GrayLit Network Discontinued

The GrayLIT Network retired October 31, 2007. "Please use [ http://www.science.gov/ ] Science.gov or the [ http://www.scienceaccelerator.gov/ ] Science Accelerator to search across collections of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) scientific and technical information. As a free public service, searches will include research and development results, project descriptions, accomplishments, technical report and more, via resources made available by the [ http://www.osti.gov/ ] Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), U.S. DOE. Send any inquiries to [ mailto:graylit@osti.gov ] graylit@osti.gov." (odd that they still have 'graylit' in their email address!)

Boston Public plans to make government documents accessible

A digital library partnership, including two nonprofit organizations and the Boston Public Library, is preparing to begin making digital copies of the library’s paper-based government documents collection, which will then be made available on the Internet. Boston Public Library librarians said they planned to begin by digitizing the House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings from the 1950s, which is regularly sought after by its patrons. Read the full article in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/business/27online.html?ref=technology

Great guide to finding online technical reports from Stanford librarian

Take a look at this long list of online technical report organizations, including AT &T Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, MIT, Stanford and other academic and corporate organizations. http://library.stanford.edu/depts/mathcs/research_help/guides/online_report_orgs.html

Nice explanation of the function/usage of ASME standards

I was looking for something to explain to a non-engineering student how standards work and stumbled on this great doc on the ASME site. Introduction to ASME codes and standards Anyhow, I thought it might be useful to someone. :) Sarah

The Library Game- sharpen your librarian skills!

http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/etc/game2/game2.swf Click on Hint for how to play-

RefWorks from IEEE Xplore

IEEE just enabled downloading in RefWorks format from their IEEE Xplore database. I let the faculty and students in EE, CSE, and TC know-- so there might be some questions at the reference desk about it. It's not the most obvious thing to import into RefWorks, so I put instructions below. Thanks! -Linda ---- Original Message ----- Great news! Citations from IEEE Xplore are now importable into RefWorks, an online citation management tool (if you don't have a RefWorks account yet, you can set one up at http://www.lib.washington.edu/ougl/refworks/ (please note-- you'll need to be on campus or logged into the UW Libraries' Proxy Server to access RefWorks). To import citations from IEEE Xplore (http://www.ieee.org/ieeexplore): 1. Click on the "AbstractPlus" view for the citation you wish to save. 2. Under "Download this Citation," choose "Citation" or "Citation & Abstract" from the Choose drop-down menu, and "RefWorks" from the Download drop-down menu, then click the Download button. 3. Your citation will be saved as a file with a .jsp extension. 4. Log in to RefWorks (https://www.refworks.com/Refworks/login.asp?). 5. Select References/Import from the toolbar. 6. Select "RIS Format" as the Import Filter/Data Source and "IEEE/IEE Electronic Library (IEL)" as the database. 7. Browse to find the text file saved to your computer. 8. Click Import -- your reference(s) will be in the "Last Imported" folder.

Auxiliary Stacks Requests

Just in case you haven't run into this, I found out yesterday that the Auxiliary Stacks Mediated Request form is down for a while. When I called circulation about it, their suggestions were to: -First try to get the patron to place a hold themselves through the catalog if that is possible. -If not, if they have a borrower's card, circulation can place a hold through Millenium. -And if all else fails, ask a circulation manager to email the hold in or call in to Suzzallo circulation. The timeline for getting the form up again was unknown when I called.

Introducing Le book

If you haven't seen this video, it's a classic!

Information R/evolution

A very creative video gives us pause to think about information and its organizational systems. Take a look!

I broke the door!

This morning I was headed to the main stairwell and the door handle on the first floor just came off in my hand. Maybe I'm super strong or maybe the building is falling apart. I alerted Chris and Tom and I called the Physical Plant. They said they'd send someone over. In the meantime, the door is propped open and the handle is here at the ref desk. After this I might have to dress up as the Hulk for Halloween.

The Scanner PC

Has anyone else heard complaints about the scanner/microfilm computer? Apparently, it's extremely slow in both running the Adobe program and browsing the Internet (so slow as to to cause people to just leave in the middle of trying to scan). A patron suggested we try defragmenting the hard drive (actually, she first suggested we just get a new computer), but there's probably nothing we can do besides maybe putting a sign on the bulletin board that says something like, "Patience is a virtue."

