The latest, July 2008 statistics from the World Universities' ranking on the Web: Home are available now. View the TOP Universities in various categories:
- Top 4000 Universities
- Top USA & Canada
- Top Africa
- Distribution by Country
- Top 1000 R & D Institutions
- Research Councils
- Best Practices, etc.
Read more "About the Ranking" for criteria for institutions to be ranked. Also you can view the Catalogue for "Universities per Countries" and "R & D Centers per Country".
* Top South African Universities
1. University of Cape Town (World Rank: 385)
2. Stellenbosch University (World Rank: 654)
3. Rhodes University (World Rank: 722)
4. University of Pretoria (World Rank: 734)
5. University of Witwatersrand (World Rank: 831)
6. University of the Western Cape (World Rank: 1,218)
7. University of Kwazulu Natal (World Rank: 1,313)
8. University of South Africa (World Rank: 1,499)
9. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (World Rank: 2,145)
10. University of Free State (World Rank: 2,946)
11. University of Johannesburg (World Rank: 3,704)
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Wiley-Blackwell Library Newsletter: August 2008
Keep abreast with the latest Wiley-Blackwell developments (August, 2008): Latest News in Select Subject Areas
* Earth and Environmental Science News:
- The Journal of Flood Risk Management is available FREE ONLINE in 2008.
* New Life Science Journals:
- The Conservation Letters, A new journal of the Society for Conservation Biology. Free access to institutions for 2008-2009
* Physical Sciences News
- The ISI Journal Citation Report 2007 confirms Wiley-Blackwell's position as the leading publisher in the area of Polymer Science. Publishing seven of the top 25 journals in this area by ranking. Wiley-Blackwell alone publishes more than 30% of the total citations generated by the 74 titles in Polymer Science. See Highlights for Polymer Science Impact Factors
On June 30, 2008, Wiley InterScience was expanded to include all full-text journal content from Blackwell Synergy. Synergy has been shut down and Wiley InterScience is now the primary home for all Wiley-Blackwell journals.
For more information about the transition or for customer support assistance, go to:
interscience.wiley.com/transition - for Librarians and Institutional Customers.
interscience.wiley.com/transition - for Librarians and Institutional Customers.
Wiley InterScience now hosts more than 3 million journal articles in over 1400 journals, and more than 6000 online books and reference works. To help you make the most of the site, take advantage of these free training resources:
* Online Tutorials
Self-paced online tutorials. The demos are listed by topic or product type for quick review of how to use our products and services.
* Online Tutorials
Self-paced online tutorials. The demos are listed by topic or product type for quick review of how to use our products and services.
* End User Guide
Covers the basics for finding content on Wiley InterScience and taking advantage of personalized functions.
Covers the basics for finding content on Wiley InterScience and taking advantage of personalized functions.
* Journals - Wiley-Blackwell's Portfolio Now Includes over 900 Journals with Impact Factors. According to the Thomson ISI® 2007 Journal Citation Reports (released June 2008), over 900 Wiley-Blackwell journals now have Impact Factors, many showing dramatic increases across numerous of subject areas.
- In the field of chemistry, Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis confirmed its number one position in the applied chemistry category for the fourth straight year; Fuel Cells received its first Impact Factor of 3.273; and for the last two years, Angewandte Chemie, a journal of the German Chemical Society, has received an Impact Factor above 10.
- In the area of life sciences, Biological Reviews increased its Impact Factor from 5.565 to 8.833; FEMS Microbiology Reviews increased its Impact Factor to 9.25; and for the fourth consecutive year Ecology Letters increased its Impact Factor—now 8.204
Wiley InterScience now features over 1300 online books in Chemistry, covering topics ranging from biochemistry to environmental chemistry to green chemistry. Browse all Wiley InterScience Online Books in Chemistry . Wiley publishes a broad range of chemistry books, available in print or online, covering the complete spectrum of the field. From introductory works for the non-specialist, to college and graduate-level texts, all the way to advanced professional resources, Wiley chemistry books offer expertise at every level.
www.wiley.com/chemistryonlinebooks
www.wiley.com/chemistryonlinebooks
Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics: Open Access Journal
The Open Access Journal of "Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics" provides a global stage for presenting, discussing and developing issues concerning ethics in science, environmental politics, and ecological and economic ethics. This journal can be accessed also through A-to-Z List.
The 2008, Vol. 8(1) is dedicated to The use and misuse of bibliometric indices in evaluating scholarly performance.
