Discipline-Based Education Research — New from National Academy Pr.
Subtitle: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering
Description: From What’s New @ the National Academies, Sept. 10, 2012:
“The National Science Foundation funded a synthesis study on the status, contributions, and future direction of discipline-based education research (DBER) in physics, biological sciences, geosciences, and chemistry. DBER combines knowledge of teaching and learning with deep knowledge of discipline-specific science …”
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Eric Weisstein’s World of Science
World of Science was given a 4-star review in the May 15, 2012, issue of “Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News“. Eric Weisstein is a web encyclopedia author. This portal is available via Wolfram Alpha, within which there are 5 portals for Math, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy and Biography. “Beautifully designed”, “easy to navigate” and a “wealth of information”
Springer “MyCopy” books
Since Princeton University subscribes to digital subject collections of Springer books, individuals are entitled to purchase print copies for ~$25. The most popular title purchased according to a recent report is “Galaxy Formation”. These copies are black & white only. At the upper right, click on:
- Buy a Print Copy (USD 24.95)
- Because your library offers access to Springer eBooks, you can have a printed copy of this book delivered to you from SpringerLink for just EUR 24.95 (free shipping)
Print Archives Preservation Registry now online
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Print Archives Preservation Registry now online – 06 Aug 2012
The Print Archives Preservation Registry (PAPR) has announced that it is now available online at http://papr.crl.edu. The registry is designed to support archiving and management of serial collections by providing detailed information about titles, holdings, and terms and conditions of the major print archiving programs.
PAPR now includes a searchable database, tab-delimited reports for download, and the simultaneous display of title and holdings information from multiple print archiving programmes, including the Western Regional Storage Trust (WEST), Law Library Microform Consortium (LLMC), and CRL’s JSTOR archive. It also references titles held in digital format by Portico and CLOCKSS. Most of the records included at this time are for the WEST project archives.
The California Digital Library (CDL) is CRL’s PAPR development partner. Additional advisory services were provided by CRL consultant Lizanne Payne and Ithaka S+R. This first phase focused on developing a data analysis system for WEST and on using the standards developed by the OCLC print archives disclosure pilot project to transmit data via the MARC field 583. The next phase will address additional functional, data and user needs.
At this time the registry is a work in progress; its usefulness will depend upon input and participation by the CRL community. CRL welcomes all ideas and feedback.
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Source: Knowledgespeak Newsletter, Aug. 6, 2012
PubMed Central = PMC
“ PubMed Central renamed PMC, adopts new web page design – 06 Aug 2012
PubMed Central, the repository of the US’ National Institutes of Health, has shortened its name to PMC in a bid to avoid being confused with PubMed. It has also gone for a new look and feel, and has been updated to conform to NCBI’s new standards for page design. The redesign is seen to allow for a cleaner and more uniform presentation across PMC’s site as well as its article, issue and journal archive pages.
For instance, the journal logo is on the page centre, with additional white space. The navigation links are designed to be more compact while the font colours are more uniform across the site. The article pages have also been enhanced by a more compact presentation for article front matter, featuring links to author information, article notes and copyright and licence information.
The views for tables and figures have been enhanced. Other improvements to the new article page include easier readability and navigation, including links to the various article formats, and to the corresponding article citation in PubMed as well as to those PubMed citations that are related to the article.
There is also an enhanced look for bibliographic citations that are referenced in the article. Finally, at the top of each section of an article, the “Go to” navigation links offer a drop down menu that takes the reader to any section more quickly and easily, whether it’s the Abstract, Introduction, Discussion, or any others within the article page.
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Source: Knowledgespeak Newsletter, Aug. 6, 2012
100 Open Access science journals to be launched by Versita in 2012
Versita Launches Open Access Journal Program
From ResourceShelf Newsletter No. 558, May 31, 2012
From the press release:
Academic publisher Versita announced today the launch of a new program of Open Access journals. 100 Emerging Science Journals are being launched in 2012. The program’s focus is on young and rapidly developing fields of science, which have not yet been covered by a designated journal. The emerging topics have been identified in Life Sciences, Chemistry, Medicine, Physics and Mathematics.
…One of the main reasons of this outstanding support is the Open Access publishing model, which provides free and unlimited access to the journal articles for all interested readers. In view of Academic Spring – and with Open Access gaining a momentum across scholar communities worldwide – Versita is not planning any publication fees for the first two years.
Petition for Public Access to all Publicly-funded Research
ASU (Arizona State University) Libraries have posted a concise piece about Open Access to scholarly research in ” The Library Channel” newsletter: http://lib.asu.edu/librarychannel/2012/05/21/petition/
There is a video and a link to more information as well as the petition at http://www.whitehouse.gov
Freely share the data and the knowledge!
Search Engines, etc. for finding Free Online STEM Resources
“Search Engines and Beyond: A Toolkit for Finding Free Online Resources for Science, Technology and Engineering“
By Nedelina Tchangalova and Francy Stilwell, University of Maryland
in the Spring, 2012 issue of Science and Technology Librarianship [ http://www.istl.org/ ]
NTIS launches National Technical Reports Library Version 3.0 – 16 May 2012
“The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced the launch of the next generation National Technical Reports Library Version 3.0, also known as NTRL V3.0.
The NTRL V3.0 is now publicly available after two years of research and development. Through the utilisation of the open-source platform Fedora/SOLR, the NTRL V3.0 builds upon the successes of previous iterations by offering the public online access to the large NTIS repository of scientific and technical information through the use of enhanced functionalities, features and improved display.
The NTIS repository consists of over 2 million bibliographic records representing billions of dollars in federally-funded research performed over the past 70 years with a broad scope of Scientific, Technical & Engineering Information (STEI) subject coverage. NTIS sought to improve dissemination of STEI, and economic, social and environmental information by permanently enlarging, preserving and providing ready access to its repository.
The NTIS seeks to actively collect, preserve and disseminate STEI and other information thereby supporting the Department of Commerce mission to promote U.S. economic growth by providing access to information that stimulates innovation and discovery. The NTRL V3.0 represents the NTIS commitment to ensuring access to this invaluable repository is affordable, convenient, and widely available to the academic, corporate, library and government communities, and to the public-at-large.
The NTRL V3.0 was developed by the Federal Science Repository Service (FSRS) a public-private partnership between NTIS and Information International Associates, Inc. (IIa) of Oak Ridge, TN. The intent of the public-private partnership was to create an Institutional Repository (IR) Service for federal agencies.”
Source: Knowledgespeak Newsletter, May 16, 2012