Because of a generous gift from the Telfords, we were able to purchase six new e-reference titles:
All of these are permanent additions to our collection, not subscription based, and are all cataloged in Annie.
For those of you who use ScienceDirect often, or read Elsevier journals, this e-learning workshop is for you.
If you want to avoid a cluttered email inbox and never miss another update, using RSS feeds are the solution. Many people are afraid to get started with RSS feeds and feed readers, but once you get used to them, they are priceless. The free Elsevier workshop will show you how to use the feeds that are provided on the ScienceDirect platform to manage your current awareness services. Be sure to register quickly, they are scheduled for December 12 and 14 at 10 a.m.
I recommend you watch a very short video I created for the Tech Fair that explains what RSS is and how RSS feeds can help you. There is also an explanatory page at http://library.wlu.edu/howto/rssfeeds.asp.
Great news! We are going to start circulating bound periodicals and reference books in both Telford and Leyburn, starting today. This means that faculty, staff, and students must either use the self-checkout station or the staffed circulation desk to check out these materials instead of the notebook at the circulation desk. The check out period is for 24 hours, and your Annie account will reflect what you have checked out. Remember that only the bound periodicals will circulate this way. Faculty and staff will still be able to sign out newer, unbound periodicals using the spiral bound notebook.
As always, if you use a bound periodical but do not check it out, please DO NOT reshelve it. I know it is courteous to keep the library neat and tidy, and I appreciate the effort, but this is the only way that we know which periodicals are getting used. We keep track of what we reshelve, and these statistics are very important. You will find book trucks in the stacks where you can place bound volumes after you use them, or you could always bring them to the circulation desk.
On Monday, I attended the Oberlin Group meeting for science librarians at Oberlin College. I was hoping for cooler weather, but we reached 80 degrees Monday afternoon. Oh well. Here's a summary of what we discussed.
Throughout the day, open access was a prominent topic. We had Ray English, director of libraries at Oberlin and SPARC-er, open the day with a pep talk on open access, which seemed to follow us throughout the day's discussions. The first official program was on social software, called Virtual Outreach and Reference. Several librarians presented how their libraries are using IM, YouTube, and blogs to push information to users. One thing I noticed is that every single library had a prominent IM presence. Every library uses Meebo and has a common account that all librarians use, much like we use at the reference desk. They seem to be having a lot of success with IM reference, and they all have the chat box appear on the library homepage as well as other pages.
The next interesting presentation was on Scientific Literacy, which is often mistaken for information literacy. Scientific literacy goes a step beyond and uses concepts in science to enable users to interpret and analyze scientific information rather than just absorb facts. There seems to be a big problem, which I have noticed at W&L as well, with people relying on the mainstream media for their science. Often, the media misinterpret findings, or purposely skew results to fit an agenda. I mentioned that we get people in the science library looking for the "latest headline" who are disappointed when they read the original research and find that the results were drastically altered for mainstream consumption. I suggested that this be discussed more in-depth at the next meeting.
The last part of the day we talked about periodicals. I gave my presentation on our JSTOR project from ALA Midwinter, which is not news to anyone here. Another librarian talked about how her library at Trinity had dropped the Elsevier contract in favor of a "pay-per-view" model for ScienceDirect. I found this extremely interesting, considering we subscribe to journals via ScienceDirect that have very high cost per use. Her argument was that it was better to spend $90 on 3 articles than $5,000 on a year's subscription that would still only be used 3 times. When asked about browsing, my first thought was that not many folks come in to browse current periodicals. My second thought was that we need to continue to push RSS, as I think this the new version of browsing.
At the end of the day, we talked about future meetings. I would like to see an annual meeting, but that didn't seem feasible to some of the rest of the participants. (Oh, how lucky we are here at W&L!) I hope that future meetings will build on this first one, so that we don't have to catch up every time and can just get to business.
UPDATE: We are currently the only library dropping WoS in favor of Scopus. Trinity is currently thinking of doing the same, but haven't made a concrete decision, and Thomson is apparently giving them a little extra time to decide. People were shocked when I announced what we were doing, but when I mentioned that we had no backfiles and that we were getting a good deal on Scopus, they were actually jealous. Most of the schools had backfiles to at least 1960, so it was obvious that giving up WoS would be a bad move on their part.