A Fair(y) Use Tale

If you haven't seen this video about copyright and fair use, it's definitely worth it! Plus you get to refresh your knowledge of animated Disney movies!

Antonio Panizzi: ''the fact of a man's being a political exile does not exclude him from the Reading Room.''

This NYT article from 1997 describes the establishment and relocation of the British Library's famous circular reading room. For the anglophiles and book lovers among us, it is an interesting trip back to Panizzi's time: http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/09/bookend/bookend.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Four new chairs in engineering

The departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, BioEngineering and Electrical Engineering each have a new departmental chair. For full story: http://uwnews.org/uweek/uweekarticle.asp?visitsource=uwkmail&articleID=36831

engcirc blog

Steve and Laura maintain this blog for the circ students and staff but we should check it periodically too for shelving updates, other info.: http://stevesdesk.blogspot.com There is a link to it on the right sidebar of this page too.

Research Workstation - info and notes

Sending email from the pcs: Since we have now reconfigured all our 'public pcs' to the more restricted browser settings, commercial email sites will not be accessible. However emailing citations, articles, etc. is still possible using the file --> send function of the browser. This will open the Microsoft email form that can be used to send the item. Please mention to anyone using this that if they filter their email the message could end up in their junk mail folder. If they can't find the message they should look in the junk folder. Answering the inevitable questions about why we've changed our pcs: Those machines have been reconfigured to a somewhat more restrictive setting in order to better serve the needs of our primary user population. If there is a particular _research-related_ resource that you wish to use that you cannot connect to from those machines, please let us know the name or URL of that resource and we will explore making it accessible. If someone comes to one of you with such a request, take down the name or URL of the resource, the name and contact info (an e-mail address) of the person placing the request, and forward it to Julie C. and we WILL try to make the resource accessible if it is a request for something engineering-related (defined reasonably broadly) that we feel should justifiably be added to the Digital Registry. Who determines what's reasonable/justifiable? Julie, and if she's unsure about something, me. (Mel)

battery recycling

I just learned that we can recycle batteries, cell phones, pagers, ink catridges, CD's and DVD's at the Engineering Library! They go in the E-Media bin that's next to the table with the stapler on the first floor. Sorry if this is old news-- I almost sent someone away because I didn't know we could do this. http://www.washington.edu/admin/recycling/emedia.html

Machines to add funds have been installed, copier software updated...

The new Husky & Dawg-Prints Cards add-value station is now installed and operational in the Allen lobby, adjacent to the two print stations. This devise allows users to add value in any dollar denomination (bills only) to their Husky and Dawg-Prints Cards. It will also dispense Dawg-Prints Cards in any dollar denomination. The other 2 Dawg-Prints Cards dispensers in the building (the one in the Allen lobby and the one on Allen north 3rd floor, will be removed in the near future and reinstalled in branches that currently do not have dispensers. I will be updating both Info Index and public Web pages regarding this later this morning. Be aware that after the end of this month, OUGL Copy Center will no longer be able to add-value to Husky Cards. I will go ahead and remove OUGL Copy Center from the above-mentioned Web pages, though they will be able to continue adding value through the month of August. Since I last emailed you all, there have been great strides made in correcting many of the problems we had been seeing with the Pharos networking software. There have been 5 new versions of the software since August 17th, each one of which has demonstrably improved the performance. There are still some issues with the copiers that are connected to the network via wireless routers. There will be a solution of the wireless problems before the beginning of Fall term. Pharos is still working on creating a 100% functional software, and they still have until August 30 to get close enough to the goal as to be seamless to the largest percentage of our users. At this point, we no longer anticipate the need to roll out 'plan B' articulated in my last email. Some of the unresolved issues are: 1) Occasional need to 'restart' when there is no green light on the swipe. (This was reported to Pharos last week.) 2) Copy-ratio still only seems to offer a fixed number of reduction/enlargement options. It is, in fact, possible for users to key in any reduction or enlargement ratio they desire; it just is not evident that this is possible. 3) 2-sided copying is still not working off the glass (it does work on copiers with document feeders). 4) The 3 color copiers do not have many of the 'special features' available. All the above are currently being worked on by Pharos. I suspect numbers 1 & 2 to be fixed very soon. Numbers 3 & 4 will likely take longer. We hope to have them in place by the beginning of Fall term, but they are more complicated and require Pharos acquiring more proprietary code from Canon to do so. This will happen, but takes more negotiating between the 2 vendors. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adam C. Hall Manager of Operations Reference & Research Services Room 140 Suzzallo Library 206.685.2799

