Research Skills Programme RSS feed now available

The Research Skills Programme can now be accessed by RSS. Visit

www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Courses/research_skills.rss to sign up. Find out more about the Programme at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Courses/index.html

New e-resource Content from the Wellcome Film Collection has now been added to Film & Sound Online

Film & Sound Online

Film & Sound Online is a JISC-funded set of collections of film, video and sound material. Several hundred hours of high-quality material are available for download, either in full or as segments, and can be used freely in learning, teaching and research. Access to Film & Sound Online at http://www.filmandsound.ac.uk/ is available on-campus and is restricted to current staff/students via Raven passwords.

Wellcome Film Collection

Content from the Wellcome Film Collection has now been added to Film & Sound Online. 212 films were put in to service on 26th February representing the 17th separate collection to be included in Film & Sound Online. A further 230+ Wellcome titles will be added in batches in a process due to finish in December 2009.

The core collection consists of about 60 © Wellcome Trust titles that were made by the corporate arm of the organisation, in the guise of the Wellcome Foundation. The earliest footage is of archaeological digs in the Sudan, at Jebel Moya, featuring the founder, Sir Henry Wellcome himself (A day at Gebel Moya, season 1912-13), as well as more jaunty corporate fare about the business of running a pharmaceutical company (Looking Around, The Story of the Wellcome Foundation).

The Wellcome Film Collection is available at http://www.filmandsound.ac.uk/collections/wellcome.html

End of term information

Balfour Library end of term information

The last Saturday morning that the Balfour Library was open before the Easter Vacation starts was Saturday 7th March. Saturday morning opening will begin again on the first Saturday of the Easter Term 2009, i.e. Saturday 25th April 2009.

Lent Term 2009 ends on Friday 13th March. All books on loan from the Balfour Library must be returned by this date. Books may be renewed for further periods, but please remember that they cannot be taken away from Cambridge. This is because all of our books are subject to recall by other readers and we would need to be able to get them back easily if another reader requested them.

During the Easter Vacation the loan period for Overnight Loan books changes to two weeks, but books still cannot be taken away from Cambridge.

Please see 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)

If you do not currently have an Raven password and think you may need one to access the Web of Knowledge or Scopus (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 or forgotten your Raven password.

It is strongly recommended that you check the University Library's ejournals@cambridge page at http://sfx7.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az to see whether you will actually be able to access particular online journals away from the University network (cam.ac.uk domain) BEFORE you leave Cambridge (or see 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 do 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.

Easter period closing dates

The Balfour Library will close for Easter at 5:00 pm on Thursday 9th April and will re-open at 8:30 am on Tuesday 14th March 2009. The library will be open throughout the Easter Vacation however, see our opening hours at http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/open.html

Thank you for your cooperation.

We wish you a very Happy Easter!

Best wishes,

Clair & Jane

New library books and theses acquisitions

Books:

Cellular signal processing: an introduction to the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction, by Friedrich Marks, Ursula Klingmueller, Kevin Mueller-Decker. New York, NY: Abingdon: Garland Science; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: EC (297) (Overnight Loan shelves)

Cooperation in primates and humans: mechanisms and evolution, by Peter M. Kappeler, Carel P. van Schaik. Berlin: Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; 2006. Balfour Library shelf mark: YW.7 (31iii) (Overnight Loan shelves)

A dictionary of zoology, 3rd ed., edited by Michael Allaby. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: DICT SCI 19c (Reference section).

