Electronic Library Resources and Turkey

Okay, today's post is only loosely related to natural sciences, but it does highlight some great electronic library resources, especially two that might come in handy for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

WMU Libraries have several items with "cookery (turkey)" as a subject, but two of these resources may be of special interest on the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow. The first, titled Let's Talk Turkey: A Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey, a pamphlet put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is part of our Government Documents collection in the library. By clicking on the web link included in Talk Turkey's catalog record (see record detail above), you can access the PDF version of the pamphlet. This resource is an example of how U.S. Government Documents are increasingly available online.

The second item is Wild Turkeys: Hunting and Watching. Haven't gotten your Thanksgiving turkey yet? Why not skip the grocery store and instead let this resource show you how to get your turkey the old fashioned way. Wild Turkeys is an e-book -- an electronic version of the book that is viewed online.

To check out and read the book, you click on a web link in this item's library catalog record (see record detail at above), which takes you directly to the e-book viewer. This viewer has many features, such as a hot-linked table of contents (TOC) that allows you to click directly to book sections listed in the TOC, and a feature that lets you search for, and go directly to, keywords in the book text.

The WMU Libraries have many e-books on various topics available through the library web site. For an overview, see the Electronic Books Guide on the Libraries' web site. I'll talk more about effectively using electronic library books in future posts.

Meanwhile, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

*** View my parallel blog at on the WMU Libraries site ***

New SciFinder Scholar Features

SciFinder now has three interesting new collaboration features: Tags, My Connections, and Comments. All three are Web 2.0 features of sorts, allowing SciFinder Scholar users to interact within, and add content to, the site.

The Tags feature enables you to add specific references in SciFinder Scholar to a "tagged" list that is saved by the database and can be viewed, even after you close the research session during which you tagged the reference. This is a lot like SciFinder Scholar's Saved Answer Set feature -- but with a twist. The Tags feature allows you to invite others at your home institution to share tags. In other words, any faculty, staff, or student at Western Michigan University could invite any other WMU faculty, staff, or student to share Tags. Once you share Tags with someone, the two of you can access each other's list of Tagged references.

You can invite others to share by using the second new feature, My Connections. This feature allow you to send invitations to share your Tagged list, to respond to others that have invited you to share, and to view the list of people with which you are already sharing.

The last feature, Comments, allows you to attach comments to specific reference in SciFinder Scholar. While you can view a list of all of the reference you have tagged, oddly, you can only view references with comments if that reference is also tagged.

I've played around a bit with these new features, and they look like they have a lot of potential for researchers working in groups, professors or TAs using reference as instruction materials, or anyone that simply wants a easy way to share a reference.

But, there two thing to keep in mind. First, as of this post, SciFinder does not allow you to make a Tag "group" in which only certain people on your My Connections list can see only certain Tagged references. This means that once you are set up to share tags and comments with people, you can see *all* of each other's tags and comments. Second, you can only share with people at your home institution, i.e., people that are associated with the same SciFinder Scholar subscription. Perhaps SciFinder will expand this feature so anyone using the database could share tags and comments, but for now, this is not the case.

For more information about these and other new features, contact me or see SciFinder's How to Use New Features publication.


*** Have you seen my parallel blog on the University Libraries site? ***

Finding Nobel Laureates' Research with "Author Finder" Feature

The 2009 recipients for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry were announced yesterday. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology), Thomas A. Steitz (Yale University), and Ada E. Yonath (Weizmann Institute of Science) were awarded the prize for "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome."

The Nobel Prize web site links to three researchers' home institution web pages, from which you can access a list of publications of Ramakrishnan and Yonath, and even the full text of many of the articles.

But, you also have access to many of these publications through library article databases (for example, Web of Science), with the accompanying database features such as:

• Direct links to the research articles' cited works
• Links to articles that have *cited* the researchers' articles
• Links to other related articles
  
• Ability to export article citations to a citation management software like RefWorks or EndNote

So, how do you find the Laureates' works in an article database? It can get tricky. For example, in Web of Science, there are five authors with the last name "Ramakrishnan" and the first initial "V." But if you try the Web of Science "Author Finder" feature (see image above) you can limit an author search by subdiscipline and home institution much more easily that if you entered this information into the "Search" or "Advanced Search" screens.

Questions about finding the Laureates' articles or the "Author Finder" feature? Let me know.


*** View my parallel blog at on the WMU Libraries site ***

Trial Database with Environmental Compnent

The WMU Libraries has a trial subscription to the Global Issues in Context database (password: "trial"). This database is produced by the same company as the GREENR, another trial database I wrote about yesterday.

Both databases have a similar format -- a focus on news, background information, primary source documents, commentaries, statistics, and and videos -- although different subject emphasis.

