Department Blog
H/SS & Gov Info Services
November 17th, 2009 by Adam Siegel
From “”Lament for a Lost Running Order? Obsolescence and Academic Journals,” (published online in M/C Journal), by John Hartley, editor of the Australian International Journal of Cultural Studies:
“In that boasting paragraph of mine [...], about what wonderful authors we’ve published, lies one of the seeds of obsolescence. For now that it is available online, ‘users’ (no longer ‘readers’!) can search for what they want and ignore the journal as such altogether. This is presumably how most active researchers experience any journal – they are looking for articles (or less: quotations; data; references) relevant to a given topic, literature review, thesis etc. They encounter a journal online through its ‘content’ rather than its ‘form.’ The latter is irrelevant to them, and may as well not exist.”
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November 4th, 2009 by Daniel Goldstein
I’ve just finished reading Richard Fortey, Dry Storeroom No. 1 (Knopf, 2008), a memoir about the British Museum (Natural History) by the museum’s Trilobite expert. Fortey walks his reader through the different behind the scenes working sections of the museum and introduces the reader to the buildings, the collections, the research and most of all the people who inhabit those spaces.
In one way the book reminds me of James Herriott’s All Creatures Great and Small in that it is a collection of curious facts, stories and anecdotes about (mostly) charmingly eccentric people. But the book has a much more serious purpose as well. It contains a powerful argument for the importance of foundational scientific research–in the museum’s case, systematics–, of the collections of specimens and needed to support it, and of the people who have built up decades worth of taxonomic knowledge. In one powerful passage he states:
But I do understand the primacy of collections as a record of the world, both human and natural. There is more to collections than the golden rule about never throwing things away. There is inherent value in having people who “know their stuff.” The apparently esoteric can suddenly illuminate unsuspected areas of knowledge. those who have devoted their lives to collections–obdurate people, odd people, admirable people–actually make a museum what it is and should be.
Posted in Current Reading, History, History of Science, Uncategorized | No Comments Yet »
October 29th, 2009 by Marcia Meister
DataQuest, an interactive database from the California Department of Education, helps you find facts about California schools and districts. Reports can be generated for schools, districts, or counties for Academic performance Index (API), Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), Alternative Schools Accountability Model (ASAM), Course Enrollments and other measures. Also includes a California School Directory.
Tags: California, Data
Posted in Education, Government Information, Uncategorized | No Comments Yet »
October 4th, 2009 by David Michalski
Like the UC Libraries eScholarship program, which facilitates the creation of peer reviewed open access journals, (See the UC Peer Reviewed Series in eScholarship) the Open Humanities Press seeks to provide a solution to the current crisis in academic publishing.
The Open Humanities Press has organized an impressive editorial board and is publishing an important set of scholarly journals. These include:
Visit the Open Humanities Press site to learn more about the open access movement and why it is important to faculty, students, libraries, and the future of academic publishing and the peer-reviewed system.
The Open Humanities Press has also launched a new series in critical theory published in conjunction with the University of Michigan Library’s Scholarly Publishing Office.
And… the University of Michigan’s Scholarly Publishing Office is hosting another set of peer-reviewed open access journals, including…
Journal of Anthropological Research
The Medieval Review
Michigan Feminist Studies
passages
Philosopher’s Imprint
Plagiary
Post Identity
Proceedings of the Western Society for French History
To learn more about how you can benefit from these initiatives please plan to attend UC Davis’ eScholarship presentation:
“Taking Back Your Scholarship”
Cathrine Mitchell, Director, CDL Publishing Group
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Shields Library, Second Floor Instruction Room
More info can also be obtained by contacting me, David Michalski, Social, Behavioral and Cultural Studies Librarian, UC Davis.
Tags: eScholarship
Posted in Open Access, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
October 2nd, 2009 by David Michalski
“Take Control of Your Publications with eScholarship”
An Open Access Week Presentation
Catherine Mitchell
Director, CDL Publishing Group
University of California
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Shields Library, Second Floor Instruction Room
Keep your copyright
Reach more reader
Publish when you want t
Protect your work’s future
…all with no fees
eScholarship offers a robust open access* publishing platform that enables departments, research units, publishing programs, and individual scholars associated with the University of California to have direct control over the creation and dissemination of the full range of their scholarship, including:
- Peer Reviewed Journals
- Conference Proceedings
- Books
- Working Papers
- Postprints
- Seminar/Paper Series
Initiated in 2002, eScholarship now houses over 30,000 publications with more than 9 million full-text downloads to date. The rate of usage of these materials has grown dramatically in the past 7 years, now often exceeding 170,000 downloads per month.
Come learn how you can get started publishing with eScholarship today!
“Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions…OA is entirely compatible with peer review, and all the major OA initiatives for scientific and scholarly literature insist on its importance.”
Posted in Open Access, Publishers, Uncategorized | No Comments Yet »
October 2nd, 2009 by David Michalski
University Library News
24/7 Reference Now Available
The University of California, Davis General Library is offering a new online chat service called Ask A UC Librarian, available from the General Library’s Ask For Help tab.
Ask A UC Librarian button is available round-the-clock! Real-time, chat reference service is provided by reference staff from various academic libraries. UC Davis subject specialist librarians will follow up with additional information if needed.
For more information about the online chat service, contact Amy Kautzman, Associate University Librarian for Humanities and Social Sciences (kautzman@library.ucdavis.edu).
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September 16th, 2009 by Juri Stratford
Reserve Services, located in Peter J. Shields Library, makes available course material, audio visual material, campus and departmental publications, high use reference materials and library material which needs protection not offered by the general stacks.
The majority of items formerly housed at Hart Hall Media Distribution Lab are now cataloged and housed in Library Reserves. However, some media titles are no longer available because of format or copyright standards.
Please see Frequently Asked Questions on Requesting Media for Reserves for more information.
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September 15th, 2009 by David Michalski
Library Assignment Design:
Contact a Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian to find help in designing effective and informative library research projects for your students. We can help you engage students in the research process by maximizing collection strengths and tools.
Humanities and Social Sciences: hssref@lib.ucdavis.edu
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments Yet »
August 26th, 2009 by Marcia Meister
The CIA Special Review of Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities.
As widely reported in the press, the CIA Office of Inspector General has just released material on past detention practices in the ‘War on Terrorism’. The release of this material came about following a FOIA request by the American Civil Liberties Union, and a copy of the OIG report (along with supplemental documents) is currently available on their website.
Posted in Government Information, Political Science, Uncategorized | Comments Off
July 31st, 2009 by David Michalski
Your opinion matters. In order to understand how UC Davis faculty, staff, and students use library services and facilities an online survey has been created. Please take a moment to complete the questionnaire.
* Library Services Survey
For questions or comments regarding the survey, please contact:
Amy Kautzman, Associate University Librarian for the Humanities & Social Sciences
kautzman@lib.ucdavis.edu
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments Yet »