Quantifying the relative performance of individual scholars, groups of scholars, departments, institutions, provinces/states/regions and countries has become an integral part of decision-making over research policy, funding allocations, awarding of grants, faculty hirings, and claims for promotion and tenure. Bibliometric indices (based mainly upon citation counts), such as the h-index and the journal impact factor, are heavily relied upon in such assessments. There is a growing consensus, and a deep concern, that these indices — more-and-more often used as a replacement for the informed judgement of peers — are misunderstood and are, therefore, often misinterpreted and misused.
The articles in this Theme Section present a range of perspectives on these issues. Alternative approaches, tools and metrics that will hopefully lead to a more balanced role for these instruments are presented.
Vol. 8(1)
Vol. 8(1)
* Browman HI, Stergiou KIINTRODUCTION: Factors and indices are one thing, deciding who is scholarly, why they are scholarly, and the relative value of their scholarship is something else entirely
* Campbell P.: Escape from the impact factor
* Lawrence PA.: Lost in publication: how measurement harms science
* Todd PA, Ladle RJ.: Hidden dangers of a ‘citation culture’
* Taylor M, Perakakis P, Trachana V.: The siege of science
* Cheung WWL.: The economics of post-doc publishing
* Tsikliras AC.: Chasing after the high impact
* Zitt M, Bassecoulard E.: Challenges for scientometric indicators: data demining, knowledge flows measurements and diversity issues
* Harzing AWK, van der Wal R.: Google Scholar as a new source for citation analysis
* Pauly D, Stergiou KI.: Re-interpretation of ‘influence weight’ as a citation-based Index of New Knowledge (INK)
* Giske J.: Benefitting from bibliometry
* Butler L.: Using a balanced approach to bibliometrics: quantitative performance measures in the Australian Research Quality Framework
* Bornmann L, Mutz R, Neuhaus C, Daniel HD.: Citation counts for research evaluation: standards of good practice for analyzing bibliometric data and presenting and interpreting results
* Harnad S.: Validating research performance metrics against peer rankings
Have a look at the previous years publications:
Articles on: Climate Change; Urban sprawl; Ramsey Model for Climate Change Assessment
2006: Vol. 6
2006: Vol. 6
Articles on: Environmental Assessment in Chile; Environmental Ethics for Global Warming
2005: Vol. 5
2005: Vol. 5
Articles on: Ecological crisis; sustainability ethics; Results from two citation analysis - ISI and Scholar Google
The Latest in Science Online Magazine
These are the highlights of the latest (20 June-15 August 2008) isues of Science Magazine:
Access to Quarterly Author Index.
15 August 2008Vol 321, Issue 5891, Pages 888-986 Table of Contents
Issue Highlights
Geomagnetic Substorm Trigger
Small RNAs Provide Bacterial Defense
Ironing Out Ancient Ocean Chemistry
Neutrophil-Assisted Parasite Infection
News of the Week: CLIMATE PREDICTION; APPLIED PHYSICS; HIV/AIDS. News Focus: GLOBAL WARMING: Climate Change Hot Spots Mapped Across the United States. A listing of books received at Science during the week ended August 8, 2008. Perspectives: IMMUNOLOGY; CHEMISTRY; PLANETARY SCIENCE; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; OCEAN SCIENCE. Reviews: Spreading Dead Zones and Consequences for Marine Ecosystems
8 August 2008Vol 321, Issue 5890, Pages 741-859 Table of Contents
Issue Highlights
Special Issue:Challenges in Theoretical Chemistry
Trust and Borderline Personality Disorder
The Birth of Planetary Systems
Symporter Structure Solved
News of the Week: AIR QUALITY; STEM CELLS; PLANETARY SCIENCE. News Focus: EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY; MOLECULAR BIOLOGY; CONSERVATION BIOLOGY. A listing of books received at Science during the week ended August 8, 2008. Perspectives: IMMUNOLOGY; ASTRONOMY; ECOLOGY; STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY.
1 August 2008Vol 321, Issue 5889, Pages 597-728 Table of Contents
Issue Highlights
Modeling Star Formation
Splice Factor Identified
Rapid Greenland Climate Change
Insights into Cytokine Signaling
News of the Week: CHEMISTRY; SCIENCE AT THE OLYMPICS. News Focus: CHINA'S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES;A listing of books received at Science during the week ended July 25, 2008. Perspectives: IMMUNOLOGY: A Splicing Switch for T Cells; CELL SIGNALING; ASTRONOMY; CLIMATE CHANGE: Ecosystem Disturbance, Carbon, and Climate. Review: Hopping Hotspots: Global Shifts in Marine Biodiversity.
