Collections

Books on Women in STEM

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Women in STEM

photo of whiteboard with written text "I am a chemist, wife, reader, dog lover, woman in science" Photo of whiteboard with written text "I am a Ph.D. student in geology"

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.

Book cover of "Headstrong"

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

Book cover of "A crack in creation"

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.

Total Solar Eclipse August 21, 2017

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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.

Diagram showing the Earth-sun-moon geometry of a total solar eclipse.

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.

Southeastern Traveler

Dr. Isabel Hawkins (Astronomer and Project Exploratorium ) describes her experiences with eclipses and what to expect for the 2017 Great American Total Solar Eclipse.

UA Libraries join BioMed Central

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UA Libraries are now a member of BioMed Central.  This STM publisher offers peer-reviewed open access journals.  BioMed Central is publisher of biology, health, and medicine titles, including BMC Biology and BMC Medicine and, in addition, several other health-related journals.

Research articles in BioMed Central journals are freely accessible online immediately upon publication.  Authors of BioMed Central articles retain copyright to their work.  Content in their journals is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

With this membership, UA faculty can publish in  BioMed Central journals at discounted rates.  Open access is a good way to leverage visibility of your research.  PubMed Central journals may be worth a second look if you haven’t already tried.

WorldCat Presentation on Feb. 3

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Rodgers Library will offer a short presentation on access to books for research, instruction, learning, and personal interest – primarily books found in libraries of other universities nationwide.

Where:  Scholars’ Station, Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering

When:  2:00- 2:30 P.M., Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Audience:  For all UA faculty and graduate students

The focus is on Worldcat.  During our presentation, we will share with you important information about the WorldCat database and how to use it in your work.  WorldCat is a master list of books found in most college and university libraries in the United States, plus books in many other libraries such as the Seattle Public Library.

Latest on Standards

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Standards are a basic tool of scientists and engineers. At Rodgers Library we use SAI Global to find and order individual standards. SAI Global covers standards from many standards organizations, such as ASME and SAE.  Our approach is to order most standards on demand.  However, since ASTM standards are in high demand, we recently subscribed to ASTM Compass.  In the case of SAI Global users can easily search the database, but the library takes care of the download piece.  ASTM Compass is handled differently.  It is delivered to desktops and users can search and download independently.

Tip 12: Course Reserves

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Tip 12:  Course Reserves.    Many faculty use extra materials to enhance   instruction in the classroom.  In the library, we refer to these materials as course reserves.  Commonly faculty put books from the Rodgers Library collection or personal copies of books on reserve.  Other materials may be appropriate too.  If the content you want to use is in digital format it is probably more convenient to link digital content in your class syllabus or Blackboard Learn.  Learn more about how we handle course reserves.

Go to Course Reserves.

Tip 10 Libraries’ Catalog (also known as Classic Catalog)

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Tip 10  Libraries’ Catalog (also known as Classic Catalog). Before Scout came along, faculty consulted Classic Catalog to find books and journals in the UA Libraries.  Classic Catalog is still a useful tool.  In particular, Classic Catalog offers a convenient way to find out what journals are in the UA Libraries, both the archival print journals and the newer electronic journals. Note, Classic Catalog is not used to find specific articles.

Go to Classic Catalog.

Tip 7: Print Books & E-books

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Tip 7:  Print Books & E-books.  Rodgers Library has a substantial assortment of print books and e-books.  Since about 2010, we’ve acquired e-books only, unless a faculty member specifically requests a print edition of a particular title.   Our print books are on the 2nd floor of the library and for older and less used print titles in the Annex.   For 2015 we will get all Wiley and Springer e-books, as well as titles from other publishers, such as ACS.   Scout is an excellent tool for finding books. In Scout, execute a word search.  In step 2, under the heading “Refine Results,” in the left-hand column, choose Source Types and then limit search results to just “Books.”

Go to print and e-books search.

Tip 6: E-Journals and Print Journals.

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Tip 6:  E-Journals and Print Journals.  There are multiple pathways to finding journals at Rodgers Library.  For a quick search for a specific e-journal, our e-journals page does the job. Remember that some older journals are still in print format only.  To get complete results of Rodger Library journal holdings, both print journals and e-journals, do a look-up in Classic Catalog.

