Natural Sciences Library

Do you want to integrate video segments into presentations and distance learning courseware?

The University Library has acquired Films on Demand: Master Academic Collection, a streaming video collection of thousands of high-quality digital programs and video clips, covering topics in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, business and economics, and health.

Subjects covered include: Anthropology, Area Studies, Art & Architecture, Biology, Business & Economics, Communication, Computers & Technology, Criminal Justice, Earth Science, Education, English & Language Arts, Environmental Science, Geography, Health & Medicine, History, Mathematics, Music & Dance, Philosophy & Religion, Physical Science, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and World Languages.

You can access Films on Demand through the library catalogue tab, the Articles and Databases tab, or through the Electronic Resource page.

Our new hours of operation for the summer begin April 29th.

The library hours will be as follows:

Monday to Friday: 8:30 am - 4:30pm
Saturday and Sundays: Closed

We will be closed for all Statutory Holidays.

To help students deal with exam stress while studying at the Natural Sciences Library, the staff have set up a play station where the students can vent their frustration and stress on a colourful rubbery substance. A sign at the entry way explains to students the top five ways to use the substance.

What will you make?

Interested in knowing more about the process behind TransformUS? Dickeson's book describes a model for program prioritization that has been adapted to meet our university’s specific needs

Print copies available at branch libraries:
Prioritizing Academic Programs and Services (2010) by Robert C. Dickeson

Ebook version just added to library collection (available for up to 3 simultaneous users):
Access the ebook via the link in library catalogue record

Are you a night owl? Do you need a great place to study for exams?

From March 25th to April 28th, Safe Study is extended until 1:00 am every night. During Safe Study, the ground floor of the Murray Library is open after the library closes for student study space.

Safe Study will be closed on March 29th for Good Friday.

Good luck with your finals!

In honour of World Water Day, the University of Saskatchewan's Global Institute for Water Security, the Saskatchewan Branch of the Canadian Water Resources Association, and Engineers Without Boarders are hosting an event to raise awareness on water issues and to highlight the important contributions of Saskatchewan researchers.

The event begins on Friday, March 22 at 1:00pm in Physics 175 and will conclude with a special lecture from Howard Wheater, director of the Institute and Canada Excellent Research Chair in Water Security, at 4:00 pm in Convocation Hall.

More information can be found on the Institute's website:
http://www.usask.ca/water/

For additional information and resources on water security, see our online guide or come into the Natural Sciences Library and check out our display for World Water Day.

A man in Florida died recently when a sinkhole developed in the ground beneath his bedroom and sucked him in. This scary situation has caused widespread concern. What is a sinkhole? And how likely is this to happen beneath my house?

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has put together a blog posting on this topic to help inform the public:
The Science of Sinkholes.

More info can be found on the USGS website: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sinkholes.html

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the thought of managing all of your citations? Well, the University Library is offering this free, one hour workshop regularly throughout the semester for those who want to learn more about RefWorks and other citation management systems. Attend one of these sesions to learn how you can save time and stay organized.

• January 16th Murray Library, Room 161 from 2:30 - 3:30
• January 28th Education Building, Room 1037 from 1:00 - 2:00
• February 14th Health Sciences Building, Room A203 from 11:30 - 12:30
• February 26th Engineering Building, Room 2A23 (Epsilon Lab) from 12:00 - 1:00
• March 15th Murray Library, Room 161 from 11:30 - 12:30
• March 26th Murray Library, Room 161 from 2:30 - 3:30

All sessions are free

No registration necessary. All are welcome!

For more information please see http://libguides.usask.ca/RefWorksSeries.

The University Library is offering a series of free workshops for scientists and engineers – but all are welcome!

All workshops will take place from 12:00 – 1:00pm in the Delta Lab, 2B04 Engineering, except for on February 26th..

No registration is necessary. For more information please call 966-5978 or 966-1913; or see http://libguides.usask.ca/SciEngWorkshops.

Jan 15, Copyright and Teaching. How does the new copyright legislation affect your teaching? We will be joined by Jennifer Mainland, University Copyright Officer for this overview session.

Jan 29, Library Services for Grad Students and Faculty. Learn how the library can support your research and teaching; and pick up some general library tips.

Feb 12, Literature Searching Tips & Tricks. Learn some effective search strategies for finding articles in literature databases.

Feb 26, Managing References with RefWorks. Set up an account, import some references, and create a bibliography. This session will take place in the Epsilon Lab, Room 2A23.

Mar 12, Keeping Current with Literature. Strategies for keeping up-to-date with the scholarly literature in your field: from email alerting services to rss feeds.

