Forestry Library Databases (U of M)

The Forestry Library at the University of Minnesota has generated four publicly-accessible databases, each devoted to a particular avenue of research: Social Sciences in Forestry; Trail Planning, Construction and Maintenance; Tropical Forest Conservation and Development; and, Urban Forestry. Each database supplies searchable access to citations (with abstracts) from relevant journal articles, conference proceedings, books and government publications. Full-text links are supplied in those instances when available, generally from government agencies (US Forest Service, for instance).

Do consult campus collections, either by using the MadCat catalog or Find It (for journal articles) or speak with librarians to determine local availability to resources of interest. Items not available from the Madison campus library system can be obtained using the Library Express service.

Social Sciences in Forestry
Coverage: 1985 - present, updated weekly.

Trail Planning, Construction and Maintenance
Coverage: 1984 - present, updated weekly

Tropical Forest Conservation and Development
Coverage: 1992 - present, updated weekly.

Urban Forestry
Coverage: 1980 - present, updated weekly.

Links to these databases can also be found in Steenbock Library’s Forestry Subject Guide.

Note: Databases prove most compatible using the Mozilla Firefox Web browser.

Garden Planning

Steenbock Library maintains a collection of seed catalogs useful for recording ideas to particular garden products and locating suitable vendors. Current issues of these seed catalogs can be browsed in-house and are located on the first floor in a study carrel near the rear stacks and vending area. Next to this carrel is a filing cabinet in which older editions of catalogs can be found, alphabetically-arranged by vendor name.

Local and national vendors are represented including The Flower Factory, Gurney’s, Jackson & Perkins, Jung, and Seed Savers Exchange, among others.

Libraries in the Movies

As a bit of distraction during National Library Week (April 15-21), we invite you to try your hand at a trivia exercise created by one of our campus librarians. The exercise will supply you clues to movies with a library connection.

For instance, can you name that 1985 movie featuring a host of “brat pack” actors serving out their detention in a high school library?* If so, then this exercise is for you.

Print exercise and answer key.

*The Breakfast Club

Fourth Floor Reopens!

Steenbock staff is pleased to announce that all floors to library collections are open to the public as of April 16. No retrieval requests are required!

Construction will continue to complete the University Archives suite on the fourth floor but should not interfere with access to journal or document collections.

Agricola Coverage Reduced, Try CAB Abstracts

Are you a regular user of Agricola? If so, you may want to compare it to CAB Abstracts. While both CAB Abstracts and Agricola are important databases for agricultural literature, Agricola has been "re-scoped," reducing the number of journals it indexes.

A comparison of the lists of journals and other series indexed by these two databases yielded the following results:

Titles in both databases (overlap): 409
Titles unique to Agricola: 197
Titles unique to CAB Abstracts: 7111

Because of these changes, Agricola users may want to give CAB Abstracts a try, too.

For more information, see our library's Web guide at: http://steenbock.library.wisc.edu/general/agricolacab.html

Search Agricola

Search CAB Abstracts

(Tip: To limit your results in CAB to items about the United States, use the "advanced" search, then search for Term: USA In: Geographic Names (GE))

With thanks to librarian Beverly Phillips for this blog entry and database analysis.

Think Globally, Dine Locally from CSA Farms and Farmers Markets

Despite the chill in the air, it is not too early to consider your options for getting terrific fresh produce from area growers. We are fortunate in this area of the state to enjoy a wealth of markets and CSA share opportunities to satisfy any palate. Visit the following links to learn more and to find a venue:

Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition: http://www.macsac.org/

Family Farmed: http://www.familyfarmed.org/

Savor Wisconsin (Wisconsin Food Products & Services--Guide to Locally-Grown Markets): http://www.savorwisconsin.com/

Need advice on what to do with all that local produce? Come browse the Steenbock Cookbook Collection.