Balfour & Newton Libraries

SPIE Digital Library trial access until 14th June

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:37:00 +0000

Trial access has been set up to the SPIE Digital Library by the Journal Co-ordination Scheme (in conjunction with ebooks@cambridge) and will run until 14th June 2012.

The SPIE Digital Library includes more than 310,000 conference proceedings, peer-reviewed journal articles and eBooks from the areas of astronomy, biophotonics, nanotechnology, sensors, lasers, electro-optics, communications, imaging, and more. SPIE is a not-for-profit educational society with over 17,000 Members worldwide.

Journals:

The journals are available in the ejournals@cambridge A-Z http://camsfx.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az listing

Proceedings of SPIE
Optical Engineering
Journal of Electronic Imaging
Journal of Biomedical Optics
Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS
Journal of Applied Remote Sensing
Journal of Nanophotonics
Journal of Photonics for Energy
SPIE Reviews
SPIE Letters Virtual Journal

eBooks:

There are currently 164 ebooks from 1989 to present available as an add-on (with an additional cost) to the SPIE Digital Library. The ebooks include titles from the SPIE Press series in optics and photonics:

· SPIE Press Monographs are authoritative reference books, textbooks, and handbooks.

· Tutorial Texts cover fundamental and emerging topics at introductory and intermediate levels.

· Field Guides present key information that students and practicing engineers and scientists need in a concise format.

A user guide http://spie.org/Documents/Publications/Digital%20Library/DL-User-Guide-2011.pdfwith information about the SPIE Digital Library and tips on how to search the site is available. It also shows how to set-up RSS feeds and utilize bibliographic, bookmarking, and research tools.

This trial is available both on and off campus. Off campus access is available via Raven logins, but for off campus access, users should use the links above, the Off campus access bookmarklet http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/toolbox/bookmarklet.htmlor the ejournals@cambridge A-Z http://camsfx.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/azlisting for journals. Shibboleth access (Institutional login) is being set up but is not yet available.

Please send all feedback on this trial resource to ejournals@lib.cam.ac.uk by 16th June 2012.

Wellcome Trust joins 'academic spring' to open up science - Guardian article

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:31:00 +0000

This interesting article from the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/apr/09/wellcome-trust-academic-spring?INTCMP=SRCH discusses how the Wellcome Trust is supporting the growing 'academic spring' campaign to allow all research papers to be shared online.

Nearly 9,000 researchers have now apparently signed up to boycott journals that restrict access to research papers (i.e. those published by Elsevier). The Wellcome Trust itself is about to launch a "'high calibre scientific journal called eLife that would compete directly with top-tier publications such as Nature and Science".

These are interesting times in the world of academic publishing. There will inevitably be consequences for academic libraries across the world. British universities currently spend £200m a year on journal subscriptions, which represents around 10% of the block grants that they receive from government, as outlined in this article.

Why do old books smell?

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:38:00 +0000

Readers in this library have said in past surveys that they either love or hate the 'smell of musty old books' in the library.

What do you think? I personally like it but am in fact now immune to the smell here now! It's nice when people come in and say how much they like it too.

Here's an article all about the science of why old books smell. It's all to do with volatile organic compounds, apparently:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/may/01/1

Rare book now on display in the Library

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:35:00 +0000

I have just put a different book in the glass display cabinet - please come and have a look at this amazing work!

The rare book on display from our collection is: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia restaurata: or, the copper-plates of Dr. Hooke's wonderful discoveries by the microscope, reprinted and fully explained. Whereby the most valuable particulars in that celebrated author's Micrographia are brought together in a narrow compass and intermixed, occasionally, with many entertaining and instructive discoveries and observations in natural history.London: John Bowles; 1765.

Balfour Library class mark: Folio 101.

The book is open at: Plate 26, The great-bellyed, or female Gnat. This is a spectacular copperplate engraving depicting a gnat under the microscope. All of the plates in this work gave readers an amazing insight into the miniature world of animals for perhaps the first time.

Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was an English instrument-maker, experimentalist and natural philosopher. In 1653 or 1654 he went to Christ Church, Oxford, initially as a chorister, but then serving as assistant to Robert Boyle. Hooke assisted Boyle with his experiments on the spring and the weight of air and was thus exposed to active scientific research.

In 1662 Hooke was working as curator for experiments for the newly formed Royal Society of London, his task being to provide three or four experiments at each meeting. Hooke published the demonstrations and commentaries he gave at these meetings in works such as the Micrographia, or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses, with observations and inquiries thereupon (1665). This book initiated the field of microscopy; Hooke applied his microscope to inanimate and animate objects, revealing remarkable features about their structure. His talent for drawing and attention to detail is evident in the many plates included in the volume, especially those of the fly, gnat and flea, and his text provides clear and precise descriptions of observations, and also explanations of the things observed.

Many of the observations he recorded in Micrographia were new. For example in his observation on the structure of cork he became the first scientist to describe cells (he coined that term because plant cells, which are walled, reminded him of monks’ chambers), and he was the first to describe the compound eye of the fly.

Forty years after Hooke’s death, Micrographiahad become difficult and expensive to obtain. The Micrographia was reissued in 1745 in a condensed form. This version, Micrographia Restaurata(Micrographia Restored) contains all of Hooke’s original engravings, most of which were printed from the original copper plates. The commentary is shorter and simpler than the original, but preserves the important features of Hooke’s original observations.

Sources:

King’s College London, Special Collections, Hooke’s Micrographia http://www.kingscollections.org/exhibitions/specialcollections/to-scrutinize-nature/boyle-and-hooke/hookes-micrographia

Patri J. Pugliese, ‘Hooke, Robert (1635–1703)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13693, accessed 18 April 2012]

Rod Beavan at http://www.roberthooke.org.uk/

Sutton, John (Apr 2001) Hooke, Robert. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net[doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0002424]

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrographia

New acquisitions

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:55:00 +0000

New books purchased

Comparative hearing in insects, edited by Ronald R. Hoy, Arthur N. Popper, Richard R. Fay. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag; 1998 Balfour Library shelfmark: Q.5 (78ii).

The evolution of sibling rivalry, by Douglas W. Mock and Geoffrey A. Parker. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1997. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFU (340i-iii) (2 copies on the Overnight Loan shelves, 1 copy on the Open Shelves).

Farmland birds across the world, edited by Wouter van den Weijden, Paul Terwan, and Adriaan Guldemond. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: qK.8 (5) (Quarto, large sized shelves).

Foraging behavior and ecology, edited by David W. Stephens, Joel S. Brown, and Ronald C. Ydenberg. Chicago, IL: London: The university of Chicago Press; 2007. Balfour Library shelfmark:GFU (339i-ii).

How humans evolved, 6th ed., by Robert Boyd, Jean B. Silk. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company; 2012. Balfour Library shelfmark: EO (278fi-ii) (Overnight Loan shelves).

An introduction to behavioural ecology, 4th ed., by Nicholas B. Davies, John R. Krebs and Stuart A. West. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.; 2012. Balfour Library shelfmark: GFU (138di-v) (4 copies on the Overnight Loan shelves, 1 copy on the Open Shelves).

Making sense of evolution: the conceptual foundations of evolutionary biology, by Massimo Pigliucci and Jonathan Kaplan. Chicago, IL: London: The University of Chicago Press; 2006. Balfour Library shelfmark: EO (334).

Statistical theory and methods for evolutionary genomics, by Xun Gu. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: EN (186).

Statistics: an introduction using R, by Michael J. Crawley. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.; 2005. Balfour Library shelfmark: EBB (80ii-iii).

Donations

The egg collectors of Great Britain & Ireland: a compilation of profiles of some 20th century egg collectors, by Andrew C. Cole and William M. Trobe. Leeds: Peregrine Books; 2000. Balfour Library shelfmark: K.9 (25a).

