The Library is Looking for Work-Study Students for Spring

POSITIONS FILLED.

SC Williams Library will be looking for work-study students for the upcoming semester. Undergraduates are eligible to work between 10 and 15 hours per week (graduate students can work up to 20 hours a week.)

Please contact John Cruz, Circulation Services Manager, at (201) 216-5334 or jcruz@stevens.edu, for more information and to arrange an interview. (You can also stop into the Library to speak with Mr. Cruz on weekdays. Ask for him at the front circulation desk.)

New Resources Available!

The library is happy to announce the availability of the following new online reference titles:

• Encyclopedia of Pharmaceutical Technology
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History
• Encyclopedia of Global Change
• The Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
• Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages

You can also find and access them through the Stevens Library Catalog.

Halloween raffle winner selected!

Congratulations to Steven DeFroda for winning the Halloween Raffle at the Library! The raffle invited the Stevens community to search for a scholarly journal article on the topic of Halloween within any of the online research databases available through the Library's website, www.stevens.edu/library

Entry forms required the journal title, article title, volume, issue, date, and page numbers for the article. The winner was chosen from the pool of entries, and, the prize is a $25 gift certificate to Margherita's Pizza and Cafe located at Eighth and Washington Streets in Hoboken. Thank you to all the students who came out to the Library last week for some Halloween candy, to chat with the Library staff, and to enter the Halloween Raffle! We thank you all for making our Halloween festivities a success. Congratulations, Steven!

Halloween fun at the Library!

All day on Wednesday, October 31st, the Library Staff will be giving out free Halloween candy and lollipop ghosts. You can enter to win a $25 gift certificate to Margherita's Pizza and Cafe, located at 8th and Washington in Hoboken! Just look for the orange raffle entry forms available in the Library. If you wear a Halloween costume to the Library on Wednesday, you will get a free gift.

To enter the raffle, just pick up an orange entry form inside the Library, and use one of the recommended research databases (choose one from the list of research databases at http://www.stevens.edu/library/research/azlist.html) to identify a scholarly journal article on the topic of Halloween and write down the journal title, article title, volume, issue, date, and page numbers for the article. Also, tell us which database you used to find the article. Then, just hand in the entry form at the Information Services desk or the Circulation desk, and you will be entered to win the prize!

All students, faculty, and staff are invited and encouraged to stop by the Library on Halloween! We hope to see you there!

Stevens Library Catalog Upgrade/Downtime

The Library Catalog (WebCat) will not be available from Thursday, October 18 to Sunday, October 21, 2007, while it undergoes a software update and server migration. During this time, users will not be able to search for or renew books online.

Books can still be checked in and checked out manually at the circulation desk.

Electronic books are still available online through the databases, such as
* knovel Engineering & Scientific Online References
* Engineering Handbooks Online (EngNetBase)
* Referex Engineering e-Books
* Safari Tech Books Online

Users may also check WorldCat to see if the library owns an item; however, this database will not indicate the availability or location of the item (e.g., checked-out, stacks, new books, reference), and it will not give the exact call number. If WorldCat indicates the library owns an item, one way to find the call number would be to check the Library of Congress catalog, since many of our call numbers match the records in this catalog.

We apologize for the inconvenience as we work to improve our library catalog.

Please contact the Library circulation desk at 201-216-5200, or email us at library@stevens.edu if you have any questions.

Web of Science & Journal Citation Reports

Are you a student or faculty member who needs to do a citation search? Do you need to find impact factors for journals? Are you applying for promotion or tenure?

Unfortunately, our library doesn't currently subscribe to the Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports databases, but, we have good news! They are available at the New York Public Library (NYPL).

Web of Science provides access to the Science Citation Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index. Journal Citation Reports allows you to find impact factors for a diversity of journals.

NYPL is a public library, so you can walk in and use the resources. Just remember that sometimes there may be a waiting list for computer use. The NYPL research libraries are excellent, and the librarians there are very knowledgeable and helpful.

