Robbins Library Notes

Good morning, readers!

I discovered last week that there have been some big changes to the database, POIESIS:

• Name change: while the HOLLIS record still reads “POIESIS,” the database is now called “Philosophy Online.”
• New layout: the old frame layout, which was confusing and difficult to navigate, has been replaced by a simpler, cleaner page without frames.
• New organization scheme: journals are listed alphabetically.  The first list contains journals to which Harvard subscribes; the second, other journals which are included in the database, but to which Harvard does not currently subscribe.  This is a big improvement over the previous version, where it was difficult to see to which journals we had access.
• Better viewing of/printing off articles: for those journals to which we subscribe, you will now be able to view the complete article in HTML format, and print them off without getting an error message.  In a few cases — emphasis on the word, “few” — PDF versions are available.  This a major improvement over the previous version of this database, in which most of the articles were offered in a basically unreadable, unprintable format.  However… the formatting of the HTML is still not perfect.  My hope is that this will improve in the future, along with the addition of more PDF versions of the articles.

So, basically, we’ve gone from a basically unusable database to generally usable one, though it still has a few kinks in it.

Please let me know if you have other comments or feedback about the new version of POIESIS.  I’m curious to hear them.