literature roundup

Another issue full of interesting articles: E-Science Librarianship: Field Undefined by Elsa Alvaro, Heather Brooks, Monica Ham, Stephanie Poegel, and Sarah Rosencrans, Indiana University Comparison of the Contributions of CAPLUS and MEDLINE to the Performance of SciFinder in Retrieving the Drug Literature by Svetla Baykoucheva, University of Maryland Reference Management Software: a Comparative Analysis of Four Products by Ron Gilmour and Laura Cobus-Kuo, Ithaca College American Woods: Conservation of a Unique Item by Tierney Lyons, Penn State Worthington Scranton Local Food Systems:…
As usual, a wealth of interesting articles in the latest ISTL: Faculty of 1000 and VIVO: Invisible Colleges and Team Science by John Carey, City University of New York E-book Usage among Chemists, Biochemists and Biologists: Findings of a Survey and Interviews by Yuening Zhang and Roger Beckman, Indiana University, Bloomington Look Beyond Textbooks: Information Literacy for First-Year Science Students by Gabrielle K.W. Wong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Changing Role of Blogs in Science Information Dissemination by Laksamee Putnam, Towson University Life Science Data…
The standard commercial library citation tools, Web of Science (including their newish Proceedings product) and Scopus, have always been a bit iffy for computer science. That's mostly because computer science scholarship is largely conference-based rather than journal-based and those tools are tended to massively privilege the journal literature rather than conferences. Of course, these citation tools are problematic at best for judging scholarly impact in any field, using them for CS is even more so. The flaws are really amplified. A recent article in the Communications of the ACM goes…
As usual, a bunch of great new articles from the most recent ISTL! Five Years Later: Predicting Student Use of Journals in a New Water Resources Graduate Program by Andrea A. Wirth and Margaret Mellinger, Oregon State University Seeing the Forest of Information for the Trees of Papers: An Information Literacy Case Study in a Geography/Geology Class by Linda Blake and Tim Warner, West Virginia University Local Citation Analysis of Graduate Biology Theses: Collection Development Implications by Laura Newton Miller, Carleton University Career Motivations of the Scientist-Turned-Librarian: A…
As usual, lots of terrific articles are included in this issue. More and more, I wonder why a scitech librarian would publish their articles anywhere else, especially in a toll access journal. Old Words, New Meanings: A Study of Trends in Science Librarian Job Ads by Brenna K.H. Bychowski, Carolyn M. Caffrey, Mia C. Costa, Angela D. Moore, Jessamyn Sudhakaran, and Yuening Zhang, Indiana University Increasing the Visibility of the Library within the Academic Research Enterprise by Annette M. Healy, Wayne State Universitty Science Seeker: A New Model for Teaching Information Literacy to Entry-…
A terrific new edition of The Journal of Electronic Publishing (v13i2), focusing on the future of university presses and, by extension, of scholarly publishing as a whole. A lot of terrific-looking articles: Editor's Note for Reimagining the University Press by Phil Pochoda Reimagining the University Press: A Checklist for Scholarly Publishers by Peter J. Doughtery Reimagining the University Press by Kate Wittenberg Stage Five Book Publishing by Joseph J. Esposito Next-Generation University Publishing: A Perspective from California by Daniel Greenstein What Might Be in Store for Universities…
The latest issue of ISTL has just been released and, as usual, it's filled with very interesting-looking articles. The table of contents is below: Metrics and Science Monograph Collections at the Marston Science Library, University of Florida by Michelle F. Leonard, Stephanie C. Haas, and Vernon N. Kisling, Ph.D, University of Florida Zoo and Wildlife Libraries: An International Survey by Linda L. Coates and Kaitlyn Rose Tierney, San Diego Zoo How Much Space Does a Library Need? Justifying Collections Space in an Electronic Age by Nancy J. Butkovich, The Pennsylvania State Universitty…
Usually every day brings one or two interesting things at InsideHigherEd, but today is a bonanza. The Ed Tech Sonic Boom Today, we are able to leverage a set of well-developed and stable technologies to build in pedagogically advanced active learning methods into a wide variety of courses and modes of instructional delivery. To be a great teacher it is no longer a prerequisite to be a dynamic and gifted lecturer. Rather, faculty can partner with learning designers, librarians, and teaching specialists to create dynamic, student-centered courses that allow students interact and create with the…
Another terrific issue. I'm going to list everything but the book & database reviews & reports so as not to clutter the post too much. Five Voices, Two Perspectives: Integrating Student Librarians into a Science and Engineering Library by Eugene Barsky, Aleteia Greenwood, Samantha Sinanan, Lindsay Tripp, and Lindsay Willson, University of British Columbia Collection Assessment in Response to Changing Curricula: An Analysis of the Biotechnology Resources at the University of Colorado at Boulder by Gabrielle Wiersma, University of Colorado at Boulder Browsing of E-Journals by…
A small selection from some tables of content from a few recent journals and proceedings. These will require subscription access to the ACM Digital Library. Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education Connecting k-16 curriculum & policy: making computer science engaging, accessible, and hospitable for underrepresented students by Joanna Goode Computational thinking for the sciences: a three day workshop for high school science teachers by Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed, Dennis Brylow, et al. Connecting across campus by Mark D. LeBlanc, Tom Armstrong, Michael B. Gousie Teaching communication…