25 July 2008Vol 321, Issue 5888, Pages 461-578 Table of Contents
Issue Highlights
Special Issue: HIV/AIDS—Follow the Money
Entangled Beams and Images
RNA Interference in the Nucleus
Ocean Cooling and Ordovician Biodiversity
News of the Week: AIDS VACCINE RESEARCH; SCIENCE IN JAPAN; WENCHUAN EARTHQUAKE: Lessons of Disasters Past Could Guide Sichuan's Revival; A listing of books received at Science during the week ended July 18, 2008. Perspectives: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: PHYSICS; BIOCHEMISTRY;
18 July 2008Vol 321, Issue 5887, Pages 313-423 Table of Contents
Issue Highlights
Special Issue: Drug Resistance (Trench Warfare in a Battle With TB, etc.)
Improved X-ray Imaging
Vertebrate Vocalization Origins
Extent of the Younger Dryas
News of the Week: RESEARCH ETHICS; PALEOCEANOGRAPHY: Caribbean Megaeruptions Drove a Global Ocean Crisis;SOCIOLOGY: Survey Finds Citations Growing Narrower as Journals Move Online. News Focus: AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH; GENETICS; ACOUSTICS '08. Letters: Conservations; A listing of books received at Science during the week ended July 11, 2008. Policy Forum: ECOLOGY: Assisted Colonization and Rapid Climate Change. Perspectives: CLIMATE; CLIMATE CHANGE: A Hotter Greenhouse? DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY; APPLIED PHYSICS;
11 July 2008Vol 321, Issue 5886, Pages 172-276 Table of Contents
Issue Highlights
Genetic Clues to Autism
Slab Avalanche Trigger
How Bacteria Recognize Self
Prelude to a Supernova
Genetic Clues to Autism
Slab Avalanche Trigger
How Bacteria Recognize Self
Prelude to a Supernova
News focus is: UNIVERSITY RESEARCH: Steering Harvard Toward Collaborative Science; EVOLUTION: Modernizing the Modern Synthesis. Letters: Biofuels. A listing of books received at Science during the week ended July 4, 2008. Review: Enzymes Without Borders
4 July 2008Vol 321, Issue 5885, Pages 12-144 : Table of Contents
Issue Highlights
Special Issue: MESSENGER
Spatial Representation in the Hippocampus
Transistor Nanofilms
Population Growth in Protected Areas
News focus: CLIMATE CHANGE; EVOLUTION; MARINE BIOLOGY; APPLIED PHYSICS; A listing of books received at Science during the week ended June 27, 2008. Research article: Phanerozoic Trends in the Global Diversity of Marine Invertebrates. Reports: Accelerated Human Population Growth at Protected Area Edges - 45 countries in Africa and Latin America
20 June 2008Vol 320, Issue 5883, Pages 1559-1659: Table of Contents
Issue Highlights
Elevation Changes in Antarctica
Imaging Astrocyte Activity
Iron Isotope Fractionation in Magma
Molecular Flagellum Clutch
Elevation Changes in Antarctica
Imaging Astrocyte Activity
Iron Isotope Fractionation in Magma
Molecular Flagellum Clutch
News Focus: GEOPHYSICS; MICROBIAL ECOLOGY; NANO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE NANOTECH 2008; A listing of books received at Science during the week ended June 13, 2008. Perspectives: ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE; CLIMATE CHANGE; MICROBIOLOGY; GEOCHEMISTRY; APPLIED PHYSICS.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The latest from the blogosphere
It has been a while since I blogged last. This is what I have found on the iLibrarinan blog, that could be of interest:
A New Look for Delicious
The Delicious social bookmarking website has undergone a transformation to a sleek new design which is much easier on the eyes. What has change:
- “Speed: We’ve moved to a new infrastructure that makes every page faster.
- Search: We’ve completely overhauled our search engine to make it faster and more powerful.
- Design: Finally, we’ve updated the user interface to improve usability and add a few often-requested features (such as selectable detail levels and alphabetical sorting of bookmarks). Check out the What’s New page for an overview of the changes.
Have a look at my sciencelibrarian on Delicious to see all these changes. I'm really impressed with the new "makeover" as it is much easier to spot the tagged information.
The Delicious social bookmarking website has undergone a transformation to a sleek new design which is much easier on the eyes. What has change:
- “Speed: We’ve moved to a new infrastructure that makes every page faster.
- Search: We’ve completely overhauled our search engine to make it faster and more powerful.
- Design: Finally, we’ve updated the user interface to improve usability and add a few often-requested features (such as selectable detail levels and alphabetical sorting of bookmarks). Check out the What’s New page for an overview of the changes.
Have a look at my sciencelibrarian on Delicious to see all these changes. I'm really impressed with the new "makeover" as it is much easier to spot the tagged information.
