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2004
[November 16] Career Planning class assignment
We have seen several students at the UGL/SEL Reference Desk with an interesting assignment for a Career Planning class. They have to compile a brief bibliography of a person who is practicing in their field of study (e.g., Spanish teaching, physical therapy, linguistics). They can profile anyone they want, but have to have sufficient information to warrant an individual in their field who has been recognized for achievements worthy of appearing in print.
We found several strategies that might be useful if you encounter similar questions by looking at "outstanding member" or "new president/chair/officer" profiles in professional associations. A list of
trainers and physical therapists in the New York Yankees was found on the www.yankees.com site and several of them have been included in NYTimes articles, and other sports medicine magazines and journals, that have listed hospital/university medical center affiliations, and their departmental Websites that had nice biographical information.Directories of professional associations are also useful, as are the "Who's Who... " and "Famous Men & Women" compilations. Good luck! Several of these have been fun!--Fred Stoss
[20 October] COM491 "Computer Mediated Communication"
COM491 "Computer Mediated Communication" has a term paper on censorship. Last week the class came by and used some of the reference materials to get started. The actual term paper instructions are in the Lockwood reference book. I recommend students take a look at:
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Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science Ref Z1006 E57 2003
Encyclopedia of Communication and Information Ref P87.5 E53 2001
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Censorship : a world encyclopedia Ref Z657 .C393 2004
They all have entries on censorship with bibliographies that might lead you to other books and articles. In addition the communication has some entries on pornography and the Communications Decency Act of 1996.--Cindi Tysick
[19 October] Flu Season
Just a few updates for the beginning of cold & flu season in the public areas. At the request of a number of people, we now (or will soon) have individual sanitizing wipes and dispensers of wipes for use at the reference desks. Please ask Cindy Kloss (LML) or Linda Gould (Capen) if supplies run low and we will reorder/restock as needed.I also discovered an interesting article on determining whether you should stay home or go to work when sick. Offered for your perusal http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/95/103133.htm.--Margie Wells
[16 October] BIO 200 ASSIGNMENT
There is a second section of BIO 200, Evolutionary Biology, with an assignment to locate a scientific/technical, scholarly, peer-reviewed journal article in the fields of ecology, behavior, evolution or evolutionary biology, OR genetics. The article must come from the current periodicals section of the Science and Engineering Library's journal collection on the second floor. They are to then copy the article and make a brief evaluative and informative review of the article.HINT #1:
Very often students cannot find the Current periodicals section in SEL. I have left two maps of Capen 2nd Floor, and highlighted the current periodicals section on the map. The maps are at the UGL/SEL reference Desk for librarians and students working there. The seocnd map is at the UGL Circulation Desk to answer students questions, when the UGL/SEL Desk is not in operation (e.g., before 9:00 am today!). On each map is also listed HINT #2 (below).HINT #2
Sometimes, especially during peak use times, the students cannot find journals in the SEL Current Periodicals section. This is mostly due to the fact that an "earlier bird caught the worm," completed the assignment, and placed the issue of the journal they used in the bins or on a table near the photocopiers on the 1st and 3rd Floors of Capen. So you can direct the students to these areas where the journals have been dropped.HINT #3:
There is a PARTIAL list of these journals found in LML, HSL, and SEL in the Evolutionary Biology Guide I prepared for the class at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/bio/evo-biology.html. This
is for your help, if the student can't find anything, you can suggest to look specifically one of these journals.PEDAGOGY:
The assignment is to demonstrate to the students the various types and disciplinary dispersion of the journal literature in the Science & Engineering Library. This is why Profs. Herreid an Fortner want the
students to literally walk around in the current periodicals section of SEL to complete the assignment.IF time permits, you can add your own library instruction component to this, pointing out to the students the various pages in the Research Assistant demonstrating what types of journals there are, and especially the peer-reviewed, scholarly, or scientific/technical journal and the articles they contain. There are three great sites in the Research Assistant that do this.--Fred Stoss
[5 October] Communication 101 Assignment UPDATE [cf. Com101]
Just to clarify something in regards to COM101. In my email I did not mention that if students found a peer-reviewed article that was not from a journal on the list they MAY be able to use it IF they get permission. The reason is that out of the 15 or so journals students can find an article that will work.Today at the desk another librarian advised a patron that they could use any peer-reviewed journal, that the list was a guide. When pressed I was told that another librarian had said my email was wrong. In the future please email me with clarifying questions. Students CAN NOT use ANY JOURNAL. If it is not on the list they show their TA or Professor the article and get permission.