The egg collectors of Great Britain & Ireland. An update: a compilation of information additional to the original book published in 2000, by Andrew C. Cole and William M. Trobe. Leeds: Peregrine Books; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: K.9 (25b).

Riddle of the feathered dragons: hidden birds of China, by Alan Feduccia. New Haven, CT: London: Yale University Press; 2012. Balfour Library shelfmark: K.12 (6).

Donations from Cambridge University Press

Evolutionary history of bats: fossils, molecules and morphology, edited by Gregg F. Gunnell and Nancy B. Simmons. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2012. Balfour Library shelfmark: YV (15).

Theses

Extraterritorial prospecting and territory defence in cooperatively breeding meerkats, by Rafael Mares. Cambridge; 2012. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (513). (Library Office).

Propagation for the conservation and applied use of freshwater mussels, by Holly Barclay. Cambridge; 2010. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (512). (Library Office).

Structure and function of the regulatory regions of pannier, a gene involved in the bristle patterning of Drosophilidae, by Richard Wallbank. Cambridge; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (511). (Library Office).

Christopher Webb Smith special collection

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:47:00 +0000

As described on the Balfour Library website at http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/webbsmith.html we own well over 500 magnificent original water colour paintings of African and Indian birds and scenes by Christopher Webb Smith (1796-1871). They were presented to the Museum of Zoology by Mrs. Frances H. Atkinson, the wife of the Master of Clare College, in March 1903.

A few weeks ago I finally got to see one of the bound volumes of the Webb Smith paintings which is stored at the University Library because it is absolutely huge (elephant folio size or larger) and we do not have space, or the proper environmental conditions for it in the Balfour Library.

Cape birds, flowers and scenery was produced between 1839 and 1859. It consists of 56 original water colours mostly signed and dated by Webb Smith.

The pencil was added to give some idea of the scale of the book. It measures around 70cm tall!

Bookplate. Most of the books originally donated to the Museum were moved into the Library at a later date.

The title page itself is very impressive with beautiful colours and detail.

Cape birds, flowers and scenery is written on the urn.

One of my favourites depicts woodpeckers chasing insects on a tree.

Complete painting.

Close up up of the birds.

When you look closely you can see the fine pencil drawings beneath the paint.

This is my absolute favourite because I love kingfishers and it shows the Indian background scenery better - see how the water colours are so vibrant, they leap off the page.

Complete painting.

Close up of the birds.


I think the whites have been done very skillfully and beautifully.

I had a great time photographing these - they certainly attracted a lot of attention in the Manuscripts Reading Room! We are extremely lucky to own such magnificent items.

End of Lent Term 2012 information

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:39:00 +0000

Lent Term 2012 ends on Friday 16^thMarch. All books on loan from the Balfour Library must be returned by this date, or can be renewed for further periods unless they have been requested by another reader. Saturday morning opening has now finished until next term.

Vacation borrowing for undergraduates

This is permitted for the whole of the Easter vacation.

This means that you will be able to take a maximum of two books away from Cambridge which must be returned by midnight on the first day of the Easter Term (24 ^th April 2012). This applies to Overnight Loan books and Open Shelf books.

You can borrow books for the vacation period from 8:45am on Friday 16^th March. This is on a strictly first-come, first served basis. You may not reserve books before borrowing them.

Please see the library website at: http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/booksborrow.html for more information on how to borrow, return and renew books on loan from the Balfour Library.

You may be interested to know that the University Library and the Central Science Library (on this site) also offer vacation borrowing for undergraduates. See the UL website for more details at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/students/vacationborrowing.html

How to access online resources when you are away from Cambridge

The recommended route for accessing ejournals provided by the University remotely is as follows:

Go to the ejournals@cambridge website at: http://camsfx.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az
Enter the title of the journal you need (if it does not appear then there is no online subscription to it)
Click on the 'find journals by title' button
Click on the link for the journal title as appropriate for the particular year of publication of the article that you need
The Raven login box should appear
Enter your Raven userid and password and click on the 'Submit' button
You should then be taken to the host page for that journal and you can find the article(s) you need from there
(You only need to enter the Raven login once per session so you won't have to keep logging in and out each time you need a different journal)

Away from Cambridge, you will not be able to get the full text of ejournal articles through searching PubMed or Google / GoogleScholar, or directly from the journal's homepage for example, as you will not be recognised as being a valid member of the University of Cambridge and will not be allowed to download them. The recommended route as above should guarantee you the access to the content you are entitled to.

