Author Archives: Connie Foster

TopSCHOLARâ„¢ E-Journal Published

WKU Announces Launch of First Electronic Journal on TopSCHOLARâ„¢
James Navalta and Scott Lyons, Department of Physical Education and Recreation, launched WKU’s first electronic journal on TopSCHOLARâ„¢ – the research and creative activity database of WKU. The International Journal of Exercise Science published volume 1, no. 1 in January 2008.

The primary aim of The International Journal of Exercise Science is to engage undergraduate and graduate students in scholarly activity as authors and reviewers as they develop into professionals. This is the first journal of its type that focuses on student research, student authors and reviewers. The first issue contains an invited editorial and four articles.

The journal can be accessed at http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijes/ or the TopSCHOLAR site at http://digitalcommons.wku.edu and click on Journals and peer-reviewed series.

TopSCHOLAR is Kentucky’s first university-wide digital research repository. It works to preserve and disseminate the intellectual output of the University community and makes it available to researchers worldwide. For more information contact Connie Foster, Project Director, at 270-745-6151.

January 29, 2008

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TopSCHOLAR(tm): Discover It Today!

The rapidly growing research and creative activity database of Western Kentucky University, TopSCHOLAR(tm) is a key intellectual resource for faculty and student research and publications. Do you know the names of Coach Diddle’s and Ivan Wilson’s dogs? Do you know the history of women’s sports at WKU? Have you heard of Veteran’s Village or Ogden College for Young Men? Are you needing to do a paper on architecture on campus and want to find “Building on the Hill.” Click on digitalcommons.wku.edu, enter a search term, and you will find a wealth of information from student theses and award-winning papers, music basics as podcasts, diaries, letters, photographs, and the recent presidential convocation address and WKU’s vision for the future.
TopSCHOLAR(tm): The Research and Creative Activity Database of Western Kentucky University. You provide the content. TopSCHOLAR is the container.
For information, contact Connie Foster at connie.foster@wku.edu, or call 745-6151.

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TopSCHOLAR’s first e-journal

WKU’s first electronic journal coming soon! International Journal of Exercise Science edited by James Navalta and Scott Lyons, the first e-journal in TopSCHOLAR™ (digitalcommons.wku.edu). The purpose of this journal is to provide students of exercise science with the initial opportunity to become engaged in the scholarly process as authors and reviewers.
Contact James at 270-745-6037 or Scott at 270-745-6035 for more information.

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Google Scholar Displays WKU Link!

Researchers can now “FindFullText@WKU” for Google Scholar hits when WKU has the cited work, thanks to TDNet and Google Scholar linking software. The usual restrictions apply in that only WKU users can access the full-text based on IP range. An example from a search in JAMA is:

Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990–1997
Find Fulltext @ WKU
– all 5 versions »
DM Eisenberg, RB Davis, SL Ettner, S Appel, S … – JAMA, 1998 – Am Med Assoc
JAMA & ARCHIVES Select Journal or Resource, … Ronald C. Kessler,
PhD. JAMA. 1998;280:1569-1575. Context.— A prior …
Cited by 748 – Related Articles – Web Search

We know you will find this additional access useful in identifying WKU-held resources. We encourage you also to use TOPCAT and TDNet, along with our many other online resources, books, and other print holdings to support research and lifelong learning.

Connie Foster, Head
Dept. of Library Technical Services
July 5, 2007

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Database Added: Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000

We are pleased to add Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 as our newest database and our first from Alexander Street Press. As stated by the publisher, “this database brings together books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies that document the multiplicity of women’s activism in American public life. Thousands of pages of materials provide scholars and students with in-depth access to the published histories and records of women’s organizations throughout the United States. It also has documented projects on a broad range of topics of interest to today’s students, each including footnotes to introductory material, annotations of primary documents, a bibliography, and a list of related Web links. This database has a powerful full-text search engine that provides in-depth access to its content.” Link to it today! Search TOPCAT for the linked resource or our database pages.

