Thursday 9 December 2010

Research Libraries UK Calls for Journal Pricing Restraint

At its recent conference, Research Libraries UK (RLUK) announced it would not support future journal big deals unless they showed real price reductions. With a cut to the teaching grant and research budgets flat at best, RLUK members believe that unless this happens they will be forced to cancel significant numbers of subscriptions which will fatally compromise the UK’s capacity for research. (RLUK Press Release, 25 Nov 2010)

RLUK Press Release:http://www.rluk.ac.uk/files/RLUKPressReleaseJournalPricing.doc

Following this press release, the following two articles have been published in the media:

Times Higher Education: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=414367


Wall Street Journal (European edition): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703678404575636820757036514.html

New Version of the Oxford English Dictionary

OUP launch a new version of the Oxford English Dictionary.

The new version includes a new design and new functionalities as well as over 2,400 revised entries, new words across the dictionary and the additional of the Historical Thesaurus to the OED. The new version of the OED is available from a new URL http://www.oed.com and is recommended for all off-campus users with a raven password. Your raven password can be used whenever prompted to log-in with Shibboleth.

The new version will be available in parallel with the old version of the OED until the 31st of March 2011. The old version will remain accessible through the old URL http://dictionary.oed.com until this time.

The OED also publishes four updates each year with the next to be added in March 2011.

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Please take the time to read this special Christmas package of information as there are some changes this year.

Balfour Library end of term information

Michaelmas Term 2010 ends on Friday 3rd December. All books on loan from the Balfour Library must be returned by this date, or can be renewed for further periods unless they have been requested by another reader. Saturday morning opening has now finished until next term.

Borrowing regulations

Remember that research workers of the Department of Zoology will be able to borrow books that are normally for Overnight Loan for an extended period of 2 weeks at a time during vacations. Undergraduates have special vacation borrowing rights this year, please see below.

Please remember that (except if you are eligible for vacation borrowing) you should not take books away from Cambridge, especially if you are going on field work or on business trips for example - please return any books you have on loan from us first so that they are readily available for other readers.

Vacation borrowing for undergraduates

This academic year we are trialling vacation borrowing for undergraduates for the Christmas and Easter vacations. An email advertising this has been sent to your relevant CamTools course site.

Please see the library website at: http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/booksborrow.html for more information on how to borrow, return and renew books on loan from the Balfour Library.

How to access online resources when you are away from Cambridge (and you are still a valid member of the University)

The recommended route for accessing ejournals provided by the University remotely is as follows:
  • Go to the ejournals@cambridge website at: http://camsfx.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az
  • Enter the title of the journal you need (if it does not appear then there is no online subscription to it)
  • Click on the 'find journals by title' button
  • When you click on the name of the journal the Raven login box should appear
  • Enter your Raven userid and password and click on the 'Submit' button
  • You should then be taken to the host page for that journal and you can find the article(s) you need from there
  • (You only need to enter the Raven login once per session so you won't have to keep logging in and out each time you need a different journal)
You may well be able to get the full text of ejournal articles through searching PubMed or Google / GoogleScholar for example, but sometimes you may not necessarily be recognised as being a valid member of the University of Cambridge (it uses IP addresses of computers to identify you). You may therefore sometimes be asked for payment for the full text of an article or be prevented from accessing it, even when a subscription to the ejournal has been paid for by the University. The recommended route as above should guarantee you the access you are entitled to.

It is strongly recommended that you check the ejournals@cambridge website as above to see whether you will actually be able to access particular online journals remotely BEFORE you leave Cambridge. See also the eresources@cambridge website at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/ for access to particular databases. See the 'Access Route' link next to the journal or database title to check this. Some online journals are not accessible outside of the University network so you may wish to download or print off articles from these before you leave Cambridge.

Raven passwords

If you do not currently have a Raven password and think you may need one to access the Web of Knowledge or Scopus databases (to search scientific literature) or online journals and databases when you are away from Cambridge, you should apply for one following the instructions given on the University Computing Service 'How do I get a Raven password?' website at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/cs/docs/faq/n5.html This page will also help you if you have lost your Raven password.

Troubleshooting ejournals access

Finally, if you are having trouble accessing ejournals and eresources remotely using your Raven password please see the guidance provided on the Central Science Library's 'Raven FAQs' website at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/CSL/ravenqanda.htm

Library Christmas and New Year closing dates

The Balfour Library will be closed from Saturday 25th December 2010 and will re-open on Tuesday 4th January 2011.

Thank you for your cooperation.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Best wishes,

Clair & Jane

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Rare book on display - Bewick's 'History of British Birds'

The rare book on display from our collection is: History of British birds: the figures engraved on wood by T. Bewick. Vol. 1, containing the history and description of land birds. Vol. 2., containing the history and description of water birds. Newcastle, 1797 and 1804.

Balfour Library class mark: HBF 2 (1-2)

The book is open at: Vol. 2, p.54 - Curlew. This is a first edition copy of the work. This woodcut of a curlew beautifully defines the bird’s features, as well as the surrounding water, foliage and rocks, and conveys the sense of movement caused by the wind in the reeds. Bewick was a pioneer of wood engraving technique.

Thomas Bewick, a wood engraver, was born near Eltringham, Northumberland, on 10th or 12th August 1753, and died in Gateshead on 8th November 1828. He was apprenticed aged 14 to Ralph Beilby, a Newcastle engraver who taught him how to engrave metal, silver and copperplate.

Bewick entered into partnership with Beilby in 1777. Beilby apparently did not like wood engraving but Bewick preferred it. His skill soon became evident and well-known in the work he was producing for printers of children’s books and books of fables. He refined the ‘white line’ technique; the block surface was seen as solid black before cutting took place, and each cut made was to create white light. This technique was very expressive, and he handled texture and the balance of light and shade particularly well.

Bewick eventually published his own natural history books that incorporated his own wood engravings. The General History of Quadrupeds was published in 1790. He produced the woodcuts for this in his own time after his days at the workshop, and the text was written by Beilby. For the History of British Birds Bewick wrote the text as well as producing the woodcuts, demonstrating his knowledge and skill as a naturalist as well as an engraver. His publications were especially noted for their ‘tail pieces’, vignettes used to fill space after text. They expressed varied aspects of north-country life, with humour and affection, a love of nature, and often had a moral point to them. These were regarded perhaps even more highly than the main illustrations.

The scientist William Yarrell named the Bewick's swan in honour of Bewick in 1830.

Sources:

Bain, Iain. “Bewick, Thomas (1753–1828).” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed., edited by Lawrence Goldman, May 2005. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2334 (accessed November 26, 2010).

Colin Campbell. "Bewick, Thomas." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T008554 (accessed November 26, 2010).

Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) http://www.wwt.org.uk/our-work/wetland-wildlife/bewicks-swans

Further reading:

Uglow, Jenny. Nature’s engraver: a life of Thomas Bewick. London: Faber and Faber, 2007. http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/id/Natures_Engraver/9780571223756

Monday 22 November 2010

Attention student book-collectors!

