State Library Databases

Many states have subscriptions to online databases that residents can access!  These databases are a great resource in addition to the databases that the Walden Library offers.  For a list of participating states, go to:

http://library.waldenu.edu/Books_23947.htm

Choose your state from the drop down menu in the middle of the page, underneath the bullet point for “Online libraries”.

Most of these state databases will require you to provide log in information.  Usually this is your library card number from your local public library.  More information on this process is available through your local public library.

Higher Education Statistics from IPEDS

If you need data on higher education in the United States then you need to know about the IPEDS resource maintained by the Department of Education.

IPEDS – or the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System – is a FREE and extraordinarily rich source of statistical data available online.

The IPEDS program surveys over 6,700  postsecondary institutions annually – this includes every college, university, and vocational school that participates in the federal student financial aid programs.  Data is collected on several dozen variables, including:  institution size, academic calendar, admissions and enrollment, student demographic data, completion rates, degrees conferred, tuition rate,  financial aid, funding, institutional spending, retention and more.

IPEDS stores and archives vast amounts of data collected from these surveys online, and they offer a wide variety of tools to help researchers use the information.  Popular tools include:

• College Navigator – a very user-friendly search to help one pull up data on individual institutions or to compare data on two or more schools.
• IPEDS Data Center - a very complex data center that includes tools to create custom tables, track trends on specific variables, perform advanced statistical comparisons and more.
• IPEDS Tables Library – a resource for downloading pre-configured data tables for commonly used statistics.

You can start exploring IPEDS at their homepage.  If you want more information about the system, the “About IPEDS” page is a good place to start.

For help using any of the IPEDS tools, look for HELP links in the data exploration web pages.  You can also contact IPEDS support staff for more information.

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

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.

Finding Resources in WorldCat

Although the Walden Library has an extensive collection of journal articles and e-books, we do not have access to every item. If you need something that is not available through the library or the Document Delivery Service, you may want to check libraries in your area for it. The easiest way to see if a library in your area has a particular resource is to use WorldCat. WorldCat is a free online mega-catalog that searches the catalogs of most libraries in the United States and some overseas.

Here is how to find resources using WorldCat:

 

Go to: http://www.worldcat.org

Type the title of the resource into the blue box and click “Search Everything”. If you are looking for a journal article, type in the title of the journal instead of the title of the article.

This should bring up a list of results. Look through the list to find your resource. Once you have found it, click on the title of the resource.

This will bring you to a page with information about your resource. Type in your zip code into the “Enter Location Information” box at the bottom of the page.

Now you have a list of libraries in your area that have the item listed in their catalogs. Click on the name of the library for more information about the item.

 

The Walden Library can help you look up borrowing information for these libraries and we can also help you find resources. Please don’t hesitate to contact us via phone or over email if you have any questions.

The Walden Library is now in Google Scholar!

Google Scholar fans (http://scholar.google.com) will be happy to note that Google Scholar now links to  Walden Library full-text journals.  Here’s how to set your preferences:

1. Click on “Scholar Preferences”

2. Under Library links, enter Walden University into the search box and click on the “Find Library” button

3. Check the box next to “Walden University – Full Text@Walden Library”

4. Click on “Save Preferences”

Now you’re ready to search.

You can add the word “Walden” to any search you do in Google Scholar and you will see many articles with the words “Full-Text @Walden Library” next to the title.

Click on “Full-Text @Walden Library” and you will be taken to a page that will ask for your MyWalden login and password.

Enter those in the appropriate boxes and click on the “Submit” button. You will then be taken to the full-text of the article (note, this may be a pdf that requires Adobe Acrobat).

Caveat Emptor: This is not a 100% surefire way to find articles in the Walden Library. This is merely a convenience for our students who use Google Scholar.  To be absolutely certain you are finding everything in the Walden Library, we suggest you contact one of our reference librarians for help. Use Ask a Librarian in the navigation bar on the right!

Proquest database maintenance

From our database provider:

Dear ProQuest Customer,

The next ProQuest® platform maintenance window will be on April 18, 2009. An eight (8) hour maintenance window will take place for infrastructure maintenance. The window will take place from Saturday, April 18, 2009, at 22:00 Eastern Standard Time to Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 6:00 Eastern Standard Time.