You may now access licensed library e-resources from off-campus using your Kerberos login, in addition to MIT web certificates, via MIT’s Touchstone.

This is also true for the handful of e-resources that currently require certificates even while on-campus.  This means that you can now use these resources on shared or borrowed computers, where you normally wouldn’t want to install your personal certificates.

Touchstone is single sign-on across MIT applications, so if you have recently used Touchstone to access Your Account in Barton, Stellar Course Management, wikis.mit.edu, or other Touchstone-enabled tools at MIT, then access to the e-resources will be seamless.  Otherwise, Touchstone will prompt you to choose between using MIT web certificates and your Kerberos login.

When off-campus, be sure to use Vera to access these resources, so that Touchstone is properly invoked.

Learn more details, as well as other paths besides Vera that will provide authentication:  Accessing Licensed Electronic Resources

Learn how to manage your articles and cite your references more effectively in these hands-on workshops. No advance registration required.

All workshops will take place in the Digital Instruction Resource Center (DIRC), 14N-132.

EndNote Basics

EndNote is a “personal bibliographic software” package that allows you to create and manage a database of bibliographic references.

Attendees will create a personal database of cited literature by importing references from resources such as Barton, Web of Science, PubMed, & other sources of published literature. Your database can be used to automatically generate in-text citations and bibliographies in your manuscripts. It can also help you organize and manage your PDF files.

• Friday, 10/16: 12-1pm
• Tuesday, 10/20: 5-6pm

RefWorks Basics

RefWorks is a web-based resource designed to help you organize references and create a bibliography. RefWorks allows you to search, retrieve relevant citations, easily cite references as you write your paper, and build your bibliography. It allows users to create individual or group accounts.

• Thursday, 10/15: 5-6pm
• Wednesday, 10/21: 12-1pm

Managing Your References: Overview of EndNote, RefWorks, and Zotero

Using citation management software to create and maintain a collection of references is becoming more common and important in today’s academic world. These software packages allow users to search databases, retrieve relevant citations, and build a bibliography to be added to a paper or thesis or stored for future reference. But which software package should you use, and how do you get started?

This session will focus on EndNote, RefWorks, and Zotero, the three major options for citation software at MIT. We will include a discussion comparing and contrasting the three softwares, and we will introduce some of the basic concepts and functionality of each program.

• Wednesday, 10/14: 5-6pm
• Thursday, 10/22: 12-1pm

Can’t make the classes and need help?  Try our research guides for citation software help, or ask us!

Learn about ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research), the world’s largest archive of research data for the social sciences.  Next week (Oct 5-9, 2009), ICPSR will be broadcasting live free webinars to help you understand and utilize its many data resources.  Topics covered include:

• Data on minority populations
• Graphing quantitative data & Web 2.0 tools for visualization
• Protecting respondent confidentiality
• American Community Survey
• American National Election Survey
• Harmonized data sets
• Documentation of research data
• Quantitative literacy/Using data in teaching
• Online analysis of data
• And more!

Visit http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/or/ormeet/program/index.jsp to review the abstracts and slides and to register to attend the webinars.  Note: while these are presented in the context of the meeting of ICPSR Official Representatives, the webinars are free and open to the public; all members of the MIT community are encouraged to register and attend.

Can’t make the live webinars?  View them anytime at: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/or/ormeet/program/index.jsp.

For more information about ICPSR, contact MIT’s Official Representative, Katherine McNeill, at mcneillh@mit.edu.

The MIT Faculty established a new policy on March 18, 2009 that makes their scholarly articles openly available on the web.   The Libraries have been working with the Faculty Committee on the Library System to make this process as convenient as possible for the faculty, as called for in the policy.

One key effort has been to work with publishers to ensure that MIT papers will be handled smoothly under the policy, and we are pleased to announce that the American Economic Association (AEA) has confirmed its cooperation.  MIT authors do not need to prepare an amendment to the AEA publication agreement or take any other special action in order to publish with the AEA under the MIT policy.

We anticipate that this will be the first in a series of announcements about publishers cooperating with the MIT Faculty Open Access Policy.   To track publisher responses, we are offering a new web page.  More publishers will be added to the page as information becomes available, and questions about  publishers not yet on the page may be sent to Ellen Duranceau, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing Consultant.

