Policy Map trial

Right now, the Baylor Libraries have a trial for a resource called Policy Map.   Policy Map allows you to take data points and develop a map to represent where the data occur.  Data cover topics in economics, housing, health, income and spending, lending, education and demographics.  As a user, I can produce a map that shows a single data representation, so if I am looking at employment in a state, or a city or even a census tract, I can see a visual picture of my data.  I could even produce a map where I look at the...
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Media Center @ IBISWorld

I want to share something with you all that I learned about this week.   If you have used IBISWorld, you know that it is a great resource for gaining information about industries and what is happening with them.  However, something that I found out was about the Media Center that IBISWorld has.  To view this, go to the IBISWorld page and look at the top right-hand side of the page.  You will see a link called “Media”.  By clicking on this, you will be take to the Media Center.  Here there are posts about various industry happenings, press...
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Welcome to Research Dividends!

Welcome to the Research Dividends blog!     This is a blog for business grad students where we will discuss resources that will assist you in your time here at Baylor.  I’ll be posting information about some of the lesser know resources that we have here through the Baylor Libraries and some websites that could prove helpful as well.   As we going along through the semester, if you see something interesting or unique out there, please feel free to send it in to me and it could end up as part of a Research Dividends blog post! Good...
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ACRL 2013 Poster

My colleague Eileen and I presented a poster entitled Research Paper Planner:  Students Love It, but Do We Know Why? at ACRL on Friday, April 12, 2013, 2:30-3:30 pm. Here’s a link to the pdf of the poster (ACRL2013Poster).  Just to warn you, the file is over 6M....
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STEM Access

Using Fedora and OAIS

As I mentioned last time, for one of my classes in library school, I am learning about digital curation. We’ve been learning both about the theories and models behind digital curation in addition to getting some hands-on practice with some of the computer programs and tools used in digital curation. So the question arises, how do the theory and practice mesh? One of the theoretical frameworks used in digital curation is the OAIS (Open Archival Information System) model. One of the most important aspects of this framework is to give names and definitions for different objects, roles, and function...
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STEM Access

Data Curation Intro

As I have mentioned before I am currently taking classes for my library degree.  As part of my degree I am planning on getting a certificate in digital curation. What exactly is digital curation and why am I interested in it?  I’m actually interested in digital curation as a part of data management/curation. Most people associate libraries with books, but probably more accurately libraries should be associated with information (which is often found in books, but also in journals, maps, pictures, electronic resources, and other formats).  Data or facts are not very useful or informative until put into some...
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How to read a scientific abstract

The editor of Nature wrote a piece on the Huffington post recently about how to read a scientific abstract. A well-written abstract typically provides several basic types of information about a research project in concise arrangement, facilitating the reader’s ability to quickly ascertain the context, questions asked or purpose, results & methodology, interpretation and conclusions of one particular line of experimentation. The presentation style can vary widely from publisher to publisher, but each important element can often be identified by language cues or even more simply, by the order of the sentences. He then walks through an abstract, explaining...
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STEM Access

2nd Texas STEM Librarians Conference

Last Thursday to Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd annual STEM librarians conference in Denton.  The conference almost doubled in size from last year and UNT did a great job of hosting. Librarians from all around Texas (but mainly the DFW area) presented on all different subjects even though the theme for the conference was e-books.  In addition, there were roundtable groups and panel discussions with various vendors. The pre-conference on Thursday was on gaming and education.  We spent the afternoon playing educational games from this list and heard an interesting talk about from an educational...
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User-Centered Spaces

As some of you may realize, in addition to working as the science librarian at Baylor, I’m taking classes towards my library degree.  We’ve been discussing innovative or renovated STEM libraries.  I am particularly interested in the Applied and Engineering Technology (AET) Library at the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA).  I’m interested in this library because I am thinking about how the libraries at Baylor can have a presence in the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC).  I’m hoping to use information from the UTSA library websites, newspaper articles, what I remember from a tour during Summer 2011, and...
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STEM Access

How to Deal with Rejection

So after last week, you’ve picked what journal to submit to, and you wait (and wait and wait) to see whether your paper is accepted.  When the day finally comes, your paper hasn’t been accepted.  And if you’re like me, you get filled with a range of emotion to the point of crying. But as was pointed out to me recently in an email from the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, we should think of rejection rates like batting averages.  A batting average of .4000 is almost unheard of.  And a batting average of .2500 is pretty...
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