Science @ UCD Library

CABI releases Open Access Invasive Species Compendium

2011-12-08T11:52:00.001Z

The Invasive Species Compendium (ISC) is an Open Access encyclopaedic resource that brings together a wide range of different types of science-based information to support decision-making in invasive species management worldwide. It comprises detailed datasheets that have been written by experts, edited by an independent scientific organization, peer reviewed, and enhanced with data from specialist organizations, images, and maps, a bibliographic database and full text articles. New datasheets and data sets continue to be added, datasheets are reviewed and updated, and scientific literature added on a weekly basis. The ISC has been resourced by a diverse international Consortium of Government departments, Non-governmental organizations and private companies.
Diarmuid

BioMed Central's new-look website

2011-11-23T15:10:00.001Z

BioMed Central

BioMed Central have used feedback received from editors, authors, readers and reviewers to redevelop the website to provide a cleaner and uncluttered new look. Among the changes are:

A revamped homepage showcasing the most recent and popular published research
New-style journal homepages for the BMC series (e.g. BMC Biology, BMC Cancer)
My BioMed Central – see the latest articles in your subject areas, and easily manage email preferences and stored searches
My manuscripts – much improved display of the status of all your submitted/published manuscripts, and any that you are currently reviewing or have reviewed
Institutional Member pages – these now show all articles from a Member institution, not just the last 12 months. Performance is greatly improved and an RSS feed makes it easy to stay up to date
Advanced search – additional options for selecting and downloading search results
Gateways – subject gateways offer a quick way to see the latest research from across BioMed Central's open access journals on a particular topic, while regional gateways showcase research from particular countries. Each gateway now has a pair of RSS feeds, one for latest articles, and another for Editor's picks
Information pages – fully searchable, and with much simplified navigation, these pages tell you all you need to know about BioMed Central

Click on the Beta Link at the top of the BioMed Central homepage to preview the new website.
Diarmuid

Web of Knowledge Mobile Version

2011-11-07T11:39:00.002Z

Web of Knowledge is now available for your mobile phone. You can search the databases the Library has a subscription to: Web of Science, MEDLINE, BIOSIS Previews, and Derwent Innovation Index.
Results can be exported to EndNote Web or RefWorks.
Full information can be found at:

http://wokinfo.com/about/mobile/

A Web of Knowledge Mobile FAQ is available at:

http://wokinfo.com/wok/media/pdf/wok-mobile-faqs.pdf

--- Michael ---

Sciverse introduces new features

2011-10-11T23:12:00.000+01:00

Sciverse, the platform that combines ScienceDirect, Scopus with information on the web has brought new features to users during September. These new features include:

In SciVerse ScienceDirect, users may see up to three related PDF articles based on topic relevance to the PDF article they download.
In SciVerse Scopus, searching the references will now find web site addresses (URLs).
SciVerse Hub users will appreciate the easier and more powerful tabbed approach to advanced searching.
SciVerse Scopus users will benefit from an expandable advanced search box, an automatically formatted search string, and more helpful syntax error messages.
Especially helpful for users searching for local collaborators or assessing a particular country’s aptitude in a certain area, SciVerse Scopus now enables users to refine their searches by country based on the affiliation of the first author.

Diarmuid

CAB Thesarus updated

2011-08-04T19:34:00.001+01:00

Life sciences publisher CABI, UK, has announced that the CAB Thesaurus has had its biggest update in 30 years. The Thesaurus, projected as a comprehensive controlled vocabulary covering applied life sciences and related subject areas, has reportedly grown 40 percent in just one year. It now includes nearly 137,000 terms. The resource contains the scientific names and synonyms for pest- and disease-causing organisms, birds, mammals, insects and other species and details the relationships between them. It seeks to play a vital role in ensuring the quality and consistency of all content produced by CABI. It is also licensed by CABI to a wide variety of other organisations to categorise and index their own content.
Additions to the new edition include 10,000 nematode species mentioned in CABI online databases; world lists of birds, mammals, sucking lice (Anoplura) and trichodectid chewing lice (Mallophaga), with synonyms; complete revisions to the existing taxonomic hierarchies in the thesaurus of dinoflagellates and algae; and 7,275 new insect species from the Medani database, which contains species of veterinary and medical importance.
It is projected that the CAB Thesaurus will double in size in the next five years, and several innovations will be introduced to make it much more than just a controlled vocabulary. The most important of these will be to include semantic features into the thesaurus to make it fit for new CABI products and for wider use as part of the semantic web.

You can now export references from Google Books to Endnote

2011-07-12T17:38:00.004+01:00

For some time you have been able to export references from Google Scholar to Endnote. Google have quietly introduced this feature to Google Books. When you search Google Books and find the book that you are looking for, scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see links to export your reference to Endnote, BiBTeX and RefMan. Select your bibliography management tool and your citation will be exported.
You will need to check each reference to make sure that it is correct. I did a test export and found that my example didn't have a place of publication. As long as you take care this is a useful resource for finding book references to export to Endnote
Diarmuid

2010 Journal Citation Reports are now available

2011-06-29T14:34:00.002+01:00

The 2010 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) are now available. They provide a combination of impact and influence metrics, and millions of cited and citing journal data points that comprise the complete journal citation network of Web of Science. The 2010 JCR includes:

More than 10,000 of the world's most highly cited,
peer reviewed journals in 238 disciplines
Nearly 2,500 publishers and 84 countries represented
Over 1,300 regional journals
1,075 journals receiving their first Journal Impact Factor

Journal citation reports can be accessed through Findit@ucd.
Diarmuid

Proquest Databases move to new platform

2011-06-21T11:42:00.002+01:00

Proquest have developed a new platform for its databases and Databases that UCD subscribe to are being moved over to this new platform. For Science Technology and Medicine subjects these databases include:

PsycARTICLES
PsycBOOKS
PsycINFO
Zoological Record Plus (1978-Current)
GeoRef

Diarmuid

Endnote X4 now available in UCD

2011-06-16T12:09:00.003+01:00

UCD has upgraded Endnote to version X4. The application can be downloaded from Software Download on UCD Connect to institutionally owned computers. It will also be available in Student Computer Labs and via Software for U by the start of the new semester.
New Features

If you have a PDF of an article EndNote X4 can extract the basic bibliographic information using the Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) and CrossRef® data to create new records in a reference library. No need to search for the article or manually enter the information
You can now search within any PDF you have embedded in your library
Modify references easily in the new Quick Edit tab on the main library window. No need to open to the reference to make changes.
You can expand library retrieval results by adding wildcards within search terms.
Cite While You Write in over 4,500 journal styles

Diarmuid

UCD School of Physics Art Exhibit

2011-05-31T14:34:00.003+01:00

An exhibit was recently unveiled in the UCD School of Physics which involves visual representations of the research being done by the School. This project was in collaboration with the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and headed by the Head of School, Professor Lorraine Hanlon, who initially had the idea.

The project sparked further collaboration between the two entities, namely with the creation of an unconventional pilot module, "Tunneling Art and Physics", combining art and physics, with sessions held alternatively at UCD and the NCAD.

This story is featured in the most recent issue of UCD Today.

