HKS Library News

In addition to individual and group research consultations to help you with your online research, we are happy to announce library workshops taking place this month:

Finding Reliable Evidence Online

When: March 8^th from 4-5:30 p.m.

Where: Starr Auditorium

Why: Of course you know how to search online for data. But there are more efficient and less efficient ways to identify appropriate evidence, and there are more and less reliable sources. This session will improve your ability to structure an efficient search for appropriate and reliable evidence to inform policy analysis. Linda Rosen and Keely Wilczek from HKS Library & Knowledge Services will offer research guidance and an tour of top online resources.

Who: Public Policy Students – This workshop is designed specifically for API 505M: Fundamentals of Policy Analysis and Decision Making, a core course in the HKS Master in Public Policy program. No registration required.

UNABRIDGED: A Library Research Master Class

When: March 14^th-17^th (Spring Recess), Monday-Thursday: 1:00-4:30 + Friday optional bonus sessions

Where: Room B-30, Lamont Library

Why: Do you ever feel as though you’re seeing only part of the picture? This library master class offers you a chance to explore the full research lifecycle and set yourself up for a lifelong scholarly practice–making you a more effective, resourceful, and creative researcher. Skills covered include choosing the best database for a given research task, approaching unfamiliar interfaces with confidence and courage, optimizing your search strategies and more. Registration is required and is limited to 25 spaces. RSVP here.

Who: Graduate Students and Postdocs

Stay up-to-date with daily political news by viewing Hotline, which is part of our larger National Journal subscription. Our CQ Press Electronic Library includes a host of resources on U.S. politics, elections, government, and public policy.  In particular, view the CQ product, Voting and Elections Collection which includes documents on elections, parties, voter behavior, and campaigns.

Interested in prospective voter opinions of Cruz, Trump, Clinton and other presidential candidates? Use our Roper Center for Public Opinion database to access aggregate and raw public opinion data.

For archived websites going back to the 2000 election check out the Library of Congress Elections Web Archives. Websites for elections in other countries are linked from the Library of Congress Archived Web Sites page.

Go to our Campaigns & Elections Guide or our American Presidency Guide to find out about free websites and Harvard subscription databases related to current and historical campaigns and elections. These guides include background information as well as data related to election results, polls, and campaign finance.

Contact library_research@hks.harvard.edu if you need research help in this subject or any others.

You can now access ForeignPolicy.com through Harvard with your HUID & PIN. For access to other popular publications like the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the Economist see our Popular Publications for HKS guide.

Questions about the above publications or any others can be sent to library_research@hks.harvard.edu.

Please join us in welcoming Linda Rosen as the Library’s new Manager of Research and Knowledge Services.

Linda comes to us from Baker Library at the Harvard Business School (HBS) where she worked since 2008 as an Information Research Specialist. Linda provided research services to HBS students, faculty, staff, and alumni as well as managed and contributed to a diverse array of information related activities, including curated news updates, collections and content development, and innovation projects. In her new role at HKS, Linda will lead the delivery of research, instruction, and faculty services at the Library as well as help build and facilitate access to critical collections and content, increasingly digital and inter-disciplinary in scope, to advance research, teaching, and knowledge creation in key HKS policy domains. Linda will also work with colleagues across the School to investigate new models of discovery, dissemination, and management for HKS generated scholarship to increase impact and worldwide reach. Please feel free to drop by Linda’s office, Littauer G-3, to say hello and welcome her to HKS.

Already using Zotero and curious about its advanced features and how others fit these into their workflows? Connect with Harvard Librarians and other researchers this Thursday at 3 p.m. in room B30 of Lamont Library. Registration is required. For more information and to register see the event on the Harvard Library Calendar.

We will resume Zotero workshops at HKS Library on Friday, January 29th.  If you are unable to attend any of our workshops, please e-mail library_research@hks.harvard.edu to make individual or group appointments. You can also get started by using Zotero: A How-To Guide.

Expert HKS Librarians can meet with you to help you identify and refine paper topics and show you research strategies that will enable you to conduct more efficient and effective research using Harvard Library resources. Go to the HKS Library Ask Us site to schedule a customized research consultation with an HKS Librarian. We will review Harvard Library database subscriptions, books and other resources that you can use for literature reviews and other research projects. You can also view answers to frequently asked questions about Harvard library subscriptions and services on this site.

Too busy to schedule a research consultation? Bookmark our list of 35+ HKS Library Research Guides. HKS Librarians have reviewed hundreds of Harvard database subscriptions and resources to create simple lists of the best sources of information on a variety of frequently researched topics such as public policy, campaigns & elections, data resources & more.

Library resources aren’t just for research. Enjoy these video & music collections:

Watch

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Listen

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Having trouble with citations and bibliographies as you work on your final assignments? Consult with a HKS research librarian about using a tool like Zotero or using online guides for Chicago and other styles. So far this semester we’ve helped more than 50 students individually with citations, over 100 students in workshops, and we can help you too.

HKS Library & Knowledge Services presents:
A Research Talk with Dr. Eugene Kogan, Director of Harvard’s American Secretaries of State Project:
“Coercive Negotiation: Re-visiting Ukraine’s Decision to Give Up Nuclear Weapons”
The U.S.-Russia-Ukraine relationship gained prominence in the last year and a half with Russian annexation of Crimea, but it is important to place this strategic interaction in a historical perspective.  In 1994, the United States and Russia worked hand-in-hand in persuading Ukraine to give up its Soviet-era nuclear weapons.  In return, Ukraine received economic assistance and a pledge — the Budapest Memorandum of December 1994 — that its territorial integrity would be respected.  Revisiting this case is timely and important.  First, it is an excellent case study of how a country can be persuaded to relinquish the nuclear weapons it possesses.  Second, the record should be set straight about what the Budapest Memorandum promised, what it did not, and whether Russia’s annexation of Crimea and destabilization of Eastern Ukraine violated the pledges contained in that document.

When: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 12-1:30 PM
Where: HKS Library Commons (Pizza served)

About the Speaker: Dr. Kogan is a former Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. He holds a Ph.D. in Politics from Brandeis University.  Dr. Kogan is working on a book on nuclear negotiations based on his doctoral thesis, which was awarded Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation’s 2014 Raiffa Award for the Best Student Doctoral Paper.

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After graduation, librarians at the Harvard Kennedy School Library & Knowledge Services (LKS) remain available to help alumni. We have created this website to highlight resources available. For the past several years, we have also been offering a series of workshops late in the spring, just before commencement, titled Beyond Harvard: Public Policy Research as HKS Alumni.

Much of what we highlight in the workshop is freely available on the Internet, and graduating students attending are often astounded by what they can access. In the past, we have highlighted Academic Search Alumni Edition. Harvard Library has just announced a beta program for all Harvard alumni through which we are able to provide access to a number of licensed resources, including Academic Search Alumni Edition. You will no longer need to log in to this resource with a username and password, but instead will be able to access it along with other resources available to alumni with your HarvardKey.

All licensed databases now available are included on our Beyond Harvard: Public Policy Research as HKS Alumni website. Two resources newly available to alumni that are heavily used by the HKS community include JSTOR and ABI/Inform Complete. If you have trouble accessing or searching any of these databases, please Ask Us for assistance. We really enjoy working with HKS alumni and look forward to highlighting these resources for graduating students during our workshop series in the spring.