Friday, December 19, 2008

2008 World's Most Ethical Companies

In the spirit of the holidays, and in this rough economic patch we're going through, it's nice to highlight some businesses who are not just about the almighty dollar (especially seeing what irresponsible business practices have done to the banking/auto/credit industries, helping push us into this rough patch in the first place...)

Ethisphere magazine lists 2008's most ethical companies, along with their methodology for choosing them. From the article:

"The World’s Most Ethical Companies are the ones that go above and beyond legal minimums, bring about innovative new ideas to expand the public well being, work on reducing their carbon footprint rather than contributing to green washing and won’t be found next to the words “Billion Dollar Fine” in newspaper headlines any time in the near future. These are the companies that stand out among the competition in their industry." Read more...>>

On that note, we at SC Williams Library wish you a very safe and happy holiday. The library will return to its regularly scheduled programming (aka reopen) on January 5th, 2009 at 9:00am.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Interlibrary Loan Holiday Schedule

Due to the potential for delayed delivery or lost packages during the holiday mail rush, ILL will not process new book requests from Dec. 5th, 2008 to Jan. 4th, 2009.
The last day to guarantee Regular Delivery document requests arrive before the start of Winter Break is December 5th.
The last day to guarantee Rush Delivery document requests arrive before the start of Winter Break is December 16th.
Please note: ILL will not process new document requests from Dec. 16th, 2008 to Jan. 4th, 2009.
The ILL Department and the Library will be closed from Dec. 19 through Jan. 4th. We will process any book or document requests in the order they were received when we reopen January 5th, 2009. Please understand that turn around time for these requests may be a bit longer than our usual turn around time.
Thank you.

JoVE: the Journal of Visualized Experiments

We just stumbled upon a great resource, a scholarly journal that Nature calls the "YouTube for test tubes". It's actually an all video format journal, something you don't see very often in the halls of academia. So, by JoVE, what is it exactly? (I'm sure I'm the first person to make that joke about this journal...) Well, from their website:

"Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) is a peer reviewed, free access, online journal devoted to the publication of biological research in a video format. JoVE was established as a new tool in life science publication and communication, with participation of scientists from leading research institutions. Visualization greatly facilitates the understanding and efficient reproduction of both basic and complex experimental techniques, thereby addressing two of the biggest challenges faced by today’s life science research community: i) low transparency and poor reproducibility of biological experiments and ii) time and labor-intensive nature of learning new experimental techniques."

You can check out their website at http://www.jove.com/ or you can find them indexed in the PubMed database.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

POSTITION FILLED - ILL Dept Looking for Grad Student Worker

THE POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED.

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 should be available to work during the summer.

We are accepting applications until December 5th and the position will start January 5th. You must be available January 5th for training.

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.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

SpringerLink TRIAL -and- Lunch & Learn session with a chance to win an iPod!

Take advantage of the current SpringerLink database trial and attend the SpringerLink Lunch & Learn session with a chance to win an iPod. The lunch & learn session will take place on Wednesday, November 19th at 11:30 a.m. A representative from Springer will be here to tell you about SpringerLink’s features and content and we hope that you will sign up and attend. Lunch will be provided and you will have a chance to win an iPod!
  • The Springer Journals trial is available through December 31, 2008
  • The Springer Protocols trial is available through November 30, 2008. (Springer Protocols is the largest subscription-based electronic database of reproducible laboratory protocols in the Life and Biomedical Sciences.)
  • The library recently purchased the Springer e-books collection (all Springer e-books from 2005-2008 in the English language). These books will be permanently accessible through the SpringerLink portal. The e-book trial includes e-books published between 2000 and 2009.
How to get to the SpringerLink TRIAL:

Go to the library home page at http://www.stevens.edu/library
Within the Search Tools section at left, click on Online Resource A-Z List
Select SpringerLink from the A-Z List

Off-campus access –
If you’re trying to access SpringerLink from an off-campus location, you will need to successfully set up a VPN so that you’re recognized as a Stevens user. Please see the Connecting from Off-Campus page on the library website for full instructions for setting up a VPN.

If you have any questions, please contact Linda Beninghove, Head of Reference and Research Services, at linda.beninghove@stevens.edu or 201-216-5412.