There are two NYPL research libraries that are very easy to get to from Hoboken - check out the Science, Industry, and Business Library (SIBL, located at 34th Street and Madison Avenue) and the Humanities and Social Sciences Library (located at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue).

Be sure to check the NYPL website for library hours and directions to the library before you make the trip. You can use the PATH train or NJ Transit bus to get you close to these libraries.

People who are not New York residents may pay a $100 annual fee to obtain a NYPL card, so as to access NYPL online research resources remotely. Check out their website for more information.

Ask a Librarian here at the Stevens Library if you have any questions!

Free Concert!

This Friday at 8PM, the Library, in conjunction with the Stevens Philosophy Club, will be hosting a musical performance by The Bloom Equations, featuring a program of opera arias by Mozart, Verdi, Tchaikovsky and more. Light refreshments will be served.

Contact: gdobbins@stevens.edu

Got a question? Ask it online!

SC Williams Library is happy to introduce its new online reference service! We'll be using Meebo, a web-based instant messaging application that allows us to sign on to multiple IM clients at one time, so you can find us on AOL, Yahoo, MSN and GoogleTalk. This service will be available at the following times*:

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday: 9am to 6pm
Wednesday: 9am to 10pm
Friday: 9am to 5pm

Or, just add us to your friends list to see when we're online! Our screenname is scwLibrary on AOL, Yahoo, MSN and GoogleTalk, and scwLibrary@hotmail.com on MSN.

Don't have an instant messaging account? Sign up for a screenname on one of the following services to chat with us:

AOL Instant Messenger
MSN Messenger
Yahoo Instant Messenger
GoogleTalk

(*Unless we're off helping a student, or doing a library orientation, or in a meeting... Well, you get the point! Mostly, we'll be there during those hours...)

NJ Free Transit Week

From September 17-23, anyone with a college student ID can ride NJ Transit buses, trains, AND light rail for free!

And that's not just Jersey colleges, either. ANY college. New York, Pennsylvania... Los Angeles... anywhere.

All you've got to do is print out this coupon, and show it (with your school ID) to bus drivers/train conductors/etc. to ride FREE!

The link: http://www.njtransit.com/images/student_coupon.jpg

QandANJ

Weren't we just talking about QandANJ? (Why yes, we were... We mentioned it in our last post!)

Well, turns out they have a nifty new commercial airing on MTV, as well as up on YouTube. We just thought we'd share...

Get a NJ Public Library Card Today!

Did you know that as a Stevens student or faculty member you are eligible for a Hoboken Public Library card?

Hoboken Public Library, located on the corner of 5th Street and Park Avenue (across from Church Square Park), is a great place to check out popular reading, as well as audio-visual materials such as movies and audiobooks.

For more information on how to apply for a card, click here, or check out the HPL website.

Also, once you have a New Jersey public library card, you can access JerseyClicks, New Jersey's statewide research portal that features federated searching of full-text databases, as well as QandANJ, a free service that provides 24 hour-a-day, 7 day-a-week reference assistance.

Source of the Week: Cyberinfrastructure Vision for 21st Century Discovery

This report from the National Science Foundation describes "the various challenges and opportunities in the complementary areas that make up cyberinfrastructure: computing systems, data, information resources, networking, digitally enabled-sensors, instruments, virtual organizations, and observatories, along with an interoperable suite of software services and tools. This technology is complemented by the interdisciplinary teams of professionals that are responsible for its development, deployment and its use in transformative approaches to scientific and engineering discovery and learning. The vision also includes attention to the educational and workforce initiatives necessary for both the creation and effective use of cyberinfrastructure." Read more...>>

Virtual Astral Projection

Two teams of neuroscientists have made a breakthrough in the study of "out-of-body experiences," according to this week's issue of Science. About one in 10 people report having had the strange sensation of floating away from their bodies at some point in their lives. According to the new studies, it's now possible to induce that feeling of astral projection in the lab. Read more...>>

(Source: Slate.com)

As a Stevens user, you have full-text access to Science magazine. Check out the report in its entirety here.