Endless forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the visual arts, edited by Diana Donald and Jane Munro. Fitwilliam Museum, Cambridge: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT: in association with Yale University Press; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: qFY (8)

For the love of nature: mammals described and illustrated by the naturalists Gerald E.H. Barrett-Hamilton and Edward Adrian Wilson, by Martin J. Hollenberg. Vancouver, BC: Martin J. Hollenberg; 2008. Balfour Library shelf mark: qFY (7)

Mammals from the age of dinosaurs: origins, evolution, and structure, by Zofia Kielan-Jarorowska, Richard L. Cifelli, and Zhe-Xi Luo. New York, NY: Columbia University Press; 2004. Balfour Library shelf mark: Y.12 (14ii) (Overnight Loan shelves)

Thesis:

Analysis of the gap gene network in Clogmia albipunctata (Diptera: Psychodidae), by Monica Adriana Garcia Solache. Cambridge; 2009. Thesis (457)

Survey: Using information on the move

A chance to win an Flip video camera http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/5748033/Flip-Video-Ultra-Camcorder/Product.html, £30 in book vouchers or membership to the Arts Picturehouse http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema_home_date.aspx?venueId=camb worth £27.

I would like to invite you to take part in a survey intended to establish how the majority of Cambridge University students and staff access, or would like to access, information away from your desk or laptop. The survey questions are primarily about how you use your mobile phone, smartphone or PDA to look up, use or interact with information.

As mobile phone use has become increasingly common, more and more ways of using them to access or interact with information have developed. Newer models of mobile phones are more powerful than personal computers were a few years ago and often include much of the functionality of a pocket PC, such as a calendar, a camera, a notes function, and an
internet browser.

All answers will be completely anonymous. If you choose to provide your email address to enter the prize draw, or if you wish to contribute further to the project, we will not associate it with your responses or retain it after the end of the project. The aggregated survey results, however, will be made publicly available and may be used to inform development of services for students and staff.

This research is being undertaken jointly at Cambridge University and The Open University as part of the Arcadia project. Staff and students at The Open University will be receiving the same survey. For more information about the project, please click on the link provided at the end of the survey.

To take the survey go to http://cli.gs/caminfosurvey. It should take 10 to 15 minutes to complete it. The cut-off date for submissions is 19 March 2009.

Many thanks,

Keren Mills
Arcadia Project: Using information on the move
http://arcadiaproject.blogspot.com/2009/01/m-library-services-user-requirements.html
Email: km512@cam.ac.uk
Tel. 01223 768875

Rare book on display in the library

The rare book on display from our collection is: The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Fitzroy, during the years 1832 to 1836. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin, naturalist to the expedition. Part III. Birds, described by John Gould, with a notice of their habits and ranges, by Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co.; 1841.Balfour Library shelfmark: qKZ.8 (7)

The book is open at: Plate 7: Pyrocephalus nanus, a Tyrant Flycatcher. The pair of flycatchers perch on a branch: the bright scarlet male reaches for a spider that hangs from its thread while the pale brown female looks on. The beauty and quality of Gould’s hand-coloured plate is evident here. This species lives in the Galapagos Archipelago (except San Cristóbal).

John Gould (1804-1881) was an English ornithologist and publisher. Gould did not paint the final illustrations in this or subsequent works himself, but he collected the specimens, classified them, made rough drawings, wrote the text and designed and arranged the birds naturally on the plates, which was his distinctive genius.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) returned from his voyage on HMS Beagle in the autumn of 1836. Darwin selected several scientists to describe his collected specimens, and Gould was presented with the birds. In January 1837 Gould pronounced a group of twelve birds from the Galápagos Islands, which Darwin thought to be ‘blackbirds, warblers, wrens and finches’, as all one family of finches, with variations in their beaks and size. This was the crucial piece of evidence that enabled Darwin to come to his theory of island speciation. Gould contributed to this ‘bird’ volume of Darwin’s Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle.

Sources: John Gould (1804-1881):doi:10.109/ref:odnb/11154, IBC: The Internet Bird Collection http://ibc.lynxeds.com/

IRIS SURVEY - iPod & Borders vouchers to be won!

How do you search for books, journal articles or other information for your course? What information is important to you? How do you know where to find it?

If you're a student at Cambridge University, we'd love to hear your views. Click below to take part in the IRIS Survey and for your chance to win an iPod Nano or one of two £25 Borders vouchers.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=uT9TQN6x1q1It30ZjANzqQ_3d_3d

The IRIS survey can be submitted anonymously and takes 2-5 minutes to complete. Closing date: Friday 6th March.