To submit a paper under the policy, please send the final submitted manuscript, post peer-review, but prior to publisher’s formatting,  as an email attachment to oapolicysubmissions@mit.edu.

For more information:

MIT Faculty Open Access Policy

Publisher Policies

Ellen Duranceau, Scholarly Publishing & Licensing Consultant

Many of the services featured on the MIT Libraries’ web site are available from a mobile phone on the MIT Mobile Web.

To get to the MIT Libraries’ mobile site, visit http://m.mit.edu from your mobile device’s web browser.

The site is currently optimized for iPhones.  In the future, we plan to create versions optimized for other mobile phones.

From the Libraries’ mobile site, you can:

• View hours & locations for each library
• Ask questions and request a meeting with the librarian for your subject
• Read news from the MIT Libraries on our blog

Read more about the mobile web site.

What else would you like to see on the mobile web site? Give us your ideas!

Special thanks to Andrew Yu and the MIT Mobile Web team for their help in developing the MIT Libraries’ mobile web site.

MIT joined four other universities in launching a new “Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity” on Monday September 15, 2009.    The goal of the compact, according to its author,  is to allow “the two journal publishing systems to compete on a more level playing field” by providing  “equitable support for the processing-fee business model for open-access journals.”

To support this goal, the five universities have pledged to support fees for open access publication.  Specifically, the universities commit to “the timely establishment of durable mechanisms for underwriting reasonable publication charges for articles written by [their] faculty and published in fee-based open-access journals and for which other institutions would not be expected to provide funds.”

MIT Provost Rafael Reif reflected on the significance of the compact:  “The dissemination of research findings to the public is not merely the right of research universities: it is their obligation.   Open-access publishing promises to put more research in more hands and in more places around the world.   This is a good enough reason for universities to embrace the guiding principles of this compact.”

In addition to MIT, the other initial signatories are Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, and the University of California at Berkeley.   Other universities are encouraged to join at the compact web site.

MIT news story

Compact web site

Inside Higher Ed

PLoS article by Compact author and Harvard professor Stuart Shieber

There are now more reasons to come study in the Lewis Music Library! This summer some of the listening carrels on the mezzanine were removed to make room for four large study tables. The Music and Theater Arts Section has provided two iMac computers with music software — they have Finale notation software now, and more music software will follow. Use is restricted to the MIT community; show your ID at the service desk to get the password.

The tables were provided by the Class of 1982 Music Library Fund. There are also computers with Peak LE6 audio software on the mezzanine and Sibelius music software on the main floor. The Lewis Music Library is located in Bldg.14E-109 and library hours are posted on the web.

Renovations in Barker and Dewey Libraries have created great new spaces to study!  The MIT Community is invited to Open House events at each library.  Please come visit and celebrate with us!

Barker Library Open House
Where: Barker Engineering Library (10-500)
Reading Room (under the Dome)
When: Wednesday, September 16, 4-6pm
Remarks at 4:30pm, Refreshments served

The old “journal racks” in the Barker Reading Room have been removed to open up the space and give way to a more flexible design.  New area rugs, fresh paint, refinished furniture and improved lighting make this iconic space more inviting for quiet study.

Dewey Library Open House
Where: Dewey Library (E53-100), First Floor
When: Thursday, September 17, 4-6pm
Remarks at 4:30pm, Refreshments served

The new, improved Dewey Library offers a secure 24-7 study space, an area designated for quiet study, and numerous power-enabled study carrels. There are 12 brand-new group study rooms, each with LCD screen and white board, which can be reserved online. The brighter, more open space also features many ecologically-friendly touches, such as cork floor tiles and energy-efficient lighting.

Video conferencing is now available in the Barker Library Media Suite!

Need to meet with someone who is off-campus for the day, or perhaps on the other side of the world?

Barker library is now equipped with an H.323 compatible (IP video-conferencing) system – this system can only be used with other H.323 systems (no Skype, etc.).

The Barker Media Suite is available anytime the library is open, but MIT community members may make reservations by contacting the Barker Library Service Desk.

Other resources and capabilities in the Barker Media Suite:

• DVDs and videos: view items from Barker’s collection of engineering-related DVDs and videos
• Viewing area: use for small group viewings of web-accessible seminars, lectures, and other video material available through MIT World, OCW, and non-MIT sites
• Presentation space: hook your laptop up to the 48″ plasma screen for small group presentations (or use the instruction computer attached to the lecturn)

More information about the Barker Media Suite.

