scitech library question

:: As announced by JSTOR on 13 April 2025:

JSTOR is very pleased to introduce the Biological Sciences Collection. The Biological Sciences Collection will include at least 100 titles when it is completed by the end of 2007. This collection will bring together the twenty-nine journals available in our existing Ecology & Botany Collection with more than seventy titles new to JSTOR. The journals in this collection offer greater depth in fields such as biodiversity, conservation, paleontology, and plant science, in addition to introducing new areas such as cell biology and zoology.

In developing the Biological Sciences Collection, JSTOR has partnered with two leading organizations in biological sciences publishing: the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and BioOne. Similar to the assistance they provided with the development of Ecology & Botany, the ESA assembled a committee of scholars to review and recommend journals to us, in addition to taking the lead in securing a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to digitize a portion of the collection. BioOne has joined this collaboration by facilitating the inclusion of many BioOne participating publications in the collection. In the future we hope to develop cross-site searching and article-level links between BioOne and JSTOR.

We invite you to view the complete details for this new collection on JSTOR’s web site. For collection descriptions, fee information, journal lists, and participation instructions, please see:

http://www.jstor.org/about/biosci_release.html

We are very happy to facilitate the growth and diversification of the JSTOR archive holdings with this new collection. The multidisciplinary JSTOR Arts & Sciences and Biological Sciences collections and the existing discipline-specific collections (e.g. Business, Ecology & Botany) have been designed to offer participation flexibility for libraries and institutions. With several options available, participants are able to choose both the collections and growth paths that are most appropriate for their needs.

This is great news, especially for campuses with large biological sciences departments like our own.

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:: We have been interested for some time in subscribing to Referex Engineering, the online full-text reference collection from Engineering Information:

Referex Engineering comprises three carefully crafted collections combining key sources of reference material. Content ranges from broad based engineering titles to highly specialized professional reference texts, provided an extensive and detailed base of reference material to support researchers, academics, R&D; engineers, technicians and corporate engineers alike in their diverse work processes.

The three subject areas are Chemical, Petrochemical and Process, Mechanical and Materials, and Electronics and Electrical, all areas of great interest to us. To date, we have subscribed to Knovel, and a number of CRCnetBASE collections including ENG, CHEM, MATERIALS, NANO, ENVIRO, and FOOD.

We were hoping to add Referex to our collection, which would have made it stronger and of increased relevance to our engineering community, one of the most prestigious in North America at the moment. But the DRM (Digital Rights Management) component, which severely restricts access to Referex, has made the decision to subscribe to Referex untenable, and for now, we are reluctantly passing on subscribing to what appears to be a great product.

The DRM used by Referex is called WebPublisher3. It requires a plug-in to be installed on any computer accessing Referex. What the FAQ about DRM in Referex Engineering states is that authenticated users can copy, print, save and e-mail Referex content as pdf files, and these saved files can be opened on any computer which is authenticated to use Referex. But if working with an offline computer like a laptop, users must be on the computer they used to save the file(s) to view them. In other words, if a user saves a pdf file to a smart key or disc, and then tries to open it later on a laptop which isn't connected to a network, it won't open. However, we learned subsequently that a document saved can only be viewed on the machine used to access Referex and download the information, an even more severe restriction. Consider how impossible this would be to manage in a library with dozens of PAC stations on multiple floors. Each time someone used Referex, they would need to be aware, almost inherently, that to view the document they just saved, they would need to return to the same machine to view it. Word is, however, that Ei is working with the DRM software vendor to allow for more flexibility.

Another drawback is that Referex won't work on Mac computers, effectively eliminating (and alienating) a number of our users.

The plug-in is also of concern. My understanding is that IT staff would need to install the plug-in on every PAC station in every library, something that would take an enormous amount of time, energy, money and staff. I have been waiting for confirmation that this is what would need to be done, but am hoping I am wrong, and that the plug-in could be installed on a LAN.

With DRM added into Referex, my sense is that the product may have been designed with Ei's corporate clients in mind, rather than those of us in universities, colleges and engineering schools. DRM in Referex doesn't allow for use by students who will migrate from machine to machine.

