Frequent and timely dispatches from Virginia Tech's Newman Library for members (faculty, students, and staff) of the Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise Department, supporting the mission of delivering, translating, and disseminating health-related advances in the nutrition, food, and exercise sciences.
Did you know that the National Institutes of Health archives various lectures, conferences, and seminars that may be of interest to some of you HNFE folks? On the NIH Videocasting & Podcasting website (http://www.videocast.nih.gov/PastEvents.asp), a full archive of past webinars can be viewed and downloaded. Of the 550 webinars currently posted, some that you may want to check out include:
This is the time of the semester where I start reviewing what happened and anticipating the next semester.... Because of this, I decided it was time to send my semesterly update to all of the departments that I work with. For HNFE, the following initiatives are the ones that I consider most successful:
Weekly Librarian Office Hours in Wallace 342-A (every Thursday, 3-5 p.m.). Check back at the beginning of next semester for an update on Spring 2011 Librarian Office Hours!
This blog. Google Analytics tells me that this blog has an international following. Hello, readers in Sydney, Australia!
Instruction and research consultations. I met with three HNFE classes over the course of the Fall 2010 semester; the course guides for each of these classes can be found here: http://www.lib.vt.edu/subjects/hnfe/index.html. I've already received requests to speak with several classes during Spring 2011, so contact me now if you'd like me to visit your class and/or develop online course materials!
Updating HNFE-related library collections. Although I post a monthly sampling of the new books that we acquire here at Virginia Tech Libraries, you can stay up to date on new materials by following this page: http://dsp.lib.vt.edu/newbooks/newbooks.php. I welcome your recommendations, so just let me know if there are any materials you'd like to suggest for the libary to purchase.
Finally, take a look at the image below: it's a word cloud depicting all of my blog posts this semester. What do you think--representative of what goes on here? Click through to enlarge the image.
NPR's 2010's Best Cookbooks--I might have to buy some of these for our collection here at Newman, since we don't have any of them yet. Also, that reminds me: I am more than halfway through the book budget for HNFE this year--if there's anything (like a best cookbook of 2010, or anything else related to HNFE) that you'd like to recommend as an addition to Newman's collection, just send me an email!
The campus, and library especially, seems far too quiet today! With the students (for the most part) gone, the library is preparing for the holiday at the end of this week with the following changes to our regularly scheduled programming:
Items requested from remote storage will not be pulled from the storage facilities until Monday, November 29
Newman Library will close at noon (12:00 p.m.) on Wednesday, November 24 and will reopen at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 27. We will stay open until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday (11/27), and open again at noon on Sunday, November 28.
The SciTech Reference Desk will not be open on Saturday, November 27, but will reopen at noon on Sunday.
Addison, the library catalog, will be upgrading on Monday, November 22. Please contact me, or the SciTech Reference Desk if you need to search for anything in the catalog.
As always, remember to use Off Campus Sign In if you are searching any library databases from off campus
While no one would be surprised to hear that academic libraries can aid the development of science literacy in students, a new NSF report discusses the impact of rural and small town libraries on the development and maintenance of science literacy in ALL Americans!
A new, $2.5 million grant from the NSF will assist small town libraries in "tapping into scientific expertise in their local communities"--essentially creating "adult science clubs." Interestingly, the group conducting this research at Oregon State University reports that American adult science literacy is high compared to other nations and younger students.
The report also states that library outreach can help younger (elementary and middle school) students become engaged with science in new, interesting, and fun ways--exactly what they need to increase science literacy. The full report can be read here: http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/node/13720.
Just another reason to love your libraries :) Happy Friday!
Good news! If you're working with qualitative data and looking for an analysis tool, Virginia Tech Libraries now offers NVivo 9 (the newest version of NVivo) software in the Data Services Room (Newman 2030) and the ECS Lab (3320 Torgersen).
Stop by and take a look today! If you're interested in receiving assistance, our local NVivo expert is education librarian Heather Moorefield-Lang. More information can be found here: http://www.lib.vt.edu/libnews/2010/2010-11-15.html
It's been awhile since I posted a tutorial (my microphone has been malfunctioning, which means that this tutorial will be silent!); however, I've been getting so many questions about this topic lately that I thought a tutorial might be useful! So, this post is almost like a frequently-asked-reference-question/tutorial hybrid...
Theses and dissertations are veritable goldmines of information for researchers embarking on a project. They (ostensibly) offer an in-depth literature review, and their bibliographies often point new researchers in the right direction. Additionally, many newer graduate students look to existing theses and dissertations to get an idea of what will be expected of them during their graduate careers. Theses and dissertations are in high demand at the library. Fortunately, here at Virginia Tech, we offer a variety of ways to access dissertations and theses.
The Virginia Tech ETD database (Electronic Theses & Dissertations) provides access to over 18,000 works by Virginia Tech students. Starting in 1997, electronic submission of a thesis/dissertation was required at Virginia Tech, which means that we have built quite the repository. Although some works may be restricted, or not publicly accessible, the vast majority of them are, which is great for researchers around the world!
Virginia Tech also subscribes to several databases offering indexing and full text of theses and dissertations from around the world. Most of the information about these databases can be found here, on the VT Libraries website, but take a look at the following tutorial for more information on how to use the Virginia Tech ETD collection to search for HNFE-related theses and dissertations! (Remember, you can click the small square in the lower right hand corner of the video to make it full-screen)
Yale, MIT, and other universities have started offering free and open access to online courses taught by faculty members. Open Yale courses and MIT Open Courseware both try to expand the reach of educational materials by reducing barriers to quality information. Although the course information is accessible through these websites, the material is also accessible through iTunes U, another platform for gaining access to quality educational materials.
