Thursday 27 November 2008

SAFARI - Downtime - 27th November.

I have just been informed that Safari will be doing required maintenance on their servers tomorrow morning - Thursday 27th November. The planned downtime is scheduled to be between 0930am – 1130am Safari services will be inaccessible and a message will be displayed advising users of the downtime.

Advanced Notice: E-Library Gateway unavailable 13th-14th December

As a consequence of vital maintenance work in the Cripps Computing Centre, e-Library Gateway (the University's gateway to e-journals and other electronic library resources) is expected to be unavailable on Saturday 13th December. We hope to restore normal service during Sunday 14th, but the system may still be subject to disruption and should be considered "At Risk" for that day.

IS apologises for any inconvenience caused and hopes that this advanced notice helps you to plan accordingly. During eLG's unavailability it will of course still be possible to connect directly to the website of any e-resource - you may wish to bookmark in advance those resources you will need to use.

Wednesday 26 November 2008

JACS gets a makeover

The American Chemical Society is developing a new, dynamic online version of JACS (Journal of the American Chemical Society). It aims to explore "new approaches to the presentation of chemical and related research". It includes virtual issues, selected recent articles on themes such as Total Synthesis of Biologically Active Natural Products, competitions and RSS feeds.
ACS want feedback from their readers so have a look at http://pubs.acs.org and especially at JACS Beta

Friday 21 November 2008

Access to Electronic Journals - tips to reduce confusion

The library subscribes to electronic journals through a number of suppliers. Sometimes access to a journal may be provided by more than one supplier; sometimes different suppliers provide access to different issues, or provision can overlap so you could get the same articles from more than one supplier.

Such complication can lead to confusion and frustration especially if you go directly to one of the suppliers - eg Ingenta for Informaworld - to try and get an article they don't supply to us or or we don't subscribe to at the Univeristy of Nottingham. In this scenario, access will always be refused.

This means that it is better to go to the journal you want via the library catalogue or the eLibrary Gateway, because then you find out along the way which supplier you can use. If you click on the SFX button adjacent to the journal entry on UNLOC, or in the eLibrary Gateway, you will get a pop-up that tells you which issues come from where.

Wednesday 19 November 2008

Talk Science at the British Library - Events

Events - TalkScience

TalkScience TalkScience@bl.uk is a series of events hosted by the British Library, providing opportunities to inform, engage, debate and network with scientists and all those who use scientific information.

Infectious disease: what can evolution do for us?
Wednesday 10 December 2008


Infectious agents evolve, just like other living things. And because they have short life cycles and large population sizes, they do it quickly. Are we destined always to be playing catch up in the evolutionary arms race?

Dr Bill Hanage of Imperial College London will introduce the debate on how natural selection leads to the virulence of the diseases we know, the emergence of new ones, and how it might affect the future of both.
  • Are we doomed to be always playing catch up in the fight against resistant superbugs?
  • Avian Flu, the next pandemic or a flash in the pan?
  • HIV vaccine, dream or reality?
  • Information technology and bioinformatics: can it help us predict evolution of new dangers?
  • Humans vs pathogens: an arms race on a microscale?
  • Why do some infectious diseases evolve to become less virulent?

Event time: 18.00 – 20.30 Location: Terrace restaurant, British Library

Sold out - To be added to the waiting list email talkscience@bl.uk
Save and print A4 flyer for this event (PDF, 91 KB)
A podcast of the event will be available.

or join the discussion at: http://network.nature.com/groups/humans_vs_pathogens/forum/topics

Monday 17 November 2008

Web version of SciFinder enhanced

Have you tried the new web-based version of SciFinder yet?

The service, which was launched this summer, has now been upgraded to improve search performance, functionality and content.

The improvements include:-
- Direct links to full text and data
- Keep Me Posted enhancements to help keep you up to date with your interests
- Improved search precision
- Facility to review searches from previous sessions
- Index term linking
- Saving and combining answer sets

Content enhancements include:-
- 23.8 million predicted proton NMR spectra
- 1.9 billion predicted and experimental properties, spectra and data
- 29 million preparations, including single- and multi-step reactions
- Reactions from major reference works, such as Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis

For more details of the upgrade see the CAS website
http://www.cas.org/ASSETS/8E6043B892FF4C48B3ECEC7F08113A09/webscifaug08.pdf

To register as a SciFinder web user and for information on our subscription please link to http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/library/resources/scifinder.php

We should like to know what you think about the new web-based SciFinder - please post any comments to the blog.

Thursday 13 November 2008

Online Reading Lists Reminder

Just a quick reminder that many reading lists are now available online, through the Portal or the Information Services homepage.

An online reading list provides you with links to quickly and easily check library holdings and access electronic texts and websites recommended by your tutors without the need to dive into UNLOC, the University of Nottingham Library Online Catalogue or the eLibrary Gateway to search for each reference independently.

Why use online reading lists?
  • Easy access to recommended textbooks
  • Direct access to UNLOC to view library holdings and check the location and availability of recommended items
  • Easy links to electronic resources, including the full text of journal articles, electronic books and websites
  • Kept up to date
How do I access online reading lists?

As a tutor how do I set up a reading list online?

  • Contact your subject librarian
  • Provide module code, name and convenor details
  • Supply reading list
  • Your subject librarian will set up the reading list and add details of recommended reading
  • Alternatively you, as tutor can add and update your own lists once set up.

Further guidance on using online reading lists can be obtained through our online tutorial here.

24/7 Opening at George Green and James Cameron Gifford Libraries

George Green and James Cameron Gifford Libraries will be offering the following 24/7 library opening periods during 2008-9 :

George Green Library
5 January– 23 January 2009
20 April - 4 June 2009

James Cameron Gifford Library
5 January - 23 January 2009
20 April - 18 June 2009


For 24/7 opening hours of other libraries click here

Wednesday 12 November 2008

Science in Industry - New Website linking Industry and Academia

www.scienceinindustry.co.uk

Science in Industry has been established as a monthly ezine for scientists in school, college, academia and industry. Its aim is to promote closer links between schools, colleges, universities and industry, and in particular to give students and academics an appreciation of what it is like to work in industry, and how academic science is translated into industrial technology.

Each month there will be three articles:
  • one "innovative" article giving essential background to, and applications of the latest scientific developments.
  • one "industrial" article outlining the technology used in a certain area of industry or giving a feel for what it is like to be a scientist / technologist in industry.
  • on a lighter note we also have articles on a variety of scientific issues for which we can find no better generic title than "Borderline"!

Please visit the site to see how this could be of considerable value to students who are looking to enter industry in a scientific career.

Tuesday 11 November 2008

HEA Engineering subject centre events

The Higher Education Authority Engineering subject centre is running a number of events over the next few months:

Robotics in the Curriculum
20 November 2008 at the University of Southampton
For more information go to: http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/events/displayevent.php?id=204

Assessment of learning outcomes in engineering conference
27 November 2008 at Goodenough College London
For more information go to: http://www.aloe.ac.uk/index.php/conference-2008

Peer assessment
21 January 2009 at Manchester Conference Centre
For more information go to: http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/physsci/events/detail/2009/peer_assessment

Supporting engineering and physical science students - a workshop for demonstrators
11 February 2009 at the University of Birmingham
For more information go to:
http://www.engsc.ac.uk/nef/events/workshop-for-demonstrators.asp

Creativity in the sciences
29 April 2009 at the University of Glasgow
For more information go to: http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/events/glasgow290409.aspx