Before you begin searching for information, think about what it is you really need. Save time by searching with relevant keywords, rather than phrases. Make a note of alternative terms.
Tip: There is an excellent Thesaurus of management terminology in the Proquest database. Where is the information most likely to be available? In published literature, in an official website? Utilise the advanced search option on search engines and databases.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Business Source Premier
The database covers reputable international business publications including the world’s top management and marketing journals, as well as magazines in the fields of management, economics, banking, finance, accounting, international business, and other related disciplines.
Full-text access has steadily increased the number of titles indexed and abstracted, with over 8,000 journal titles now accessible. Additional non-journal full-text content includes: market research reports, industry profiles, country economic reports & surveys, detailed company profiles for the world’s 5,000 largest companies, and SWOT analyses.
The database is easy to use and the content is being updated constantly.
Searching
If you stay in the Basic default search (using subject terms, random keywords), BSP provides a useful display that allows you to filter your results quickly and easily by type.
For example, a keyword search on, will bring up results listed in date order, which you can scroll through. If you have more than 50 hits on your search, you can refine your search with more keywords, or use the hyperlinks that appear on the left-hand side of the screen. The screen shot below shows the associated subjects that were returned for the ‘transport’ query
The database also clusters results into categories for you. The search on sorted the results into the following categories, all hyperlinked to a treasure-trove of content.
Academic Journals Trade Publications Magazines Company Profiles SWOT Analyses Country Reports
Industry Profiles Market Research Reports Product Reviews
Personalise feature
To save searches and results for future sessions, it’s worth taking a few minutes to create a personalised sign-in, which gives you access to a personal area you can use to collect your search strategies and search results into your own personal folder, called My Folder.
Once you’ve done this, saving your search results is easy. Just click on the button appearing just to the right of your search results, and the items are automatically added to your personalised folder only you can access.
[This post was adapted from issue 3 of Franklly: Newsletter of the Frank Lowy Library]
Full-text access has steadily increased the number of titles indexed and abstracted, with over 8,000 journal titles now accessible. Additional non-journal full-text content includes: market research reports, industry profiles, country economic reports & surveys, detailed company profiles for the world’s 5,000 largest companies, and SWOT analyses.
The database is easy to use and the content is being updated constantly.
Searching
If you stay in the Basic default search (using subject terms, random keywords), BSP provides a useful display that allows you to filter your results quickly and easily by type.
For example, a keyword search on
The database also clusters results into categories for you. The search on
Academic Journals Trade Publications Magazines Company Profiles SWOT Analyses Country Reports
Industry Profiles Market Research Reports Product Reviews
Personalise feature
To save searches and results for future sessions, it’s worth taking a few minutes to create a personalised sign-in, which gives you access to a personal area you can use to collect your search strategies and search results into your own personal folder, called My Folder.
Once you’ve done this, saving your search results is easy. Just click on the button appearing just to the right of your search results, and the items are automatically added to your personalised folder only you can access.
[This post was adapted from issue 3 of Franklly: Newsletter of the Frank Lowy Library]
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Factiva search tips
Remember that if you enter just two words in Factiva, it will search for those words as a phrase. [click on the thumbnail image to view the full-sized version]
The above search will find articles which contain the phrase online brokerage. This is different from search engines like Google.
This Google search implies an AND between the two words, so that it will find web sites which contain both the words "online" and "brokerage" somewhere on the same page, no matter how remote from each other.
If you want to do an AND search on Factiva, you need to specify this with the word "and"
Here are some other search tips from Factiva:
To find articles containing China and "cultural differences":
enter china and cultural differences
To find articles containing CommSec or e*trade:
enter commsec or e trade
To find articles containing outsourcing but not offshore:
enter outsourcing not offshore
To find articles about outsourcing in the utility or energy sectors:
enter outsourcing and (utility or energy)
To find articles containing at least 3 mentions of CommSec:
enter atleast3 CommSec
The number after atleast can be anything between 1 and 50.
To find articles containing building materials in the same paragraph as market size:
enter building materials same market size
"Same" can be thought of as a more precise version of "and"
To find articles containing variants of outsourcing such as outsource, outsourced, outsourcer: enter outsourc*
Don't use this operator too soon, cat* or tel* would retrieve a lot of false hits.
To find articles woman or women:
enter wom?n
The wildcard operator can only be used after three or more characters.
The above search will find articles which contain the phrase online brokerage. This is different from search engines like Google.
This Google search implies an AND between the two words, so that it will find web sites which contain both the words "online" and "brokerage" somewhere on the same page, no matter how remote from each other.
If you want to do an AND search on Factiva, you need to specify this with the word "and"
Here are some other search tips from Factiva:
To find articles containing China and "cultural differences":
enter china and cultural differences
To find articles containing CommSec or e*trade:
enter commsec or e trade
To find articles containing outsourcing but not offshore:
enter outsourcing not offshore
To find articles about outsourcing in the utility or energy sectors:
enter outsourcing and (utility or energy)
To find articles containing at least 3 mentions of CommSec:
enter atleast3 CommSec
The number after atleast can be anything between 1 and 50.
