Changes to Document Delivery Policy June 1, 2009

The Walden Document Delivery Service will be restructured starting June 1, 2009.  Document delivery costs have risen 458% over the past year due to increased costs for articles and book chapters (an average of $40 each) and increased demand. Thirty percent of the requests for document delivery are for articles and book chapters already owned by the library. The library doubled the amount of full-text scholarly journals and purchased access to over 14,000 ebooks in the past year. In light of this information, the Walden Library will make the following changes to our Document Delivery Service.

PhD students. If the articles and book chapters requested are not owned by the Walden Library, the articles and book chapters will be requested through our suppliers.

Master’s students. Requests will be reviewed by the librarians who will determine if the item is owned by the library or if sufficient materials on the topic are in the library collection. Master’s students working on research intensive projects such as theses and capstone projects will be put through to the document delivery queue once need is determined.

Undergraduate students. Undergraduates are encouraged to contact the library for help finding what they need. Undergraduate projects generally have a shorter turnaround time than can be met by document delivery. Our expert librarians can help undergraduates find what they need fast.

There will be new forms for Document Delivery Service. Students who have signed up for an ILLiad account will not need to sign up again. Turnaround time is 10-14 days. The 25 requests per month and $50 per article cost limits will continue to be in effect.

All students are encouraged to contact the library about their research needs. Our experts can help you strategize your literature review for a dissertation, show you how to locate peer-reviewed articles and book chapters for classes, and search the Walden databases more efficiently. We have recently expanded our hours of reference service later into the evening so students working late or who are in various time zones can benefit from contact with our professional staff. Thank you for helping the library keep a cap on costs so we can continue to offer you more content and services.

FAQ

Will the service continue to be free?
Yes, we will continue to provide this service at no charge to the student. The library pays our suppliers an average of $40 per article (adding up to thousands of dollars per week.). Students are asked to be sure they need an article before making a request through Document Delivery Service.

How can I make sure my requests get through quickly?
Check the Walden A-Z list first for the journal. If we own it, you can save lots of time by using the full-text available to you for free, immediately on your desktop.

What if I can’t wait 10-14 days?
You can go directly to the publisher to purchase an article. Be sure to check the Walden  Library first so you aren’t buying something we already have! The librarians can also assist you in locating materials at your local library.

I’m a master’s student writing a thesis. How is this going to work for me?
Your request will be sent to a reference librarian who is a specialist in your field of study. The librarian will contact you to discuss your research needs and whether the library might have other resources for your topic. If the librarian determines that specialized resources outside of the Walden library are needed, he or she will add your request to the front of the Document Delivery Service queue.

How will you know if I’m a master’s student or an undergraduate?
The Document Delivery Service form requires this information and student status will be checked before any requests are made to our suppliers.

What can I do with articles and book chapters or book chapters I get from Document Delivery Service?
You may only use articles and book chapters for your own personal use. According to U.S. copyright law you are not allowed to redistribute the article (i.e., send it to other students in your class or anyone else for that matter), record an audio version of it, make paper copies and distribute it, or otherwise transfer it into another medium and distribute it. You may keep an electronic copy for yourself or one paper copy for your own use.

I am a student with disabilities. How will this affect me?
Students with disabilities should contact the Office of Disability Services to make their needs known. The library works with the office to provide materials to students who have special vision or mobility needs.

Please don’t use the comments field to ask a question — this will delay your response considerably. Use the Ask  A Librarian link at the top of  the right hand column!

What’s in that database?: Mental Measurements Yearbook…

It’s a database!  It’s a print series!

It’s BOTH!

That’s right: Mental Measurements Yearbook is a database to which Walden Library subscribes.  But, long before we had computers, back when scholars only did old-fashioned book research, Mental Measurements Yearbook existed only as a print resource.