Monday, October 13, 2008

SciFinder Scholar installed on two public workstations

SciFinder Scholar, a unique database that allows you to explore chemical literature, substances, and reactions, is now available at two workstations at the library. These workstations have been designated as "priority workstations", so that users who want to search the SciFinder Scholar database can have priority. SciFinder serves the biomedical sciences, chemistry, engineering, materials science, and related disciplines.

If you'd like to use SciFinder Scholar from your own computer, you must first install the SciFinde software onto your computer. This is only done once and only takes a couple of minutes. You'll need a valid connection to the SciFinder database, either by being on campus or by setting up a VPN connection if you're located off-campus. Instructions for downloading the SciFinder scholar software are located here.

The library's site license only allows one simultaneous user at a time. Therefore, if you're unable to connect, try again later. Also, please remember to disconnect from SciFinder when you're done so that someone else can use it.

To find out what SciFinder has to offer you, check out the SciFinder product overview.

If you have any questions about SciFinder Scholar, please contact a Reference and Research Services Librarian.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Stevens dissertations available online

The text and images of nearly all doctoral dissertations produced at Stevens from 1987 to the present are now available for viewing online via the Proquest database. These dissertations are the first available in a project that will eventually provide online access to every dissertation produced at the institute, with the exception of dissertations with publication restrictions.

The library's online resources page has a link to the dissertations page under the heading Stevens Dissertations Online. Access to the full text is available only within the Stevens network (see here for connecting from 0ff-campus locations.)

For more information about the project, contact Scott Smith at scott.smith@stevens.edu or at 201-216-5419.

Friday, September 19, 2008

New Online ILL Document Request Form for Students

Attention all students: Getting articles & documents from outside of Stevens just got a lot easier. Interlibrary loan documents can now be requested online through the library’s website. Students can use their campus wide ID and log into our system. The fee for each document request will be taken from your student account. (Up until now, you had to fill out a paper form and bring it with your payment to the Circulation Services desk).

Before submitting your request, please make sure that the library does not already own the document you need. Requests will not be filled for items available at Stevens. You may check which journals we have available by using our Full Text Journal Finder and the iLink online catalog or you can use our Multisearch feature for finding specific articles you need.

We hope you will find that faster and easier document requests will help make your research time much more efficient – it’s the latest of many new, interactive tools on the new, streamlined library website.

Any questions can be directed to Mary Ellen Valverde , Head of Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

New library website featured in The Stute

The Stute, Stevens Institute's weekly newspaper, has published a front page article about the new library website in their September 5th issue. The article, entitled Stevens' S.C. Williams Library Website Revamped and written by Jean Matusiak, gives a positive review of the fresh and interactive features of our streamlined new website. The article features librarian Valerie Forrestal's description of many of the new site's features, like the Meebo IM reference tool, the elegant and modern new design, and the recent publications (by Stevens' professors & researchers) feature, which is a tool powered by the Scopus database that helps to provide more visibility for the research papers published by the Stevens community.

As Valerie Forrestal is quoted in the article, the development of the new website can best be summarized as follows: "Essentially, we wanted to increase awareness of the Library's resources by making them more accessible and easier to use, and by providing better means for patrons to contact us with comments, needs and suggestions."

Check out the full article in The Stute here. And, as always, we welcome your feedback about our new site!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Alexander Calder, 1919 Stevens alum: Art exhibition at NYC's Whitney Museum

Ever wonder about the artist who created the mobile that hangs in the great hall of the S.C. Williams Library here at Stevens? Alexander Calder was a 1919 mechanical engineering graduate of Stevens who went on to become an internationally prominent and well-loved artist who is credited for inventing the mobile as an art form. The library also owns a stabile sculpture by Calder on the second floor.

From the Whitney Museum of American Art's website:

"Alexander Calder is one of the most beloved, important, and critically acclaimed artists of the twentieth century. A highly focused historical show with the spirit of a young artist’s first retrospective, Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926–1933 explores a time when, from the ages of 27 to 34, Calder created his first wire drawings in space, performed his Circus (made in Paris 1926–31 and part of the Whitney’s permanent collection), and invented his signature mobiles."