Mar 26, Open Access. Learn about author’s rights and discover how to make your publications more accessible to readers: open access journals and repositories.

Daily newspapers from 70 countries in 37 languages are available online as soon as the print edition is posted from a new service called PressDisplay. This University Library subscribes to PressDisplay in partnership with other libraries in the province.

Check out the hundreds of titles available from PressDisplay

Our Library Workshop Series for Scientists and Engineers ends Tues Nov 13!

If you could not attend these sessions see our supplementary online guide: http://libguides.usask.ca/SciEngWorkshops

• On November 13th we will discuss strategies for keeping up-to-date with the scholarly literature in your field – from alerting services to rss feeds.

All sessions are free and will be held in the Delta Lab (2B04 – Engineering Building) from 3:00 – 4:00pm.

No registration necessary. All are welcome!

For more information please call 966-5978 or 966-1913.

Technology Week is a showcase for Innovation and a celebration of cyber culture.

Attend Heather Piwowar's webcast Uncovering the Impact Story of Open Research on Wednesday, Oct 31, 12-1 pm, in the Collaborative Learning Lab at the Murray Library.

Michael Geist, the internationally syndicated columnist, blogger, and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law, gives the keynote address "When Internet Met Copyright: The Story of the Canadian Copyfight" on Friday, Nov 2nd, at 10:30 am in Room 46, Edward's School of Business.

A detailed schedule of events is available by selecting the individual days of the week on the top navigation bar on the Technology Week page.

Open access is defined as the dissemination of scientific and scholarly research literature online, free of charge, and free of unnecessary licensing restrictions.

Open access increases the visibility and accessibility of scholarly works - increasing their citations and impact!

Open access allows the public to read the results of research that they have funded!

Open access increases the speed and efficiency of scientific research!

Come by the Natural Sciences Library this week to see our display and enter the draw for a free t-shirt. Or visit the Open Access Guide to learn more about this important issue!

This is the Library Guide for the Workshop Series for Scientists and Engineers. It incorporates all four modules into one complete guide. Please check back, as information will be continually added to it until the completion of the series later in November.

http://libguides.usask.ca/SciEngWorkshops

Our Workshop Series starts Tues Oct 16!

Are you curious about the library and the services that it has to offer? Do you want to improve your literature searching skills and your efficiency in organizing your references? Overwhelmed trying to keep up to date with the published research? Well, be sure to attend our Workshop Series for Scientists and Engineers!

• On October 16th we will introduce the Natural Sciences and Engineering Libraries, and discuss basic literature searching as well as concept mapping.

• On October 23rd our focus will be on evaluating information resources. We will discuss the following concepts: accuracy, authority, currency and bias, as well as, scholarly vs. trade/popular publications.

• On November 6th we will talk about managing your references with RefWorks. Set up an account, import some references, and create a bibliography!

• On November 13th we will discuss strategies for keeping up-to-date with the scholarly literature in your field – from alerting services to rss feeds.

All sessions are free and will be held in the Delta Lab (2B04 – Engineering Building) from 3:00 – 4:00pm.

No registration necessary. All are welcome!

For more information please call 966-5978 or 966-1913.

Is it "common knowledge" or plagiarism?

Is it collaboration or cheating?

What is a "fair dealing" copy?

I've been accused of academic dishonesty. What will happen?

The University Learning Centre is hosting various events related to academic integrity Oct 15 - 19, 2012

Studying at the University - Academic Supports and Tips for Success

Date: Thurs Oct 4
Time: 4:30-5:20pm
Location: MURRAY 102

Sign up for this interactive workshop to learn about academic services for students at the U of S and strategies for success.

Register here: http://www.usask.ca/ulc/workshops/studyskills

Offered by the University Learning Centre
with Andrea M., Peer Mentor, PAL Program

http://libguides.usask.ca/biology301

New to the Natural Sciences Library? Check out our online orientation guide!

As of Sept 6 the regular term hours of the Natural Sciences Library will be:

Monday - Thursday: 8:00am - 8:00pm
Friday: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday: 12:00pm - 5:00pm

Please check this website for detailed hours of all branch libraries.

The University Learning Centre has just announced this year's Graduate Writing Workshops.

Register soon! These filled up very fast last year.

Good news!

We now have online access to the full archive (back to Vol 1) of the SEG's journal Geophysics. You will no longer need to request the older print volumes from our storage facility.

Did you know that you can share a persistent URL that links books, chapters or pages into your syllabus/curriculum using Blackboard or Moodle? For more information, click here.

The Copyright Office specialists will provide answers and
resources at the Information Sessions in the Murray Building.