(To read more about the print resource and find out how long it has been around, see the publisher’s site here: http://www.unl.edu/buros/bimm/html/catalog.html)

The print collection of Mental Measurements Yearbook is comprised of hundreds (okay, I exaggerate… I think we’re up to eighteen…) of volumes.  In each volume, one would find abstracts and reviews of different tests, measurements, questionnaires, etc.   These are usually of the psychological kind, like a test to measure anxiety…or sometimes of an educational kind, like a test to measure reading-readiness.

And that is exactly what one finds in the database version of Mental Measurements Yearbook.   The print resource still exists, but the publishers also feed those same reviews of tests into an electronic format and make it “searchable” in a database of the same name!

So what do I mean when I say “reviews and abstracts”?  Well, that means that a researcher takes a specific test and reviews it to find out:  Is the test valid?  Was it properly researched and developed? Is it skewed in some way to a certain population group?

An abstract of a test would give one a general overview of what the test actually measures and what methodology it uses.

So who would use this database?  What is it good for?   Students in several subject disciplines may need to research a test or measurement.  Normally we think exclusively of psychology students, but also those of you in any social science field or in education might find it useful.

But how would a review of a test be beneficial?  Shouldn’t one want to get the actual test?  This is a good point.  A review of a test or measurement can be quite helpful.   These reviews tell one a lot about the test and its reliability and use.

Sometimes we here at the library speak with students who do wish to obtain the actual test or measurement they are researching or wish to use in their own dissertation research.   That gets pretty tricky.

See, the people who painstakingly created these tests and measurements are, quite rightly, protective of their work.  They only want qualified practitioners in their field (say, a licensed psychologist or a school counselor) administering their test to a patient or client.  Tests and measures usually need to be purchased from the licensed publisher of that test.  So most often a student needs to track down who that publisher is, or who the author of the test is, in order to obtain it.  Sometimes publishers or authors of a test have a special “student version”  (along with a “student price”!) of their test because they want to support fellow-scholars’ research, which is pretty nice of them.

And that’s where Mental Measurements Yearbook comes in:  by locating the review of the test, you also find out who the author is, and sometimes, who the publisher is!  Then we librarians can help you search for contact information.

Some tests and measurements are close to impossible to obtain.  Others are easily accessible.  It depends on the test.

Regardless, Mental Measurements Yearbook is the resource to use when you want to find information about a test.  You can not only search by the known title of a test, but you can search by keyword for tests and measurements too!  So if, for instance, you wanted to find a test measuring, say…library skills…you would type in the search box:

library skills

…and click the Search button.  Voila!

This has been a brief introduction to the database called Mental Measurements Yearbook.  Questions?  Ask a Librarian!

(Please don’t use the comments field to ask a question — this will delay your response considerably.

Use the Ask  A Librarian form to query the library.)

Pulling APA citations from the Walden Databases

Did you know you can get citations in APA format in the Walden databases?

Once you find an article in the Walden databases, you can often get the APA citation for that article right from the database.  Most of the databases provide article citations in a variety of formats; look for the “cite this” or “cite this article” link on the article abstract page.  Choose the citation format you wish to use, and presto!- you have the article citation in your desired format.

However - and this is a really big however- these citations aren’t always correct! The database pulls these citations directly from the article publisher and occasionally the publisher doesn’t provide accurate information.  It is very important that you look over the citations to make sure they are correct!

In the long run, there really is no faster time saver than learning the APA guidelines for frequently cited materials.  Yes it is painful, but you will be so glad you did it in the end.  When you know the APA guideline, you can quickly check the citation provided by the database and make any changes necessary.  And even if the citation from the database is wrong, at least you have all of the component parts of the citation, it is just a matter of copy and paste!

The Walden University Writing Center has an extensive APA style guide-  here.  And they are more than willing to answer any APA questions you have.  They will even spot-check your citations!   You can find more information about how the Writing Center can help you and how to contact them on their wonderful website.

The library is happy to answer any questions you have about pulling APA citations from the databases.  Please direct questions about actual APA citations to the Writing Center.