[1 October] Professor Joe Atkinson's Hydrology Assignment
The class assignment is to choose a watershed, get maps and data, and to create a watershed map with area and other calculations figured in. They will use USGS Topo maps (online or in the Map Room), and other map types (i.e., s geology--New york...). Also they will use water data from the USGS site: http://ny.water.usgs.gov/ and from the Map Collection PC (which may not be operational on time). Additional needs can be met at the ASL Geography/Cartography guide (especially Gov't Resources, and in particular USGS pages) and Map Collection website.Further assistance? Contact me.--David Bertuca
[1 October] Professor Al Price's UGC-111 students (World Civilizations 1)
will be looking for help with their research paper assignments in the next couple of weeks (on both campuses). Details of the assignment are online http://www.ap.buffalo.edu/~adprice/ugc111/TermPaper.htm.Please note that we have several relevant titles on course reserve for Professor Price's students and this particular research assignment.--Christopher Hollister
[29 September] Communication 101 Assignment. [cf. UPDATE]
Comm 101 will be doing the "Journal Abstract" paper again this semester. I've given a BI to 2 of the 3 classes, the 3rd class will get BI on Oct. 13th. The BI was a PowerPoint presentation that has been loaded into their UBLearns site. This time students need to find 1 peer-reviewed article on health, relationship, or intercultural communication. The best places for full-text articles on these topics are ABI/Inform and InfoTrac Onefile using search strategies like "health and communication and smoking""health and communication and women" "relationship* and communication and dating" "relationship* and communication and parent*". I've explained to students that they need to have a sub-topic in order to narrow their results. Articles have to be research related so they need to look for words like survey, study, analysis, data, etc.If you or a student have any questions please contact me at cat2@buffalo.edu or leave a voice mail at 645-2814 x458.--Cindi Tysick
[21 September] New CD-ROMs/Machines in UGL/SEL Reference Area
Two CD-ROM stations have been added to the UGL/SEL Reference area. One was moved from SEL and the other is a new PC with products that were running on several CD-ROM PCs in SEL that have been retired.The machine that runs "Properties of Organic Compounds" and "Dictionary of Organic Compounds" is a stand-alone station with no network connectivity. It has Word installed on it for use by the Properties program (allows for copying and pasting of structural drawings into Word). This machine runs Norton Antivirus real-time scanning and we will periodically update the virus definition file. It is a Windows '98 machine (the only OS that Properties will install on!!) and runs Fortres security to protect the desktop. There is no user name associated with this machine.The other machine is attached to the network for virus definition and Windows updates only. We have tightened the security down on this machine so that users cannot gain access to the internet. There are no MS Office or email applications on this machine. The machine will auto logon when it is booted. If a user should sign off, the user name and password are: ulib.pubasl1, Password1 (case sensitive) with domain Itorg. This pc has two USB ports on the front of the case located under the door and an icon on the desktop to access a jump drive for file saves.The following products have been installed on this machine:
- Dictionary of Organic CompoundsErgonomic AbstractsChemical Abstracts Source Index (CASSI)Landolt-Bornstein Comprehensive IndexSolar Variability Affecting the EarthEarthquakes and the Built Environment IndexISTPThe Merck IndexJournal Citation ReportsTRC Comprehensive Index
- Daphnia Fauna of North America
Both PCs have deskjet printers attached locally. There is no network printing available.Please email ULIT or call Library Network Support at X5948 with any questions or problems. Thank you.--Library Network Support: Amy, Cherie, Laura, and Rena.
[15 September] UBlearns links. I have some information on these UBlearns links (see Cindi Tysick note). These are called "course cartridges" and access is gained by entering an access code which comes with the textbook or CD. Once they enter their number, the course information is downloaded into UBLearns. Students can access this information in the future just by going into UBLearns and do not need to worry about which computer they are working at. We are seeing more of these lately.This is different from a code that students from Dr. Wood's Chemistry class are asking about. That is something that links to an outside site and is not a UBLearns question. They need to go back to the faculty for an answer. If you come across other situations concerning use of UBlearns, ideas or questions, let me know. I am the Libraries' representative on the Support group for BlackBoard. Although I understand very little of the really techie stuff, I am there to bring to their attention the things that affect the users.--Mary Soom
[15 September] Featured Resource for World Civ...
