Data Center developments !

1) New Courses
Starting from September new courses have been planned for financial databases this year. This includes practical courses in the use of Datastream and SDC Platinum. If you are interested and want to sign up you can find the courses in the agenda on the library website.

2) Blackboard
At the end of September the Data Center course in Blackboard will be moving to a new location. People who are enrolled in the course at that time will stay enrolled and do not have to do anything. The relocation of the course means, however, that links to this course in Blackboard will have to be updated. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

3) ArcGIS
On the computers in the Data Center the software ArcGIS is now available. If you want to practice using it in combination with time series data from the website of the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics you can do so. Information on ArcGIS is available in the Blackboard course of the Data Center via the statistics database StatLine (CBS).

The Data Center Team

Time Inc. withdraws its publications from LexisNexis services

Time Inc. has decided to withdraw its publications from all LexisNexis services, effective immediately. The source directory in the LexisNexis Academic product has been automatically updated. The affected titles are:

• People
• Fortune
• Time
• Entertainment Weekly
• Sports Illustrated
• In Style
• Money
• Business 2.0
• Field & Stream
• Time Inc. - Last 2 Years
• Time Publications

Wharton changes in the coming months

At the end of last year Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) launched their new platform for accessing databases. The old platform has been kept up and running simultaneously but is now actively being phased out. The databases are currently no longer being updated through the old platform.

Below you find a schedule for the databases that shows when they will be removed from the old platform in the coming months:

5/19/10 Free datasets
5/26/10 CISDM, CENTRIS, CUSIP, GOVPX, IRI
6/9/10 The Corporate Library, Mergent FISD/NAIC, MFLINKS, S&P Credit Ratings, SMAR
6/23/10 AuditAnalytics, comScore, Nastraq, Riskmetrics, Bureau van Dijk
6/30/10 TAQ
7/21/10 Compustat, CRSP

At the moment we still offer links to both the new and the old Wharton platform for accessing databases. Be aware that if you are doing research through the old platform you may need to start doing your searches using the new platform in the coming months!

The Data Team

Free Webinar on Global Retailing Trends in 2010

Euromonitor is organising a FREE Webinar about Global Retailing Trends in 2010 which will take place tomorrow, Thursday 25 March 2010, at 4 pm Amsterdam time. The webinar is available to all staff and students at the Vrije Universiteit.

Euromonitor’s global retailing research team will examine the events, trends and consumption patterns shaping the industry as a result of the global recession. The live webinar includes the option to ask questions from the Euromonitor global research team. Join Euromonitor to:

Understand the recession's impact on consumer expenditure and its affect on the retail industry

Examine the sectors and channels that have maintained growth or improved their performance

Discover changing shopping patterns and how they are changing the face of retailing

Establish the role of emerging markets in future growth

Register for the webinar at the Euromonitor website.

Copyrights advice for publishing researchers

Are you about to finish your research and thinking how to publish it?
Visit the Copyright Toolbox website developed by JISC and the SURF Foundation. This site provides good advice and information about your rights as an author.

New Wharton Interface

The past year Wharton has developed a new platform/interface for searching subscribed databases. The new interface has now replaced the previous version. In practice this means that searching databases like CRSP, Compustat etc. has become easier. Help information is now also more readily available when doing a search.

Contrary to earlier annoucements the new Wharton interface is available without users having to mail and using an Access pass. Below you see a screenshot of the new Interface:

Search Business Source Elite using your mobile!

A new service is now available: the literature databases of the provider EBSCO can now be accessed using your mobile! Business Source Elite is one of these databases. Business Source Elite provides access to references from for over 1,000 business publications. This includes full-text access to some journal articles. The database provides information dating back to 1985. More than 10,100 company profiles from Datamonitor are also included.

Other EBSCO databases that can be searched on your mobile are: ATLA Religion database, Cinahl, Historical Abstracts, New Testament Abstracts online, Old Testament Abstracts online, Psycarticles, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, SocIndex and SportDiscus!

If you can connect to the internet on your mobile using the Wi-Fi campus network you now have access to millions of references in these databases. Information on setting up Campus internet access can be found on the website of the Digidesk: http://www.digidesk.vu.nl

The addresses for accessing the special Mobile platform for the EBSCO databases are:
http://m.ebscohost.com
http://search.ebscohost.mobi/

This service has been made possible by the Electronic Resources department of the library.