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Take a break from all your studying and come grab yourself a snack, compliments of the Hayden (Humanities and Science) Library. Sorry, no pizza or burgers, but plenty of cookies and beverages will available. Here are the details:
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Want to see if a copy of Junot Diaz’ new book is available? Can’t find the West Mezzanine? Come to our new “Quick Search Work Station,” just inside our main entrance. Easy access to The Humanities Library homepage, and Barton (our online catalog), is at your finger tips, and a new color-coded map of our library helps you find your way around.
The faculty of the Harvard Law School has voted unanimously to make articles authored by faculty members available in an open online repository. This is the first law school to commit to open access for its authors’ work.
As reported in the Harvard Law School news, Dean of the Law School Elena Kagan explains the motivation of the vote as a “decision to embrace ‘open access’” that “means that people everywhere can benefit from the ideas generated here at the Law School.”
“The acceptance of open access ensures that our faculty’s world-class scholarship is accessible today and into the future,” reports John Palfrey, the Executive Director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and Vice Dean of library and information resources, in the same news story.
This vote follows that of the Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences, which adopted a similar mandate in February 2008, also by a unanimous vote.
For more information, see stories in:
Peter Suber’s Open Access News
And, for summaries of what MIT faculty are saying and doing in relation to open access, see:
Podcasts with MIT Faculty on Scholarly Publishing and Open Access
MIT Faculty taking action for open access
–Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Scholarly Publishing & Licensing Consultant / MIT Libraries / efinnie@mit.edu / x8483
The latest in the series of podcasts on scholarly publication and copyright is an interview with George Stiny, Professor of Computation in the Department of Architecture at MIT.
Professor Stiny explains the significance of copying in the design process from his unusual perspective - a perspective that blends art and design with calculating. Professor Stiny invented shape grammars - the idea of identifying and quantifying a set of rules that can generate an infinite range of designs, much the way rules of grammar in language can generate an infinite range of sentences. His work uses mathematics to capture the creative, generative language of shapes and design.
Download the audio file. (14:42 minutes; 13.5 MB)
We encourage and welcome your feedback, which you may direct to:
Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Scholarly Publishing and Licensing Consultant / efinnie@mit.edu
Exhibit in Rotch Library – Urban Studies/Random Views
Urban Studies/Random Views, on view from May 5th to July 18th, is a collection of recent oil paintings by Carol Schweigert of Dewey Library.
The paintings were initially inspired by the dynamic views of the ongoing construction surrounding the Library. The focus expanded to include other views in Cambridge and Charlestown, reflecting the coexistence of the natural and the architectural.
These are traditional plein air paintings with an underlying graphic composition of more modern sensibilities.
A reception is planned for 4:00PM - 6:30PM, Friday, May 9, 2008 in Rotch Library, 7-238.
Check out the new bioinformatics video tutorials, developed by the MIT Engineering and Science Libraries and Harvard’s Countway Library of Medicine. These tutorials aim to bring research help to your desktop.
The first installment of BITS covers the UCSC Genome Browser, which contains reference sequences and working draft assemblies for a large collection of genomes. The UCSC Genome Browser is developed and maintained by the Genome Bioinformatics Group, a cross-departmental team within the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering at UCSC.
Watch these videos to learn more about the UCSC Genome Browser. Learn how to retrieve DNA sequence, display and configure the annotation tracks, identify gene intron-exon boundaries, and use the BLAT tool.
BIT 1.1: UCSC Genome Browser: Getting DNA Sequence (3:57)
BIT 1.2: UCSC Genome Browser: Using Annotation Tracks (5:47)
BIT 1.3: UCSC Genome Browser: Locating Intron-Exon Boundaries (4:56)
BIT 1.4: UCSC Genome Browser: Searching with BLAT (6:14)
Learn at your own convenience and your own pace.
Find the Bioinformatics Tutorial Series (BITS), and many other tutorials, on the video tutorials page.
Questions? Email ask-bioinfo@mit.edu.