Occasionally, I read something that I want to share with my colleagues, both in the library and in the science departments. Now I'll be sharing these through my Google Reader account. Just go to http://www.google.com/reader/shared/11993551707498290882 to see what I'm currently interested in. If you don't want to keep visiting this page to see if I've posted anything new, use the RSS feed in your feed aggregator.
This is also a great way to keep your departmental colleagues aware of news items, new articles and other work that you are interested in, in real time. You can "invite" others to view your shared items, or create a departmental account that all can log into. The possibilities are overwhelming!
If you'd like help getting set up with Google Reader or any other feed aggregator, or simply want to know more about RSS feeds, please let me know.
Beginning in January 2007, W&L will have access to an enormously expanded collection of journals published by Blackwell. Currently, we subscribe to 100 titles, spread over all disciplines and Law. With the new package, our holdings will go up to 759 titles. An Excel spreadsheet of these titles is available here: http://library.wlu.edu/research/Blackwelllist.xls (If you click on the STM tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet, you can sort out the science related journals only.)
Part of this new package requires that we change all 100 of our current subscriptions to online-only, which means that readers will have access to new issues much sooner and can subscribe to contents services. Fortunately for the science library, this will not have any impact on our space issue.
If you have questions about these journals, please let me know.
We are approaching the deadline to decide on purchasing Scopus at the end of this month. As many of you know, we have had a trial to Scopus for a little over a year now, which was meant to act as an extended evaluation period.
Next week I will be arguing in favor of purchasing Scopus, but I would like to have some testimonials from those of you who have found Scopus to be beneficial. This is a big ticket item, and I need as much outside support as possible to make this purchase.
If you have had a positive impression of Scopus or feel that it is a vital part of our library's resources, please send me an email in the next few days explaining why. If you would like to learn more about Scopus, please visit http://library.wlu.edu/details.asp?resid=721. I also have some literature in my office.
Thank you so much for your help.
If you use an instant messaging service, such as Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, or MSN, you can now ask reference questions right from your contact list. In the science library, we are experimenting with IM Reference, which will make asking reference questions much easier for students and faculty.
There will be two screennames, WLULibRef and WLULibRef2. If you like, add these names to your contact list. If you would rather not add to your contact list, you can send a message directly from our online status page at http://library.wlu.edu/science/imreference.asp.
Presently, Cindy and I are working some bugs out of our schedule and the online status page, so please let us know if you encounter problems. We hope to have the service fully functioning by the time Fall Term begins.
UPDATE: We will only be using 1 screenname: WLULibRef. Please disregard WLULibRef2.
Because of an overload of spam, this blog will no longer accept trackbacks. I apologize to anyone outside of W&L who wishes to legally trackback, but this seems to be occuring more frequently.
In addition to Scopus' new Citation Tracker, they have released the first version of the Scopus Author Identifier. This tool allows you to search for a particular author, then determine that author's affiliation, variations of name or name changes, and browse past co-authors. This is a particularly helpful tool when looking up authors with very common last names. Too see a demo of this tool, go to the "Scopus Author Identifier" overview demonstration.
UPDATE: Our Elsevier representative has sent me a PowerPoint presentation detailing how to use this new feature. It is available at http://library.wlu.edu/science/authorprof6.ppt.
Scopus has a new feature: Citation Tracker. Simply perform an Author Search in Scopus, then click the "Citation Overview" button 
to see a breakdown of how that author has been cited in the past.
This function is comparable to Web of Science's Cited Reference searching, which is the standard in citation searching. To find out more on how to use Citation Tracker, see the information page. This function has been added to W&L's list of electronic resources as Scopus Citation Tracker, at http://library.wlu.edu/details.asp?resid=907.
Some of you may have noticed that the blog was down on Friday afternoon. All is well, now. Just a minor glitch in the root path. We're back in business!
Many students use Google Scholar, for better or worse, to search for journal literature for their research. Maybe some of the faculty do, as well. If you use RefWorks, W&L's web-based bibliographic software, you can now export citations directly from a Google Scholar results page. From the April 2006 RefWorks press release:
Google Scholar Provides Direct Export CapabilityRefWorks Users can now set an export preference to send data from Google Scholar to their RefWorks account with the click of a button.
