Fun Books Available!

Here at University Libraries, we've finally started back up our pleasure reading collection.  Last week, I posted about our contest to name that collection.  Today, I'm telling you a little bit about how you can browse books from that collection!

These books will be housed on the 2nd floor of Newman Library, just as you come in the front doors, and across from the Circulation Desk.  However, there are several ways that you can search Addison to electronically browse our pleasure-reading collection.  Check out a few of these tips:  http://www.lib.vt.edu/find/pleasurereading.html, and enjoy your reading!

Image from www.lib.vt.edu

Overview of Bibliographic Managers (Citation Software)

Although I'm at a meeting in Richmond today, I still wanted to impart some library-related information to you all! So, I thought I would recycle a presentation that I gave earlier this week to a group of emerging researchers in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences:  Introduction to Bibliographic Managers:  Why, When, and How to Manage Your Research.

Basically, the presentation gives a quick overview of four different bibliographic managers (MS Word, EndNote, Mendeley, and Zotero), and offered links to more information and tutorials.  I, and other librarians, are always available to come and speak/consult about citation managers, if you're interested! And, don't forget, we will be hosting a live EndNote webinar next Thursday, at 6:30 p.m.  More information about that is available:  http://www.lib.vt.edu/libnews/2011/2011-02-22.html.  Happy citing!

Introduction to Bibliographic Managers: Why, When, and How to Manage Your Research

View more presentations from Rebecca Miller

Library Contest: Name Our New Collection!

Image from Amazon.com

Help us name our new recreational (pleasure) reading collection!  Starting in March, Newman Library will have a rotating collection of popular materials and best sellers for you to read.  But, before the collection can be set out, we need to have a name for the new area.  All students, faculty and staff are welcome to submit suggestions to jnardine@vt.edu between now and 3/1/11.  Be sure to include "COLL NAME" in the subject line of the email.

News release from:  http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/notices/022311-univlibraries-namecollection.html

Upcoming Events: EndNote Webinar and Cooking Husbands in the Library

Over the next week and a half or so, there are two events sponsored by University Libraries that you may be interested in attending!  The first one, How to Cook a Husband, is one that I publicized a few weeks ago on this blog, but, just as a reminder, that event will take place at 2 p.m. THIS Friday (2/25) on the 4th floor of Newman Library--note:  this is a change from the original location!

The second event that you may be interested in is an EndNote X4 Webinar, hosted by yours truly and Heather Moorefield-Lang, the College Librarian for the School of Education.  The webinar will run from 6:30-7:30 p.m. next Thursday, March 3.  And, you can participate in it from the comfort of your own home (or office).  Please register for this webinar; registration and other information is available:  http://www.lib.vt.edu/libnews/2011/2011-02-22.html.  Once you register for the webinar, additional information about attending the event will be sent to the email address that you provide.

We hope to see you at the library (either in person or virtually) for these two exciting events!

Culinary History Highlight: A Presidents Day Treat!

Published in 1901 and "affectionately dedicated" to "the wives of our Presidents, those noble women who have graced the White House, and whose names and memories are dear to all Americans," The cabinet cook book:  Adapted from the White House cook book represents 440 pages of information on American food of all sorts. What better way to celebrate Presidents Day than to take a look at the recipes and food-related details that informed the Presidential wives of the 19th century.

Dedication page:  Click to enlarge and read

When I checked WorldCat, a union cataloging itemizing the collections of over 71,000 libraries internationally, I found that only one other library in the world seems to own this book; indeed, this item seems to be a true treasure of Virginia Tech's Culinary History Collection.

Even though the book itself may not be in the best condition (as you can see above), you can view the entire contents of this book--440 pages of recipes, illustrations, and even Presidential wives' portraits--online through our digitized Culinary History Collection:  http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/digital_books/pdf/TX715.G4818_1901.pdf

If you'd like to view it in person, you can always visit the University Libraries Special Collections, located on the first floor of Newman Library.  Happy Presidents Day!  

The Open Poster Repository for Biology and Medicine

The Faculty of 1000 has created a (relatively) new open access repository of posters from across the life sciences and medicine:  the Open Poster Repository for Biology & Medicine.  In this free resource, you can both view and deposit research posters--an opportunity to discuss research with a much, much wider audience.