The Rose Book-Collecting Prize

Your chance to win £500

You can enter any type of collection provided it is solely owned by you and has been collected by you. The books do not have to be especially valuable - a collection of paperbacks, put together with imagination, is equally eligible. The contest is open to all current undergraduate and graduate students of the University of Cambridge.

The closing date for entries is the first day of Lent Full Term Tuesday 18 January 2011

Full details of how to enter are given on the University Library website at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/bookprize.html

Thursday 18 November 2010

New books:

Acoustic communication in insects and anurans: common problems and diverse solutions, by Carl H. Gerhardt and Franz Huber. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press; 2002. Balfour Library shelfmark: Q.7 (51ii). (Overnight Loan Shelves).

Cognition, evolution, and behavior, 2nd ed., by Sara J. Shettleworth. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFU (278bii-iii) (Overnight Loan Shelves).

Ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, by Cindy Van Dover. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; 2000. Balfour Library shelfmark: GHR (16ii) (Overnight Loan Shelves).

The evolution of cognition, edited by Cecilia Heyes and Ludwig Huber. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press; 2000. Balfour Library shelfmark: GF (214iii-iv) (Overnight Loan and Open Shelves).

Evolutionary behavioral ecology, edited by David F. Westneat and Charles W. Fox. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFU (338i-iv) (Overnight Loan and Open Shelves).

Lewin's genes X, by Jocelyn E. Krebs, Elliott S. Goldstein and Stephen T. Kilpatrick. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: EN (137ji-ii) (Overnight Loan Shelves).

Modelling binary data, 2nd ed.
, by David Collett. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall / CRC; 2003. Balfour Library shelfmark: EBB (89b) (Overnight Loan and Open Shelves).

Primate behavioral ecology, 4th ed., by Karen B. Strier. Upple Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: YW.7 (33di-iv) (Overnight Loan and Open Shelves).

Thursday 11 November 2010

Downtime of photocopiers in the Department of Zoology

All the photocopiers in the Department of Zoology will be unavailable for use from 12:00pm on Wednesday 10th November.

New photocopiers and card readers are being installed, which will be available for use from Monday 15th November.

The Balfour Library in the Department does have a scanner which can be used 24/7. It is located at the back of the room that the photocopiers are normally situated in. You must bring a memory stick to save your images onto.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Downtime of ScienceDirect and Scopus this Saturday

Elsevier have notified us that there will be a scheduled outage this weekend for the following SciVerse products:
  • ScienceDirect
  • Scopus
The products and services mentioned above are expected to be offline and unavailable for approximately 9 hours on Saturday, November 13th due to scheduled upgrades from 12:30 - 21:30.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Monday 8 November 2010

Jane's success on an online Web 2.0 course

Over the Summer Vacation Jane Acred, the Assistant Librarian, participated in '23 Things Cambridge', an online Web 2.0 programme for University of Cambridge departmental and college librarians, see: http://23thingscambridge.blogspot.com/.

'23 Things' was a self-directed course designed to introduce University of Cambridge UL, faculty and college library staff to Web 2.0 technologies (such as blogs, wikis, Google documents and apps, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Mendeley etc.). The aim was for staff to spend a little time each week over 12 weeks exploring online tools for communication, promotion, and new ways of working. Throughout the course the practical application and relevance of the tools to the library setting were explored. The programme ran from 24 May to 27 August 2010.

The course was quite demanding - each week participants were introduced to 2 things and were asked to spend 1 hour on each, and to blog about them - but in reality Jane sometimes had to spend much longer than that if the things wouldn't work, and often setting them up took longer than expected.

As a result of the course Jane has introduced using Doodle to schedule the Saturday invigilation rota, created a Google calendar that we can both access, and we are planning to use Delicious to create a list of useful bookmarks for specific types of reader. It has been really useful for Jane to learn about and use the new technologies that our readers are now using. We both now understand them and can develop them to our own advantage, and support our readers' use of them.

Not all of the participants managed to complete the course, but Jane persisted and attended the 'Oscars' style Grand Closing Ceremony at the end of the course, where she received her Amazon gift vouchers. Well done to Jane!

In case you're interested, here's the complete list of Things:

Week 1 (24 May)
• Thing 1 - Set up your Google ID and build an iGoogle page.
• Thing 2 - Add the RSS feed of the Cam23 blog to your iGoogle page.

Week 2 (31 May)
• Thing 3 - Create your own 23 Things blog on which you will record your progress.
• Thing 4 - Register your blog. Add a screenshot. Explore other Cam23 blogs.

Week 3 (07 June)
• Thing 5 - Use Doodle to schedule a peer support meeting with another participant.
• Thing 6 - Sign up for Google Calendar and add it to your iGoogle page.

Week 4 (14 June)
• Thing 7 - Create a Twitter account and interact with other Cam23 ‘tweeple’.
• Thing 8 - Review your blog tags.

Week 5 (21 June)
• Thing 9 - Explore Flickr.
• Thing 10 - Using images and Flickr Creative Commons.

Week 6 (28 June)
• Thing 11 - Explore SlideShare.
• Thing 12 - Investigate Delicious.

Week 7 (05 July)
• Thing 13 - Reflection week. Think about what you’ve explored so far and the tools you may adopt.

Week 8 (12 July)
• Thing 14 - Explore LibraryThing.
• Thing 15 - Create a library or personal LibraryThing account.

Week 9 (19 July)
• Thing 16 - Explore library Facebook pages.
• Thing 17 - Using LinkedIn

Week 10 (26 July)
• Thing 18 - Explore Zotero and Mendeley.
• Thing 19 - Blog about using the Things for library marketing.

Week 11 (02 August)
• Thing 20 - Create a Google Document and share it.
• Thing 21 - Explore podcasting: YouTube, Audacity and iTunes.

Week 12 (09 August)
• Thing 22 - Explore and evaluate a selection of wikis.
• Thing 23 - Explore Wordle and blog about your Cam23 experience.

Postgraduate Toolbox - the number one resource for postgraduates

Brand new for 2010, www.PostgraduateToolbox.net already offers 15,000+ postgrads:
  • Postgraduate advice centres, articles and latest news
  • Free fortnightly eNewsletter with advice and tips from academics and other postgrads.
  • A dedicated Postgraduate Bookstore
  • The hilarious 'GradSchool' cartoon strip by Jon Tollvery
  • Share tips and discuss experiences on postgraduate issues in the forums
  • More competitions and prizes........

Also check out Postgraduate Toolbox's sister site, Graduate Junction - www.GraduateJunction.net - the largest online postgraduate community, providing Masters and PhD researchers from any discipline with an easy way to find other postgrads working on similar projects and to share advice and tips regarding postgraduate life. Find and connect with other postgraduates and build research interest groups as well as entering Graduate Junction's Online Research Poster competition.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Wellcome Library Workshops - for all!

Come along to a free workshop at the Wellcome Library, London!

