Scirus for Scientific Information

Scirus is an openly-accessible Web search engine designed for searching Websites of scientific content—including free Web content and sites where access may be restricted. In this latter instance, UW-Madison users (faculty, staff and students) will be able to enable a Scirus search preference to additionally retrieve available full-text articles and print subscription information from UW-Madison Libraries. (Once set, a Find It button will appear in the retrieval for articles).

The basic search interface to Scirus enables a user to enter his/her search query into a single search window and to select limits to Journal sources, Preferred Web sources (set of open access journals, research e-print sites, government agency sites, patents and digital archives) or Other Web sources. Specific phrase searching can also be indicated.

The advanced search interface enables a user to construct a more complex search query with multiple windows joined by Boolean operators and to apply limits to fields of the online record, date range, Web content sources and subject areas.

Scirus is an Elsevier product.

Find Books and More using MadCat (Workshop, October 2)

MadCat contains information about the books, journal titles, government documents, videos, and other materials available from UW-Madison campus libraries. The hands-on workshop will explore the various search options for MadCat and offer tips and strategies for finding materials on your research topic.

The workshop will also review the convenience services incorporated within the MadCat product for requesting retrieval of library materials and for viewing your library record online.

MadCat: Find Books & More for Your Research

Tuesday, October 2 (4:30-5:45)

Room 105, Steenbock

Public Reading of Banned Books, (Thursday, September 27)

Come celebrate intellectual freedom with a public reading of banned literature. Local authors, media personalities and concerned community members will read selections from frequently-challenged titles. This event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Open Book Café, College Library (6:00-8:00pm). Banned Books Week is observed September 29-October 6, 2007.

Some of the most profound and inspiring works of literature have faced challenges to their access from groups or individuals who have felt threatened by their content. The American Library Association, Office of Intellectual Freedom maintains lists and press releases regarding these challenged titles.

Ten Most Challenged Books from 2006

Most Challenged Books of the 21^st Century (2000-2005, so far)

Explore the Issues with the CCBC and Madison Public Library:

The CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center) specializes in intellectual freedom issues—particularly related to children and teen access to works—and can supply support for librarians and teachers. Visit its Intellectual Freedom site: http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/freedom/default.asp

Information from the Madison Public Library System: http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/calendar/september/bannedbooks.html

Laptops Available!

Steenbock Library has 50 laptops available for three-day loan from the Information Services/InfoLab desk. As a wireless building, the laptops easily facilitate working just about anywhere within the library.

Use the UW InfoLabs’ Laptop Checkout System page to determine where you can find an available laptop (or other equipment such as cameras and projectors). The page shows InfoLab locations and how many pieces of equipment remain available, in real-time, at each location. Laptop policies and due-dates can also be viewed on the site.

PubMed for the Life Sciences Workshop (Wednesday, September 19)

Learn how to successfully mine PubMed (MEDLINE) using such features as Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), limits, citation matcher, and the My NCBI feature for saving searches and search results and for setting up customized tabs or topic/journal alerts. Harness the power of PubMed record links to additional Entrez databases such as Gene, Protein, and PubChem Compound.

PubMed for the Life Sciences
Wednesday, September 19 (4:00-5:00pm)
Steenbock Library, Room 105