The Greenwood Daily Life Online database is featured this week. Please remember this resource as you are dealing with reference questions from World Civilizations students. I have seen quite a few students at the desks this week - surprising early in teh semester for research questions - who have World Civ topics, and this database worked every time. If you've not yet seen it, please take the time this week to familiarize yourself with it.World Civ students ask questions at all the desks and via Instant Librarian. This database will help you help them.--Margie Wells
[14 September] GLY 431/531 and GLY 454/554 assignments
[NOTE: Michele may have a help document on this soon]
About 30 Geology students will be coming in to look for 3 peer-reviewed articles on volcanoes (one article must be in print format/current periodical) the others may be online.They will not need to print out the articles (fortunately) just references are needed. However, they will be looking for me in person, because I have been asked to sign my initials on their assignment sheet after they present the 'print' article to me showing that it follows scholarly guidelines.This follows two BI classes that I did last week for Dr. Tracy Gregg, per her instructions and I have agreed to do this.They will also each be looking for one geology map, showing the area of a volcano that they have chosen for a poster. Either David or myself can help them with this.Thanks, Michele Shular
[14 September] BIO200 Science Literature assignments
[additional: BIO200 page; ASL Evolutionary Biology page]
We have several hundred BIO 200, Evolutionary biology, the required course for all biology and pharmacy science majors, that were just given an assignment to introduce them to the scientific literature for of the peer-reviewed journal. Their assignment is an easy one: locate in the Current Periodicals section of the Science and Engineering Library (second floor of SEL) an article in any journal in the area of ecology, evolution, genetics, or animal behavior. They are to make a copy of the article they choose and read it noting various sections and the general content, style, format, etc. They are to then write a brief summary of the article. The most frequently asked questions about this assignment are:
- "Where are the Current Periodicals?" A: 2nd Floor SEL on West (windows) side."Where are all the issues?" A: lift up the shelf to reveal the back issues--the most current issue the one facing out and older back issues are underneath.
- "Where is the photocopier?" A: This gets a bit tricky this year with the changes as a result of the SEL--UGL reference merger. There is no longer a public photocopier on the 2nd Floor of SEL and students will have to take the journal down to the 1st Floor copier or upstairs to the copier on the 3rd Floor. In the past students doing this assignment later in the afternoon and evenings would not find many of the journal issues in the Current Periodicals section of SEL--they had been used earlier in the day. We used to tell the students to look on the book cart adjacent the Current Periodicals or in the book bins adjacent to the 2nd floor photocopier, tables adjacent to or near the photocopiers (on alls SEL and UGL floors with photocopiers) look there for unshelved issues.
There is currently a problem that the printer on the third floor of SEL has been out of order from at least last Friday and the students will have to use the photocopier on the first floor.A more significant problem is going to be the diligence with which journal issues are going to be returned to the Current Periodicals area on the 2nd Floor of SEL and the fact that journal issues will tend to be scattered more through out the entire UGL and SEL libraries on the 1st and 3rd floors.If anyone has any questions or problems, PLEASE let me know ASAP. Thanks! Fred Stoss
[10 September] The TV/VCR stations, along with the other audio visual equipment, that were on the tables next to the Circulation Desk in UGL have been moved to the second floor. However, the services provided with this equipment has not changed, so please continue to refer patrons to the Circulation desk for help with this equipment.--Nicole Colello
[3 September] Reporting System/Computer Problems From ASL Reference Desks (updated 9/2004) In pdf. Or download .doc file version.