The website for this repository suggests several benefits of sharing research posters:

• Often, scientific research presented in posters is essentially lost after the conference is over; a repository like this ensures that wide access to the posters continues
• Scientific posters often discuss new findings before any publication is developed or becomes available
• The discussion generated by posted posters may help researchers further develop and improve their work
• Sharing this type of work may help reduce research duplications

Again, you can both contribute to and benefit from this repository--check it out!  

Expert Research Tip: Using MeSH in PubMed

I've mentioned MeSH several times on this blog, and I frequently recommend using MeSH when I'm talking to a class or meeting with someone one-on-one.  But really, what is it?  How does it work?  And what are the benefits of using it?  My research advice for today?

Use Medical Subject Headings in PubMed to help you find more terms and more items that are relevant to your research topic.

First of all, MeSH just stands for Medical Subject  Headings.  The National Library of Medicine assigns numerous Medical Subject Headings to each article that appears in the MEDLINE (PubMed) database.  You can read a quick MeSH Fact Sheet right here.  Currently, there are 26,142 descriptors in 2011 MeSH, along with 177,000 entry terms (not MeSH, but the "lay people language" that will point you to the correct MeSH term(s)).  

PubMed offers three different online tutorials that teach you how to best use Medical Subject Headings:

• Searching with the MeSH Database
• Combining MeSH terms using the MeSH Database
• Applying Subheadings and Other Features of the MeSH Database

When you start using MeSH, you'll quickly realize that it's a great way to immediately locate completely relevant information AND gain an understanding of what language (vocabulary) the profession may be using to describe the particular terms or topics that you're looking for.  For example, although you may want to look for information on "heart attacks" in PubMed, if you search the MeSH database for this term, you'll immediately find out that medical literature uses the term "myocardial infarction" to describe your topic.  

Try it out, and as always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns!  

On Blogging: HNFE Librarian's 100th Blog Post

This is the 100th blog post on the Notes from Newman blog!  A happy coincidence, I was able to speak with HNFE 3224:  Communicating with Food on the topic of blogging, and "understanding social information."  Originally, I titled my presentation (embedded at the bottom of this post) "Understanding Social Media," but the presentation that developed really had to do with creating and consuming information via various social media platforms and tools.  So much information that students use these days comes from website, blogs, social networking sites, and other formats besides books and journals:  how can we address this in research-oriented courses?  Even the new APA style guide (6th edition) gives examples of how to cite blogs, vlogs (video blogs), podcasts, and even social networking (Facebook) pages.  This is a whole new world of information accessibility!

In addition to thinking about how new researchers (students) are accessing and using information found on the web, it's also important to think about the social information that students are putting out on the web.  In today's class, I spoke about online identity management; specifically, the class discussed ways that new or emerging professionals (today's undergraduates) can be proactive in developing a positive online identity.  "Personal branding" is sort of a trendy term these days, and really gets at this idea of consciously developing a certain image or reputation through social media and other web-related tools.

To bring this post back to the idea of blogging...blogging is a great way to do this--consciously develop a positive online identity and promote your intelligence and creativity!  For Communicating with Food, the instructor and I developed an extra credit opportunity that revolves around students writing blog posts for National Nutrition Month (NNM) and eatright.org's blog festival.  During NNM (March), nutrition bloggers have been asked to address the theme "Eat Right with Color," and students from HNFE 3224 will be writing and publishing posts for this theme on this blog!  Stay tuned for more information about that...I'm so excited about this, though, that I've already placed the NNM widget on my blog.

To accompany this presentation, I created an ePortfolio:  Social Information for Nutrition and Food.  This site lists books and journal articles that address using social media tools appropriately, specific social media tools, and best practices for using these tools.

The entire presentation from today is available:

Understanding Social Information

View more presentations from Rebecca Miller.

