Citizen Science Month may have ended, but citizen science continues! Join NASA and the Citizen Science Association for the first CitSciCon, online on May 21-22, 2021. Attend informative sessions and learn about citizen science projects sponsored by NASA.
Visit NASA’s page at SciStarter (https://scistarter.org/NASA?utm_campaign=NL051721) to register for events and learn more about projects.
April is Citizen Science Month, and here in Rodgers Library we’re excited about all the events and projects that are coming our way in the next several weeks.
But what is citizen science, you ask? It’s simply the opportunity for regular citizens–like you and me, our friends and families–to contribute to real scientific research. That could mean collecting data, analyzing video, or even playing games on your phone.
A great place to get a look at the full range of projects is SciStarter.org. SciStarter brings together thousands of science research projects and millions of citizen scientists, resulting in a space where everyone can explore their scientific interests and make a contribution.
Since April is Citizen Science Month, there are activities for every day, so check out the calendar!
A few upcoming online events:
Thursday, April 8, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Participate in Citizen Science
Relaxed, hands-on session led by Boston College Libraries
https://libcal.bc.edu/event/7610368
Saturday, April 10, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Get Started with Citizen Science
Learn about citizen science and see two demos of actual projects; led by SciStarter and volunteers from Verizon
RSVP: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VPKdyaoWSv-XcYcjlFnE6g
Monday, April 12, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Turn Your Curiosity into Impact with SciStarter & OLLI at ASU
Another session where you can learn about citizen science and see demos of projects
Register: http://bit.ly/ASUCitSciMonth
Other sessions offer interviews, panels, demos of projects, and more!
Welcome to Citizen Science Month!
Earlier this semester, we taught a workshop on how to use the NCBI Entrez Direct (EDirect) [1] tool to search and compile PubMed and related data from a Unix Shell. EDirect is a great tool and has an approachable learning curve. You may consider using EDirect if, for example, you would like to compile custom bibliographic datasets, perform many searches, or discover related linked data.
All of our workshop materials including code and slides are openly available on GitHub:
https://github.com/vfscalfani/EDirectChemInfo
Check it out and let us know if you have any questions. We would be happy to help you.
The Clarivate Analytics Web of Science database (https://guides.lib.ua.edu/az.php?q=Web%20of%20Science) has a powerful Cited Reference Search that is useful for discovering records that have cited a particular publication. A typical use case that I have used many times is to start with a known article and discover references that cite that article.
Recently, while reading a few articles [1,2], I happened upon a use case I had not thought to try in a Web of Science Cited Reference Search; that is, searching for citations to non-indexed items like theses, databases, or software applications. For example, many software applications or web resources may not have a formal publication associated with it and so researchers may cite the application name or a website URL where the application can be accessed.
This was intriguing as I regularly use a cheminformatics toolkit, RDKit, that does not yet have a formal publication describing the software. Some experimentation and searching for “RDKit” in the Cited Reference Search, revealed that reference index matches to RDKit vary greatly and can appear within the Cited Author, Cited Work, or Title fields. Here are few examples to illustrate this, where the Cited Author is the first column, Cited Work the second column, and Cited Title the third column:
‘RDKit’ | ‘OP SOURC CHEM’ | ‘ ’
‘RDKit’ | ‘OP SOURC CHEM’ | ‘ URL: https://www.rdkit.org/’
‘Landrum, G.’ | ‘RDKIT’ | ‘ URL: https://www.rdkit.org/’
‘[Anonymous]’ | ‘ OP SOURC CHEM’ | ‘RDKit:…URL: http://www.rdkit.org’
We can search each of these fields separately [3], select the candidates of interest, and then remove any duplicates to find all citations to RDKit. Here is a summary of what I found for ‘RDKit’:
Cited Author Search: 51 relevant variations, with 160 citing articles.
Cited Work Search: 7 relevant variations, with 13 citing articles
Cited Title Search: 15 relevant variations, with 33 citing articles
A quick sort of the combined titles revealed 6 duplicates, so in total, we found 200 RDKit citations via the Web of Science Cited Reference Search. That’s pretty cool. There are certainly many limitations with this method which I have not explored yet, but overall, I think it will be useful when trying to find non-indexed resources through citation searching.