Copy Card updates

If anyone wants a refund on money left on their old print/copy cards, they can fill out a form that is located in the Reference Desk drawer. The form comes with an envelope addressed to Copy Services which can be dropped in any campus mail box. There are also forms/envelopes at the Circ Desk. Circ can also accept the completed forms for mailing. Funds can be transferred to the person's Husky card account (it takes about 10 days), or they can get a Dawg Prints card mailed to them with the amount of the refund on it. Those are the only options. Encourage people to transfer the funds to their Husky card account- Dawg Prints cards are primarily for off-campus visitors.

MN bridge collapse prompts analyses of American bridge design

Both articles suggest that perhaps American bridge engineering and engineers could change the way they do things so that bridges are better built, look more attractive and are safer. From Fresh Ideas and Better Steel, Safer Bridges: http://tinyurl.com/2k9t5l One Bridge Doesn't Fit All: http://tinyurl.com/2uqcc4

Minnesota Bridge Collapse Resources

The Minnesota Legislature Library quickly established this webpage linking resources discussing the August 1 collapse as well as other bridge engineering reports. I don't know about you, but I avoid Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct as much as I can!

Open Library Project- 21 year old book-loving programmer at the helm

From an interview with Aaron Swartz published in Inside Higher Ed (8/8/07), http://insidehighered.com/views/2007/08/08/mclemee. This highly ambitious project hopes to collocate all data on all books in one place, sort of like an Amazon meets RLG/OCLC meets ALibris. Open Library is funded primarily by the Internet Archive. In this lively interview, Swartz discusses his inspiration for the project and all the collaborators he hopes to involve. An impressive young man to say the least!!

Goodreads- where you and your friends talk about books

Now for something on the easy breezy side of things! Check out goodreads. "It's what your friends are reading!" For those of you who actually have time to read books, this is a neat place to explore. You can add your own book reviews and check those of other readers. Like other social networking sites, you can invite your friends to join and share reviews and book ideas with them. I learned about it from this blogpost at infodoodads, a blog from 3 librarians who explore technological well, doodads and write about them: http://infodoodads.com/?p=13

CAMBIA Patent Lens- patent searching for the greater good from down-under

According to CAMBIA's mission statement: "CAMBIA is an independent, international non-profit institute. For more than a decade, CAMBIA has been creating new technologies, tools and paradigms to foster collaboration and life-sciences enabled innovation. These tools are designed to enable disadvantaged communities and developing countries to meet their own challenges in food security, health, and natural resource management." Based in Australia (they even have a GoogleEarth map of their location), the created Patent Lens, "to shed light and transparency on the patent system. The effects of the patent system as it works now may not match the original intent to benefit society. People affected by it should know the effects, so as to be able to advocate change where it may be needed." Patent Lens is a searchable full-text database of more than 7 million patents and patent applications from WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, EPO (European Patent Office), and IP Australia.

The database also incorporates INPADOC — “bibliographic data from over 70 countries and legal status data from more than 40 patent authorities” — which, according to Patent Lens, “can help to give an idea whether a patent application related to one of interest was filed in other countries, and possibly whether patents are in force or applications are still pending.”

Check out the review from ResourceShelf: http://www.resourceshelf.com/2007/07/19/resource-of-the-week-patent-searching-for-the-rest-of-us/ and Patent Lens and CAMBIA: http://www.patentlens.net/daisy/patentlens/patentlens.html Patents are available in PDF, full-text, with images. Check it out!!

