Digital library aids Whitman student research

By: Nicole Loring

Posted: 1/22/08

Syracuse University's E.S. Bird Library is offering a new academic tool to students in the Whitman School of Management.

The new program, introduced on Jan. 14, is called the Business and Management Information Gateway.

It is an attempt to "take the library's resources and put them into a Whitman Web environment," said Suzanne Thorin, the dean of libraries. "This way, students don't have to go outside to look at the library's stuff."

Available through Blackboard, the Gateway offers a selection of resources including

newspaper articles, journal articles and other readings that might be useful to business

students.

"We had feedback from students that it would be more convenient to do assignments right inside an online environment," rather than in the library itself, Thorin said. "We put the most convenient and pertinent resources right there on Blackboard."

To Thorin's knowledge, SU is the first in the nation to separate its library's resources online in this way.

"We looked around, and we couldn't find a library that had done this before," she said.

Whitman was chosen because it had a group of designated resources that the library staff

could handle for its first attempt. Additionally, Melvin T. Stith, the dean of Whitman, expressed interest in the program and even helped to support it financially, Thorin said.

"He put in $10,000, we put in all the staff time, and that bought a tool that could enable us to search across databases," Thorin said. "He was helpful to us in improving our technology."

Freshman Nick Monzi used the Gateway for a project in his introductory management class last semester in Whitman. All freshmen were required to complete the project, and they were encouraged to use the Gateway, he said.

"Once you start using it, it's very beneficial, and it provides you with a lot of information you wouldn't be able to find elsewhere," Monzi said.

While he said navigation of the Gateway program was not much different than other online resource collections, it was much more helpful than programs such as LexisNexis.

"It's different in the fact that it gives you access to sources you wouldn't otherwise be

able to find, and it's easier to find the information because it's geared specifically for

business students," Monzi said.

Thorin remains hopeful that a similar Gateway can be developed for other schools within

SU.

"If this goes well, we might make a duplicate Gateway in another professional school, such as the engineering school or Newhouse," she said. "We want students to give us feedback on whether they like it, if they like it, why, and how we can improve it."