Good news…  One of MIT’s favorite databases just got better!

The MIT Libraries have recently purchased more access to Web of Science, increasing coverage by 73 years.  You’ll now be able to search:

• Science Citation Index: 1900 – present
• Social Sciences Citation Index: 1956 – present
• Arts & Humanities Citation Index: 1975 – present

In addition to searching for articles, Web of Science is especially useful for finding out who has cited a particular article with the “Cited Reference Search.”  To see an example, within Web of Science, choose the “Cited Reference Search,” and type “Einstein, A*” in the author field.  You can quickly identify Einstein’s key papers among the results.

Not only can you get more citation information for articles, but it gets even better – we currently have an extended trial to get citation information for conference literature.

The trial includes published literature of the most significant conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conventions in a wide range of disciplines. Track emerging ideas and new research in a specific field by viewing citation information for proceedings.  Both sections of the Conference Proceedings Citation Index (Science, and Social Sciences & Humanities) are available from 1990 to the present.

We want to know what you think. To give feedback on the conference proceedings or for more information, e-mail feedback-proceedings@mit.edu.

MIT faculty, graduate students, and research staff may now apply online to get borrowing privileges to many libraries at Harvard!  To apply, fill out the Special Borrower Card Application.  Borrow at Harvard Libraries including Widener, Cabot, Fine Arts, Loeb Music, and Tozzer, and more.

Find out more information about access to Harvard and other non-MIT Libraries.

Also available: apply online for privileges at Harvard’s Countway Library of Medicine.

If you qualify, a pdf of your approved form will be sent as soon as possible, and no later than 5:00 pm the next business day.  If you need immediate access to a Harvard Library, bring your MIT ID to the service desk at Barker, Dewey, Hayden, or Rotch Libraries, and fill out the appropriate forms at the desk.

We are happy to announce that Rotch Library has a new web site! http://libraries.mit.edu/rotch

One of our primary goals was to make the site more visually appealing, as well as more user-friendly.

Some new features:

• a slideshow on the home page (powered by Slideshow Pro)
• a list of exhibits with sample images
• quick links to our Research Guides
• a page describing the building and history of Rotch Library
• incorporation of the previously separate RVC pages into this site

Technical notes:

• The site is powered by Wordpress. This makes it very easy for staff to update; allows us to use professional templates; and makes it easy to incorporate new plugins and features. Rotch joins Dewey Library, the Scholarly Communication web site, and our News Blog as the 4th of our sites to be powered by Wordpress.
• The news page is automatically updated by the RSS feed from our central libraries’ news blog.

Good news! Full text of thousands of dissertations and theses from most North American and selected worldwide universities are now available through Proquest’s Dissertations and Theses database:

http://libraries.mit.edu/get/dissertations

Before 1997, many theses will only have abstracts, but the full text collection is growing continuously.

Need an MIT thesis?

MIT dissertations and theses are NOT included in the ProQuest database. Find the thesis you are looking for in the Barton catalog (search by author, supervisor, department and more):

http://libraries.mit.edu/barton-theses

Most MIT theses are available full text from 2004 onwards, with selected earlier theses available full text as well.

If you have any questions or comments about this new resource, please Ask Us!

Welcome to the MIT Libraries!

Orientation: Fall 2009

Undergraduate Students || Graduate Students || All Students

Attend these events to become familiar with what the Libraries have to offer – our staff, collections, services, and resources.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS:

Academic Expo
What: An expo of MIT’s academic departments and programs. The Libraries will be ready to answer your questions and offer information about our resources and services. Pick up handouts and goodies.
When: Wednesday, September 2, 2 – 3:30 pm
Where: Johnson Athletics Center (W34). Look for the Libraries’ banner.