--Josh

Internet Explorer and Pubmed not working perfectly together

2011-04-27T14:36:00.003+01:00

Internet 8 seems to be having trouble in accepting long search strings due to the way that IE8 handles forms. If you have a have a long complex search string currently IE8 only searches the first number of search terms.
The solution within IE8 is to click on the advanced search link on the top of the screen, then select details. You can then paste the full search string into the Query Translation box. Youneed to have already run a search in pubmed before the Query Translation box will appear and delete all the text that's already in the box.
Alternatively you can try another browser if this is a problem.
Diarmuid

Irish Veterinary Journal is now Open Access

2011-04-13T14:56:00.005+01:00

The Irish Veterinary Journal which for 65 years has been the Official Journal of Veterinary Ireland has changed and become an open acess journal. It is now freely available on line at BioMed Central. The first articles published include a review from Dr Donagh Berry et al. on the contribution of genetic makeup to differences in resistance to many diseases affecting cattle, and research from Dr Lies Beekhuis-Gibbon et al. on a pilot study for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) based approach for the control of good udder health in dairy cows.
Diarmuid

EndNote Web and ResearcherID updates

2011-03-28T14:21:00.002+01:00

Thomson Reuters will be performing an upgrade to EndNote Web and ResearcherID starting Sunday, March 27th.
New EndNote Web features:

Cite While You Write in Word 2011 for Mac. Get the new plug-in from the "Download Installers" page in EndNote Web.
Get better results with SFX (OpenURL) Author and Title links for Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese languages.
Link to Biosis Citation Index source records directly within EndNote Web including one-click author searches.

ResearcherID, is a free author community where you can create your own profile to eliminate author misidentification. New features include

Search Web of Science using a ResearcherID.
Link to ResearcherID profiles listed in Web of Science full record.

Diarmuid

UCD Open Access Institutional Repository informational sessions

2011-03-14T16:56:00.000Z

A series of talks and workshops will be held on a new service that allows you to put your research publications online, free of charge, without subscriptions or other barriers to access, open to all UCD researchers and staff engaged in scholarly publication .
Providing open access to your publications through the UCD Institutional Repository will increase your visibility, showcase your research, enhance your School, College or Research Centre's reputation, fulfil funding requirements and build valuable research and industry connections.

An informational leaflet is available here.

Each talk will cover reasons and incentives for putting your research online via the Institutional Repository; workshops will be practical sessions on how to upload items and track usage trends (downloads) for individual items, Schools, Colleges and Research Centres.

Talks:
1:15 Tuesday 22nd March, C108 Arts building
1:15 Thursday 24th March, B109 Health Sciences Building

Workshops:
1:15 Tuesday 29th March, Health Sciences Library Information Skills room
1:15 Wednesday 30th March, G30 Agricultural Sciences Building

Expressions of interest are welcome but booking in advance is not required.
For more information, please contact Joseph Greene, Institutional Repository Project Manager on 01 7167398 or joseph.greene@ucd.ie

EndNote Training Semester 2

2011-01-19T16:35:00.004Z

Are you new to Endnote? Do you want to brush up on your Endnote skills? Are you planning to use Endnote to organise references for your literature or systematic reviews, reading lists or other publications?
UCD Library is offering a number of training sessions for Endnote X2 for PC and Endnote Web throughout Semester 2 2010/2011.
This 1 hour session aims to provide participants with an introduction to EndNote X2 or EndNote web, respectively.
By the end of the session participants:

will know how to create an EndNote library.
will be able to populate their library with manual references and imported references from library catalogues and databases
will be able to demonstrate how to cite references & create bibliographies in a Word document using the references stored in an EndNote library

To register please complete the online booking form for EndNote X2 or EndNote Web.

--- Michael ---

SAE Current Print Journals Relocated

2011-01-17T15:03:00.004Z

Science, Agriculture and Engineering current print journals previously located on Level 4 of the James Joyce Library have been relocated to Level 3.
Look at the map for new location.

--- Michael ---

New open access journal from Nature Publishing Group

2011-01-14T12:21:00.003Z

Nature has just announced a call for papers for a new online open access journal titled Scientific Reports. This journal will cover a broad subject base in the natural sciences - including articles in biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences. The journal will charge an article processing fee, with the author retaining copyright, and articles will be freely available to everyone. It will be interesting to see the usage statistics once it has been launched.

--Josh

loss of access to Oxford Journals

2011-01-11T16:23:00.004Z

UCD Library has lost access to Oxford Journals online since yesterday. We have reported this to Oxford University Press and we hope to have this resolved in the near future.

Update: 13/1/11 Access has now been restored
Diarmuid

Royal College of Science for Ireland Library on Youtube

2010-12-14T10:14:00.002Z

UCD Library had the good fortune to inherit the Royal College of Science for Ireland Library which forms part of UCD Special Collections.
Last year UCD Special Collections was lucky enough to be awarded a grant from the Wellcome Trust to carry out a survey of this Library.
Please have a look at the links below to find out more about the Royal College of Science for Ireland Library and UCD’s Special Collections.
Royal College of Science for Ireland Library - A Unique Part of Ireland's Scientific Heritage
Royal College of Science for Ireland Library - Collection Highlights

--- Michael ---

New Science Direct App

2010-12-13T12:29:00.004Z

Users of SciVerse ScienceDirect can now keep up to date even when on the move with the updated iPhone App. With the App you can access exactly the same journals and books from your iPhone as you can from your laptop or desktop computer. The screen may be smaller but the familiar content is all there. The App allows you to look up and read a paper, share the PDF, or just explore what's out there anytime you get a bright idea.
The App is available for Iphone, iPad and iPd Touch users and can be downloaded from the App store for free.
Diarmuid

Advanced EndNote X2 training

2010-11-30T13:40:00.001Z

UCD Library offers two Advanced EndNote X2 lunchtime sessions on 6th and 10th December 2010 (13.00-14.00). These sessions will cover features such as:

* Creating a subject bibliography
* Customising bibliographic output styles
* Customising reference types
* Finding and adding full text
* and more ...

There will be time for Questions & Answers at the end. You need to have a basic knowledge of EndNote X2 if you want to attend a session. Please register here.

Another publication added to the Lyell Collection

2010-11-23T09:59:00.005Z

The Geological Society has just announced the addition of Petroleum Geoscience to its Lyell Collection. This brings the number of publications in the collection to twelve. PG is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal covering the science and technology associated with rock-related petroleum disciplines.

You can access this journal, which starts from volume 1, issue 1 (1995), through the Library's findit @UCD Library discovery tool. As with most of our other resources, this is available off campus.

--Josh

PubMed adds Veterinary Science as a Special Query

2010-11-22T10:07:00.002Z

This month sees the introduction of Veterinary Science as a Special Query in PubMed. The MEDLINE/PubMed Veterinary Science search retrieves citations to journal literature, combining subject search terms, title words, and veterinary and animal health journal titles. It also highlights a range of other veterinary information resources.
To select the Veterinary Science search you can either go to limits in PubMed and select Veterinary Science from the subset menu or go to the Special query page mentioned above.
Diarmuid

Annual Hamilton walk takes place October 16th

2010-10-07T13:33:00.002+01:00

The annual walk to commemorate the life of one of Ireland's greatest mathematicians, Sir William Rowan Hamilton, will take place on October 16th.
Among his discoveries were quaternions, a type of four-dimensional number. The quaternion, since its discovery it has been used in various fields such as the development of wireless telegraph and in the creation of the video game character Lara Croft.
The walk will retrace the walk Hamilton took in 1843, which ended with him scratching the formulas for the quaternions on the bridge at Broombridge in Cabra.
If you are interested in taking part in the commemorative walk, contact Dr. Fiachra O Cairbre in the Department of Mathematics at NUI Maynooth at 01-7083763
Diarmuid

2010 Ig Nobel awards annaounced

2010-10-02T10:55:00.002+01:00

The 2010 Ig Nobel winners were recently announced and as usual The awards were given for research achievements that first make people LAUGH then make them THINK.
Medicine: Simon Rietveld of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Ilja van Beest of Tilburg University, The Netherlands, for discovering that symptoms of asthma can be treated with a roller-coaster ride. Read it here.
PHYSICS PRIZE: Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams, and Patricia Priest of the University of Otago, New Zealand, for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes. Read it here
Public Health: Manuel Barbeito, Charles Mathews, and Larry Taylor of the Industrial Health and Safety Office, Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA, for determining by experiment that microbes cling to bearded scientists. Read it here
There plenty more good research to catch up on the website and you can watch the awards ceremony on youtube.
Diarmuid

EndNote & EndNote Web Lunchtime Sessions for First Semester 2010-2011

2010-09-16T10:20:00.004+01:00

EndNote is a software tool for storing and managing literature references, and creating bibliographies.

