Second page
From Bplsst
Financial services-ratings of
The Business Library has noticed an increased interest in ratings for a variety of institutions. In case you receive similar requests, here are some leads you may wish to provide:
Banks
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/bank/index.html Most of the rating services on this site charge a fee. However, we subscribe to two of the services (TheStreet.com and Highline), and users are welcome to examine them in person or call us (718-623-7000) to read brief information over the phone. Of these two services, TheStreet.com is much easier to comprehend for the layperson.
Annuities
Because annuities are issued by insurance companies, patrons need to look for ratings for the insurance companies. We have TheStreet.com and Best's, and patrons are welcome to examine them in person or call us (718-623-7000) to read brief information over the phone.
Brokerages
We know of no ratings services for brokerage firms. The best strategy is search a business periodical database such as EBSCO's Business Source Premier for articles analyzing the broker's performance. BSP includes some analyst reports such as those from Datamonitor, and these provide quite a bit of detail.
Although one may find ratings from investment sources such as Morningstar or free websites such as Yahoo!Finance, be aware that these ratings are intended for investors and usually focus on the growth or income potential of the companies as investments. This is not necessarily the same as ratings for the overall solidity of the company, which is what many nervous callers are after. Of course, these investment ratings are also restricted to publicly-owned companies.
Foreclosures
http://www.fha.gov Lastest news updated daily; listing of HUD-approved counseling programs; HUD's Guide to Foreclosure; Lender Locator allows searchers to use finding tool as specific as zip code; event calender to all kinds of FHA-related events in NYC and Brooklyn; FHA wikipedia has definitions and hundreds and questions and answers.
FOIA Request, guide to filing a form
http://www.bushsecrecy.org/PageIndex.cfm?ParentID=2&CategoryID=8&PagesID=34
Folklore and Folktales
Black Short Fiction and Folklore database
Since our subject areas include folklore a search of this database was thoroughly done for an easy way to locate folklore or folktales by groups or tribes of areas in America or tribes in Africa. The only way to search is by entering in the search box “folklore” and getting the results for every time the word appears in a title and then scrolling down through all the titles. Most have no tales but discuss the topic. This is the list of what is available.
African peoples: Kraal: The Bull of the Kraal and the Heavenly… (South Africa) Masaii: Kikuyu Tales; The Masai: Their Language & Folklore (Kenya) Nandi: The Nandi: Their Language & Folklore (Kenya) Suk: The Suk: Their Language & Folklore (East African countries)
Jamaica: Jamaican Anansi Stories
Gangs
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/ngta2009.pdf "National Gang Threat Assessment 2009" FBI detailed report with statistics through 2008 and past years for comparison. Although nothing specific and Brooklyn or NYC is discussed the breadth of details in this report is remarkable. Includes, in part, gang movement to suburbs from cities; female gang members; Internet use; prison gangs; gangs in the military; outlaw motorcycle gangs; criminal activities, illicit finance, gang communication and general outlook for the future.
Health
The United Nations Report on the Global AIDS Epdemic
http://www.unaids.org This 2008 publication consists of worldwide statistical information and an update of the UN i involvement in the AIDS crisis. The web site has profiles of countries and their AIDS statistics.
Nutrition & exercise websites
http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov MyPyramid Tracker is an online dietary and physical activity assessment tool that provides information on your diet quality and physical activity status. You put in the food and amounts you eat during the day and it will tell you what foods you still need to eat that meet the amounts recommended by the "pyramid." You can put in the amounts at the end of a day to assess that day alone but the unique service this site offers is that you can register and track your food and exercise balances for one year. Drop down menus are used for both foods and activities. They do not have to be used together; you can keep track of just one. Note: the Pyramid changes every 5 years.
Women's health websites
http://www.whealth.org/links Website has many links related to women's health issues
High school dropouts in NYC
I (DP) found 3 articles in MasterFile. Search under author's name Wallis, Claudia for this Time magazine article about 2007 statistics the latest I could locate after much searching.
A more recent 2009 article from Education Week explains why there are few correct statistics about dropout rates because many students who are failing are "discharged" by teachers which is not the same statistic as a student dropping out themselves. Search in MasterFile under author's name Samuels, Christina A.
The most telling article explains that states use trickly ways of counting to cover-up the true rates. The Secretary of Education will force states to use a single formula that will correctly present accurate statistics. New York Times 4/1/2008 by Dillon, Sam
Homeless statistics
"On any given night in this country 800,000 persons experience homelessness. Nearly 200,000 of these individuals are veterans who have served in the armed forces. Over the course of a year, approximately 500,000 veterans experience homelessness." source: Ending Homelessness Among Veterans Through Supportive Housing page 4. published by the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
www.nyc.gov agencies list homeless services upper right hand corner lists number of families and individuals within a day
Import/Export Business, Great article on
http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessideas/startupkits/article41846.html
International Adoptions
http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/_473.html Provides as up-to-date as possible information on specific country's laws and limitations. US requirements and details about the assistance they can and cannot fer and necessary forms are explained in detail. A user-friendly site.