I am a huge fan of Ei products, and have worked with Ei since 1993 in an advisory capacity. We are heavy users of Compendex, and have been spreading the word about its new RSS feeds option to our users. I'm hoping Ei can sort through this and make Referex more attractive and useful to those of us in libraries with a large user base. Knovel and CRC Press have been able to do it without any problems of which I am aware, and we are pleased with both products regarding access concerns. In the meantime, is anyone out there in academic libraries using Referex? If so, how have you worked around these issues?

Meantime, read the paper, Digital Rights Management: A failure in the developed world, a danger to the developing world (pdf or html), from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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:: My good friend Cindi Trainor, techie-librarian at Claremont Colleges in CA and #1 U2 fan in America, has written a timely post on what she describes as "the changing balance". She ever so cogently describes what so many of us dealing with these days. She suggests that the problem "stems from taking on too much, from not letting go of (or transforming) the traditional when implementing the cutting edge, and I haven't the slightest idea what the remedy is." I agree. Cindi continues with the following:

At this year's Computers in Libraries conference, Clifford Lynch spoke of the era of "abundance" that we are in, particularly as it applies to information. The same concept was cogently written about in Educause Review by Paul Gandel, Richard Katz, and Susan Metros, in their article titled "The 'Weariness of the Flesh': Reflections of the Mind in an Era of Abundance" [PDF]. A colleague of mine suggested today that perhaps the "information overload" that we all feel couldn't be dissipated somewhat by changing our attitudes--we're not overloaded, we just have a *lot*. I'm not so sure. The problem that she speaks of, and of which I am also a victim, stems from taking on too much, from not letting go of (or transforming) the traditional when implementing the cutting edge, and I haven't the slightest idea what the remedy is. [See my earlier post, "Confessions of a Drowning Librarian." It's comforting to know that it's a crowded sea.]

What I sat down to write about this afternoon is not the idea of abundance but of a changing balance. Twenty, even ten years ago, librarians assumed that nearly anyone showing up at a service point was in need of information that they, the librarians, had, and that the patrons needed assistance and instruction in finding. It was our jobs to teach students and others the skills they needed to ferret out important information hidden within our moldering tomes and command-driven databases. For the first time, with the "Net Generation" (which I like much better than "Millennials," ugh), users are showing up at our service points already knowing how to use a vast array of technologies that still intimidates many librarians (and library IT staff). How is this increase in our users' knowledge affecting reference transactions? I'm only postulating here, since I don't "do" reference in the traditional, desk-bound sense, but I would guess that for some users and librarians, things are different than several years ago. I'll let my colleagues and friends who actually "do" reference articulate how. This is just a ... vibe I've been getting.

I still work the info desk during term, but off-site, in the Engineering bldg. My experience so far is that the ever-increasing tech savvy of students hasn't affected the nature of the reference transaction, but the numbers of said transactions are dropping as more students make use of all the online product we push to their desktop. But I also like the observation that "we just have a *lot*", because that's the simple truth. The only thing that hasn't changed, as our work and play choices continue to grow in numbers at a geometric pace is the number of hours in the day - it's still 24, dudes. I suffer from the same problem - I don't know what to permanently offload and let lie dormant indefinitely...

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:: With the advent of faceted searching and RSS feeds in Engineering Village 2, the onus to spread the word falls upon, among others, liaison librarians working in engineering and its sub-disciplines. My subject and liaison responsibilities are chemical and materials engineering, mechanical engineering, nanotechnology, and engineering management on my campus. (Aside: a new responsibility includes providing similar liaison services to the fledgling U of A Space Research group.)

Engineering Village 2 has moved ahead of other db producers in offering RSS feeds. With prompting from academic librarians (among others), Rafael Sidi & Co ensured that the EV2 RSS feeds would work within Bloglines, a welcome development indeed.