UCD Library is offering basic training on EndNote version X2 for students and staff.
If you want to attend a training session, please register here.
These sessions will cover:

creating references in EndNote
Downloading and importing references from online resources
using the "Cite-While-You-Write" feature to add references and bibliographies to your papers

In addition, UCD is offering training on EndNote Web, the Web version of this reference software. It can be used exclusively or as a complement to EndNote X2. To register for an EndNote Web session, please click here.

These sessions will cover registration with EndNote Web and the same topics as for EndNote X2.

The training dates are as follows:

EndNote X2 - Sept. 22; Oct. 1, 12, 20; Nov. 5, 8, 16
EndNote Web - Oct. 4, 28; Nov. 24

New Resource: Encyclopedia of Industrial Biotechnology: Bioprocess, Bioseparation, and Cell Technology (Wiley, 2010)

2010-08-18T12:32:00.003+01:00

UCD Library purchased online access to this encyclopaedia. The Encyclopedia of Industrial Biotechnology: Bioprocess, Bioseparation, and Cell Technology, is a new up-to-date resource for the global biotechnology industry. It is based on the Encyclopedia of Bioprocess Technology (Flickinger and Drew, 1999) and the Encyclopedia of Cell Technology (Spier, 2000). The content was fully revised, updated, and expanded to present all key aspects - theoretical and practical - of industrial biological processes, techniques, equipment, products, as well as ethical and regulatory issues.

The focus has been expanded to include additional important areas such as:

regulatory guidelines (U.S. and international)
GMP facilities design
manufacturing methods for biopharmaceuticals
biofabrication
tissue engineering
bioelectronic devices
bionanotechnology

You can access this resource via FindIt@UCD Library > Databases.

--- Michael ---

iTunes of scientific research?

2010-08-13T11:26:00.002+01:00

One of the new start ups in the scientific information arena is a company called Mendeley. Mendeley indexes and organizes all of your PDF documents and research papers into your own personal digital bibliography. It uses PubMed, CrossRef, DOIs and other related document details to help you build up your bibliography.
It then adds a social networking element that allows you to share information and resources with colleagues or with the wider world. It claims that this social element will allow you to "discover the hottest papers, authors and topics in your discipline – right now and in real-time".
Mendeley is mentioned in today's Irish times and the article raises the idea that the idea of the wisdom of the crowd could be a model that might replace the traditional peer review one.
Diarmuid

AMS Research Journals Archive is Digitized

2010-08-11T11:21:00.007+01:00

The American Mathematical Society (AMS) has established a complete digital archive of its mathematical research journals.
Over 34,000 articles are freely available from over 100 years of mathematical research in:

Journal of the AMS (1988 - 2005)
Mathematics of Computation (1943 - 2005)
Proceedings of the AMS (1950 - 2005)
Transactions of the AMS (1900 - 2005)
Bulletin of the AMS (1891 - 2005)

We also subscribe to the latest content from these journals, of course. Search for these journals and more via the UCD Library website. Researchers can search across the archive at http://www.ams.org/joursearch.

--Josh

New E-book Collection - EnviroNetBase

2010-08-09T12:44:00.002+01:00

UCD Library has purchased EnviroNetBase, an e-book collection from CRC Press.

"Complete with the latest research on pollution reduction, emissions, and environmental contamination, this e-book collection provides complete access to references on methods for site assessment, remediation, and soil and water quality monitoring. The Environmental Science Collection describes new tools and technologies for remote sensing, GIS, and photogrammetric environmental monitoring"

This collection of 679 titles can be accessed through Databases in FindIt@UCD Library or directly at http://www.crcnetbase.com/page/environmental_science_ebooks (if you are on campus). Individual records to our catalogue will be added in due course.

--- Michael ---

RSC Publishing launches new beta publications platform

2010-07-07T16:18:00.003+01:00

The Royal Society of Chemistry has launched of a new integrated online platform allowing over 500,000 journal articles, book chapters and database records to be searched through one simple interface.

Key features include:

Single search interface for journal, book and database content
Faceted browsing - a technique that allows rapid filtering of results
Topic clouds to highlight latest research
Integrated tools for bookmarking, saving and sharing information
Saved searches and alerts
Librarian login and branding
Dynamic news feeds

The new platform aims to deliver faster browsing, intelligent searching and more intuitive navigation and is open for beta-testing now.

Check it out at http://pubs.rsc.org/

The old web site will run parallel for several months to give customers time to highlight any broken links and amend as necessary.

---- Michael ----

Google Scholar now allows searching within Citing Articles

2010-07-07T11:15:00.008+01:00

Google Scholar keeps adding new features. Recently it allowed you to set up alerts and now it has added an enhancement to the cited by feature. The cited by feature allows you to track the impact of an article though time by tracking the range of authors who cited the original article in their and is displayed below each reference in your results. Clicking in this will display all the citing articles. The new feature allows you to search within this set of results. After clicking in the cited by link, in addition to the articles, you’ll also see a checkbox directly below the search box that allows you to search within the results.
Diarmuid

Springer goes open access

2010-06-28T16:27:00.004+01:00

On Saturday 26th June at the American Library Association (ALA) conference in Washington D.C, Springer announced the addition to its portfolio of a new range of open access journals, to be published under the banner of SpringerOpen.
The new range of e-only journals covers all academic disciplines outside BioMed Central’s scope. All content will be fully open access, freely and immediately available on publication using BioMed Central’s expertise and open access publishing platform. SpringerOpen articles are also freely available at Springer's award-winning platform, SpringerLink.

Diarmuid

Journal Citation Reports & Web of Science News

2010-06-18T11:26:00.003+01:00

Data for 2009 has just been loaded onto Journal Citation Reports, part of the ISI Web of Knowledge set of databases. Now you can find citation data for the years 2003-2009 using JCR.

The JCR can be found via the Library's findit @UCD Library system. Web of Knowledge, including JCR and Web of Science are available off campus.

-Josh

Scopus gets an App

2010-06-03T09:37:00.003+01:00

Nature and the American Chemical Society have already done it and now Scopus has released an App for mobile searching and alerting.
The press release says that:
This free mobile app is specifically for existing Scopus subscribers and includes some of the most popular features:

* Search across thousands of scholarly journals. (approx 13,000 from approx. 500 publishers)
* Share search results and article links through e-mail or Twitter.
* Save important abstracts in one place for easy look-up.
* Set up and review e-mail alerts for favorite searches.
* Set up e-mail alerts for when an author cites a particular article [search alerts, too!].
* Annotate abstracts with your own notes.

The app can be downloaded from iTunes

Diarmuid

Building a PubMed search online clinic

2010-05-25T11:59:00.003+01:00

The National Library of Medicine recently ran a thirty minute online search clinic which covered the mechanics of the PubMed Search Builder and how to search using tags.
The clinic will help anyone who is starting to use PubMed and anybody who has been using PubMed for some time will get some ideas on how to search it more effectively.
The clinic has been been available and can be viewed here.
Diarmuid

CABI introduce new interface for Crop Protection Compendium

2010-05-18T16:36:00.004+01:00

CABI are about to introduce a new interface for the Crop Protection Compendium and you can have a look before its officially rolled out. While on campus go to www.cabi.org/cpc and you can see what's available with the new interface.
Among the new features are:

easy-to-use search engines;
clearer layout;
300 recently commissioned and updated datasheets;
an ability to browse content;
taxonomy browse;
a subset of abstracts, updated weekly;
inclusion of Full Text material;
core data from EPPO and FAO;
an ability to search across all content types at the same time.