To find articles containing building materials in the same paragraph as market size:
enter building materials same market size
"Same" can be thought of as a more precise version of "and"
To find articles containing variants of outsourcing such as outsource, outsourced, outsourcer: enter outsourc*
Don't use this operator too soon, cat* or tel* would retrieve a lot of false hits.
To find articles woman or women:
enter wom?n
The wildcard operator can only be used after three or more characters.
Monday, November 06, 2006
a few Frequently Asked Questions about the Frank Lowy Library
When is the library open?
See the opening hours here.
What is a database?
A database, in the library context, is a powerful research tool. They contain articles and profiles and other documents from premium content providers. The content from databases typically is not available in search engines such as Google. For example, it is very difficult to find full-text articles from the Harvard Business Review in Google, because this content is not free and is available only in databases such as Business Premier. Some databases contain newspaper and journal articles, others have company information and financials, or industry and market information. Databases usually offer more sophisticated searching options. On the other hand, they are not as simple as Google and require some time and effort to learn.
Why bother with databases if everything is on Google?
As mentioned above, not everything is on Google. Most books have not been digitized, only a number of periodicals are freely available via Google. Even if one is looking for internet-only materials, not all of it is available via Google. It is always a good idea to try the other major search engines Ask.com, MSN and Yahoo, as there is not as much overlap between the search engines as most people believe.
How do I use the library's databases?
Once logged into the library, choose the databases page. If the database does not seem intuitive to you, take a moment to read the research guide or ask a librarian.
What fee-based and consultancy services does the library offer?
The Frank Lowy Library runs the Business Information Service.
See the opening hours here.
What is a database?
A database, in the library context, is a powerful research tool. They contain articles and profiles and other documents from premium content providers. The content from databases typically is not available in search engines such as Google. For example, it is very difficult to find full-text articles from the Harvard Business Review in Google, because this content is not free and is available only in databases such as Business Premier. Some databases contain newspaper and journal articles, others have company information and financials, or industry and market information. Databases usually offer more sophisticated searching options. On the other hand, they are not as simple as Google and require some time and effort to learn.
Why bother with databases if everything is on Google?
As mentioned above, not everything is on Google. Most books have not been digitized, only a number of periodicals are freely available via Google. Even if one is looking for internet-only materials, not all of it is available via Google. It is always a good idea to try the other major search engines Ask.com, MSN and Yahoo, as there is not as much overlap between the search engines as most people believe.
How do I use the library's databases?
Once logged into the library, choose the databases page. If the database does not seem intuitive to you, take a moment to read the research guide or ask a librarian.
What fee-based and consultancy services does the library offer?
The Frank Lowy Library runs the Business Information Service.
Ask a Librarian
One of the roles of the Frank Lowy Library is to help AGSM students, faculty and staff with research assistance.
We are here to answer your questions. No question is too easy or too difficult. If you're unsure of a research topic, why not talk to the library before sinking an hour into researching on Google. If you suspect you may need to use one of the library's research databases, take a moment to contact the library and we can give you some pointers for using the database effectively and fine-tuning your research strategy.
Here are the different ways in which you can use the Ask a Librarian research assistance service.
1. By email. Just email library@agsm.edu.au or complete the Ask a Librarian form which is available on the What's New page.
2. By phone. Call the library on +61 2 9931 9390. After verifying your identity as a member of the AGSM community, we'll get right onto your question. Some questions can be answered immediately while you're on the phone. Others may require more work and will require a follow-up call or email.
3. In person. Feel free to stop in at the Frank Lowy Library and make use of its printing and photocopying and computing facilities, as well as the Information Commons.
The library is also a nice and quiet place to study and catch up on the newspapers. Executive MBA students: to use the computers, just ask a library staff member to log you in, and to use the Information Commons, contact AGSM Academic Affairs to give you access.
We are here to answer your questions. No question is too easy or too difficult. If you're unsure of a research topic, why not talk to the library before sinking an hour into researching on Google. If you suspect you may need to use one of the library's research databases, take a moment to contact the library and we can give you some pointers for using the database effectively and fine-tuning your research strategy.
Here are the different ways in which you can use the Ask a Librarian research assistance service.
1. By email. Just email library@agsm.edu.au or complete the Ask a Librarian form which is available on the What's New page.
2. By phone. Call the library on +61 2 9931 9390. After verifying your identity as a member of the AGSM community, we'll get right onto your question. Some questions can be answered immediately while you're on the phone. Others may require more work and will require a follow-up call or email.
3. In person. Feel free to stop in at the Frank Lowy Library and make use of its printing and photocopying and computing facilities, as well as the Information Commons.
The library is also a nice and quiet place to study and catch up on the newspapers. Executive MBA students: to use the computers, just ask a library staff member to log you in, and to use the Information Commons, contact AGSM Academic Affairs to give you access.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
What is a database?
The library subscribes to more than 40 databases and they are extensively used resources in the library. Databases provide access to the selected, authoritative information sources and data which are targeted to particular research topics. They offer extensive archives and they develop powerful search tools to retrieve relevant information more precisely. The ability to search hundreds of sources simultaneously is an exceptional advantage.