The Wellcome Library team of library and archive professionals offers a series of short practical sessions to help you to discover and get the most from various library resources.

Topics include:
  • Finding published research (using Web of Science and Scopus)
  • Finding visual resources in the Wellcome Library
  • Hunt the ancestor: resources for (medical) family history
  • Science in the news: keeping track of stories in the media
  • Wellcome Images
... and many more.

For details please visit the website at: http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/node32.html

Cambridge Library Collection ebooks

We are pleased to announce that works from the Cambridge Library Collection digitised by Cambridge University Press from the holdings of Cambridge University Library are available to staff and students as ebooks on the Cambridge Books Online site. Several hundred titles have already been published online and the collection will continue to grow as new content is digitised.

The Cambridge Library Collection is a collaborative venture which provides access to out-of-copyright works on subjects ranging from anthropology to zoology, selected with advice from leading specialists, and digitised using state-of-the-art technology to produce a highly-legible text. The titles have been re-published in print as well as being made available as ebooks. For more information on the project see the Cambridge Library Collection web site at: http://ebooks.cambridge.org/clc/

To view the ebook collection go to Cambridge Books Online at: http://ebooks.cambridge.org/and select the Access To link in the top right-hand corner. A list of individual titles can be viewed. The collection is fully cross-searchable. The Cambridge Library Collection adds to subscribed ebooks on Mathematics already available to students and staff on Cambridge Books Online which you will also find listed.

Students and staff connecting off campus should select the Shibboleth Log-in option and enter their Raven passwords.

Friday 22 October 2010

New acquisitions

New books:

Biodiversity of fossils in amber from the major world deposits, edited by David Penney. Manchester: Siri Scientific Press; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GJ (42)

Evolution, 2nd ed., by Douglas J. Futuyma. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc.; 2009. Balfour Library shelfmark: EO (325bi-iv) (Overnight Loan shelves)

The greatest show on earth: the evidence for evolution
, by Richard Dawkins. London: Black Swan; 2009. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: EO (324i-ii) (Overnight Loan shelves)

New theses donations:

Analysis of dynamic gene expression patterns in arthropods, by Elizabeth Marie Sefton. (M.Phil.) Cambridge; 2009. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (486) (Library Office)

Biomechanics of the fibrillar adhesive system in insects, by James Michael Rex Bullock. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (485) (Library Office)

Functional characterization of human cyclins through quantitative proteomics, by Felicia Jane Walton. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (487) (Library Office)

IP3 mediated signalling in Caenorhabditis elegans embryogenesis, by Aniko ilona Nagy. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (489) (Library Office)

Variability, function and phylogenetic significance of unionoid shell characters, by Alexandra Zieritz. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (488) (Library Office)

New book donations:

A book of reed: Phragmytes australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Streudel, Phragmites communis Trin.), by Sylvia Haslam. Cardigan: Forrest Text; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: FA (58)

Crustacean fauna of Taiwan: Barnacles, volume 1 - cirripedia: thoracica excluding the Pyrgomatidae and acastinae, by Benny K. K. Chan, Romanus Edy Prabowo, Kwen-Shen Lee. Keelung: National Taiwan Ocean University; 2009. Balfour Library shelfmark: PL (4)

The European bison, by Malgorzata Krasinska and Zbigniew A. Krasinski. Bialowieza: Mammal Institute , Polish Academy of Sciences; 2007. Balfour Library shelfmark: YJL (10)

Hazards of butterfly collecting, by Torben B. Larsen. Brentwood: Cravist Printing Company Limited; 2003. Balfour Library shelfmark: Q (87)

Where to watch birds in Ethiopia, by Claire Spottiswoode, Merid Nega Gabremichael and Julian Francis. London: Christopher Helm; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: KZ.6 (76)

Cambridge University Press donations:

Bird conservation and agriculture, by Jeremy D. Wilson, Andrew D. Evans and Philip V. Grice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2009. Balfour Library shelfmark: K.8 (63)

Wednesday 13 October 2010

QR codes - what they are and how to use them

You may see one of these on our library guides, it's a QR code, and it links to our website. QR stands for Quick Response. Basically, anyone can generate a QR code using a free generator available on the web. It's like a barcode and can be created from a web link, a video, or an image for example.

If you have a smartphone (iPhone/Blackberry/HTC or other Android phone) you can download a QR code reader application and then use your camera on the phone to read the QR code - the link, video, image or whatever, will open on your screen.

I think it's a great way to quickly access information - you don't have to either remember or write down a URL for example. In the commercial world QR codes are being added to film or music advertisements on the streets, and there is huge potential for using it in libraries (and many other public services) - to advertise our services and facilities, our contact details and websites etc. Some libraries create them for links to their Special Collection websites and stick a copy of them on the shelves near them so a reader can just scan the code from the poster and automatically be able to read about the collections. Or you could create one to link to a blog post or website about one particular book on the shelf or on display, and post the code nearby.

Next time you see one, have a go at reading it with your smartphone!

Find out more about QR codes on Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_codes

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Musings on using the Cephalonian method - a different method of teaching

I first learnt about the Cephalonian method at a conference for librarians in higher education / university / college and research institutions* earlier this year. Jane and I have adapted it for use in our library induction sessions for our undergraduates and postgraduates this term (we've now done the bulk of them) and wanted to jot down our thoughts in case you were thinking of using the same approach.

Why Cephalonia? Well, apparently tour guides originally devised it for running orientation sessions for their groups on the island; you can find out a little bit more on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalonian_method We're using it at a basic level, whereby we have prepared a mix of witty / random / sensible questions about the library services and facilities that we actually hand out to the students we are inducting, and get them to ask us the questions. We then answer the questions, and we have our own cards with the answers on in bullet-point form, in order to prompt us in case we forget anything. For example, one of the questions I have asked is 'What's in the cage?'. The answer is that we have 6,000 rare books in our caged area, dating from 15th-20th centuries..." and so on. Feedback from students so far has been very positive, because they feel more involved and the questions made them think about library services and facilities they hadn't thought about before.

We also introduced sign-up sheets for induction sessions this year, which were advertised by me at the Zoology and Neuroscience students' introductory talks, and reinforced in an email to the students on CamTools. They signed up on sheets provided by us on the Part II notice board and we asked for a maximum of ten people. I had told them we were trying to make it a bit more interesting and interactive for them, and that we would give them some additional help in the form of a new leaflet on how to interpret reading lists. Tours lasted around 20mins.

One main aim of all of this was to try to get as many students as possible into the library for a tour and subsequently using it. We also wanted to avoid just giving tours to one or two people at a time, which is hard on the voice and very repetitive. We also wanted a way of prompting us to tell them things that we sometimes forgot. The more students we induct in this way, the more information they are armed with. Hopefully we will then have less routine queries to deal with and can spend more time on helping people as and when they need it; helping them navigate online resources for example.

