The Science Citation Index 50th Anniversary

The Science Citation Index has been going for 50 years and, although I don't remember it that far back, I do remember the days of having to look up subjects in printed annual indexes (see picture), making literature searching an extremely laborious and hit-and-miss affair. The print was so small we had to keep a magnifying glass in the library to lend to users!


There are old videos showing how it used to work (see the one below for a taster), an interview with the founder Eugene Garfield, a timeline of its evolution, a podcast on the recent enhancements and more at this link. Science Citation Index 50th Anniversary page

It's now part of the Web Of Science. See what it looks like now via Birkbeck eLibrary (Bbk staff and students only)

Saturday workshops for science students

The Library's programme of Saturday workshops for the Summer term is now out. This term they are aimed at postgraduates and ones that science students may find useful include: Sat 10th May 2014 11.30am - 1.30pm Improving Your Search Skills. Learn to get the best out of your searches on Library catalogues, databases and the web, with some time for hands-on practice. Sat 24th May 2014 11.30am - 1.00pm Keep up to date using current awareness services. Keep up to date with the latest journal articles in your field by using current awareness services such as ZETOC. Especially useful for PhD students. Sat 31st May 2014 11.30am-1.00pm Introduction to the Web Of Science. An introduction to searching the resources on the Web of Science, including the Arts & Humanities, Science and Social Sciences Citation Indexes) and Medline (biomedical research). Saturday 21st June 2014 11.30am - 1.00pm Managing Your References Using EndNote An introduction to EndNote, reference management software that helps you store, manage and cite your references correctly. There will be an opportunity for some hands-on practice. To book for these or any of the other workshops this term, please visit http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/news/infoskills You might also be interested in booking for workshops on the Academic Writing Day for Postgraduates being put on by colleagues in CLPD – details here http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/services/facilities/academic/birkbeck-academic-writing-day-citing-and-referencing-properly We look forward to seeing you at a workshop. Don’t forget, if you can't make a workshop but need help in any of these areas or anything else to do with Library and information skills or tracking down information, please contact me and I can help out by phone, email or a one-to-one appointment. s.godsell@bbk.ac.uk

Use of bioscience PhD theses in research - survey

The British Library and the Society Of Biology are running a survey on the use of bioscience PhD theses. Whether you have never used a bioscience PhD thesis, or if you use them every day, they would love to hear your views. You could win a £50 BL shop voucher!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MGR6VSZ

Did you miss our Saturday workshop on Web Of Science?

Did you miss our Saturday workshop on Web Of Science?

Here are some resources to help you make the most of this powerful journal article database:

Birkbeck Library guide to Web Of Science
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/elib/DWOK2012.pdf/at_download/file
 

Web Of Science Quick Reference Card
http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/qrc/wos-corecoll_qrc_en.pdf
 

Online tutorials
http://wokinfo.com/training_support/training/web-of-knowledge/
 

YouTube videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/WoSTraining

TalkScience at the British Library

Discuss scientific topics with like-minded people at the British Library's TalkScience evenings.
TalkScience@BL are café scientifique style events where an expert provides a short yet provocative introduction, followed by a discussion amongst the audience.

The next event is Patently Obvious? on 4th March
Scientists have long used patents to protect their inventions and allow them opportunities to commercialise their work. However, recent attempts to patent human gene sequences have raised questions over whether a sequence of DNA is an invention or a discovery and highlighted some of the challenges in assessing the patentability of biomedical developments.

More details and booking:
http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/experthelp/science/talkscience/talkscience.html

Filling up fast!

There are only 10 places left on our Web Of Knowledge workshop on 15th Feb, don't miss out on learning to use this powerful search tool - book your place here http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/global/workshop_timetable?orgunit=LIB

See what previous participants have said about our workshops:

"This was a really very well delivered clear workshop "

"Very very good session - will be really useful"

"Very well-structured, thought through and practical workshop "

We look forward to seeing you at the workshop.

Workshop on Web Of Knowledge

Our Saturday workshop programme for this term is now available.
A useful one for Science students is the Introduction to the Web Of Knowledge (now called Web Of Science)  workshop on Feb 15th. This database enable you to search the contents of over 6,000 science journals and 5,000 biomedical journals by topic or author and also allows you to find articles that have cited useful articles that you have found.
There is also a workshop on how to keep up to date in your subject area (useful if you are doing a long project or dissertation).
There are two workshops on protecting and promoting yourself on the internet and social media - Who Am I? My Digital Footprint and Manage Your Online Reputation.
Book your place at http://www.bbk.ac.uk/mybirkbeck/global/workshop_timetable?orgunit=LIB
All sessions will take place in the Library seminar room on Level 1 of the Library. We look forward to seeing you at a workshop.