Trout Library Blog

In this blog post, I am going to detail two websites that will provide reliable and useful information for your research.

The first is Our World in Data, which is a great resource to use to find data on various topics. It is a collaborative effort between researchers at the University of Oxford, who are the scientific editors of the website content, and the non-profit organization Global Change Data Lab, which publishes and maintains the website and data tools. The website is open access, and all charts are licensed under Creative Commons.

A link to Our World in Data is included under Statistical Websites in my News, Politics & Current Events guide. Links to various Our World in Data reports can be found in some of our topic library guides.

The site leads with its Latest Publications, many of which are currently reports related to the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

Scroll down further to find other categories, which include Health, Demographic Change, Food and Agriculture, Education and Knowledge, Energy and Environment, Innovation and Technological Change, Poverty and Economic Development; Living Conditions, Community and Wellbeing; Human Rights and Democracy, and Violence and War.

Click on a block in a category of interest, and you will be taken to a page featuring narrative accompanied by colorful graphs, charts, and maps that go back decades and, in some cases, centuries. Reports contain copious references, some with links, and often suggested resources for further study.

For example, if you were interested in a health topic, then scroll down to Health, where you will find links to many reports:

The first report is about life expectancy. Let’s check that one out by clicking on it. You will be linked to a page that contains over 20 charts and graphs related to the topic. Here is an example to whet your appetite:

The other resource that I would like to present is ScienceDaily, a site that aggregates the latest research news in scientific fields – including medicine, the physical sciences, the environment, the biological sciences, the social sciences, and more. Stories are posted daily, selected from press materials provided by hundreds of sources from around the world. Links to ScienceDaily can be found under the Websites & Tutorials tab in the Science & Math Library Guide as well as in the various health topic guides. The Science & Math guide also contains the news feed from ScienceDaily.

When you enter the website, you will see a general summary of the latest news and a menu across the top that will allow you to narrow your search by field:

Let’s go into the Health menu and choose to look at the latest research on heart disease. You will be taken to a page with links to articles along with a menu of other health topics on the left-hand side of the page that includes subdivisions of the topic of heart health:

Now, let’s choose a specific article. You will get a summary, the full story, the date, the source, and various ways to share the item:

Scroll down to the bottom, and you will find a journal reference and doi link along with options for MLA and APA citations.

Remember that if you have questions about these resources or any other, please don’t hesitate to ask us. You may contact the Trout Library by sending an email to library@harcum.edu, or you may use our chat service during the hours posted on the Library’s homepage.

With the semester in full gear and the holidays fast approaching, many of you might want to use videos as resources for your assignments or simply may want something to watch during your time off. The Trout Library can help! We subscribe to Kanopy, which is a streaming video platform that includes about 30,000 items – including documentaries, instructional materials, and some feature films. Think of it as a more scholarly version of Netflix. In Kanopy, you will find material covering topics in the arts, the general sciences, the social sciences, business, health, and more. You will also find drama, comedy, classic cinema, and science fiction. If you have never had the opportunity to use Kanopy for a class, it would be worthwhile to check it out.

If you are logging into Kanopy for the first time, then first you will need to go through the following multistep process in order to create an account:

1. Start by using this link:  https://harcum.kanopy.com/

A Kanopy icon can also be found under Quicklinks on the Library’s home page, and there is a link under “K” on our Databases page that will take you to the same place.

2. After clicking on the Kanopy link, click on the orange box, "LOG IN TO HARCUM." 

3. The username and password that you will need for the next step can be found in Harcum Hatch. Log into Harcum Hatch, click on the Quicklinks tab and scroll down to Library Database Password List. The username and password for Kanopy will be included in this list.

4. Enter the username and password, and you will be taken to the Kanopy website. Here you will be able to create your own personal account.

5. Click on “Sign up” in the upper right-hand corner. On the resulting page, fill in your name and be sure to use your @harcum.edu email address. Then create a password, and click “Sign Up” at the bottom.

6. You will receive an email from Kanopy asking you to verify your email address.

The Kanopy Guide itself can be accessed by clicking on the appropriate icon under Quicklinks on the Library’s home page. Once you have created an account, going forward you will only need to use your Harcum email and the password that you created in order to access Kanopy.

You will find that Kanopy is easy to search. When you enter the database, you will see a search box at the top of the page, and there is a Browse menu beside it to the right. Either enter a search topic, or if you need some ideas, click on the Browse menu to view the vast number of topics that Kanopy has to offer.

Once you perform a search, you will find that you can limit the results by supplier, filmmaker, language, whether or not the film is captioned, and year of production.

After you make a selection, you will find a description of the video – including the running time, production year, rating, subject headings, and more. You will also see that a number of useful features are offered. Click on “My List” to save the video to your playlist for future reference. The “Share” button will provide you with a persistent link that you can use to email the video or embed it into an Office document. The “More” button allows you to access a transcript of the film and also provides you with citations of the video in various formats, including APA and MLA.

A great feature of Kanopy is that it allows you to create video clips which you can then save or embed in documents if you don’t want to include the whole video. First add the video to your playlist and then click “Create Clip/Playlist” followed by “Edit Playlist.” On the resulting screen, click the Edit button. 

Then choose the start and end time and save.

Remember that in the Trout Library we are here to help you. Questions regarding library databases, including Kanopy, should be directed to us and not to I.T. You may reach us by email at library@harcum.edu or through our chat service during the hours posted on the Library’s home page.

Veterans Day is celebrated on November 11. If you would like to read up on Veterans Day I recommend this Research Starter article in EBSCO Discovery Service which gives background information on Veterans Day. 

Here are some facts about Veterans Day. 

• Veterans Day commemorates 11:00am on November 11, 1918 when armistice was signed between the Allies and Central Powers ending World War I.  

• Prior to 1954 it was known as “Armistice Day” but subsequent wars prompted the celebration and commemoration of veterans of all wars and it became known as Veterans Day. 

• It is celebrated in many other countries on the same day but is known as Remembrance Day.

• When celebrating virtually this year use the hashtag #VeteransDay2020. 

The month of November is National Native American Heritage Month.

If you would like to explore Native American and Alaskan Native heritage I suggest going to nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov. The site is collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. These government agencies have put together a full month of virtual programming all accessible through the website. Also checkout the social media hashtag #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth. 

Also check Kanopy for a captivating film about Alaskan Native Veterans of the Vietnam War. Hunting In Wartime: The Struggle of Native American Veterans in Alaska by New Day Films.

Kanopy has an additional 277 films and documentaries to help you celebrate and explore Native American culture.

Speaking of Kanopy, we've been getting quite a few questions this month about accessing Kanopy, which is wonderful! If you are accessing Kanopy for the first time follow these steps:

1. Start by using this link:  https://harcum.kanopy.com/ 

2. Then log in using the username/password found in your Harcum Hatch, Quick Links, Library Database Password List.

3.Once you do that you should be logged into Kanopy but you should now create your own Kanopy account with a username and password unique to you.

4. Look to the top right of the Kanopy screen. You should see a Sign Up button. Click Sign Up. Fill in your name and be sure to use your @harcum.edu email address. 

Once you complete step 4 you can sign in with the username/password you just entered and no longer need to use the Harcum username/password.

If you need any help accessing Kanopy, please contact the library at library@harcum.edu. See also our step-by-step guide with graphics for more details and remember to use your @harcum.edu email address when setting up your Kanopy account. 

Happy Native American Heritage Month and Veterans Day 2020. 

Roxanne Sutton

Reference and Special Collections Librarian

rsutton@harcum.edu

610-526-6022