Since Global Issues in Context has an environmental component (the image and links circled on the screen shot to the right), I would like to know how students, staff, and faculty in the WMU natural sciences departments think these two databases compare.

Do you think that...

(1) subscribing to both GREENR and Global Issues in Context would be redundant
(2) we should subscribe to GREENR -- subscribing to only Global Issues in Context would *not* provide enough environmental resources
(3) Both databases are wonderful and needed
(4) Neither stands out - we already subscribe to all of the environmental article databases you need
(5) Other: _____________________________________

Please let me know what you think.

The trial ends Friday, October 23.


*** View my parallel blog at on the WMU Libraries site ***

Try Out Environmental Database

The WMU Libraries are trying out GREENR, an online database that includes materials -- news, background information, primary source documents, commentaries, statistics, and and videos covering renergy systems, healthcare, food, climate change, population, and economic development -- about environmental issues.

The database's content and organization is quite different than a typical article database, and we in the libraries are trying to decide if it's worth subscribing to. Please take a look at it and let me know what you think.

Faculty, is this a resource that you would for your research? Students, is this a database that you would use for assignments? Instructors, is this a resource you would suggest your students use for projects? Let me know.

The trial subscription ends Wednesday, September 30 Friday, October 23.

*** View my parallel blog at on the WMU Libraries site ***

Tips for New Catalog

Just this afternoon we added a new "tips" section on the search page of our new library catalog. We've had, for a good part of the summer now, search buttons on the library home page for both the new version of the library catalog and the "classic" version (highlighted with those purple arrows in the image above).

All the same materials are still in the catalog, you just now have a slightly different tool to use to find them. And, now you have a more fleshed-out tip sheet to help you use this new tool.

Questions? Let me know!

New Library Catalog to Roll Out June 24

On June 24, the WMU Libraries’ Catalog is getting a new look, as well as some new features.

The new interface has a cleaner look, and allows users to search by title, author, etc., as with the current catalog. Users will be able to search in the new catalog version by type of material and material location more easily. A search in the new catalog will produce a list of titles as well as a hot linked list of topics, authors, languages, formats, etc. Clicking on anyone of these links narrows your search results, a very clean and organized way of finding what you need.

Also exciting is the new catalog’s emphasis on discovery, with a “More Like This” feature, and Web 2.0 features, like tagging, that allow users to add subject tags to materials in the catalog.

A beta version of the new catalog is available for use right now. We'd love to have your feed back about it now and even after the June 24 roll out. Give it a try.

Meanwhile, the familiar "classic" version of the library catalog will also be available, but after June 24 it will not be the default version of the catalog.

*** View my parallel blog at on the WMU Libraries site ***

Chemical, Biological, and Physics Abstracts on the Move

As electronic article databases have become the research tool of choice for students and faculty, we've noticed in the Science Reference Department that our paper article abstract indexes get less use with each passing year. Since these paper indexes get such little use, and since we always need more room in the library, we will be moving the Biological, Chemical, and Physics Abstracts out of the library and into to a storage building on campus in the next week.

So, how will this move impact your library research? Very little, for two reasons. First, the content of the paper indexes is available in electronic article databases available through the libraries' web site. Here are the paper abstract indexes and their "equivalent" electronic article databases.

Biological Abstracts -- Biosis Previews
Chem Abstracts -- SciFinder Scholar
Physics Abstracts -- Scopus

Second, if anyone has a research need that requires the paper abstract indexes, they will still be accessible! Anyone can request a particular volume(s) from storage. The library catalog record for each of the Abstracts will soon list "Storage" as their location, and will have a "Get this Item for Me from Storage" link to an online Storage Material Request Form. Simply fill in what specific volumes you need and submit the form electronically.

And as always, if you have any question about accessing materials in storage, or any other questions, feel free to contact me.

*** View my parallel blog at on the WMU Libraries site ***

Trial Database: National Technical Reports Library

The WMU Libraries is trying out a new electronic database, the National Technical Reports Library, or NTRL, which contains technical reports produced by federally-funded organizations. The trial subscription for this database will go on through March 31. We'd appreciate your feedback about the database.

The NTRL contains technical reports produced by a variety of organizations, such as the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency, and covers a wide range topics, including biology, medicine, chemistry, natural resources, earth sciences, and environmental pollution.

The database has a search interface like most other electronic databases -- the "advanced search" page allows you to search for a word or phrase within the title, abstract, and author name, product number, or accession (i.e., report) number.

But it has another valuable search feature. You can search for reports by the agency that generated the report, by subject, and by year -- simply chose an agency, subject, or range of years from lists on the advanced search page. You can also select a specific year to search within.

Most reports in the database have an abstract and, especially recent reports, are available as a full text PDF file.