[31 August] US PATENTS and PRINTING (see also: Printing PATENTS in Capen)
Full-text page images of U.S. patents can be printed from the U.S. Patent Office http://www.uspto.gov/ or European Patent Office http://ep.espacenet.com/. The European site is recommended for printing U.S. patents at public machines because the USPTO uses an unusual image format which requires downloading and installing a special plug in. Without the plugin, the images either do not display or they display but do not print. From both sites, one can only print one page at a time, a real problem since patents can be dozens or hundreds of pages long.Currently, multiple pages of patents (U.S. or foreign) can not be printed with a single command from the European site from any UB computer. However, multiple pages of U.S. patents can be printed with a single command from the USPTO site from three workstations at the UGL/SEL reference desk (the two librarian stations and the teaching station to the left of the librarian stations as you sit at the desk). Special software has been licensed for these 3 machines. When you bring up the page images of a U.S. patent from www.uspto.gov, there should be a Adobe Acrobat-like toolbar with a print button. Pressing on this button gives you the typical all pages, range of pages, current page options like Acrobat/WORD, etc. For the three other machines at the UGL/SEL reference desk, only the free plug-in has been installed which permits only "current page" option.If you ever access patent images on the uspto web site from any computer and the image does not display or it displays but there is no command button tool bar at the top of the image with a print button on it, then that computer is not configured properly and you will not be able to print even one-page-at-a-time from that computer. The solution is to find the U.S. patent on the European site and then print one page at a time or else go to the three UGL/REF desk stations with the licensed (i.e. purchased) plug-in.-- A. Ben Wagner
[31 August] UGL/SEL REFERENCE NOTICE [excerpts from message] Over the past 2 days, at least 4 groups of people have attempted to get to Talbert via the 2nd floor of the library [see: Capen 2xx Room map for Talbert directions. Also, note that clicking on room numbers on the map may bring up data about that office--DJB]. I have not noticed that in other years (usually they are trying to get to Student Reponse Center and think they are in the right place). In this case, they appear to have intentionally come to SEL in order to get to Talbert. One group even refused instructions to stop and merrily went through the fire door and walked off. If anyone gets wind of why this is happening (is some orientation person giving bad directions?), please let us know.Remember that all 6 computers at the ref desk are the only out-in-the-open library computers to have SciFinder Scholar & Beilstein on them. Don't be surprised to have company at one (sometimes 2) of the stations with UB or courtesy patrons using them for this purpose. There is an emergency backup for SciFinder. The old Bison express station hooked up to the microfiche reader/printer on the 2nd floor still has SciFinder on it, but it only has a little ink jet printer attached - so warn people that they can do very limited printing if they have to use that PC.-- A. Ben Wagner
[27 August] REMINDERS FOR UGL/SEL REFERENCE DESK STAFF. Please remember to:
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Walk around the Bison terminals at least once every hour. People playing games and doing other recreational things should be reminded that these terminals are for research. This also gives students a chance to ask us questions without leaving/loosing their machines. Understandably, we can only ASK the student to restrict their use to research as the signs on the computer request. We don't want to be confrontational.
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As the line of students waiting for a computer grows, remind students of the 3rd floor Cybraries.
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Remember to check the UGL printers at the start of each shift and update the whiteboard with the approximate delay time for printing.
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If Circulation is really busy, we may get requests to deal with printer jams, fill paper or change toner cartridges. Toner cartridges and paper are behind the Circulation desk. Anyone there can point out where they are kept in case you have forgotten.
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If you gather information helping students that you think we all need to know about, remember to write a note in the Reference Notebook. As we come on for our shift, we should be taking a look at it to keep abreast of new problems/concerns.
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If problems with any of this arises, please let us know so we can correct our procedures.
Thanks so much!!
Glendora Johnson-Cooper
[26 August] I just ran across a new type of UBLearns website that you might want to know about. It looks like textbook publishers now offer a pre-packaged Blackboard site that professors can use on our UBLearns. (see also 9/15 update note)
Students buy the textbook, which has a Student Access Key somewhere inside. They then go into UBLearns, click courses, click the course in question, access the main course webpage (usually the announcements page).
In order to access any of the content they need to enter their access key into a login screen on the far right.
There is a <more information> link that has a flash tutorial that walks the student through logon. It also says that once the student enters the 12 digit access key it expires so that no one else can use the key. It goes on to say that the student only needs to enter their UB User name and Password for future entry into the course content.
What I don't know is whether or not a student can use any other computer to access their course content once they use the 12 digit Student Access Key.--Cindi T.
[posted March 8] UGC112 -- Don McGuire's Class on World Civilization. These are the documents for the class (all 3 are in Word.doc format).
Possible objects for final paper
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/courses/UGC112_McGuire_Spring_04a.doc
Ugc 112h Final Paper Assignment
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/courses/UGC112_McGuire_Spring_04b.doc
UGC112H Final Paper Assignment Worksheet by Cindi Tysick
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/courses/UGC112_Final_Paper_Assign_2004.doc
[posted February 23] Hi Everyone,
Time for the COM101 assignment. Students need to find a peer-reviewed journal article from a set list of Communication journals. There is a new URL for the guide, http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/courses/com101/com_research.html.