It is strongly recommended that you check the ejournals@cambridge website as above to see whether you will actually be able to access particular online journals remotely BEFORE you leave Cambridge. See also the eresources@cambridge website at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/ for access to particular databases, such as Scopus and Web of Knowledge. See the 'Access Route' link next to the journal or database title to check this. Some online journals are not accessible outside of the University network so you may wish to download or print off articles from these before you leave Cambridge.

Raven passwords

If you do not currently have a Raven password and think you may need one to access the Web of Knowledge or Scopus databases (to search scientific literature) or online journals and databases when you are away from Cambridge, you should apply for one following the instructions given on the University Computing Service 'How do I get a Raven password?' website at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/cs/docs/faq/n5.html This page will also help you if you have lost your Raven password.

Troubleshooting ejournals access

Finally, if you are having trouble accessing ejournals and eresources remotely using your Raven password please see the guidance provided on the Central Science Library's 'Raven FAQs' website at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/CSL/ravenqanda.htm

Easter period closing dates

The Balfour Library will close for Easter at 5:00pm on Thursday 5^thApril and will re-open at 8:30am on Tuesday 10^th April. The library will be open as usual throughout the Easter Vacation however, see our opening hours at http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/open.html

We wish you a very Happy Easter!

Clair and Jane

Nature Climate Change journal now available

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:13:00 +0000

Nature Climate Changehttp://www.nature.com/nclimate/about/index.htmlhas been added to the Journals Coordination Scheme's Nature Platinum subscription for 2012.

Access to this title will shortly be available in LibrarySearch http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/and ejournals@cambridge http://camsfx.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az

New online book recommendation form

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:24:00 +0000

I would like to introduce the Balfour Library’s new online book recommendation form, which has kindly been created for me by the Clinical School Computing Service.

It is called ‘Recommend a book’ and it can be linked to from the ‘Quick links’ menu on the library website’s homepage at http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/index.html, or you may wish to bookmark the direct URL which is http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/form/pubform.php.

I would just like to reiterate here that book recommendations are always welcome (from members of the Department of Zoology) - please do use the new online form to recommend books that you would like to see in the library. We really do want to develop our collections to make them as relevant and well-used as possible so please do keep recommending titles suitable for purchase!

Your feedback on this new form would be most welcome.

New website for postgraduate students

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:21:00 +0000

I have created a new library website just for postgraduate students!

I have named it ‘Postgraduate resources’ and you can link to it from the main library website’s homepage at http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/index.html, or you may wish to bookmark the direct URL which is http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/pgrad.html. There is also a ‘Quick link’ to it (as ‘Balfour & Newton Libraries’) from the Department’s ‘Postgraduate Training’ website.

The left-hand menu provides links to relevant library websites or resources that I consider would be most useful to you, including the link to the new ‘Recommend a book’ website that the Clinical School Computing Service kindly created for me. I have also included a link to this form from the library homepage main menu. I would just like to reiterate here that book recommendations are always welcome - please do use the new online form to recommend books that you would like to see in the library!

At the top of the right-hand side of the website is a news feed for the Balfour Library News Blog – if you click on news headlines there you will be taken directly to the blog. I aim to update this on a regular basis (and it would also be great if you could sign up to the blog to receive automatic updates!). The blog is where I post all the important news regarding new digital resources (such as citation management tools, mobile apps, new e-books and journals), events, and new acquisitions, among many other things. I put it all here rather than bombarding you all with ‘allzoo’ emails, so don’t miss out!