70+ Open Courseware Resources
Christina Laun at CollegeDegrees.com has compiled The Ultimate Guide to Using Open Courseware: 70+ Apps, Search Engines and Resources for Free Learning.
Christina Laun at CollegeDegrees.com has compiled The Ultimate Guide to Using Open Courseware: 70+ Apps, Search Engines and Resources for Free Learning.
Pirated and Open Source Books
These are quite a few projects with Open Source books which have been made free by their copyright holders. If you are a student or a professor about to choose your readings for the fall semester, you may want to consider some of these choices: Textbook Revolution ; Global Text Project etc.
50 Ways to use Social Media to Improve Marketing
Chris Brogan discusses 50 Ways Marketers Can use Social Media to Improve Their Marketing.
Chris Brogan discusses 50 Ways Marketers Can use Social Media to Improve Their Marketing.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
UJ sets the pace in Geology Research
University sets the pace in geology research: Creamer Media's Mining Weekly, South Africa - 12 Jun 2008
Geology research in South Africa is growing significantly and the internationally competitive analytical infrastructure provided at the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ’s) analytical facility is engaged in more than a dozen collaborative research programmes, with close ties being forged with the mining and industrial sectors, reports UJ geology head of department (HOD) Professor Bruce Cairncross. “Geology at UJ has consistently had an excellent international profile, particularly since it took the leading role in the Agouron Geobiology research project during recent years,” mentions Cairncross....
The analytical infrastructure of the UJ’s Faculty of Science has a unique, centralised analytical facility, housing over R75-million worth of analytical apparatus, much of which is used by geologists and mining-exploration commercial enterprises. The UJ Geology Department’s palaeomagnetic laboratory, by way of the approved upgrade and the acquisition of an automated superconducting rock magneto- meter (ASRM) will create the only fully functional, properly magnetically shielded room in Africa. The ASRM will permit the UJ geology department to become part of a consortium of palaeomagnetic laboratories collaborating with similar facilities at Caltech, MIT, Yale, and the University of Texas, in Austin, Occidental College and the US Geological Survey.
Elsevier helps Researchers stay connected
In the latest Elsevier "Library Connect" Newsletter, vol.6, no.2, 2008 one of the articles focuses on TopCited and 2collab - the two new Elsevier tools to keep up with the latest technological developments.
* TopCitedTopCited (www.topcited.com), a new Scopus service, gives visitors an instant overview of the top 20 cited articles in 26 subject areas over the past 5 years of publications. Scopus TopCited also displays authors, their affiliations and cited-by counts and integrates this information into Google maps. If you do not have access to Scopus, view the results on the Scopus preview pages or sign up for a free 30 day trial. (P.S.: University of Johannesburg does not have a Scopus subscription, but you can still view the TOP 20 articles)
Google Map The Google map visualizes the publishers geographic location of the 20 most highly cited articles in Scopus per subject area available. The map visualizes the publishers geographic location of the 20 most highly cited articles in Scopus per subject area available in the drop down menu.
* 2Colab
2collab (www.2collab.com) is a new, free collaborative research tool enabling researchers to share bookmarks, references or any linked material with their peers and colleagues. Currently efforts are underway to integrate further 2collab into ScienceDirect, which will allow ScienceDirect users to see which articles have been bookmarked in 2collab, the tags used in association with articles and which 2collab public groups include specific articles in their discussions. This information will help researchers more quickly to gain a broader understanding of the impact of a specific article while they’re accessing it.
Elsevier Library Connect Newsletter: Vol. 6, no. 2, 2008
This issue explores how libraries and publishers are seeking to understand and serve upcoming generations — in particular Millennials, the generation born from about 1979 to 1994. This generation includes Net natives — people who’ve always known the digital world and embrace its latest offerings.(also useful to those who teaches the undergraduates and need to addapt to their changing needs)
Features
- Commons, chat and collaboration: How we’re connecting with Millennials at Murdoch University Library
- The future of the undergraduate library:Asking questions with too many answers and too many opportunities
- Millennial disconnects with publishers and libraries
- Undergrads’ research habits, motivators and attitudes:What studies tell us:
The 2006 study revealed key findings:
1: Today’s undergrads are achievement-oriented
1: Today’s undergrads are achievement-oriented
- Of students interviewed, only 40% proactively conducted course-related research, but 100% engaged in online study daily or a few times per week.
- “The mean frequency was 4 or 5 times per week and the mean duration was 1.5 hours per search session, implying about 6.7 hours per week spent searching [for course-related information].”
2: Today’s undergrads are selective and like to control their time
- 100% of students interviewed in 2006 used Google and listed it in their top three starting points. Recent research (CIBER, 2008) commissioned by the British Library and JISC states that search engines have become the primary brand Millennials associate with the Internet and are ubiquitously used by this generation.