Visual Literacy - Periodic table illustrates different types

This is a very cool website. For those of us who are more visual learners, it is fascinating to see the different ways concepts can be explained visually. Check it out- http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

Goodbye date stamp: Keep track of due dates online

UW longtimers might remember the days when you signed your name to check out a book from a UW Library. The due date was stamped inside the cover as an inky reminder of your obligation, and you could see the names of previous readers, even years back.

Times change, though. Card catalogs and signatures gave way to bar codes and NET IDs, and the Internet made library searches as convenient as a mouse-click. But through it all, library staffers continued to ink-stamp those due dates inside the books, as ever.

But no longer. This summer, the date stamps are being retired for most all library items except items without bar codes, such as some unbound periodicals and government publications, said Thom Deardorff, UW Libraries coordinator for access services. The change-over started in June and will be complete campuswide by September.

Those who still want one may have a receipt -- which makes an acceptable bookmark -- but very few users are asking for receipts, Deardorff said.

And after all, it makes sense, especially since books can be renewed easily and often online, making the stamped due date incorrect anyway.

Plus, Deardorff said, the staffers had to choose from a variety of stamps depending on the type of item and loan, the elimination of which will make checkouts even faster.

From University Week 7/19/07: http://uwnews.org/uweek/uweekarticle.asp?visitsource=uwkmail&articleID=35314

Senate asks EPA to reopen its closed libraries!

And some good news for a change! A victory for librarians and the general public, after almost a year of controversy and hearings with members of ALA and SLA. Read the full news item.

See where ALA has been in its first 100 Years- (great song too!)

Study finds a "meritocracy of difficulty" perceived by undergraduate engineering students

Engineering overdrive: Undergrads in field overworked, not informed about their major, study finds

By Hannah Hickey News and Information

Engineering undergraduates begin college with little idea of what it means to be an engineer, and they often don't find out until their third year. Some students justify their heavy workload with a "meritocracy of difficulty" that equates hard work in school with material reward down the road. And findings show that male and female engineering students approach technical questions differently. Read full article

State of America's Libraries- report from ALA

Released in April 2007, The State of America’s Libraries report from the American Library Association offers users a wealth of information about current trends over the past year. Within the 19-page report visitors will learn that investment in e-books at academic and research libraries rose 68 percent from 2002 to 2004 and that school library media centers were hard hit by funding cuts in 2006. The report contains a number of charts that track library use over the past year and the different types of materials contained within the nation’s libraries. Moving on, the report also contains brief summaries of the expansion of Google’s book digitization project and scholarships awarded to minority librarians. Overall, it is an impressive report, and one that will be of great interest to those interested in the policy issues surrounding libraries and those working in the fields of library and information science.

Google Universal and New Navigation

At Google’s Searchology event on May 16, 2007, Google announced several major changes at the search engine, all of which have now begun to appear in Google results. The introduction of universal search, a new universal navigation bar, contextual navigation links, more related search suggestions, experimental search, and cross-language searching may not jump out to the casual searcher. Yet the aggregate effect of these changes is one of the more substantial rewrites that Google has done. http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbReader.asp?ArticleId=36281

new eMedia recycle bin in Englib

We have a new recycle bin (by stapler/papercutter table) on Floor 1. It offers recycling for: CDs, Tapes, Discs, Batteries (recharge & non-recharge), cell phones, pagers, PDAs, and inkjet cartridges (no toner cartridges). Enjoy!

Library of Congress joins Science.gov Alliance

The Library of Congress (LOC) recently joined the Science.gov Alliance. The nation's oldest federal cultural institution and largest library in the world, the LOC serves as the research arm of Congress with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The addition brings the Science.gov Alliance membership to 17 organizations (view other participants). Currently in its fourth generation, Science.gov provides search of more than 50 million pages of science information with just one query, and is a gateway to over 1,800 scientific Web sites and 30 deep Web databases.