Diarmuid

NEW Climate Library from climatedeal.org

2010-05-13T10:20:00.003+01:00

Climatedeal.org, which is an online, open-content and collaborative Q&A platform on climate change related issues, announces the launch of the NEW Climate Library, which is open and free to anyone to access and post climate related documents.

The Climate Library allows anyone to submit relevant documents such as reports, research papers or even master or PhD theses. When doing so an abstract, author(s), date of publication and keywords can be added so that other users can search the library more easily.
-Josh

Get alerts from Google Scholar

2010-05-12T11:47:00.002+01:00

Google have added a new feature to Google Scholar. You can now create alerts to inform you of any future references that meet you search parameters. After you've completed your search you will see an alert button above your list of references. Click on this and you can quickly create an alert. Currently there isn't a lot of options as to frequency, etc. when setting up an alert, but hopefully that will come in the future.
Diarmuid

UCD Science Library Blog: 5 Years On!

2010-04-16T12:35:00.008+01:00

This month marks the fifth anniversary of this blog's inception. We hope you have enjoyed our postings and our efforts to keep UCD staff and students (and others perhaps?) informed of local happenings and new developments in/additions to the Library's growing collection of print and electronic science information resources.

Last month the contributors to this blog created and presented a poster at the LILAC (Librarians' Information Literacy Annual Conference) 2010 conference held in Limerick, Ireland. It was a chance for us to reflect on the purpose and aim of the blog and to think a bit about the future. (Go here to see the poster.)

Over the years we have added new functionality and have tested out new gadgets and widgets, but the purpose remains the same - to inform and communicate. Watch this space for future developments and new contributors! Thanks for reading. We look forward to the continuing journey...
--Josh

PubMed now reaches back to 1947

2010-04-14T12:47:00.002+01:00

The NLM Technical Bulletin reports "When the original MEDLINE database made its debut in 1971, it contained citations to journal articles mostly published from approximately 1966 forward. NLM began to expand the retrospective coverage of the database in 1996, when more than 307,000 citations originally published in the 1964 and 1965 Cumulated Index Medicus® were made available as OLDMEDLINE. The Library has been moving steadily backward in time ever since.
"Some contemporary medical questions can only be answered by consulting the older literature," observed NLM Director Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg. "NLM is working to make the journal citations in older printed indexes electronically searchable, and our goal is to go back at least as far as World War II."
With the addition of the 1947 citations, the MEDLINE/PubMed subset now contains over 20 million citations produced during 63 years of indexing of the biomedical literature."
Diarmuid

UCD Library offers workshop on sourcing images

2010-04-13T10:15:00.003+01:00

Workshop: Sourcing Image Collections through UCD Library and the Web
Who should attend: Postgraduate students and academic staff from all disciplines
Aim: For those involved with using images for research or educational purposes, some of the main issues are -

Where can I find images?
Can I use the images I find on the Internet or elsewhere?

This workshop will give an overview of the variety of resources available to source images such as databases, on the Web, and repositories; plus the complex copyright issues surrounding them.

Presenters: Susan Hussein
Venue:Information Skills Room, Health Sciences Library
Date: Thursday 22nd April
Time: 9.30 - 11.00am

Topics to be covered will include:
Searching for images in -

Library subscribed to resources like - ARTstor, JSTOR, Science Direct, Academic Search Premier, Biological Sciences and other databases.
Freely available resources such as - Google Images, Yahoo, Picsearch and Turboscout
Finding and searching image repositories - including Flickr, Creative Commons, Wikimedia and subject specific repositories

Using images -

An overview of the copyright issues surrounding images
How to check the conditions of use on a resource or website
New developments

Click here to book a place.
Diarmuid

BMC Biology and Journal of Biology become one

2010-04-12T16:33:00.005+01:00

BioMed Central today announces that "its flagship biology journals, BMC Biology and Journal of Biology are being fused to create a single high-impact title. The amalgamated journal will operate under the name BMC Biology , reflecting the strong relationship with the subject-specific BMC-series journals, with sharing of referees' reports allowing rapid transfer of submitted manuscripts in either direction.
The fused journal will be edited by Miranda Robertson and will incorporate and expand on the high-profile commissioned content of the well-regarded Journal of Biology, as well as publishing research and methodology articles of special importance and broad interest across all areas of biology and biomedical sciences.
The journal fusion is marked by a special launch issue, which introduces a new feature Video Q&A articles with prominent scientists. These video interviews provide a platform for leading researchers to express a personal perspective on a variety of scientific topics. The first Video Q&A features Martin Raff from University College London, who explains, as a grandfather and a neuroscientist, his interest in what goes wrong in autism, and how he thinks genomic and stem cell technology may lead to answers."
Diarmuid

American Chemical Society goes mobile as well

2010-04-09T12:23:00.003+01:00

ACS Mobile provides readers with a multi-journal, up-to-the-minute live stream of new peer-reviewed research content (Articles ASAP^SM) published across the Society's preeminent portfolio of 38 scholarly research journals, including the flagship Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Features include:

Up-to-the minute access to new ACS ASAP Articles, personalized across the entire portfolio of 38 peer-reviewed ACS Journals.

Tailored "on the fly" filtering options for viewing content from selected ACS titles.
Delivery of an indexed list of more than 35,000 research articles published annually, complete with graphical and text abstracts.
A "Latest News" feed from Chemical & Engineering News Online.
Saving of favorites in a "My ASAPs" folder for convenient offline reading and pushing back to your usual research setting.
Interface to full-text article access (via wireless or Virtual Private Networks) for users at institutions that subscribe to ACS Journals. ID/password-based access is also an option for individuals who subscribe to ACS journals as part of their ACS member benefits package.
Quick Search across the more than 850,000+ scientific research articles and book chapters now on the ACS Web Editions Platform — discoverable by author, keyword, title, abstract, DOI or bibliographic citation.
Sharing of links and snippets via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.

ACS Mobile can be downloaded from the Itunes App store.
Diarmuid

New features added to Veterinary Medicine diagnostic tool, Consultant

2010-03-29T11:33:00.003+01:00

Consultant, A Diagnostic Support System for Veterinary Medicine has incorporated anew feature into its service. “New and Noteworthy” will be a rolling list of important articles, including new diseases (e.g., Lafora disease) added to CONSULTANT. In addition to entering these references in the general disease descriptions, Dr. Maurice E. White has wanted a means of highlighting significant papers from a clinician’s point of view for some time. Citations will be added daily (e.g., 1 Mar 2010) and dropped off the bottom on an ongoing basis to maintain a manageable length list for browsing and current awareness purposes.
Diarmuid

Nature goes mobile

2010-03-29T11:19:00.004+01:00

The nature.com application allows you to access science news stories and the latest published research from Nature Publishing Group on your iPhone or ipod touch wherever you are. As new articles are published they're pushed straight to your iPhone where you can read the full text immediately or just save them for later.
Tell the app which journals you're interested in or set up saved searches, which will show you the titles and abstracts of new articles from any journals in PubMed that match your key words.
You can get this app at the itunes app store.
Diarmuid

RSC Publishing - New ePlatform Launched

2010-03-15T09:58:00.002Z

The Royal Society of Chemistry has launched RSC Publishing beta, a new content delivery platform.

The new platform will be running parallel with the main RSC website over the coming months, so in the meantime you could spend time reviewing it and providing as much feedback as possible – the RSC wants to take all comments on board to ensure the site is moulded to the way you want it.

Please feel free to take an online tour http://media.rsc.org/publishing/publishingbeta.mp4 or simply jump straight in and explore the platform www.rsc.org/publishingbeta.

