Penn State University Libraries | Life Sciences Library

Electronic Newsletter: Spring Semester 2008

Welcome to the Life Sciences Library Electronic Newsletter. The newsletter highlights the new and best resources and services available at the Life Sciences Library on the 4th Floor of Paterno Library. New resources and other information is announced regularly on the Life Sciences Library Blog.

•   New Document Delivery Service
•   Public Library of Science (PLoS) Membership
•   Scheduling Library Instruction Sessions
•   Welcome Bryan Grove
•   Textbooks and Reserves
•   New Titles in JSTOR
•   Gale Virtual Reference Library
•   Plant Management Network
•   Cooperative Extension Records
•   Turfgrass Information Center
•   Library Contacts
•   Library Hours
•   Electronic Newsletter Subscription Information

Document Delivery Service Initiated at University Park

Its windy and cold outside, you are busy and walking to the Library for an article that is only available in print is inconvenient. So instead of coming to the Libraries, request the article using the new document delivery service. This service is available to Faculty and provides electronic copies of articles from Penn State's print journal collections held at all library locations. No fees will be charged for the articles.

To request articles, log into Interlibrary Loan and choose the 'article' request form under "Request Items Owned by Penn State Libraries". Complete the article request form. Library staff will scan the article and notify you by email when it is available on ILLiad. This service is for copying articles only. Faculty will continue to pick up their books and other loans from "I Want It" or ILL and EZBorrow at their selected pickup library location..

PLoS Membership

The Penn State Libraries are pleased to announce that we have become a member of the Public Library of Science (PLoS), a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. Currently PLoS publishes seven peer-reviewed, open access scientific and medical journals that include original research as well as timely feature articles. The titles of the seven journals are PLoS Biology, PLoS Medicine, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Genetics, PLoS Pathogens, PLoS ONE, and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Detailed descriptions of these journals are available at the PLoS Web site. All PLoS articles are immediately freely accessible online, are deposited in the free public archive PubMed Central, and can be redistributed and reused according to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.

This membership entitles Penn State affiliated authors to reduced charges for publication in all PLoS journals. PLoS has also created a page that lists articles from authors affiliated with Penn State.

Scheduling Library Instruction Sessions

Its not too late to schedule a spring class, contact your subject librarian. Help your students learn to find information they for their courses and research quickly and easily. And graduate students and other new researchers are always welcome to schedule a session on how to find the resources from the Libraries.

Welcome to Bryan Grove

In February, we will be welcoming Bryan Grove into the Life Sciences Library. Bryan has been appointed Library Supervisor IV in the Life Sciences Library at University Park. He has been employed in the Libraries since 2004, most recently as a supervisor in Library Learning Services. He has an undergraduate degree from Trenton State College and a Master's degree from Penn State, University Park. Among his many responsibilities will be the coordinating the activities of the student employees and the oversight of processes related to the Life Sciences collections. Bryan joins the Life Sciences staff on February 4.

Textbooks and Reserves

Help the Libraries save money by putting textbooks on Reserves. Last semester we attempted to keep a few textbooks from the large classes in the Ready Reference collection behind our desk, but these books are less available and secure than books placed in Reserves. If you are teaching a class with 40 or more students, please consider putting your required books and articles on Reserve.

New Titles in JSTOR

In October, JSTOR announced the addition of forty-four new journals to the JSTOR archive. Seventeen of these journals focus on an aspect of the life sciences. Some notable titles include American Zoologist, The Auk, Castanea, Environmental History, Health and Human Rights, Herpetologica, Journal of Range Management, Kew Bulletin, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Science News, Weed Science, and Weed Technology. Click here for the complete list of the new JSTOR Titles.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

The Gale Virtual Reference Library provides access to a huge number of electronic encyclopedias. This resource offers short encyclopedia articles online on a large variety of topics. The 4 areas that focus on Life Sciences topics are Health, Environment, Social Studies and Biology. There are also basic encyclopedias that provide general information population, country information, biographical resources and many areas. So when you need some basic reference information quickly, check this source.

Plant Management Network

The Plant Management Network has recently revamped its homepage making the full range of content in its journals and other electronic resources more readily accessible. PMN publishes journals, search engines, and other e-resources in fulfillment of its mission to provide science-based solutions in agriculture and horticulture.

Cooperative Extension Records

The Penn State University Archives, in concert with the University Libraries Digitization and Preservation Services, have created a digital collection of selected Cooperative Extension Records (1912-1988). The records, all held in the Archives collections, were digitally scanned and mastered in ContentDM software for access. These records are now publicly available for research and administrative uses. The counties that are digitized are hotlinked and marked in blue.

Turfgrass Information Center

Turfgrass Information File (TGIF) records for articles from Golf Course Management (GCM), and predecessor titles, from 1933 up through October of 2005, are now linked to a .pdf version of each article. To access these articles use the databases by title list from the Libraries homepage and select Turfgrass Information Services.

Library Contacts

Responsibility for instruction, reference assistance, and the selection of books and other materials for the Life Sciences Library is divided by broad subject areas. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to request assistance or to recommend new titles for purchase. Please contact the appropriate subject specialist.

The Campus mail address for all these individuals is 408 Paterno Library.

Library Hours

Library hours, are available on the Libraries webpage:

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/hours/

Electronic Newsletter Subscription Information

This newsletter is available only in electronic form. If you know of anyone who is interested in receiving this newsletter, please send their name, department and e-mail address to:

• Kathy Fescemyer. We encourage comments, suggestions and questions!

• Previous Issues of Life Sciences Newsletter.

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408 Paterno Library
University Park PA 16802
814-865-7056
IM: lifescilib

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