[1] https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-12-2018-0214
[2] https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00042
[3] Note I did not limit to a particular index, so this includes the Science Citation Index Expanded as well as others.
Rodgers Library is taking first steps toward reopening for our users. From June 30 to July 2, Rodgers Library will be open in the afternoons from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm. From July 6 to the end of Summer II (July 31), Rodgers Library will be open from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm.
Visitors to the library during Summer II will immediately notice changes. Access will be limited to UA faculty, staff, and students, and visitors much swipe their Action card at the door to enter. Visitors much wear a mask at all times and observe social distancing by staying 6′ from other persons.
The second floor of Rodgers is currently closed, as is the Scholars’ Station; visitors are invited to use the learning commons area on the first floor. Many of the computers have been disabled to create 6′ of separation between users. Likewise, only one user may be seated at each study table. Group study rooms are closed. The library will not be circulating equipment such as laptops. The circulation desk has been reconfigured to be accessed from the lobby area.
Staff are present and ready to assist users. Visitors are encouraged to ask for help at the circulation desk. Hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes (e.g., for wiping computer keyboards) are available at the circulation desk. It’s our goal to create an environment where you may use library resources safely.
Welcome back to Rodgers!
Schedule for Summer II
June 30 – July 2: 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm
July 6 – July 31: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
The Rodgers Library building might be closed, but our enormous collection of electronic journals, ebooks, and databases is still available to you at any location 24/7 through the website at http://libraries.ua.edu. Likewise, our science and engineering librarians and staff are working from home to continue to provide support for your teaching, learning, and research.
For a quick response, you can send a question to the University Libraries’ chat service at http://ask.lib.ua.edu. You can also submit a question by email using that site, or you can contact one of the Rodgers librarians directly.
For guides to using databases and information sources, see http://guides.lib.ua.edu.
For the most up-to-date information regarding University Libraries’ resources and services, see our library guide at http://guides.lib.ua.edu/COVID-19.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for assistance!
Be safe and be well!
#StillTideTogether
Rodgers Library is holding a 3D Tech Fair on Thursday, October 24 from 11 am – 1 pm to showcase the 3D technology available to library users.
All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend the Rodgers Library 3D Tech Fair on Thursday, October 24, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 pm. Learn more about Oculus Rift, structure sensor, 3D printing and scanning, and 3D stereoscopic vision.
During the Tech Fair you can try out the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, take a look at the professional-grade 3D printers, etc. You can also sign up to get 3D printing training at Rodgers Library. For more details about the training and 3D printing, visit Makerspaces Guide.
The University Libraries are sponsoring a workshop on systematic reviews on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, from 1:30 to 3:00 pm in Room 1008 of the Capstone College of Nursing.
Useful Links on Systematic Reviews:
Cochrane Systematic Review Handbook
For details about the workshop, please visit https://www.ua.edu/events/event/141384
Please welcome Lance Simpson, who recently joined the library faculty as Research and Instructional Services Librarian in Rodgers Library.
Lance Simpson comes to us from Tuscaloosa Public Library. He holds a BA in English and Spanish from Berry College, and earned his MLIS from The University of Alabama. For the past several years, Lance has worked with makerspaces and learning labs in public libraries to create mentor-led, STEM learning environments for teens. He is passionate about developing student-led learning spaces as a compliment to academic instruction, and providing opportunities for students to share their research.
As the liaison to the College of Engineering and to the Department of Biological Sciences, Lance is available to faculty and students to assist with research consultations and library instruction sessions for classes. Please contact Lance by email at lsimpson@ua.edu, or by phone at 348-2108.
We’re celebrating Fair Use Week! We’ve been defining fair use as an exception to the copyright law that allows us to use copyrighted materials without the permission of the copyright holder, within certain limits. You might be wondering what those limits are! Check out the infographic below to see just what is involved in determining whether something is fair use and learn about the four factors that are used to make that decision. Then join us in the celebration!