There's no denying that we have access to great minds and great course here at Virginia Tech; however, the open courses at Yale and MIT offer a broad range of courses (from art history to technology in healthcare) that may include some we don't have here at VT. Check them out for some fun weekend learning!
On my Google homepage, I have an RSS widget that delivers information from all of the blogs I follow and a News widget that delivers updated CNN headlines. Over the past several days, I've noticed that nutrition-related topics seem to be dominating these feeds. Food and eating are clearly topics that resonate with most of us, but the stories below are ones that I found particularly interesting, if not particularly scholarly. You've probably around seen them, but if you haven't--enjoy!
There was an interesting article in the Virginia Tech News this morning that discussed VBI's investigation into "text duplication" in scientific research. Essentially, researchers at VBI used a computer program, eTBLAST, to scan through 72,011 free full-text articles in PubMed Central and compare text. Overall, they found that introductions and review articles tended to repeat text from previous, related articles. The hope is that, with this research, researchers will bring an awareness to articles that will result in more innovative, original work. Additionally, a representative from VBI mentioned that he hoped this work would help establish guidelines about what may or may not be acceptable text duplication: "Before crossing the line between acceptable and unacceptable writing, it is important to know the location of the line.” You can read the entirety of the researchers' article, published in PLoS One, here.
As a librarian, I am well aware that this line is difficult to grasp, and difficult to explain. Avoiding plagiarism, though, isn't so difficult. Attributing sources and paraphrasing are two techniques that can help younger researchers avoid the problem altogether. At University Libraries, we have an entire guide devoted to nearly all of the citation styles available: http://www.lib.vt.edu/find/citation/
Overall, it is very interesting to note that plagiarism is a problem that plagues all levels of scientific research. Learning good writing habits early on, though, is a sure way to help stop plagiarism's spread.
University Libraries has, once again, released its new materials list for October 2010! Below, you will find a few items that could be considered highlights of our new additions. As always, any reviews posted below are through University Libraries subscription databases, so if you're off campus, you may need to sign in (via Off Campus Sign In) to read the reviews. Enjoy!
I am going to make a last minute decision about office hours this afternoon (Thursday, November 4): after reading all of the information about tonight's evening game, I have decided to cancel office hours in Wallace 342-A from 3-5 p.m. If you'd like to talk with me, I invite you to make an appointment; I can come to you or you can come to me, here in Newman Library. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Next, it's time for another installment of Frequently Asked Reference Questions!
We've gotten to the point in the semester where certain books are in high demand. Some of these books are textbooks (like An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data Analysis, which currently has 4 patrons waiting for it) and some are pleasure-reading books (like Eat, Pray, Love with 6 patrons waiting for it). Regardless of the type of book, everyone wants to know:
If I request a book (place a hold on it), how long will it take before I actually receive it?
There are actually a wide variety of answers to this question. Most of all, it just depends on various factors. Eat, Pray, Love, for example, won't be available for some time, for that sixth person on the list, simply because all five people before the sixth person must get their allotted 21 days, which is the minimum amount of time anyone gets to keep a book he/she has checked out. Generally, though, the basic rules are as follows:
The patron who currently has the booked checked out gets to keep it for a minimum of 21 days. A patron who recently checked out the book will have the due date changed to 21 days from the initial check out date. A patron who checked out a book more than 21 days ago has their due date changed immediately.
In either case, the patron has a few grace days to return the book. This allows time for the recall notice to go out and for books checked out to distance education patrons time to be mailed back.
After this grace period, the patron is fines $1/day for each day the item is not returned. Patrons have been known to accept these fines and keep the book well over the new due date; we have no ability beyond fines and notices to the patron to return the book in question.
As soon as the item is returned and checked in, you will receive an email noting the book is now ready for you to check out. If you login toMy Library Account, you will see the status of all your requests. Look for a status ofON HOLDSHELF; that indicates a book is waiting at the Circulation Desk to be checked out. If there are no further HOLDS indicated; it should be waiting for you.
If additional holds are indicated, you may need to wait your turn before checking out this book as other people have also requested it ahead of you. Questions? As always, just let me know!
Among all of the election excitement, an article about local food in Roanoke appeared in yesterday's Roanoke Times. Field to Fork, a Roanoke-area networking event that puts food producers and food buyers in contact, seemed to bring up quite a few significant topics related to local food. Christy Gabbard of VT Earthworks was interviewed for the article, which can be found here. And, even though I've shared this on this blog before, you can view a copy of the VT Earthworks local food guide here.
It's that time of year again...pumpkins are are starting to mold, and retail establishments want to make us all think that the holidays are right around the corner. For many of us, though, something more ominous is looming right around the corner--research papers! During the next month, VT students and faculty members will be working hard to write and grade these papers.
Fortunately, University Libraries offers The Research Paper Scheduler, a tool that will allow you to plug in the current date, a project's desired date of completion, and the topic of the paper. With this information, the Scheduler will generate a loose timeline that will give you a good idea of how you should set up your workflow and complete tasks related to your Big Research Paper. Try it!