-- Michael --

Popular Science available on Google Books

2010-03-14T22:34:00.002Z

Reported on the Observer today is that fact that Popular Science is now available through Google Books.

This means that 136 years of its history are free to view online. There is a 12 month rolling wall, so the most recent issue is March 2009.

Diarmuid

100 Time-Saving Search Engines for Serious Scholars

2010-03-03T21:17:00.002Z

Online Universities has done a great job of bringing together a list of 100 search engines that can be of use to anyone doing reasearch, whether your an undergraduate, postgraduate or academic.
These range from General resources such as BUBL Link , Meta search engines like Dogpile, archives from the British Library.
The list includes a range of subject specific resources such as Chem BioFinder for Chemistry and ZMATH Online Database for Mathematics.
Diarmuid

new IOP web platform

2010-03-02T11:52:00.005Z

The Institute of Physics launched a new web platform for discovering their journal content today. The new site is called IOPscience and includes personalised services such as:

enhanced search filtering for finding relevant papers
saved searches
search and journal TOC alerts (RSS and email)
social bookmarking - add tags to articles
discover related articles

You can register for a free account that enables a lot of these services. The homepage features a quick search box, news and most read and most cited articles.

-Josh

School of Computer Science & Informatics Lecture Series

2010-02-17T09:49:00.004Z

/etc is a new seminar series intended to provide some understanding of novel computing technologies from a practical perspective. This short seminar series will comprise of four talks to be delivered by experienced practitioners; it is intended to give the audience an appreciation of the capabilities of these technologies and some basic understanding of how they are used to solve real world problems.
More details about the talks can be found here.
Diarmuid

Irish Journal of Agricultural & Food Research now available on JSTOR

2010-02-16T16:28:00.003Z

Teagasc's peer reviewed journal Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research has been released on JSTOR in December 2009 and will contain the entire collection of back issues of the journal since its inception in 1961. The journal has a one one year moving wall, which means that currently the most recent issue available on JSTOR is issue 2, 2008.
Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research is in JSTOR's Ireland Collection, which is available without fees to any non-commercial institutions in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.
According to JSTOR “The Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research is a vital part of the collection’s resources in the biological sciences”.
Diarmuid

Free E-book: The Infectious Diseases of Haiti

2010-02-05T09:16:00.004Z

As a response to the humanitarian disaster in Hiati, Gideon have released a free ebook, The Infectious Diseases of Haiti, for health professional interested in Haiti.
Gideon (Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network) is the world's premier global Infectious Diseases database. This point-of-care clinical decision support system provides a current, evidence-based resource for the diagnosis, treatment and teaching in the fields of Tropical & Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology and Microbiology in all countries
GIDEON is used by emergency room physicians, infectious disease specialists, pediatricians, public health officials at hospitals, medical schools, public health departments and government agencies. The database helps clinicians overcome information overload and save time by providing quick diagnosis and access to a vast source of high-quality medical content. This is an ideal teaching tool for health care workers, students, residents and fellows.

The New SpringerLink Interface

2010-01-25T11:06:00.004Z

If you haven't already, take a minute to check out the new SpringerLink Beta webpages. The new homepage may also be accessed via the bright orange button logo on the left side of the existing homepage. Will this new interface make it easier to quickly browse the content to which we subscribe? The jury is still out...

- Josh

EndNote Training in Semester 2

2010-01-15T13:32:00.001Z

UCD Library is offering EndNote X2 lunchtime training sessions for students and staff in semester 2. To register for a session, click here.

As a pilot project we are also offering some training on EndNote Web, the web-based version of EndNote. For more information on EndNote Web, have a look at our EndNote Web page. To register for a session, click here.

Geological Maps now in UCD's IVRLA Repository

2010-01-12T12:29:00.006Z

Hi and Happy 2010!

Recently a collection of approximately 200 historical geological maps of Ireland were scanned and added to UCD's IVRLA Repository. This collection comes from UCD's School of Geological Sciences, and was originally held by the Royal College of Science for Ireland (RCSI). The original hand painted Geological Survey of Ireland maps are at a scale of 1":1 mile and originate in date from 1859 to 1913. They are a beautiful addition to the IVRLA collection and can be viewed and downloaded as JPEG or DjVu files. To view these maps, go to the IVRLA content page and enter the search word "geological" into the "Search All Collections" box. Open access to these maps will be useful to students and researchers in UCD and elsewhere.

For those interested, a bit of history and background about the RCSI can be found here and here.

-Josh-

How to keep up to date with scholarly journal output

2009-11-17T15:15:00.003Z

It can be hard keeping up to date with all the research output being published every month. UCD library has information on the library website to help you keep track. I also found this information on another blog that has a list of 10 resources that can help you to keep on top of the journal literature.
Between the two webpages hopefully you'll have it all covered.
Diarmuid

Nature reaches 140!

2009-11-10T12:10:00.005Z

This week Nature is 140 years old. To celebrate Nature has published a two page miscellany with information from that issue and from others issues in 1889, 1909, 1929, 1949, 1969 and 1989.
You can also check out the history of nature in words and video.
Diarmuid

New PubMed Interface launched

2009-11-09T15:23:00.004Z

The National Library of Medicine has just lauched a new interface for PubMed which has given the database a new sleeker look. Some of the changes un the new look PubMed include:

A more streamline homepage
The tabs giving access Limits, Preview/Index, History, and Details have been removed and are now available through the Advanced Search option
The drop down Send to menu has been reorganised and moved on the screen.
How you export to Endnote has slightly changed. You can find the exact changes here.

You can get more information about the changes here.
Diarmuid

Open Access Week

2009-10-19T11:36:00.005+01:00

This week is Open Access Week (Oct 19-24). Open Access is a movement within the global research community to make the published results of scholarly research freely available on the Web. Open Access Week is an opportunity to raise awareness of the services, technology and expertise available to you.
Your research results can be made freely available in a variety of ways:

Archive your research in a local Institutional Repository ('Green' Open Access)

Offering copyright clearance, professional cataloguing and detailed usage statistics, Research_online@UCD, currently being piloted by the UCD Library, will allow you to do just this from 2010.

Pay your publisher a fee to make publications open (Gold Open Access)

Click here for a list of publishers
Submit your research or have your research sent to a subject repository. Examples include:

PubMed Central (required by many Life Sciences publications)

ArXiv.org -- Physics repository, author submits

Economists Online -- aggregated from local repositories including Research_online@UCD

Please note: if you are publishing research as a result of SFI, HEA and/or IRCSET funding since May-June 2008, (SFI since Feb 2009), you may be required by your funder to store a copy in your local institutional repository. Research_online@UCD can accept the post-peer-review final draft of your paper (post-print) now. Submission instructions are available here

Please do not send publishers' final edited version unless your publisher appears in this list

With your help, Research_online@UCD will ensure that each item archived is copyright cleared.
For more information on Open Access or archiving your research, please contact the Library or research.online@ucd.ie.
Diarmuid

Ig Nobel Prizes 2009 awarded

2009-10-05T12:09:00.002+01:00

The 2009 Ig Nobel Prizes 'for achievements that first make people LAUGH then make them THINK' were awarded on 1st October in Boston.
Favourites this year are the Veterinary Medicine Prize for showing that cows who have names give more milk than cows that are nameless (Anthrozoos, vol. 22, no. 1, March 2009, pp. 59-69) and the prize for Physics for analytically determining why pregnant women don't tip over (Nature, vol. 450, 1075-1078, December 13, 2007)

--- Michael ---

New H1N1 Information Portal now available

2009-09-10T12:56:00.002+01:00

Due to Pandemic H1N1 Influenza and concerns about the 2009/2010 flu season, the EBSCO Publishing Medical and Nursing editors of DynaMed™, Nursing Reference Center™ (NRC) and Patient Education Reference Center™ (PERC) have made key influenza information from these resources freely available to health care providers worldwide.