Pros:
  • The induction sessions are more interactive and therefore a less passive experience for the students, and this makes it more interesting for us.
  • Nobody has been too shy to ask a question, in fact they sometimes can't wait to ask theirs as they're keen to know the answer to what are sometimes odd questions!
  • It's easier for us to remember everything that we need to tell the students, but I for one still forgot to mention things.
  • We decided after the first session we did each, that numbering the questions so they were asked in a particular order helped the 'flow' of information from one topic to another - before that we allowed the students to ask us the questions randomly and we had to sift through our own answer cards then answer which interrupted the flow and flummoxed us sometimes! However I think with a larger group (such as the 20 or so postgraduates) the randomness works well, especially with the more witty questions.
  • The sign-up sheets were really successful. We have inducted far more undergraduate students this year than ever before - around 100! They used to be just invited to present themselves in groups for a tour and not many ever did. I think making students commit to attending sessions in this way (although it's not mandatory) along with the promise of an interesting and informative time definitely helped. Other students often saw that a tour was going on and asked to join it.
Cons:
  • We still forgot to say certain things!
  • You do still end up talking 'at' students a bit but I suppose this can't be helped - maybe we could offer more questions though to break topics up a bit?
  • If only one person signs up for a tour and they can't do any other time this method doesn't really work (with smaller groups it still seems ok though) so you end up doing the traditional tour.
  • We usually left demonstrating the online catalogue and how to access e-journals to the end of the session - some students had lectures to go to so may have missed out, but we do emphasise they're welcome to do this at any time.
How to improve next year:
  • I might change some of my questions next year and put them in a different order to make it flow a bit better.
  • We might just allocate morning sessions as they've proved most popular. We definitely couldn't have coped with doing as many as we actually offered.
  • We might avoid having a couple of tours back-to-back as it leads to a lot of congestion once people have finished theirs and then want to register their cards for borrowing / ask questions, and then the next group arrives.
  • We'll ask for a minimum of 5 people on the sessions, as well as a maximum of 10.
  • Maybe incorporate the demo into the session proper.
We think that this approach has definitely been worth trying and has been successful and we can tweak it to make it even better next year. If you've been on one of our induction sessions, please let us have your feedback, either in person or by email on library@zoo.cam.ac.uk

Clair and Jane

*The Joint CILIP CofHE and UC&R Conference held at Exeter University in June 2010 http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/special-interest-groups/ucr/pages/joint-conference-2010.aspx

Photo credit: 'Kefalonia' by Dan Taylor, on Flickr.

Monday 11 October 2010

Rediscover Nature

The international science publication Nature reveals its new look clearer structure and navigation this month.

The new redesigned edition has been enhanced in print and online. New features include a new navigation bar for easier access to online content, a new carousel for smoother browsing of the latest daily news, features and opinion pieces and highlighted research articles showing the latest 16 published articles as they appear online. The new research articles landing page allows readers to browse Nature articles by subject or article type, while new mobile apps allows access to science news stories and the latest published research from your iPhone.

For more information about the new changes to Nature online check out rediscover Nature (http://www.nature.com/rediscover/)

To check out the latest edition of the journal click (http://www.nature.com)

Free workshops at the Wellcome Library, London

We received this message from the Wellcome Library:

"We've just released our new programme of resource discovery workshops at the Wellcome Library. To see what's on, check our list of workshops here: http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/workshops

The workshops provide introductions to research and information resources at the Library, and are aimed at the general public. Perhaps you, your colleagues or your users would be interested in:

- thematic workshops such as Science in the News, Medicine and Literature and the History of medicine on the internet;
- training on specific resources such as PubMed Central, and Web of Science;
- and introductions to the Archives & Manuscripts collections,
and the Wellcome Images digital image database.

All workshops are free and available to members of the Library (library membership is free and open to all).

To book a place on any of the workshops, please use the online booking facility on the library web site: http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/workshops"


Growing Knowledge: The Evolution of Research

An exhibition at the British Library showcasing new and innovative research tools and techniques

12 October 2010 - 16 July 2011

Growing Knowledge will inform and inspire today's researchers, consult and engage with them, demonstrate the value of investment in digital research tools, and spark a debate on the future of research.

See the website at: http://www.bl.uk/growingknowledge/

Thursday 7 October 2010

Undergraduate borrowing from the University Library

All undergraduates can now borrow up to 5 items at a time from the University Library (UL), for two week loan periods.

Loans can be renewed online for one extra loan period of two weeks.

The UL web pages for students can be found at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/students/

From this page you can link to details of introductory tours of the UL and to a film about all the libraries in the University, from students' point of view.

See also the UL's Research Skills Programme, designed to support readers working at every level, from undergraduate to researcher, covering a variety of topics in formats ranging from bookable practical sessions to one-to-one help, at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/courses/

There is also much more information on the libraries in the University on the Cambridge Libraries Gateway website at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/libraries

Monday 27 September 2010

New acquisitions

New books:

The beginning of the age of mammals, by Kenneth D. Rose. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press; 2006. Balfour Library shelfmark: Y.12 (16iii-iv)

Behavioural ecology: an evolutionary approach, 4th ed., edited by John R. Krebs and Nicholas B. Davies. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing; 1997. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFU (117dv)

Cell signalling, 3rd ed., by John T. Hancock. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: EC (298ci-iv) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

Developmental biology, 9th ed., by Scott F. Gilbert. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc.; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: EEB (64i1-4) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

Ecology of freshwaters: a view for the twenty-first century, 4th ed., by Brian Moss. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GG (118di-iv) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

Essentials of conservation biology, 5th ed., by Richard B. Primack. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc.; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GGW (77ei-iv) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

Functional biochemistry in health and disease, by Eric A. Newsholme and Tony R. Leech. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell; 2009. Balfour Library shelfmark: EH (59)

Fundamental statistics for the behavioral sciences, 7th ed., by David C. Howell. Cengage Learning; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: EBB (75gi-iv) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

In search of memory: the emergence of a new science of mind, by Eric R. Kandel. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company; 2006. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFW (8i-iv) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

The insects: an outline of entomology, 4th ed., by Penny J. Gullan and Peter Cranston. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: Q (82di-iv) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

Mammalogy, 5th ed., by Terry A. Vaughan, James M. Ryan, Nicholas J. Czaplewski. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: Y (21ei-iv) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

Metabolic regulation: a human perspective, 3rd ed., by Keith N. Frayn. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GDH (7ci-iv) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

The origin and evolution of mammals, by T. S. Kemp. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2005. Balfour Library shelfmark: Y.12 (11iv)

Plant physiology, 5th ed., by Lincoln Taiz and Eduardo Zeiger. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc.; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: qFA (2ei) (Overnight Loan shelves)

The student's guide to cognitive neuroscience, 2nd ed., by Jamie Ward. Hove: Psychology Press; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GF (25bi-iv) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

Trophic cascades: predators, prey, and the changing dynamics of nature, edited by John Terborgh and James A. Estes. Washington, DC: Island Press; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GGP (80)

Book donations by Cambridge University Press:

Ecology and evolution of cooperative breeding in birds, edited by Walter D. Koenig and Janis L. Dickinson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2004. Balfour Library shelfmark: K.8 (60iv)

Global warming: the complete briefing, 4th ed., by Sir John Houghton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2009. Balfour Library shelfmark: GGW (124dii-v) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves)

Invertebrate vision, edited by Eric Warrant and Dan-Eric Nilsson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2006. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFS (40iii-iv)

New Cambridge Libraries Film - 'The Perfect Desk'

Think university, think one library building? ... Not at Cambridge! With over ONE HUNDRED libraries with many and varied collections, the University provides the best possible resources to enable students to excel in their chosen subject.

