Services

3D Stereoscopic Vision Service Launched

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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

vfscalfani@ua.edu

Center Tours

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Rodgers Library is partnering with several centers across campus to hold tours of the research facilities. Touring these centers is an opportunity for students to explore the UA facilities and also to connect with the faculty and staff that operate these centers.  Starting this week, we will tour the Cube, the MINT center and the Center Analytical Facility.

The Cube at the University of Alabama is an active space where students learn, share, think and create by designing, devising and constructing. The Cube is located in Hardaway Hall and currently includes the 3D prototyping Lab, Electronics Prototyping Lab, UA Makerspace, ideaLAB and Apps Lab. We will tour the Cube at the following days.

Monday April 4th 2:00pm                     

Tuesday April 5th 11:00 AM                           

Thursday April 7th 2:00 PM

For more information on the Cube please visit here

Center for Materials for Information Technology (MINT) was founded in 1988, and is a source of multidisciplinary research in materials for information technologies. MINT objectives are:

  • To cultivate students in the relevant disciplines.
  • To provide scientific and engineering resources and to be a communication channel for the   information technology industry.
  • To enhance the standing of the University of Alabama as a major research university.
  • To promote economic growth at local, national and international levels.

Rodgers Library will tour the MINT on Thursday April 7th, 11:00AM.

For more information on MINT center please visit http://mint.ua.edu/

The Central Analytical Facility (CAF) of The University of Alabama is a user facility housing major research instrumentation. The mission of the Central Analytical Facility is to enable and facilitate collaborative, multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary, multi-campus and regional research involving major research instrumentation.

We will tour (CAF) on Thursday April 14th 2:00PM  

If you are interested in touring any of these centers at the above dates, please RSVP with the date you want to attend.  To: Arian Abdulla aabdulla@ua.edu.

Meet your Science and Engineering Librarian

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Rodgers Library has a librarian assigned to each academic department in the Sciences and Engineering, as well as the Capstone College of Nursing. The Liaison librarian facilitates communication between the teaching faculty and the library, as well as helps students, faculty and instructors with research or library instruction needs.  Meet your Science and Engineering Librarian here: http://guides.lib.ua.edu/sciences

Tip 13: 3D Printing

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Tip 13:  3D Printing.  About three years ago we opened a 3D Printing Studio in Rodgers Library.  Services offered include: 3D printing, 3D scanning, training workshops, and do it yourself 3D printing.  Supporting 3D design and conversion software is installed on the workstations within the 3D Studio. The 3D printers are capable of creating a multitude of 3D plastic objects.

GO to Rodgers 3-D printing.

Go to College of Engineering 3-D printing.

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 9: Research Guides

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Tip 9:   Research Guides.  We have developed a series of simple and convenient guides to get faculty and students started when first using the library.  They’re called LibGuides.   Each guide is built to acquaint you with library resources which are available to support your work.  We have a guide for every major subject area:  geology, nursing, civil engineering, etc.   The guides cover ways to find books, list important databases, identify research tools, and point to key Internet resources.

Go to LibGuides.

Tip 8: Instruction

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Tip 8:  Instruction.  Rodgers Library likes to share information about its services and collections and further help users achieve information competencies.  We can prepare custom lectures or workshops focused on any topic of interest.  If you choose, a librarian can come to one of your departmental meetings or a class which you teach to do a presentation.  In addition, we often conduct instruction inside Rodgers Library on high-interest topics.  If you have a request, please contact us or submit a request using this form.

Go to Instruction Request.

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 5: Academic Software.

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Tip 5:  Academic Software.  Software plays a central role in learning and research.  As such Rodgers Library offers both productivity and special software loaded on desktop computers.  Examples include Adobe Creative Cloud, MATLAB, SAS, and Microsoft Project.

Go to academic software.

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.

Build and Practice Presentations at Rodgers Library

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Knowing how to prepare and deliver effective presentations is important for all students. Do you plan to give a talk in a class? Will you be asked to do a presentation at a job interview? Your future employer may have you give presentations to company employees and customers. “Winging it” is not enough to ensure success. With this in mind, Rodgers Library offers the right equipment and provides special spaces to help you prepare and practice presentations.

To begin, students can check out a video camera and tripod for use in the library. You can use the Yellowhammer Room to make a video recording of your live presentation.

