New research guide in Drama and Theatre at The Catholic University of America.  You may find other research guides on our main Guides page.

The Library has implemented a login requirement for most of the desktop computers in Mullen.  CUA students, faculty and staff will need to enter their CUA network username and password (also used for your CUA email) to use the computers.  Please remember to logout when you finish, so that your information is secure.  The computers in the first floor lobby will remain available for anyone to use to quickly check email, look up a book, etc. They will not require a login.

Academic Success Workshop: Save Time! Cite Sources using RefWorks & Zotero.

Tuesday, September 29 2009 2 – 5 p.m., Mullen Library (MERIC classroom)

Every half hour there will be a 30 minute instruction session about how to create a bibliography or works cited page using online resources. *No appointment necessary.

Questions? Contact rodrigum[at]cua.edu

ProQuest, one of our major databases companies, is going to be releasing new software this weekend. In preparation, they must take all databases down from 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 26 until 10:00 a.m. on Sunday the 27th.

Among the databases that will be affected:

• ABI/Inform
• ArchivesUSA
• Career and Technical Education
• Dissertation Abstracts (and Dissertations from CUA)
• Historical Newspapers
• International Index to Music Periodicals
• Library and Information Science Abstracts
• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
• Patrologia Latina Database
• PILOTS – Index to PTSD
• ProQuest (Periodical Abstracts)
• Social Services Abstracts
• Sociological Abstracts
• Worldwide Political Science

In addition, online journals published by Chadwyck-Healey, a subsidiary of ProQuest, will also be unavailable.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

Have you thought about owning an electric vehicle? Joe Lado, Program and Technology Analyst for the National Science Foundation and organizer of the Alternative-Energy-Alternative Fuel Club at NSF posed this query to the meeting of the DC Science Librarians. He parked his EV in front of the NSF building near the Ballston MU Metro and drew a crowd. See Joe’s vehicle here. It’s worth thinking about as Joe tells us it costs him about 35 cents per 8 hours of operation. And his monthly home energy costs to charge the EV amount to $7.50 per month. Joe writes for EVWorld .

Joe also presented some searching strategies when looking for information on alternative energy. You may start a search on the terms alternative energy, renewable energy and sustainable energy. But there are more terms to use…

We may want to search on EGS (Enhanced Geothermal Systems.)

There is only a set amount of energy in the world, so you either have to harvest it (harvesting) or convert it (conversion.)

Changes in states of energy require a catalyst (catalytic).

Materials that are energy carriers are biomaterials or have biomass or may be bio-renewables. We are searching for renewable energy storage.

We look to the units of materials like hydrocarbons, alcohols and petroleum carbohydrates.

We need to store energy and so use  batteries, capacitors, and other physical storage devices.

We need to explore types of materials such as hydroelectric (hydrokinetic); wind (wind turbines); geothermal – possibly using electro photo thermolysis (Hydrogen fuel cells); and solar (photovoltaic)

(NOTE: I had to look up thermolysis : The chemical decomposition of a substance by heat. It is an important process in chemical manufacture, such as the thermal cracking of hydrocarbons in the petroleum industry.)

As always, we hope the searching leads to solutions.

Patrons can now create Playlists in Naxos.

Go here and create an account:
http://cua.naxosmusiclibrary.com/student/registration.asp

You will be sent a message to verify your account.

Once that is done, visit Naxos and click on the Playlists tab just under the search box. It will ask you to log in.

Now you can create and keep your playlists.

Here are instructions for creating and using your playlists:

http://cua.naxosmusiclibrary.com/playlists/NML%20Playlist%20Guide%20-%20Institution.pdf

Hours for the Labor Day weekend are:

Mullen Library

Campus Libraries

New mini-blinds have replaced the legacy, circa 1956, blinds that have graced the Listening Room (new name to come soon) since before the music librarian was born.

The Orientation 2009 issue of CUA Libraries Online is now available! Read it to learn the latest news and get familiar with library services and resources.

• Message from the Editors
• Welcome from the Associate Provost, Kim Kelley
• Goodbye and Good Luck Class of 2009 GLP’s
• Research Guides Get a Makeover
• Library Services and Resources
  • Access Services
  • Reference and Instructional Services
  • Special Collections and Branch Libraries
  • Library Facilities
• Orientation Events Calendar

The CUA Libraries, in collaboration with our partner libraries in the Washington Research Libraries Consortium (WRLC) are launching a new search interface for the Libraries resources this semester.

Aladin Discovery offers an intuitive search interface and has new features, such as faceted browsing, edition clustering, and improved relevance ranking.

Please give it a try, give us your feedback, and expect a few glitches as it is still a pilot. We are excited to provide this opportunity and a new, enhanced search capability.