To set this feature up in Google Scholar:
1. From the Google Scholar search page, click on the Scholars Preferences link..
2. Scroll down to the Bibliography Manager section.
3. Select Show Links to Import into and select RefWorks from the drop-down.
4. Click Save Preferences.
To initate a direct export to RefWorks:
1. Conduct your search in Google Scholar
2. Each record displayed will have an Import into RefWorks link. Clicking on the link will launch the RefWorks login page.
3. Once you log in, you are brought automatically to the Edit view of the reference. If you do not wish to edit the record, you can navigate to any other area of RefWorks.
4. Your record is stored in your Last Imported Folder.
Continue reading "Google Scholar Direct Export into RefWorks" »
I am opening up discussion of the JSTOR Journal Project. If you did not receive the email about this project, please contact me. A list of the Science Library's JSTOR journals is available at http://odtaa.wlu.edu/periodicals/JSTORListAll.asp thanks to the hard work of Cindy Morton and Wendy Richards. This list includes the titles' links in the Annie catalog, coverage in JSTOR, coverage in other electronic formats, and coverage in print. If we are able to discard these volumes, we could save well over 200 feet in shelf space. That gives us room for growth of our other periodical titles that are not available in JSTOR and for new subscriptions.
I have posted a survey, that will only take a few moments to answer, that will give you an opportunity to tell me how you use the Science Library. The results will show where our weaknesses are as well as our strengths, and will provide a starting point to make improvements. The survey will be available until May 10 at 5 p.m. To take the survey, follow this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=862252010596. The results are completely anonymous, so please answer as accurately as possible.
You will need a password to take the survey. Please contact me via email or phone to obtain the password.
I now have a del.icio.us page. For those who don't know, this is an organization / portable bookmark / sharing tool for Internet websites. With a free account you can "tag" websites to share with others or to visit later from any computer.
Changes to the Annie web catalog are underway, and a sneak preview is available at http://annie.wlu.edu:2082/. There are more search options than with the current version, such as selecting multiple material types and locations.
Please take a moment to try it out.
The University of Saskatchewan Library has a list of electronic journals and their RSS feeds. What is this? To learn more about RSS feeds, click here.
*For Psychology journals, APA has also put together a list.*ACS also has an RSS feed for all publications; or, you can choose to be notified of new content via email.
*Nature Magazine and Science Magazine both have choices for different types of RSS feeds.
*Geologists and Environmental Scientists may find the RSS feeds from USGS helpful.
I've been informed that many of you have stopped by the Science Library to meet with me, only to find out that I am at a meeting elsewhere on campus. Because I would like to speak with all of you one-on-one, I would be happy to set up appointments to meet with you.
We can schedule appointments using GroupWise; or, if you feel more comfortable, we can use email or phone. (abdoneym@wlu.edu or ext. 8647) I would like to get a chance to talk for 30 minutes or so about your concerns and expectations for the library, as well as your current research interests.
I hope to hear from you.
If you want to know when there is a new post to the Science Library Updates blog, you can be notified via email. I have already entered everyone into the notification list, so if you want to receive these emails, you don't have to do anything.
If you would not like to receive these emails, or you think you have been placed on this list in error, please email me at abdoneym@wlu.edu or call me at ext. 8647.
I am pleased to announce that the Science Library will be offering reference service starting this Monday, February 20. From 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., either I or Cindy Morton will be available to answer reference questions from faculty and students. In addition, we will be available Sunday and Monday evenings from 7-10 p.m. to answer reference questions.
While there is no physical reference desk, we will be on call during these hours for reference service. Please stop by the circulation desk and ask for the reference librarian.
For a copy of the schedule, please visit http://library.wlu.edu/TelfordReference.asp
For handouts to post in class, visit http://library.wlu.edu/documents/ScienceLibraryReferenceHours.pdf
I would like to thank everyone for their hospitality at the coffee break this morning, and welcome you to the Science Library Updates blog. You can keep current on new resources, services, and events in the Science Library, as well as discuss issues pertaining to the science library.
I encourage you to inform your students of this blog, as well, since this information will be quite relevant to them.
I hope to hear from some of you soon!