Kennedy School Library Blog

Several new workshops have been added to the HKS Library’s schedule:

• Starting from Scratch: Developing Search Strategies (additional sessions added)
• Find it @ Harvard: HOLLIS, the Harvard Library Portal, eResources, and More (additional sessions added)
• Introduction to Web2.0 (additional sessions added)
• Managing the Information Overload in Your Field: Keeping up with Start Pages, RSS, Blogs, and Podcasts (NEW!)
• All about Twitter (NEW!)
• News Searching 101 (NEW!)
• LexisNexis 101 and LexisNexis Advanced
• .gov Research (NEW!)
• Google Hacks: Find Anything in Google (NEW!)
• Country Research (NEW!)
• Research Tools for Firefox (NEW!)
• RefWorks

Since seating is limited, please register in advance for sessions. Full details available here.

We look forward to seeing you!

Space is limited for all sessions. Please register in advance. Feel free to bring your lunch. Laptops encouraged! Contact library_research@hks.harvard.edu with questions, comments, and suggestions.

Starting from Scratch: Developing Search Strategies

This workshop will focus on formulating effective search strategies: how to construct search terms, how to use subject headings, Boolean searching, and truncation. We will discuss how and why to keep a research log, tips and tricks for brainstorming search terms, and how to effectively use different types of information resources — books, articles, databases, government documents, think tank reports, etc. Bring a specific research topic to work through or work with one of our sample topics. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptops.

• Monday, Aug. 17 — 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.  (HKS Library)
• Wed., Aug. 19 — 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (HKS Library)
• Monday, Aug. 24 — 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. (HKS Library)
• Wed., Sept. 2 — 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (HKS Library)

Register Now

Find It at Harvard: HOLLIS, the Harvard Library Portal, eResources, and More

Harvard provides access to an incredible array of information resources, but it can be difficult to know where to start or which system searches what. Join us to learn about the various types of systems and sources you have access to as a member of the Harvard community. Bring your laptop.

• Wed., Aug. 19 –3:00 – 4:00 p.m. (HKS Library)
• Tuesday, Aug. 25 — 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. (HKS Library)
• Friday, Aug. 28 –12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (HKS Library)

Register Now

Walking Tour Library Series

Join us for a walk to and tour of various other Harvard University Libraries.

• Monday, Aug. 17 — 3:30 – 4:45 p.m. (Widener Library & Lamont Library (Note: Limited to 15 participants. We will meet outside of Yenching Auditorium, after the MCPP orientation session.)
• Friday, Sept. 4 — 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.    Baker Library (Harvard Business School) (Note: Limited to 15 participants. We will meet at the HKS Library and walk to the Baker Library.)
• Friday, Sept. 11 — 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.    Baker Library (Harvard Business School) (Note: Limited to 15 participants. We will meet at the HKS Library and walk to the Baker Library.)

Register Now

Introduction to Web2.0

Curious to know more about Web2.0? We’ll give a brief overview of web2.0, some of our favorite web2.0 tools, and implications for finding information. We’ll also briefly discuss gov2.0.

• Wed., Aug. 19 — 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. (HKS Library)
• Wed., Aug. 26 — 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (HKS Library)
• Thurs., Aug. 3 — 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (HKs Library)

Register Now

Web2.0 Collaboration Tools

Collaboration tools allow users to do much more than simply share documents. Learn more about these tools and how to use them. We’ll provide an overview of Google Apps, Dropbox, EtherPad, and Evernote.

• Friday, Sept. 4 — 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. (HKS Library)
• Tuesday, Sept. 12 — 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.    (Computer Lab)

Register Now

Managing the Information Overload in Your Field: Keeping up with Start Pages, RSS, Blogs and Podcasts

Learn how to stay informed in your field without being overloaded. Join us to learn how to set up and manage personalized start pages such as Netvibes, PageFlakes, and Google; find and use blogs and podcasts; and take advantage of RSS technology. Bring your laptop.