Image of copyright symbol used with permission.
Credit: Vishal Gaikar at Tricks Machine

The Natural Sciences' Library is pleased to announce the availability of a journal title now available online:

Weatherwise

The Natural Sciences' Library will no longer receive new print copies of this journal, but will maintain the print archive.

Attention Engineering Village (Compendex, Inspec, & GeoBase) users:

The platform for these databases is being revamped and will be launched next week (July 18). It will have all the same functionality and more - and will look a bit different. To read more about the changes and see a preview visit this site.

Attention all chemists!
In case you haven't yet heard: we now have unlimited seats on SciFinder!

Recent theses can be found at this link Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection in the E-Commons. The E-Commons is a service that collects, preserves, and promotes the discovery of research, scholarly and artistic work in digital format produced by librarians and archivists at the University of Saskatchewan.

For older theses published at the University of Saskatchewan or around the world, check our Finding Theses & Dissertations page.

Natural Sciences Library summer hours are:

Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 4:30pm

Have a safe and happy summer everyone!

Come by and check out our new paleontology display in Natural Sciences Library!

The display is divided into two parts:

1. The Barrnade monographs - this is a collection of rare 19th century books purchased jointly by the Library and the Department of Geological Sciences in 2009. The volumes provide descriptions and beautiful illustrations of invertebrate fossils. This is the first time a selection of these valuable volumes has been displayed since their acquisition!

2. A celebration of the new textbook by Luis Buatois and Gabriela Mangano of the Department of Geological Sciences: Ichnology : organism-substrate interactions in space and time.

Check out our new guide that walks you through all the steps for using Endnote X5 - a great citation management program that lets you manage all your references for assignments and papers, and creates instant bibliographies in the citation style (APA, Vancouver, MLA, etc) of your choice. See here for the Endnote handout.

Dr. Abram Hoffer, a well-known and somewhat controversial psychiatrist, was born and raised in Saskatchewan. Over the course of his long career Dr. Hoffer collected a large library of materials relating to his interest in mental health, nutrition, and orthomolecular medicine. The donation of his personal collection consists of 1,520 books, of which he authored or co-authored 65 (including translated works and various editions). Find out more about the collection.

Visit the exhibit. Browse the collection in the catalog.

CANSIM and other products are free for everyone to access from their web site.

On February 1, 2012, self-serve standard products available on the Statistics Canada website—including CANSIM and census data products—will become free of charge.

Statistics Canada will maintain current pricing practices for products such as print publications, maps, CD-ROMs, and custom products and services.

Licensing restrictions for the use of Statistics Canada data products will be removed.

For more information, contact Media Relations at 613-951-4636.

The above change does not affect the dissemination of survey data files (microdata files) under the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) license. These files can only be accessed through either ODESI or EQUINOX. Please contact Data & GIS Services at refdata@library.usask.ca if you have any questions.

Submissions for 2012 Reaxys PhD Prize are open!

The Reaxys PhD Prize is awarded for original and innovative research in
inorganic, organometallic and organic chemistry, which demonstrates
excellence in methodology and approach by a candidate currently studying for
a PhD or having completed a PhD after January 1, 2011.

Three Prize Winners will each receive $2000. Prize Winners and
Finalists will be invited to attend the Prize Symposium and Poster Session.
This will be held during the 2012 Fall ACS Meeting in Philadelphia. The
Symposium is sponsored by the Division of Inorganic Chemistry and
co-sponsored by the Division of Organic Chemistry.

Submissions are open until February 15 2012.

In order to submit and for more information visit:
http://prize.reaxys.com

Have you tried USearch?

USearch allows you to search for articles, books, images, etc., all in one place.

Try it for yourself at library.usask.ca!

The University Library participates in a province-wide program, which purchases access to a number of electronic information resources (e.g. Canada Info Desk). Please provide your feedback on the resources purchased by this initiative by taking a 5-10 minute online survey. Closes December 16th.

When the Library is closed, you can log on from home to the Learning Commons computers and access your documents. To see what computers are available from the LC, check http://uremote.usask.ca.

These computers have a wide variety of programs including:

• Microsoft Office Professional 2007
  
• Visio – Flowcharts and Diagrams
  
• Microsoft Publisher – Marketing Materials
  
• Adobe Acrobat – Create PDF
  
• SPSS
  
• SAS, and
  
• other multimedia, web and library tools.
  

View this video guide to see how to set this up from home.

Open Access Week is October 24-30, 2011.

Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.Peter Suber, Berkman Fellow, Harvard University, A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access

Interested in discovering what journals are open access (OA)? Check out the DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals. As of September 15, 2011 they listed 7000 open access journals that make more than 600,000 articles available for everyone to use.

There are many benefits of open access. Not only can people outside of the academy or scholars in developing country with limited funds for subscribing to journals benefit, but all researchers benefit from OA as no single library can subscribe to every scientific journal title.

To find out more about "open access" as an author, publisher or researcher, visit:

• Open Access Blog @ UofS Library by DeDe Dawson, Natural Sciences Librarian
• Open Access Guide - An introductory guide to Open Access (OA) information and resources.

The NFB Film Series @ The Murray Learning Commons will be shown at the Collaborative Learning Lab on Thursday, October 20th at 11:00 am and 7:00 pm.

Waterlife follows the epic cascade of the Great Lakes from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean, telling the story of the last huge supply of fresh water on Earth. Filled with fascinating characters and stunning imagery, Waterlife is a cinematic poem about the beauty of water and the dangers of taking it for granted.

Narrated by Gord Downie, lead vocalist of The Tragically Hip and Waterkeeper's Trustee of Lake Ontario. Featuring music by Sam Roberts, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros, Robbie Robertson and Brian Eno. Directed by Kevin McMahon. Produced by Gerry Flahive, Kristina McLaughlin and Michael McMahon Introduction by Li Zhang, Head of Natural Sciences Library.

Introduction by Li Zhang, Head of Natural Sciences Library.

Read an assortment of papers by the winners here!

Academic Integrity:

Is it 'common knowledge' or plagiarism?

Is it collaboration or cheating?

What is a "fair dealing" copy?

I've been accused of academic dishonesty. What will happen?

Academic Integrity Awareness Week
October 3rd-7th, 2011

See a listing of the events taking place: http://www.usask.ca/integrity/

Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students are reminded to renew or return all long-term loan items before September 30, 2011 after which time overdue fines will begin to apply. You can renew these items yourself by linking to your library record through PAWS (http://paws.usask.ca), or directly through the University Library web site (http://sundog.usask.ca/patroninfo/). Be sure to verify the renewal(s) and view the new due date. Items exceeding the maximum number of allowed renewals must be handled at the Circulation Desk of the branch owning the item(s).

Welcome new and returning students!

Please see our new online orientation to the Natural Sciences Library: Nat. Sci. Library 101

Monday - Thursday: 8:00am - 8:00pm
Friday: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: 12:00pm - 5:00pm

Find out about changes to copyright practices at the UofS this year and how the Library can help. Visit our new Copyright LibGuide!

Photo ID cards available Room 280, Administration Building
Aug 15 - Sept 23. Monday to Friday: 8:30 to 4:30.

The Natural Sciences Library is pleased to welcome Cindy Ho, a new term librarian for the 2011-2012 session.

Cindy Ho is the Liaison Librarian for Physics, Civil and Geological Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Environmental Engineering , and Mechanical Engineering. Contact Cindy via email, phone Cindy at 966-5978 or visit her in IB08.2 in the Engineering building.

The desktop/client version of SciFinder will no longer exist on July 1, 2011. All of our 7 simultaneous user seats will switch to the Web version on that day. Please remove the software from your computers then.

If you haven't yet signed up for a user account for SciFinder Web - do so now... it's easy! Watch this quick tutorial to guide you through the process.

Or you can go directly to the registration form here.

Starting on Sunday May 1 the Natural Sciences Library will be on our summer hours:

Saturday & Sunday: CLOSED

Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 4:30pm

Have a safe & happy summer!

Open Access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. Want to learn more about Open Access? Check the UofS Library's new LibGuide:

http://libguides.usask.ca/open_access

Our Reference Collection has now moved to the current journals and maps area on our main floor.

Our Popular Science Collection has moved to near the New Books shelves.

This Collection is comprised of donated books from the UofS community. They are not part of our regular collection so you do not need a card to sign them out. Borrow and return them at your leisure - no due dates or fines!

"Chemistry - our life, our future" is the theme of the UNESCO designated International Year of Chemistry in 2011.

Come see our new display in the Natural Science Library cabinet!

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has launched a free e-journal to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry: the IYC Virtual Journal.

And Nature.com has created a special website to celebrate this designation. It will be updated throughout the year with news and commentary on this most central of sciences. To begin with check out What Lies Ahead : Ten leading chemists set priorities for the forthcoming decades, and reveal the scientists they find inspiring.

CrossFire will no longer exist as of December 31, 2010. You can now access Beilstein, Gmelin, and the Patent Chemistry Database through Reaxys, the online replacement for CrossFire that the U of S Library has subscribed to.