They also have more topics they can search from, mass media, media communication or interpersonal communication PLUS their subtopic. The subtopic can be anything (gender, women, body image, sports, politics, elections, advertising). The 2 main databases that cover almost all of the journals listed are InfoTrac OneFile and ABI/INFORM.
I've run successful searches in basic mode using the following: (media or communication) AND subtopic (gender or women), (media or interpersonal or communication) AND (sports or athlet*).
Students need to print or photocopy the abstract and attach it to their paper. If there are any questions please feel free to send them my way.
Cindi Tysick
[posted January 23] It's spring (yeah, I know 4 deg.) semester and that means weekly library assignments for Mrs. Clarke CHE 376 course, 15 students. They know enough not to show up at Lockwood, but you may see them evenings at UGL. The assignments cover a variety of print, CD, and e-sources. We keep a folder of assignments and answer keys up at the SEL reference desk in the unlocked top drawer just to the left of the front opening (to the right of the opening in between the PC's if you are sitting at the desk).
I'm hesitant to take it back and forth each evening, but if you get a question and need to refer the material, you might as well keep it at UGL until the end of your evening shift, but please return it before leaving.
As with all homework assignments, the object is to show the student how to do it, not do it for them. They can be tricky. Mrs. Clarke will challenge them by giving them a different chemical name synonym to look up rather than the one actually in the index. Most of the assignments don't change much from year to year so don't worry if you see an older one in the book.
Note that many of them have an assignment list of compounds on UBlearns (each student with a number) so for many assignments they are each looking up different compounds or properties, but looking it up in the same source.
Of course, feel free to refer them to me. A. Ben Wagner
[posted January 7] Below are the specifics of what will be required of the first-year MBA students who will be conducting research on IBM this Thursday. In case any of these students utilize the ASL reference desks, I would recommend the following resources:
Business Source Premier - Contains a timely (dated Nov. 24, 2003) 55 page company profile. Just look for the "Company Profile" button at the top of the search screen and search for IBM. BSP is also a good source of current news stories on IBM. Do a "Company Entity" (select from drop down menu) search on IBM.
Factiva - Do a "Company Quick Search" on IBM. Provides a short company profile, financial summary, current news stories, etc.
ABI/Inform Global - Using Advanced Search; do a "company" (drop down menu) search on IBM. Good for current news.
Mergent Online - Provides annual reports back to 1991 (in PDF format), financial summary, history, etc.
Faulkner's Advisory for IT Studies - Provides a company profile.
Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys (only available in print at Business/Govt Docs - Call No. HC28 .S81) - This source provides the most timely industry analysis. IBM is mentioned in the "Computers: Hardware" and "Computers: Commercial Services" industry surveys.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Gregory J. Tong, 2814 ext.457
[posted January 23] It's spring (yeah, I know 4 deg.) semester and that means weekly library assignments for Mrs. Clarke CHE 376 course, 15 students. They know enough not to show up at Lockwood, but you may see them evenings at UGL. The assignments cover a variety of print, CD, and e-sources. We keep a folder of assignments and answer keys up at the SEL reference desk in the unlocked top drawer just to the left of the front opening (to the right of the opening in between the PC's if you are sitting at the desk).
I'm hesitant to take it back and forth each evening, but if you get a question and need to refer the material, you might as well keep it at UGL until the end of your evening shift, but please return it before leaving.
As with all homework assignments, the object is to show the student how to do it, not do it for them. They can be tricky. Mrs. Clarke will challenge them by giving them a different chemical name synonym to look up rather than the one actually in the index. Most of the assignments don't change much from year to year so don't worry if you see an older one in the book.
Note that many of them have an assignment list of compounds on UBlearns (each student with a number) so for many assignments they are each looking up different compounds or properties, but looking it up in the same source.
