Research Infrastructure

Library and Information Center

Rowland Institute at Harvard
Library News & Notes
June 25, 2004

Notes

Welcome to Emily Kefferstan, our student worker for the summer.

Quote
“You can never totally master the literature. But there are certain levels of mastery that are essential and are straightforwardly achievable by all students. In fact, there is a certain attitude that students should take with respect to the literature. Most students don't fully appreciate the importance of this attitude until they discover that somebody knows something that they themselves should have known and could have known if they had studied the literature properly. The basic attitude required is that you should be familiar with enough of the literature so that you never unnecessarily repeat work published in the past and that you should be aware in broad strokes of what has been published in the past. Nicholas Turro, Columbia University, interviewed in the Bowling Green State University Spectrum,
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/photochem/Spring2004Spectrum.pdf
(Source: the (Sci-Tech) Library Question)

Internet Sites of the Week

Fair Use Bill Gains Momentum
A news report on efforts to amend the Digital Millenium Copyright Act says that the Digital Media Consumer's Rights Act will enable people to copy digital materials within the bounds of fair use.
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3372091
(Source: beSpacific)

Nanoflowers
The IoP highlights a collection of interesting nanowire images.
http://ej.iop.org/EJ/news/-topic=773

Open Access
Several library organizations have collaborated on a brochure touting the benefits of open access publishing, particularly increased impact, and identifies several steps researchers can take to promote open access journals and repositories.
http://www.createchange.org/resources/OpenAccess.pdf
(Source: Open Access News)

Private Space Industry Looks for Liftoff
A Christian Science Monitor article explores what's behind SpaceShipOne and other non-governmental space missions.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0624/p11s01-stss.html

RSS Bibliography
A comprehensive bibliography of articles, presentations and other sources on RSS (Really Simple Syndication.) All it lacks is its own feed.
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/GenBib.htm
(Source: Library Stuff)

Smithsonian: Spotlight on Science
The Smithsonian Institution publishes a weekly newsletter featuring the activities of its affiliated scientists.
http://www2.si.edu/research/spotlight/
(Source: The Scout Report, June 25, 2004)

The Son of Patriot Act Also Rises
Wired reports on newly introduced legislation to augment the USA PATRIOT Act.
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,63800,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

Who's Seeding the Net with Spyware?
Good question.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,116512,00.asp

Why Do They Call Them Olympics?
The answer and many other questions may be found in this collection from the Librarian's Index to the Internet.
http://lii.org/search/file/olympics

NEW BOOKS/VIDEOS

Received June 19-25, 2004