The exhibit is entitled Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926-1933 and it runs from October 16, 2008 through February 15, 2009. More information can be found on the Whitney's list of upcoming exhibitions.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

User feedback helps improve new website

We've been getting a lot of positive feedback about the new library website from students and faculty alike - and we really appreciate your taking the time to let us know what you think. This week, a library user suggested that we change the name of the Full Text Finder to a more accurate representation of what this search tool really does. So, we discussed it and we've changed the name to "Full-Text Journal Finder". This search tool helps users to find out whether or not the full text of a journal, magazine, or newspaper is available in any of the online resources to which the library subscribes.

For example, if you want to know if you can get the full text of the New York Times, just type this newspaper title into the Full-Text Journal Finder search box, and click "Search". The results will show you that you can get the full text of NY Times articles from 1980 to the present.

If you're not entirely certain of the exact title of a journal, select "Title contains all words" in the drop-down box to the left of the search box. Then, enter the words you think appear in the journal title for which you're looking. For example, if you are looking for all publications that contain the phrase "Academy of Management", type in that phrase, and click "Search". The results will show you that 14 publications available in full text contain the phrase "Academy of Management", including:
Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Journal of the Academy of Management.

The Full-Text Journal Finder is just one of many new search tools on the library's new website that will help make your searching more efficient and more rewarding. Ask a Librarian if you have any questions.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Library resources survey results available online

If you haven't had a chance to review the results of the survey conducted by the library last semester, now is your chance! The report & results were distributed at the last faculty meeting, and now they are available on the library website.

As part of our role to provide support for the research activities carried out by the Institute, the library staff and the members of the Library Committee conducted an online resource survey in January 2008 designed to assess the research needs of the faculty and researchers.

Check out the results within the About the Library section in the Reports/Publications section.


Wednesday, June 18, 2008

New library website to launch July 1st.

The staff of the S.C. Williams Library is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of its new website planned for July 1, 2008. The new site brings into focus the most important content of the former version and is more intuitive to navigate. We hope you’ll find the new site to be more logically organized – it should make finding the information you need quicker and easier.

The site design focuses on technologies that enable communication and interactivity and simplifies access to resources and services so that using the website for your research is less complicated.

Features of the new site:

  • Clear, concise and logical navigation

  • Simple, elegant design

  • Greater accessibility of online resources

  • Guidance for using library resources (tutorials, subject guides, chat reference via instant messaging, ‘how do I?’ menu, ‘help’ section, ‘ask us’ page)

  • Multiple, logical access points to information and resources

  • Meebo© instant messaging application on homepage, which allows users to chat with librarians during reference hours without having to log in or sign up for any instant messaging account

  • Recent publications section highlights whenever a member of the Stevens community publishes in an academic journal (indexed by the Scopus© database)

  • News and Events section on homepage that highlights what’s going on at the library

  • Rotating pictures showcase distinctive pieces of art housed within the library

  • New Multisearch tool allows searching across multiple resources at once

We are looking forward to rolling out all of these new features and we hope you will be as excited to see our new website as we will be on July 1st. Please feel free to send us your feedback on the new site, here in the comments or by email. We look forward to hearing from you.

Friday, May 9, 2008

30 best Web sites for job hunters

From Fortune Magazine online:

"Which of the more than 40,000 online job boards now operating in the U.S. are most likely to help you land the position you want? Check out these survey results." Read more...>>

Just in time for graduation!

Congratulations and good luck to all the graduates, and to everyone else, see you next year!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Library seeks website assistant

POSITION FILLED

Spend your summer working at the S.C. Williams Library!

The Library is looking to hire a student for summer employment (20 hrs/week) to work on the new Library website.
The ideal candidate has web design and coding experience and is required to be proficient in HTML, PHP, javascript, PERL and mySQL. Familiarity with TYP03 content management system is preferred but not required.
Salary is $12/hour.

We are accepting applications until May 13th, and the position will start at the end of May. Those selected will be contacted for interviews.
Applications are available at the circulation desk in the first floor of the library. Completed applications with resumes can be dropped off at the reference desk in the Library. Please contact Valerie Forrestal at valerie.forrestal@stevens.edu or stevens.library@stevens.edu for more information.