This film invites you to find out from current students what they most value about the rich diversity of Cambridge's libraries and the ways in which each library becomes not simply a repository of books on their reading lists but their own unique space ... Find out more about the libraries at University of Cambridge, and which ones might be useful for you at www.lib.cam.ac.uk/libraries

You can also view the film directly on YouTube at http://www.tinyurl.com/theperfectdesk

New website for Cambridge Libraries - and we'll be at the Freshers' Fair!

The Cambridge Libraries Gateway website is now available at http://www.cam.ac.uk/libraries

This is a website that consolidates information about all the libraries available within the University of Cambridge - there are over 100 of them!

Sections include: How do I...? (e.g. find books, find journals etc.); ads for new library services such a the new mobile phone app; the Research Skills Programme for all undergraduate other members of the University; a feed from various libraries' blogs; a link to the online book renewal / library account facility; and much, much more.

Cambridge Libraries will have a presence for the first time ever at the Freshers' Fair this year, which will be held on Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th October at the Kelsey Kerridge Sports Hall. Several librarians from different libraries around the University will be ready and very willing to talk about all the libraries available to you and how you can use them. We will be giving out fliers, and hopefully will have a mobile phone and laptop to demonstrate some of the remote library services available.

On the new Cambridge Libraries website you can also check out also our new film, The Perfect Desk, to give you a student's eye view of the library system in Cambridge.

SciVerse - a new platform for Scopus and ScienceDirect

Elsevier have launched a new platform called SciVerse. ScienceDirect and Scopus are available on the new platform, and it is now possible to search across both platforms and web content from the Scirus scientific research web tool in a single search using the new SciVerse Hub.

The SciVerse Hub Beta is available at http://www.hub.sciverse.com/. Search results are ranked by relevancy with no duplication, with a single click to link to documents in the results list. The new platform also provides for a single login to both products.

A short video is available to demonstrate the platform at http://www.acceleratescience.com/preview

Future developments on the Sciverse platform include:

  • SciVerse SciTopics (due late 2010) is a dynamic, quick, informal-yet-authoritative online publication forum in which researchers can meet and share authoritative research summaries on a wide range of scientific topics.
  • SciVerse Applications (available in 2011) will be the place to find and market applications, or collaborate with the scientific community to create applications.

Cambridge Journals Online

The redesigned Cambridge Journals Online (CJO) has now been launched.

Improvements have been made to the CJO site in consultation with the academic and library communities in four key areas: Appearance, Navigation, Ease of Use and Consistency.

Further new developments include individual journal homepages and the ability to post comments on FirstView articles, which are published online ahead of print.

To check out the new site go to: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/login;jsessionid=DB311529E9F69E0806F6C67F6AD28CF8.tomcat1

This update is the first of three new functionality releases planned by CJO each year. Additional new improvements will be implemented in the next CJO release scheduled for December. Future planned improvements to the site include the introduction of faceted searching across CJO and Cambridge Books Online and the launch of CJOmobile (CJOm), optimized for smart phones and offering increased speed and convenience.

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Introducing LibrarySearch - a new way to access University of Cambridge library collections

The University of Cambridge is pleased to announce the beta launch of its new LibrarySearch service to the public.

The new unified approach allows for quick and intuitive searching of the print and electronic collections of the libraries of the university and the DSpace@Cambridge digital repository, from one place.

The service also has a host of new features, including RSS feeds for results, an optional word cloud to navigate related terms, and MyDiscoveries, a tool for storing, tagging and sharing references. It will eventually replace the Universal Catalogue search function on Newton.


Searches can be limited to a specific library, narrowed down further through intuitive facets such as subject or publication date, or expanded into online databases such as JSTOR, Scopus and Web of Knowledge.

LibrarySearch is still undergoing development based on feedback from readers.

For those who prefer a traditional library catalogue interface, the individual Newton catalogues will still remain available.

Try LibrarySearch for yourself at http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/or find out more on our information page at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/searchinfo/

Tuesday 31 August 2010

Scaffolding in the library - click on the photo below to see a slideshow of images

New books and theses acquisitions

New book:

NP201 Admiralty Tide Tables, Volume 1, 2011: United Kingdom and Ireland, including European channel ports, by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. Taunton: United Kingdom Hydrographic Office; 2010. Balfour Library Shelfmark: D.13 (10) (Reference shelves)

New book series:


Meiofauna marina: biodiversity, morphology and ecology of small benthic organisms. Volume 18. June 2010. Munich: Verlag Dr Friedrich Pfeil; 2010. Balfour Library Shelfmark: GHN (129xviii)

New book donation:

Field guide to the birds of Peru, by Thomas S. Schulenberg ... [et al.]. London: Christopher Helm; 2007. Balfour Library Shelfmark: KZ.8 (31)

New theses:

Colour, carotenoids and the evolution of parental care, by Rose Thorogood. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library Shelfmark: Thesis (480) (Library Office)

Land use, food production, and the future of tropical forest species in Ghana, by Benjamin Timothy Phalan. Cambridge; 2009. Balfour Library Shelfmark: Thesis (483) (Library Office)

Mechanisms, ecology and evolution of prey capture by Nepenthes pitcher plants, by Ulrike Bauer. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library Shelfmark: Thesis (482) (Library Office)

Re-thinking the species-area relationship for conservation, by Tiffany Lauren Bogich. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library Shelfmark: Thesis (479) (Library Office)

Social conflict resolution in groups of the angelfish Centropyge bicolor, by Tzo Zen Ang. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library Shelfmark: Thesis (481) (Library Office)

Sociality, social learning and individual differences in rooks, jackdaws and Eurasian jays, by Ira Gil Federspiel. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library Shelfmark: Thesis (484) (Library Office)

The life history of brood parasites: co-evolutionary constraints and competitive begging, by Martina Boerner. Cambridge; 2009. Balfour Library Shelfmark: Thesis (478) (Library Office)

Wednesday 25 August 2010

ScienceDirect and Scopus scheduled downtime Saturday 28th August

On Saturday 28 August 12:30 PM - 9:30 PM ScienceDirect and Scopus will be unavailable due to scheduled maintenance.

Monday 23 August 2010

Bank Holiday Monday closure


The Balfour Library will be closed on Bank Holiday Monday, 30th August.