With a video capture of your presentation in hand, you can view the results using a large-screen monitor in the Yellowhammer Room. You can use a library-owned laptop or your own device to connect with a large-screen mobile monitor. After viewing video of your presentation, you may decide that improvement is needed. If so, the recording process can be repeated multiple times until you reach the desired result.

Do you have a PowerPoint and just want to hone your delivery skills? We can help with this too. Rodgers Library has two Smart Boards. There is one Smart Board in the Nightingale Room and one Smart Board on the wall outside the Nightingale Room. At other times, you may want to give a talk using information from BlackBoard Learn or the web more generally. Whatever the approach, with a little practice, your presentation skills will improve.

Accessories (special pens, eraser, and cables) for the Smart Board in the Nightingale Room, are available for check out at the Circulation Desk.

The Smart Board on the wall near the entrance to the Nightingale Room is already set up with a desktop computer. To use this device, check out a wireless keyboard, mouse, special pens and an eraser at the Circulation Desk.

Students can check out a video camera and tripod at the Circulation Desk in Rodgers Library.

The hardware and spaces we offer are excellent for:

• Group projects
• Video recording a presentation
• Practice presentation
• Watch and learn by sharing information.

For guidance or training on how to use the library’s presentation equipment, please contact Rosanne Rumstay (348-2106) in Rodgers Library.

Google Scholar Introduces Scholar Library

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Google Scholar introduced a new feature this week called Scholar Library. This new service is designed to help users of Google scholar develop a personal collection of scholarly materials.  While working in Google Scholar, “you can save articles right from the search page, organize them by topic, and use the power of Scholar’s full-text search & ranking to quickly find  just the one you want – at any time and from anywhere.”  Scholar Library incorporates all the functionality of Google Scholar, such as linking to content, citing articles, and formatting citations.   Check out Google Scholar Blog to learn more.

Emerging Scholars Posters

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Congratulations to all of the UA Emerging Scholars (over 500!) that presented at the Sixth Annual University of Alabama Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference. We were very proud to be able to participate in this event and also display a number of the posters after the conference in Rodgers Library.

If you have not heard of the Emerging Scholars program, check it out here:

http://emergingscholars.ua.edu/

We are looking forward to working with the new and seasoned emerging scholars next year. Feel free to contact us anytime during the course of your research. Check out our Libguides for an overview of our services:

http://guides.lib.ua.edu/home

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

LibGuides – Pathways to Library Resources

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LibGuides are compiled by librarians and are posted on Rodgers Library Web site under Subject Guides. The LibGuides provide our students and faculty with easy access to the library’s facilities, collections, and services. Useful selected resources and research assistance are included in these web-based LibGuides.  The LibGuides also  incorporate Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter, RSS feeds, and interactive polls. This content sharing system acts as a portal to specific subjects and each LibGuide is frequently updated and revised.  Check out Libguides on subjects such as Astronomy, Civil Engineering, Nursing and more on our website.

Useful Links: http://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/sel/
http://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/sel/subjguides/index.htm

Springer offers MyCopy Service

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 Rodgers Library has purchased thousands of e-books from Springer. You can find/search these books on the Springer platform at SpringerLink.com

While using SpringerLink, you can view and download content as you choose. This service is free. The books are paid for.  The Springer e-books that we purchased are a part of the University Libraries’ permanent collections. And the e-books are listed in the Libraries’ catalog.

Springer offers another way to capture a hardcopy version of a book, with a service called MyCopy. When viewing a book online in SpringerLink, you can click on a link to “Buy a Print Copy of this Book.” Next add the book to your shopping cart. Should you move forward, you’ll be asked to complete your purchase using a credit card (your personal credit card).

By this action, you will buy a nice paperback copy of the book. Springer will send the book to your business or home address.

 

Kindle Readers Ready Monday

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A new service featuring Kindle e-book readers (from Amazon.com) is set to launch on November 2.  Rodgers Library will circulate Kindles preloaded with a selection of popular reading on a broad range of science, engineering, and nursing topics, plus a few titles of general interest.

Kindle and Kindle DX units will be available for check-out. Kindle units and the titles they contain are listed in the Libraries’ catalog.

• Currently limited to faculty, staff, and students
• Available for check-out from the Circulation Desk
• 2 week check-out period
• No renewals

Look:  http://www.kindle.com.  Enjoy!