Finding sources for humanities papers

Many of you are writing humanities papers this spring. Understanding Library of Congress subject headings will help you locate better source material.  Subject headings are what libraries use to catalog their materials. High schools tend to use the Dewey Decimal system; academic libraries use Library of Congress. Zip through this little booklet in 3 minutes for a quick tour.  If you have additional questions, please ask them.  Email your house librarian or libraryATcaltech.edu  Or stop by any library and speak to a librarian.

Free access to Oxford's African American Studies Center

In honor of Black History month, Oxford University Press will provide free access to its African American Studies Center, for the month of February.  To Access Oxford’s African American Studies Center please visit www.oxfordaasc.com.  username: blackhistorymonth  password: onlineaccess

Extraordinary announcement from Johnson & Johnson

From an op-ed in today's New York Times: 

LAST week, Johnson & Johnson announced that it was making all of its clinical trial data available to scientists around the world. Read more.

New LexisNexis Academic Interface

LexisNexis has a new interface. Here are some links that explain it: 

        LexisNexis Academic YouTube Channel:  http://www.youtube.com/lexisnexisacademic

       Academic Knowledge Center:  http://wiki.lexisnexis.com/academic/index.php?title=Academic_Interface_Refresh

       Curriculum Guides:  http://wiki.lexisnexis.com/academic/index.php?title=Curriculum-Based_Research_Guides

Sidney Buchbinder wins $100 Amazon gift card

George Porter, engineering librarian, congratulates Sidney Buchbinder

Sidney Buchbinder, a junior from Lloyd House, won a $100 Amazon gift card this morning.  The Caltech Library sponsored a drawing for the gift certificate in an effort to publicize its house librarians.  To enter the drawing, undergraduates simply had to introduce themselves (in person) to their house librarian.  Learn more about house librarians here.  Congratulations, Sidney!

WELCOME!

We hope you had a terrific summer and are ready to start a new school year.

A few items about the library that we want to make sure you know about:

•         This year, both  Millikan Library and Dabney Library will be open 8am- 11pm, weekdays, 9am-11pm weekends.  Additional library hours are here.
•         Introduce yourself to your house librarian, and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a $100 Amazon gift certificate.
•         All course textbooks are  on reserve  in the library.
•         The Caltech Library is participating in a national survey, run by University of North Carolina at Greensboro, of how library websites meet the needs of library users.  Please consider taking a 15 minute survey to help us learn what works and doesn’t on our website: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/caltechlibrarypatronsurvey
•         There is a new computer classroom on the 3^rd floor of the SFL called Lab326.
•         This library webpage is just for undergraduates.
•         You can borrow Kindles, iPads, laptops, Nooks, and cameras from the Sherman Fairchild Library.
•         The library offers free, 1-hour workshops on a host of topics.

SURFing this summer?

Here's a libguide of library resources for SURFS this summer.

Play with Nook, get $10 gift certificate

The library is looking for 12 undergraduates who would be willing to check out a library Nook, play around with it for a week, fill out a questionnaire, and get a $10 gift certificate. If you are interested, please email David McCaslin, head of circulation, davidATlibrary.caltech.edu

SFL remodel of basement

The remodeling of the SFL basement is complete. Shelving was removed to create lots of new study space.  White boards, new carpeting, and new upholstery enhance the area even more.     

Winter announcements

If you are beginning to think about a SURF research proposal, the librarians are happy to help with literature searches, tracking down mentor papers, search tips in Web of Science, etc.  Your house librarian can help you.  You are also welcome to email libraryATcaltech.edu.

Some improvements are coming to the SFL. Please be patient while construction is in progress.

Click for library classes

Click for new books

Study space in Dabney Library basement

There is a small, enclosed area in Dabney basement that can be used as a group study room, no reservation required.  It now includes a white board.

House Librarians

All eight undergraduate houses have their own librarian.  We hope a more personal connection between the library and the houses will lead students to seek out its resources  when they need them.  Students can contact their house librarian with any library-related questions, big or small.   Unable to find a journal article?  Not sure where to look? Ask your house librarian.  Want to learn more about Web of Science? Endnote?  Just ask.  Your house librarian will put you in touch with a subject specialist, if need be. Click the house librarian tab at the top of the undergraduates library page.

Op-ed in LA Times by Caltech prof

J. Morgan Koussser, professor of history and social science here at Caltech, wrote an op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times on protecting the right to vote.  Dr. Kousser recently testified in Washington, D.C. in the Texas voter ID lawsuit.  He is teaching a freshmen humanities course this fall, in addition to his well-known course on the Supreme Court this winter.

WELCOME!

We hope you had a terrific summer and are ready to start a new school year.

A few items about the library that we want to make sure you know about:

• You can borrow iPads, Kindles, laptops, and nooks from the Sherman Fairchild Library.
• Do you know who your house librarian is? 
• The library offers free, 1-hour workshops on a host of topics.  
• This library webpage is just for undergraduates.
• Below are some of the latest additions to the Leisure Reading Collection, located on the 3rd floor of the Sherman Fairchild Library. New additions to the entire collection are here.

LexisNexis will now offer Chinese news content

From the LexisNexis website:"...LexisNexis has reached an agreement with Wisers, the world’s leading Chinese news information service provider, to offer exclusive access to both Chinese and English language news content... Wisers offers the largest collection of native language news and company content from mainland China and Hong Kong... Users can search in Chinese or English."