What kind of umbrella will we need?

Disruption in the Balfour Library on Wednesday 25th August

There will be considerable disruption in the Balfour Library on Wednesday. The fire alarm sensor in the ceiling of the domed roof above the main study area needs to be replaced, which will involve men putting up scaffolding, replacing the sensor, then dismantling the scaffolding. This will obviously be quite noisy.

The library will remain open however, and the affected area will be cordoned off, but you will still be able to use the PCs in the bays, and access the journals on the shelves. You will also still be able to use the other part of the library, the Newton Room (the room where the photocopiers are situated), as we will keep the doors to that closed and it should be less noisy.

There will probably be a bit more disruption on Thursday and Friday when we expect that the desks, that have been dismantled in the domed study area to accommodate the scaffolding, will be reassembled.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your continued patience and custom while these works take place.

Monday 2 August 2010

bX Recommender Service

The University Library is please to announce that it has recently extended its trial of the bX™ article recommendation service with a one year subscription.

bX™ Recommender is a service offered by our software supplier 'Ex Libris'. It enables discovery of other relevant journal articles related to a specific citation. The service operates in a similar way to commercial website usage-based recommendations, such as can be found on Amazon: results are relevant, up to date, and easily accessible.

This is a new service that taps into the power of the networked scholarly community to generate recommendations based on article usage. It represents the growing recognition of the importance of user-driven content and an important step in the convergence of Web 2.0 and the scholarly world.

From a specific citation, the bX™ Recommender service will display a list of other relevant journal articles based on actual usage data from SFX access logs. When a user enters citation data in to the A-Z list of ejournals at ejournals@cambridge at http://camsfx.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az (either by searching for a specific citation or from the full text locator page) or when following an 'ejournals@cambridge' link from a citation in a database (Scopus, Google Scholar), bX™ will display other suggested articles.

Further details about the trail can be found on the library’s electronic resource pages at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/bX.php

We would be grateful for your feedback on this trial. Please email bx_feedback@lib.cam.ac.uk

New SpringerLink platform

Springer is pleased to announce that the new SpringerLink platform is scheduled to be launched on 7 August 2010.

On this date the current site will be discontinued and all users will automatically enter the new platform. The new platform will supply recommendation of related documents for every article or eBook chapter, PDF previews for eBook chapters and enhanced browsing features. Users will be able to view abstracts without leaving search results and will experience improved search functionality – including searching by citation.

Articles and eBook chapters on the new Springerlink platform will be available on and off campus (by Raven login) via the eresources@cambridge A-Z page at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources, and at: http://www.springerlink.com

Wiley Online Library

From the 7th and 8th of August Wiley will be replacing their Wiley InterScience Service with their new Wiley Online Library

Wiley Online Library provides access to online journals, books, and other resources from John Wiley & Sons, including content from the key imprints Wiley-Blackwell, Wiley-VCH, Jossey-Bass, and from hundreds of scholarly and professional societies. Wiley Online Library offers seamless full-text access in a flexible and easy-to-use research environment.

Register for content alerts and RSS feeds to keep current with the latest published research in your subject area.

The Wiley Online Library is available on and off campus (by Raven login) via the eresources@cambridge A-Z page at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/ and at: http://info.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/view/0/index.html (where you can view a slideshow offering information and screenshots of the new platform).

Science Online London 2010

Nature, Mendeley, and the British Library are excited to present Science Online London 2010, September 3-4, 2010 — British Library.

How is the web changing science?


How is the web changing the way we conduct, communicate, share, and evaluate research? How can we employ these trends for the greater good? This September, a brilliant group of scientists, bloggers, web entrepreneurs, and publishers will be meeting for two days to address these very questions. Science Online is about community, and is an experience that you can shape - there is ample opportunity for networking and attending un-conference sessions!

Registration is open now.

More information can be found on the Science Online website at http://www.scienceonlinelondon.org/?utm_source=Mendeley_SOLO_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=science_online_website

Changes to make accessing e-journals 'off-campus' easier

It's now much easier to access most e-journals from 'off-campus'!

1. Using ejournals@cambridge


Just go to the A-Z list of journals available in Cambridge at the ejournals@cambridge website, http://camsfx.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az

Search for the journal title you need, and then click on the relevant host that has the full text coverage you want. You are now automatically routed to the journal website via a proxy server.

The Raven login window should appear. Enter your Raven ID and password, and the journal website will open.

You won't have to log in anywhere else on the journal website, and once you have logged in to Raven you will not be required to do so again for the length of your web browser session. This method only works via the ejournals@cambridge website however.

2. Using a search engine such as Google, or using a bookmark, with the new 'Off campus access bookmarklet'

This is a link you can add to your web browser's toolbar so that when you're on a journal page that should provide full text access under a Cambridge subscription, you can click on the toolbar to reload the page via the UL's proxy server. You may be prompted to login with a Raven username and password. Instructions are given on the 'Off campus access bookmarklet' website at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/toolbox/bookmarklet.html

3. Reference management tools

You can also use the UL's proxy server and OpenURL link resolver (to check if full text is available for a resource) with EndNote and Zotero, to help you access the full text of resources. See the Reference Management Tools website at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/toolbox/rmt.html

Friday 2 July 2010

Available now: 2009 Journal Citation Reports Metrics

Journals Citation Reports (JCR) offers a systematic, objective means to critically evaluate the world's leading journals, with quantifiable, statistical information based on citation data. By compiling articles' cited references, JCR Web helps to measure research influence and impact at the journal and category levels, and shows the relationship between citing and cited journals.

All of the latest journal metrics are now available to you, including information for:
  • More than 9,100 of the world's most highly cited, peer-reviewed journals
  • 1,055 journals with their first published Journal Impact Factor
  • Journals from over 2,200 publishers in 230 disciplines, from 78 countries
  • Features that enhance your understanding of a journal's influence such as Five Year Impact Factors and Eigenfactor Metrics, Rank-in-Category Tables, Journal self-citations, and Impact Factor boxplots
The JCR can be accessed via the Web of Knowledge home page at: http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/ (off-campus access is via Raven password).

A quick reference card on how to use the JCR can be downloaded here: http://science.thomsonreuters.com/m/pdfs/mgr/qrc_jcr_april_09.pdf

New e-resource: JSTOR Plant Science

JSTOR Plant Science (http://plants.jstor.org/) is an online environment that brings together global plants content, tools, and people interested in plant science. It provides access to foundational content vital to plant science – plant type specimens, taxonomic structures, scientific literature, and related materials.

This new environment includes content from our Global Plants Initiative partners, bringing the amount of materials to 800,000 type specimens, paintings, drawings, correspondence, and supporting materials. By 2013, we expect to have over 2.2 million type specimens available, making JSTOR Plant Science the largest collection of its kind in the world. These materials are now truly global in scope representing over 160 partners in 47 countries on 5 continents. To learn more about this global network, see http://plants.jstor.org/page/plants/about/partners.jsp.

