In the Library

Good-bye Jill

" It is with mixed emotions that we will say farewell to public services librarian Jillian Baker.  Jill has been a key member of the Engineering and Science Library's staff since 1997.  Jill is known for her unwavering commitment to the people who use our libraries and for her informed, creative, and innovative approaches to service delivery.  We will miss her energy, her enthusiasm, her knowledge, and her wonderful sense of humour.   In August, Jill will take up a new position as the College Librarian at St. Lawrence College.  Congratulations Jill!  We wish you well."

Welcome to the Catherine Ferguson Academy students and teachers who arrive this week from Detroit, Michigan. The Catherine Ferguson Academy is an alternative public school catering to pregnant and parenting students.  The students have visited Queen's for the past 3 years to take part in an intensive 3-week summer school program.
Amy Yovanovich, summer intern and CFA liaison

Table of Contents now in QCAT
TOC for recent books are now right in the books' catalogue records in QCAT and are included in the results of a keyword search (results may include chapter authors and titles).

Useful / Interesting Websites

Science and Engineering Resources for Your PDA
(from the University of Alberta). This page is intended to act as a starting point for those using PDAs in science and technology.

Dartmouth Flood Observatory

"This site is a research tool for detection, mapping, measurement, and analysis of extreme flood events world-wide using satellite remote sensing. The Observatory provides yearly catalogs, maps, and images of river floods, from 1985 to the present."

TEST: The Expert System for Thermodynamics
"TEST is a visual environment to solve thermo problems, pursue what-if scenarios, perform numerical experiments, and continue a life-long learning experience. Browse a few slides from Slide Show (10 min) followed by a hands-on Tutorial (30 min) to put TEST to full use without much of a learning curve."

Digital Collections

The Linnean Society, the world's oldest biological society, plans to make all its major collections available in a digital format in time for the 300th anniversary of Linnaeus' birth in 2007.

The collections include about 14,000 plants, 158 fish, 1,564 shells and 3,198 insects

 

BioDiTRL (from the University of Alberta) is an online database with digital media that can be used to assist in teaching biology. In it you will find images, animations, video clips and text excerpts that may be downloaded for use by subscribers . Anyone may search or browse by following the appropriate links. Contributions of suitable teaching resources are most welcome.

Open Access

U.K. Academics and Librarians Disagree Over Open Access Publishing
On April 21, the U.K. Parliament's Science and Technology Select Committee held the third evidence session in its enquiry into the pricing and availability of scientific publications. Committee chair Dr. Ian Gibson began: “Libraries have told us that there is a crisis in the provision of scientific publications: publishers vigorously deny this. Who is right?” (Information Today)

Elsevier Allows Open Access Self-Archiving
" In a move that has stunned both the publishing community and the academic world, major journal publisher Elsevier is going to permit Open Access self-archiving for almost all of its journal titles." (Information Today)

PLoS (Public Library of Science) will launch its new open access medical journal, _PLoS Medicine_, in Autumn 2004.

BioOne has signed an agreement to provide its content to libraries in developing countries via the Electronic Information for Libraries Network. For more information see www.eifL.net

Project Euclid has announced that it will host a new, open access, born-digital journal from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics: Probability Surveys. The first articles are scheduled to be available in early July.

The Journal of Machine Learning Research  has been named the top ranked journal in the "Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence" category in a new study on the impact of open access journals prepared by Thomson ISI.  The report, “Thomson ISI Finds Open Access Journals Making an Impact,” is available at http://www.isinet.com/press/2004/8221713 . ISI Journal Citations Report is now available at Queen's. See left column for more information.