Grants Information Collection

Need funding to support your research or study?!  If so, we invite you to become acquainted with the Grants Information Collection as it celebrates its 30th Anniversary. 

The Grants Information Collection, housed in Memorial Library (2nd floor Reference,  Room 262 D/E), supplies access to print and online resources for finding information about fellowships, grants, scholarships and other funding opportunities for individuals, student organizations, and non-profits. The collection also has information on private and corporate foundations and federal funding agencies.  While the print collection does not circulate and must be used on-site, many of its online resources can be accessed from home, library, or office (off-campus access to licensed databases is restricted to registered students, faculty and staff).

The Grants Information Collection can also be used by the general public. Visitors to Memorial Library can obtain a day pass from the entrance desk.  For additional assistance or referral, speak with your Steenbock librarians, consult with Grants Collection Librarian, Ellen Jacks, or attend a Grants Collection workshop.

Visit the selection of library "Research Guides" dedicated to features and resources from this collection.

Staying Current

How do you stay current with the literature in your field of study or research?  If you find this a challenging prospect, our librarians have the tools to help.

Staying up-to-date with what is happening in your area of research may take several forms.  Are you interested in having browsing access to the most current volume of a favorite journal or magazine?  Or, would you prefer to receive an email message or RSS feed to newly-published research on a topic of interest?  In similar fashion, would you like to know when your published article is cited by other researchers?  Or, do your enjoy reading blogs and current news from News sites and the popular press?

If any and all of these apply to the information you would like to retrieve and your workflow (more on that question of management, below), note that there are open Web resources and library-licensed tools that can serve this process of keeping current.  A selection of these tools and assists are listed, below, by approach or form.

Table of Contents (your favorite or essential journals)

• Browzine (see our previous post)
• Journal TOCs (free, scholarly journal TOCs)
• Database Alerts (via email or RSS)
• Publisher Websites (some offer free TOCs)

Search and Citation Alerts (your area of research interest or by publication)

• Database Alerts (via email or RSS)
• Google Scholar Alerts (via email with Google Account--either to "My Citations" or to a topic search)
• Google Book Alerts (an option as from the Result Type menu)

Blogs, News Media, Website Updates

• Subscribe to feeds using feed readers or Web browser.

Library Guides, Liaisons and Workshops
You do not need to do this alone.  Speak to your librarians for assistance and customization.  Attend a drop-in workshop or do-it-yourself by reading our Web guides.

• Research Guide to Keeping Current in the Literature
• MyUW, Research Tab (Create a customized, browsing access list of your "Favorite Library E-Resources")

Managing the Information you Retrieve
Campus Libraries provide support for several software products for managing your citations and formatting your reference list.  Evaluate these tools and attend a drop-in workshop to explore their features.  The beauty of these tools is that they can communicate well with library-licensed databases making it relatively easy and efficient to move records from database to manager. 

Have any tips and resources to share?  If so, please reply to this post.

Bibliometrics & Citation Analysis

Are people discovering and reading the research I have published? 
Will publishing in a particular journal be advantageous to me as I move forward in my career? 
How can I determine whether the buzz of the social Web has impact?  

If these questions concern you, we invite you to learn more about measuring the impact of your work by reviewing the Libraries’ research guide to Bibliometrics & Citation Analysis.

This guide supplies information and links to both library-licensed and freely-available tools for journal, author and article-level metrics or, in other words, tools that enable researchers and librarians to identify core journals and to assess the visibility and influence of authors and articles published within them. 

There is also growing interest in what we have come to call "altmetrics" that look to measure how social media informs scholarship via formats in which references to research can be tabulated (be they "likes", "shares", "bookmarks", or other).  Visit the tab to "Alternative Metrics" should you wish to explore how these interesting measures may tell a more comprehensive story of your research endeavors.

Librarians are happy to assist you with using these bibliometric tools.  We invite you to schedule an opportunity to consult with us.

Ghastly Fun

Greet your guests this weekend with green slime and glowing pumpkins! Visit the Halloween Science tab on the "Science Projects for Kids" guide for do-it-yourself tips and recipes.

The "Science Projects for Kids" guide is just one of the many online guides created by campus librarians to assist library users with finding useful information--be it books, databases to the research literature, or Websites--available on a particular discipline or topic.

Visit the entire menu of Research Guides.

Follow Your Guide

Campus librarians create Research Guides to assist library users with finding recommended databases to the research literature and to other useful information available on a particular discipline or topic.

Steenbock librarians have created research guides to reflect the academic areas that the library serves with its collections--including such disciplines as agro-ecology, consumer science, forestry, life sciences communication, veterinary medicine, and wildlife ecology among others.

Among some of our newer guides are the following:

• Animal Research Alternatives and Animal Care

• Laboratory Protocols and Methods

Savoring Cranberries

Question: Which state produces the most cranberries?

Answer: Wisconsin!

In fact, the cranberry, ubiquitous during this time of year given its association with traditional Thanksgiving holiday feasting, is Wisconsin’s leading fruit crop. (View the USDA NASS Cranberry Forecast and Statistics page).

Consult Steenbock’s research guide to the American Cranberry to discover some great resources regarding cranberry cultivation, marketing, and use (including links to online recipe sites).

Additionally, Steenbock librarians have placed some selected cranberry-themed titles from our collection on the display rack, first floor, opposite the stairwell and outside study rooms 107, 108. Feel free to check them out!

Laboratory Methods and Protocols, Guide

Campus librarians create Research Guides to assist library users with finding recommended databases to the research literature and to other useful information available online in a particular discipline or topic. The guide to "Laboratory Protocols and Methods" is designed to assist UW-Madison researchers with locating the protocols they need from within the variety of resources available from campus library collections and the free Web.

Steenbock librarians have created other guides to reflect the academic areas that the library serves with its collections--including such disciplines as animal science, consumer science, food science and nutrition, and veterinary medicine, among others.

Publishing Your Research Article, Guide to Resources

Campus librarians create Research Guides to assist library users with finding recommended databases to the research literature and to other useful information available online in a particular discipline or topic. The guide to "Publishing Your Research Article" supplies information about finding the best journals in which to publish, writing an effective manuscript, retaining rights as an author, and measuring the impact of published research.

Additionally, Steenbock librarians have created other guides to reflect the academic areas that the library serves with its collections--including such disciplines as animal science, consumer science, food science and nutrition, and veterinary medicine, among others.