Inventors
National Inventors Hall of Fame
Hundreds of inventions and inventors with bios, indexes by inventor, invention and decade [great for timelines.] http://www.invent.org
History of Mathematics
Organized in many ways including time period, names including a separate index of women inventors, birthplaces and updates to the site. http://www-history.mcs.st.andrews.ac.uk/history
Journals, peer-reviewed and scholarly
On the home page of ABI/Inform are definitions of what a scholarly and peer-reviewed journals are. We explain to people but here is something "official" in writing from an index. Handy
Labor-primary sources
http://www.library.dol.gov Click on the Digital Library under "Find It".
Library Wikis
http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page Best Practices Wiki
http://instructionwiki.org/Sharing_resources Library Instruction Wiki
Marijuana
http://www.drugsense.org/mcwilliams/www.petertrial.con/grow.htm Full-text of 1998 book How to Grow Medical Marijuana which was formerly in our collection.
Nonprofit organizations
http://www.usa.gov/Business/Nonprofit.shtml USA.gov for Nonprofits One-stop shopping for all federal government programs that fund nonprofits and a section on basic proposal writing. Users can link to their state's requirements for incorporating, find information on special mail eligibility and filing for tax-exempt status. Site includes faith based initiatives.
http://www.usa.gov/shopping/forgovernment/forgovernment.shtml Sales for Government and Nonprofit Buyers Meant for state and local nonprofits excess property from the GSA and military is available for sale. Some items are: computers, real estate, and office equipment though the potenial buyer must realize that items and quantity vary constantly.
http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/general/pubs/05seminar8.pdf Joint Ventures for CHDO's and Nonprofits
http://www.nolo.com on first page of this site there is a list and explations of each step of forming a nonprofit.
Grant and Proposal writing
http://www.donorsforum.org/resource/grant_start.html Writing grants
http://www.npguides.org/ Non-Profit Guides: Grant Writing Tools for Non-Profit Organizations NOTE:The guides will not assist individuals or start-up organizations." An overview of grant writing, with sample proposal summaries, inquiry letters, cover letters, and applications. The site is "specifically designed to assist established, experienced private and public non-profit organizations and entities
http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/shortcourse/index.html Proposal Writing Short Course A shortcut to the Foundation Center's site: This "step-by-step process in the search for private dollars" covers the gathering of background information; the components of a proposal; how to write the executive summary, the statement of need, and the project description; and assembling a budget. From the Foundation Center, an "authority on philanthropy ... dedicated to serving grantseekers, grantmakers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public."
Philosophy Resources
Online Philosophy Encyclopedia http://plato.stanford.edu/ A short blurb from their website--"All entries and substantive updates are refereed by the members of a distinguished Editorial Board before they are made public. Consequently, our dynamic reference work maintains academic standards while evolving and adapting in response to new research."
Dictionary of the History of Ideas http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/DicHist/dict.html Full text of an out-of-print title published in 1974. Searchable and Browsable.
Reference Desk info
See Help Book
Science sites
http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt. National Biological Information Infrastructure. Information on Biomes/Habitats: much more than is listed just on the home page.
http://tolweb.org Tree of Life Web Project. A peer reviewed collaborative project written by biologists. The pages are organized heirchically, using principles of cladistics.
Suggested Reading
Some Library wikis
Sandbox
Click on the link to go to the Sandbox. Experiment with creating and edit wiki pages without affecting the real pages.--> Sandbox
The United Nations
Anna's report on UN library. need URL
Human Development Reports
hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2007-2008/ Published by the UN Development Programme the reports contain statistical information by country.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union of the United Nations
http://www.ipu.org/english/home.htm Information on Parliamentary systems worldwide as well as the role of women in parliaments and politics in general.
The United Nations Report on the Global AIDS Epdemic
http://www.unaids.org This 2008 publication consists of worldwide statistical information and an update of the UN involvement in the AIDS crisis. The web site has profiles of countries and their AIDS statistics.
Statistics
http://data.un.org Currently covers 15 databases with a wide range of statistics in the fields of agriculture, education, employment, energy, environment, health and many more.
The United Nations Yearbook
http://unyearbook.un.org Now online, users can search individual editions or several at once.
World Bank and the Human Security Report Project
http://www.miniatlasof human security.info.en/access.html The atlas is a guide to the worldwide political voilence and global security and provides a wealth of info on armed conflicts since 1946: death tolls, human rights violation including political repression and child soldiers.
Wikipedia, an in-depth analysis
The comments are as interesting as the article itself http://www.scienceprogress.org/2008/02/wikipedia-and-the-new-curriculum/
Women
The Inter-Parliamentary Union of the United Nations
http://www.ipu.org/english/home.htm Information on Parliamentary systems worldwide as well as the role of women in parliaments and politics in general.
Women's health websites
http://www.whealth.org/links Website has many links related to women's health issues