This month the Institute Archives and Special Collections focuses on some of MIT’s early energy research. Robert J. Van de Graaff came to MIT in 1931, where he worked on the development of the high-voltage generator that bears his name. May’s Object of the Month describes the apparatus and includes photographs from the 1933 “Progress Report on the M.I.T. High-Voltage Generator at Round Hill.” The exhibit includes a link to a demonstration of the Van de Graaff generator by Professor Walter Lewin.
The Archives holds several collections that contain materials about the Van de Graaff generator: the Papers of Robert J. Van de Graaff (MC 45), the Records of the High Voltage Energy Corporation (MC 153), and the Records of the MIT President (AC 4). All are available for research, with 24 hours’ notice, in 14N-118, Monday to Thursday, 10 am to 4 pm.
Were you unable to attend a Libraries’ sponsored IAP session this January? Wish you could have attended the March workshops on Building an EndNote Library, or the recent class on Google Maps?
The Libraries are pleased to unveil recordings of our popular workshops. The sessions were recorded in cooperation with Academic Media Production Services (AMPS) and are viewable both on and off campus with your MIT Certificates.
To see a list of recordings, go to the MIT Libraries Video Tutorials page and scroll down to Videos of Recent Workshops.
Contact Angie Locknar with any questions.
The Second Annual Sparky Awards, a contest that recognizes the best new short videos on the value of information sharing, were announced today.
The 2008 contest theme is “MindMashup: The Value of Information Sharing.” Videos of two minutes or less that “imaginatively portray the benefits of the open, legal exchange of information” are due by November 30, 2008. The winner receives a $1000 cash award.
The Sparky Awards are sponsored by SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) with additional co- sponsorship by the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, Penn Libraries (at the University of Pennsylvania), Students for Free Culture, and The Student PIRGs.
For more information see:
Details about this year’s contest.
–Ellen Finnie Duranceau / Scholarly Publishing & Licensing Consultant / MIT Libraries / x38483 / efinnie@mit.edu
The MIT Libraries have launched the sixth puzzle in a series of puzzles that can be solved using Libraries’ resources. The puzzles will be released over the course of the Spring 2008 semester, appearing in the Tech, on kiosks in Lobby 7, and elsewhere around campus. MIT students can view the puzzle and submit their answers online at http://libraries.mit.edu/puzzle. Correct answers submitted by the deadline will be entered into a drawing for an Apple iPod Nano.
The deadline for entries for the sixth puzzle is Monday, May 5, 2008.
Congratulations to Jenn Young, winner of the fifth puzzle!
Solo Eclipse, the new CD by the MIT Wind Ensemble (MITWE), has just been received by the Lewis Music Library. This exciting disc contains world premiere recordings commissioned by Dr. Frederick Harris and MITWE. Click on the cover image to see the Barton catalog record.
Music CDs and DVDs circulate for 3 days (limit of 5; no renewals). The Lewis Music Library is located in Bldg. 14E-109 and library hours are posted on the web.
Thinking about birds, flowers, and good weather? Here are a few spring-related themes on music CDs in the Lewis Music Library, selected from the more than 18,000 CDs in the collection. Click on an image to view its Barton catalog record:
 Duke, John. Just-spring: art songs. [Kolb, Toglia] PhonCD D886 song |
 Grieg. Edvard. Peer Gynt, op.23. [Järvi] PhonCD G871 pe a |
 Messiaen, Olivier. Petites esquisses d’oiseaux; Catalogue d’oiseaux. [Austbø] PhonCD M563 petes |
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 Spano, Robert. Rainbow body: Theofanidis, Barber, Copland, Higdon. [Atlanta Symphony] PhonCD Sp24 rai |
 Spring awakening: a new musical. [Original Broadway cast] 1487849 precat |
 Woolf, Randall. Where the wild things are; based on the book by Maurice Sendak. [Various performers] PhonCD W884 whe |
Music CDs and DVDs circulate for 3 days (limit of 5; no renewals). The Lewis Music Library is located in Bldg. 14E-109 and library hours are posted on the web.