(Off-campus users will have to configure their browser settings to access online library resources.)

Welcome [Back]!

Hello all! Just wanted to say welcome back to returning students, and also welcome to Stevens to all the new students. Please feel free to stop by the library if you have any questions about library services and resources, or just to say hi!

The library is located across from the Howe Center, right next to the gym (we're the brick building behind the statue of the horse and rider in the middle of the quad).

This semester we will be debuting our new IM reference service (we'll let you know all the details in an upcoming post). Also, feel free to look up your Information Services Librarians, Linda Scanlon Beninghove and Valerie Forrestal, on Facebook and Myspace. You can send them your questions or concerns there too!

The Information Services Librarians are located across the great hall from the circulation desk. Stop by the reference desk all this month for a free SC Williams Library mechanical pencil!

Most of all, good luck in all your studies, and have a great year!

Science, Simpsons Style...

In honor of the recently released Simpsons Movie:

Part of The Simpsons' greatness is a willingness to find the humour in absolutely everything — including science. Executive producer Al Jean, the show's head writer and a Harvard mathematics graduate, talks to Nature about how to get a laugh out of Euler's formula. Read more...>>

Also check out the top ten science moments in The Simpsons, as chosen by Nature's editorial staff.

(Source: http://www.nature.com/news/index.html)

Did you know that Stevens users have full-text online access to Nature journal? Check it out here.

Let's hope the rains don't come early this year...

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, iconic for his use of eco-friendly and lightweight materials, lifts the veil on a paper bridge over the Gardon River in southern France. Read more...>>

(Source: BoingBoing)

PS- The post title was enough, we'll spare you the 'don't burn your bridges' joke. You're welcome.

Part-Time Student Workers Needed

POSITIONS FILLED.

SC Williams Library will be looking for work-study students for the upcoming year, starting in the beginning of the fall semester. Undergraduates are eligible to work between 10 and 15 hours per week (graduate students can work up to 20 hours a week.)

Please contact John Cruz, Circulation Services Manager, at (201) 216-5334 or jcruz@stevens.edu, for more information and to arrange an interview.

(You can also stop into the Library to speak with Mr. Cruz during office hours, 9 - 3:30, Monday through Friday. Ask for him at the front circulation desk.)

Source of the Week: Changes in Innovation Ecology ('Science' Editorial)

The June 2007 issue of Science Magazine features an editorial by William A. Wulf, past president of the National Academy of Engineering, about cultivating and stimulating innovation in our current technological environment, a topic that could be considered particularly relevant here at an institution that is looking to create a climate of innovation.

From the article: "Globalization has introduced both uncertainties and opportunities worldwide. In the United States, a flurry of recent books and reports has told the country how to be competitive in the 21st century, from Thomas L. Freidman's The World is Flat, to the National Academies'Rising Above the Gathering Storm, and at least a dozen more. All note the historic strength of the United States in innovation and suggest that reinvigorating this capability is key to future prosperity. The resulting recommendations relate to an "ecology" of interrelated institutions, laws, regulations, and policies providing an innovation infrastructure that entails education, research, tax policy, and intellectual property protection, among others. Unfortunately, this ecology is more fundamentally broken than is generally recognized." Read more...>>

Jersey City Free Public Library Offers Free Movie Downloads to Cardholders

Jersey City Free Public Library cardholders can now watch more than 400 classic movies, indie films, how-to shows, documentaries and more with the library's new system, MyLibraryDV.

All Jersey City residents, students and employees are eligible for a library card. Click here for information on how to apply for one!

Read the article in its entirety here.

Source: The Jersey Journal via NJ.com

Source of the Week: Technologies for increased energy efficiency in railway systems

Since the Stevens family has a long history with the railroad, the following seemed an apt candidate for the source of the week:

Technologies for increased energy efficiency in railway systems

Abstract: This article gives an overview of the various possibilities of increased energy efficiency in electrical railway systems. Not only the power systems in the main traction circuit are emphasized, but also efficient solutions arising from auxiliary-optimization, reduced weight of the vehicles, aerodynamics and efficient rail automation. The main focus is on the application of energy storage in traction systems. The stationary installation in substations is described and the advantages demonstrated in a number of applications using different main strategies. A wide and varied range of benefits arise from the typical application situation.

