July-August 2001
By Jean Phillips
UW-MADISON LIBRARIES RELEASE NEW VERSION OF MADCAT
You may have already noticed some of the changes in the newly released MadCat. The new design features improved navigation and more clearly defined search options. Among the improvements are: search screens limited to “basic” and “guided” only, an ability to edit search strategies from the results screen, ability to search course reserves by instructor, and interlibrary loan options/requests that are more clearly labeled. Many more links have been added from the MadCat record to the electronic version of journals, although limiting a search for journals to those with Internet links typically yields zero records when in fact there may be many (if you have trouble locating journals, please contact us or consult our e-journal list ). MadCat response time is still slow – a problem that the UW is working to improve. Read, Known Problems in MadCat for more information.
For help searching MadCat or any other database, please contact the
Library or read, Searching
MadCat.
PUBLIC LIBRARY MATERIALS DELIVERED AT WORK?
That’s right. The SCLS is offering libraries the opportunity to borrow public library materials and have them delivered to the borrowing library via the existing delivery network. What does this mean for you? It means that if we need to borrow something for you to use in your work, we now have a mechanism in place to do it easily. It means expanded access.
LINK, the Library Interchange Network, is a consortium of 38 South Central Library System (SCLS) public libraries that have merged their collections to form the huge LINK catalog. LINKcat, the online catalog, is comprised of over 2,250,000 items representing over 600,000 different titles.
The Schwerdtfeger Library has subscribed to this service.
INFORMATION ABOUT ACCESS TO NATURE PUBLICATIONS ONLINE
Weekly Nature -
The online version of Nature has been unavailable for the past few months. UW-Madison Libraries recently reached an agreement with the publisher for this title. Online access for the UW-Madison community will be available by August 15 (or possibly earlier) at http://www.nature.com/nature/.
Other Nature journals -
UW-Madison Libraries are now working with the publisher on the other
Nature journals. Before we can receive price quotes for those titles, we
must submit demographic data about the science community on our campus
and also negotiate another license agreement. We are hopeful that access
for all or most of these titles will be available by October. If you have
questions, please contact Ken Frazier, Director of the General Library
System. kfrazier@library.wisc.edu
ELECTRONIC JOURNALS IN THE ATMOSPHERIC AND SPACE SCIENCES
We've compiled a list of electronic journals in the atmospheric and space sciences available via the Electronic Library. All of these electronic journals can be searched and linked to in Madcat as well.
The UW-Madison libraries have been purchasing campus site licenses for
electronic versions of high-use, high-demand print journals. A site license
usually provides the entire UW-Madison community with access to an e-journal
from anywhere on campus or from off-site (using either http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/wiscworld/
WiscWorld software or the http://www.library.wisc.edu/help/remote/remote-restrict.html
library proxy server).
The Schwerdtfeger Library offers its Current Contents on the web. We provide scientists direct access to current literature in the meteorological, oceanographic and planetary sciences. Where possible, we provide connections to the full-text versions of current articles and paper copies for most anything else. At last count we had about 60 subscribers, most of them in-house, who receive e-mail notification when the site is updated each week.
If you’d like to subscribe or learn more about the service, please contact
me.
NEW CAMPUS RESOURCES
OCEANIC ABSTRACTS, 1984 – to date (updated monthly)
Oceanic Abstracts is the premier database for marine resources, abstracting nearly 500 journals. It covers such topics as marine biology, ecology, marine geology, geophysics, geochemistry, oceanography, marine pollution and environmental protection, living and non-living resources, and ships and shipping. It is available as part of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts, and is international in scope. The Libraries have licensed Oceanic Abstracts for access by UW-Madison students, faculty and staff.
This resource has been added to our Electronic
Resources in the Atmospheric Sciences.
SPIN (SPONSORED PROGRAMS INFORMATION NETWORK)
SPIN currently contains information from more than 1,200 different sponsoring agencies, which together fund over 11,000 separate funding opportunities. All of the information on SPIN is obtained directly from the sponsoring agencies to ensure the integrity of the information. Each funding opportunity is updated on SPIN as the sponsoring agency comes out with updated or revised information, which is typically on an annual basis. It is a computer database with detailed and up-to-the-minute information about thousands of federal, non-federal, and international funding opportunities.
The UW-Madison Libraries have licensed access to this database for faculty,
staff and students.
OTHER NEWS
PUBSCIENCE IN DANGER?
PubScience is the database created by the U.S. Dept. of Energy to complement PubMed. As you know, PubMed, although primarily covering the medical literature, also indexes the journal literature of the entire life sciences. PubScience seeks to do the same for the physical sciences, covering over 1000 peer-reviewed journal titles. Both services are provided on the Internet free.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a bill, accompanied by a report, which suggests that the Energy Department dismantle this service. Concern is expressed that it competes unfairly with commercial services like those of the publisher, Elsevier. [Excerpted from Sci-Tech Library Newsletter, 7/18/01]
House Report
ftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/thomas/cp107/hr112.txt
Article from the Chronicle of Higher Education
http://www.chronicle.com/free/2001/07/2001070202t.htm
Article from Nature
http://www.nature.com/nature/debates/e-access/Articles/butler.html
FEDERAL FUNDS
FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT:
DETAILED HISTORICAL TABLES: FISCAL YEARS 1951-2001
This annual report, published by the National Science Foundation, Division
of Science Resources Studies, is available only on the Web. Data in these
tables reflect Research and Development (R&D) funding as reported by
Federal agencies. Totals in these tables are also given in obligations
for research by field of science and engineering. Data are derived from
the Survey of Federal Funds for R&D, Volume 49, for fiscal years 1999-2001
and from earlier surveys.
EPACT: SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS OF MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE EUROPE
Epact is an electronic catalogue of medieval and renaissance scientific instruments from four European museums: the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Florence, the British Museum, London, and the Museum Boerhaave, Leiden. Together, these museums house the finest collections of early scientific instruments in the world.
Epact consists of 520 catalogue entries and a variety of supporting
material. All European instruments from the four museums by makers who
were active before 1600 have been entered in the catalogue. They include
astrolabes, armillary spheres, sundials, quadrants, nocturnals, compendia,
surveying instruments, and so on. Examples range from ordinary instruments
for everyday use to more extravagant and often lavish pieces destined for
the cabinets of princes.
NASA’s Observatorium is a public access site for Earth and space data.
You’ll find pictures of the Earth, planets, stars as well as the stories
behind those images. A recent addition is the Wind Chill Factor which
is all about sensible or equivalent temperature and how the wind affects
how cold you feel. [Librarian’s Index to the Internet]
A fun, quick tour through the history of books from cave paintings to
the future. Brought to you by the BBC. [Sci-Tech Library Newsletter,
7/18/01]
Jean Phillips
October 2001