Yesterday, I gave my annual information resources lecture to graduate students and faculty in Mechanical Engineering. It was the first opportunity I had to present the RSS function within EV2 to a captive audience decidedly interested in these new features. In my lectures, I have 50 minutes to cover everything - library services, databases of relevance, resource guides, etc. I decided that in order to do this properly, and not alienate or confuse the audience, I would need to spend the majority of the lecture covering EV2's new offerings of faceted searching and RSS feeds.

A major concern for those of us who want our users to try the new EV2 features is that the majority of said users haven't used, or even heard of either of them, certainly not faceted searching. Can we reasonably expect to introduce RSS as well as the new faceted search feature within EV2, in what amounts to about 30 minutes of a 50-minute lecture, and do it successfully? To put it another way, I didn't want to look at any member of the audience at the end of the RSS/faceted search portion of my presentation, and find myself staring into the eyes of a chicken, eyes glazed over, no comprehension achieved whatsoever.

I spent time considering the best way to do this. I worked with my 2004 powerpoint slides, eliminated some of them, redesigned the others, eliminated some slides altogether, and created two ppt slides to use to explain faceted searching and RSS in EV2. I decided the best way to approach this (gently), would be to review the Compendex db, also mention Inspec and NTIS, because all three are searchable when you begin an "Easy Search" within EV2, and then briefly explain faceted searching. I used this slide for support, and then switched to a live search on Compendex.

Beginning the search, I mentioned that when you choose Compendex, EV2 opens in Quick Search mode, defaulting to Compendex only (Inspec and NTIS remain unchecked). I explained that to get to the faceted search feature, you need to switch to Easy Search. Once there, I began a search with the phrase self-assembly, and added Controlled Vocabulary terms monolayers, substrates, and nanostructured materials. During this process, I took the time to describe the faceted search feature by explaining the facets or clusters, in the right-hand column of the search, including Controlled Vocabulary, Author, Date, Language, etc. I wanted to ensure that the class understood the faceted searching function before moving on to RSS.

Having reached that point, it was time to move on to RSS. I switched back to ppt, and displayed this slide, created to explain RSS without causing weeping and gnashing of teeth. I tried to avoid all jargon and acronymns, and introduced Bloglines without discussing blogs in detail, but instead focusing on its function as an RSS feeds reader. I returned to EV2, clicked on the RSS button for the above search, and showed the class the long, unintelligble URL that pops up, advising them not to be concerned about its size or what it means. I switched to Bloglines, and logged into an account I had created for the class, into which I had already embedded two EV2 searches, so that they could see examples of using RSS. I cut and pasted the URL from the live EV2 search into Bloglines, to illustrate how to "subscribe" to an RSS feed, and finally, briefly demonstrated the "edit" function within Bloglines, which allows the user to change a feed description that looks something like: "( (self assembly) AND (({monolayers}) WN CV) AND (({substrates}) WN CV) AND ..... ", and change it something like "Self assembly and monolayers with substrates."

At that point I stopped, and ask the class something like, "So, what do you think? Does the use of faceted searching, and embedding an RSS feed in Bloglines make sense, based on what I presented to you? Are you still with me" Heads nodded in the affirmative, and I ended by referring the class to a handout I created to help them use Easy Search to get to the faceted searching functionality of EV2, and to them take an RSS feed and use it in Bloglines. After the class, I spoke to interested students for another 30 minutes. The full ppt presentation used in the mech eng graduate class is here.

I felt that the way I approached the lecture, i.e., how I presented the concepts of faceted searching and RSS with Bloglines - slowly and at a very basic level (not discussing blogs, for example), worked quite well. It was a gamble - I'd not presented something like this before, and I had to give it my best shot. I share my experience here because others may be considering presentations of a similar nature in their classes, and I think it's something we need to be doing anyway. One hopes that EV2 is but the first of many, if not all, major databases to offer RSS feeds with search results. The question is, what's taking the rest of them so long?

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:: I have uploaded the article co-authored with Geoff Harder, "Weblogs: Their Use and Application In Science and Technology Libraries". The pdf version is here. The article has also been added to the category, "Articles and Presentations", in the right hand column of STLQ.