The editorial teams will monitor the research and update these resources continuously throughout the upcoming flu season.

Diarmuid

EndNote Lunchtime Sessions are back!

2009-09-07T11:43:00.004+01:00

UCD Library is offering introduction sessions to EndNote for students and staff. These sessions are designed for beginners and will cover the creation of EndNote libraries and references, the download of references from online resources and the use of Cite While You Write to add references to a Word document.

Each session will be held in the Information Skills Room of the Health Science Library, always from 1pm-2pm.

The dates for this semester are:

Advance booking for any of these sessions is possible.

--Josh

Reaxys Trial

2009-08-21T16:08:00.002+01:00

UCD has full access to Reaxys for a trial period until 31st October 2009.
Reaxys is a web-based search and retrieval system for chemical compounds, bibliographic data and chemical reactions.
It is a new Elsevier product, built on Beilstein and Gmelin, and will eventually replace those databases.

--- Michael ---

The Article of the Future

2009-08-14T15:01:00.002+01:00

"Cell Press and Elsevier have launched a project called Article of the Future that is an ongoing collaboration with the scientific community to redefine how the scientific article is presented online. The project's goal is to take full advantage of online capabilities, allowing readers individualized entry points and routes through the content, while using the latest advances in visualization techniques." (Cell Press)

More information and two prototype articles could be found here: http://beta.cell.com/

--- Michael ---

Lunar landing - 40 years

2009-07-20T12:09:00.002+01:00

2008 data for Journal Citation Reports is now available

2009-06-22T12:21:00.002+01:00

Journal Citation Reports^® is a comprehensive resource that allows you to evaluate and compare journals using citation data drawn from over 7,500 scholarly and technical journals from more than 3,300 publishers in over 60 countries. It is the only source of citation data on journals, and includes virtually all areas of science, technology, and social sciences. Journal Citation Reports can show you the:

Most frequently cited journals in a field
Highest impact journals in a field
Largest journals in a field

Citation and article counts are important indicators of how frequently current researchers are using individual journals. By tabulating and aggregating citation and article counts, JCR offers a unique perspective for journal evaluation and comparison. JCR is updated annually and with 2008 figures now available you can compare journals from 2003-2008.

Diarmuid

Survival blog for scientists

2009-06-22T10:38:00.003+01:00

"In this blog, professional scientists write about their scientific life. Contributors are scientists in various stages of their career, from junior positions to senior positions. The aim is to supply scientists with tips on how to survive in science. Typical subjects include the writing of articles, delivering scientific presentations and career planning. This blog is a continuation of the book The Survival Guide for Scientists by Ad Lagendijk, published by Amsterdam University Press in 2008. Sample chapters are supplied (Writing guide, Presentation guide, Email guide)." (from: www.intute.ac.uk)
http://www.sciencesurvivalblog.com/

--- Michael ---

CABI preview new interface for CAB Abstracts

2009-06-17T14:30:00.003+01:00

CABI plan to switch over to a new platform on 1st September this year. This new platform will see some major changes in how you interact with CAB abstracts. Among the new features are

MyCABDirect – a personalised area where users can set-up email alerts and RSS feeds based on their search results; share information, and save important searches
Faceted searching – users can finely filter information to fit their research needs, based on CABI’s indexing terms and metadata
The capability to view full text at the search results level
Improved user experience, through a more intuitive interface
Suggestions for spelling variations

If you want to preview the new platform you can go to http://www.cabdirect2.org and try it out. Currently this will only work while on campus.
Diarmuid

Library Summer Opening Hours

2009-06-03T14:36:00.003+01:00

The Library has started Summer Opening Hours, running from June through August:
James Joyce Library will be open Monday-Friday 8.30-17.30 (weekend closed)
Veterinary Library will be open Monday-Friday 9.00-17.00 (weekend closed)
Health Science Library will be open in June Monday-Friday 8.30-21.45, Saturday 9.30-17.00 (Sunday closed); July and August Monday-Friday 9.00-17.00 (weekend closed)

A complete list Summer Opening Hous can be found at the Library's web site.

--- Michael ---

New Search Engine Launched

2009-05-18T12:45:00.004+01:00

Wolfram Alpha, a new search engines that gives you answers rather than directing you to a list of website has just been launched. You can express your question in natural language and It will search a variety of databases to give you the answer. The creators' aim is to "build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries."
You can ask a wide range of questions such as comparing two stocks, get information on a mineral , get historical weather information, a list of Nobel prize winners for chemistry
At the moment it is somewhat biased towards American information, but that should change over time.
You can try it out using the search box at the top of the post.
Diarmuid

NCBI Biosystems Database now available

2009-05-11T16:39:00.004+01:00

The NCBI Biosystems database has now gone public. The NCBI BioSystems Database currently contains biological pathways from two source databases, KEGG and the EcoCyc subset of BioCyc. As an added bonus it uses the same search interface as other NCBI databases as pubmed and Entrez Gene.
You can use the database to:
List the genes, proteins, and small molecules that are involved in a biological pathway. Find out more
Find the pathways in which a given gene or protein is involved. Find out more.
Find the pathways in which a specific small molecule is involved. Find out more.
Retrieve 3D structures for proteins involved in a biosystem. Find out more
Find related biosystems that are linked to each other because they share an identical protein sequence or have another relationship. Find out more.
Diarmuid

CABI creates Swine Flu Dashboard

2009-05-11T16:31:00.002+01:00

CABI has put together a number of resources to help you keep up to date with the latest developments in the emerging influenza A(H1N1) outbreak, commonly being referred to as "swine flu".
The information on the dashboard is organised into the following different areas:

Resources from CABI: links to selected abstracts from our databases, updates from our blog and a feed of valuable information selected by our subject experts
Global Health: free access to CABI’s Global Health database, including prepared searches in this area
Center for Disease Control and World Health Organisation: latest updates from these two organisations
Wikipedia: latest updates
Google: relevant search trend information
Maps: two of the best visualisations showing information about swine flu

Diarmuid

New Library Patent Information Web Page

2009-04-21T12:06:00.000+01:00

Information on patents and access to patents becomes increasingly important for research and innovation everywhere. Therefore the library has launched a new web site with patent information. It bundles links to full text patents databases and search engines as well as information on patent application and patent statistics. Links to relevant patent journals and some patent blogs are also provided.

---- Michael ----

IReL Impact Survey 2009

2009-03-26T14:57:00.005Z

Are you an avid researcher? Do you regularly use library resources such as the ACM Digital Library, ESDU, GeoScienceWorld, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Nature Journals, Optics Infobase, Project Euclid, or SpringerLink? If so, here is your chance to support the Irish Research e-Library initiative by taking 5 minutes of your time to fill in the IReL impact survey.

IReL currently provides access to 22,000 e-journals and over 40,000 books. It's important that we don't take this valuable initiative for granted and let the funders know how essential it is for research in Ireland!

--Josh

IEEE Celebrates its Two Millionth Article on IEEE Xplore®

2009-03-25T13:50:00.001Z

IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional society, is celebrating the addition of the two millionth article to IEEE Xplore, the world’s largest source of valuable, cutting-edge, research, standards and educational courses. Providing nearly one-third of the world’s highest quality technical literature in electrical engineering, communications and computer science, the IEEE Xplore digital library is the most trusted source for vital information in technology today.

IEEE Xplore, which includes content from IEEE journals and magazines going back as far as the year 1913, is a comprehensive, online database of current and past research from many industries, including aerospace and defense, automotive, computing, medical devices, nanotechnology, petroleum and natural gas, power and energy, semiconductors and telecommunications. As a trusted and knowledgeable source, the IEEE Xplore digital library provides access to IEEE journals, magazines, proceedings from industry conferences, and standards that have set the bar for today’s technological advancements. Content from The Institution of Engineering and Technology journals is also available.

