Question and Answer

You need quick statistical information, or just advice concerning a complex research question. How will you answer your questions? We’ve been trying out a couple of new on-line reference resources that will help get you the right information fast.

• We've already introcuded you to AskHerePA, a 24/7 chat reference service. It's staffed by reference librarians at all times, so if you have a question any time of the day or night, log in and ask away!
  

• Also new to us is XReferPlus The world's largest online reference collection, containing full-text content — 1.8 million entries and 40 million cross-reference links — covering every subject imaginable, from music to law to business and more, plus language dictionaries, conversion guides, and computer jargon. Check it out!

These are two brand-new references resources, available for the Chestnut Hill College community to use on or off campus. Let us know how they work for you.

XReferPlus has Entertainment Value!

Oh, yawn, you say? Reference books? Well, who wouldn't love to look through "Rawson's Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk"?

This dictionary takes the phrase you're looking for, defines it, and shows how it has been used.

For example, under "highly confidential (or sensitive) source" it says:

• "A hidden microphone or wiretap, a bug; FBI-ese, from the long (1924-72) reign of J. Edgar Hoover as director of the Bureau. Such bugs often were emplaced during illegal black bag jobs, with the result that information from them had to be reported discreetly. For example, an agent might say that a *highly placed sensitive source of known reliability* was contacted and furnished items of personality (New York Times, 9/23/80)."

and

• "Inanimate highly confidential sources, used in technical surveillance, should not be confused with the animate though usually cold-blooded confidential informant or source and source of information, i.e., an informer, a.k.a. informant. "
  
  

Wait, what is a "black bag job?" Hmmmnn... it says here:

• "An illegal entry by a government employee, typically a member of the FBI or CIA, in order to gain information or to install a highly confidential source (a bug). "

This definition goes on for quite a while, and says it might be obsolete by now, but hey, for when you're watching those old movies, right???