Nice article by Delaney J. Kirk and Timothy L. Johnson on Blogs As A Knowledge Management Tool In The Classroom (via). Based on their experiences in a combined 22 business courses over the past three years, the authors believe that weblogs (blogs) can be used as an effective pedagogical tool to increase efficiency by the professor, enhance participation and engagement in the course by the students, and create a learning community both within and outside the classroom. In this paper they discuss their decision to use blogs as an integral part of their course design to contribute to both…
ISTL is a great resource for those of us in science and technology libraries. I'm happy to report on the tables of contents from the last two issues.Winter 2010 Evaluation of an Audience Response System in Library Orientations for Engineering Students by Denise A. Brush, Rowan University Open Access Citation Advantage: An Annotated Bibliography by A. Ben Wagner, University at Buffalo Information Portals: A New Tool for Teaching Information Literacy Skills by Debra Kolah, Rice University and Michael Fosmire, Purdue University Are Article Influence Scores Comparable across Scientific Fields?…
A selection of articles from two recent IEEE publications which have special issues devoted to humanitarian service in engineering. Note that most of these articles will be behind the IEEE paywall. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, v52i4. The Role of Information and Communication in the Context of Humanitarian Service by Haselkorn, M; Walton, R Adapting to Change: Becoming a Learning Organization as a Relief and Development Agency by Smith, S.; Young, A. Listening as a Missing Dimension in Engineering Education: Implications for Sustainable Community Development Efforts by…
The latest issue of IT Professional (v11i6) has some interesting articles on strategic planning for IT organizations. Information Technology Strategic Planning by Hong, Edward K IT Innovations: Evaluate, Strategize, and Invest by Sahoo, Manas Professional and Interpersonal Skills for ICT Specialists by Llorens-Garcia, Ariadna; Llinas-Audet, Xavier; Sabate, Ferran IT and Business Alignment: The Effect on Productivity and Profitability by Nash, Elby M. Finding Your True IT Transformation by Kraynak, Peter Copyright Infringement and Protection in the Internet Age by Berti, John Virtual Teams and…
As usual, some interesting stuff from the December 2009 issue of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine (v3i2). Capturing young womens' imagination: Welcome to the Wii generation of Nerd Girls by various Revolutions and Remembrances: Engineering as a bond for diverse groups by Marimuthu, R. Women to Watch: Putting Students First: Furse finds the fun in teaching by Prives, L. Changing the tide of forecasts by Wax, H. Bringing water to the world: Rural Bangladesh Tackling Clean Water Challenges by Taylor, M. An eye for detail: Chen Focuses on Optic Nerve Regeneration by Prives, L.
The IEEE Computer Society's magazine IT Professional has a special issue on Ontologies, OWL, and the Semantic Web (v11i5). There's lots of very cool-looking stuff, mostly pretty basic. Guest Editor's Introduction: Ontologies, OWL, and the Semantic Web by Jepsen, Thomas C. Semantic Web Technologies: Ready for Adoption? by Janev, Valentina; Vranes, Sanja Equal Format Databases and Semantic-Relational Encoding by Keith, Dean Just What Is an Ontology, Anyway? by Jepsen, Thomas C.A couple of other non-semantic web articles that look worth checking out: Joining the Conversation about IT Ethics by…
I haven't done one of these in a while, so there's quite a backlog to clear. Reports Digital Scholarly Communication: A Snapshot of Current Trends Crowdsourcing, Attention and Productivity Strategic Outsourcing and Cloud Computing: Reality Is a Sober Adversary Library Storage Facilities and the Future of Print Collections in North America XC User Research Preliminary Report (Extensible Catalog) Edgeless University: why higher education must embrace technology Beyond Scientific Publication: Strategies for Disseminating How Teens Use Media: A Nielsen report on the myths and realities of teen…
I've always thought the born-digital, high-quality review articles (called "lectures") that Morgan & Claypool publish as part of their Synthesis product are one of the best products out there. They really get publishing scholarly and professional materials in the digital age. One of their most interesting lecture series is the Synthesis Lectures on Engineers, Technology and Society. Three new lectures in that series look to be perfect texts for a broad range of Engineering & Society-type course. In fact, I think a pretty good course along those lines could use nothing but the…
A bunch of recent journal & magazine issues to catch up on. There's lots of cool stuff to highlight, so I'll only list a couple of articles from each issue. Unfortunately, most of it will be behind the IEEE paywall. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, v31i2 Think Piece: Preserving Records of the Past, Today by Cortada, J.W. Anecdotes: Prototype Fragments from Babbage's First Difference Engine by Roegel, D.IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, v28i2 K-Net and Canadian Aboriginal communities by Fiser, A.; Clement, A. Communication technology, emergency alerts, and campus safety by…
Some highlights from the IEEE's very fine Annals of the History of Computing, v31i2. You'll need a subscription to the magazine to access it on the IEEE's site. Anecdotes: Prototype Fragments from Babbage's First Difference Engine by Roegel, Denis Biographies: Tom Kilburn: A Pioneer of Computer Design by Anderson, David P. Think Piece: Preserving Records of the Past, Today by Cortada, James W IBM France La Gaude Laboratory Contributions to Telecommunications: Part 1 and Part 2 by Bastian, Michel; Boisseau, Marc; Cohendet, et al.