We have made a number of improvements to the Science Library over the past year to provide a more welcoming environment and better service to Science faculty, staff and students. We continue to look for ways to make our space inviting and useful. As always, we welcome your suggestions . Below is a summary of our recent activities:
Program Offerings
New! Cross-disciplinary workshops offered by Science Library reference staff
Beginning in week 6 of the fall 2012 term, Science Library reference staff will hold general subject workshops for students and faculty on topics such as Excel and bibliographic management software (Mendeley, for example). Below is the schedule for our first three sessions.
Friday, November 2, 1:00 – 2:00, Science Library room B90: “Manage Your World, Manage Your Citations, and Manage Your Bibliographies: Bibliographies Made Easy” (Demonstration)
Sign up: https://oregon.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4ZpHiI7252fFHvL
Friday, November 9, 1:00 – 2:00, Science Library room B90: “Excel”
(Demonstration & Hands-on)
Sign up: https://oregon.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_b7dcAAxDNAiPh89
Wednesday, November 14, 3:00 – 5:00, Science Library room B90: “Bibliographic Management Software Drop In.” Let us help you set up YOUR laptop for Zotero, Mendley and Papers.
(Hands-on)
Sign up: https://oregon.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3ksQpWqD7WYbQQR
Remember that our reference librarians are available to provide other workshops and training for your classes, help with research questions, and give guided individual or group tours of the library.
Charles Darwin Exhibit
From October 22 through November 30 we will feature a four-banner display entitled “Rewriting the Book of Nature: Charles Darwin and the Rise of Evolutionary Theory” which explores Charles Darwin’s vision—“from so simple a beginning, endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.” The display will be located near the Science Library circulation desk and was developed and produced by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health and the NIH Office of History Equipment.
New at the Circulation Desk
We now circulate power cords, non-graphing calculators (in addition to graphing calculators), universal phone chargers, a small projector, a small HD camcorder, an engraving device, and several separately-checkable mice and (Dell) laptop chargers.
Equipment
A free-use, stand-alone camera book and document scanner has been installed near the circulation desk. Scans can be emailed or uploaded to a thumb drive.
Two more public computers have been added, bringing our total to 27 (22 PCs and 5 Macs). All of our computers have a broad range of useful software. We have a new 3D monitor with a PlayStation 3 Bluray player on a rolling stand that can be reserved and checked out.
New printers were installed over winter break last year and you can print from your laptop via Wi-Fi. Black and white copies now cost $.08 and color copies cost $.25, all payable via Campus Cash on your UO ID.
Books and More
We recently acquired a selection of programming manuals from the McKenzie Hall computing help center. The books are shelved in the middle of our main reading room in a general subject order.
Databases
Academic Search Premier recently dropped some of the journals that it covers. While most of the lost content was not in the sciences you may come across the occasional article that is unavailable. Remember that you can use Interlibrary Loan to request these items.
Facility
Last fall we reorganized the reference collection and were able to exchange our floor-to-ceiling reference stacks with lower stacks. The result is that we now have a beautiful view of the atrium and more natural light in the library.
Over spring break we installed new carpeting in the reference area and around the atrium windows. In response to student demand we have also installed more electrical outlets along the west wall of the library. We have also rearranged the stacks to allow for more individual and collaborative seating.
We have moved the reference desk to the circulation desk counter to make room for exhibition space and for additional study space.
Ongoing Services and Equipment
You can check out reserve materials, laptops, graphing calculators, Tandberg video conferencing equipment, books, journals, DVD’s, video games, and video game players. We have a physiology/anatomy study room, two reservable classrooms and two reservable group study rooms.
UO Science Library Blog 