Of course, feel free to refer them to me. A. Ben Wagner
2003
[posted November 24] American Chemical Society Journals A-pages: links: http://pubs.acs.org/journals/ancham/index.html; http://pubs.acs.org/journals/ancham/index.html. Two ACS journals, "Analytical Chemistry" and "Environmental Science and Technology" have a long standing and confusing traditional of having a separately paginated "A" section (page A-1, etc.) in each issue. These are easy enough to find in the bound periodical, but they are not listed with in the online table of contents at the ACS site. Instead, the "A" section has its own separate page that is reached by clicking on the rightmost tab at the top of the journal home page. It is easy to miss this tab, especially since all the other ACS journals have a completely different format for their home pages. This is not a catalog issue so the only way I can think of to warn patrons is to put this on the PDP. If you can think of some other way to flag this for patrons, please let me know.--Ben Wagner
[posted November 17] APY108 has an assignment coming up that I did a BI for last week. They need to find a "site report" for any excavation and write a creative story using information from the reports. They were given the URL to a guide,
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/Collections/docs/apy108.html.
Students have been looking at the guide but relying on the web too much or not understanding that the books or articles don't specifically say "site report" in the title. For example if one wanted to get a site report for any place in Alaska they could do a subject search "Excavations (archaeology)--Alaska". An item that comes up is "The Late prehistory of Brooks River, Alaska : a model for analysis of occupations on the Alaska Peninsula". The record does not give any more detailed information but does have illustrations and maps. Students may sometimes have to piece together the geographic and material information from a number of sources.
If you or they have any questions please feel free to contact me.--Cindi Tysick
[posted November 4] There is now a second library research project for some of the Bio 200 students.
1 They are to discuss the role of national wildlife refuges, and specifically the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge. Go to the Fun Stuff @ Buffalo page: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/funstuff.html#iroq scroll to Iroquois and have them look at ALL the sites. [note: I added some new links to this recently and also an anchor--DJB]
National Wildlife Refuges
http://refuges.fws.gov/generalInterest/factSheets/index.html
Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (I told you it was great!!! ;) ) look for ecological integrity--there are some nice and EXTREMELY useful encyclopedic articles here.
2 the students need to pick two (2) organisms of their choice and describe their habitat, resource requirements, and possible predators (the organisms must be from two different kingdoms) there are a series of dictionaries and encyclopedias on plants, animlas, mushrooms, etc. or they can look in appropriate botany, invertebrat zoology, vertebrate zoology, ichthyology, etc. monographs for the systematics information (and there ARE some good WWW sites from .gov out there).
3 They need to discuss the effect(s) that a refuge has on natural selection and geetic drift as an evolutionary mechanism and select one of their organisms as an example.
The ELS articles are VERY helpful and they should consult the refernces to these articles for why BIOSIS Previews has some extremely good bibliographic citations (sadly, many of the citations are to journals and books we DO NOT have in our collections.
Paper is due on 11/5/03--Fred
[posted 3 November] There is another good resource to assist Bio200 students with the wild life refuge research.
Man and the Biosphere Program (US) "The mission of the United States MAB Program is to explore, demonstrate, promote, and encourage harmonious relationships between people and their environments building on the MAB network of Biosphere Reserves and interdisciplinary research. The long-term goal of the U.S. MAB Program is to contribute to achieving a sustainable society early in the 21st Century. The MAB mission and long term goal will be implemented, in the United States and internationally, through public-private partnerships and linkages that sponsor and promote cooperative interdisciplinary research, experimentation, education and information exchange on options by which societies can achieve sustainability." Much of the work of the MAB Program relates to ongoing research related to biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics. The 47 U.S. biosphere reserves include 99 legally protected sites under government or private ownership. A list of these US biosphere reserves is available, as is a general FAQs for these US reserves. US MAB also maintains an extensive inventory of plant and animal species in its MABFauna and MABFlora Online Database. The full, world-wide Man and the Biosphere Program (part of UNESCO) covers over 352 biosphere reserves in 87 countries.--Fred Stoss
[posted 22 October] The SEL Reference Collection has an index:
Powder diffraction file alphabetical index. Inorganic phases. QC482 .D5 P643 2 vols. Previously, students who wanted to view the data were referred to contact Ernie who would contact the Geology dept (they own the files).
A question came up recently concerning access to the files. Here is the current procedure for usage:
The 2 vol. set in SEL Reference is labeled stating that to view the files they should email Dr. Ross Giese in the Geology Dept. The students can go over and view the files and take notes. The files are copyrighted with the restriction from the publisher that no copies are allowed to be made. Dr. Giese's email is glgclay@buffalo.edu
[posted 21 October] Students in Bio 200, Evolutionary Biology, have a short report on a topic of their choosing. They are most likely going to be working in teams. There is no specific aspect of their assignment. If they want to contact me for specific help on a topic have them email or phone me.
