Films on Demand Enhancements!!

The Ritz's video streaming service, Films on Demand, has just added several new features that give you more options when  using this system for research.

Citing programs in Films on Demand becomes more comprehensive through the addition of APA style to the menu of documentation methods already available. You can now toggle between APA, MLA and Chicago citations for every film or segment. As always you should double check these computer generated citations with the information that appears on the Ritz's Citation Style Guide or the Little Brown Handbook.

The other new feature uses Google Translate to make  Films on Demand accessible to users of any language.  It appears as a drop down menu  at the bottom right of each page. Once you pick a language, all the text on the screen is  translated into that language. This feature also becomes enabled for the interactive transcripts of each program.                                                                                                  

For more information on these features or on Films on demand,use the "Ask a Librarian" chatbox on the left of this entry.

                   

We're trying out a new ebook collection

The Ritz Library is running a trial of a database with over 70,000 electronic books. Called the EBSCO ebook Academic Collection, this system contains titles that focus on the research needs of college students. Books can be read online using a pc, tablet or smartphone. Try it by clicking on the link below:

EBSCO ebook Academic Collection

Let us know what you think of this database by sending Feedback 

Free PDF converter available

Portable Document format (PDF) files are a great way to ensure that scanned text mimics its original appearance or as a way to standardize document formats, but most PDFs are not configured for editing. Often, the only thing you can do is to read or print a PDF.

But now there's a program out there, the Nuance PDF Reader, which allows you to do much more than to simply view a PDF. Nuance's reader allows you to convert PDF files to Word, Excel, or RTF via a hosted web service. You can also use annotation tools to highlight, cross-out, and underline text, as well as to fill out and save PDF forms. Best of all the reader is a FREE from Nuance.

To take advantage of this handy utility, go to the Nuance reader download site and install the program. A Web wizard will lead you through the conversion process.

Proquest Databases Trial

The Ritz is participating in a SUNY wide trial the ProQuest system of databases. More than 30 databases are included in this trial, and they cover a wide variety of subjects, among them film, music, history & technology.

To try out these databases, point your browser to SUNY ProQuest Trial

As always, the library would appreciate your feedback on our services & resources , so feel free to share your opinion of the ProQuest databases by e-mailing Reference Services

Films on Demand adds TED Talks

As part of it's ongoing series of conferences, TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) offers videos of presentations by speakers with "ideas worth spreading"

Recently some 200 of the best of these talks were added to Films on Demand, with more to show up in the coming months. These short presentations cover a variety of topics, from Malcolm Gladwell discussing spagetti sauce, to Al Gore explain 15 ways to avert a climate crisis. All TED talks are less one half hour in length.

For more information, call 845.431.8634 or email refdesk

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New ebrary App for Apple products

Ebrary, the Ritz's largest electronic book system, can now be accessed via an app for the iPad and iPod Touch. The app allows you to search and read over 70,000 books, and also gives you the option of downloading books.

At this point the ebrary app is only available for Apple products and can be downloaded for free from the App Store.

Use of the app requires ebrary and adobe accounts.

Interested? Start here.