SciTech Library Question

.: The 2008 IFLA World Library and Information Congress Annual Meeting will be held in Quebec City, August 10-14, 2008. Information about the programs and conference are on the IFLA website at http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla74/index.htm. The Science and Technology Section is co-hosting a satellite pre-conference in Montreal at the Polytechnique Montreal on Friday, August 8 on "Science Policies and Science Portals: Progress and Activity From Around the World."

Registration is open at http://lib.tkk.fi/ifla/IFLA_Science_Portals/registration.html and the cost is 40 Euros.

This one-day program will address the ways in which national governments and organizations are dealing with the issues and challenges in disseminating scientific information created in the public sphere to meet the needs of the global community. The various portals that have been implemented and the policies that have been put in place will support the roles of the science and technology librarians around the world. The portals affect their ability to provide efficient and comprehensive access to important sources of scientific information.

Keynote speakers include: Dr. Howard Alper, Chair, Canada Science, Technology and Innovation Council Mr. Thomas Lah, Chief Biologist for Information, United States Geological Survey Biological Informatics Office and Co-Chair, Science.gov Alliance. Wrap-Up: Mr. Richard Akerman, Technology Architect, Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI).

The program is sponsored by the IFLA Science and Technology Libraries Section (STS) and the Government Information & Official Publications Section (GIOPS).

If you have any questions, please contact Julia Gelfand (jgelfand @ uci.edu), Applied Sciences & Engineering Librarian, UC Irvine

Posted by Randy Reichardt at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to IFLA

.: I just about fell out of my chair when I read this in the Information Today Weekly News Digest:

CAS Offering Web Access to SciFinder

Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), a division of the American Chemical Society, announced that it now offers web access to its SciFinder research tool. The web version is designed for situations where web access is preferred and is a convenient option to the powerful client version that is used in corporate, academic, and government organizations around the world.

This new platform is especially designed for the web and does not simply duplicate the look and feel of the current SciFinder product. The newest SciFinder experience will be offered to an expanding set of commercial, government, and academic users as the product launch proceeds throughout the year.

Scientists use SciFinder to explore research topics, browse scientific journals, and stay up-to-date on the latest scientific developments. More information about the newest version of SciFinder can be found at www.cas.org/products/scifindr/sfweb. View a demo at www.cas.org/products/scifindr/sfweb/sfwebflash.html.

Posted by Randy Reichardt at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to CAS (Chem Abs) | SciFinder Scholar

.: ICIS, publishers of the former Chemical Market Reporter, and now ICIS Chemical Business, has launched its new social community website, ICIS Connect. It a site described in an e-mail received today as one that ICIS hopes "will give our users, readers and people interested in chemicals a place on the web where they can ask questions and get answers, write their blogs, post their pictures and find information that will be generated by other users."

Of interest is the Forums section, which has a number of Discussions found under banners such as Business and Professional, Students, Consumer, and School. The only way for these discussion forums, and for the site itself to become active and robust is to spread the word, so please do so if you can - get the word out to your chemical engineering students and faculty members. I've already posted a entry under Schools about how good it would be to see Chemical Prices included as a separate discussion topic in the forum itself, as the lack of access to current chemical prices remains a serious sore point with us in chemical engineering academia. Nonetheless, I'm happy to see ICIS Connect is now available for everyone's use. Please register and see if we can contribute to making it a useful site for our students and researchers.

Posted by Randy Reichardt at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to Chemical Eng | ICIS (Publisher)

.: I am as usual way behind in making mention of this, but nonetheless: From the February/March 2008 issue of Research Information:

"Roddy MacLeod gives an overview of the latest engineering research information in 2007 and looks at what 2008 promises to offer in this discipline"

Posted by Randy Reichardt at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted to Engineering (General)

.: I like to think I'm up on the latest technologies, be they Web 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, etc., with the best and the rest of my colleagues. But one social software site I've never liked is Second Life, and this parody of it pretty much sums up Second Life for me. It's brilliant and hilarious.

Posted by Randy Reichardt at 8:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Posted to Second Life