Women in STEM
Book collection at Rodgers Library for Science & Engineering: With a Concentration on Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). And to support WISE (Women in STEM Experience) on UA campus.
Have a look at the latest additions of books to UA Libraries collection that we think you’ll enjoy, or have a browse to find something you like.
Suggestions for some fun read this summer – General science reading along with WISE focused books.
Headstrong: 52 women who changed science – and the world,
TheDiscovery of Jeanne Baret : A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe.
Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet
Eyes on the street : the life of Jane Jacobs
Lab girl
The Manga Guides is a series of educational Japanese Manga books. Each volume explains a particular subject in STEM areas. https://bit.ly/2JGS95i
A crack in the Creation : Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
Jennifer Doudna, professor and co-inventor of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing – In her own words about how her interest in science deepened – “ thanks to a chemistry teacher, Miss Wong, who “taught us kids that science was about solving puzzles — it was about asking questions and figuring out how to answer them.” http://update.lib.berkeley.edu/2017/11/15/doudna/
For more books check out UA Libraries.
If you are a Web of Science user, you may have noticed the addition of a Publons tab near the top of the Web of Science interface. Publons is a platform to track, share, and receive recognition for your peer reviews. The Publons platform integrates into ORCID, which allows you then to populate your ORCID scholarly profile with peer review data. Registration for a Publons account is free and if you have an ORCID, you can register with your ORCID credentials. After creating your Publons profile, peer reviews are added and verified various ways depending on the relationship of the publisher to Publons. For example, some publishers will send peer-review data directly to Publons in an automated workflow, while other publishers require a manual process such as sending Publons the confirmation e-mail you receive after completing a peer-review.
Here are a couple of Publon profiles from faculty members at The University of Alabama:
https://publons.com/author/195591/ian-m-mcdonough#profile
https://publons.com/author/1231001/laura-morett#profile
The review information displayed on the Publon profile varies by publisher. Some publishers allow the actual text of the review to be publicly displayed such as PLOS One, while others like RSC Advances only allow the Journal title to be displayed. You can browse the individual Publon Journal policies here.
Publons is an interesting platform and one certainly worth exploring more as peer review is an activity generally not visible to the public. As more scholars create Publon profiles, we may even start to see integration into information databases.
|
Take a Journey in Science 2018 Welcomes All – 5th in the series What: A series of lightning talks on high-interest topics in science that shape our understanding of the world. They are short talks on high-interest topics in STEM Disciplines presented by UA faculty. |
When: February 2018
Where: Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering
Audience: All UA students. Faculty welcome too.
How long: Presentation about 10 minutes, plus Q&A
| Schedule of presentations | ||
| Speaker | Title of Talk | Date/Day/Time |
| Sara Kaylor
Capstone College of Nursing |
“Leadership Characteristics and Attributes of Baccalaureate Nursing” | Feb. 01, Thursday,
11:00- 11:15 am |
| Claudia Mewes
Department of Physics and Astronomy / Center of Materials for Information Technology (MINT) |
“Spintronics – let’s spin” |
Feb. 08, Thursday,
2:00 – 2:15 pm |
| Fred Andrus
Department of Geological Sciences |
“Making skeletons speak: records of climate change from Biominerals” | Feb. 13, Tuesday,
11:00 – 11:15 am |
| Qiang Huang
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering /Center of Materials for Information Technology (MINT) |
“Nanotechnology – Things Behave Differently Down There” | Feb 20, Tuesday,
2:00 – 2:15 pm |
| Sevgi Gurbuz
Electrical and Computer Engineering |
“Nature-Inspired Bio-mimetic Design of Next-Generation Cognitive Radar” | Thursday, Feb 22
3 -3:15 p.m. |
Sponsor: Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering.
Join the fun and learn about science
Contact: Mangala Krishnamurthy, mkrishna@ua.edu, 205-348-2109
Take a Journey in Science Talks: Past Programs
Undergraduate Research and creative Activity Conference at UA
Welcome to the newest librarian in Rodgers Library! Megan Carlton joins us from the Walker Library at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). She hold a BS in Animal Science from MTSU and an MLIS from the University of Tennessee. Megan’s professional interests include incorporating instructional technology into the classroom.