It is anticipated that databases on the ProQuest or CSA Illumina platforms will be migrated to a new platform this week.

This will impact (among others):

GeoRef
AGRICOLA
BioOne
Biological Sciences
Plant Science
COS

If you have created a "My Research" account in any of these databases this will NOT be migrated to the new platform. You will need to create a new account and recreate any alerts that you had set up in the old platform.

Attention Instructors:

Natural Sciences Library now has an online form that you can fill out when putting items on Reserve for your courses.

Note that Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher or the latest versions of Firefox or Safari are required for optimum use of SciFinder. Chemical Abstracts Service does not support the Internet Explorer 6 platform for the web version of SciFinder due to its inability to support newer web standards.

Now that the library catalogue has been restored, it is possible for you to renew your library items. Please visit your closest branch library to report any fines accrued as a result of our downtime.

“Open Access” to information – the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need – has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted. It has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for society as a whole.

This is the 4th annual international Open Access Week!

Things to do:

*Come by the Natural Sciences Library to see our display on Open Access.

*Read the Open Access @ UofS Library blog

*Watch this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Jh_GffRPU

CrossFire
The client/server application to access Beilstein & Gmelin will be decommissioned December 31, 2010. After this date you will no longer be able to access these databases using CrossFire. The Library has subscribed to the new online application, Reaxys, which replaces CrossFire and also provides access to the Patent Chemistry Database (in addition to Beilstein & Gmelin).
Try out Reaxys today!

SciFinder Scholar
It has just been announced that Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) will decommission the client/server version of SciFinder June 30, 2011. All of our 6 seats will be allotted to the SciFinder Web after that date.
Register with SciFinder Web today and try it out! Currently we have 2 seats allotted for the Web version.

Any concerns or training requests for Reaxys or SciFinder can be directed to Natural Sciences Liaison Librarian DeDe Dawson.

On Wednesday, October 6, as part of Academic Integrity Awareness Week, there will be four sessions on citation and style guides:

Smart Enough to Cite Sessions

Using RefWorks -- Mê-Linh Lê, Health Sciences Liaison Librarian -- 9:30-10:30 a.m., Murray Library Room 161
MLA Basics: An Introduction to MLA Style -- Dr. Ella Ophir, Assistant Professor of English -- 11:00 a.m-noon, Murray Library Room 102

Chicago Manual of Style Online: An Introduction to Chicago Style, Turabian and Rampolla -- Donna Canevari de Paredes, Humanities Liaison Librarian, 1 - 2:30 p.m., Murray Library Room 102

APA Basics: An introduction to APA Style -- Dr. Jane Preston, Position Analyst - College of Education and MaryLynn Gagne, Education Liaison Librarian, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Murray 102,

Further information on Academic Integrity Awareness Week Activities

Want to learn some useful tips for searching in the Library catalogue? Want to learn how to find scholarly articles in Library databases? Sign up for one (or both!) of these hands-on sessions:

Effective Searching in the Library Catalogue
Tuesday October 5, 12:30pm-1:30pm
Rm 161 Murray Library

Introduction to Web of Science and Scopus
Tuesday October 5, 2pm-3pm
Rm 161 Murray Library

There are 20 spaces available for both sessions. Please register by emailing DeDe Dawson, Natural Sciences Liaison Librarian: diane.dawson@usask.ca

September 27th to October 1st Daily tours and demos 2- 2:30 PM. Sign up at the Natural Sciences Library (map) Circulation Desk.
Contact DeDe Dawson for more info: 966-1913.

You may have noticed that we have a new website! Please tell us what you think of the website - and especially our Natural Sciences Library homepage. And watch for our official website launch celebrations in September.

RefWorks has released a new version: "RefWorks 2.0". When you sign into your RefWorks account you will see a link in the top right corner to RefWorks 2.0. Not all the bugs have been worked out of the new version yet, so we will continue to provide the classic interface in parallel. See more info on the e-Resources News blog.

Thomson Reuters has just released the 2009 Journal Citation Reports (JCR). From the press release:

"The most widely used tool for assessing the world’s leading journals, JCR and the metrics it offers — including Journal Impact Factor — empower users to objectively evaluate a journal’s performance and its influence on research globally. "

The U of S Library subscribes to JCR - so you can check out the Impact Factor of your favourite journal by finding Journal Citation Reports under the "J" in our Databases list. Or you can click on this link.

We now have online access to the chemistry journals Synlett and Synthesis. We will continue to receive the print version to the end of 2010.

The Natural Sciences Library now has a News & Events blog. Subscribe to our RSS feed!