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.