Please note that Haworth allows for preprint distribution rights, "including posting as electronic files on the contributor’s own Web site for personal or professional use, or on the contributor’s internal university/corporate intranet or network, or other external Web site at the contributor’s university or institution, but not for either commercial (for-profit) or document delivery systems." (Full details here.)

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:: Well, duh. Finally, another publisher has added an RSS feed to its newsletter. Elsevier's SD Connect is now available in RSS. We continue to wonder: what is taking publishers so long to offer RSS feeds for their various press releases, newsletters, updates, and the like? (Via Shifted.)

:: BTW, regarding the blog article mentioned in the previous post, I am waiting for confirmation of approval to post the article to STLQ. I hope to have an answer later today.

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:: I am pleased to report the publication of an article¹ co-authored by your humble correspondent and the amazing Geoff Harder, my friend and colleague (on the other side of the wall). The article, "Weblogs: Their Use and Application in Science and Technology Libraries", briefly covers the history of blogs and considers how they can be put to good use in the science and technology library setting:

Weblogs, or blogs, emerged in the late 1990s on the Web, quickly becoming a new way to communicate ideas, opinions, resources and news. Since that time, the community of blogs has grown to encompass specific subject areas of study and research. This article briefly discusses the history and background of blogs, including blogging software. Literature searches suggest very little has been published on subject-specific blogs in scientific and technical publications. Applications in science and technology librarianship are discussed, including team and project management, reference work, current awareness, and the librarian as blog mentor for students.

Please note that my work e-mail address listed in the article and on the Haworth web site is incorrect, and should read randy.reichardt@ualberta.ca

1. Reichardt, Randy and Geoffrey Harder. 2005. "Weblogs: Their Use and Application in Science and Technology Libraries." Science & Technology Libraries, 25(3), p105-116.

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:: Issue 6.4 April 2005 of LiveWire, from ACS, is available.

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:: I finally spelled it correctly from the outset! The v5 n6 April 2005 issue of Cites & Insights is available.

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:: Congratulations are in order for Don Welch, Senior Librarian for the Bell Helicopter Textron - Research and Engineering Library in Ft. Worth, Texas, and Suzanne Christina, Staff Analyst in the Engineering & Technology group at Hamilton Sundstrand, United Technologies, in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The SLA-ENG Division election results were announced today, with Don as Incoming Chair, and Suzanne as Treasurer. Kudos and best wishes to both winners!

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:: Jessamyn West links to the editorial and letters in the latest Library Journal, written in response to the Michael Gorman's vicious attack on weblogs in the previous issue, "hopefully putting it to bed once and for all". I don't think it's going to go away that quickly.

:: Also of note: Walt Crawford has come over to the dark side, and is now blogging. Check out Walt at Random.

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:: Dana Roth posted the following to CHMINF-L, something of concern to all patent searchers, and to those of us who advise our users of the importance of searching patents while doing research:

This from the New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7213

It might seem that the plethora of free online patent databases that now exist should make it easier to check the relevant patent documents, but Willem Geert Lagemaat (World Patent Information, vol 27, p 27) says this is not so. Univentio, the patent-information company he runs in the Netherlands, has discovered that Espacenet, the European online patent database, is missing 322,000 UK Patent Office documents, plus 186,000 and 17,000 patents respectively from the French and German offices.

Some of the missing documents were granted as recently as 2004. "The online archives have gaps simply because the documents were not scanned, either because they were missing or there was an error digitising them," Lagemaat says.
With many libraries now disposing of at least part of their paper archives to save money, it is no longer possible to guarantee that a paper version of every patent exists. People use the web to do the bulk of their patent research for free and only contact archives for the missing patents. "Such low-volume orders do not cover an archive's expenses," Lagemaat says.

The UK Patent Office says it has "no immediate plans" to dispose of its paper archive and is working with the European Patent Office to extend the electronic archive with scanned images of British patents. But as Lagemaat points out, images are of little use in prior-art searches because the text within them is not searchable.

