The primary purpose of this newsletter is to keep the Physical Sciences community at the University of Chicago fully aware of electronic research options.

There is a wide range of topics and issues that we would like to address but are unable to because of space and time constraints. So, we must be selective.

However, if there is a topic you would like us to cover - please feel free to contact Barbara Kern at 702-8717 / bkern@uchicago.edu or your bibliographer.

Article: How to Find Book Reviews Electronically
By Brenda Rice, Bibliographer for Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science

We have recently had several questions at the Crerar Reference Desk about finding book reviews electronically. So we decided it was important to provide you with information about the major electronic resources that contain either full-text book reviews or citations to the reviews.

The following list includes URL's, date coverage, and tips on how to limit your search effectively.

Note: Avoid searching by author of the book being reviewed. Some databases consider the author to be the author of the review, not of the book.

Resources : "Keeping Current": Current Awareness Services
By Fritz Whitcomb, Bibliographer for Physics, Astronomy and Technology

Ever want to see all the table of contents for a particular journal as soon as it is published? Or, have you wanted to do regular, periodic searches of the recent journal literature with a few keywords? This is exactly what current awareness services allow you to do. There are a variety of email article and journal alerting services available today. You can create personal profiles for your research interests and receive regular updates of new articles in those areas. The Library provides several of these services, as do some database vendors and individual journal titles -- most of these services are free and are part of the Library's online subscriptions. Featured here are a few.

Current Contents
One of the most comprehensive current awareness services available is Current Contents. Research update subject areas include: agriculture, biology, chemistry, environment, physical and earth sciences, life sciences, clinical medicine, engineering, computer science, technology, business, social and behavioral sciences, and arts and humanities. You may set up alerting profiles based on subjects, keywords, and by specific journal titles or sets of journal titles, allowing great flexibility in the content of results you receive.

ScienceDirect Alerts
This is the alerting service for all Elsevier ScienceDirect journals. Your profile searches must be run as a saved search, so there is no automated alerting with this system at this time. ScienceDirect Alerts uses sophisticated LEXIS-NEXIS search language that allows the construction of complex search statements, including abstract and title keywords, journal titles, date since search was last run, etc.

Science
You will be notified by Science (AAAS) when new content is posted online in the area of your interest. You can select up to seven different alerts, including the two Table Of Contents alerts for new issues. Your choices include: notification when the new issue of Science is posted; the full Science Table of Contents; This Week in Science, a short summary of the research content; Editor's Choice: Highlights of the recent literature; Science news summaries; Sciencexpress, notification of research articles posted online before print publication; and announcements from AAAS/Science about matters of interest. Many other individual journals offer alerting services for their titles. Look at the title you are interested in for more details or contact the Crerar Reference Desk.

The Crerar Library reference staff is always available to assist you in selecting an appropriate current awareness service for your needs. Also, if you have any questions or would like some support in setting up profiles for any of these services, please contact Andris Kanderovskis, Search Analyst of the Crerar Library Computer Search Services department at 702-8337 or crerar-computersearch@lib.uchicago.edu

For additional information and sources, please visit our Keeping Current web page at http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/crerar/current/

Database Tips : UofC's Online Catalog ~ IPAC
By Barbara Kern, Science Reference Librarian

A. Searching for Print and Electronic Journals

B. Entering Partial Titles

Remember that capitalization does not matter by spelling does!

What's New : "Looking Back" ~ Backfiles
By Andrea Twiss-Brooks, Bibliographer for Chemical and Geophysical Sciences

Much attention is given to the most recent publications in science. While keeping current is important, it is also necessary to survey older literature in science.

Described here are some "deep" backfiles (long historical runs of journals starting prior to 1985) that are available to the University of Chicago community in electronic format. All the collections and titles described here, and other are accessible via the library online catalog and the Science electronic journals list http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/crerar/db/ej/

Other :      Session

Learn the basics of using EndNote to search and retrieve references from bibliographic databases using filters, connection files, or by direct export.

What is EndNote? http://www.endnote.com/

For more information contact: Barbara Kern 702-8717 / bkern@uchicago.edu http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/crerar/current/infofair.html

Preparations are beginning for the new exhibit at the John Crerar Library "Science and Humor".

We are looking for good examples of scientific wit and humor.Any suggestions for further investigation or examples you may have collected yourself would be appreciated!

Please contact Barbara Kern at 702-8717 or email bkern@uchicago.edu.

Thank you to those who have contributed thus far.

Other : New Titles

Crerar Library
www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/crerar/newbooks/

Chemistry Library
www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/chem/recacqs.html

Eckhart Library
www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/eck/eckacq.html

American Chemical Society -

Beginning May 2002, all ACS journals will be available electronically from volume 1 issue 1. Starting with the Journal of the American Chemical Society in 1879, this backfile will include all ACS research publications. Check http://pubs.acs.org/ for further updates.

JSTOR -

The General Science collection of JSTOR includes Philosophical Transactions from 1665-1997, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London from 1800-1997, Science from 1880-1996, Scientific Monthly 1915-1957, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) from 1915-1999.

Other collections of interest include Mathematics (with 11 titles, including Annals of Mathematics and the American Journal of Mathematics) and Statistics (with 12 titles, including Journal of the Royal Statistical Society and Annals of Mathematical Statistics). For a full list of collections and titles, with years of coverage, in JSTOR check http://www.jstor.org/browse?config=jstor

The Electronic Resources Update (ERU) is written and produced by the Science Libraries at the University of Chicago. This quarterly publication is distributed in print, on the web and via email. To subscribe contact :
Barbara Kern, 702-8717 or bkern@uchicago.edu.