IRIS is a research project which forms part of the Arcadia Fellowship Programme. IRIS seeks to map the information skills and needs of students at Cambridge University in the digital age. We hope that this information will be useful in planning future services and facilities for students. If you'd like to find out more about the project please visit the IRIS website at:

http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/iris/

See also the IRIS Blog http://www.cambridgeiris.blogspot.com/

Contact: Lizz Edwards-Waller, Arcadia Office, University Library

ew257@cam.ac.uk / Tel: 01223 (7)68876

New library books and theses acquisitions

Books:

A geologic time scale 2004, edited by Felix M. Gradstein, James G. Ogg, and Alan G. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2004. Balfour Library shelfmark: GJ (37)

Handbook of the birds of the world, volume13: penduline-tits to shrikes, edited by Josep del Hoyo, Andrew Elliott, David Christie. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions; 2008. Balfour Library shelfmark: qK (61)

Measuring behaviour: an introductory guide, 3rd ed., by Paul Martin, Patrick Bateson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2007. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFU (204ciii) (Overnight Loan shelves)

Theses:

Development and patterning of motorneuron dendrites in the Drosophila embryo, by Alex Mauss. Cambridge; 2009. Thesis (456)

Ebooks evaluation survey - win £200 worth of Amazon vouchers

JISC NATIONAL E-BOOKS OBSERVATORY EVALUATION

As a student, you will be aware of the problems that university libraries sometimes have in making sure that there are enough copies of popular course texts to go around, especially at times of peak demand.

One of the key aims of our project, which is funded by a major government agency, JISC, is to explore whether electronic course texts might offer a solution to these bottlenecks. In other words, whether offering you access to selected textbooks from your library website as electronic documents, might be a way forward?

You can help us by letting us know what you think about e-books by joining our survey. It should take no longer than 10-12 minutes to complete (much less if you don't already use e-books - but we would still LOVE to hear from you).

You can enter the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=svBYxG5fk_2bMEYLaq9at5zQ_3d_3d

If you leave your university email at the end of the survey, you will be entered into our prize draw for £200 worth of Amazon vouchers.

You are under no obligation whatsoever to take part in this survey. Any information you give us will be held securely and we will under no circumstances reveal any findings other than at a highly aggregated level. We are collecting the data through a third-party, Survey Monkey, and you can check their privacy policy here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/Monkey_Privacy.aspx

If you have any problems or questions, please contact me at i.rowlands@ucl.ac.uk

Dr Ian Rowlands

Balfour Library copy of 'On the origin of species' on Countryfile

The Balfour & Newton Libraries' first edition copy of Charles Darwin's 'On the origin of species' will feature in the next episode of Countryfile, to be shown on Sunday 8th February, at 11.00am, on BBC1.

Filming has taken place in the University Museum of Zoology Cambridge for BBC1's Countryfile programme next Sunday. John Craven spent three days filming in the University of Cambridge and in the city for this episode to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.

The Museum's exhibition Darwin: Beetles, Finches, Barnacles features the Balfour & Newton Libraries' first edition copy of Darwin's book, 'On the origin of species'. This copy was originally owned by one of the founders of the libraries, Professor Alfred Newton. Newton was the first Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the University of Cambridge, and was a contemporary and correspondent of Darwin. Newton apparently acquired his copy of the book, as he annotated on page i, just a few weeks after it was published in November 1859. Only 1250 copies of the first edition were ever published so this copy is quite rare and precious.

John Craven was filmed next to this exhibition handling the book. The Librarian was on hand to advise on this and enjoyed watching the whole filming process.

This copy of the book has been scanned by the The 'Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online' project, see http://darwin-online.org.uk/ and click on 'Origin of species', '1st ed.'

Professor Alfred Newton bequeathed his collections of books of outstanding historical importance, especially for ornithology, to the Department of Zoology in 1907. More information on the Balfour & Newton Libraries' Special Collections can be found at http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/index.html