Refworks workshops: Learn how to make your research paper reference lists

It is the beginning of the spring semester so it is a great time to learn about the research tools we have to offer before you get in the middle of your research. If you don't already know about Refworks, you will wish you had once you know that it is a online citation and bibliography tool that you can use to help you organize and format your citations/references for your research papers in whatever writing style you are supposed to use (APA, MLA, etc.). You can create a free account and familiarize yourself with some of its basic features. You can use their tutorial or check our workshops page to sign up for one of our short workshops on how to use Refworks. Once you get the hang of it you will see what a helpful tool Refworks can be for citing sources in your paper and for your reference/bibliography list. Good luck with your semester!

This Blog Has Moved

The Alkek Library Reference and News blog has now moved and this blog will no longer be updated. The new blog is now located here.

The new blog has more features and is designed to match the look of the library's website.

Please update your feeds and bookmarks for the latest reference and library news.

Thank you.

Free Subscription to Cell

Cell Press, an imprint of Elsevier, is offering a free print subscription to Cell. As a benefit of the site license to Cell Online managed by Alkek Library, any researcher, student, or faculty member in North America affiliated with our institution is entitled to receive a print subscription - normally a $179 value - absolutely free. To sign up for the offer, go to www.Cell.com/freesub.

Cell is an academic journal that publishes research and reports on developments in molecular biology. The journal includes charts, illustrations, book reviews and advertising. Cell began publishing in 1974. The journal is indexed in many databases including: Academic Search Complete; Biological Abstracts (BIOSIS); Biological and Agricultural Index; Medline; and others.

Freeware Tip: Google Docs

If you need a way to store your papers online to save the time of emailing an attachment back and forth to yourself, then you should try Google Docs. It is a free to use document application suite that gives you three applications including word processing, slide presentation, and spreadsheets. The applications are compatible with Microsoft applications so you can edit in either. The benefits that I have noticed are that it saves your work every few seconds while you are working and the documents live on the web so you don't have to stop and attach the documents to an email if you are going to another computer or if you are working on a public computer that times you out. Another advantage to Google Docs is that you can make your documents public with a link, so Google is essentially giving you free web space in addition to a free application suite. The public link or URL allows you to share your document with others and give them the option to work on the document too if they have Google Docs. To get Google Docs you just need to sign up for a free Google account.

New Database: LGBT Life with Full Text

LGBT Life with Full Text
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender issues, such as civil liberties, culture, employment, family, history, politics, psychology, religion, and sociology.
Incudes Full-text journal articles and approximately 100 full-text books.

Some titles included in LGBT:
Classics in Lesbian Studies, Gay Science: The Ethics of Sexual Orientation Research, Handbook of Research with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Populations, and Queer Theory & Social Change.

The database includes comprehensive indexing and abstract coverage as well as a specialized LGBT Thesaurus containing over 6,400 terms.

Full Text Journals indexed include: The Advocate, Gay Parent Magazine, Girlfriends, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian & Gay Studies, James White Review, ISNA News, Ladder, Lesbian Tide, New York Blade, ONE, Tangents, Washington Blade, and many more.

Additionally, LGBT Life with Full Text will soon contain all relevant data from NISC's Sexual Diversity Studies.

Library Hours for the Rest of Finals: May 1-6

In case you didn't know, the library began staying open 24 hours starting last Sunday and will continue to remain open through Friday night, May 2 at 10:00pm.

Other hours are:

Saturday, May 3, 2008: 9:00am - 8:00pm.

Sunday, May 4, 2008 : 1:00pm & the library remains open until Tuesday, May 6 at 5:00pm.

On Tuesday, the library will close at 5:00pm and will begin interim hours for the rest of the week. Interim hours are 8am-5pm.

Good luck on your finals and happy studies....

Click here for other library hours.

Celebrating Edwin "Bud" Shrake at the Southwestern Writers Collection

SATURDAY, APRIL 26 — BOOK LAUNCH

Land of the Permanent Wave An Edwin “Bud” Shrake Reader
By Bud Shrake Edited and with an introduction by Steven L. Davis
Foreword by Larry L. King

The best works by one of Texas’s most influential writers take center stage in Land of the Permanent Wave: An Edwin “Bud” Shrake Reader, the newest volume in the Southwestern Writers Collection Book Series published by the University of Texas Press. The series originates from The Wittliff Collections, literary and photographic archives at Texas State University in San Marcos. The public is invited to the book launch, Saturday, April 26, which will feature a book signing with Shrake and acclaimed actor G.W. Bailey reading from the author’s work.

Admission is free. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP either by phone (512) 245-2313 or email southwesternwriters@txstate.edu. The Wittliff Collections are located on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos. Directions online: www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu.
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