CRCnetBASE’s from CRC Press : Reminder

QUT Library subscribes to a number of CRCnetBASE‘s.

Basically the CRCnetBASE collections are electronic database and ebook collections. Please make use of these products. These electronic database and ebook collections contain a wealth of scientific and technical information.

There are links to all of the ebooks in each CRCnetBASE from the QUT Library Catalogue. Otherwise you may go direct to the particular CRCnetBASE product of interest as indicated below.

TELECOMMUNICATIONSnetBASE is a collection of over 170 ebooks covering the area of telecommunications.
To access TELECOMMUNICATIONSnetBASE go to the QUT Library homepage and select databases. In the Database title box enter TELECOMMUNICATIONSnetBASE and then click Find databases.

Another one to look out for is ElectricalENGINEERINGnetBASE
ElectricalENGINEERINGnetBASE is a collection of over 366 ebooks covering the area of electrical engineering

On the next page click the database name hyperlink to connect to the database. Or you may click the More details link to bring up a full one page description for this database.

NOTE: In order to read the PDF files, which is the format the fulltext pages of the ebooks is in, you must configure your browser settings to display PDF documents within the browser window.

See the steps below.

For Adobe Reader 7, 8 or 9
Open Adobe Reader 7, 8 or 9.
Select Edit, Preferences, Internet
Make sure Display PDF in Browser is ticked.
Click Ok.

Engineering Village Product Updates Are Coming January 8th!

In response to client requests, we are enhancing and updating Engineering Village to make your experience better. Beginning January 8, 2009, the following updates will be available:

• A re-designed “Ask an Expert” section
• A Referex Keyword Cloud of frequently appearing terms
• An expanded Expert Search character limit

The “Ask An Expert” section of www.engineeringvillage.com has always given users the opportunity to ask questions of an expert engineer, EV’s product specialist Colleen Hunter, and/or an organization’s librarian. Expert engineers have experience in a variety of disciplines, including mechanical, chemical, and industrial engineering. By re-designing the “Ask An Expert” page, we hope to make it easy for users to find answers to commonly asked questions, and to direct their more specific questions to the appropriate resource. Users will be able to sign up for online trainings and download training materials via links to www.ei.org and send feedback via email.

To help Referex users navigate through their e-book results, a Keyword Cloud will be added to all titles. The Keyword Cloud, located in the Book Details section of a search result, will show the most frequently appearing keywords in that title. By hovering over a keyword, users will be able to see how many times the word appears in the book. Clicking on a keyword will take the user to a set of results that displays the pages on which the keyword appears.

For advanced users, the Expert Search character limit will be doubled to 8,000. This will allow users familiar with advanced Boolean logic the ability to conduct more complex searches.

Beginning January 8th, information related to these updates will be available in the Engineering Village help guide, which can be accessed by clicking on the “Help” tab on the homepage. If you have any questions regarding these changes or general account information, please feel free to contact us at eicustomersupport@elsevier.com

ACM Digital Library Employs New Search Technology

As part of its ongoing investment in the content, features, performance, and worldwide reach of its Digital Library (DL), ACM has introduced a powerful new search capability that enables users to not only explore existing data but to discover unexpected information that goes beyond simple query results.

Called Guided Navigation, this search technology employs the Endeca Information Access Platform, a new class of database designed for exploring information, not just managing transactions.

How does Guided Navigation work?

Guided Navigation:

• Lets users prioritize and personalize their choices, rather than directing them down a classification path.

• Applies structured metadata to content, enabling the subsequent search results interface to make the data available in different views or “facets” of the information.

• Creates a myriad of valid browse paths to each record, greatly increasing the likelihood that a user will what they need.

Learn more and view an example of how the new DL search technology works.

Read ACM’s Press Release.

Visit the ACM Digital Library now.

use of Social Networking Sites and Services by Higher Ed Citizens

The 2008 edition of the _ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology_ that was released this week includes extensive data and analyses on the use of Social Networking Sites and Services by Higher Ed Citizens.

The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008 (ID: ERS0808)

Gail Salaway (EDUCAUSE) and Judith Borreson Caruso (University of Wisconsin-Madison) /With: Mark R. Nelson (NACS) / Introduction by: Nicole Ellison (Michigan State University)
Documents Contributed by ECAR, Research Studies (10/21/2008)

Abstract: This 2008 ECAR research study is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 ECAR studies of students and information technology. The study is based on quantitative data from a spring 2008 survey of 27,317 freshmen and seniors at 90 four-year institutions and eight two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 75 students at four institutions; and analysis of qualitative data from 5,877 written responses to open-ended questions.

Physics from APS

The American Physical Society (APS) have created Physics, freely available at http://physics.aps.org, to assist physicists and physics students to maintain a broad view of their subject, and become aware of important developments in the field as a whole.

Physics is designed to spotlight exceptional research and to assist readers in identifying and understanding important papers.

It offers expert-written commentary articles that highlight and provide context for a select group of papers published by APS.