The database should prove valuable to many disciplines and researchers. Let us know!
Connie Foster
Head, Library Technical Services
July 2007

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More E-Journal Access

E-journal access through WKU Libraries continues to grow this summer for a variety of disciplines. We recently added access to 6 titles through UC Press at http://caliber.ucpress.net for Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, Oral History Review, Pacific Historical Review, Social Problems and Symbolic Interaction, going back to 2001. Social Problems has access from 2006- . These titles can be accessed through Topcat or TDNet. The choice is yours!
Connie Foster, Head
Library Technical Services
June 20, 2007

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Expanding Links in the E-serials Chain

This week TDNet, WKU Libraries’ e-journal management system, will add 1,744 journal links from EBSCO’s EJS database. Users will enjoy additional linking options for titles available on EJS and now linked through TDNet. For example, Library Journal or Research in Social Work Practice will have an EBSCO EJS link as another option for full-text access. From the WKU home page, go to Libraries and click on TDNet on the left side of the menu for complete e-journal access, or go directly to http://www.wku.edu/library/ejrnloff.htm. You can still go to the EJS database and enter that way.

Don’t forget the functionality for group profiles in TDNet when special projects come along and you want classes to track articles on specific topics throughout the semester or for your own personal e-alerts from favorite journals. TDNet is a powerful tool that does not require safety glasses!

Connie Foster, Head
Department of Library Technical Services
April 2, 2007

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A Blast from the Past, 1639-1820

You can search TOPCAT by series title “Early American Imprints, First Series” and get all 36,305 or, if you know a specific title or want to limit to a subject category, you can also search in that way and limit to microform. Below is an example of one title now in TOPCAT.

Connie Foster, Head
Library Technical Services
February 1, 2007

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Less Is More, Electronically Speaking

WKU Libraries offers several new electronic journal packages that allow access to impressive numbers of titles for existing or fewer dollars.

Just activated are the following: (1) ACM Digital Library, accessed through ACM Portal. A collection of 19 journals and magazines, 26 transactions, over 85 conference proceedings, SIG newsletters, and the ACM Online Guide to Computing Literature; (2) IEEE Computer Society Magazine Package, providing access to 14 journals (whereas previously we subscribed to 7) and backfiles to 1988. This is a subset of the IEEE Digital Library; and (3) SpringerLink consortial arrangement through ESIG (EPSCoR Scientific Information Group) that gives users access to over 1,200 Springer titles and subsidiary companies, but we pay only for our current titles. 33 titles = 1,200+ titles. Not bad! and many disciplines are covered, such as economics, marketing, psychology, educational leadership, sociology, mathematics.

Additionally, we are adding individual online titles for public health and nursing. Check with your library liaison for more information; search TOPCAT for titles and links or TDNet, our online e-journal management system.

Connie Foster, Head
Library Technical Services
January 25, 2007

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History E-books Expand

WKU Libraries has 1,311 e-books available through the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) E-book project. From African History to Science and Technology, these books offer wonderfully rich research material for classes and projects. Recently, 138 new bibliographic records were added. Click on databases and ACLS for a complete title listing. Select a title and watch history unfold electronically; do a word or phrase search through a book with the powerful functionality of this database.

From its web site: “The ACLS History E-Book Project is a collaboration of eight learned societies, nearly 75 contributing publishers, and librarians at the University of Michigan’s Scholarly Publishing Office. The result is an online, fully searchable collection of high-quality books in history, recommended and reviewed by historians and featuring unlimited multi-user access and free, downloadable MARC records. The Project is available 24/7 on- and off-campus through standard web browsers. The ACLS History E-Book Project was initially funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.”

If you would like to recommend a book of high quality and lasting merit in the field of history for this Project, please e-mail info@hebook.org with the title, author, publisher, and publication date, as well as your name, position, and affiliation. All recommendations will be added to our list for the next round of review.

Connie Foster, Head
Library Technical Services
October 25, 2006

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