A research guide on natural gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing

Carnegie Mellon University recently created a research guide focusing on various societal and social aspects of natural gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) of shale rock formations, especially the Marcellus and Utica shales. 

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/org/marcellus-biblio/

Unlimited Access to SciFinder

Great news: we no longer have the two-seats-only limit with SciFinder! The SciFinder Academic Unlimited Access Program provides the CSULB community with wider access to CAS SciFinder.

Please e-mail the librarian, Khue Duong, at khue.duongATcsulb.edu, if you have any problem accessing SciFinder.

The most current Science issues are now available online

As of January 1, CSULB is subscribed to Science online. You can now access online the most recently published articles in Science.

Accessing Science:

If you are on the campus network, you can simply go to the Science website and access the content: http://www.sciencemag.org/magazine

If you are off-campus, you will need to:
Go to the library’s homepage
Click “Find Specific Journals by Title”
Type in “Science”
Click on “Science”
Click on the fourth title in that list
(A shortcut to this point would be to bookmark this page: http://coast.library.csulb.edu/record=b2165015~S1)
Click “View Availability and Full-text Electronic Issues”
Click “from 01/01/1997 to present in Science Magazine”
You will be required to type in your campus ID number and library password.


The most current Science print copies are still available on the ground floor in the periodicals section.

By the way, we also have the most current Nature issues in print in the periodicals area. For electronic access, you can only get Nature full-text up to 12 months from the current date.

E-Readers?

Do you play with your i-Pads, i-Phones, and the like? The following article provides assessment of various e-reader devices that four librarians at Oregon State University tried out.

http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2011/10/11/four-librarians-four-ereaders-one-month/

What's your take on e-readers? We are curious ...

Welcome: Fall Semester is around the corner! And the power of books ...

The new school year is about to start. Just a hello and welcome.

And I'd like to share a story about bringing books to the streets of Portland, OR from the Street Books Librarian.

Books and Bikes!

ACS Tips on Publishing your Research

The American Chemical Society is creating a series of the "do"s and "don't"s on how to successfully publish one's research. What do you think?

Updated on June 27, 2012.  The newest episode (#7) discusses open access in general and the choices an author makes in deciding whether to make her or his publication open-access.

Tips for Telephone Interview

For upcoming grads and intrepid undergrads looking for jobs and internships this summer, there seem to be many screenings to go through before one lands a position. The phone interview, in particular, can be daunting as the potential employee might not know what to expect, especially without the face-to-face interaction.

The ACS Careers Blog has some good suggestions on how to ace the phone interview. I especially like their recommendation to use a land-line number to ensure that the conversation won't be "dropped." The ending of the phone conversation matters too as one can summarize her qualifications and get a concrete time line for the next step in the interviewing process.

Prepared and you are on your way to a successful venture:

http://acscareers.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/tips-for-telephone-interviews/

Go Green Challenge among Canadian universities

Here's a Go Green sustainability ideas contest with submission from universities across Canada. I wonder if there is a similar contest in the United States.

Voting closes today, March 11th!

We now have Reaxys database!

Starting from February 2011, the University Library subscribes to Elsevier Reaxys database. Remember those Beilstein Handbook of Organic Chemistry and Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry? They are now online within a mouse click or two.

Straight from the source: "Reaxys contains an extensive repository of experimentally validated data that chemists need including structures, reactions (including multi-step reactions) and physical properties." I am very impressed with its user interface, the wealth of information it contains as well as the data visualization aspect.

Upcoming workshops will be scheduled in the near future.

For an overview:

http://www.reaxys.com/info/about_overview

Check it out!

CSU Launches New Science Blog

The CSU recently launched Science and the CSU http://blogs.calstate.edu/science/ . This new blog will feature science-related stories and developments across the 23-campus system and provide news, features, updates and insights. It will also spotlight activities, events, resources, research and discoveries at the CSU.

"The blog was developed to promote the CSU’s significant impact in addressing California’s key issues in health, the environment, energy, telecommunications and climate. CSU graduates contribute significantly to research, education and workforce development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and the CSU is California’s largest producer of K-12 science and mathematics teachers."

Cooking, Cakes and Chemistry

I came across this science-in-action blog by a chemistry librarian with a serious interest in what comes out of the oven. Whoa, the posts will sure make budding young chemists try things out in the kitchen. A very fun and educational site about quotidian chemistry.

http://cookingcakesandchemistry.blogspot.com/

Health Risk with TSA Backscatter Scanners?

With all the discussion lately about TSA full-body scanners at airports, we wonder how safe the scan is. Read this report from MedPage Today

IOP Science Physics World Archive

An announcement from IOP: As an IOPScience "extra" subscriber, we now have access to the entire archive of articles published in Physics World, the membership magazine of the Institute of Physics.

Try any search term today at iopscience.org and see the new Physics World Archive tab at the top of your results. All articles are fully searchable and can be downloaded in full as PDFs.

Bed Bugs Craze

There has been a fair amount of attention on the web about bed bugs. The EPA recently created a new database that you can search for EPA-registered products against bed bugs.

For general information about bed bugs from EPA, try this link.

And the Bed Bug Registry

And another Bed Bug database.

E-books: CSU system 'Digital Marketplace' trial

Not sure how this will affect most students at CSULB. The CSU system has agreed to participate in a pilot project to license digital course content through an initiative called the Digital Marketplace.

From the article link here:

"Starting this fall, Bedford/Freeman/Worth, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson, and John Wiley & Sons, will offer content through pilot courses at five CSU campuses: Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach, San Bernardino and San Francisco State."

Look! Science Direct has a new look and feel

If you used ScienceDirect recently, you might have noticed that it had a new face lift. It looks "greener" to me. Not sure if, subconsciously, this is the corporate message that Elsevier is trying to imprint in people's mind.

Elsevier promotes its SciVerse Hub, which (in their own words) "is your key to performing advanced searches across SciVerse ScienceDirect and SciVerse Scopus content, and web content."

CSULB does not subscribe to Scopus so we still need to see how this SciVerse Hub works without Scopus content. It is interesting to note that the free web content that SciVerse Hub originally stated was Scirus, the Google-like, science-focused search engine.

Let's try it out and see ...

a fun physics calculation from Science Blogs--Jump!

What if everyone jumped?, titled a post from Science Blogs. Read on to see if it matters the next time the MC on stage raise the mic and ask the crowd, "Jump! Jump! Jump!"

Scientists' Summer Reading List

Now that summer is almost over, or even if summer is over by the time you read this, you probably can find time to squeeze in some fun reading.

So, what do scientists read these days? Check out the Washington Post's article, "Texts on the Beach"

CSULB Chemistry Professor Stephen Mezyk Awarded $1.4 Million Grant from Department of Energy

CNSM Chemistry Professor Stephen Mezyk was awarded $1.4 Million Grant from Department of Energy. Here is the announcement.

To find out more about Professor Mezyk's research interests, check out his website.

Nature Publishing out of hand?

UCs Fight Back