• Thurs., Sept. 3    – 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (HKS Library)
• Friday, Sept. 4    – 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (HKS Library)

Register Now

LexisNexis 101

This session is designed for those new to LexisNexis. Learn what kinds of sources are available through LexisNexis, get familiar with the search interface, and start searching. We’ll provide an overview of the various types of information that can be found in LexisNexis – news, legal, statistics, and business-oriented research. Bring search topics. Meet in the computer lab.

• Tues., Sept. 15 — 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (Computer Lab)

Register Now

LexisNexis Advanced

Assumes some experience and knowledge searching LexisNexis. Learn more advanced search techniques, tricks, and tips to make your searches more targeted. Bring search topics. Meet in the computer lab.

• Friday, Sept. 18 — 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Computer Lab)

Register Now

RefWorks

Get started with RefWorks, an online tool that takes much of the hassle out of gathering references for your research. Learn how to import citations directly from any article database, create a bibliography in one click in any style (Chicago, Turabian, APA, MLA, etc.), and add citations or footnotes to your papers as you write. You must sign up in advance for this session. Email Lamont Librarians Chris Lenney (lenney@fas.harvard.edu), Steve Kuehler (kuehler@fas.harvard.edu), or stop by the Research Services Desk at the Lamont Library, Level B.

• Tuesday, Sept. 1 — 3:00 – 3:50 p.m. (Lamont Library)
• Thursday, Sept. 10 – 4:00 – 4:50 p.m. (Lamont Library)

These RefWorks sessions will take place in Room 310, 3rd floor of Lamont Library. Space is limited.

Register Now

Upcoming Sessions

• Using Twitter for Real-Time News
• Gov2.0
• Searching .gov
• Open Access
• Publishing Your First Article
• Creating and Maintaining a Professional Identity: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Profiles and More
• Intro to Medical and Public Health Research
• Intro to Legal Research
• Intro to Business Research
• Digital Natives & Digital Immigrants
• Information Literacy in a Global Context

The library has a guide on citing sources availabe in our research guides section.

Style & Citation Guides research guide

There are links to documentation for particular styles, including APA, Chicago and MLA.

There are also more general guides that show you how to cite different materials (articles, books, websites, etc.) in each style. The Duke University guide is brief and helpful.

Assembling a List of Works Cited in Your Paper – Duke University

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) gives much more detailed information on formatting your paper, adding endnotes or footnotes, using in-text citations and assembling a list of works cited.

The HKS Library has created subject guides to help you identify key electronic and print resources for conducting research on a variety of topics. Included are guides on Business, Economics, Country Research, Environment, International Development, International Security and Public Opinion. To view the complete list of subject guides, click here.

Library Services for HKS Alumni at Harvard
HKS alumni can get a special borrower card, valid only in the HKS Library, by filling out an application form available at the HKS Library circulation desk.

HKS alumni are also eligible for a Widener Library Stacks Access Card, which provides admittance to the stacks and the right to borrow up to six books a year from Widener, Lamont, Cabot Science, Harvard-Yenching, Pusey and Tozzer libraries. In order to borrow additional materials, it is necessary to purchase an HCL Special Borrower Card.

The Harvard libraries’ electronic resources, such as LexisNexis, Academic Search Premier, JSTOR, etc. can be accessed without a Harvard ID or PIN from the public computers in Harvard libraries. However, the University’s contracts with vendors restrict remote access only to people with valid Harvard ID’s and PIN’s.

ProQuest Online Information Service
This ProQuest database package is offered by the Harvard Kennedy School Library to HKS alumni and provides access to articles from more than 2,000 scholarly and general interest magazines and journals, many of which are available in full text. The database can be searched and abstracts displayed free of charge. Access to full-text articles is available with a $99 per year subscription. More information is available from the ProQuest website.

RefWorks
Graduating students who have been saving citations in RefWorks may save their data to take away with them. More information is available in the RefWorks guide.

Library Services for HKS Alumni Beyond Harvard

Many public libraries provide access to electronic journals and databases within their library and remotely. So when you get settled after graduation, think about joining your local library. Listed below are examples of public libraries that provide remote access to electronic resources.

