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