(IEEE Press Release, 16th March 2009)

UCD Library is providing access to this resource.

--- Michael ---

Today is Ada Lovelace Day

2009-03-24T16:45:00.003Z

Ada Lovelace Day was created by Suw Charman-Anderson to celebrate the contribution the women have made to technology. Suw asked 1000 other people to publish a blog post about a woman in technology that they admire and nearly 1700 have agreed to do this.
Ada Lovelace corresponded with Charles Babbage who developed the concept of the programmable computer in the early nineteenth century. "Today she is appreciated as the "first programmer" since she was writing programs—that is, manipulating symbols according to rules—for a machine that Babbage had not yet built. She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities." (Wikipedia)
Diarmuid

Search CAB Abstracts through Web of Knowledge

2009-03-20T14:09:00.004Z

CAB Abstracts provides access to the most comprehensive and integrated international agricultural and applied life sciences database in the world. It contains over 4 million records from over 11,000 journals. books, conferences, reports, and other kinds of literature published internationally. Subjects covered include animal and crop husbandry, animal and plant breeding, plant protection, genetics, forestry engineering, economics, veterinary medicine, human nutrition, and rural development.
As well as being searchable through CABI's own service, CAB abstracts can now be searched through the Web of Knowledge interface which is familiar to many. You can search for CABI material in conjunction with other Web of Knowledge resources by searching in the All Databases tab. Alternatively you can search CAB Abstracts on its own by going into the Select a Database tab and clicking on CAB Abstracts.
Diarmuid

The World Wide Web at 20

2009-03-13T12:42:00.007Z

Some of you may already be aware of the fact that the World Wide Web (WWW) is now 20 years old this month. The Web was proposed in 1989 by a computer scientist at CERN named Tim Berners-Lee who went on to found the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT. To commemorate this profound historic event CERN has created a website called World Wide Web@20. A webcast of events happening today (March 13) at CERN can be viewed from this site.

Oh, and be sure to visit the "End of the Internet" by clicking on the graphic above!

--Josh

Nature celebrates Darwin's 200th Anniversary

2009-03-09T11:23:00.006Z

Nature recently published a special issue celebrating the life of Darwin and his impact on science. The issue has features on looking for Darwin in the genome, and on what evolution has done to shape human nature, while our editorial and two commentaries look at some of the problems inherent in applying biology to questions about humanity.
There is also and on Darwin's pigeons and poetry by his great great grand-daughter Ruth Padel. and a range of experts give their views on a range of hot topics in evolution.
Diarmuid

Science Direct and Scopus offline Saturday, 7th March

2009-03-06T09:51:00.002Z

Elsevier has announced that due to scheduled maintenance both Science Direct and Scopus will be down from 1pm Saturday, 7th March until approximately 1.30am on Sunday, 8th March.

--Josh

Book Week and International Women's Day

2009-03-04T11:31:00.010Z

WITS is offering us two celebrations in one!

City Hall,

Sunday, March 8,

1.15-2:30 p.m.

WITS in association with the Dublin City Book Festival

Invites you to celebrate

International Women's Day, 2009

at the launch of

"Lab Coats and Lace" edited by Mary Mulvihill

The Lives and Legacies of Inspiring Irish Women Scientists and Pioneers,

(a companion volume to Stars, Shells and Bluebells (1997)

Adm free, all welcome.

Lab Coats and Lace now available to purchase on Amazon or at the Dublin Book Festival March 6- 8, 2009, City Hall, Dublin 2

Mary

SciFinder Scholar Training

2009-02-12T15:21:00.003Z

UCD Library is offering a SciFinder Scholar training for academic staff and students on Monday, 16th February 2009, at 3pm in the Health Science Library's Information Skills Room. The workshop will be run by Yvonne Pope from CAS. We have limited places, so please register as soon as possible or contact me directly.

---- Michael ----

Nature Publishing Group launches collaborative learning space for science undergraduates

2009-02-12T11:56:00.004Z

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) has just launched Scitable, which it describes as bringing "together a library of scientific overviews with a worldwide community of scientists, researchers, teachers and students"
Features include:
Topic Rooms, which combine articles, people, discussions and gropups related on eone key concept in science, such as nucleic acids.
Groups which allows you to join virtual study spaces in the areas that interest you.
Learning paths are available to guide users as they investigate various topics.
The information is taken from a range of Nature Publicatiosn such as Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Reviews: Genetics and access is free.
Scitable currently concentrates on genetics, the study of evolution, variation, and the rich complexity of living organisms.
Diarmuid

EThOS -- UK Theses For All!

2009-02-02T12:56:00.003Z

The British Library, in collaboration with many UK universities and other associations, has introduced a new service called EThOS - the Electronic Theses Online System - which aims to provide over 250,000 theses produced by the UK higher education system on an open access model to all researchers and others requiring information. This service is available to all, basically.

Those who are interested in downloading theses to their desktops must first register with the service online, then start searching. Some theses are available for immediate download, while others can be requested from a participating institution which then sends the thesis to the British Library for digitisation. Other formats are also offered (CD/DVD, hard copy) for a fee.

This service is still in beta status, so there are likely to be tweaks here and there to the functionality. All in all, this new service could be very useful for the science researcher!

--Josh

Introductory Endnote training sessions

2009-01-22T14:51:00.004Z

UCD Library will be offering lunchtime introductory sessions from 22nd January till 22nd April 2009, all sessions will take place between 13.00-14.00 in the Health Sciences Library Information Skills Training Room.

1) 22nd Jan Thursday 2) 28th Jan Wednesday 3)4th Feb Wednesday

4) 11th Feb Wednesday 5) 20th Feb Friday 6) 25th Feb Wednesday

7) 4th Mar Wednesday 8) 11th Mar Wednesday 9) 18th Mar Wednesday

10) 25th Mar Wednesday 11) 1st Apr Wednesday 12) 8th Apr Wednesday

13)15th Apr Wednesday 14) 22nd Apr Wednesday

Book a session

Diarmuid

Endnote X2 now available through Connect

2009-01-22T12:36:00.004Z

If you've already downloaded and installed Endnote X from the IT Services in UCD connect (UCD staff only on institutionally owned computers) you can now upgrade to Endnote X2. Full instructions are available on Connect.
New Features of Endnote X2 include

Track new and updated features with the Auto Date Stamp—see when a reference was added to your library and when it was last updated
Use new reference types including Aggregated Database, Blog, Catalog, Pamphlet, Serial Publication and Standard
Access more online resources and publishing styles—2,800+ online connection files, 600+ import filters and 3,300 journal styles.

Diarmuid

SciFinder Scholar (2006 Edition)

2009-01-21T12:36:00.002Z

SciFinder Scholar, 2006 Edition will be retired at the end of January 2009. Please upgrade to the 2007 Edition, if you haven't done so.

--- Michael ---

AuthorMapper: a new resource discovery tool from SpringerLink

2009-01-20T12:33:00.002Z

AuthorMapper, an online tool for visualizing scientific research from Springer, enables document discovery based on author locations and geographic maps. Integrating content and mapping technology, AuthorMapper provides an easy-to-use, dynamic interface that allows you to:

* Explore patterns in scientific research
* Identify new and historic literature trends
* Discover wider relationships
* Locate other experts in your field

AuthorMapper searches the Springer Journals collection and offers access to nearly one hundred fifty years’ of articles from more than 1,900 journals available on SpringerLink.

Diarmuid

New RSC Journals

2009-01-15T12:32:00.003Z

The Royal Society of Chemistry started publishing two new journals in 2009: Integrative Biology (a new journal of quantitative biosciences from nano to macro) and Metallomics (a new journal covering the research fields related to biometals).
The journal Energy & Environmental Science (a new journal linking all aspects of the chemical sciences relating to energy conversion and storage, alternative fuel technologies and environmental science) has already published the first issue of Volume 2.
All journals are available in full text online for UCD staff and students.