• Boston Public Library
• New York Public Library
• Washington, D.C. Public Library

Researching Public Policy on the Internet
There is a wealth of free information on the Internet in the field of public policy. The HKS Library has created subject guides to help researchers find resources on specific topics in the social sciences. Many of the resources listed in the guides are available free on the Internet. List of subject guides.

Listed below are some examples of reliable sources of information on the Internet.

U.S. Government

• Fedstats – Links to statistics from more than 70 agencies in the U. S. Federal Government.
• Google U.S. Government Search – Simple, elegant, and highly effective government only search.
• Science.gov – Links to numerous authoritative scientific documents and reports from a variety of U.S. Federal agencies.
• Statistical Abstract of the United States – The single most useful compilation of statistical data on the United States, gathered from many sources, most of which are federal government agencies.
• THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet – Full-text of Bills, Laws, Congressional Record, Committee Reports, and much more.
• U.S. Census Bureau – Results from the 2000 census and many more statistics.

Business, Economics, Finance

• Internet Public Library – Provides links to a wide range of free Internet resources in the areas of business and economics and the social sciences in general.
• RePEc (Reasearch Papers in Economics) – Provides links to citations for over 450, 000 working papers available for download in full-text.
• WebEc – (Helsinki School of Economics) An extensive index to free economics information on the Web.

International Affairs

• Foreign Affairs Online – Comprehensive web site on international affairs.
• Governments on the WWW – Comprehensive listing of governmental institutions on the Internet: parliaments, ministries, embassies, city councils, public broadcasting corporations, central banks, multi-governmental institutions and more.
• Portals to the World – Links to electronic resources selected by Library of Congress subject experts.
• WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs – Comprehensive directory of international affairs resources by regions, countries, topics, and organizations.

News Sources
Many newspapers, U.S. and International, can now be accessed on the Internet.

• MediaPlanetaria – Links to international newspapers, web radio and more.
• Meta Grid Newspapers and Magazines – Publications can be browsed by geographic area
  or by subject. Global in scope.
• NewsVoyager – Links to U.S. dailies, weeklies with some international coverage.

Working Papers, White Papers and More
Research centers produce working papers that are often available full-text via their websites for free. Find links to many organizations on our Centers for Research & Policy Development list. Also, many of the working papers produced by the research centers at the Harvard Kennedy School are available full-text online via their websites. List of HKS research centers.

Need help? For further assistance, you are always welcome to contact us by phone at (617) 495-1302 or by email at ksg_library_questions@harvard.edu.

The Digital National Security Archive currently contains 29 complete core collections of declassified primary documents, previously published on microfiche, which have been digitized and made available online. These collections provide more than 63,000 of the most important declassified documents that led to key policy decisions in the post-World War II era. The collections are fully indexed and cross-referenced with complete chronologies of events, comprehensive glossaries and detailed biographies of the actors in these events. Login to the Digital National Security Archive with Harvard I.D. and PIN.

The HKS Library is ready to help you brush up on your research skills for the spring semester. Library Training & Instruction schedule

The Center for Public Integrity, a research group that focuses on ethics in government and public policy, designed the new Web site to allow simple searches for specific phrases, such as “mushroom cloud� or “yellowcake uranium,� in transcripts and documents totaling some 380,000 words, including remarks by President Bush and most of his top advisers in the two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

[You] can now go online to browse a comprehensive database of top officials’ statements before the invasion, connecting the dots between hundreds of claims, mostly discredited since then. (New York Times, 1/24/2007)

SEARCH THE DATABASE.

A new U.S. intelligence report on Iran’s nuclear weapons development program was released this week by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. To access the report online, click here.

The International Non-governmental Foundation for Socio-economic and Political Studies (also kown as the Gorbachev Foundation) was created by Mikhail Gorbachev in spring 1992 to provide serious analysis of the changing social, economic and political situation in Russia and the world. Since 2004, Mr. Gorbachev and the Foundation have focussed on the research project XXI Century Global World: Challenges and Responses, examining global security problems, and the globalization process, including its philosophical, socio-cultural, socio-environmental, political, and economic aspects. Link to the Gorbachev Foundation.