Source: 2005 European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications

(Having trouble viewing the article? Here are the directions for accessing library resources from off-campus.)

Wanted: Savvy Grads in Math and Science

The pharmaceutical and medical technology industry is a leading source of jobs in New Jersey, but concerns have been raised whether there will be enough college graduates with the math and science education necessary for employment in the field.

A new report entitled “The Workforce Needs of New Jersey’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology Industry” issued by the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) warns that there may not be enough qualified workers to fill projected job openings during the next several years.

The report, prepared by the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University and based on a survey of HINJ member companies, identified significant employment opportunities for product and marketing managers, clinical scientists, regulatory affairs managers, medical doctors, biostatisticians and engineers.

Read the NJBIZ.com article in its entirety here.

Stevens Family Legacy Treasures Exhibit

Congratulations graduates!

Bring your friends and family by the library to check out our new exhibit (located outside of Sam's Place), showcasing the Stevens family history and legacy, genealogy, and artifacts from the original Stevens Castle. And as always, you can also stop in and check out more Stevens' family items in the Mary Stuart Stevens Room, located in the Great Hall.

These exhibits are just a sampling of the Stevens Family Collection housed at S.C. Williams Library. Records in the collection are in the form of biographies, correspondence, articles, books, photographs, and also include items such as the Stevens family papers on microfilm.

If you are interested in learning more about the Special Collections at the S.C. Williams Library, please contact Doris Oliver, Assistant Curator, at 201-216-5415 or doris.oliver@stevens.edu.

Source of the Week: On the capacity of mobile ad-hoc networks with delay constraints

We'd like to start a new weekly series here on eSource, where we feature articles and papers that might be of interest to the Stevens community.

What better way to start than with a paper by one of our own? Stevens professor Cristina Comaniciu has won a 2007 IEEE best paper award for a paper she co-authored with Professor Vincent Poor from Princeton University.

So, without further ado, our first "Source of the Week":

Comaniciu, C., & Poor, H. V. (2006). On the capacity of mobile ad-hoc networks with delay constraints. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 5(8), 2061-2071.

(Having trouble viewing the article? Here are the directions for accessing library resources from off-campus.)

NCAW: Resources for Those Working in Academia

Quoting from their site: "The National Clearinghouse on Academic Worklife (NCAW) provides resources to help faculty, graduate students, administrators and higher education researchers understand more about all aspects of modern academic work and related career issues, including tenure track and non tenure track appointments, benefits, climate and satisfaction, work/life balance, and policy development.

Developed at the University of Michigan's Center for the Education of Women, with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Clearinghouse on Academic Worklife contains resources for researchers, administrators, faculty, and others interested in academia and work.

NCAW includes selected resources on all aspects of academic work and related issues: faculty careers, including tenure track and non tenure track faculty, benefits, climate and satisfaction, flexibility and work/life balance, policy development and policies that affect faculty, graduate students as future faculty, administrators' concerns, and more."

Link: http://www.academicworklife.org/

Source (as usual): ResourceShelf

Stressing Over Finals?

The library is now open 24 hours during finals (until May 12th.) Stop by the circulation desk for some free cookies!

We know it's a stressful time of year, with final papers due and final exams to take (or grade), so here are some great tips for dealing with the stress and performing your best at crunch time.

For a well-deserved break from work and study, check out the Stevens Calendar for ongoing events here at the Institute, or see what's going on in Hoboken, Jersey City and NYC.

And as always, if you need any help finding resources for your research, you can contact your friendly information services librarians for help.

Good luck!!!

Keep Your Research Skills Sharp with Scopus Tutorials

Did you know that the Scopus database now offers an interactive tutorial series?

