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Academic Universe Update (Linda Kennedy, UCD)

September 13, 2001 Author: CDLCategories:

New URL

All of the Universe products are now “branded” with the LexisNexis name, as in LexisNexis Academic Universe.  This change affects cataloging for Universe databases and also their URLs.  The URL for LexisNexis Academic Universe will be dropping the hyphen in the product name.  Although the old address will be supported indefinitely, it is advisable to revise your links to (http://www.lexisnexis.com/universe).  As the URL hierarchy will be changing this fall.  The address for the “suite” of LexisNexis products is (http://www.lexisnexis.com/cis).

Content

Content is constantly being added and deleted from LexisNexis Academic Universe.

New Content:

  • Library Journal (April 2001-) has been added to the “Magazines and Journals” section under “News.”
  • Selected full-text from GLQ–A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (1999-) is searched under (Business News–Industry News.)
  • New newspapers include the Hartford Courant (June 1991-), Newsday (1988), and the New York Observer (1999).  (These are searched in the regional and state newspapers under News–U.S.)
  • A number of foreign news sources have been added: Global Newswire added 450 titles, mostly selected full text or abstracts.  –An extensive amount of Canadian legal materials, including case law, statutes and regulations enhances “Legal Research.”

Note: Because of the often illogical category choices for LexisNexis sources, search for titles under “Sources” in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Content Deletions:
On June 25, 2001, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of New York Times.  Tasini that media companies may not republish freelance writers’ works in database form without their prior approval.  LexisNexis was asked by the New York Times to remove a large number of articles written by freelancers.  LexisNexis has said that some older articles may no longer be available from online services but that for the past several years publishers have been obtaining broader rights from freelance writers to permit their articles to be included in databases such as LexisNexis.

In addition to the freelance articles, content losses from Academic Universe include all National Journal titles and an extensive amount of accounting literature received through the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

New Functionality

Functionality enhancements in Academic Universe include the ability to jump to a specific page of 25 results using the drop-down selector at the top of each page of results.  In any of the “News” search forms, the user can now search the same terms in another news category by using the drop down menu under “Search Another News Category” at the top of the page.

Usage Statistics Error

LexisNexis recently conceded that there are serious problems with its use statistics.  Monthly statistics are significantly lower than normal.  According to LexisNexis, “something happened in Fall 2000 which has impacted the statistics to date.” The UC statewide statistics are less than half the normal amount for March 2001 (the latest month available for consortial totals) compared to the previous year.  UCD campus totals for May were five times lower.  It is not known when the problem will be corrected, or whether the incorrect data can be replaced.

See (http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/1univ/acad/default.htm) for more information on content, archived newsletters, and training resources.