- But all students interviewed by Elsevier also used their university library websites or catalogs, and they didn’t feel overly positive towards Google.
3: Today’s undergrads are practical
When asked what constitutes a good source of information, students interviewed in 2006 gave the following answers, listed by popularity:
> Recommended by friends
> Its reputation
> Prior personal experience
> Ease of use
> Provides links to other reliable sources
4: Today’s undergrads spend time in libraries
- Regarding their use of the university library, 100% of 2006 interviewees reported visiting the library and 80% reported doing so more than once a week. The majority reported consulting librarians but “only to retrieve books or for inter library loans” and did not consider them a source of recommendations for information sources
5: Today's undergrads are social but prefer to do research at home
Of students interviewed in 2006, 60% preferred to do research from home. When asked to rank their reasons for being on campus, after “to attend a seminar or lecture and studying for exams,” the second and third most popular reasons given were socializing with friends and playing sports.
In conclusion, the research illustrated that today’s undergrads may exhibit a different persona than preceding generations, yet are displaying rather traditional information-seeking behavior. Just as social applications like Facebook don’t make people genuinely more social, the availability of tools such as Google doesn't make today’s undergrads more adept researchers or equip them to skip the very real and challenging work required to earn a degree.
More interesting articles:
* How we're moving to a primarily digital library
* How we’re redesigning academic libraries to keep them as the center of campus
* How we're transforming our library spaces and mindset
* Librarians Speak Up:How is your library innovating to support Millennials?
* Looking to help researchers stay connected? Try TopCited (www.topcited.com) and 2collab (www.2collab.com)
* Q: Why does Elsevier request transfer of copyright?
If you have missed Elsevier "Library Connect" previous issues got to:
The Latest from Science Online Magazine
* News
- A Second Chance for Rainforest Biodiversity
- Critical Time for African Rainforests: As threats to the Congo Basin's vast forests grow, scientists race to sharpen assessments and stem destruction.
- Letting 1000 Forests Bloom: China's biodiversity to recover from decades of clear-cutting, but threats still loom
* Perspectives
- Forests of the Past: A Window to Future Changes
- Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation: Global Land-Use Implications
- Managing Forests for Climate Change Mitigation
- Beyond Deforestation: Restoring Forests and Ecosystem Services on Degraded Lands
* Review
- Forests and Climate Change: Forcings, Feedbacks, and the Climate Benefits of Forests
* Special Feature:
- SCIENCE CAREERS: Sustaining Forests in a Changing World
- SCIENCE CAREERS: Measuring the Impact of Invasive Plants
- SCIENCE CAREERS: An Adventurous Physicist
* News of the Week
- FUSION RESEARCH: Design Changes Will Increase ITER Reactor's Cost
- GEOLOGY: Two Years On, a Mud Volcano Still Rages--and Bewilders
- GEOLOGY: Unstoppable
- WENCHUAN EARTHQUAKE: Scientists Race Against the Clock to Gauge Landslide Risk
- ECOSYSTEMS: Have Desert Researchers Discovered a Hidden Loop in the Carbon Cycle?
- ENVIRONMENT: U.S. Climate Change Bill Dies, But the Energy Remains
* Letters
- Biofuels: Waste Not Want Not
- Biofuels: Too Soon to Give Up
- Biofuels: Think Outside the Cornfield
- Biofuels: Putting Current Practices in Perspective
* Books et al.
- REGULATORY POLICY: Reforming Cost-Benefit Calculations
* Perspectives
- BIOCHEMISTRY: How Enzymes Work
- BIOCHEMISTRY: How Do Proteins Interact?
- DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY: Sex and Poison in the Dark: A protein complex moves in and out of the nucleus in response to light, associating with proteins that control fungal development and metabolism.
* Reports
- Regulation of Hepatic Lipogenesis by the Transcription Factor XBP1
- Animal Versus Wind Dispersal and the Robustness of Tree Species to Deforestation
6 June 2008, Vol 320, Issue 5881, Pages 1257-1366
* Editorial
- Broadband Internet for Africa
* News of the Week
- UNIVERSITIES: Breaking With Tradition, France Picks Future Elite Schools
- ECOLOGY: Seaweed Invader Elicits Angst in India
- GENOMICS: Read All About It--The First Female Genome! Or Is It?
- GEOCHEMISTRY: The Andes Popped Up by Losing Their Deep-Seated Rocky Load
* News Focus
- UNMASKING THE INDUS
* Letters
- The Emerging World of Wikis
- Science 2.0: Not So New? will address questions of human interaction that "cannot be studied adequately in laboratory conditions," because "the interaction among variables undermines the validity of reductionist methods." Instead, data for analysis must be "collected in real settings."
