Thursday, January 5, 2012

New Year, New Databases

A new year always brings new changes, and 2012 is no exception. This year, there’s a Presidential election, and (some say) maybe even the end of the world. But before that Mayan calendar runs out, we can enjoy some small-scale changes closer to home: the New Year will ring in the return of the library's evening and weekend services (on Sunday, January 8), and also an extension to Standard Loan borrowing periods for Duke Law students, other Duke graduate students, and non-Law Duke faculty/staff.

The new year also often brings changes to the library's electronic subscriptions, as newly acquired content is added to databases and the full-text of titles from expired licenses are removed. (This generally happens behind the scenes, but if you encounter outdated links to e-resources which no longer work correctly, be sure to report them to library staff for investigation.) One database making some big additions for 2012 is NC Live, or North Carolina Libraries for Virtual Education. NC Live is an online service which provides a large collection of electronic databases to state residents through their local libraries. Many of Duke University's online databases are provided by this service; you may notice a "Brought to You by NC Live" logo when logging in to certain resources.

As the site announced in mid-December, NC Live has added several new services and upgraded a few existing ones with additional full-text content. One especially useful addition at the Goodson Law Library is the Legal Information Reference Center, an e-book collection of popular law titles from Nolo Press and other legal self-help publishers, many of which are featured in the library’s research guide for non-lawyers. Individual book titles should be linked in the Duke Libraries catalog, but users can also browse the list directly by logging in with their NetID here.

Perhaps the best news of all for many Goodson Blogson readers – since NC Live is a statewide program, these resources are available to users beyond Duke University. If you don't have a current Duke NetID and password, visit NC Live directly to select your library affiliation; you may need to enter your library card number or other method of authentication (consult your local library staff for assistance).

As always, for help with navigating the library's electronic resources, be sure to Ask a Librarian.