--- Michael ---

International Year of Chemistry 2011

2009-01-15T10:32:00.000Z

The 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted a resolution proclaiming 2011 as International Year of Chemistry, placing UNESCO and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) at the helm of the event. The year will celebrate the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humanity.

--- Michael ---

Darwin's Birthday - early Irish celebrations

2009-01-09T15:54:00.006Z

We seem to have got off to an early start in commemorating the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth on 12th February, 2009. I thought I'd better get the information up as soon as possible so we can check our diaries.

ISCAN have a dedicated site for the occasion
http://www.darwin200.ie/about_darwin.html

If you are having an event to mark the bicentenary let ISCAN know and it can be publicised on their events page.

Events and lectures include :

Thursday 15^th January 1pm & 6 pm

Life of Darwin

Location: National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology

Dr Miguel De Arce from the School of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin will deliver this lecture at 1 pm and 6 pm. Admission Free

Monday 19th January at 6pm

Charles Darwin (1809-1882), Hon. MRIA: The Man and the Myths'

Location: Academy House 19 Dawson St.

To mark Darwin year the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) are presenting a public discourse on Charles Darwin (1809-1882), Hon. MRIA: The Man and the Myths', by Professor Peter Bowler MRIA, History Dept., Queens University Belfast.

Admission is free but places must be reserved by registering online at http://www.ria.ie/events

Thursday 29th January 1pm & 6 pm

Evolution of Humans

Location: National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology

Professor Tom Hayden, School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin will deliver this lecture at 1pm and again at 6 pm. Admission Free

And, on the day itself

Thursday 12th February 2009, 7.30 pm

Darwin, genetics, and the nature of humankind"

Location: Davis theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College, Dublin

The annual Darwin Day Lecture, as arranged by the Humanist Association of Ireland, will be given this year by Professor David McConnell, Professor of Genetics, TCD

Followed by

Monday 16th February 2009

Charles Darwin: Geology, Geography and the Theory of Evolution

Location: Belfast Geologist's Society

Darwin expert, professor Peter Bowler, QUB, will deliver the Harold Wilson Memorial Lecture as part of the Belfast Geologist's Society's winter lecture program.

Mary

Happy New Year!

2009-01-06T09:51:00.003Z

Hello to all and we hope you had a very Merry/Happy Christmas and have a great new year! Now that we are straight into 2009 I would like to draw your attention to just a few of the events happening this year:

Today begins the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the RDS here in Dublin. This event runs from January 6th - 10th and is a chance for Irish students to display their science projects and learn from others.

This year marks the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin (12 Feb 1809 - 19 April 1882), and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his most famous work, On the Origin of Species. Cambridge (among others) is celebrating this with events and famous speakers to highlight Darwin's great achievements. Events will be happening throughout the year.

International Year of Astronomy 2009 - The International Astronomical Union and UNESCO have put together a website that details the events happening this year to highlight the contributions of astronomy to furthering our understanding of the universe. For events in Ireland see the Irish website for IYA 2009.

--Josh

EU announces 10 new projects in European Research Infrastructures - Facilitating the future

2008-12-22T10:16:00.006Z

Following on from the announcement on 12th December by the European Commission and ESFRI of the commitment to 10 new projects in the European Research Infrastructures programme -

"such as high security labs for research on fatal human pathogens, cutting edge installations to test technologies for carbon dioxide capture and storage, state-of-the-art radars to study the Earth’s atmosphere, infrastructures to better understand the physical processes controlling earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis and new generation telescopes for high-energy gamma-ray astronomy" -

Nature published an editorial (Nature 456, 837-838 (18 December 2008) doi:10.1038/456837b; Published online 17 December 2008) entitled "Facilitating the future"

Further background to the infrastructures is at

Commission proposes a legal framework for European Research Infrastructures (15.7.2008)

ESFRI

Mary

New Table of Contents Alert Service for Researchers

2008-12-16T11:33:00.000Z

Over the past few years, RSS technology has hit the ground running, enabling researchers, academics and students to stay better informed about new Web content in an efficient way. However, the concept, and indeed the technology, has still flummoxed some, making it somewhat slow to permeate through the academic world.

Now a new service called ticTOCs promises to help make keeping current with new journal contents a lot easier. ticTOCs is a collaboration between three UK universities and a group of academic journal publishers and related associates. Once you register with the ticTOCs service (free), you can:

search a listing of over 11,000 (and counting) academic journals by title, subject or publisher
select as many journals as you wish to track
log in to your MyTOCs page anytime to view the latest article citations (and abstracts) for your selected journals and link directly to the full-text articles you are interested in (for journals where you or UCD Library has a subscription)
export your TOC feeds to your preferred RSS feed reader (if you have one)
export citations to RefWorks (bibliographic management software

This is well worth trying out for yourself. You may find that this is the answer you have been looking for when it comes to staying current with newly published research.

--Josh

UCD Library now has access to the INIS Database

2008-11-25T10:44:00.000Z

UCD Library has recently gained access to the INIS Database, which contains over 3 million bibliographic records of literature concerning the peaceful uses of atomic energy. INIS, or the International Nuclear Information System, is operated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in collaboration with 119 Member States and 23 International Organizations. The Database also includes a collection of 850,000 full-text "grey literature" which includes technical reports, conference proceedings, patents, theses and preprints. Coverage is from 1970 onwards.

The INIS Database should prove useful to those researching and teaching in physics, medicine, agriculture. For access, please go to the Library's physics databases page, or the A-Z of Library Databases. This resource is also available off campus to UCD users.

--Josh

New books in James Joyce Library, Level 4

2008-11-25T10:00:00.000Z

We have had quite a few new books added to the New Books shelf on the Science floor (Level 4). These are monographs ordered during the summer or before. Here are a few of the new titles:

The New Books shelf is just to the left of the Information Desk on Level 4. Come on up and take a look!

--Josh

Journals on Nanomaterials and Biostructures

2008-11-13T10:40:00.000Z

This journal site includes free full text papers in pdf format covering nanomaterials and biostructures. An archive is also provided and accessible free of charge. Maybe something to have a look at.

http://www.chalcogen.infim.ro/index.html

-- Michael---

Aleen Cust: Tribute to first woman veterinary surgeon in Ireland or Britain

2008-11-10T12:31:00.001Z

On Wednesday, 12th November, one of the events for Science Week is the unveiling of a commemerative plaque to Aleen Cust (1868-1937), the first woman to gain recognition as a veterinary surgeon in Ireland and England. This will take place at the site of her surgery in Roscommon.
The plaque, organised by the National Committee Science & Engineering Commemorative Plaques and WITS (Women in Technology and Science), has been sponsored by Veterinary Ireland and will be unveiled by the organisation's current president, Ms Ciara Feeney MVB.

http//www.witsireland.com/RoscommonHeraldpdf

For a fuller account of her career and relationship with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, who eventually granted her membership in 1922 after the passing of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919, see this entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (UCD Library has a subscripiton):

http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/56033?_fromAuth=1

Mary

RTE1 Broadcasts Second Series of "The Investigators"

2008-11-06T09:47:00.001Z

This time last year I posted about a new television programme on RTE1 called "The Investigators", which looked at the work of Irish researchers and their contribution to the world's scientific research. The weekly programme now returns for a second series, and the first installment will be broadcast this evening (Nov. 6th) at 11.05pm. Tonight's programme focuses on nanotechnology and its applications, and features Professor Barry Smyth from UCD's School of Computer Science and Informatics, among others. See the SFI website or RTE for a full description of tonight's show, and upcoming programmes.

--Josh