Underneath this, there are ‘Quick links’ to other websites of interest, including to the library’s ‘Undergraduate resources’ page, in case you need more information about things as a supervisor.

In the main area of the website I have added the LibrarySearch widget so you can search the library catalogues for printed and electronic resources easily and quickly.

I hope that you will find this website useful; please do let me have your feedback on this and on the new online book recommendation form.

This blog is now mobile-phone friendly!

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:08:00 +0000

I have now amended the settings on this blog so that when you view it on a mobile phone it automatically displays a mobile friendly interface.

Your feedback on this is welcome.

Over 220 years of news delivered to you online - The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003) - from ProQuest Historical Newspapers

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:31:00 +0000

The University Library is pleased to announce access is now available by subscription to The Guardian and its sister paper The Observer from the first issues up to 2003. The Guardianstarted life as The Manchester Guardian in 1821 but changed title to The Guardian in 1959.

The papers are fully cross-searchable with the other newspapers on the ProQuest Historical Newspapers platform, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times andThe Times of India. As well as allowing browsing of discrete issues, there are multiple ways to search and across different content types (articles; cartoons, advertisements etc.).

Guardian & Observer on / off campus is available at: http://ezproxy.lib.cam.ac.uk:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/hnpguardianobserver?accountid=9851

Alternatively use the links on the eresources@cambridge A-Z list or the ejournals@cambridge A-Z gateway to access The Guardian and The Observer on and off campus.

New e-book available

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:04:00 +0000

Plasticity, robustness, development and evolution, by P. Bateson, and P. Gluckman. Cambridge University Press, 2011.http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511842382

E-books can be accessed via the direct URL given above, or via the online catalogue, LibrarySearch at http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/.

See the full list of e-books available here: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/libraries/ebooks_coll.html

Trial access to JoVE - Journal of Visualized Experiments

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:17:00 +0000

Trial access has been set up to JoVE by the Journal Coordination Scheme and will run from Friday 24th February until Friday 9th March 2012.

Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) is a journal devoted to the publication of biological, medical, chemical and physical research in a video format. Articles are peer reviewed, and content is indexed by PubMed. JoVE is published in 6 sections. More information about coverage within each section can be found in the attached file

To access the trial, visit the URLs below

Jove General

http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk:2048/login?url=http://www.jove.com/general

Jove Neuroscience

http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk:2048/login?url=http://www.jove.com/neuro

Jove Immunology and Infection

http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk:2048/login?url=http://www.jove.com/i2

Jove Clinical and Translational Medicine http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk:2048/login?url=http://www.jove.com/medicine

Jove Bioengineering

http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk:2048/login?url=http://www.jove.com/bioengineering

Jove basic protocols

http://linux02.lib.cam.ac.uk:2048/login?url=http://www.jove.com/basic

This trial is available both on and off campus. Off campus access is available via Raven logins, but user must use the links above. Access via the ejournals@cambridge A-Z listing will be available shortly.

Please send all feedback on this trial resource to ejournals@lib.cam.ac.uk by Wednesday 14th March 2012.

New acquisitions

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:43:00 +0000

New books purchased

Handbook of the birds of the world. Volume 16: tanagers to New World blackbirds, edited by Josep del Hoyo ... [et al.]. Balfour Library shelfmark: q K (64) (Quatro, large-sized book shelves).

Lemurs of Madagascar and the Comoros. The IUCN Red Data Book. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK, by Caroline Harcourt and with assistance from Jane Thornback. Gland: Cambridge: IUCN-the World Conservation Union; 1990. Balfour Library shelfmark: YW (39).

The neurobiology of an insect brain, by Malcolm Burrows. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1996. Balfour Library shelfmark: Q.5 (94i-ii) (Overnight Loan shelves).

Neuroscience, 5th ed., edited by Dale Purves ... [et al.]. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc.; 2012. Balfour Library shelfmark: q GF (13ei-ii) (Overnight Loan shelves).

