December 2009 Archives

Here are the new physics and astronomy books received at Walter. As always you may check our new books list for all the new books received in Science and Engineering subjects.

QB981 .P48 2009
Primordial cosmology.
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.
xix, 836 p. ; 26 cm.
Link to MnCat Record

QC176.8.N35 C33 2009
Cademartiri, Ludovico.
Concepts of nanochemistry.
Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, c2009.
xix, 261 p. ; 25 cm.
Link to MnCat Record

QB801 .B54 2009
The biggest, baddest, coolest stars : proceedings of a workshop held at the Millennium Centre, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA, 16-18 July 2007
San Francisco, Calif. : Astronomical Society of the Pacific, c2009.
xii, 263 p.
Link to MnCat Record

QC793.3.S8 N83 2009
Nuclear structure and dynamics '09 : proceedings of the international conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 4-8 May 2009.
Melville, N.Y. : American Institute of Physics, c2009.
xvi, 461 p. ; 25 cm.
Link to MnCat Record

The SMART Learning Commons will host a Cram Slam study event.

Cram Slam study event
Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009
1-5 p.m.
Walter Library, Room 101
Snacks provided!

One-on-one support will be available for math, chemistry, physics, economics, writing and more!

Select previously used exams will be available. To see a complete list, visit our Test Bank at www.smart.umn.edu.

Free workshops will also be available for Math 1051, Math 1271, Econ 1101, Phys 1301W, Chem 1015, and writing. If you are interested in attending any of the workshops, please RSVP on the Cram Slam Workshop Web site.
--

SMART Learning Commons
Walter Library
smartlc@umn.edu

The IT Library Committee will meet on Thursday, December 3, 2009, from 2:15 to 3:15 pm in 314 Walter Library.

Faculty and Student Attendees:
Tryphon Georgiou - Electrical Engineering
Mike Grove - Council of Graduate Students rep
Alex Hamenev - Physics
David Holt - IT Student Board rep
Sanford Lipsky - Chemistry
Walter Littman - Mathematics
Friedrich Srienc - Chemical Engineering/Materials Science

Agenda

1. Collection Updates -- Kris Fowler

2. Patron-driven acquisition of materials - Kris Fowler and Jon Jeffryes

3. Technical reports and the University Digital Conservancy - Jan Fransen

4. Assignment Calculator - Janice Jaguszewski

5. Library Course Page - Lisa Johnston

• Old CourseLib Page


• New Library Course Page (draft view)


• MyLibrary Tab (Undergraduate View)

6. Patent tutorials and other workshops available online - Jon Jeffryes

To all you hard-working and under-appreciated...Finals are upon us, but this doesn't interfere with your need for free food!

It's my pleasure to announce the:
Annual Science/Engineering Library Study Break
Wednesday, December 16th
Time: 7:00 PM
Where: Walter Library

Please join us for cookies, drinks (the studious kind...), and free prizes!!

Remember, we kick off the fun at 7pm sharp and go until...about when the cookies run out. So take a break from studying (or thinking about studying) and join us!!

-Lisa

I was very excited to see this report by the group DPEH , Data Preservation in High Energy Physics. It outlines recommendations for facility based repositories to take more control over the preservation of HEP data. This is a massive undertaking, but already three workshops have taken place to outline the roadmap to success. Read the report at http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.0255

Data Preservation in High Energy Physics
Authors: Dphep Study Group
(Submitted on 1 Dec 2009)

Abstract: Data from high-energy physics (HEP) experiments are collected with significant financial and human effort and are mostly unique. At the same time, HEP has no coherent strategy for data preservation and re-use. An inter-experimental Study Group on HEP data preservation and long-term analysis was convened at the end of 2008 and held two workshops, at DESY (January 2009) and SLAC (May 2009). This document is an intermediate report to the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA) of the reflections of this Study Group.

Cornell University, has been awarded a $882,610 grant by the NSF for the Tools for Open Access Cyberinfrastructure project, which will enhance the popular arXiv repository. The grant was funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, read the award here.

The arXive has been hosted by Cornell Library since 2001 and according to the press release:

"The grant for research into new features is independent of the operation and maintenance provided by the library, according to Simeon Warner, director of IT application development for the library, who oversees the operation of the arXiv. The Library is engaged in a separate effort to find long-term support to maintain and develop the arXiv, he noted.

New tools will link papers by concepts, not just by the citations they contain, and this will help users without advanced expertise -- including some outside the scientific community -- understand the significance of new research, said Ginsparg."

This is not the first announcement to "socialize" scientific research. A related effort (Cornell based) will create a "Facebook for Scientists" according to one press release. Cornell's Vivo software will be enhanced to connect scientists from around the world.

Read more about the $12.2 Million Grant for VIVOweb, "Social Networking Software for Scientists"

Or, try the current version of Vivo Live:http://vivo.cornell.edu/. It's very much like a faculty expertise database, using data from many systems on campus and combining it into a nice interface. Of course, the UMN has plans to do something along those lines, this article from the daily explains the long history of our own faculty database.

The JISC just released a study on E-book use in the UK. Their "National E-Books Observatory Project: Key Findings and Recommendations" are presented online in..of course, an e-book at http://www.jiscebooksproject.org/archives/335

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"The results of the two year project exploring the behaviors of e-book users and the impact of course text e-books on print sales are now available. The final report summaries the key findings of the project and the recommendations for future action... captured through deep log analysis, focus groups, user surveys and print sales analysis."