Freshmen Explorations: Ice Cream Social
What: Build your own ice cream sundae!
When: Thursday, September 3, 2:30 – 3:30 pm
Where: Lipchitz Courtyard (Building 14); rain location: hallway in front of Hayden Library (Building 14)

Hitchhiker’s Guide Library Tours
What: A walking tour of all the MIT Libraries, with special gifts for the first 10 attendees at each tour.
When: Saturday, August 29, 1:30 p.m, Thursday, September 3, 11 am and Thursday, September 3, 2 pm
Where: Meet in Lobby 7

GRADUATE STUDENTS:

Graduate Student Orientation: Grad School 102
What: An introduction to the MIT Libraries services and resources.
When: Tuesday, September 1, 3:30 – 4:00 pm
Where: 34-101

10th Annual New Graduate Student Reception
What: A reception for new graduate students, with beverages and light
refreshments provided.
NOTE: Tickets may be purchased for $4 at the Graduate Student Council Information Booth.
When: Wednesday, September 2, 5 – 7 pm
Where: Barker Library Dome (Building 10-500)

ALL STUDENTS:

Health & Wellness Fair
What: Libraries’ staff will be ready to answer your questions and offer
information about our resources and services. Pick up handouts and goodies.
When: Friday, September 4, 1:30 – 4:30 pm
Where: Kresge Oval, outside the Student Center

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As you begin a new school year, you will notice some changes at the MIT Libraries. One exciting change is that we have redesigned our home page!  The sub-level pages will remain the same for now, but these will likely change as we move forward and our services evolve.

MIT Libraries’ Home Page

The goal of the new home page design was to consolidate searching in our various tools and make our resources and services easier to find. The design was informed by feedback and usability testing conducted over the summer on students, faculty, and staff members. It was also vetted by the ATIC lab (IS&T’s Adaptive Technology Information Center) to ensure appropriate access for screen readers and other adaptive technologies.

We hope that you will be pleased with the results.

Help us make it even better by letting us know what you think. Give us your feedback!

There are three more weekend to take advantage of extra days when you borrow music CDs, DVDs, or an iPod! Since the Lewis Music Library is still on summer hours and will be closed Saturdays and Sundays (and Labor Day Monday), you can get extra time to enjoy some great music:

• Music CDs and DVDs circulate for 3 days (limit of 5), but if you borrow them Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday during the summer they’re due on Monday.
• Labor Day weekend they’ll be due Tuesday, September 8 (Registration Day).
• iPods circulate overnight, but during the summer an iPod borrowed on Friday is due Monday (or Tuesday, September 8 for Labor Day weekend).
• The iPods contain over 2700 sample tracks taken from recent CDs in the library’s collection, which numbers over 20,000 CDs of classical, jazz, world, and popular music and more than 1,200 DVDs

The Lewis Music Library is located in Bldg. 14E-109 and summer hours are M-F, 11am-5pm. Semester hours will resume the first day of classes, Wednesday, September 9.

As we prepare for the start of a new school year, you will notice some changes at the MIT Libraries. One exciting change is that we have redesigned our home page – check out the beta before we make it live.  The sub-level pages will remain the same for now, but these will likely change as well as we move forward and our services evolve.

MIT Libraries’ Beta Home Page

The goal of the new home page design was to consolidate searching in our various tools and make our resources and services easier to find. The design was informed by feedback and usability testing conducted over the summer on students, faculty, and staff members. It was also vetted by the ATIC lab ( IS&T’s Adaptive Technology Information Center) to ensure for appropriate access for screen readers and other adaptive technologies.

We hope that you will be pleased with the results.

Help us make it even better by letting us know what you think. Give us your feedback!

The renovation of Dewey Library has created many new group study rooms which now can be reserved using an electronic room reservation system. The rooms are:

• E53-208 & 218 (large group rooms) : capacity 12 people in each room
• E53-201 & 223 (medium group rooms) : capacity 10 people
• E53-231, 237, 238, 296, and 298 (small group rooms) : capacity 2-6 people

is live in the stream (http://twitter.com/MIT_TechTV). Follow for quick updates, links to good videos and anything else that may be going on with MIT TechTV.

Photo © Liang-Wu Cai

The last day of service in the Lindgren Library (54-200) will be Friday, July 31, 2009. Lindgren’s collection of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences’ books, journals, and CDs will begin to move to Hayden Library (14S-100) Monday, August 3.  The relocated materials are expected to be in place and accessible by the end of the week. If any Lindgren materials are needed during the move, please contact Joe Hankins (3.9325, jhankins@mit.edu) or Chris Sherratt (3-5648, gscherra@mit.edu). The Hayden Service Desk staff (3.5671) can also be of assistance.

Final arrangements for the future locations of maps and theses formerly housed in Lindgren will be completed during the upcoming weeks. Contact information for Joe Hankins and Chris Sherratt will remain the same.