Please don’t use the comments field to ask a question — this will delay your response considerably.

Use the Ask  A Librarian form to query the library.

Walden Library Reference Desk Summer Hours

The summer hours the Walden librarians are available to answer your questions are:

Monday – Thursday:  8am to 1am

Friday:  8am to 6pm

Saturday and Sunday:  noon to 1am

These hours begin on Memorial Day; hours are Eastern Daylight Time.

As always, the library databases are available 24/7 for your research needs.

Please don’t use the comments field to ask a question — this will delay your response considerably.

Use the Ask  A Librarian form to contact the librarians.

Closed for Memorial Day

The Walden Library  is closed for the Memorial Day holiday.

We will re-open on Tuesday, May 26.

As always, all database resources are available 24/7 from the Walden Library website.

DOI: Digital Object Identifier

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) System is for identifying objects in the digital environment and maintaining links to items. The DOI will remain consistent across all platforms. The International DOI Foundation (IDF) is responsible for the development of the DOI framework and progress.  Located online here: http://www.doi.org/

This system of assigned numbers to items in the digital environment allows libraries (and other organizations that manage content) to provide persistent linking and retrieval between resources. 

You can locate a DOI on a citation inside the library databases by viewing the full citation. The DOI will be listed at the very bottom of the citation.  Not all databases will indicate the DOI so it may be necessary to utilize other tools to identify a DOI.

If you have a DOI and need to know the citation for that item, you can use The DOI System from IDF to enter and retrieve the bibliographic data you need.  

The DOI System resolver is available here: http://dx.doi.org/ 

If you know the citation of an article and need to look up the DOI, there is a great online tool to use.  This online form maintained by CrossRef allows you to retrieve Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for journal articles, books, and chapters by simply cutting and pasting the reference list. 

The DOI identifier is available here: http://www.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery/

It is important to note that not all articles have DOIs.

The library staff can assist with locating DOIs on citations in specific databases. If you would like assistance from the library staff, please don’t use the comments field to ask a question — this will delay your response considerably. Use the Ask  A Librarian link at the top of  the right hand column.

Looking for good web sites on your topic?

Check out the Library’s Subject Guides!  These are web sites that have been selected and evaluated by your own Walden librarians. These sites are organized by subject, including categories for KAMS!! 

Have a suggestion for a category or web site to be added? Let us know!! Just click the ‘Ask a Librarian’ button on the library’s homepage!

Please don’t use the comments field to ask a question — this will delay your response considerably. Use the Ask  A Librarian link at the top of  the right hand column.

Closed on Memorial Day

The Walden University Library is closed on Memorial Day, May 25, 2009.

Normal hours will resume on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 8am EST.

Please don’t use the comments field to ask a question — this will delay your response considerably.

Use the Ask  A Librarian link to send a question to the library.

myWalden Login is your Library Login

Students: when you see the library log in screen (image below), please:

Use the same full email address and password that you use for your myWalden portal log in.

This will get you through the library log in screen and on to whatever database you selected.

Library Login - use your myWalden Login

The National Academies Press

This respected publisher (www.nap.edu), is part of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences , which provides quality advice to the Federal government.

The many books and reports are written by academics and other experts in their fields, and undergo an editorial review process by other experts. The subject areas covered by these publications include behavioral and social sciences, biology and life sciences, computer and information technology, education, health, and public policy issues.

At the NAP homepage one can search by keyword or subject categories. Many of the items are available for free PDF viewing and downloading to your personal computer. Hard copies may be requested through the Interlibrary Loan service of your local public libraries, or you can ask the Walden Library’s Ask – A – Librarian e-mail reference service to help figure out if the book might be at a nearby library. So although not strictly academic items, these professional publications might be very useful for your research, you just need to examine what is available.

And as always, if you have questions, please contact your friendly Walden librarians.

Please don’t use the comments field to ask a question — this will delay your response considerably.

Use the Ask  A Librarian link to contact the library.