Go to Classic Catalog

Tip 4: InterLibrary loan.

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Tip 4:  InterLibrary loan.    Over the years Rodgers Library has acquired thousands of books and journals.  But the literature is way too large for us to own or license everything that you may want. Fortunately the UA Libraries is a member of a national network of libraries and participates in RapidILL.  So we can get what you need.  If a book or a journal article not available from the UA Libraries, use ILLiad to make a request.  If a book, it will be sent to us by a lending library and be available for you to pick up at the Circulation Desk in Gorgas Library when it arrives.  If you request an article, the article will be scanned by the lending organization and sent to your ILLiad account. Some articles arrive in 24 hours.

Go to InterLibrary loan.

Aerospace Book Sparks Innovation

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This year Honda will put a new business jet airplane into service in the U.S., pending FAA approval.  The aircraft is touted for the latest in airplane innovation, specifically the placement of the engines over the wings unlike conventional business jets with the engines near the tail.  What does this development have to do with libraries?  The connection is with books.  According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, in 1986 Honda sent engineer Michimasa Fujino to Mississippi State University to design an experimental aircraft.  While dong his research, he read a 1930’s book on aerodynamics, presumably found in a library.  Fujino said that the principles of aerodynamics detailed in the book became the inspiration for the design of the new Honda jet.  Reading engineering books, even some very old, can change minds and our technology.  Great news for books and libraries! 

 

Evidence Based Databases – Nursing & Allied Health

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Nursing and Health Sciences Resources available from UA Libraries that addresses ………..

What is Evidence Based?
Which databases cover Evidence based articles?
Who can use the evidence based resources?
What is a systematic review?

The Joanna Briggs Institute’s Evidence Based Practice database of systematic reviews and Cochrane Library are available and they complement each other to investigate the evidenced based literature in the field. UA Libraries now subscribes to both resources.

Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) on OVID
JBI’s evidence-based practice model is considered a benchmark in the healthcare industry—encouraging healthcare professionals to implement an effective evidence-based practice program to provide the best possible patient care. It provides a detailed searching demonstration of this resource and includes information on the subject based nodes along with a review of the seven different publication types (including Best Practice Information Sheets, Evidence–Based Recommended Practices and Consumer Information Sheets) that can be used immediately to inform treatment and guide practice.

Cochrane Library
Cochrane Collection Plus is the most comprehensive collection of databases from the Cochrane Library. This is an essential source of high quality health care data for providers, patients and those responsible for researching, teaching, funding and administrating at all levels of the medical profession. Cochrane Collection Plus combines the NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED) and Health Technology Assessments (HTA) with the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Systematic reviews are found in two of these databases: the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE).

Global Plants Details Plant Type Specimens

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Scientific information on plants is useful for a wide range of studies in the life sciences.  Global Plants, offered by JSTOR, is a very helpful tool in this regard.  Global Plants features plant type specimens that are found in about 300 herbaria located around the world.  The role of herbaria is to preserve plant type specimens.  Now, with Global Plants, it is possible to easily and conveniently learn about plants in a wonderful way.  The database contains over two million high-resolution plant type specimens, digitized with great care by various cooperating herbaria. Entries in the database point to reference books and other primary resources. Plant type specimens are very important as “original vouchers of nomenclature,” according to JSTOR.   Source:  Description by JSTOR.  Global Plants is ready for the entire UA community.  

 

Books Are Very Helpful Too

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With so many scholarly materials available, some students may overlook the book collection.  Rodgers Library holdings include many intermediate- and advanced-level books in all disciplines in the sciences, engineering and nursing.  Whether you are just starting to learn a new subject or need important background information, books are a great resource.  Books often provide a full treatment of a special subject as well.  Such is the case with the title Physiography of the United States, by Charles B. Hunt.   Print books are housed on the north side of the second floor and are organized by the Library of Congress Classification.   A general guide to the classification scheme is shown in a large poster near the stacks.  Both online and print books are listed in Scout our online discovery system.  Scout offers a quick way to find books on any subject.  After doing a search in Scout, use the facet for “books” in the left-hand column to limit to that format.  Go to Scout.