JSTOR Plant Science provides an interface with powerful functionality that supports research and teaching, including the ability to measure and record plant specimens, share observations and objects with colleagues and classmates, and investigate global plant biodiversity. To learn more about JSTOR Plant Science as a teaching tool, please contact training@jstor.org.

Aside from botanists and those dedicated to the plant sciences, JSTOR Plant Science is especially useful for Ecologists, Conservationists, Environmental scientists, Historians, Pharmacologists, Biologists, Geneticists, Agricultural Scientists, even Art Historians.

Access is available on and off campus (by Raven login) via the eresources@cambridge A-Z page at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/and at: http://plants.jstor.org/

Monday 28 June 2010

New books acquisitions

New books:

Cognition, evolution, and behavior, 2nd ed., by Sara J. Shettleworth. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFU (276bi)

Measuring biological diversity, by Anne E. Magurran. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing; 2004. Balfour Library shelfmark: GG (261ii)

Donations by Cambridge University Press:

Nerve cells and animal behaviour, 3rd ed.
, by Peter J. Simmons and David Young. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: GF (193ci-iv) (2 copies on the Overnight Loan shelves, 2 copies on the Open Shelves).

Thursday 24 June 2010

Important: Library self-issue system downtime next week

The library management system, Voyager ExLibris, will be upgraded next week beginning Monday 28th June. We have been told to expect that it will be unavailable for the whole of that week.

This means that you will be unable to borrow books yourself using the Self-Check facility. Only library staff will be able to issue books to you manually, in the Library Office, during library opening hours only (8.30am-5.00pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am-4.30pm Friday). There will be times that Jane or I may not be around due to one of us taking annual leave or attending meetings or training, and so we wouldn't be able to cover lunch breaks etc. Please come back if one of us isn't around.

A version of the online catalogue, Newton, will be available to everyone so you can still search for books and journals etc. However, you won't be able to use 'Your Account' on Newton or the Cambridge Libraries Widget to renew your books, and email reminders and overdue notices won't be sent out to you during the upgrade. We will be able to renew books manually for you if you think they are due for return during that week, but if they go overdue don't worry about it.

I will let you know when Self-Check is available again.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Clair

Thursday 3 June 2010

Rare book on display in the library

The rare book on display from our collection is:

Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d’Afrique, par François Levaillant. Tome cinquième
. Paris: Delachaussé , 1804.


Balfour Library class mark:
q Strickland 400.

The book is open at: Planche 210. Le coucou didric, mâle. The bird is from the genus Chrysococcyx (bronze-cuckoos), species Chrysococcyx caprius (Diederik cuckoo).

This splendid green, bronze, black and white coloured male bird is depicted perching on a branch. This is a high quality hand coloured metal engraving. The adult birds of both sexes actually have striking red irises and eye-rings (as seen in photographs online), whereas those of this bird are painted as brown. Its distribution is sub-Saharan Africa, also Saudi Arabia. The bird gets its name from its call “dee-dee-dee-diederik”, and it is a brood parasite. Le Vaillant visited Africa personally to observe the habits and collect specimens of the birds there.

François Le Vaillant (1753-1824) was born in Surinam but returned with his family to Europe in 1763. According to the François Le Vaillant: traveller and ornithologist website, he lacked formal training but was an enthusiastic field ornithologist and a skilful and prolific hunter. Le Vaillant’s voyage to South Africa in 1781 was sponsored by Jacob Temminck and he returned with collections of over 2,000 birds, insects, mammals, plants and ethnological objects. On his return to Paris he began working on his books of travels.

Le Vaillant has always been controversial. His travel books are considerably fictionalised and his bird books include conspicuous falsehoods and fabrications, but recent research has apparently begun to rehabilitate his reputation.

Le Vaillant is most famous for his 6 volume work Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d’Afrique, 1799-1808 which contains sumptuous bird engravings.

Sources:

Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2008. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed May 27, 2010 at http://animaldiversity.org

Internet Bird Collection http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/diederik-cuckoo-chrysococcyx-caprius Accessed May 27, 2010

del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J. eds. (1997) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 4: Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Balfour Library classmark: qK (51)

Beautiful birds: masterpieces from the Hill Ornithology Collection, Cornell University Library http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ornithology/ Accessed May 27, 2010

François Le Vaillant, traveller and ornithologist http://web.slais.ucl.ac.uk/2004/p036/p036slc/ Accessed May 27, 2010

Further reading:

Fran
çois Le Vaillant and the birds of Africa, by L. C. Rookmaaker ... [et al.]; translator, F. M. Webb. Johannesburg : Brenthurst Press, 2004. Balfour Library classmark: q KZ .6 (49)

Wednesday 26 May 2010

New books and theses acquisitions

New books:

Butterflies of Tanzania, by Jan Kielland. Melbourne, Vic.: Hill House; 1990. Balfour Library shelf mark: qQNB (9) (Quarto, large size book shelves)

Carcasson's African butterflies: an annotated catalogue of the Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea of the Afrotropical region, editors P. R. Ackery, C. R. Smith and R. I. Vane-Wright. East Melbourne, Vic.: CSIRO; 1995. Balfour Library shelf mark: qQNB (7) (Quarto, large-size book shelves)

Mothers and others: the evolutionary origins of mutual understanding, by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: GFU (337)

Pennington's butterflies of Southern Africa, 2nd ed., edited by E. L. L. Pringle, G. A. Henning and J. B. Ball. Cape Town: Struik Winchester; 2004. Balfour Library shelf mark: qQNB (8b) (Quarto, large size shelves)

Translational control in biology and medicine, 3rd ed., edited by Michael B. Mathews, Nahum Sonenberg, John W. B. Hershey. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 2007. Balfour Library shelf mark: EM (83c)

Theses:

A genetic analysis of cooperative breeding in the banded mongoose Mungos mungo, by Hazel J. Nichols. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library shelf mark: Thesis (477) (Library Office)

Cdc20 and its regulation during mitosis, by Mona Yekezare. Cambridge; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: Thesis (474) (Library Office)

Individual variation in cooperative behaviour in meerkats, by Sinead English. Cambridge; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: Thesis (476) (Library Office)

Offspring care and communication in the banded mongoose, by Bonnie Metherell. Cambridge; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: Thesis (475) (Balfour Library Office)

Book donations:

East African bat atlas
, by Robert Kityo ... [et al.]. [Kampala]: Makerere University; University of Dar es Salaam; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: YV (14)

International zoo yearbook: volume 44, managing editor Fiona A. Fisken. London: Zoological Society of London; 2010. Balfour Library shelf mark: D.11 (54)

Monday 24 May 2010

Unusual library visitor

Jane spotted this Lime Hawkmoth in the library today!

It was clinging on to the corner of the table that the card catalogue stands on - maybe he was looking for a book on his friends?

It likes urban lime trees apparently.

We released him back into the wild (well, as wild as Downing Street gets!). Thanks to Neal Maskell for identifying it for us.

