Wednesday, October 20, 2010

New "image search" feature in Science Direct

Science Direct has a new feature called "Image Search" which, according to SciVerse, allows users to search "an estimated eight million images (and growing) from both journal and book content published post 1994. "

The Image Search feature retrieves both photos and illustrations as well as data charts and graphs, and gives the reference to the article that contains the image.

To use Image Search, (1) open Science Direct database via the link on the libraries' "S" databases page, (2) click the "Search" link on the horizontal, green menu bar, (3) click the "Images" tab, (4) enter a search term in the search box and click "Search.

Learn more about this feature at SciVerse's Image Search web page, their Image Search fact sheet, or contact me.


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Monday, September 20, 2010

AGRICOLA's new Interface

AGRICOLA is no longer available via the OCLC search interface. Now our AGRICOLA link on the WMU Libraries web site connects to the USDA National Agriculture Library's (NAL's) interface. Although the interface is different, the content available to search is basically the same.

The main difference with the new interface is how it performs searches. For example, the new interface Boolean operators (i.e., AND, OR, NOT) generally are not used, and multiple words are searched as a phrase. For more tips on how to search, see the Search Options: Simple Search or the Search Options: Advanced Search.

Curious about which journals are indexed in AGRICOLA? See the Journals Indexed in AGRICOLA page and browse the complete list or search for a particular title.

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


Thursday, September 16, 2010

Web of Science Now has Direct Export to RefWorks

Western Michigan University of Web of Science now can directly export citations from Web of Science to RefWorks, a citation management software.

A "Save to RefWorks" button (right) now appears on the search results page for users of the WMU subscription to Web of Science. The University Libraries asked that Thomson Reuters add the button to WMU's Web of Science interface, since the button will be added only if an institution specifically requests it.

With the new button, users now can export citations into RefWorks with one mouse click instead of several, separate steps.

What is RefWorks? It is a software -- available for free to all faculty, staff, and students at Western Michigan University -- that allows users to store and organize citations, store PDFs of articles and other works, and easily create formatted bibliographies.

How do you access it? There's a link to RefWorks from the Libraries web site -- go the the "R" page of Library databases, and scroll down the alphabetical list to "RefWorks" and click the RefWorks link.

For more info on how to use RefWorks, see our page of RefWorks screen cast tutorials, or contact me.


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

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Standards Database Now Available

The libraries now subscribes to IHS Standards Expert, an online database containing citations for over a million standards from over 370 standards organizations, ranging from the the Aluminum Association (AA) to the Wire Reinforcement Institute (WRI). The database can be searched by keywords, standard number, and organization.

Although this database allows users to conduct one search amongst many standards organization -- a great improvement -- users must contact our engineering librarian, Ed Eckel to obtain the actual standards.


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


Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Free SciFinder E-Seminars

The fall semester if fast approaching, so it's not too soon to start thinking about honing your article databases searching skills for the upcoming academic year.

CAS is hosting in September two e-seminars on the article database SciFinder:
These e-seminars will cover how to efficiently use SciFinder's:
  • navigation features
  • literature analysis tools
  • literature review abilities
  • alert services
  • structure searching tools
  • reaction and preparation locating features
  • smart linking features
  • non-linear information gathering abilities
SciFinder -- an invaluable chemistry article database -- also contains conference proceedings, dissertations, technical reports, patents, substance records, formula, structures, and reactions.

Both experienced SciFinder users as well as novices would benefit from these e-seminars. I've attended several CAS e-seminars and found them very helpful -- instead merely giving a tour of what buttons to click, the presenters use relevant, real life research examples in thoughtful, innovative ways, which just happen to highlight useful SciFinder features. I highly recommend them and encourage anyone that searches for chemistry literature to sign up.

To register for these *free* e-seminars, go to the SciFinder Training Calendar at http://sfcalendar.cas.org/.

As always, if you have any questions about this, feel free to contact me at carrie.leatherman@wmich.edu.

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

Friday, May 28, 2010

Climate Change Books Reviewed in "Science Express"


In this week's Science Express*, an essay review by philosopher Philip Kitcher highlights eight books about climate change. Kitcher's review is a worthwhile read, as are the actual books themselves, all published in 2009 0r 2010:
The library currently owns four of the books (those with the title hyperlinked to its library catalog record). As for the other four that we don't own, I placed an order for them today. :-)

If you know of any other books that they library should add to its holdings -- on climate change or any topic in the natural sciences -- feel free to place a request or contact me directly.

* Note: Science Express is an online feature of Science Magazine in which the editors of Science select each week several papers for online publication *four to six weeks* before they appear in print. You can access the current week's Science Express articles at the Science Express web page.


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

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Wiley Interscience to be Replaced by Wiley Online Library


The Library currently has a subscription to Wiley Interscience -- a database that contains articles from about 1200 journals, mainly focusing on the sciences. On Saturday, July 24, the Wiley Interscience interface will be replaced by a new interface, Wiley Online Library.

According to the Wiley Online Library website,
the new interface will be "easier to navigate, more intuitive with a modern design."

For more information about the upcoming change, see the FAQs page, or view screen shots of the interface on the Wiley Online Library Facebook page (!).


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

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Earth Day and Library Resources

Earth Day seems like an appropriate day to feature a few of the library's many environment-related resources.

  1. Environmental Studies Subject Guide. Its main page includes links to thirteen article databases provide coverage of this multidisciplinary topic.
  2. Included in this subject guide is the databases Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management, and a search for "earth day" results in 102 references, in an interestingly wide array of documents.
  3. NewsBank, a newspaper article database with worldwide coverage, now has a "World Environment - Earth Day" special report. It includes current and historic articles covering this year's Earth Day, its history, environmental issues around the world, and other related topics.

Interested in other environmental-related library resources? Contact me at carrie.leatherman@wmich.edu.


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

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Large Hadron Collider - Basic Resources

Yesterday CERN's Large Hadron Collider began colliding subatomic particles. When the collider began operating, it was the culmination of about sixteen years of planning, construction, and great anticipation.

If you're wondering about the history of this collider project, the science behind it, or what physicists are trying to find out by using the collider, there are resources at the library to satisfy your curiosity.

A library catalog search for the keywords "large hadron collider" retrieves nine items specifically about the collider, ranging from print books to electronic books to government documents on microfiche. These items are a great place to start when researching the Large Hadron Collider project.

Asides from these specific nine, there are many, many more books, articles, and other resources in the library related to the Large Hedron Collider, particle accelerators, and particle physics. For more information on finding these resources, contact the Science Reference Department or me directly.


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

Thursday, March 18, 2010

LexisNexis Environmental Now in Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management

Looking for the article database LexisNexis Environmental? It has been absorbed by ProQuest-CSA and is now part of the Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management database within ProQuest-CSA.

You can access this database from the Libraries' Environmental Studies Article Databases page -- just as you did Lexis Nexis Environmental. Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management is the first database in the list.


*** View my parallel blog on WMU Libraries' Web site ***