New Journal Announcement

Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining is a new journal from Wiley. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining is a vital source of information on sustainable products, fuels and energy. Examining the spectrum of international scientific research and industrial development along the entire supply chain, The journal publishes a balanced mixture of peer-reviewed critical reviews, commentary, business news highlights, policy updates and patent intelligence. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining is dedicated to fostering growth in the biorenewables sector and serving its growing interdisciplinary community by providing a unique, systems-based insight into technologies in these fields as well as their industrial development.

Complementary content will be presented at our sister web portal, www.biofpr.com. The portal is under construction, but users may register their interest in receiving email updates when the site goes live later in 2007. Visit www.biofpr.com now to register and enter a free prize draw! Biofpr.com will supplement the journal by providing immediate news, features and patent coverage, as well as interactive discussions and debate.

Product Information

Open Access to first issue

Important information regarding off-campus access to library resources

Over the weekend of June 16-17, the library databases will be altered to reflect the new LSU ID numbers. How will this affect you? No longer will faculty, staff, or students be able to log in from off campus to the library with their SSN. This ONLY affects off-campus access to the library.



Logging in with identification is required for off-campus users, whether they are using the journal databases or renewing books through the library catalog. Distance students also will have to have a TigerCard and use their TigerCard number.



If you are a summer term instructor, please mention this to your students. Also if any of your written materials give directions about logging in to the library resources with an SSN, please make a change in the wording.



In case you have any questions or problems, you may call the Reference Desk at 578-8875 for assistance.

Science Direct again

From Science Direct:

Everyone who has been involved with system upgrades in other contexts will not be completely surprised to learn that the upgrade and reinstallation of Science Direct's core techologies last Saturday encountered some unexpected problems. As a consequence, the upgrade was aborted, the system was reset and we again need to close down the system this week-end to carry out the work.

With great regret and with the most profound apologies, therefore, we announce that ScienceDirect will be unavailable again tomorrow (Saturday, March 3rd) for approximately 9 hours starting at 06:30 AM EST (11:30 GMT). The changes are necessary to improve the performance of ScienceDirect and to ensure a high level of reliability in the coming years.

ScienceDirect

ScienceDirect will be down for maintenance work this Saturday (March 3), begining at 5:30am (CST) and lasting until approximately 2:30pm.

Tiger TAIL

The LSU Libraries announces the launch of Tiger TAIL (Tutorial About Information Literacy). Based on the University of Texas at Austin's TILT (Texas Information Literacy Tutorial), Tiger TAIL is an interactive tutorial, designed to instruct students in the forms and functions of information.

Through a series of modules, students will learn to search for and be critical of information found on the Internet and in library sources. It is a brief, yet comprehensive, introduction to essential research skills, which takes about two hours to complete. Students are tested at the end of each module and, test results can be emailed automatically to the course instructor.

Consider assigning Tiger TAIL to your classes that are doing research projects, either as part of their course grade or as extra credit.

The link to Tiger TAIL is on the library’s tutorial page at http://www.lib.lsu.edu/instruction/tutorials.html.

If you have any questions about Tiger TAIL, please write or call Mike Russo at mrusso1@lsu.edu or 578-6823.

Library instruction

As always, I am available to come to your classes or host a special session here in the library to inform your students about the services available at the LSU libraries and also instruct them in electronic resources, searching techniques, and other matters related to research.

Just send me an email at jryan1@lsu.edu and let me know when and where you'd like to have the instruction take place and I'll set it up. Please take advantage of this service if you can -- I think it's important for all students to have a basic grounding in how to conduct research in a university library.

Jenna

Book Money!! and other stuff

Ok, folks. I'm back from vacation and a brand new semester has started. It's that time again -- I once again have money to spend on books! The primary purpose of this library is to meet the needs of the students and the faculty so if you have any books that you think we should own, or that would be useful to you personally in your research, *please* let me know. I can't guarrantee that I'll be able to purchase it, but I will try as best I can. Last year I was able to fill all of the faculty requests, so you have a very good chance. Reply here in the comments with the book title and author, or send me an email at jryan1@lsu.edu.

Another project I'm working on this Fall is an update and possible restructuring of the subject guides on the library website. The guides are linked here. I'm responsible for the Biochemistry, Biology, Coastal Sciences, and Earth Sciences guides, so if you have any suggestions for resources to go on those let me know. I'm also thinking of making subguides under the major headings, so if you have suggestions for what subcategories I should use, let me know that as well.

This is my second year here at LSU Libraries and I hope to meet more of you and work closely with you as faculty to improve our library services. Please don't hesitate to email me or call me at 578-2950 and discuss any questions, suggestions, or concerns you may have.

Jenna

Elsevier Journals

LSU Libraries now has electronic access to all journals published by Elsevier, back to 1995. The titles are in the catalog with a link to the electronic version.