Next Generation Presentation Tools

I'm sure we've all heard the silly saying:  "Power corrupts...PowerPoint corrupts absolutely!"  Now, I fully admit that I rely on PowerPoint when teaching big classes or when presenting at a conference.  I think I use it well, and don't abuse it like some people may.  However, sometimes I want something more.  Fortunately, a slew of next generation presentation tools have recently emerged!  Take a look at some of these, and have fun with creating presentations:

• Prezi:  Described as a giant, virtual whiteboard for your presentation, Prezi allows you to present content in a non-linear fashion.  Very cool to play with, but beware:  you may feel a bit motion sick after using it or watching it for awhile!  
• Zoho Show:  Web-based presentation software, much like the others presented.  Allows for live audio chat with presenters/presentees.  Also, allows for easy import of PowerPoint slides into the web-based program.  
• Sliderocket:  Create web-based, online presentation slides.  No software downloading necessary.  Allows users to comment and answers polls in real time.  
• Google Docs Presentations:  Create and share presentations on the web.  No software downloading necessary, although you will need a Google Account.  
• 280 Slides:  Build and access presentations from online.  No software downloading necessary.  Often compared to Apple's Keynote software.  

I presented on Next Generation Presentation Tools about 8 months ago.  You can view my presentation via Slideshare (another great presentation sharing tool) below.  Some of the slides have live video or web pages embedded in them, which does not translate into Slideshare very well.  If you're interested in instructions for embedding live video or web pages into PowerPoint slides, check out some instructions here, or simply search YouTube for the instructions and demonstrations.

Presentation tools

View more presentations from Rebecca Miller.

Tutorial: Beyond the First Five Links (Using Google Better!)

Although I didn't find out about this webinar until it was archived (meaning, the "live date" for the webinar has already passed), it looks like it includes some very interesting information for helping students use Google better:

Beyond the First Five Links:  Using Google's Left-Hand Panel to Reveal the Good Stuff

I haven't watched it yet, but wanted to share with you all, since it seems like a pretty helpful webinar actually developed and presented by a Google staff member.

Expert Research Tip: Using DOIs, PMIDs, and Other Unique Identifiers

When I first started working in libraries (in 1999), a DOI was virtually unheard of.  When I first started working in academic and research libraries (in 2003), DOIs had only been around for 3 years, so a considerable amount of confusion still surrounded the concept.  Now, in 2011, I think the most people have a pretty good idea what a DOI does, and how it can be useful.  Even so, I still get questions about using DOIs, PMIDs, and other unique identifiers that can help you locate literature quickly and easily, especially if you are using EndNote, Zotero, or another bibliographic manager.  My expert research tip for today is:

Pay attention to unique identifiers on books and articles, and use them to save time as you organize your resources and research.

A bit of background on the four types of identifiers I will discuss:  ISBNs, ISSNs, DOIs, and PMID--

ISBN:  International Standard Book Number.  Example:  978-0060852566

The idea of the ISBN was first established in 1966; since 2007, all books are required to have a 13-digit number, which is why you will see books have a 10-digit and an 13-digit ISBN.  You can use the ISBN import book information into Zotero, and to find books if you are using LibX.  Finally, you can also search Addison, the catalog, for a book using its ISBN--you can simply drop down the main drop-down search box on the library home page (www.lib.vt.edu), select ISBN, and search that way.

ISSN:  International Standard Serial Number.  Example:  00987484

The ISSN is the unique identifier for a journal.  You won't be able to find specific articles with this number--use DOIs or PMIDs for that--but you will be able to locate the journal itself that way.  For example, you would use this if you were checking Addison to find our subscription information for a particular journal.  The instructions I wrote for the ISBN (above) in Addison also work for using the ISSN in Addison.

DOI:  Digital Object Identifier.  Example:  10.1186/1475-2875-9-284

I've often heard other librarians refer to a DOI as a social security number for a journal article.  A DOI will permanently link you to a particular article, regardless of the database that you find it in!  This is great, since publishers will often redesign their websites, making previous links to articles unusable.  You can even create a stable link to a journal article by turning the DOI into a URL.  The formula for creating a URL from a DOI is:  http://dx.doi.org/DOI

PMID:  PubMed Identifier.  Example:  21298748

The PMID will link you directly to the PubMed record for a particular article; the PMID will be found at the very bottom of an article's PubMed record.  You can go to PubMed, and use this number in the basic search box.  Remember, though, to sign in through Off Campus Sign In if you want to use Get VText to find the full text of the article you're locating.   

Basically, these numbers can really help you while you are conducting research in a database, or even in a commercial bookseller, like Amazon.  All books will have an ISSN, which can be a quick way for you to store or remember a particular book.  The same strategy works for articles that you find in PubMed--all articles will have a PMID.  Instead of jotting down the entire citation, you can jot down the PMID, and then simply type in that PMID when you need to access the PubMed record for that article again.  In other databases, look for the DOI--it will work the same way.  

