the most "popular" topics. But you can also do your own basic search using the box on the left.

Let's say that even though I see "Animal Rights" listed in the hot topics, I decide to look for materials that speak directly to vegetarianism. If I do a basic search for that

The default tab is the "Viewpoints" section that presents arguments about the topic, like the entry "Human Consumption of Animals is Immoral" from a 1999 Opposing Viewpoint Digest. More up-to-date materials are also available, like an item entitled "A Vegan Lifestyle Is Necessary to Stop the Mistreatment of Animals" by Bruce Friedrich, from Current Controversies: Rights of Animals, 2009.

And note those other colorful tabs above the results that lead to materials like "Reference Books," "Academic Journals" and "Statistics." For different topics you will find more or less material of various levels of usefulness at these other tabs.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center is just another tool for those interested in a pro-con debate-oriented presentation of social topics. CQ Researcher is another excellent source for both sides to key social issues. And a periodical available through Academic Search Complete, called Congressional Digest, is another very useful pro-con resource.

For more on Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, you can take a look at some materials prepared by the publisher: An Overview Factsheet PDF, A Search Tips Guide, and A PowerPoint Demonstration of database use.

[FIND Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center on our "Databases by Subject" List on the second column of our "Social Sciences" list. ]

Meebo Instant Messaging

What is Meebo?

While reading the Mildred F. Sawyer Library Blog, you may have noticed the box on the right side of the page that reads “SawLib.LiveHelp." The Reference staff is now offering a means for the Suffolk University community to ask a question using Meebo, which is an instant messaging system. Simply go to the library blog page and type a question. You are automatically signed-in to Meeboquest. When you send us a message, we will try to answer immediately. In addition to our telephone and email services, Meebo is another way for our patrons to obtain reference service.

If Librarians are not currently available...

If reference librarians are not available, the Meebo box will read "Away,"
"e-mail us instead." In this case, please email your question to sawlib@suffolk.edu or call 617-573-8532. Occasionally Meebo accidently logs us out, and the message in Meebo box reads,"leave a message." The Meebo system does not, however, actually leave us messages, therefore it is important to use email or phone as your alternative means of reaching us.

What kind of questions may I ask?

We will attempt to answer all of your questions about library resources and
services. Any question you might ask at the Reference Desk is appropriate.
In order to answer your questions fully, you may be asked to email the
librarian or to schedule a research consultation.

[FIND Meebo on the Mildred F. Sawyer Blog Page]

New Database: Global Issues in Context

More and more databases are taking a specific (yet often very ambitious) approach to research these days. One that Sawyer Library has recently acquired through the BRLS regional contract is Global Issues in Context (GIC). This high-concept resource gives students country and regional information. But it goes beyond simple facts and figures. It tries to explore major issues--be they social, political, medical or environmental--and present them as challenges faced by nations around the world. Gale/Cengage sums up the product this way: "Global Issues in Context empowers users with the tools they need to understand today’s world issues from a global perspective."

It's a lofty goal. And makes for an interesting database to explore. Content includes 400 full-text English-language news sources, magazines and academic journals, such as The London Times, New African, Al Jazeera, Moscow Times and the BBC; more than 250 issue pages with topic overviews and global perspectives, reference and primary source documents, statistics, periodicals, web sites, and multimedia; and 193 country pods that feature in-depth cultural information, statistics, maps, flags, and encyclopedia articles.

There are various browse features from the product home page. And there are indications of new content recently added. If you know an issue and country you want to explore, you can certainly just use the Basic Search box in the upper right. For example, when I did a search for AIDS and South Africa, I got relevant editorials from the New York Times, news articles from AIDS Weekly, and to the right was offered appropriate video news stories from PBS's News Hour with Jim Lehrer. In the left frame, I was offered a variety of document types, so I could choose to look specifically at a "Topic Overview" or a "Country Overview" if I liked. In short, many material options are offered. And the overview articles--like "South Africa's Struggle with AIDS" from History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflicts Worldwide--often come from reference books published by Gale and their publishing partners.

If you want to start simply, click on the "Browse Issues and Topics" tab on the opening screen. Then you can either click through the eight issue categories, or choose the other tab on that page to "Browse Regions." If I choose this option, click on Europe, then Southern Europe, I can then either pick a country (like Greece) or a topic (like "Cyprus Conflict" or "European Union Expansion") to delve into.

Interestingly, Gale/Cengage says that this database serves "a wide variety of subject areas, including sociology, current events, civics, politics, science, economics, cultural/religious studies, women’s studies [and] human rights." I would say that, here at Suffolk, this database would be of special interest to government/international relations students. But it might be even more useful for SBS students in their globalization course who are trying to understand the social dynamics of potential business markets.

Although neither exhaustive nor especially "scholarly," GIC definitely provides a useful grounding in the issues we face in our increasingly complex and interconnected world.

For further information, here is a quick PDF from Gale, and a link to a stored webinar.