Monday, March 31, 2008

New Lost Books Policy

Effective April 1, 2008, the replacement cost for lost books that have been published within the previous five calendar years will be the full cost of the lost book plus a $20 processing charge plus any overdue fines that have accrued. The replacement cost for books with a publication date prior to the previous five calendar years will be $100 plus a $20 processing charge plus any overdue fines that have accrued. The library will not accept replacement copies of lost books purchased by the user responsible for the lost item.

Institutional Action: Students. If a student does not pay overdue fine & replacement costs within notification period, the matter will be given over to the Student Financial Services Center. The student’s account will be charged the required amount.

Institutional Action: Faculty & Staff. If a faculty or staff member does not pay overdue fine & replacement costs within notification period, the matter will be given over to the Dean of Faculty.

Clearing Fines & Payments : Before institutional action is taken, payments to the Library for missing books can be made in cash, by check or DuckBill$. Patrons are encouraged to return overdue books even if they are unable to make payments at that time. If the person responsible for the missing item finds the item after the library has ordered a replacement copy, the replacement costs will not be refunded to the user.

For more information on Circulation policies, see the Library's website.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

ILL/DDS Department Looking for Student Workers

POSITION FILLED

The SC Williams Library is looking for graduate student workers for the Interlibrary Loan department. Students must be reliable and detail oriented.

Students that will not graduate until May 2009 or later are preferred. Also, students should be available to work during the summer.

We are accepting applications until April 4th and the position will start in April. Those selected will be contacted for interviews.

Applications are available in the library administration offices on the third floor. Please contact Mary Ellen Valverde, Head Librarian for ILL/DDS, at (201) 216-5408 or mvalverd@stevens.edu, for more information.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Final Thoughts from Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

IEEE Spectrum Online recently featured the last interview with the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke, who passed away last week in a Sri Lankan hospital. The interview, conducted in January, reveals the famed author as "still entranced with terraforming planets, space elevators, and the search for extraterrestrials." Read more...>>

The Library owns several copies of Clarke's works; look for them out in our online catalog!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Nature's Publishers Make Genome Papers Available Through Creative Commons License

From the Nature website: "In the continuing drive to make papers as accessible as possible, Nature Publishing Group is now introducing a 'creative commons' licence for the reuse of [papers reporting full genome sequences]. The licence (see http://www.nature.com/authors/editorial_policies/license.html) allows non-commercial publishers, however they might be defined, to reuse the pdf and html versions of the paper. In particular, users are free to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the contribution, provided this is for non-commercial purposes, subject to the same or similar licence conditions and due attribution."

Click here for full article from nature.com.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Tech Review's 10 Emerging Technologies 2008

Technology Review presents their list of the 10 technologies that they think are most likely to change the way people live. Technologies profiled include: modeling surprise, probabilistic chips, NanoRadio, wireless power, atomic magnetometers, offline web apps, graphene transistors, connectomics, reality mining and cellulolytic enzymes.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Needs assessment survey: A powerful opportunity to improve Library resources

SURVEY COMPLETED. SEE HERE FOR RESULTS.

Attention Faculty, Researchers, and Doctoral students:

You can make a difference in improving the quality and quantity of the Library’s research resources. By telling us how you are using these resources and expressing your research needs, the library staff and the Office of the Provost will have a better understanding and will work together to create a more supportive research environment.

The investment of your time to respond to this survey will be greatly appreciated and will help us:

---Evaluate some of the current resources
---Understand how some of these resources are used
---Find out what major resources are needed
---Develop an adequate plan to acquire additional resources

You can access the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=6mnfW6_2bmc0pVuwLkSEAIYw_3d_3d, or you can print out a paper copy and return it to the Library via inter-office mail (attn: Linda Beninghove). It should take an average of 15 minutes to complete and it will be available from January 15 – February 26.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Linda Beninghove, Information Services Librarian, at linda.beninghove@stevens.edu or 201-216-5412.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Stevens professor publishes cover article in Nature Photonics

With colleagues at UC Santa Barbara and Leiden University (Netherlands), Professor Stefan Strauf of the Physics and Engineering Physics department is first author of the article ‘High-frequency single-photon source with polarization control’, the cover article of the December 2007 issue of ‘Nature Photonics’. A one page interview with Professor Strauf was also published in this issue. Visit the School of Engineering and Science's news section for further information about the article!