In addition, NTRL allows you to subscribe to an RSS feed of technical reports in a particular subject area. (For more information about RSS feeds, see my Jan. 21 posting.)

Please take a look and the database and give us your feedback by filing out an online evaluation.

*** View my parallel blog at on the WMU Libraries site ***

Subject Guides for Your Department

Did you know that there are biological sciences, chemistry, environmental studies, and geosciences subject guides on the Libraries web site? And, that the subject guides list and *link* to the Libraries article databases especially relevant to your field of study?

Here's how you can access these subject guides...

1. Go to the Libraries web page
2. Hover your mouse over the "Research" link (on the left side of the tan navigation bar at the top of the screen)
3. Move your mouse down to "Subject Guides" and click
4. From the alphabetical list, click which ever guide you want to use

The library has over eighty subject guides. In addition to linking to relevant article databases, these guides also link to handbooks, dictionaries, patents, government information as well as other useful information.

Knowing where these resources are centrally located can save you time and effort.

Take a look at the subject guide relevant to you. Tell your students about it. If you have any questions or suggestions of other resources that should be included in the guides, feel free to let me know.

*** View my parallel blog at on the WMU Libraries site ***

Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin

February 12 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the British naturalist who theorized that evolution was driven by natural selection.

We have at Waldo Library many of Darwin's published works, including various editions of Darwin's "big four" : The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animal, The Origin of Species, and Voyage of the Beagle.

Also here is a list of all the works by Darwin in the library's holdings. You can also create this list by searching in the library catalog for "Darwin, Charles" as the *author.*

We also have many books about Darwin. You can create this list by searching in the library catalog for "Darwin, Charles" as the *subject heading.*


***View my parallel blog at on the WMU Libraries site***

The Natural Science Reference Librarian blog

Welcome! You are reading a post on my new Natural Science Reference Librarian blog. Until now, I have been adding posts to this blog in order to get the feel of blogging, but have not actively told faculty and students about this blog. But, now it's time to start spreading the word about it.

I am the WMU Libraries' new science librarian, and am also the liaison to the Biological Sciences, Chemistry, and Geosciences departments and the Environmental Studies program. My office is behind the Science Reference Desk in Waldo Library on WMU's West Campus.

My goal for this blog is to provide another means of communication between me and WMU students, faculty, and staff in the departments and program I "liaise" with.

So, in the future, how do you access this blog? You can:

1. see the blog at the blog web site or
2. seethe blog at the parallel blog site on the WMU Libraries site or
3. subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog and have new posts sent to you.

If you're wondering what is an RSS feed and why it is useful, take a look at a brief blurb on the Science Magazine web site called "Using RSS Feeds," and another, called "What is a web feed?," on the Nature web site. You can also email me or call me at 387-5142.

I hope to post roughly once a week information about science resources available through the library. But, that is simply a goal, and this blog is an experiment. If you have any suggestions for this blog, feel free to let me know.

SciFinder Scholar E-Seminars

Throughout January and February, CAS will be holding several e-seminars titled "SciFinder: Exploring New Enhancements in the Web Version of SciFinder." The e-seminars will demonstrate new enhancements to SciFinder Scholar's web version. Sign up for the e-seminars at the CAS e-seminar web page. The e-seminars will be held on:

• January 23
• January 27
• February 3
• February 17
• February 24
  

and on each of these days an e-seminar will be held at:

• 8:30 AM
• 9:00 PM
• 1:00 PM
• 8:30 AM
• 3:00 PM.
  

How does the e-seminar work? You sign up with CAS -- the organization that runs SciFinder Scholar -- at least 24 hours in advance of the webinar. At the scheduled time and date you go to a web page address provided by CAS, log in, and then watch and listen to the webinar. During the webinar, you see a SciFinder Scholar search screen as a person actually does searches while demonstrating the new features. You can hear demonstrator's comments as well as see the mouse arrow move, results lists appear, etc. From the web page you are logged into, you can also instant message questions to the demo team and receive replies back during the webinar.

Why would you want to sign up for this e-seminar? First, CAS puts together a good e-seminar experience. The people demonstrating the new features are very knowledgeable and understand how scientists use the database.

Second, because CAS is adding new features only to the web-based version of SciFinder Scholar, not the client-based version. The web-based version is accessed through the WMU Libraries' web site, whereas the client-based interface is downloaded from the Libraries' web site to individual's computer. Since you will not have access to the new features if you are using the client-based version, it would be useful to see what other features you could have access to and learn how to use them. There is a learning curve for anything new, but learning and using the most up-to-date version of a database makes sense.

If you currently use the client-based SciFinder, or use the web-based but want to learn more about it, give an e-seminar a try.