Megan is the Rodgers Library liaison to the Department of Biological Sciences and the College of Engineering. She is available to faculty and students in those departments for research consultations and library instruction. She can be reached at 348-2108 or jmcarlton1@ua.edu.
For a complete list of instruction options, please consult the Rodgers Library instruction guide.
Total Solar Eclipse visible in the Continental US on August 21, 2017
Moon passes between the sun and the earth on August 21 and blocks all or part of the sun for several hours. On this day, all in North America will be treated to a total solar eclipse, nature’s most amazing sights. The last time U.S. saw a total eclipse was in 1979. If we miss this one on August 21, the next total solar eclipse in U.S. will be visible on April 8, 2024.
Source: NASA
Visit Rodgers Library for Science & Engineering to check out books and other resources on the topic. ex: Your Guide to the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse
For safe viewing tips, please visit: NASA , American Astronomical Society
Other sites of interest:
25 spots for watching the total solar eclipse crossing the U.S.
Dr. Isabel Hawkins (Astronomer and Project Exploratorium ) describes her experiences with eclipses and what to expect for the 2017 Great American Total Solar Eclipse.
3D Stereoscopic Vision Service is now available in Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering. 3D stereoscopic vision allows users to view images and videos in three dimensions when using wireless glasses, 3D monitors, and specialized software. Rodgers Library has two workstations with six (6) 3D vision glasses. Recently, we hosted a biochemistry class that viewed biomacromolecules in 3D and a paleontology class that viewed CT scans of vertebrate fossils in 3D. We look forward to seeing many other applications of this technology in your teaching and research. This service is offered from the Rodgers Library 3D Printing Studio, located on the 1st floor of our building. Please let us know if you are interested in learning more about this new service.
Contact: Vincent Scalfani
Using PubMed just got easier. We have linked our electronic journals within PubMed, allowing you to access content even faster. Look for the Alabama Script “A” logo under the full text links within a PubMed record. Then, follow this link and you will be immediately directed to access options for the article.
To use the full text linking feature, access PubMed from our library databases page or directly at the following link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?holding=alualalib
A picture is worth a thousand words
Sir Luke Fildes 1887 Oil painting “The Doctor” is one of the iconic medical paintings. It is an image used frequently to portray the qualities of a good care giver and to reflect a point of view about medicine and medical care.
A good read for all those aspiring to study and work in medical and nursing fields.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2249807/
STEM+Art = STEAM
The Doctor exhibited 1891 Sir Luke Fildes 1843-1927
Presented by Sir Henry Tate 1894 . http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N01522
Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)
TAKE A JOURNEY IN SCIENCE 2017 WELCOMES ALL
What: Take a Journey in Science: a series of lightning talks on high-interest topics in science and nursing that shape our understanding of the world
When: February – March 2017 (dates and times in table below)
Where: Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering
Audience: All UA students and faculty welcome
How long: 10 minutes or less, plus Q&A
| Schedule of Presentations | ||
| Speaker | Title of Talk | Day/Date/Time |
| Dr. Kimberly Genareau, Geological Sciences | The Elusive Evidence of Volcanic Lightning | Tuesday, February 14, 2:00 -2:15 PM |
| Dr. Mary Ann Kelley Capstone College of Nursing | Breast Cancer Awareness and Survival: A Personal Journey Through Research | Tuesday, February 21, 2:00 -2:15 PM |
| Dr. Douglas Sherman, Geography | Castles Made of Sand: Sand Transport and Why it Matters | Tuesday, February 28, 2:00 – 2:15 PM |
| Dr. Ryan Earley, Biological Sciences | Why do Males Exist? Can Hermaphroditic Fish Provide Us With Insight | Tuesday, March 7, 2:00 – 2:15 PM |
Sponsor: Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering. Join the fun and learn about science. Contact: John Sandy, jsandy@ua.edu, 348-2111