* Books et al.
* Policy Forum
- OCEAN SCIENCE: Under-Resourced, Under Threat: A coherent global vision is needed to better determine the impacts of climate change on marine systems.
* Perspectives
- ECOLOGY: Putting the Heat on Tropical Animals: Tropical animals may be particularly vulnerable to climate warming.
- SYSTEMS BIOLOGY: The Scale of Prediction: A predictive model for a biological system requires capturing the network of environmental factors that affect system responses.
- PHYSICS: Improving Correlations Despite Particle Loss
- MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: Refined View of the Ends
- APPLIED PHYSICS: Going with (or Against) the Flow
* Reports
- The Aftershock Signature of Supershear Earthquakes
- The Transcriptional Landscape of the Yeast Genome Defined by RNA Sequencing
30 May 2008,Vol 320, Issue 5880, Pages 1117-1244
* News Focus
- ANTARCTICA: Freeze-Dried Findings Support a Tale of Two Ancient Climates
- MEDICINE: Nothing Rotten About Hydrogen Sulfide's Medical Promise
* Books et al.
* Education Forum
- DIVERSITY: Culture, Gender, and Math
* Perspectives
- ASTRONOMY: A Blast from the Past
- IMMUNOLOGY: Immunity Benefits from a Little Suppression
* Review
- How We See Ourselves and How We See Others: Have you ever attended a long and technical lecture and seen yourself as easily distracted while thinking that everyone else seemed thoroughly engaged?
* Brevia
- Ecosystem Feedbacks and Nitrogen Fixation in Boreal Forests
* Research Articles
- Widespread Translational Inhibition by Plant miRNAs and siRNAs
- Coordination of Early Protective Immunity to Viral Infection by Regulatory T Cells
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Whats New @ JSTOR
The latest (4th June, 2008) from JSTOR Publishers:* The first journal to be released on the new JSTOR platform is available now, The Willson Bulletin, Life Sciences Collection; Release content: Vol.1-116, 1889-2004 (full-text through the UJ Databases)
* Platform updates during the week of 9th June:
- The "Page of First Match" will be restored. Selecting this option will once again take users to the first page upon which a search term appears, rather than the first page of the article.
- The ability to jump to search term locations by page will be restored. Users will see the "Your search term occurs on ..." indicator at the top of each article page.
- Tumbnail images on the "Images in JSTOR" tab will be restored.
- An error that caused dificulties with the Adobe Reader Find and Search functionality in downloaded PDFs will be corrected.
- Several bugs with searching Author names, Phrase searching, Wildcard searching, and Fuzzy searching will be corrected.
* Future updates:
- PDFs with OCR errors: Approximately 5-10% of PDF versions of articles in the JSTOR archives are currently missing supporting OCR coordinates and await reprocessing on the new platform.
- Terms & Conditions pop-up boxes
- EZPoxy Reminder
Institute of Physics: New Open Access Journal
The latest "Librarian Insider" Newsletter, June 2008 (Read June's issue now for the latest news and developments ) will give you information on the latest news & developments from IOP. One of them is the launch of new Open Access journal.
The Institute of Physics (IoP) launched the "IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES)" , a new open access proceedings service based on their hugely successful open access proceedings in physics. EES is the latest addition to their portfolio of environmental publications and services: the community web site environmentalresearchweb.org and the open access journal Environmental Research Letters. Backed by a highly experienced conference publishing team, EES provides conference organizers with a fast, flexible and cost-effective proceedings service. By choosing EES organizers can create a comprehensive record of their event and make a valuable contribution to the open access literature that will be of long-lasting benefit to their communities. You can find out more by reading the page for conference organizers and downloading the EES information brochure (PDF).
Vol. 1, 2008, 14TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF BOUNDARY LAYER REMOTE SENSING23–25 June 2008, Risø National Laboratory, DTU, Denmark is now available on: http://www.iop.org/ej/journal/ees. (Click on the Vol.1 to view the issue)
Forthcoming conferences: An advance list of conferences that have been accepted for publication.
P.S. The library subscribes to the IoP journals full-text. Go to the Library webpage: http://www.uj.ac.za/library, Click on Databases, select Institute of Physics and login.
Information Resources: Options and Opportunities for end-user
Bianca Saporiti, Ovid's Regional Sales Manager was invited to the UJ Library (6th June 2008) to present a talk on "Information Resources: Options and Opportunities Available for the End-user Today". A number of librarians and lecturers attended this presentation.
