Free e-book: Transforming Global Information and Communication Markets

In a new book from MIT Press, Peter Cowhey (UCSD and now the Senior Counselor at USTR) and Jonathan Aronson (USC) discuss why global information and communication markets matter, why change is needed, and what should be done. For more info, or to download the pdf version of the book (available for free under a creative commons license) see here: http://globalinfoandtelecom.org/book/

(Source: BoingBoing)

Source of the Week

'Source of the Week' is back! And what prompted us to revive the weekly feature where we highlight a report or article that focuses on science and/or technology? Why the Interagency Working Group on Digital Data of the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Science, of course!

Anyway.... The above-mentioned, lengthy-named agency just released a report on curating digital science data, called "Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society" (60 pages; pdf). From the abstract:

"The Interagency Working Group on Digital Data of the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Science has released a report describing a strategy to promote preservation and access to digital scientific data.

The report lays out a strategic vision for “a digital scientific data universe in which data creation, collection, documentation, analysis, preservation, and dissemination can be appropriately, reliably, and readily managed, thereby enhancing the return on our nation’s research and development investment by ensuring that digital data realize their full potential as catalysts for progress in our global information society.”

The report includes three key recommendations to pursue this vision. The first is to create an Interagency Subcommittee under NSTC that will focus on goals that are best addressed through continuing broad cooperation and coordination across agencies. The second key element of the strategic framework is for departments and agencies to lay the foundations for agency digital scientific data policy and make the policy publicly available. In laying these foundations, agencies should consider all components of a comprehensive policy to address the full data management life cycle. The third key element is for all agencies to promote a data management planning process for projects that generate scientific data for preservation." Read more...>>

(Source: ReferenceShelf)

Textbook Drive

In order to improve the resources available to the student body, and to meet a rising demand among students, The Stevens Library Committee is trying to create a reserve of current textbooks used in Stevens’ classes.

Currently, a number of professors supply copies of their course textbooks to the library for students to reference. Our goal is to have at least one copy of each textbook from every course available to students in the library each semester. In order to accomplish this goal we are requesting that the Stevens community donate any extra copies of current textbooks or acceptable earlier editions of textbooks for current courses.

So far, the drive has received an outstanding response from the School of Systems and Enterprises, with Dr. Donald Merino being the first to respond to our call and dropping off two copies of his textbook at the library. Dr. Rashmi Jain has also done a great job helping out with this project, collecting 44 textbooks in total from her school. We'd like to thank both Dr. Merino and Dr. Jain sincerely for their support (and Dr. Jain's diligence!), and we'd like to call on the other members of the Stevens faculty to join in the drive. Please consider dropping off your extra texts at the library, or even better, ask around amongst your colleagues and see how many books you can collect! (The library would be happy to come pick up the books from your department, just drop us an e-mail at library@stevens.edu and let us know when and where we can come get them.)

Thanks so much from us, and from the students, for all your help!

Preparing for midterms?

Since the library has been pretty packed lately, we're assuming that a lot of students have midterms either going on or coming up. Lifehacker must have noticed it's that time of year too, because they've been doing a lot of posting on test prep lately. The site has a great section on study tips, including online flash card creators, memory hacks and time management tools and tips.

Also, check out the Academic Support Center for upcoming workshops on getting organized, avoiding procrastination and succeeding academically.

Good luck on exams, and remember, spring break is on its way!

ACS features nanotechnology videos

The American Chemical Society's Nanotation division (tagline: "assembling the community of nanoscience") has launched a new video channel on their website. The ACS Nanotation NanoTube gives users the opportunity to create and star in their own videos about nanoscience and nanotechnology.

The site is also currently holding a contest that could net you 500 bucks if you win. Send them your original video answering any of the questions: what is "nano"? How is "nano" best visualized? Where is "nano" headed? Video submissions will be accepted from January 5 - March 15, 2009, must be 3 minutes in length or less, and will be judged on creativity, scientific clarity of explanation, originality and quality of the video. See the contest homepage here.

Here are some videos that have been submitted:


Small can be big - a french cheesy perspective


The Nano Song from nanomonster on Vimeo.

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...>>

Springer journals now available!

Springer journals are now available through the Library!

The Samuel C. Williams Library Staff is pleased to announce that we have acquired a subscription to the Springer journals package!

These journals are now available through the SpringerLink database.

SpringerLink highlights:

• Full text online access to almost 1,700 Springer journals

• Lecture Notes in Computer Science back to 1996

• Full text online access to all Springer e-books published in the English language between 2005 and 2008

Subject areas covered by the Springer journals and e-books:
Architecture and Design
Behavioral Science
Biomedical and Life Science
Business and Economics
Chemistry and Materials Science
Computer Science
Earth and Environmental Science
Engineering
Humanities, Social Science, and Law
Mathematics and Statistics
Medicine
Physics and Astronomy
Professional Computing and Applied Computing


• To use the SpringerLink database, go to the Library website, click on Search Tools, and click on Online Resource A-Z List. Select SpringerLink Collection from the list, and you’re ready to search the database. Please note that the subscription does not include access to Springer Protocols.

• The 2008 Library Online Resources Survey results indicated several databases most desired by students, faculty, and researchers. The Springer journals package was among the most-requested databases.

• If you would like to use the databases from off-campus locations, please go to our Connecting from Off-Campus page for instructions for setting up a VPN.

• If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact a Reference and Research Services Librarian. The Library Staff welcomes your comments and questions about our resources and services.