Libraries Policy on food and beverage

Notes from the recent RIS meeting discuss an update to the policy and acknowledge the variety of realities that exist in the Libraries: The Signage Committee thinks the signage regarding food and beverages is not very effective in keeping food out of the library. The policy and signage based on the policy don’t reflect the reality that staff members see in the Libraries every day. They suggest either changing the signs or – better - changing the policy. Discussion followed. Some points that were raised include:

• OUGL removed their food and beverage signage about a year ago. Foster, too.
• Suzzallo-Allen public services adopted a much more tolerant stance towards food at the same time.
• Everyone recognized the importance of preserving our materials but thought that it was also important to adjust our policies to recognize and reflect changes in user behaviors.
• The Code of Conduct could be modified to not explicitly exclude food, but cover disruptive food behaviors in the more general prohibitions. For example, by mentioning food in the strong odors statement.
• Cell phone use is ubiquitous on campus and the rest of the world and is only disruptive when the noise of ringing or conversations bother other people. Cell phones could be folded into more general noise prohibitions, too.
• A positive way to approach this would be to encourage users to not leave food wrappers and other detritus behind (“leave no trace”). Some library units have posted signs asking cell phone users to turn their ringers off while in the library.
• It would help to have more trash cans in the libraries.
• We don’t need a one size fits all policy. Units with special concerns should be able to continue to prohibit food.

The group discussed how to proceed. Paul will take this under advisement and get back to the group.

COE Open House begins Friday morning-

The annual COE Open House begins at 9:00 am Friday morning, with 7,000 + attendees expected. More information on the COE website: http://www.engr.washington.edu/openhouse/ Our display is called: What Came First? Test your Invention Knowledge. There are UW Libraries mood pencils to be given away in a cup on the glass front cabinet next to the display- please refill the cup as needed. The box is on the reference desk. Thanks! and enjoy those little people!!

Librarians ARE hiding something...

Namely the LabVIEW 8.2 software package on reserve by the ME department. You won't find it in the catalog. Nope, we are HIDING it. You can find it under "ME" in the course reserves (no class number)... Of course, that assumes that you know that the ME dept put it in our reserve collection or that the patrons know this... Or you can just memorize that it is under PC0820 in the reserve section which is what I'm going to do. You may be asking why our catalog is so sacrosanct that we can't just add a bare bib record pointer to the item so that there is an actual chance of finding this item through normal pathways .... I know I am.

Stephen Colbert: "Librarians Are Hiding Something"

In his interview with John Perry Barlow about why The Electronic Frontier Foundation is su ing Viacom (which "owns" Stephen Colbert) Colbert 'trademarks' the phrase "Librarians are hiding something." Watch the interview here: http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/03/26/librarians_are_hiding_something.html

Patent office announces surprising project!

The Patent and Trademark Office is starting a pilot project that will not only post patent applications on the Web and invite comments but also use a community rating system designed to push the most respected comments to the top of the file, for serious consideration by the agency's examiners. A first for the federal government, the system resembles the one used by Wikipedia, the popular user-created online encyclopedia. Read more here..........

Entrance Gates

Hi Everyone, Tired of resetting the gates? I thought our incoming gate was broken until I actually observed patron behavior.... In the last hour, FIVE patrons walked out the wrong gate-- just pushing through the resistance. One actually PULLED the gate open to enter. I've put up some makeshift signs. Sigh....

MIT Faculty and Libraries Refuse DRM; SAE Digital Library Canceled

I picked this off of LIS NEWS. Friday, March 16th, 2007 MIT Faculty and Libraries Refuse DRM; SAE Digital Library Canceled The MIT Libraries have canceled access to the Society of Automotive Engineers’ web-based database of technical papers, rejecting the SAE’s requirement that MIT accept the imposition of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. http://news-libraries.mit.edu/blog/archives/category/subject-areas/engineering/ :) Sarah

Four COE staff and faculty recognized by UW President Emmert

David B. Thorud Leadership Award: Professor Eve A. Riskin, Electrical Engineering, Donald H. Wulff, Instructional Development and Research Distinguished Contributions to Lifelong Learning: Professor Jan Spyridakis, Technical Communication, Engineering Distinguished Staff Award: Deborah Flores, Engineering Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award: Professor Rajendra K. Bordia, Materials Science and Engineering. For more information on the awards: http://www.washington.edu/president/awards/2007recipients.html.