How to find new books through the Caltech Library

By George Porter, Engineering Librarian

The Caltech Library purchases more than a hundred new books each month.  A listing of the new titles, grouped by subject, can be found under the ‘New books’ <http://library.caltech.edu/techservices/new/newmaterials.htm>  link in the center of the library’s main web page <http://library.caltech.edu/>.  The lists are generated monthly and are usually posted to the website by the middle of the following month.  New chemistry, biology, physics and math books are on a booktruck by the Millikan Circulation desk for a week after receipt and the engineering new books are on shelves on the 3rd floor of Sherman Fairchild Library, also for a week.  New books in the pertinent disciplines are also displayed for 4 weeks on the new book shelf in the Geology Library, a few weeks in the Astronomy Library in Cahill, and several weeks in Dabney.

Over the last couple of years there has been explosive growth in the availability of ebooks.  See the ‘Ebooks <http://libguides.caltech.edu/ebooks> ’ link on the library’s homepage.  The Library purchases access to both individual titles and large packages of ebooks from publishers.  Some notable packages include a rotating 100 title collection of primarily O’Reilly computer books from Safari, the entire Springer math and statistics collection beginning with titles published in 2005, the complete book collections from both IEEE and SIAM, and almost 400 books from the Morgan and Claypool Synthesis digital library of engineering and computer science.  All individual titles can be searched in the library’s catalog.  Going through the catalog provides proxied access for easy off-campus use.

Beginning in January 2011, the Library began a trial program of offering Kindles for checkout to students and faculty.  Upon checkout, an individual is permitted to acquire up to $25 worth of titles to the Kindle.  The six Kindles are synced so that the content on each is the same.  Each individual book title is indexed the library catalog with a location of eBook/Kindle in the Sherman Fairchild Library. In the last year, the program added over 330 titles to the Library’s collection through 600+ checkouts.

The library is happy to receive recommendations for book purchases.  An email form is available on the library’s main page to make suggestions.  The form allows one to specify whether print or ebook is the preferred format. Or, simply email library@caltech.edu.

Research tips from Dana Roth

Dana Roth, Caltech's esteemed chemistry librarian, has some words of wisdom to share:

In addition to textbooks and research monographs, the library also has a variety of encyclopedic volumes that review various subject areas. These volumes should give you a solid background before beginning a new research project.

Encyclopedias & Encyclopedic Databases:

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/kirk/  

Encyclopedia of Polymer Science & Technology, v.1-17, 1985-1990   (Mil8 Ref   TP1087 .E46 1985)

Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry; Applications ...  v.1-15, 2000  (Mil8 REF   QD71.5 .E52)

Encyclopedia of Chemical Physics and Physical Chemistry, v.1-3, 2001 (Mil-8 REF QD451 .E539)

Encyclopedia of Computational Chemistry. v.1-5, 1998  (Mil-8 REF QD39.3.E46 E53)

Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry. I-v.1-8, 1994; II-v.1-10, 2006  (Mil-8 REF QD381 .C667)

http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/emrw/9780470862100/eic/topics

Encyclopedia of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. v.1-9, 1996-2003  (Mil-8 REF QC762 .E53)

Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Chemistry (e-EROS)

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/mrwhome/104554785/HOME

MULTIVOLUME COMPILATIONS:

Chemistry of Functional Groups (Patai) - please check CLAS for individual volumes.

    

Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry – I & II

            v.1-7, 1987; v. 1-10, 2004    (Mil-8 REF QD474 .C65)

Comprehensive Heterocyclic Chemistry – I & II & III

            v.1-8, 1984;  v.1-11, 1996; v.1-15, 2008    (Mil-8 REF QD400 .C65)

Comprehensive Natural Products Chemistry.

            v.1-9, 1999    (Mil-8 REF QD415 .C63)

Comprehensive Organic Functional Group Transformations - I, II

v.1-7, 1995;  v.1-7, 2005    (Mil-8 REF QD262 .C534)

Comprehensive Organic Synthesis; v.1-9, 1991 (Mil-8 REF QD245 .C65)

Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry - I, II, III;

v.1-9, 1982; v.1-14, 1995; v. 1-13, 2006     (Mil-8 REF QD411 .C652)

Comprehensive Supramolecular Chemistry. v.1-11, 1996 (Mil-8 REF QD381 .C667)

LexisNexis and mtvU launch "Against Our Will Challenge"

The new "Against Our Will Challenge," featuring a $10,000 prize furnished by LexisNexis Legal & Professional, calls on college students nationwide to imagine innovative digital tools that raise awareness of modern-day slavery, while encouraging action to help stop the human rights atrocity. The winning individual - or team of up to five people - will be recognized with the $10,000 prize and have the chance to work with mtvU and LexisNexis Legal & Professional to see the idea actualized as a core element of the "mtvU Against Our Will Campaign." For more information, click here.

SURF Proposals

The SURF Proposal Writing Workshop is coming up on February 9th, 2012.  Not sure about a literature review? Can't find a journal article? Looking for background on a potential mentor? Your house librarian can help.  See the post on the database Web of Science, too.

Web of Science

Web of Science is one of over 200 databases the library subscribes to. It is extremely powerful, and a terrific source for journal articles. If you are curious to learn about the research a faculty member has done, this is a good place to start. Say you'd like to read up a bit on the work of Rudy A. Marcus, the Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry and the winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. On the Web of Science search page, enter his name in a search box, and select "author." Then enter 91125, Caltech's zipcode, in another search box, and select "address." You should come up with 255 hits; if you don't, see your house librarian.