Fall Workshops @ the Library

This fall's workshops include topics such as: professional social networking, RefWorks, citation searching and bibliometrics, and online research for Graduate and WebCampus students. View the full schedule, descriptions and sign up @ http://scwlibrary.eventbrite.com.

Spring workshops

We are offering a series of free workshops to help you make the most of the library's tools and services. You can sign up @ http://scwlibrary.eventbrite.com >>

JSTOR releases free early journal content

JSTOR announced last week that they would be releasing all their pre-1923 journals for free. This includes almost half a million articles from over 200 journals. The content is being released gradually, starting this week, and will be accessible alongside our three current JSTOR collections (Arts and Sciences I & II + Math and Statistics) via http://ezproxy.stevens.edu/login?url=http://www.jstor.org. You can also browse the list of newly available content by discipline or by title.

JSTOR & RefWorks now available!

The library is happy to announce two new online tools for your research: JSTOR and Refworks.

JSTOR is a multi-disciplinary full-text database of scholarly journals, and will be especially helpful for those doing research in the humanities and social sciences. For more information on JSTOR, see: http://about.jstor.org/

RefWorks is an online citation manager, which allows you to export,

sort, edit and share references from many online sources, as well as create bibliographies in a variety of formats, all from a web-based portal. (Note: to use this tool, you will have to sign up for an individual account.) For more information on RefWorks, see: http://www.refworks-cos.com/about/

Off-campus users must access JSTOR and RefWorks through the library's online resources list, or use the following links:

• JSTOR
• RefWorks

Springer Materials Free Trial

Now till Oct 29th, the library has trial access to the Springer Materials, the world's largest resource for physical & chemical data in materials science.

The details:

• Based on Landolt-Börnstein, the unique and top-quality data collection in all areas of physical sciences and engineering
• Includes 165,000 substances and material systems, 3,000 properties and 1,000,000 literature citations.
• User friendly one-stop web platform
• International experts scan the primary literature in more than 1000 peer-reviewed journals and evaluate and pre-select the most reliable and scientifically acknowledged data.
• Researchers save time as they do not need to scan and assess primary literature themselves.

The link:

http://ezproxy.stevens.edu/login?url=http://www.springermaterials.com/navigation/index.html

-OR-

Find it on our Online Resource List

A New Tool to Support Your Work in Optics and Photonics

The library has recently acquired access to SPIE eBooks on the SPIE Digital Library. SPIE eBooks includes 120 significant titles from SPIE Press, including Field Guides, monographs and reference books, and Tutorial Texts in the field of optics and photonics, an area which encompasses multiple disciplines.

SPIE is one of the world’s foremost non-profit societies in the field of light research, publishing more than 17,000 new articles and conference proceedings each year as well as 15 to 20 books.
The areas covered in the SPIE Digital Library and SPIE eBooks include:

• Astronomy & Astronomical Optics
• Biomedical Optics and Imaging
• Communication and Information Technologies
• Defense and Industrial Sensing
• Electronic Imaging and Processing
• Micro- and Nano- Technologies
• Optics and Electro-Optics

We hope you find SPIE eBooks becomes an essential tool in your work; the library and SPIE would value your feedback. (You can always contact us at: library [at] stevens [dot] edu.)

Scopus Lunch & Learn

Please join us for the Scopus Lunch & Learn at the library on Wednesday, April 21, from noon to 1 pm.

Lunch will be provided, so please let us know if you plan to attend. (Please also let us know if you require a vegetarian meal.) RSVP by Monday to linda.beninghove@stevens.edu

A representative from Elsevier will be here to tell us all about the newest features of the scholarly Scopus database.

Come join us for free lunch, Scopus giveaways, and the latest news about how to use Scopus for your research. Faculty, students, and staff are urged to attend!

The Scopus Lunch & Learn will meet in Library Training Room 204.

Questions? Please send an email to linda.beninghove@stevens.edu

Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Free Trial

The library currently has a free trial to the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) digital library. The database includes 24 online journals, as well as a multitude of e-books. You can access it from on campus from this url: http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/

(You can access it from off-campus using the Stevens VPN connection. Directions for doing so are here: http://www.stevens.edu/itwiki/w/index.php/VPN)

Decisions about permanent access to these journals and e-books will be based on usage during the trial (as well as budget).

Library Workshops

The library will be offering several workshops to help students learn how to use the library's resources & services for professional development and how to use the library resources to prepare papers, projects, theses, and dissertations.

• Thursday, April 8, 5:00-6:00 p.m. Graduate Professional Development Series - Office of Graduate Student Affairs. Graduate students will learn how to use the library resources for academic assignments and career development. This seminar is offered through the Office of Graduate Student Affairs. Location: Babbio 304.

• Monday, April 12, 4:00-5:00 p.m. Library Research for Graduate and Ph.D. Students. Graduate students will learn how to use the library resources for academic assignments and career development. Location: Library Training Room 204. Refreshments will be provided.