What a better way to start if not to look back at where the Universities has started:
* Kant, the German 18th century philosopher who established the tradition of critical analysis, influenced thought so extensively that he is regarded as the founder of the University of Reason. Critical thought - consists of mental processes of discernment, analysis and evaluation
* Humboldt and the German Idealists gave us the modern university, replacing the University of Reason with the University of Culture – an institution whose purpose was jointly teaching and intense research. Culture meaning the patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance. The purpose of the University of Culture was to form ‘citizens’, provide them with national self-knowledge, i.e. national culture.
* Internationally the University of Culture has given way to the University of Excellence – with each of its various parts functioning excellently and all divisions of the university being asked to demonstrate their excellence. Excellence is demonstrated by ratings or rankings which are overseen by university management. The University of Excellence is connected with professionalisation –the professional is judged by his/her peers. The purpose of the University of Excellence is to provide ‘cultural literacy’, common information to its students.
Over the past two decades global culture and society has moved from the Gutenberg galaxy – read print - into the world of cyberspace. Academia is now caught up in the fast-changing and dynamic world where e-information and e-learning is altering and evolving not only the role of the university, but its professionals/professors and how they impart knowledge to the students. Most university students, aka the users - don’t care where their information comes from as long as it is useful and easy to get to. The appeal of the open web is its simple, integrated ‘one search’ solution. Users have increasingly become ‘googlized’ in their pursuit of easy and ‘good enough’ information rather than searching out traditional and authoritative references as suggested and/or recommended by instructors/professors.
The primary mission of an academic library is the provision of content for research and teaching. Academic libraries make resource decisions with an eye to optimizing access to content that is relevant to the curricula of their particular institutions thus, aiding and abetting the core efforts of the faculty to educate. The introduction of e-resources in the mainstream of the learning culture in universities has exposed end-users to more sources of information than ever before.
The primary mission of an academic library is the provision of content for research and teaching. Academic libraries make resource decisions with an eye to optimizing access to content that is relevant to the curricula of their particular institutions thus, aiding and abetting the core efforts of the faculty to educate. The introduction of e-resources in the mainstream of the learning culture in universities has exposed end-users to more sources of information than ever before.
The information resources and tools the Academic Libraries provide to their users are :
- Library catalogue, OPAC
- Print books and e-books
- Print journals and e-journals
- Abstract & Index Databases, e-only access
- Full text Databases – e-only
- Open Access full text – both e-books and e-journals
- Course reserve packs
- Federated search engines for single access point to all e-information
Some points of discussion were:
* Researchers have developed an intense demand for published information.
* There is too much information for faculty and researchers to chose from.
* Demand for information has become more urgent – younger generation of researchers reared and nurtured by the Internet.
* The scale of international, multidisciplinary research dictates greater cooperation amongst researchers, the result of which is a greater exchange of ideas, and published papers.
* Fragmentation in disciplines has resulted in an increase of interest in specialised sub-discipline monograms.
What we had to say? From the discussion it came out that:
What we had to say? From the discussion it came out that:
- Students need to be trained on the importance of the library and the sources of information which are made available to them;
- The Library need to adapt and change to the needs of its users;
- The Library need to teach students how to evaluate information from the Internet and how to find through the Library peer-review sources.
- The Faculties needs to be introduced to the latest developments in the library and its resources.
- Collaboration between Faculty and Library should be a common practice.
Institutional Repositories: The way forward for research?
At the recent SAOUG Conference (3-5 June 2008) a number of presenters talked about the Open Source Institutional Repositories. World-wide the paradigm is to make research collections available online and to improve the access to information, which is of great value for research. Since the facilitation of access to information is a primary function of academic or research libraries, they can take the initiative to implement a digital research repository in order to manage, organise, preserve, distribute and offer access to research conducted by the members of the institution.
If an institution supports open access, wants to increase the usage and visibility of research conducted at that institution and want to preserve all research output digitally, an institutional repository (IR) is the answer.
In SA there are currently 12 repositories (see below). How to get started with creating IR?
- Analise the need of your organization (survey-questionnaire; presentations to researchers)
- Compile a plan & proposal
- Evaluate various IR software (DSpace, etc.)
- Develop, Design & Install your repository (management approval)
- Test your repository
- Market and promote your repository
- Develop policies and procedures (preservation, copyright, etc.)
- Sell the idea to the academics ( demonstrations; how easy is to submit material to repository)
- Provide training
- Register your repository
- Communicate, collaborate & share with others; start populating; make it more visible.
Have a look at the UJ Librarians News blog for more on the SAOUG:
In SA there are currently 12 repositories (see below). How to get started with creating IR?
