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Library Workshops

This semester, the Library is offering the following workshops to help pump up your research skills. Please let your students know.  Hope to see you here!

Alerting Services for the Sciences

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008, 10-11:00 am and 2-3:00 pm
USF Tampa Library LIB 209

Workshop Description: What is an Alert Service? Why use an Alert Service? How can it help you with your research? Find out more about how this database service works, how you can use it to streamline your research, and why it is important for you to know how to use it. Set up an alert service using a major scientific database during this workshop.

Intended Audience: Faculty, graduate and undergraduate students in the sciences.

Click here to register.

Researching the Literature in the Social Sciences:  Beyond the Basics

Friday, February 29, 2008, 2-4:00 pm
USF Tampa Library LIB 209

Workshop Description: You know the basics—the library catalog, the databases in your discipline and many of the tools for coursework and basic projects, but now you want to go deeper either because you are getting ready for writing your thesis or you want to submit a manuscript for publication. This workshop will cover the tools researchers use to go beyond the basics to do an exhaustive review of the literature. Learn how to follow the bibliographic trail by using super-googling techniques, World Catalog, cited author references, and bibliographies.

Intended Audience: Faculty, graduate and honors students in the social sciences.

Click here to register.

Using the ideas of others: Citing sources and avoiding plagiarism

Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 2-3:30 pm
USF Tampa Library LIB 209

Workshop Description: Almost all fields of research involve the intensive tracing of theories and ideas already authored. As critical thinkers, we are invited to evaluate, extend, and create our own ideas by examining the fine research available. There’s always an art to science, however, and part of this art involves using the right sources and giving proper credit to the academic achievements already published. This workshop will explore the basics of citation and its many styles, as well as how to avoid plagiarism and use new tools, like RefWorks.

Intended Audience: Faculty, graduate and honors students in all academic areas.

Click here to register.

Citations Cramping Your Style: Use RefWorks

Multiple dates or suggest your own date.
USF Tampa Library

Workshop Description: RefWorks is an online bibliographic management program that allows faculty, students, and staff at USF to create a personal database of references. Learn how to automatically export citations from a search performed in some online databases or enter citations manually and then automatically create your bibliography in a host of styles including APA, MLA, Chicago, or Turabian. RefWorks can also be used to organize your citations by topic. Or, try the Write-n-Cite addon with MicroSoft Word to input in-text citations and automatically generate a bibliography when your paper/article is complete. USF faculty, staff and students have unlimited access to this software.

Intended Audience: Faculty, graduate and undergraduate students in any discipline.

Click here to register.

More Reference eBooks

The Encyclopedia of Hydrological Sciences
Provides research level coverage of fresh water resources, an area of heightened research due to population increase, pollution and degradation of resources, and variations in regional and global change in the climate.   
The Wiley Encyclopedia of Biomedical Engineering
Contains the fundamentals of life, engineering, mathematical, and information sciences with the methodologies and systems of biomedical engineering.  Covers topics such as human performance and reverse engineering, and rehabilitation and orthopedic engineering.
The Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences
Useful for those working in statistics, probability theory, biostatistics, quality control, and economics with emphasis in applications of statistical methods in sociology, engineering, computer science, biomedicine, psychology, survey methodology, and a host of other disciplines. 

The Encyclopedia of Biostatistics , 2nd Edition 
Covers the development and use of statistical methods in the life and medical sciences in eight cross-referenced volumes.  This new edition will find widespread application in basic medical sciences; the planning, financing and distribution of health care; and the measurement of health care status and progress in the population. 

Encyclopedia of Environmental Microbiology 
Addresses the methodology for detection and preventive measure for avoiding or reducing human exposure to harmful agents.  This is a useful resource for microbiologists studying microorganisms and their habitats, and those working in applied research areas such as public health, agriculture, food, and water quality, water or wastewater treatment, or resource recovery. 

THANK YOU!

For participating in the Information Seeking Behavior of Science Researchers survey.

After we receive and analyze the results of the survey we will publish it here with our recommendations.  It is our hope that we will be able to improve and enhance library service to you. 

Rising Cost of Journals

Are publishers getting rich publishing your research? A Bear-Stearns evaluation of Reed-Elsevier (one of the world's largest publishers of scholarly journals) recently rated the company, which earns profits of almost 40% annually, "a stockholder's dream." Should private publishers be getting rich selling information generated by research that is funded by academic institutions and the public? What's happening and how does it affect scholars? This article looks at one university's experience.            Read on...

Check out the New PCs in the Faculty Research Suite

In the last few weeks, we've added some faculty PC workstations in the new Faculty Research Suite.  These include much of the standard software from Academic Computing (MS Office, Photoshop, etc.), but we'd certainly love to hear from you if there is more that's needed on these machines.  When you visit our new space on the 6th floor of the USF Tampa Library, please take a look and let us know what will help with your research.  Feel free to inquire as to specific software availabilities and we'll do everything we can to make it a part of our software selections.  Just email Matt Torrence (torrence@lib.usf.edu) with any questions or suggestions.

The New Faculty Research Suite is Now Open!

The new faculty research suite was established to provide an environment for faculty and their doctoral students that is conducive to research and scholarship activities. This space was designed to give faculty the opportunity to interact with their colleagues, collaborate on projects, think collectively and study and write independently. Research librarians will be available as needed to facilitate your information needs. This is your facility, enjoy it!

Survey of Science Researchers

We are conducting an important science survey on October 8, 2007 – October 22, 2007

The Information Seeking Behavior of Science Researchers will help us support academic researchers by improving their access to information. The results will not only be of interest in understanding how scientists search out and use information in this electronic age, but more importantly, will be used to help improve library service to you.

The results of the survey will help us understand changes that are occurring in the way academic researchers seek out and use information.  We believe that nearly ubiquitous desktop access to computers and the internet, combined with electronic access to research materials such as journal articles, has transformed how scientists work.  Twenty years ago, only a few researchers accessed articles electronically from their desktop and most visited the library regularly.  Today, most do not visit the library and almost all receive their journal articles at their desktop.  They publish papers on their web pages.  Students begin their searches with Google.  Libraries are in the midst of reinventing themselves to deal with these changes.  But are they making the right choices?  Our goal is to understand the information seeking behavior and preferences of academic scientists today in order to provide better tools for their research.

In order to be effective, we need all faculty members and graduate students in the sciences to complete this short (10 minute) survey.   Please take a few minutes to complete this survey so that we can serve you better.

On-Site Librarian Program

Several research librarians from Research Services & Collections are getting out and providing research services closer to you!  Services offered will include, but are not limited to, assistance with literature reviews and advanced database search strategies, thesis and dissertation support for graduate students, general help with library resources and services, faculty and graduate student consultations and the scheduling and design of customized library presentations for class instruction.

If you would like for us to be available at your location, please let us know.

You can find Matt Torrence, Engineering Librarian, Audrey Powers, Natural Sciences Librarian, and John Abresch, Social Sciences Librarian, at the following locations and dates. 

Engineering Building II - "Fishbowl"
Tuesday and Wednesday
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Sept. 4 & 5; Sept. 11 & 12; Sept. 18 & 19
Nov. 13 & 14; Nov. 27 & 28

Social Sciences Building - Lobby
Wednesday and Thursday
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Sept. 5 & 6; Sept. 12 & 13; Sept. 19 & 20
Nov. 14 & 15; Nov. 28 & 29

Audrey Powers  974 - 9001
Matt Torrence   974 - 2779
John Abresch    974 - 7221