[FIND Global Issues in Context on our "Databases by Subject" Lists for "Business and Management" and for the "Social Sciences".]

New Database: LitFinder

By way of a new Boston Region (BRLS) contract, Sawyer Library is happy to add several new databases. One that will come in handy for literature researchers is LitFinder, a Gale InfoTrac database that indexes and reproduces literary "primary sources." That is, LitFinder is a database that provides "access to more than 135,000 full-text poems, stories, plays and more."

Although we have many databases that provide descriptive and critical materials about works of literature--see, for example, the many listed on our Literature, Arts and Humanities database list--this is the first one that actually gives you the literary works themselves.

Let's say I'd like to find a few of the poems that Emily Dickinson wrote about death and dying. I might go to LitFinder and do a simple search for Emily Dickinson and Death in the search box.


The initial results page will list eight "Topic & Work Overviews." These are short descriptive and critical entries. They give some background on a particular poem and may quote a few lines from a major literary scholar about what the poem is about or why it works or doesn't. At the bottom of one of these Work Overview pages, you will often link to a reproduction of the poem itself.

But if it's the poetry you want. Look at the tabs above the initial results and click, instead, on the one for "Primary Sources & Literary Works." Here you will find citations (and, in most cases full-text) to many of Dickinson's works that mention death. (And there are lots!)

The text will be presented in most cases. And it you look at the top of the entry, there is even a an icon and link for a ReadSpeaker function


that will read aloud (albeit in a slightly robotic voice) the text of the work.

Regarding the availability of full-text sources: Keep in mind that works in the "public domain" (that is, where copyright has expired) are more likely to be reproduced in LitFinder than contemporary works. For more modern writers, you may find, at best, only a citation to a story or poem in an anthology. You would then have to check our online catalog to see if we actually own the book being referred to. If I search, for example, for Jhumpa Lahiri, I get only a short biographical note and absolutely no citations or reproductions to her works. However, if I want Susan Glaspell's 1917 short story, "A Jury of Her Peers," I will find it reproduced here.

So, although this database can be very useful in finding works from authors from the World War I period or earlier, it will not be particularly useful for late 20th or early 21st century authors.

If you'd like more information on this database, Gale has created a Search Tips Word Document, as well as a Guided Tour in PowerPoint Slides.

[FIND LitFinder on our "Databases by Subject" List on the second column of our "Literature, Arts and Humanities" list.]

Database Alert: GMID Requires Individual Login

8/28/09 UPDATE: I am VERY happy to say that Euromonitor has reconsidered their actions for academic clients. You will no longer HAVE to set up a personal login to use GMID on campus or through our proxy server off-campus. If you wish to set up the account, you may.

The company claims that "personalizing" will provide added functionality, which includes the option to

Create your own customised email alert: By selecting the categories and geographies you are interested in, you will receive an e-alert keeping you up to date with the latest developments.

Sign up to our RSS News feed: Receive timely updates on new content viewable via iGoogle, Outlook etc. from your customised content.

Create a My Home Page: View all your customised content in one place, along with your latest saved searches.

Create Saved Research: Save your research and queries if you are in a hurry and need to access them later or to share with your colleagues.

If you wish to create an account, look for the below graphic
On the GMID (after the license agreement) frontpage.

Meanwhile, I congratulate the company for their decision. And this librarian considers it one small victory for "intellectual freedom."

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A few users have been concerned and confused when they've tried to access Euromonitor's Global Market Information Database (GMID) through the Sawyer Library links recently. Unfortunately, in an obstructionist Big Brother move, the company now requires (even on an educational account) that each individual user must have their own account to use the database. Therefore, if you try to access the database you will likely first see a screen like this:

Look for the orange link in the bottom left that instructs that "New Users Register Here." You will then be directed to a page that looks like this:

Most of the registration is straight-forward. The form wants a salutation (Ms. Mr., etc), Name, Course, Department as well as location information like City, Country, and Region. Although it's more than a little odd to set your region AFTER you've entered your country, as there is no USA in Australasia, or any other region than North America, as far as I know. (But maybe that field in the form is a geography quiz.)

Unfortunately, Telephone is a required field, but it is outrageous that an information vendor that Sawyer Library contracts with should have your personal phone, so be creative, or use the general Suffolk switchboard number, which is 617-573-8000.

Other aspects of the instructions to the left are either unclear or incorrect, as well. It says, for example, to use your "business email address only" when registering. However, if you work for a company--as many of our students do--you should, in fact, NOT use your work email. You must use your SUFFOLK email to register, as Euromonitor wants to link the individual user to the subscription provider. The text also says that "if you click remember my details the next time you log in, you will not need to enter your email address and password again." Although this will work on your personal computer, it will not work if you do your research in the library as our machines wipe out cookies and other clutter every time they reboot. This means that although you will not have to do the full registration a second time, you will have to login (in the blue circle, with your Suffolk email and password) every time you enter the database again. So, remember your password and/or keep the email that Euromonitor will send you acknowledging your registration.