A History Department Bans Citing Wikipedia as a Research Source

From the New York Times, February 21, 2007. A History Department Bans Citing Wikipedia as a Research Source "the Middlebury history department notified its students this month that Wikipedia could not be cited in papers or exams, and that students could not "point to Wikipedia or any similar source that may appear in the future to escape the consequences of errors."" An interesting development. The article goes on to talk about how even the inventor of Wikipedia himself thinks this is not a bad thing. That students shouldn't be using Encyclopedias in general for academic research.

Printing Problems -- Any Ideas?

Hi All -- It seems like our AccessPlus machines (or whatever they are called) are one by one going off the deep end in regards to printing. I reported PC127 last week sometime and now PC 128, 129 are doing the same thing.... The patron goes to print and they do not get a popup box that asks them what printer or to name their print job -- the request just goes off into the ether. Does anyone know of a fix for these? --or should I submit new fix requests for 128 and 129... Patrons are understandbly frustrated...

Lancet publishers condemned over promotion of arms

Way to go Elsevier- do we need more reasons to dislike them? Maybe this was common knowledge, but I didn't know about it. It's ugly: http://www.rsm.ac.uk/media/pr234.htm

Let them Scan!

We now offer scanning at the Engineering Library! The HP scanner is hooked up to the "scanner workstation" in the patent area.The directions are the same for the microfiche/film scanner, the only difference is that you need to choose the HP scanner. The only problem I forsee is that the software is slow to start. Just be aware of this and warn users that it is not the speediest. Julie will update the directions on PC homepage and Chris will contact Adam to have us formally listed as a library that has a scanning capability. Thanks very much to everyone to get this on the equipment request and helped get it up an running!

You mean I didn't have to come to the library?

The good news is that people are reading the patent guide online before they come to do patent work. The bad news is that they might be confusing "A COMPLETE PATENT SEARCH CANNOT BE DONE VIA THE INTERNET USING KEYWORDS" with "You have to come to the library because you can't do this on your own computer at home." In the last few days, two people have quoted the former line when I tell them that Cassis is not up, but everything they need is on the USPTO.gov website. While I love the chance to explain the difference between keyword searching and using classifications, people don't seem to be pulling this out as a the salient point from our online guide. "Via the Internet" might be what's catching them. When I showed one person to the USPTO website, they said something like "but I can only get to this website from here, right?"

shifting reference from the beginning?

I started working in the TK-TL area, with all the orange books, but now I notice that there are a few chunks missing in the TD area. I guess we got some more of the indexes weeded. So do we start shifting in the TD area again? I don't really want to "finish" from TK on only to have to do everything again before the end of the week.

Printer queue issue returns- has been reported

It seems that our Access+ machines still are not defaulting to the Engineering Library printer. Architecture seems to be the common default choice. I reported this to Catalyst and hope that they can fix it once and for all! It is confusing for users when they think they sent something and then have to ask the question and resend.

British Library and U.S. Department of Energy partner in Science.world

Back from the shutdown of Pubscience in 2002, the DOE is trying again, this time in collaboration with the British Library. The new portal will have a view to the world's scientific research :http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6416210.html

Women made substantial advances in science and engineering

The Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology released a report showing that women have made substantial progress in earning degrees in science and engineering over the past four decades, reports Paul D. Thacker in Inside Higher Ed. Read more here.

Women made substantial advances in science and engineering

The Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology released a report showing that women have made substantial progress in earning degrees in science and engineering over the past four decades, reports Paul D. Thacker in Inside Higher Ed. Read more here.

Journal abbreviation resources

• I've used a list from the University of Queensland. It's "a list of about 5,400 biological journals, with BIOSIS abbreviations." Find it on the web at: http://www.library.uq.edu.au/endnote/biosciences.txt

• According to Katie Newman at http://www.library.uiuc.edu/biotech/j-abbrev.html, CSA's serials source list appears to go by the Biosis format. She has a link to http://md2.csa.com/ids70/serials_source_list.php?db=biolclust-set-c

• PubMed/NLM LocatorPlus - use the Journals tab. http://locatorplus.gov/

• http://www.library.ubc.ca/scieng/coden.html

• http://apps.isiknowledge.com/WoS/help/A_abrvjt.html

• http://home.ncifcrf.gov/research/bja/ (not authoritative, but helps in a pinch)

