Engineering & Science Library Newsletter
December 2011
In This Issue
Did You Know?
The Engineering & Science Library has a selection of games and puzzles available to use in the Library.
Jigsaw, Sudoku and crossword puzzles are distributed in various locations in the Library. If you’re taking a break, feel free to enjoy them. Board games are available to borrow from the Circulation Desk.
There is also a collection of science fiction books available to borrow. They are located on Level 5 (one floor up from the ground floor).
Teaching in the Winter Term?
Please submit reserve course lists as soon as possible. Reserve requests may submitted online, at the Circulation/Reserve Desk, or via e-mail to engsci.reserve@queensu.ca, or calling 75550.
Human Rights Day
December 10th
Human Rights of Scientists -
The Heinz R. Pagels Award
(New York Academy of Sciences) is given to scientists in recognition of the contributions they made to safeguard or advance the human rights of scientists throughout the world.
Award winners for 2011 are Professor Emeritus Jack Minker, computer scientist and internationally recognized leader in the field of human rights of computer scientists, and Dr. Binayak Sen, pediatrician community health specialist, and human rights advocate.
Update: 2009 Heinz R. Pagels prize winners Dr. Kamiar Alaei and Dr. Arash Alaei were released from prison earlier this year. The brothers shared the award for their work in prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in Iran
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Scholars at Risk (SAR) Celebrates 10th Anniversary
The theme of the anniversary - Courage To Think - was a reminder "that we all have a role in defending the space in society for creativity, inquiry, and individual and shared expression even, and perhaps especially, when doing so carries risks, from ridicule and failure to imprisonment and even death".
SAR promotes academic freedom and defends the human rights of scholars and their communities worldwide. The group publishes a list of Alerts/Scholars in Prison and urges action on their behalf.
Included in this list are Omid Kokabee (Iran), a doctoral student and physicist, and Svyatoslav Bobyshev and Yevgeny Afanasyev (Russia), professors at Baltic State Technical University in St. Petersburg
Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday
from the Staff at the
Engineering & Science Library
Christmas Break - Hours
The Engineering & Science Library will be closed December 24 - January 2nd
Exception: the library will be open
December 27 & 29, 1-4:45pm)
Library News
Springer Supplemental Materials
Academic publisher Springer is now making available software, images, data and other supplemental materials published with books available at http://extras.springer.com/
This service allows readers of Springer e-books to access online material that was distributed on CD/DVD with the print edition.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SciFinder Now Includes
Ahead-of-Print Articles
SciFinder journal coverage now includes ahead-of-print (AOP) articles for more than 100 journals published by:
- American Chemical Society
- American Institute of Physics
- Nature Publishing Group
- Springer
- Wiley-Blackwell
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Solar Physics E-Print Archive is an open access collection of abstracts of preprints and unpublished work of broad interest to researchers in solar and heliospheric physics. It was created and is maintained by the Solar Physics Group at Montana State University. It currently contains more than 2,100 abstracts linked to preprints in the arXiv preprint database.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
eLife - New Open Access Journal
A new open access journal is scheduled to make its debut next year with the support of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max Planck Society and the Wellcome Trust. The aim is to make eLife a journal for scientists, edited by scientists ... read more
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
McGraw-Hill Handbooks
Withdrawn from Knovel
McGraw-Hill has decided to withdraw its e-books from Knovel effective December 31, 2011. Approximately 180 McGraw-Hill titles, including popular works such as Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, will be affected.
In preparation for this change, Knovel has replaced the McGraw-Hill titles with equivalent content from other leading technical publishers and the library has purchased many McGraw-Hill titles available on other e-book platforms.Please contact your liaison librarian for more information about accessing McGraw-Hill e-books.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
US Government Cutbacks Threaten Access
to Scientific Information
Due to US government cutbacks, a number of public scientific information services are at risk of shutting down permanently. The latest casualties are EnergyFiles (DoE) and Federal R&D Project Summaries (DoE) which ceased on Oct. 1, 2011, and National Biological Information Infrastructure (multiple agencies) which will cease operations on Jan. 15, 2012
The Glass Flowers collection was commissioned by Harvard Botanical Museum Director George Goodale who wanted life-like representatives of the plant kingdom for teaching botany. This unique collection of over 3,000 models represents more than 830 plant species with remarkably accurate anatomical sections and enlarged flower parts.
New Books/DVDs
The quantum tamers : revealing our weird and wired future, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
QC174.12 .Q36 2010 DVD
Nostalgia for the light
QB82.C52 A83 2010 DVD
Two billion trees and counting: the legacy of Edmund Zavitz, by James Bobick
SD129.Z38 B34 2011
Beyond the finite : the sublime in art and science Q175.32.A47 B49 2010
Construction Technology, by Sarkar, Subir K, available from Knovel.
View a list of items received in the last month