There is, however, a TREMENDOUS first place to start for these biology students: The Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. We have the 20-volumes of this 2002 title in the SEL Reference Collection QH302.5 .E53 2002 and it is available online in its full-text format. You can point out that there are several levels of content in the ELS, advanced, introductory, and keynote (scholarly essays on SELECTED topics). The joy of this source is its hypertext links to all sorts of other sites in the work and external from ELS.
BIOSIS Previews, MEDLINE, Web of Knowledge, and SciFinder Scholar (especially for biochemistry and molecular biology/genetics) would be appropriate bibliographic utilities to suggest. This would be a great first-place-to-go for these undergraduate students.--Fred Stoss
[posted 14 October] Planning students are studying sections of Buffalo and will want detailed maps of blocks. Go to the Digital Sanborn Maps first. An example that has come up several times is shown on the Virginia Place page.
[posted 9 October] It's that time again. Time for the COM101 assignment. There are 2 this semester. 1 Fina a peer-reviewed journal article on communication and information technology or communication and a type of technology. 2 do a brief research paper on communication and some area of interest to you.
I have the guide up and a partial list of communication journals that are available full-text. Some students have an old version of this website and list of journals that has the database PA Research II (no longer offerred, use InfoTrac OneFile or EBSCOhost MasterFILE Select). So if they have that version disregard and use the new version.
If you have any questions or the student needs additional help please contact me.--Cindi Tysick
[posted 3 October] World Civ Assignment. Professor Price is having his students do the same World Civ term paper as years past but with a twist. In addition to writing about the history, archaeology, social structure, politics, and religion of an ancient city they also have to focus on some area of interest to them. If the student is interested in medicine what types of medical treatments were available or what types of diseases infected the population. If they are interested in women's issues then how were women treated in society or represented in religion.
All of Prof. Price's students are going through a hands-on session this week in place of their usual recitation. If you need more information about their assignment it can be found at http://www.ap.buffalo.edu/~adprice/ugc111/TermPaper.htm--Cindi Tysick
[posted 24 September] John Edens in Archives and several librarians on north Campus have reported that Architecture students are seeking the floor plans for Knox Hall. John wishes to inform us of the following:
"Since the events of 9/11/01, access to floor plans is restricted. It may be possible for persons to see a plan if they can provide written verification that seeing the plan is necessary for a course assignment.
To see the plan one should contact:David J Barnas, Physical Space Administrator, Facilities Planning & Design - Univ Facilities, telephone: 645-6333; e-mail: dbarnas@facilities.buffalo.edu."
Both John and I would appreciate it if you would try to obtain the name of the Prof. who made the Knox Hall assignment and let John and me know.
Thanks very much,
Dorothy S. Tao 829-3505; 645-2814, ext. 438; fax: 716-645-3859 e-mail: singtao@buffalo.edu
[posted 24 September] ASL is currently receiving a flurry of requests from instructors that wish to use our instruction rooms to teach their classes. For the record, our instruction rooms are for librarian-led instruction only. All other requests should be re-directed to the CIT Hands-On Computing Classroom Reservation Request page.--Chris Hollister
[posted 19 September 2003] We got a request today that might be a Classics course or a World Civ course. The student was suppose to find Websites that compared Modern Olympics to Ancient Olympics. There are some differences and misinterpretations of ancient customs. To get them started try the Perseus Project's "Ancient Olympics" site.--Cindi Tysick
[posted 18 September 2003] Bio 200, Evolutionary Biology, has an assignment for students to examine a current issue of a scholarly journal in the areas of evolution/evolutionary biology, genetics, ecology, or animal behavior. The periodical MUST be a scholarly, peer-reviewed article on a topic of the student's choosing.
SEL Librarians have gone through this before and our student assistants need to be informed. Those staffing the UGL Reference Desk on evenings need to be aware of this assignment, which typically is answered by:
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Pointing out the location of the current periodicals in SEL (and that the most recent issue is displayed and back issues are UNDERNEATH the slanted shelf)
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Sometimes the student will ask if the journal they selected meets the criteria of the assignment, namely, is the title they selected a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal
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Few students will inquire about peer-reviewed journal and what they represent; this is a good time to point out the Research Assistant section on periodicals and their differences.
Fred Stoss, Biological Sciences Librarian
Note: see Periodicals: Scholarly or Popular? below for places that tell the difference between journal types.--DJB
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