John Muir's papers digitized online

The University of the Pacific Library is home to the papers of John Muir, famed naturalist writer, founder of the Sierra Club, and forefather of the environmental movement. Digital images of all of John Muir's journals and drawings in the Univ. Pacific Library's Special Collections are now accessible online, as part of the Holt-Atherton Special Collections Digital Collections. The journals consist of 78 volumes and over 7,000 pages written between 1867 and 1913. The drawings consist of 371 images.

John Muir related Web sites of particular note:

• John Muir’s Birthplace
  
• Dunbar’s John Muir Association
  
• John Muir Trust
  
• John Muir National Historic Site, Martinez
  
• John Muir biographic sketch from the National Park Service [source of the John Muir portrait shown above].

Search: Books about John Muir in the college library.

Climate Creeping onto Texan Agenda

Heard on NPR's Morning Edition, November 26, 2007 · "Texas emits more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other state. And if Texas were a country, it would be the seventh-largest carbon dioxide polluter in the world.

Texas's high carbon dioxide output and large energy consumption is primarily a result of large coal-burning power plants and gas-guzzling vehicles, both of which contribute to the pollution problem. But while many Texans think bigger is better, there are signs of an attitude change on energy consumption."

[listen to the story]

Conservation now available online

Conservation is now available online for Oberlin College library users. Our subscription is accessible only at the publisher's website, Blackwell Synergy, rather than the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center (EJC). The magazine is published by the Society for Conservation Biology, supported in partnership with six other influential organizations in conservation: the Pew Institute for Ocean Science, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, World Wildlife Fund, Nature Conservancy, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, and University of Washington. Find the title on OBIS as Conservation (Seattle, Wash.).

The scholarly journal of the Society, Conservation Biology, is online at the EJC, but this sister publication (previously titled Conservation in practice and sometimes referred to as Conservation magazine) is not part of the OhioLINK-Blackwell agreement. Paper copies of these titles are in the science library.

Reduced Hours for Thanksgiving Break

The library closes at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday of this week, to observe Thanksgiving.

We will be open on Friday afternoon from 1-4:30 p.m. only, and return to normal hours on Saturday and Sunday (12:30-5:30 p.m. and 12:30-11 p.m., respectively).

If you need to access online library resources from off-campus during the break, login to the college proxy server in advance (see Connect from Off Campus on the library's web site).

Questions? Chat with us online! obescience on Yahoo, AIM, Meebo. Quick Meebo access

Nanostructures, nanobiotechnology, nanofabrication, oh my!

Have you explored the new all-things-nano journal from the American Chemical Society? Check it out: ACS Nano.

See also the free website for the nanoscience community hosted by ACS @ ACS Nanotation. The image gallery and nano picks features are especially noteworthy. Contribute to the Wiki, submit a question to a nanoscientist, and be part of the commnity.

Questions are Good - send 'em our way!

We have more ways you can contact us! Student staff in the science library are now monitoring the science library's general IM account: obescience. Find our obescience chat window (Meebo widget) on the library's Ask a Question page. Or add obescience to your IM list of friends - we want to be your buddy. You can also contact me - the science librarian - with the widget over on the right side bar (blue box, Contact me) or alisonricker (yahoo, AIM). I'm not at the computer as reliably as the student staff, so please leave a message and your email address so I can contact you later!

Send us any question you have about using the science library, accessing electronic journals, searching for articles that are primary sources, recommended formats for citing references, or any science library-related mystery you're contemplating (is it true that you can't get trapped in the movable compact shelving?) - no question is too big or too small! Heck, we'll even tell you how to add OBIE$ to your ID. And the difference between print quota and OBIE$ needed for photocopiers - we've had a lot of practice with that question. Or even - our favorite - how to find a pencil sharpener (yes, we have two. Do you prefer electric or manual?). Don't be shy - talk to us!

E-Books! So many books, so little time, all at your fingertips from OhioLINK

The Electronic Book Center at OhioLINK offers thousands of new titles, a large number of which are from Springer, a noted publisher of high-quality science monographs. One title featured now at the ebook center is Interfacial Nanochemistry: Molecular Science and Engineering at Liquid-Liquid Interfaces.

The Advanced Search option allows precise searching of keywords in title or text or chapter/section, etc., with various ways of focusing the search (e.g., subject area, date of publication, publisher). My search on "climate change" within the subject area "Environmental" resulted in 135 titles, including this 2007 popular science book from Springer:
Hot House: Global Climate Change and the Human Condition, by Robert Strom.

Note that you *can not* find this book in OBIS. Not all of the titles in the ebook center have been cataloged for member libraries' catalogs, or even the OhioLINK central catalog, so take advantage of the search options offered at the ebook center to find new stuff!

OhioLINK offers even more electronic books than those at the ebook server - note the icons lined up at the bottom of the web site (you might have to scroll down a bit to see them) - including Oxford Reference and Safari Books on computer and technology titles. Go read!