Tips: Databases, defined as value-added information services, provide comprehensive, authoritative, reviewed information that can be searched and retrieved effectively.
Access to databases is provided via the links in the Library's Research & Article Databases page in the Frank Lowy Library's research site.
Tips: Databases, defined as value-added information services, provide comprehensive, authoritative, reviewed information that can be searched and retrieved effectively.
Access to databases is provided via the links in the Library's Research & Article Databases page in the Frank Lowy Library's research site.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Vault Library Troubleshooting
The Vault Online Library uses Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to ensure that only authorized users can use the Vault guides.
Here are some pointers on accessing the Vault guides with minimal DRM hassles:
Here are some pointers on accessing the Vault guides with minimal DRM hassles:
- The DRM is facilitating just one operation: downloading a Vault guide onto one computer, so that it can be viewed or printed on that computer. If you download a Vault guide onto your work computer and then email it to your home computer, the guide will not open.
- Version 7 of the Adobe Acrobat Reader gives you the best results.
- Sometimes a strong corporate or personal firewall can interfere with the transmission of data necessary to unlock a document. Temporarily deactivate your firewall before downloading
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
The Frank Lowy Library's career resources page
The Career Resources page is a joint project between the Frank Lowy Library and the AGSM Placement Office and is a central place to look for resources on how to get a job.
To access the careers page, you first need to login to the Frank Lowy Library research site [see these instructions for logging in].
There are three main components to the Career Resources page: the Vault Online Career Library, Useful Links, and Print Resources.
Vault Online Career Library
The Vault Online Career Library is the centrepiece of the Career Resources page. Current students are able to access over 70 electronic Vault career guides. The books are comprehensive, authoritative and are typically about 200 pages in length.
There are guides for particular industries (Energy, Technology, Advertising etc.) and top employers within an industry. There are also guides to more general aspects of the job-seeking process, such as resumés, cover letters and interviews.
Much of Vault’s content is U.S.-focused, but that is changing with the recent inclusion of Australian employee surveys which cover:
The second component of the Career Resources page is a collection of career-related links selected by the AGSM Placement Office. If you know of a good resource please contact the Library on 02 9931 9390 or library@agsm.edu.au.
Print Resources
The third section of the Career Resources page highlights some of the books that the Frank Lowy Library has in this area. Click on the hot topics to get a list of books on job hunting, career planning or interview techniques. These books are often more in-depth and authoritative than many of the job-seeking resources which can be found online.
To access the careers page, you first need to login to the Frank Lowy Library research site [see these instructions for logging in].
There are three main components to the Career Resources page: the Vault Online Career Library, Useful Links, and Print Resources.
Vault Online Career Library
The Vault Online Career Library is the centrepiece of the Career Resources page. Current students are able to access over 70 electronic Vault career guides. The books are comprehensive, authoritative and are typically about 200 pages in length.
There are guides for particular industries (Energy, Technology, Advertising etc.) and top employers within an industry. There are also guides to more general aspects of the job-seeking process, such as resumés, cover letters and interviews.
Much of Vault’s content is U.S.-focused, but that is changing with the recent inclusion of Australian employee surveys which cover:
- Workplace surveys
- What it's like to work for a specific employer, including, but not limited to corporate culture, diversity, hours, dress code, and opportunities for advancement.
- Interview surveys
- Hiring process and interviews (how many rounds of interviews, who conducted the interviews, and whether there were any specific interview questions you remember of note).
- Salary surveys
- Information about base salary, signing and year-end bonuses, stock options, vacation time, and other special perks and reimbursements.
- Business outlook surveys
- Analysis of strengths and weaknesses in competition, distribution channels, products and services, employee morale, etc.
The second component of the Career Resources page is a collection of career-related links selected by the AGSM Placement Office. If you know of a good resource please contact the Library on 02 9931 9390 or library@agsm.edu.au.
Print Resources
The third section of the Career Resources page highlights some of the books that the Frank Lowy Library has in this area. Click on the hot topics to get a list of books on job hunting, career planning or interview techniques. These books are often more in-depth and authoritative than many of the job-seeking resources which can be found online.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Career research - finding company and industry information
Do your homework before you contact a company.
Gather as much information as you can. The online databases provide a wealth of detail on companies and industries.
Proquest
Start here by checking the thesaurus for industry terms to search as a subject term combined with a geographical area or other relevant terms.
Business Source Premier
Great for industry profiles. Search the industry as a subject term, then click on Industry profiles. Also contains Datamonitor company profiles.
Mergent and Reuters Business Insight
Contains industry reports on technology, energy, finance,
health care and consumer goods.
GMID Euromonitor
Look here for statistical information and market reports.
Gather as much information as you can. The online databases provide a wealth of detail on companies and industries.
Proquest
Start here by checking the thesaurus for industry terms to search as a subject term combined with a geographical area or other relevant terms.
Business Source Premier
Great for industry profiles. Search the industry as a subject term, then click on Industry profiles. Also contains Datamonitor company profiles.
Mergent and Reuters Business Insight
Contains industry reports on technology, energy, finance,
health care and consumer goods.
GMID Euromonitor
Look here for statistical information and market reports.
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