Citation Surfing: Using Databases to Track Article Citations
Michael Noga
Learn how to find and use information more effectively in our hands-on workshops. No advanced registration required. Light refreshments will be served at each session.
**NOTE that different events will be happening throughout the month of April and early May.**
WHERE: 14N-132 (Digital Instruction Resource Center – DIRC)
WHEN: Friday, May 2, 12pm (noon)
Have your ever used the Web of Science to find citations? Have you used Google Scholar? Perhaps you have used citation links in journal articles. This session will explore the different ways you can use citation searching to identify literature on a subject.
Sponsored by the MIT Libraries.
Contact the Science Library for more information.
The MIT Libraries now subscribe to over 2,000 e-books from CRC Press, adding 7 new subject collections, including chemistry, engineering, energy, materials science and polymers, nanotechnology, and mathematics.
To search all titles available to the MIT Community, visit CRCnetBASE, or go to each individual subject collection to browse titles. With time, we will add records of these items to our catalog, Barton to make finding them easier.
List of individual CRCnetBASEs added to our collections:
Previously subscribed: Combined Chemical Dictionary and CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics through CHEMnetBASE.
To see other e-books provided by the MIT Libraries, go to Vera, and select the subject “E-Books.”
Social Explorer provides over 3200 maps, and thousands of variables, painting a picture of US population change from 1790 to 2000. The MIT Libraries’ subscription to Social Explorer provides the MIT community with access to the full set of data, for all years if you use this url to enter the website: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/explorer
Come see, and check out, highlights from The Humanities Library’s book and DVD collections, and The Lewis Music Library’s music collections.
Details:
Don’t forget! The 6th annual Prokopoff violin music concert will be held from noon-1 pm on Friday, April 18th, 2008 in the Lewis Music Library. Concert coordinator Sherman Jia (G) has lined up MIT student musicians Mark Avara ‘08, Albert Chow ‘08, Karen Chu ‘08, Laura Jacox ‘08, David Somach ‘11, Jason Wallace ‘10, Amy Xu (G), and accompanist Hsin-Bei Lee to perform works by Bach, Gershwin, Halvorsen, Kreisler, and Sarasate.
The Lewis Music Library is located in Bldg. 14E-109 and the concert is free and open to the public. The opening celebration for the MIT Libraries’ Maihaugen Gallery follows this concert. Come join us!
Need to expand your skills in statistical methods and quantitative analysis? Attend the ICPSR Summer Program! Each year, ICPSR provides a comprehensive, integrated program of studies in research design, statistics, data analysis, and social science methodology. Registration is now open for the 2008 session. For a listing of course offerings and application information, see the ICPSR Summer Program web site.
Note: Small stipends are available to support attendance by a limited number of MIT students. For more information contact Katherine McNeill-Harman at mcneillh@mit.edu.
EndNote Basics
Peter Cohn, Anita Perkins
Learn how to find and use information more effectively in our hands-on workshops. No advanced registration required. Light refreshments will be served at each session.
**NOTE that different events will be happening throughout the month of April and early May.**
WHERE: 14N-132 (Digital Instruction Resource Center – DIRC)
WHEN: Friday, April 25, 12pm (noon)
EndNote is a “personal bibliographic software” package which allows you to create and manage a database of bibliographic references.
Sponsored by the MIT Libraries.
Contact the Science Library for more information.
Googler Pamela Fox will give a whirlwind tour of the Google Maps API and KML, teaching the basics of each and showing off some of the really fun applications of them (like campus maps, interactive panoramas, and fantasy worlds).
Interactive codelabs in the topics addressed in the Introduction to Google Maps API. Codelab participants should come prepared with basic Javascript or XML experience, and will find debugging the Maps API easier if they have Firebug installed.
Both sessions will be held in 14N-132.
Food will be provided
Email gishelp at mit.edu if you have questions.
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