Reaping the benefits: science and the sustainable intensification of global agriculture. London: The Royal Society; 2009. Balfour Library shelfmark: q GGZ (2) (Quarto, large-size shelves).

Seabird islands: ecology, invasion, and restoration, edited by Christa P. H. Mulder ... [et al.]. Balfour Library shelfmark: K.8 (65i-iii) (2 x Overnight Loan shelves, 1 x Open Shelves).

New theses

Mechanisms that induce, promote and restrict nuclear reprogramming of somatic cells by nuclear transfer to the Xenopus oocycte, by Vincent Pasque. Cambridge; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (509) (Library Office).

The primate brain: evolutionary history and genetics, by Stephen H. Montgomery. Cambridge; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (510) (Library Office).

Qualitative transcriptional reprogramming of somatic cell nuclei with Xenopus laevis oocyctes, by Richard Paul Halley-Stott. Cambridge; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (508) (Library Office).

Donations

The evolution of anisogamy: a fundamental phenomonen underlying sexual selection, edited by Tatsuya Togashi, Paul Alan Cox. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: ENE (3).

The insects: structure and function, 4th ed., by R. F. Chapman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1998. Balfour Library shelfmark: Q (45div) (Overnight Loan shelves).

Metal contamination in aquatic environments: science and lateral management, by Samuel N. Luoma, Philip S. Rainbow. Illustrations by Jeanne Di Leo. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: GGW (218i-iii).

New zoology text available as an e-book

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:35:00 +0000

Development of the nervous system, 3rd ed., by Dan H. Sanes (2012) is now available on the MyiLibrary platform at: http://lib.myilibrary.com/Open.aspx?id=299420&src=2.

It will soon be visible on the online library catalogue, LibrarySearch, at: http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/

The Balfour Library also has 2 hard copies on the Overnight Loan shelves, and one on the Open Shelves (2 week loan), at shelfmark GF (216c).

Balfour Library Conservation Project - there's window cleaning too, of a sort ...

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:59:00 +0000

One very neglected area of the special collections storage has been the old wooden cases with glass sliding doors, where some of the more precious items are shelved.

The glass is very dusty and, along with the rest of the cabinets and shelves inside, has not been cleaned for decades. The NADFAS volunteers have been tackling these recently.

The dust makes the glass appear dull.

The amount of dust is clearly visible here. It's on the inside and the outside of the cabinets.

Inside, the books are also very dusty, and show signs of damage through incorrect handling when being removed from the shelves.

The cabinet doors slide open and shut. There is a huge amount of detritis from books that has accumulated over the years.

The volunteers have been cleaning the glass by wiping with a very slightly damp microfibre cloth, then wiping it with a dry one, and leaving to dry completely. The same method is used for the shelves. Getting in between the sliding doors to clean the glass is still problematic though, despite Pam's magic feather duster (unfortunately I don't have a photo of that!). We cannot use special glass cleaner or indeed any liquid around the books and shelves either.

Diane vacuums the shelves and sliding mechanisms (after having checked that nothing significant from a book is there first of course!) using our amazingly quiet Nilfisk vacuum cleaner.

The result? Well, lovely clean shelves, books and cabinets!

You can actually see what's behind the glass!

Looking much smarter.

The books themselves look much cleaner and neater, and have been repaired slightly with the black cotton tape, securing loose bindings.

The books won't have to sit on dust or detritis anymore.

Another problem is how many of the books have been shelved so that they lean over to one side. This is very damaging. After the books in these cabinets have been cleaned library staff will re-shelve all of them so that there are no gaps where books can lean over, or if there are, adding suitable book ends.

Now I have to decide what the volunteers should tackle next...

Balfour Library Conservation Project - the volunteers have now cleaned 2,000 books!

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:14:00 +0000

There are around 6,000 books in our special collections that require cleaning, so this is a real milestone!