If you are using a bibliographic manager--EndNote and Zotero are the most popular--then you can use these numbers to help you locate, and in some cases, easily import new references.  Images below show Zotero, on top, and EndNote, on the bottom:

Use the "magic wand" icon to search for DOIs, ISBNs, or PMIDs in Zotero

Use the remote desktop search in EndNote to search PubMed for specific PMIDs

Trial Access to IRIS Database of Funding Opportunities

University Libraries has set up a trial for the IRIS Database of funding opportunities, which is administered by the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

• The IRIS home page is available:  http://www.library.illinois.edu/iris/
• The actual search page is available:  http://iris.library.uiuc.edu/~iris/search.html

Please take a look at this resource and let me know what you think!  Please note:  the trial ends Friday, February 18, so this is a very short trial.  Check out other databases on trial via the University Libraries website:  http://www.lib.vt.edu/find/trials.html

New Books: January 2011

Per usual, here are a few highlights from the new books that University Libraries acquired in January 2011.  Use the tag new books to view highlights from previous months.  Remember, you can view the entire list of new materials acquired by the library here, and request new items to add to the library collection by filling out this form or contacting me.  Clicking on the title of each book will take you to the book's Addison record; all books are available for check out, until they are, of course, checked out.

Without further ado, new books from January 2011!

Agriculture and food in crisis:  conflict, resistance, and renewal

Read a brief publisher summary

Community nutrition in action:  an entrepreneurial approach

Read a brief summary and editorial review

The founding foodies:  How Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin revolutionized American cuisine

Read a brief excerpt from this book

Homesteading:  A backyard guide to growing your own food, canning, keeping chickens, generating your own energy, crafting, herbal medicine, and more

In the green kitchen:  Techniques to learn by heart

Read a brief publisher summary 

Uncommon grounds:  The history of coffee and how it transformed our world

Read a brief publisher summary

Around the Web: Online Identity Management

Last fall, I did an "around the web" post that focused on nutrition in the news.  I'd like to make this sort of post more of a regular feature on Notes from Newman.  On these features, I will link to blog posts from other blog authors (i.e., not me!) and other websites that addressed a particularly interesting or relevant topic.  I may add a few words of commentary, but for the most part, I'll simply be delivering a list of links that you may want to check out!  If you have any suggestions for posts that I can add or blogs that I can follow, just let me know!  Here's the first batch of "around the web" blog posts that you may want to check out.  The theme?

Managing identity, privacy, and personal branding in the digital environment:

Image from Lifehacker.com

• Managing Your Scholarly Identity, from The Undergraduate Science Librarian (1/12/2011)
• Virginia Tech Policy Safety Tip:  Facebook privacy (2/7/2011)
• A Guide to Protecting Your Online Identity, Mashable (4/21/2009)
• Personal Branding 101, Mashable (2/5/2009)
• Establish and Maintain your Online Identity, Lifehacker (5/10/2010)
• Six Steps for Checking your Facebook Privacy, Chronicle of Higher Education (2/7/2011)
• Your Digital Calling Card:  About.me, ProfHacker of The Chronicle (11/17/2010)
• Managing  Your Online Identity, Forbes.com (6/2/2009)
• Scholarly Reputation Management Online, Michael Habib (SlideShare)

"How to Cook a Husband" Culinary Event

At 2 p.m. on February 25 in Newman Library, Acquisitions Archivist Kira Dietz will be giving an informal presentation on the Culinary History Collection here are Virginia Tech. Titled “How to Cook a Husband: Household Management in the Culinary History Collection,” Kira’s presentation will focus on recent activities with the collection, as well as how the libraries acquire materials and what the libraries do with them once we have them. There is a lot more to this collection than cookbooks!  After the presentation, there will be a “show and touch” in the Special Collections conference room to share some new and favorite acquisitions. 

Find an Article Using its Citation!

Scenario:  you have a list of citations (from an article bibliography, a professor, etc.) and need to find the corresponding articles.  What's the quickest way to do this?

In general, you have several options:  checking our journal subscriptions, using Google Scholar, calling me....  University Libraries, though, offers a special Citation Linker that will allow you to plug in pieces of a citation to see if we have the full text.  The Citation Linker looks like this:

and is just available at the link above.  Try it!