HRAF Databases – A Student "How-to"

Meg Arnette, a junior at Kutztown University majoring in English, is one of the fabulous student workers in the Learning Technologies Center in the library. After using the HRAF databases available through Rohrbach Library, she volunteered to create a “How-to” for them that could be posted on our blog. Here is what Meg had to say about the databases followed by a link to her handout.

Kutztown University recently subscribed to two databases from Human Relations Area FIles, Inc. (HRAF): the HRAF Collection of Archeology and the HRAF Collection of Ethnography. The Collection of Archeology contains “nearly 60,000 pages of information on the world’s prehistory” and the Collection of Ethnography has “over 350,000 pages of information on all aspects of cultural and social life.”

As a Literature major, I am constantly writing papers and doing research, for classes and for my own personal enjoyment. HRAF is probably one of the best databases I have ever come across. I recently had to use the HRAF Collection of Ethnography for an Anthropology class, and I was really impressed by the organization, search choices and overall presentation of the database.

To access Meg’s handout (with screen shots), click on the PDF link below.
http://www.kutztown.edu/library/materials/HRAFhandout.pdf

Student Training for RefWorks Citation Manager

Introducing RefWorks – your own personal citation manager!
A hands-on training session for students
Tuesday, November 15 at 11AM
Repeat session on Tuesday, November 29 at 3:30PM
Library Instruction Lab – RL100C

Hate doing your bibliography at the end of a paper? Don’t know how to cite a webpage in MLA style? Can’t find information on Chicago style? Aren’t sure how to use footnotes? Let RefWorks help.

RefWorks is a bibliographic software product that KU has purchased for use by students, faculty, and staff. RefWorks is a very handy way to keep all your references (for every paper you write at KU) in one place. The best part is that the system will automatically generates either your in-text citations (or footnotes) and your bibliography.

Learn how to:
Organize references
Format bibliographies and manuscripts
Create a personal database online
Import references automatically from many library databases

For questions or more information contact Bob Flatley: flatley@kutztown.edu or 3-4168.

These workshops are sponsored by the Rohrbach Library, your “One Stop Information Shop.”

HRAF Database Training for Faculty

When:
Tuesday, November 15 at 3PM and Tuesday, November 22 at 11AM
Where:
The LTC Lab (RL23)

The CET and Rohrbach Library invite all faculty to a one-hour, hands-on training session on two new important research databases: HRAF ethnography and HRAF archaeology

The training will be conducted by Christiane Cunner, HRAF Coordinator, Yale University, via conference phone.

The eHRAF Collection of Ethnography is a unique cross-cultural database with full-text ethnographies that are subject-indexed at the paragraph-level for precise retrieval of information on all aspects of cultural and social life. The eHRAF Collection of Archaeology is a Web-based, full-text database with information on prehistory of the world. This database is unique in that the paragraphs are indexed with subject index codes for quick and precise retrieval of information.

For more detailed information on the databases and the training session, please see the online flyer (click on the image to inlarge): http://www.kutztown.edu/CET/current_events/FlyerRevision.jpg

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, at the age of 42, became heroic for taking a definitive stance against the Jim Crow laws of the south and deciding not to vacate her seat to accommodate white passengers boarding a segregated Montgomery, Alabama city bus. This milestone in the history of the United States, the event (including her decision, her resolve, her arrest, the 381-day bus boycott challenging the city public transportation ordinance) and her previous and subsequent work advancing civil rights in the U.S. and the world, is virtually absent from critical academic discourse.

The Voices & Choices Center of Rohrbach Library has created the following resource about Rosa Parks. We hope you will use it to find more information on this American treasure.
ROSA PARKS: SELECTED WEB SITES AND RESOURCES