• Wednesday, April 14, 3:00-4:00 p.m. Thesis and Dissertation Workshop. For all students working on a thesis or dissertation, this workshop will provide details about formatting & submission requirements. Location: Library Training Room 204. Refreshments will be provided.

• Wednesday, April 21, 12:00-1:00 p.m. Scopus Lunch & Learn. (RSVP required to linda.beninghove@stevens.edu - lunch will be provided, so we'll need to know how many people are attending!) All members of the Stevens community are welcome to attend. Attendees will learn about the latest features of the scholarly Scopus database. Location: Library Training Room 204.

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

Please join us at our workshops! We look forward to seeing you there.

New e-books in Psychology and Ocean Sciences

The Stevens community may now access two major reference works online from Elsevier: the Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology and the Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences (2nd ed.).

The Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology (2004; electronic ed., 2008) encompasses applications of psychological knowledge and procedures in all areas of psychology. It is a major source of information for professional practitioners, researchers in psychology, and for anyone interested in applied psychology. The topics included are, but are not limited to, aging (geropsychology), assessment, clinical, cognitive, community, counseling, educational, environmental, family, industrial/organizational, health, school, sports, and transportation psychology. Each entry provides a clear definition of the topic, a brief review of theoretical basis relevant to the topic, and emphasizes major areas of application.

The second edition of the Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences (2008) contains more than 500 articles on the subject, with improved coverage of climate, remote sensing, and data modeling. Over 30% of the content is new or has been updated from the first edition.

Both of these resources may be accessed through either ScienceDirect or the library’s online catalog.

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

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!

Homeland Security Digital Library now available to Stevens researchers

Stevens now has access to the Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL), containing over 65,000 important U.S. policy documents, presidential directives, and national strategy documents as well as specialized resources from universities, organizations and local and state agencies.

You can access this resource directly through their website (https://www.hsdl.org), or through the Library's Online Resources page. However, access is restricted to the Stevens community, and users must either be on the Stevens network (on campus), or signed into the Stevens virtual private network (VPN). For more information on establishing a VPN connection, see here: http://www.stevens.edu/library/about/connect.html

More information on the HSDL, from their website:

The Homeland Security Digital Library is the nation's premier collection of documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and organizational management. The HSDL is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

The Homeland Security Digital Library is composed of homeland security related documents collected from a wide variety of sources. These include federal, state, tribal, and local government agencies, professional organizations, think tanks, academic institutions, and international governing bodies. Resources are carefully selected and evaluated by a team of librarians and subject-matter specialists.

April Research Workshops

Are you writing a paper or working on a final project? Do you need to find journal articles and books to support your research topic?

Come to a Research Workshop at the Library!

Choose from 3 convenient workshop dates:

1. Wednesday, April 8th @ 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
2. Monday, April 13th @ 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
3. Tuesday, April 21st @ 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

You will improve the quality of your paper/project by learning:
- How to quickly find the full text of top-quality research sources (journal articles, books, e-books, conference papers, newspaper & magazine articles)
- How to cite your sources correctly in your paper and your bibliography
- How to find & use the best research resources for your papers and projects
- How to go beyond the free Internet and start using the innovative, scholarly, & professional research databases available through the Library website

All members of the Stevens community are welcome. All Undergraduate students, Graduate students, Ph.D. candidates, faculty, and staff are encouraged to attend.

Questions? Contact Linda Beninghove, Head of Reference and Research Services, at linda.beninghove@stevens.edu or 201-216-5412.

Location: Workshops will meet in Library Research Training Room 204 on the second floor of the Library.
We look forward to seeing you there.

SciFinder moving to web version

SciFinder Scholar has now changed to a web version of the database. In order to use SciFinder, users will need to register using their valid Stevens email address. If you are currently using the client version of SciFinder, you will need to register with the new web version. The client version will no longer work after the end of March, 2009.

Registration instructions are available on the Stevens Library website at http://www.stevens.edu/library/research/scifinder.html

Some of the new features of the web version of SciFinder include:

* Direct links to data
* Keep Me Posted enhancements
* Improved search precision
* Session history retention
* Index term linking

For SciFinder Web training and tutorials, check out the CAS website, at http://www.cas.org/support/scifi/index.html

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

Expanded Humanities coverage in Scopus

From their recent press release:

Elsevier announced today that its flagship product Scopus, the world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, will be nearly doubling its Arts & Humanities (A&H) titles. Access to the new journals will be available to Scopus users in April 2009. Currently the Scopus database contains 1,600 titles in A&H and related fields.

Many countries will be better represented as a result of these added titles and researchers will have enhanced access to international A&H content. Journal subjects include literature and literary theory (30% of new titles), general arts and humanities (22%), history (17%), visual/performing arts (16%), among others. read more...>>

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.

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.