Library News for Science

Part 1 of this paper chronicles what it believes to be the limits of what it calls the feudal academic knowledge exchange system. It predicts an upcoming social upheaval in academic publishing as it shifts from a feudal to democratic form. The trigger for this being socio–technical advances.

Part 2 suggests the sort of socio–technical design needed to bring this transformation about.

This game from Cambridge University is the Snakes and Ladders for Ph.D students.

The effects of climate change on biodiversity are already evident in the UK, and with continued climate change, are expected to increase. This POSTnote explores the observed and future impacts of climate change on biodiversity. It also examines the relationship between biodiversity and adaptation to a changing climate.

The British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC) is the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) Designated Data Centre for the Atmospheric Sciences. The role of the BADC is to assist UK atmospheric researchers to locate, access and interpret atmospheric data and to ensure the long-term integrity of atmospheric data produced by NERC projects.

The BADC website also has a Community section which allows you to access recent news and information about conferences, create or join workspaces and find out who’s who (once you have registered with the BADC).

Science Express provides electronic publication of selected papers which will appear in the journal Science in advance of them going into print. Some editorial changes may occur between the online version and the final printed version though. The site updates weekly.

Yesterday a new mapping tool became available through Digimap’s ‘Ordnance Survey Collection’.

Roam, the new mapping facility, is available as a BETA service and will therefore be subject to various improvements over the next few months.

Planned changes include additional print formats as alternatives to PDF, inclusion of scalebar on printed maps, provision of scale and extent indication on screen maps and adding a “My Maps” function for bookmarking maps.

Roam offers “click and drag” functions to locate your map, 12 map views at different scales, printing in PDF at both A3 and A4 sizes, search by place name, postcode or grid reference, seamless scrolling through the fixed scale maps and5 customisable map views.

You can access Roam from the icon above Classic in Digimap’s Ordnance Survey Collection home page.Edina hope you will use the new facility and let them know what you think of it.

There is a link within Roam for you to report any feedback (positive and negative) you have. You can also email Edina on edina@ed.ac.uk or telephone them on 0131 650 3302.

Roam will replace the current Classic Digimap facility in January 2010.

Freely available training sessions for Web of Science and Reference Management software packages is available online this month by signing up for webinars via the Thompson Scientific training page.

EarthTrends from the World Resources Institute offers statistical data, country profiles, maps, and articles pertaining to various topics in environmental studies. They also offer a newsletter and a subscription service to have relevant data eMailed to you.

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