Helpful topics include how to search for an article, how to save a search, and how to set up alerts to let you know when your paper is cited.

Check them all out at: http://help.scopus.com/robo/projects/schelp/tutorials/sc_menu.html

From the ResourceShelf: Intellectual Property, the World Tour

Once again from the good people at ResourceShelf: international intellectual property resources.

Oh, and by the way, if you have any good resources you'd like us to share with the Stevens Community, feel free to drop us an e-mail.

From the ResourseShelf... 2007 Global Calendars!

ResourceShelf, a lovely blog that aims to share useful, cool and often quirky resources found by researchers and librarians, has a great post listing lots and lots of calendars of upcoming events.

Among those listed are the global election calendar, world events calendar, international sports calendar, NASA space calendar and the global trade show calendar.

They update the list on a regular basis, so you may want to bookmark...

Creating the Perfect Password

Some of us here at the library were just discussing (read: complaining about) websites' rules for creating a password. It seems that every time we create an account somewhere new, there is a longer list of requirements... For example, I recently visited a site that required your password to be a minimum of 8 characters, containing at least 2 numbers (which could not be at the beginning or end) and at least one capital letter. It just seemed a bit ridiculous and overly-complicated, until I came across this article.

As more and more personal information goes online, this serves as a good little reminder that though we may be becoming more comfortable putting ourselves out there into the virtual world, we still need to remember to proceed with some caution.

Weblogs 101

Ok, since we are introducing this new library blog, perhaps we should first post about blogs (also known as weblogs) in general. This is probably not new to most of you, but we figured some background information couldn't hurt... :)

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a blog as follows:

"A frequently updated web site consisting of personal observations, excerpts from other sources, etc., typically run by a single person, and usually with hyperlinks to other sites; an online journal or diary."

Today's blogs, however, are so much more... They are a daily source of news and information for many people, and can be contributed to by multiple authors, some of which are experts or at least highly regarded individuals in their fields. They help many of us keep up-to-date in what's important to us, be it world news, technology, business, or our specific field or research interest.

Finding blogs on topics of interest to you is often a serendipitous process. There are several blog search engines, most notably Technorati and Google Blog Search, but you could of course just do a web search for "insert topic here blog". Very often, you find out about blogs you like through other blogs you like... For example, blogs very often reference other blogs, or include a list of links to the blogs that the author or contributors are reading (often called a blogroll).

Once you start reading a bunch of different blogs on a regular basis, it often becomes cumbersome to visit each one every day to see if there are new posts. Enter the RSS feed aggregator. What is an RSS feed you ask? Well, simply put, it's just a constantly updated stream of information from a particular website or blog. (Want it less simply put? Here's some more info...) You can use an aggregator to compile the feeds from all your favorite sources into one place. Keep in mind that not only blogs have RSS feeds, you can also get them from many websites, especially news sites, which provide constantly updated headlines.

There are many aggregators to choose from, and which one you use is purely a matter of personal preference. Here is a list of what's out there, and here's a chart with some comparisons among them...

Creating and maintaining your own blog is also a great way to share information about yourself or your research with the rest of the world. There are many websites that allow you to create a blog for free, some of the more popular ones are: Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, Vox, WordPress and Xanga (just to name a few...)

To sum all this up nicely, we found a great little video on web 2.0... Enjoy!

welcome to eSource!

It is our mission at S.C.Williams Library to provide the Stevens community with not only the traditional resources you need to complete your education, research and scholarship, but also the guidance to help you identify and navigate the plethora of resources available to you in this high-tech world.

In that spirit, we are excited to announce the launch of eSource, a new blog featuring information on finding information. eSource will keep you updated on new library resources and events, as well keep you informed about our databases, including updates, new features, tutorials and system down-times. We will also focus on new and interesting technologies in the world of information sharing.

We will try our best to not only help guide you through the resources we provide here at the Library and on our website, but also through the World Wide Web, focusing on what technology is out there and how are people using it…