Dana L. Roth

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:: George Porter forwarded a message written by Chuck Hamaker and posted to the SPARC Open Access Forum by Peter Suber, regarding Blackwell now offering free access to archives of some of their journals:

These journals on the Blackwell (s)ite all STATE they have free archives. There are others that are free at the moment, but don't have a statement about whether they are free or not, and their are other titles that just make certain sections i.e. reviews, free.

There are undoubtedly others. This was a quick run through. But it shows a significant number of major journals are making their backfiles free, across a range of subjects.

BLACKWELL's Free Archives -([partial list I'm sure]}

Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica
Published on behalf of the Institution Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica
Free access to issues over two years old

British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
Published on behalf of The British Pharmacological Society
All online journal issues older than one year are available free to all users.

Cellular Microbiology
Free access to all review articles
Free access to issues over two years old

Continue reading "Blackwell Offers Free Backfiles to Selected Titles"

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:: David Stern, Director of Science Libraries and Information Services, Kline Science Library, Yale University, has written a timely piece on open access. He argues that the open access publishing model isn't necessary or wanted, and represents a danger to the stability of the current scholarly publication network. In Open Access or Differential Pricing for Journals: The Road Best Traveled?, from Online, v29 n2, March/April 2005, he writes:

Open access (OA) is becoming a reality, with new cost models under development. The various cost models will have serious short- and long-term implications for libraries and dangerously impact the scholarly communication network. I believe that the adoption of the OA model for journals will create serious instabilities within the existing scholarly publication industry. OA, as a business model, is neither necessary nor desirable. With or without the often-discussed author charges approach, it would be almost impossible to obtain the same amount of total revenue through selected libraries as now exists from the much larger base of library subscriptions. Tiered or differential pricing (and services) among the existing subscribers would be a far more logical approach to supporting a modified scholarly journal distribution network.

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:: Links to the presentations from Computers In Libraries 2005 are available on the Information Today web site. (Via: Science Library Pad.)

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:: From a post on CHMINF-L:

Presenters have now been selected for the Poster Session, "Better Understanding Your Users," being cosponsored by the Chemistry, PAM, and Sci-Tech Divisions at the upcoming SLA meeting in Toronto . A list of the presenters along with titles and abstracts of the presentations can be found on the Chemistry Division web site at http://www.sla.org/division/dche/2005/poster.htm.

It should be an exciting session, and we hope you will be able to attend in person. For those of you who cannot make it to Toronto, however, a web version of the conference will be presented on the Chemistry Division's web conference site sometime following the Toronto conference. Details of the web version will be forthcoming, but this format will provide you with a chance to read/view the presentations and participate in discussions with the presenters in an asynchronous fashion, so please stay tuned for details regarding this.

Bill Armstrong, Moderator
Chemistry, Sci-Tech, & PAM Poster Session

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:: I am obviously having trouble keeping up with Walt Crawford. I missed noting the v5 n2: Midwinter 2005 issue of Cites & Incites Insights, which appeared between January and February. When you are finished with that issue, check out the v5 n5: Spring 2005 issue as well. BTW, Walt, please consider changing the name, because quite obviously, I have a mental block with the title as it is now. ;-)

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:: Excerpted from a post on CHMINF-L, David R Lide, Editor-in-Chief, CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, explains the policy of updating HCP:

Each annual edition provides an opportunity to add new material, update/expand existing tables, and correct errors. Certainly, all errors that we have found or that have been brought to our attention by users are corrected in each new edition. We typically introduce five or six new topics each year, and five to ten existing tables are updated or expanded. The net result is the at least 5% of the book is substantially changed each year. In some years, when a very long table is updated, the changes can amount to 10-20%.

Continue reading "Handbook of Chemistry & Physics Updating Policy"

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:: From a message sent by Christine Orr of AIP, which appeared on various listservs:

The American Institute of Physics is pleased to announce that beginning this week, all AIP journal abstract pages will carry a message informing users that their access is provided via their library’s subscription. Once a user is IP-authenticated, each abstract view will display a small banner stating, “Your access to J. Appl. Physics [e.g.] is provided by the subscription of [institution].”

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