September 2008 Archives

Read the article in this week's Science online:
House Weighs Proposal to Block Mandatory 'Open Access'
by Jocelyn Kaiser

Last week, members of a powerful House committee held the first-ever congressional hearing on a controversial policy requiring researchers to make their papers freely available to the public at a U.S. National Institutes of Health Web site--and floated a proposal to overturn it.

Remember that because of the NIH Public Access Policy, millions of Americans now have access to vital health care information from the NIH’s PubMed Central database. Under the current policy, nearly 4,000 new crucial biomedical articles were deposited in the last month alone. This proposed bill would prohibit the deposit of these articles, and as a result, researchers, physicians, health care professionals, families and individuals will find it much harder to get access to this critical health-related information.

Catch up on summer reading? We’ve updated our new books list to include the titles that we received in July and August. Follow the links to peruse our newest Physics and Astronomy titles.

View a list of all the new books that have come into the Science and Engineering Library.

If you have an idea for a book that you’d like to see purchased or a topic that you would like to suggest that I purchase on, I’m be happy to hear your thoughts. Email me.

The Science & Engineering Library is offering over a dozen workshops this fall that are open to all staff, faculty and students. Join us to learn how to more effectively use freely available resources. Here is just a sampling from this coming week:

Google for Researchers

With Google, you already search the web, share photos/movies/music, map directions and discover new things...but there are some tools you may have missed. This web search engine is on a mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible." So let's explore the new tools and technology that pair Google-efficient tools with library-quality results to weave together a rich information web that goes beyond just the World Wide Web.
We'll look at tools such as, Google Docs, RSS Reader, Google Scholar, and iGoogle Research Gadgets that will help you access, evaluate, and share information in an easy collaborate environment.

Grant Funding for Graduate Students

Find out more about funding opportunities available to graduate students. Learn how to use IRIS, SPIN, and Community of Science and the Foundation Directory to search for grant opportunities. Setting up e-mail updates on specific subjects will also be covered, as well as how to find internal U of M funding resources.

Web Tools for Working Collaboratively

Whether working with your colleagues across the University or around the world, it can be challenging to collaborate when you are in separate locations. Learn about web-based resources, both at the University and freely available on the web, that can help you to effectively collaborate. We will include resources such as Google Docs, del.icio.us and UThink.

EndNote for Engineers and Physical Scientists

This workshop is an introduction to using EndNote. Learn to import citations, customize your account, and format your bibliographies and in-text citations. We will also discuss using EndNote in conjunction with EndNoteWeb, a free web-based version of EndNote available to University of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff.

Visit the Science and Engineering Library's workshops page for more information on upcoming workshops. If you have questions about the workshops or would like schedule a workshop for your class or research group contact Jody Kempf (j-kemp@umn.edu) for additional information.

MNCAT Plus is a new interface to the libraries' catalog which offers new features such as:

* Google-style searching. Simply type a search term or two and click “Go.�
* Relevant results. The items that best match your search terms will rise to the top of your results list.
* Powerful filters. Start with a broad search and refine your results with the links on the right-hand side of the screen.
* Real-time availability information. See at a glance whether materials are available online or at one of our libraries.
* Familiar functions. Features like Did You Mean? suggestions and links to Google Books and WorldCat make it easier for you to find what you need. When available, cover images of books will be displayed.
* Social networking features. Reviews and tagging allow you to make your own contributions to the experience of others.
* Save and gather your citations. Push citations for materials you want to use or share to RefWorks and del.icio.us.
* Integrated access and delivery. Search MNCAT Plus and then move directly to online versions of items or request delivery of physical items with the “Get It� link.