Celebrate Fibonacci Day!

Today, November 23 (11/23) is Fibonacci Day! There will certainly be a huge celebration in the year 5813, but until then you can read some of our books discussing the beauty of Fibonacci sequences:

Fibonacci’s De Practica Geometrie (Springerlink online book)
The Mathematica Guidebook for Numerics (Springerlink online book)

You could also play around with writing a recursive function to generate some Fibonacci numbers of your own! Safari Tech books online offers these up for help:
C++ how to program: example using recursion
Java how to program: example using recursion

Enjoy!

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics updated

The latest web version of the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is now online, including a new Structure searching feature. You can now search the handbook by chemical structure with a download-able Java Applet for drawing your structure query. Search over 10,000 compounds!

What else is new?

Now reflecting the content of the 90th print edition, the new web version adds tables covering 11 new topics:

Structures and functions of common drugs
Chemical constituents of human blood
Proton nmr shifts for solvents
Apparent Equilibrium Constants for Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions
Phase Transitions in the Solid Elements at Atmospheric Pressure
Thermoelectric Properties of Metals and Semiconductors
Thermophysical Properties of Stainless Steel 310
Description of the IUPAC chemical identifier (InChI)
International recommendations on the expression of uncertainty of measurements
Major world earthquakes, 850AD to 2008
Nobel prize winners in Physics and Chemistry

And some of the most heavily used tables have been extensively revised and updated:

Nuclear moments for nmr spectroscopy
Mass spectral peaks for organic solvents
Properties of refrigerants
Interstellar molecules
Aqueous Solubility and Henry's Law Constants of Organic Compounds
Properties of the Solar System
Satellites of the Planets
Threshold Limits for Airborne Contaminants
Speed of Sound in Dry Air

web product downtimes

Multisearch, the Full Text Journal Finder and the Ulrich database will be unavailable due to maintenance on Saturday, October 24, from 12:00 noon - 6:00 pm EDT.

All other library databases will be fully functional during this time.

Research Workshops: Fall 2009 schedule

The S.C. Williams Library will offer several workshops this semester to help you improve your research skills and knowledge. Please join us for these useful and informative workshops!

The following workshops are offered:

• Graduate & Ph.D. Research Workshop: Tuesday, October 6, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
  For students interested in improving their knowledge of the scholarly & professional research resources & databases available through the library. All students are welcome.
  

• SciFinder Database Workshop: Wednesday, October 21, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
  SciFinder covers chemistry, biomedical sciences, materials science, engineering, and more. This workshop will cover basic & advanced searching, in addition to structure searching.
  

• Ebsco Database Workshop: Tuesday, October 27, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
  Learn how to maximize your search results in the Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, and PsycInfo databases.
  

• Preparing Your Dissertation or Thesis Workshop: Thursday, November 5, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
  Important workshop for anyone working on a dissertation, thesis, or senior report. Topics covered will be formatting, specifications, LaTeX questions, and requirements.
  

If you have any questions, please contact a Reference & Research Services Librarian

All workshops will meet in Library Research Training Room 204, located on the second floor of the Library.
Directions: Walk up one flight of stairs, pass the boat hulls on your left as you cross the bridge, turn left at the presidents' portraits, walk straight past the restrooms & exhibits towards room 204.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Scopus database downtime

The Scopus database will be unavailable for approximately 13 hours due to scheduled maintenance, starting on Saturday, 19 September at 8:00 AM EDT.

Take the Knovel Challenge

Answer three questions from the Knovel database and be eligible to win a Wii, iPod, Kindle, or iTunes gift cards! The Knovel University Challenge is a contest that runs every year at universities all over the world. Knovel is a library database with electronic reference books specializing in engineering and science.

If at least 100 students from Stevens answer the questions correctly, we are guaranteed to have a Stevens student win an iPod Nano!

ILL Department Looking For Graduate Student Worker

The SC Williams Library is looking for one graduate student worker for the Interlibrary Loan department. The student must be reliable and detail oriented.
Students that will graduate in December 2010 or later are preferred. Also, students must be available to work during the summer.

We are accepting applications until September 18thth and the position will start on or around September 28th.

Applications are available at the library circulation desk and you may attach a resume to the application. On your application, make a note that this is for the ILL position so that the application is given to ILL. Students MUST fill out an application to be considered for the position. Please do not email resumes to the ILL department.

PLEASE NOTE: Only those selected will be contacted for interviews. We will not be contacting everyone.