• http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/JAS.htm - (but the link to BIOSIS on this site is dead)

• If you have EndNote, there are downloadable lists at this site: http://www.library.uq.edu.au/endnote/journal_terms.html

Gifts procedure

Hello everyone -- I am in the process of taking all the gift book items in the workroom downstairs to their new home in the mailroom (basement). I will attempt to chip away at this backlog in the coming months. If someone wants to donate books to the library try *very hard* to persuade them to go through central Gifts Processing. I know this is not always possible when people are standing in front of you with a box of books/journals. If you do accept any gift items it is YOUR responsibility to report them to Gifts AND take them to the basement, unbox them, and put them on the shelves. Once I hack through the backlog, we should all take turns analyzing and processing gift books. Lets try to keep the table in the workroom cleaned off for other purposes than long term gift book storage.... Thanks! --Chandra

Reference Disorder!

I was just reshelving some reference books and I noticed that the TA section is in a state of chaos, by which I mean several chunks are out of numerical order. I'm itching to reclaim the TAs in the name of Organization, but it seems like it would keep me away from the reference desk for too long and would involve moving quite a few books around. (Did I mention there's also a group of TEs in the middle of the TDs?) When would be the best time to tackle this? -Destinee

Levi's sues over pocket design patent infringment!

Read more about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/29jeans.html?8ur&emc=ur

USPTO's seven step quick start

So I went to one of the pre-conferences at ALA, Business Librarianship 101. It was interesting to note that whey they talked about patent research, they really only talked about how hard it was to navigate the USPTO site, and mentioned finding your PTDL Library more than once. You may already know about this, but sometimes if I can't get a patron to focus on our guide to patent searching, I refer them to USPTO's 7-step strategy. The good thing is that it provides direct links to everything you need. I've found the easiest way to direct people to it (and for me to even find it) is search for "seven step strategy" from the top-right search box on the uspto.gov home page.

Food consumption in the library

So -- I've had to tell two separate individuals today to NOT EAT in the library. They both looked at me like I'm completely insane. Am I the only one enforcing this policy? What exactly is our policy (Is M&Ms okay, but we draw the line at hamburgers?). I think we all need to be on the same page for enforcement AND actively enforce the rules everytime someone pulls out a bag of chips. If you think that food isn't a problem in our library I suggest you go look at the various garbage cans. They are full of food waste. It's only a matter of time before the rats at the HUB (and yes, there are rats in the HUB!) make their way across the street. Let me know your thoughts... Chandra

Patents PC Problem

I just got a complaint that the keyboard isn't working on the PC in the Patent Area. I checked and it looks like it's connected, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Any ideas?

FirstGov.gov becomes USA.gov

"In January 2007, FirstGov.gov announced that it changed its name to USA.gov. GobiernoUSA.gov is the new name for the Spanish-language portal. These names give assurance that the user is on a government site. USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov are public domain websites, which means you may link to them."

Copy machine out of order

Machine #833 on the second floor is jamming continuously. Tom tried to no avail to fix it. I've reported it by phone to copy services.

New CSA Environmental Sciences Database

With the continuing consolidation of CSA databases, Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management is our most recent addition. It includes Water Resources Abstracts. It also includes the following:

• Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology Abstracts
• ASFA 3: Aquatic Pollution and Environmental Quality
• Bacteriology Abstracts (Microbiology B)
• Ecology Abstracts
• Environmental Engineering Abstracts
• Health and Safety Science Abstracts
• Human Population & Natural Resource Management
• Industrial and Applied Microbiology Abstracts (Microbiology A)
• Pollution Abstracts
• Risk Abstracts
• Sustainability Science Abstracts
• Toxicology Abstracts, and
• Water Resources Abstracts

RUSA/MARS Best Website of 2006

http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaourassoc/rusasections/mars/marspubs/marsbestref2006.htm The most relevant sites for our areas are probably How Products Are Made and my personal favorite SkyscraperPage. Check out the list for other useful websites, especially Crash Course in Copyright from a librarian at the University of Texas system.