The 2,000th book to be cleaned was a volume of Descrizione e notomia degli animali invertebrati della Sicilia citeriore : osservati vivi negli anni 1822-1830, by Stefano delle Chiaje. Tome 1-8. Published in Naples, 1841-44. Balfour Library shelfmark: qHL (3).

Susan and Diane removing the 2,000th book from the shelves for cleaning!

Title page of the book.

Lovely book bindings.

The volume is from the collection donated by Alfred Merle Norman (1831-1918), a clergyman in Co. Durham. He began studying marine biology during the early 1850s and during the 1860s was an important participant in John Gwyn Jefferys' expeditions to the Shetland Islands.

Norman collected specimens from all over the British Isles and also dredged in Norwegian fjords. He published major work on Protozoa, Porifera, Coelenterata, Mollusca, Crustacea, and other invertebrates. His collection was acquired by the British Museum (Natural History).

Norman's library, which incorporated John Gwyn Jefferys' library on molluscs, is now part of the special collections here at the Balfour & Newton Libraries.

An article on Norman can be found in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 68, pp. 69-98 (1980), which includes a bibliography of his publications.

A short biography of John Gwyn Jeffreys, 1809-1885, can be found on the Royal Conchological Society website at: http://www.conchsoc.org/ (click on the Molluscan Interests tab, then click on History, then on Eminent Conchologists).


Alfred Merle Norman's impressive bookplate.

Me with the 2,000th book - the volunteers got their own back for all the photos I've published of them!

Well done and thank you very much to all of the volunteers for their hard work so far.

Audubon Mobile Field Guide Apps

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:26:00 +0000

If you research North American species, or work or holiday in North America and need to know what that insect / bird / mammal / fish / plant / amphibian / spider / marine organism you just saw was then maybe the Audubon Mobile Field Guide apps are for you!

According to the National Audubon Society the apps feature "high quality photographs, range maps, animal sounds and and the ability to create your own lifelists and record sightings".

The apps can be downloaded to iPhone and iPod touch, iPad, Android, NOOK Color and Kindle Fire devices.

There's also an African wildlife field guide app.

There is of course a fee for all of these. Find out more at: http://www.audubonguides.com/field-guides/mobile-apps.html

The Audubon Society also provides field guides online on their website. You need to register (for free) to access the online guides, which, as well as the apps, provide: information on 5,548 North American species, species identification by quick guide, family/taxonomic/common name, and advanced search; reference content including 2,300 bird songs and calls; 8,000+ photographic images; natural history, family descriptions, taxonomy, habitat, endangered species, community etc.; the ability to create lifelists and record sightings.

See their website for more information at: http://www.audubonguides.com/home.html

New MyiLibrary ebook download service

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:39:00 +0000

ebooks@cambridge is pleased to announce that almost 300 MyiLibrary ebooks can now be checked out and downloaded by Cambridge staff and students. Downloadable titles will increase in number over time, as publishers sign up to this service with MyiLibrary.

Downloading to popular e-readers is supported, including the Sony e-readers, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and the Apple family of mobile devices, the iPad, the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as Android devices.

Please see this blogpost for further details of this new service: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/eresourcesblog/?p=669

Find out more about ebooks@cambridge here: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/ebooks/

National Libraries Day 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:15:00 +0000

National Libraries Day is devoted to all types of libraries, library users, staff and supporters across the UK.

Join in by organising a celebratory event, contributing to our forums, tweeting with the #NLD12 hashtag and visiting your local library on the 4 February or the week leading up to it. How will you get involved?

Find out more at: http://nationallibrariesday.org.uk/

New acquisitions

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

New books purchased

The animal kingdom: a very short introduction, by Peter Holland. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: EO (333i-iii). (2 x Overnight Loan shelves, 1 x Open Shelves).

Birds of North America and Greenland, text and illustrations by Norman Arlott. London: Harper Collins Publishers; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: KZ.7 (92).

Solid biomechanics, by Roland Ennos. Princeton, NJ: Oxford: Princeton University Press; 2012. Balfour Library shelfmark: EAD (14) (Overnight Loan shelves).

