Friday 31 July 2009

Charles Darwin & Evolution website

This website celebrates the life, work and impact of Charles Darwin. There are lots of articles about who Darwin was, what he did and why he matters. You can also read about modern case studies which showcase some of the evidence supporting Darwin's theories. Use the menu to the right hand side of the page to explore the headings: Life, Work, Evolution, Impact, Updating Darwin, Case Studies, Applications, Darwin and Cambridge Today, For Kids, For Teachers.

The website has been put together by students from Christ's College, Cambridge - where Darwin studied http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/darwin200/pages/

ZETOC now with abstracts

Mimas are pleased to announce that Zetoc records can now include abstracts.
Inclusion of the abstract data is with agreement between the British Library and the publisher. Not all new article data will have abstracts included but the number is expected to increase as further agreements are reached. The abstracts when present are found on the 'Full record' page.

For examples please try the following links:

Mapping the sequence mutations of the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus neuraminidase relative to drug and antibody binding sites.

If you require any further information or have any suggestions for enhancements to the Zetoc service, please contact the Zetoc support at: zetoc@mimas.ac.uk. Your feedback is always appreciated.

New e-journal backfiles - Web of Science and Springer

The University Library has acquired the following electronic journal backfiles in perpetuity with funding from HEFCE’s Capital Investment Framework (CIF). This initiative brings the University Library closer to meeting the demands of its users for online access to archival journal content, and further enriching access to the University’s online journal collections.

1. Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Science Citation Index

Access to the Web of Science Science Citation Index Expanded and the Social Science Citation Index have been extended. The Science Citation ed to include retrospective data from 1900 to the present, and the Social Science Citation Index from 1956 to present. These resources are multidisciplinary indexes to the journal literature in the sciences and social sciences respectively, and fully index over 6,650 major journals in the sciences, and 1,900 journals in the social sciences.

To search the indexes: once you get to the eresources@cambridge page at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/, click on the "databases" tab, then click on "W" for the list of databases beginning with W, and then scroll down to find Web of Knowledge (which incorporates Web of Science). Click on this and you should get to the Web of Knowledge page. Then click on the Web of Science tab to search it, and you should see the new coverage dates on the screen under "Citation databases". Alternatively you should be able to bookmark Web of Knowledge on your internet browser, or create a shortcut for it on your desktop.

Web of Science requires a Raven login.

2. Springer Online Archive update package

An update package to the Springer Online Archives Collection which was purchased by the University Library in August 2008 is now available. This package adds online access to the full text of an additional 119 journal titles and more than 4,000 volumes from titles that have been taken over by Springer.

The Springer titles can be accessed via the ejournals@cambridge portal:
http://sfx7.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az,

Directly from the Springer-link site at:
http://www.springerlink.com/journals/

or via Google Scholar http://scholar.google.co.uk/.

Access is available within the University domain, and via Raven passwords from elsewhere.

Wednesday 22 July 2009

Rare book on display in the library

The Lepidoptera of Ceylon, by F. Moore. Vols. 1-3. London: L. Reeve & Co.; 1880-1887.


Balfour Library class mark: qQN (1)


The book is open at: Plate 63 (from vol. 1): specimens of Papilionidae (swallowtail butterflies). This plate shows amazingly detailed bright green and subtle yellow coloured butterflies from different angles, as well as their pupae and caterpillars.


Frederic Moore (1830-1907) was a distinguished entomologist and a prominent Fellow of the Entomological Society for more than 50 years. He was also a Fellow of the Zoological Society and was elected an Associate of the Linnean Society in 1881. He joined the staff of the East India Museum in 1848 and worked there as Assistant Curator until its absorption with the British Museum in 1879. Moore’s principal interest was in Indian lepidoptera; his obituary in The Zoologist states “He was a pioneer in the study of Indian Lepidoptera, and he knew these insects intimately better than any man living”. He was also a talented botanical and zoological artist.


His principal works are A Catalogue of the Lepidopterous Insects in the Museum of the Hon. East India Company, two vols. (1857-59), and The Lepidoptera of Ceylon, three vols. (1880-87). He was working on his major title Lepidoptera Indica at the time of his death; six volumes were published after his death and a further four have been published since, written by Col. C. Swinhoe.


The illustrations for The Lepidoptera of Ceylon are by two Singhalese artists, the brothers William and George de Alwis who worked as botanical artists at the Botanical Garden at Peradeniya. The Director of the Botanical Garden, G. H. K. Thwaites, was greatly impressed by William de Alwis’ botanical drawings and recommended to Sir W. H. Gregory, the Governor of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) that William should undertake a project to draw from nature the butterflies and moths of Ceylon. Thwaites supervised the drawings, many of which were illustrations of specimens he had collected himself. George de Alwis was also employed to copy some of the drawings already made and to prepare new ones.


The brothers’ drawings were, according to the Natural History Museum which owns the De Alwis Drawings Collection “considered to be of such accuracy that they were used by a number of authors publishing on the lepidoptera of Ceylon”. The 71 original watercolour drawings “depict with great accuracy the adult butterflies and moths, their larvae and pupae and occasionally associated food plants”. The drawings were lithographed and reproduced as colour plates in this book by Moore. The Balfour & Newton Libraries’ copy of this work was donated by the Governor of Ceylon.


Sources:

Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London (1907-08): 56.


W. L. Distant. The Zoologist (4) (1907) 11: 239.


Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine (1907) 43: 162.


King’s College London libraries, Special Collections Online Exhibition:

From the four corners of the earth. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/library/spec/exhib/allnature/fcorners.html


Natural History Museum Online Exhibition: Art themes http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/online-exhibitions/art-themes/india/more/butterfly_more_info.htm


Tuesday 7 July 2009

Subscription to Birds of North America (BNA) Online


Following a successful trial subscription, the Balfour Library is very pleased to announce that it has purchased an initial three year subscription to the Birds of North America (BNA) Online. The subscription will run until 30th June 2012.

Access is available from within the cam domain directly via this URL: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu

"Off-campus" access is available using your Raven password from eresources@cambridge at: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/fulllist.php?search_term=B (under 'Birds of North America', i.e. without the 'The').

We hope you will enjoy using this new resource.