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Are you involved in biomedical research?

If so, please help the British Library understand how you access and manage information by completing their survey.

To thank you for your feedback, four lucky respondents will win a £25 voucher to spend at the British Library Online Shop.

The British Library's has a world-leading collection of scientific, technical and medical (STM) information for researchers. See their Science pages to help you find the information you need and discover the range of services and activities that they provide, at: http://www.bl.uk/science There is a link to the survey from there too.

CamLib, a new mobile interface for Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge University Library would like to announce the Beta launch of CamLib, a new mobile interface for Cambridge Libraries.

The interface itself can be found at:
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/mob/camlib.cgi

Information can be found at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/toolbox/camlib.html

We have also added it as an option on the Newton home page (last item on list) at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/newton/

It has been tested for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android mobile devices (apparently it's also working on Opera Mini browser on Blackberry). You can also try it out on a normal computer - you just have to imagine everything being squashed together on a much smaller screen!

CamLib replicates the functionality of the Cambridge Libraries Widget with some new mobile-specific functionality - outlined in this blog post:

It's still a work in progress, so any feedback or suggestions (particularly bug reports) would be very welcome to Huw Jones at hej23@cam.ac.uk.

Thursday 6 May 2010

Balfour Library Satisfaction Survey for non-members of the Department of Zoology

Do you use the Balfour Library in the Department of Zoology, but you're not a member of the Department?

If so, please help us improve the library service further by taking a few minutes to complete this short survey. The results will be used to inform future service delivery and development.

N.B. Undergraduates should NOT complete the survey, as they have been surveyed already.

You may access the survey at:
https://camtools.cam.ac.uk/direct/eval-assigngroup/3545

The closing date to give your feedback is 17th May.

Friday 23 April 2010

Environmental Sciences Research Officer post

The British Library is currently looking for an experienced post-doctoral researcher in the environmental sciences for this post which is being advertised at http://gs10.globalsuccessor.com/fe/tpl_britishlibrary01.asp?newms=jj&id=73533

The role provides a unique opportunity to work within an innovative, dynamic team to deliver the strategy for Science, Technology and Medicine at the British Library.

Thursday 22 April 2010

Easter Term - essential information

As the Easter term begins I thought it would be useful to mention a few things that will be helpful for you to bear in mind, to ease the stressful exam period when you will (hopefully!) be hard at work revising in the Balfour Library. Be aware that much of it applies to cardholders only however.

Help us to help you keep the Balfour Library a pleasant place to study.

If you have any further queries on this then please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do our best to help. Good luck with your exams!

Working in the library out of hours

  • Remember that if you are working in the library outside of opening hours then you will effectively be 'lone working'. Inform someone at home/college where you are and when you are expected to return. Keep to your agreed time of return, or ring to say you have left early, or will be late leaving.
  • Such calls using your mobile phone should preferably be made outside of the library, so that you do not disturb other readers. However there is a phone available on the wall opposite the Library Office should you need it.


New Museums Site archway gate

  • This closes at 10:00pm each night. After 10:00pm your access card will require you to leave the department via the Downing Street exit (down the flight of stairs immediately outside the library). However you are unable to enter the department through this door at any time. It is therefore recommended that you are on site by 10:00pm, after which time you can leave whenever you like.
  • The gate to the site is opened very early in the morning.
  • The gates will open and close at the usual times on both Bank Holiday Mondays.


Access cards

  • Please remember that your access card is for your use only. You should not lend it to anyone else to gain entry to the department or library. This also means that you cannot bring any friends who are not access card holders into the department or library with you outside of opening hours.
  • All Part 1B students doing Zoology-taught courses may apply for out of hours access to the library by completing a grey form which is available from library staff.


Valuables

  • Please do not leave these unattended in the library as we cannot guarantee their security.
  • Try to secure them to the desk in some way, or take them with you when you leave the library for any amount of time.


May Bank Holidays on the 3rd and 31st May

  • The library will be open as usual.
  • Reception will be open as usual on the 3rd May only. This means you would need an access card to be able to enter the library on 31st May, whereas the Receptionist would be able to let you in on 3rd May.


Priority for study places

  • Please remember that Part II Zoology/Neuroscience/BBS students will take priority for use of the limited amount of study places available in the library. Other students may be asked to leave.


Help us to keep the library clean and tidy and quiet

  • Please remember that food and drink cannot be consumed in the library.
  • Mobile phones should be kept on 'silent' mode and conversations on them should not be held in the library.
  • Library staff may tidy up your stuff if it takes up too much space on the desks.

Library purchasing: tell us what you want!

You may not be aware of it, but the Balfour Library encourages recommendations from you all for the purchase of books and other media for our collections.

We welcome recommendations from postgraduates, researchers and teaching staff for purchases which are relevant to teaching and research that takes place in the department, especially text books provided on reading lists, as well as purchasing material to develop particular subject areas. Items recommended for purchase should ideally be of benefit to a range of people in the department.

Books: Would you like more text books, or those with additional teaching materials included? How about guides on how to write about science or do your PhD? Do you have a particular series in mind that would complement our collections?

DVDs or CDs: Would you like to be able to borrow a DVD or CD from the library? We do keep any that accompany text books in the library office for you to borrow but there might be other ones useful to you?

Donations: Are there any books that you own that you don't want anymore and think would be really useful for the library to have? Recent titles are preferred.

Ebooks: The library contributes funds annually to the ebooks@cambridge team and we can recommend titles for purchase by them (for undergraduate teaching purposes, preferably Part I, only). I can ask them if particular books are available in ebook format.

Ejournals: Purchasing of new ejournals titles is achieved through a central fund that all libraries in the university contribute to. We can recommend new titles for purchase on your behalf or you can do so yourself, via the 'Recommend an ejournal title' form online at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/help/index.php Recommendations are considered for purchase a couple of times per year usually.

Eresources and trials of eresources: Purchasing of new eresources (e.g. not an ejournal or ebook) is generally achieved through University Library funds. We can recommend new eresources for purchase on your behalf or you can do so yourself, via the 'Recommend an eresource' form online at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/help/index.php We can also arrange trials to be set up for eresources you consider to be useful.

Complimentary library services and collections: Remember that if a particular journal article or book is not available in Cambridge we can request it, for a subsidised fee, from the British Library. We also have a collection of over 100,000 reprints from the 19th and 20th centuries in the library. We have many of the theses written by postgraduate students based in this department.

How to tell us what you want!

We have an annual donation of a few hundred pounds to spend from Cambridge University Press, and an 18% discount from Heffers. Have a look at our 'Books and ebooks' website at http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/books.html to find links to various booksellers. We also have many booksellers' catalogues in the library office that we can lend you.

I can take recommendations by email at cmc32@cam.ac.uk or we have recommendation cards available in the library office. For books and ebooks, please provide details of the author, title, date of publication, publisher, ISBN, price, who the book will be useful for and why. For ejournals please see the online form I have mentioned above and let me have those details.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Clair