We apologize for the extra bureaucracy related to this useful marketing and demographic database, but this regrettable policy was set by the publisher and not by Sawyer Library.

New Database: Tax Analysts Web Services

The Mildred F. Sawyer Library has added a high-quality database for tax researchers. Tax Analysts Web Services offers access to the following materials:

Tax Notes Today (TNT)- The well-known TNT contains daily federal news and tax-related documents dating back to 1987. The news include events in Congress, the IRS, and the courts. Supporting documents include legislation, court opinions, IRS rulings, press releases, regulations, and more. TNT also provides a federal Commentary & Analysis section that offers analysis by economic experts on the Tax Analysts staff.

Federal Research Library -A comprehensive federal tax resource that includes essential primary source materials from the IRS and Treasury, including:

Internal Revenue Code and explanations

Regulations & Treasury Decisions

IRS Documents- rulings, procedures, announcements, notices, etc.

Internal Revenue Manual

Within this library are the following additional groupings:

-The Chief Counsel Advice Library (CCA) offers letter rulings, technical advice, field service advice, legal memorandums, Chief Counsel Notices, Information Letters and other forms of IRS guidance.

-The Court Opinions Library holds more than 100,000 full-text opinions and summaries of tax cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Tax Court, bankruptcy courts, federal appellate courts, and federal district courts.



-Tax Legislation Library - provides full-text of federal tax legislation, including bills and public laws, as well as legislative histories which offer full-texts of House and Senate Reports. Also, includes the outstanding Congressional Research Service Reports.


State Tax Today (STT)- provides daily news and tax-related documents that affect the states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. It includes information from state governments, state revenue departments, state courts, and state legislatures, plus activities of multistate organizations and federal or international changes that influence state tax policy. STT also provides a Commentary & Analysis section that offers analysis by experts on the Tax Analysts staff. STT news coverage and supporting documents date back to 1992.

Worldwide Tax Daily Worldwide Tax Daily (WTD)- provides daily news and tax-related documents from over 180 countries and multinational organizations, including U.S. federal information concerning international tax issues. WTD also provides a Commentary & Analysis section that offers analysis by experts on the Tax Analysts staff.

Worldwide Tax Treaties -includes over 3,500 tax treaties and similar documents from over 180 jurisdictions. Treaties concern taxes on income and capital as well as estate and gift taxes, model tax treaties, and more. Includes in-force, pending, and terminated treaties. Documents date back to 1828. Allows comparison of different income tax treaties.

Tax researchers may also utilize the Sawyer Library's access to Lexis/Nexis Academic for tax information. Choose the "Legal tab," then select "Tax Law" from the left column to search tax journals, state and federal tax cases, treasury regulations, the Internal Revenue Code, Cumulative Bulletin, and more.

Make selections from the drop-down menu before searching:

Department of Labor ERISA Opinion Letters

Federal Courts Tax Cases

Internal Revenue Code

IRS Cumulative Bulletin and Internal Revenue Bulletin

IRS General Counsel Memos, Actions on Decisions, & Technical Memos

IRS Private Letter Rulings and Technical Advice Memoranda

State Courts Tax Cases

Tax Law Review Articles, Combined

Treasury Regulations - Final, Temporary, and Proposed

[FIND Tax Analysts Web Services on our "Databases by Subject" List on the first column of our "Business and Management" list.]

Notable E-Book: Gran Enciclopedia de España

Sawyer Library recently added an important Spanish language reference set to our e-book database, Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL). It is the 22 volume Gran Enciclopedia de España (Great Encyclopedia of Spain), a new edition of a classic encyclopedia published over a sixteen year period from 1990 to 2006. It constitutes the largest encyclopedic work done on Spain.

The massive reference set contains more than 150,000 entries dedicated to the art, sciences, culture, economy, geography, history, institutions, nature and society of Spain. Major specialists and scholars--from the Royal Academy as well as major Spanish universities--contributed entries. Altogether, there are more than 11,000 pages of content here, as well as 20,000 illustrations. Graphics include drawings, genealogical tables, statistics, maps and chronologies. Selected historical documents are also included.

Keep in mind that the encyclopedia is both in the Spanish language and designed for Spanish audiences, however. Entries may, therefore, not be presented as U.S. readers would expect. If you try looking up "Generalissimo Francisco Franco" in the GVRL search engine for the encyclopedia, you get no results--not even a cross-reference. And if you drop the military title, and look up Francisco Franco, you also don't get very far. The entry, which is extensive, is actually under his proper name, "FRANCO BAHAMONDE, Francisco." So, stay flexible as you search and browse through this resource.

Because it is on the GVRL platform, users will have the option of quickly opening and scrolling through HTML text with highlighted keywords. Or, if you prefer, look for the small Adobe icon at each entry to open up the PDF version that looks exactly like the original volume entry.

We hope that this authoritative reference tool will be useful for both Spanish speakers and Spanish learners....And especially for our students and faculty at our Madrid campus.