Search

In 2005, EBSCO introduced a comprehensive database for sociology that could be a competitor for Sociological Abstracts, SocINDEX/SocINDEX with Full Text. Library science quickly produced a product review, a few general comparative analyses of the two, and a few comparative analyses of the databases' utility for particular populations of researchers/students. The authors hope to add to this literature with an analysis of the databases' utility for graduate students in sociology completing their theses and dissertations. The citation checking variation of the checklist method was employed for four random samples of cited items, and the authors' sampling frame was theses and dissertations accepted at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during the 2000-2010 interval. The authors found that neither database provided particularly good coverage of the literature cited, that SocINDEX provided superior coverage of cited peer-reviewed journal articles, that neither database provided impressive coverage of other sorts of literature, and that SocINDEX's broader approach to indexing subjects of interest to sociologists could be beneficial to graduate students in sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a 2011 study done by the University of Nebraska--Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska which looks at the models of ways that librarians add to a library's collections, focusing on the collection-building models by which the librarian purchases titles to meet current users' needs and anticipate the needs of future users. It looks at the economic impact of building collections, and discusses interlibrary loaning (ILL) and purchase-on-demand (POD) as collection-building vehicles. It also states that POD programs help to build staff morale, lead to greater efficiencies, and improve the public relations of libraries.