Check-Out Reference Books Too

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Do you need a reference book? Our lending policy allows users to check-out reference books. The entire reference collection, located on the 2nd floor in the southeast corner, is ready for circulation. Users can check-out reference books at the Circulation Desk or at the self-checkout machine on the 1st floor. Many reference books are also available as e-books. When available in e-book format, reference books can be accessed from the Rodgers Library Web site. All reference books, both hardcopy and e-versions, are listed in Scout. A staff member of Rodgers Library is always available to assist you with finding materials in our collections. Enjoy!

About E-Book Collections

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Rodgers Library is systematically adding electronic books to the collection. Like electronic journals, ebooks allow you to open the item at your computer for immediate viewing.  Also like ejournals, ebooks are produced by a variety of publishers and vendors, so the platforms vary; rules for downloading and printing may differ from one to the next. Ebooks are added to Scout and the catalog and can be searched and accessed there alongside the print books. They can also be searched on the E-Resources search page, the same location where you search for electronic journals. 

This post by Karen Chapman, modified to fit Rodgers Library, recently appeared in the Bruno Library Newsletter.

New Version of Scout Arrives on August 10

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A new version of Scout, the UA Libraries online catalog, will be available on August 10.  The all new Scout offers enhanced searching, more content, superior presentation, and lightning speed.   More significantly, the new edition of  Scout indexes many kinds of content, including books, journal articles, and technical reports.   

 When using Scout, patrons can: 

  • Search for and download electronic books and technical reports
  • Search for and download electronic scholarly articles
  • Easily create  links to specific content
  • Search for and locate hardcopy books in libraries’ collections
  • Locate bound journal titles in the libraries’ collections
  • Request journal articles and books housed in the UA Libraries Annex 

Scout is a robust, modern discovery system.  From a clean and simple interface, patrons can search for and acquire much of the content they need for study, instruction, and research.  Scout delivers!  Try it today.      

Scout

Physics Faculty and Students Love Books

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Book circulation is a common measure of success for libraries.  Recently we did a quick study on the use of physics books in Rodgers Library.  We wanted to know if the books we acquired are meeting needs of students and faculty for learning, instruction and research.  Are books being checked-out?  Well the answer if you believe in the MO test, yes.  An experiment was run in class QC (physics) in May 2011.  Test A:  at random pulled three books from the shelves and examined date due slips.  Results showed that all three books circulated since 2002.  Repeat the experiment.  Test B:  again at random pulled three QC books from the shelves and checked the date due slips.  In the 2nd test, results showed much the same as all three books circulated since 2005.  Even while the data is a bit thin, the study demonstrates the value of the physics collection.  Results from this study are not at all that surprising, since Rodgers Library seeks to closely match new book selections with instruction and research going on in UA’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Exciting New Open-Access Journal

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AIP Advances, a new open access journal featuring original, peer-reviewed, research in the applied physical sciences is off to a good start.  Published in online format only, the journal uses an author-pay model to help with expenses of publication.  According the journal’s Web site, “Authors publishing manuscripts in AIP Advances retain copyright and grant the publisher a license to publish under a Creative Commons agreement.”  This new publication is evidence of experimentation with new ways to disseminate scholarly information.  This is a highly innovative journal, as it permits rapid and low cost publication and quick dissemination of research findings.  It is published by the American Institute of Physics.   Take AIP Advances for a test drive.

Reference Books Galore – Many Hardcopy

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E-books are a very popular for finding reference information.  Major collections, covering a wide selection of subjects, are available from the Rodgers Library Web site.   Users should remember, too, that Rodgers Library has over 11,000 reference books in hardcopy.  Many of these hardcopy volumes are recent purchases and have current information.  In addition, the Reference Collection contains much archival material.  The older books are still very useful for teaching and research and should not be overlooked.  Some archival titles do not have electronic counterparts.  The Reference Collection is located on shelving near the Reference Desk on the 1st floor.  For browsing, users can find science books in “Q” sections, engineering books in “T” sections, and nursing books in “R” sections.  Enjoy!