New theses

Chemical genetics to study how cells enter mitosis, by Paola Marco-Casanova. Cambridge; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (506) (Library Office).

Food theft by deceptive alarm calls in the fork-tailed drongo, by Thomas Patrick Flower. Cambridge; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (505) (Library Office).

The role of morphogenetic protein signalling in zebrafish vascular development, by John Edward Cannon. Cambridge; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: Thesis (507) (Library Office).

Book donations

Multi-system endocrine disruption, by Jean-Pierre Bourguignon ... [et al.]. Berlin: Heidelberg; 2011. Balfour Library shelfmark: GEK (56).

ARTstor digital library now available

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:01:00 +0000

The University Library is pleased to announce the acquisition of access to the ARTstor digital library. The acquisition was made possible by contributions from the faculties of Architecture and History of Art, Classics, Divinity, English, History and Philosophy of Science, and Modern and Medieval Languages, and from St. John’s College, Trinity Hall, and Wolfson College. The Library is extremely grateful for their support.

ARTstor is an online resource containing more than one million digital images relating to the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences. The collections comprise contributions from outstanding international museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, photo archives, and artists and artists’ estates.

There are several history of medicine and natural sciences images available on ARTstor:
featured collections include Cook's Voyages to the South Seas (Natural History Museum, London), Hill Ornithology Collection (Cornell University Library - some spectacular images from Audubon and Gould), Magnum Photos, Vesalius Anatomical Illustrations (Northwestern University). I've put a poster highlighting these on the Library noticeboard.

ARTstor allows the user to search using keywords and advanced search terms or browse by collection, classification or geography. Users can sort their search results and organize images into groups and share those groups with colleagues and students.

A range of tools allow users to make the best use of these high resolution images for research and pedagogical purposes and users can register for a personal account to access to additional features.

The ARTstor downloadable guides highlight important content and collections for subjects including African and African-American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Architecture and the Built Environment, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Design, Decorative Arts, Fashion and Costume, History of Medicine and Natural Science, Languages and Literature, Latin American Studies, Maps and Geography, Medieval Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Music History, Native American Studies, Photography, Religious Studies, Renaissance Studies, Theatre and Dance and Women’s Studies.

ARTstor is available on campus at http://www.artstor.org and off-campus using your Raven login and the link to the site which can be found at the eresources@cambridge Database A-Z. It is also available on a range of mobile devices.

Borrowing books from the Balfour Library only possible during opening hours next week

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:43:00 +0000

The library management system, Voyager, is being upgraded throughout the whole of next week beginning Monday 12th December. This means that the self-issue system will not be available so books will have to be issued manually by library staff, during library opening hours only.

Due to library staff taking annual leave on various days throughout the week the Library Office may be unattended for short periods at times; in this case please come back later and do not remove books from the Library without speaking to a member of library staff first.

The online catalogues, Newton and LibrarySearch, will still be available during the downtime - click on this link to access the catalogue and for more details on how the downtime will affect the information displayed: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/newton/. You will still be able to access online journals as usual.

You will not be able to use the 'Library Account and Renewals' widget linked to from the Balfour Library website home page (under the Quick links menu), or from LibrarySearch, during the downtime - please ask a member of library staff for assistance with renewing books.

Please take all of this into account when planning your borrowing.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused, and thank you for your assistance.

P.S. No book stamping actually required!

Android version of Qiqqa available

noreply@blogger.com (Clair Castle) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:23:00 +0000

This is now available to download from the Android Market, in a beta version. You can also download it via Qiqqa.

It allows you to sync your documents down to your device and view them offline. See the Qiqqa website for more information at http://www.qiqqa.com/ (see the Download tab).

I haven't been able to try it out on my own Android phone (annoying phone memory problems) but I'd be pleased to hear from anyone who has used it.

If you're interested in using Qiqqa in general let me know and we can go through it together and I can perhaps put you in touch with others in the Department who are using it.