Welcome Back!

Welcome back on campus for Summer Semester 2011!  We are open and ready for you to come use the resources of the MCOB Library and Learning Resource Center.   We open at 7:30 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and on Friday from 7:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Please note we have new hours on Sunday from 2 p.m. - 7 p.m.

We will close two days for the July 4th holiday, July 3rd - July 4th.

Please remember we always close the computer lab fifteen minutes prior to closing the library.

Happy Studying!

Harvard Business Review - June 2011 Issue

For those of you in marketing and management, the June issue of Harvard Business Review is a particularly strong edition.  Articles range from "Competing Against Free", "A Guide to Making Great Strategic Decisions", "How Customers Can Rally Your Troops", "Segmenting the Base of the Pyramid", "What Makes a Team Smarter - More Women", "Forget Viral Marketing, Make the Product itself Viral", several articles on how great leaders unleash innovation and the case study revolves around a manager's decision on which hotel to invest new marketing campaigns.  For those of you taking International Marketing 336 this summer, you might want to read "What the West Doesn't Get About China" and its rapid transformation to a consumer-driven market.  Come see us in the Library and review this issue as well as prior issues of the Harvard Business Review in our magazine section.

Consumer Review Websites - another form of guerilla marketing?

For those of you in marketing, the NY Times has an article on consumer websites with the focus on one called "Yelp" and Amazon.com's "Mechanical Turk".  The article states that "as a consumer review website, Yelp is so big and influential that it has given rise to a small, semi-underground group of entrepreneurs who, for a  fee, will post a rave about your company. Others will post a negative review about your rivals". 

Here is the link to the article:


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/your-money/22haggler.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

What happens in the library when closed during semester break?

I get asked this question often by students and faculty about what do I find to do while the library is closed during semester breaks so I thought I would share with you typical activities.  This break we got the group study rooms painted, the library cleaned from stem to stern including carpet shampooing and a strong clean up in the computer labs which is hard to access while the students are here. Housekeeping has also wiped down all of the tables and chairs and grounds crew is coming to work and clean out our flower beds.  I and the staff have been busily 'shelf-reading' which means they ensure we have all books accounted for and filed in LC classification order so you can easily find the books you need. We then move the bookstacks around to handle all the new books coming in -- and we have alot of new books!  I have created a display of book covers on our bulletin board as well as a binder that will be at the reference desk for you to see what new titles are here and by discipline whether marketing, management, small business, finance, accounting or economics.  We work with Main Library to take the older serials (journals and magazines) and bind them to be shelved at Main.  This frees up our space for new serials and the campus at large has access to the business material. It is also a time for me to develop course instruction on how to use the library for particular courses and in general.  I develop podcasts and course guides that are available to all.  Finally, I turn my attention to operations and ensure we have staffing for the summer and the student workers are trained and I develop marketing materials such as bookmarks and new pencils that advertise this blog.  I look forward to your return to school on May 31st and we WILL be ready for you!

Interim Hours

A reminder the library is closed May 13th - May 30th and re-open on Tuesday, May 31st at 7:30 a.m.  Enjoy your semester break and we look forward to seeing you again soon!

Online Finance Dictionary Hint

Do you sometimes just need a quick definition of a financial term?  This website provides financial definitions and other helpful finance resources:

http://www.investopedia.com/dictionary/

In search of a career in the financial arena? Check this resource out

Finbox.com is similar to Linkedin.com but rather its focus is on assisting those students seeking a career in the financial arena.  The website offers a variety of resources from job postings (over 40,000) as well as first-hand industry insights.  The website also maintains close relationships with those Financial Industry Recruiters in the financial sector.  Many users contribute by writing blogs and sharing their insights on numerous topics such as successful interviewing, culture within specific companies and how stand apart from the competition.

Here is the link:

http://www.finbox.com/job-search

Small Business Reference Trial Database - through June 30th

We have a trial on a database through June 30, 2011 you may just want to check out.  It is called "Small Business Reference" and comes to us from EBSCO.   The database focuses those who need to research small business in these areas:  general business, industry information by small business type, business basics and business plans.

Click on this link to begin your research:

http://web.ebscohost.com.libproxy2.usouthal.edu/ehost/search/advanced?sid=731101be-0e07-4270-9bfa-27e4be5f4666%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=123

You can go to this link to see all the resources included in this database:

http://www.ebscohost.com/titleLists/b9h-coverage.htm

Enjoy!