- Analise the need of your organization (survey-questionnaire; presentations to researchers)
- Compile a plan & proposal
- Evaluate various IR software (DSpace, etc.)
- Develop, Design & Install your repository (management approval)
- Test your repository
- Market and promote your repository
- Develop policies and procedures (preservation, copyright, etc.)
- Sell the idea to the academics ( demonstrations; how easy is to submit material to repository)
- Provide training
- Register your repository
- Communicate, collaborate & share with others; start populating; make it more visible.
Have a look at the UJ Librarians News blog for more on the SAOUG:
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES
Institutional Repository Workshop - University of Pretoria, 1 - 3 October 2008, University of Pretoria
USEFUL LINKS TO INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES @:
* University of Johannesburg
- UJ Electronic Thesis and Dissertations Database: http://etd.rau.ac.za/
- UJ Institutional Repositories: http://ujdigispace.uj.ac.za/
* South Africa
African Higher Education Research Online
CSIR Research Space
DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology
Durban University of Technology Institutional Repository
Rhodes eResearch Repository
Stellenbosch University Electronic Theses & Dissertations
University of Cape Town Computer Science Research Document Archive
University of Cape Town Lawspace
University of Johannesburg Electronic Theses & Dissertations
University of Pretoria Electronic Theses & Dissertations
University of Pretoria Institutional Repository (UPSpace)
University of the Western Cape Electronic Theses & Dissertations
* Africa
African Higher Education Research Online
CSIR Research Space
DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology
Durban University of Technology Institutional Repository
Rhodes eResearch Repository
Stellenbosch University Electronic Theses & Dissertations
University of Cape Town Computer Science Research Document Archive
University of Cape Town Lawspace
University of Johannesburg Electronic Theses & Dissertations
University of Pretoria Electronic Theses & Dissertations
University of Pretoria Institutional Repository (UPSpace)
University of the Western Cape Electronic Theses & Dissertations
* Africa
* Worldwide
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
SAOUG: Meet some of the vendors
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
SAOUG Conference, 3-5 June 2008, CSIR, Pretoria
Pavlinka Kovatcheva, UJ - responsible for this blog & Dr. Glenda Myers, WITS Health Library presenting the Evidence-based workshop
Welcome to the Ninth Southern African Online User Group Conference,
3-5 June 2008, CSIR, Pretoria.
Today, 3rd of June is the Pre-Conference day.
Today, 3rd of June is the Pre-Conference day.
Workshop A: Evidence-based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP). Dr. Glenda Myers, from WITS Health Sciences Library presented a very interesting and interactive session on: EBLIP - "What, Why, How, Who & Where".
What is the Evidence-Based Librarianship? The A. Booth definition was accepted as the one that represent the best emphasis on users: 'Evidence-based information practice is an approach that promotes the collection, interpretation and integration of valid, important and applicable user-reported, librarian observed, and research-derived evidence. The best available evidence, moderated by user needs and preferences, is applied to improve the quality of professional judgements". The focus is on the USER. We should remember that the same evidence can be used differently depending on circumstances and the user population.
Why should librarians care about the Evidence-Based Practice? We care, because how do we know that we are right?
Are the librarians still relevant to the Google generation? The librarians need to adapt and learn new skills: Leadership competencies, Technological competencies, Managerial Competencies and Research competencies; to have knowledge of Information resources and Information access.
The Evidence-Based Practice process involve: define problem (formulate question), find evidence, appraise evidence, apply results of appraisal, evaluate change and redefine problem. We completed the workshop with reading two different research articles and evaluating them.
To follow the progress of the Conference go to SAOUG blog: http://saougnews.blogspot.com/
What is the Evidence-Based Librarianship? The A. Booth definition was accepted as the one that represent the best emphasis on users: 'Evidence-based information practice is an approach that promotes the collection, interpretation and integration of valid, important and applicable user-reported, librarian observed, and research-derived evidence. The best available evidence, moderated by user needs and preferences, is applied to improve the quality of professional judgements". The focus is on the USER. We should remember that the same evidence can be used differently depending on circumstances and the user population.
Why should librarians care about the Evidence-Based Practice? We care, because how do we know that we are right?
Are the librarians still relevant to the Google generation? The librarians need to adapt and learn new skills: Leadership competencies, Technological competencies, Managerial Competencies and Research competencies; to have knowledge of Information resources and Information access.
The Evidence-Based Practice process involve: define problem (formulate question), find evidence, appraise evidence, apply results of appraisal, evaluate change and redefine problem. We completed the workshop with reading two different research articles and evaluating them.
To follow the progress of the Conference go to SAOUG blog: http://saougnews.blogspot.com/
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