Thursday 12 March 2009

Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts

The Balfour & Newton Libraries will be lending one of their books to the Fitzwilliam Museum for their exhibition Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts. The book is Gerald H. Thayer's Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, 1909. The exhibition begins on 16th June 2009 and ends on 4th October 2009. However, the exhibition will be held first at the Yale Center for British Art from 12th February 2009 until 3rd May 2009. Visit the exhibition website at http://www.darwinendlessforms.org/home.html for more information on this ground-breaking exhibition that explores the impact of Darwin's theories on late nineteenth century artists.

A stencilled piece of card illustrating dried leaves covers plate xi of Thayer's work and reveals the shape of the copperhead snake when you lift it up. The overall effect demonstrates the camouflage properties of the snake. An image of this is featured on page 114, Fig. 117, in the exhibition catalogue Endless forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts, edited by Diana Donald and Jane Munro. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT: in association with Yale University Press; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: qFY (8).

Research Skills Programme RSS feed now available

The Research Skills Programme can now be accessed by RSS. Visit

New e-resource Content from the Wellcome Film Collection has now been added to Film & Sound Online

Film & Sound Online

Film & Sound Online is a JISC-funded set of collections of film, video and sound material. Several hundred hours of high-quality material are available for download, either in full or as segments, and can be used freely in learning, teaching and research. Access to Film & Sound Online at http://www.filmandsound.ac.uk/ is available on-campus and is restricted to current staff/students via Raven passwords.

Wellcome Film Collection

Content from the Wellcome Film Collection has now been added to Film & Sound Online. 212 films were put in to service on 26th February representing the 17th separate collection to be included in Film & Sound Online. A further 230+ Wellcome titles will be added in batches in a process due to finish in December 2009.

The core collection consists of about 60 © Wellcome Trust titles that were made by the corporate arm of the organisation, in the guise of the Wellcome Foundation. The earliest footage is of archaeological digs in the Sudan, at Jebel Moya, featuring the founder, Sir Henry Wellcome himself (A day at Gebel Moya, season 1912-13), as well as more jaunty corporate fare about the business of running a pharmaceutical company (Looking Around, The Story of the Wellcome Foundation).

The Wellcome Film Collection is available at http://www.filmandsound.ac.uk/collections/wellcome.html

End of term information

Balfour Library end of term information

The last Saturday morning that the Balfour Library was open before the Easter Vacation starts was Saturday 7th March. Saturday morning opening will begin again on the first Saturday of the Easter Term 2009, i.e. Saturday 25th April 2009.

Lent Term 2009 ends on Friday 13th March. All books on loan from the Balfour Library must be returned by this date. Books may be renewed for further periods, but please remember that they cannot be taken away from Cambridge. This is because all of our books are subject to recall by other readers and we would need to be able to get them back easily if another reader requested them.

During the Easter Vacation the loan period for Overnight Loan books changes to two weeks, but books still cannot be taken away from Cambridge.

Please see
http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/booksborrow.html for more information on how to borrow, return and renew books on loan from the Balfour Library.

How to access online resources when you are away from Cambridge (and you are still a valid member of the University)

If you do not currently have an Raven password and think you may need one to access the Web of Knowledge or Scopus (to search scientific literature) or online journals and databases when you are away from Cambridge, you should apply for one following the instructions given on the University Computing Service 'How do I get a Raven password?' website at http://www.cam.ac.uk/cs/docs/faq/n5.html This page will also help you if you have lost or forgotten your Raven password.

It is strongly recommended that you check the University Library's ejournals@cambridge page at
http://sfx7.exlibrisgroup.com/cambridge/az to see whether you will actually be able to access particular online journals away from the University network (cam.ac.uk domain) BEFORE you leave Cambridge (or see http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/ for access to particular databases). See the 'Access Route' link next to the journal or database title to do this. Some online journals are not accessible outside of the University network so you may wish to download or print off articles from these before you leave Cambridge.

Easter period closing dates

The Balfour Library will close for Easter at 5:00 pm on Thursday 9th April and will re-open at 8:30 am on Tuesday 14th March 2009. The library will be open throughout the Easter Vacation however, see our opening hours at http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/library/open.html

Thank you for your cooperation.

We wish you a very Happy Easter!

Best wishes,

Clair & Jane

Wednesday 11 March 2009

New library books and theses acquisitions

Books:

Cellular signal processing: an introduction to the molecular mechanisms of signal transduction, by Friedrich Marks, Ursula Klingmueller, Kevin Mueller-Decker. New York, NY: Abingdon: Garland Science; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: EC (297) (Overnight Loan shelves)

Cooperation in primates and humans: mechanisms and evolution
, by Peter M. Kappeler, Carel P. van Schaik. Berlin: Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag; 2006. Balfour Library shelf mark: YW.7 (31iii) (Overnight Loan shelves)

A dictionary of zoology, 3rd ed.
, edited by Michael Allaby. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: DICT SCI 19c (Reference section).

Endless forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the visual arts, edited by Diana Donald and Jane Munro. Fitwilliam Museum, Cambridge: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT: in association with Yale University Press; 2009. Balfour Library shelf mark: qFY (8)

For the love of nature: mammals described and illustrated by the naturalists Gerald E.H. Barrett-Hamilton and Edward Adrian Wilson, by Martin J. Hollenberg. Vancouver, BC: Martin J. Hollenberg; 2008. Balfour Library shelf mark: qFY (7)

Mammals from the age of dinosaurs: origins, evolution, and structure, by Zofia Kielan-Jarorowska, Richard L. Cifelli, and Zhe-Xi Luo. New York, NY: Columbia University Press; 2004. Balfour Library shelf mark: Y.12 (14ii) (Overnight Loan shelves)

Thesis:

Analysis of the gap gene network in Clogmia albipunctata (Diptera: Psychodidae), by Monica Adriana Garcia Solache. Cambridge; 2009. Thesis (457)

Friday 6 March 2009

Survey: Using information on the move

A chance to win an Flip video camera http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/5748033/Flip-Video-Ultra-Camcorder/Product.html, £30 in book vouchers or membership to the Arts Picturehouse http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema_home_date.aspx?venueId=camb worth £27.

I would like to invite you to take part in a survey intended to establish how the majority of Cambridge University students and staff access, or would like to access, information away from your desk or laptop. The survey questions are primarily about how you use your mobile phone, smartphone or PDA to look up, use or interact with information.

As mobile phone use has become increasingly common, more and more ways of using them to access or interact with information have developed. Newer models of mobile phones are more powerful than personal computers were a few years ago and often include much of the functionality of a pocket PC, such as a calendar, a camera, a notes function, and an
internet browser.

All answers will be completely anonymous. If you choose to provide your email address to enter the prize draw, or if you wish to contribute further to the project, we will not associate it with your responses or retain it after the end of the project. The aggregated survey results, however, will be made publicly available and may be used to inform development of services for students and staff.

This research is being undertaken jointly at Cambridge University and The Open University as part of the Arcadia project. Staff and students at The Open University will be receiving the same survey. For more information about the project, please click on the link provided at the end of the survey.

To take the survey go to http://cli.gs/caminfosurvey. It should take 10 to 15 minutes to complete it. The cut-off date for submissions is 19 March 2009.

Many thanks,

Keren Mills
Arcadia Project: Using information on the move
http://arcadiaproject.blogspot.com/2009/01/m-library-services-user-requirements.html
Email: km512@cam.ac.uk
Tel. 01223 768875