ucla is245 sum07 final

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Some Thoughts onScience & Engineering Reference

By Sara TompsonUSC Science & Engineering Library Team Leader

For Professor Mary Niles Maack'sIS-245 Information Access. Summer 2007

UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies

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S&E Reference• Introduction• Reference• Reference Librarians• Scientists and Engineers• Science and Engineering Literature• Some S&E Key Databases

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S&E Reference: Introductions - You• Any science or engineering

backgrounds?

• Any desirous of scitech librarianship?

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S&E Reference: Introductions - Me• Physical sciences

and/or engineering librarian for 20 years

• Academic, corporate, research positions

• Reference and/or research required in all

[http://isd.usc.edu/~sarat/]

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S&E Reference: Introductions - Me• USC S&E Library: 1970 to date; combined two

libraries [www.usc.edu/libraries/science] • One of 4 “center” libraries: Leavey (UG), Doheny

(Grad), and VKC (Soc. Sci.)• Current model Team=Librarians, Center=Staff• Our team of 5 selectors – Life Sciences, Physical

Sciences, Engineering• Charged with: collection development, instruction,

outreach and reference• Librarians as faculty

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Reference• New user needs

• Winnowing, vetting• New niches for librarians & info

professionals• Education, training

• Similar skills and competencies required• Listening! Core of Reference Interview• Friendliness• Patience• Curiosity• Persistence

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Reference: 21st Century User Needs• Solving Info Overload• Trusted Sources – Identifying, maximizing searches• Avoiding plagiarismRecent PAMNet discussion excerpt:Me: “…I've often found that physics grad students are quite

unfamiliar with searching citation databases, and appreciate demonstrations and tips.”

Original querent/new physics librarian* [post-analysis]: “The grad students who came to my class had never done a database search -- every paper they needed was handed to them by a professor… It threw me off a bit when they had never used Google Scholar and hadn't even heard of arXiv.org….”….”

* Used with permission

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Reference/Instruction: Blend & Expand• Have always been complementary• Instruction portion of reference has

grown, with ease of access on Net• A USC goal - integrate/embed both

services physically and electronically at point(s) of need, discovery - Can you think of examples?

• IL Standards as guides – ACRL, ASEE, etc.

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Guides that Can Also Facilitate Reference

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Reference Librarians Competencies*• Digital literacy• Commitment to life-long learning• Thoughtful, clear communicators

to diverse populations• Agents for positive change• Learning space providers

* [Re-envisioning the Mission of the 21st Century Information Services Environment: Foundational Roles for Academic Libraries. Report from the University of Southern California Information Services Division Dean’s Task Force. November, 2005.]

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Scientists & Engineers: Similar, not Same• “Engineers use their colleagues as a

resource more often than scientists”• “Scientists use literature more than

engineers”• Engineers use the literature differently from

sciences and often need different types of literature....• For instance, engineers read more trade

journals and internal reports than scientists do.”

[Tenopir, Carol and King, Donald W. Communication Patterns of Engineers. (New York: Wiley/IEEE, 2004), p. 25.]

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S&E Literature• Introduction to a field -> Specialized

Encyclopedias• Philosophy of a field:

Classic texts Annual review series

• Development of a field: Annual review series Literature review articles

[Ackerson, Linda G. Literature Search Strategies for Interdisciplinary Research: A Sourcebook for Scientists and Engineers (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2007), p. ix.]

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S&E Literature• Guides and Bibliographies [and review articles] outline the

organization of a field's literature, as well as seminal sources. For example:• Stern, David. Guide to Information Sources in the

Physical Sciences. (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2000)

• Craighead. H.G. “Nanoelectromechanical Systems.: Review. Science 24 November 2000, Vol. 290. no. 5496, pp. 1532 -1535 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.290.5496.1532

• LC “Science Tracer Bullets” *• ASEE-ELD Engineering Literature Guide Series *

[*Ackerson, Linda G. Literature Search Strategies ... p. ix.]

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[http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/tbs.html]

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[http://eld.lib.ucdavis.edu/publications.php]

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S&E Primary Sources• “Landmark” publications, per LC, e.g.

• Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica, Charles Darwin's Origin of Species,

• Current research – “First hand …observations and/or measurements taken in the lab or in the field.” Univ. Calgary: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~natsci/science311/311ComparisonTableW07.pdf• Conference Proceedings• Preprints• Journals

• Raw data - even more primary? Note: Libraries are now storing more.

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S&E Key Databases& Search Engines

• Undergraduate vs. Graduate – some differences

• UG (my take; others may disagree!)• Subscription: ProQuest• Subscription: OCLC First Search platform, if at

your institution• Free: Google Scholar• Free: Google Patents• Free: Scirus (http://www.scirus.com)

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S&E Key Databases• Graduate, Faculty, Researchers (my take)

• Web of Knowledge (ISI) platform• Current Contents• Web of Science: Science Citation Index, Social Science

Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Index• Journal Citation Report• Essential Science Indicators

• Engineering Village 2 (Elsevier) platform• Compendex• Inspec, other available

• American Chemical Society’s SciFinder Scholar• ChemAbstracts much faster online• Chem sources, patents, etc.• Very useful despite local file nuisance!

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Bibliographyof items not already cited within presentation

Assoc. of College & Research Libraries/ACRL “Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education”: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm

ACRL “Information Literacy Standards for Science and Engineering/Technology”: http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/infolitscitech.cfm

USC Libraries “Re-envisioning the Mission of the 21st Century Information Services Environment: Foundational Roles For Academic Libraries”: http://isd.usc.edu/~sarat/TF21_Report.pdf

Tompson, Sara R. “Requisite Competencies for Recruitment and Retention.” Science & Technology Libraries, Special Issue Title: Science and Technology Librarians: Recruitment, Training, and Retention. 27:1/2, pp. 241-258.

Tompson, Sara R. “Scirus – for Scientific Information.” Electronic Resources Review. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. http://www.istl.org/07-winter/electronic3.html

THANK YOU!! sarat@usc.edu