Large items wishlist

We have some money left over in the large items fund -- this fund pays for one-time purchases of over $1000. If there is an item you would like to see the library acquire -- an expensive book series, a CD-ROM package, etc. let me know and I'll put in a request. As always, email jryan1@lsu.edu.

Library Use Survey

A print library use survey will be conducted for two hours once a month in Middleton; twice a month for two hours each in Hill Memorial Library; twice a month for two hours each in the Veterinary Medicine Library; and an electronic briefer survey for the same random times each month when accessing library electronic resources.

The surveying will commence in the next two weeks and will continue over a twelve month period.

Cooperation in completing the surveys will be helpful to the library in determining how library facilities, materials, and services are being used.

Thank you for your assistance.

What do you want from this resource?

So far I've limited myself primarily to new book announcements and weekly resource spotlights, but I'd like to expand the content of this blog somewhat over the summer. What kind of things would you like to see posted here? Please post a comment here or email me at jryan1@lsu.edu.

Book suggestions

Spring ordering is upon us and I am once again taking suggestions for books to be ordered for Middleton. Because of budget issues, we have less money this semester than anticipated, so unlike last semester I cannot guarantee that all recommended books will in fact be ordered. However I will do my best.

Please send suggestions to jryan1@lsu.edu.

Welcome to a new semester

It's a new semester and I will once again resume regular posting here on the blog. Remember that I am always available to help you or your students with any research related questions you might have. I am also free to do specialised instruction for your classes. Just email me or give me a call to set it up.

Phone: 578-2950
Email: jryan1@lsu.edu

Welcome back!

I hope everyone had a good time over the holidays. In 2006 I am looking to expand the scope of this blog. I have a few ideas, but this is all about what you want to see. Please send me your ideas and suggestions at jryan1@lsu.edu.

More info on the Scifinder Scholar upgrade

From Bill Armstrong:

"Yes, you may indeed upgrade your office computers and any lab computers to the 2006 version of SciFinder Scholar. The software can be downloaded from the following site:
http://www.lib.lsu.edu
User Name: scifinder
Password: LSU_sci_fin (case sensitive)

If you are upgrading an earlier version on your machine, you only need to download the executable installation file, SFS2006.exe.

If, however, this is a brand new installation, then you'll also need to download the site.prf file for Windows. Once you've installed the program, go back to the download site and save the site.prf file directly into the folder in which SciFinder installed itself, C:\SFSCHLR. The information contained in this file is essential for CAS to allow your computer to connect."

Scifinder Scholar upgrade

From Bill Armstrong, our Chemistry Librarian:

"SciFinder Scholar has now been upgraded to the 2006 version in the Reference area, including Ref Desk. The OCS labs have already been upgraded as well.

Most of the improvements have been to the substructure searching capabilities, but there are a couple of other organizational changes on the opening search screen I wanted to call your attention to. Previously, your access points to the bibliographic literature and the compound Registry file were all found on the opening screen. Now they're organized into two groups: Explore and Locate. Under Explore, you'll find the Topic Search, one of the two types of searches you'll do the most. The other search
useful to you is the compound search by name or CAS RN, and this is now located under Locate."

Attn IEEE Xplore users!

From IEEE Xplore maintenance:

"IEEE has scheduled necessary maintenance to the IEEE Xplore digital library
for Monday, 28 November from approximately 2 - 3 PM EST. During
maintenance users will be able to access the site, search, and view
abstracts, but they will be unable to view full-text PDFs. We are posting
a message to the IEEE Xplore welcome page so that users become aware of the
limited access."

JCR now available online!

Journal Citation Reports on the Web is now available from the LSU Libraries; faculty and students may access (both on and off-campus) the JCR reports from the list of Indexes and Databases on the Libraries web site.

Journal Citation Reports is a comprehensive and unique resource that allows you to evaluate and compare journals using citation data drawn from over 7,500 scholarly and technical journals from more than 3,300 publishers in over 60 countries. JCR Science Edition contains data from over 5,900 journals in science and technology. JCR Social Sciences Edition contains data from over 1,700 journals in the social sciences.

It is the only source of citation data on journals, and includes virtually all areas of science, technology, and social sciences. Journal Citation Reports can show you the:
· Most frequently cited journals in a field
· Highest impact journals in a field
· Largest journals in a field

Citation and article counts are important indicators of how frequently current researchers are using individual journals. By tabulating and aggregating citation and article counts, JCR offers a unique perspective for journal evaluation and comparison.

New option for people who have forgotten their library PIN

A change has been made in iLink (for off-campus access to electronic resourcs) for patrons who have forgotten their PINs.

They can now submit their LSU ID or T-card number and have their PIN emailed to them. The PIN is sent to the email address in their patron record.

Please send me your book requests

I am once again soiiciting for suggestions and requests for books to be purchased by Middleton Library. Please email me your suggestions at jryan1@lsu.edu. I have been able to procure nearly every book requested, so your suggestions really do make a difference.

Thanks,
Jenna