The Balfour Library is participating in Open Cambridge 2011!

We are very pleased to announce that we are taking part in the annual Open Cambridge event for the first time this year.

The event allows members of the public to gain exclusive access to and insights into libraries, museums, gardens, and many other University institutions (as well as many non-University ones in Cambridge!). There are tours and drop-in sessions available, some of which do require booking.

We thought it would be great to be able to open our doors to the public, who may have always wondered what the inside of this centrally located building is like having walked past it several times! On Saturday 11th September we are giving a one-hour, bookable tour, to show visitors how the library is used by students and members of the department for their teaching, learning, and research needs. We will also have a selection of items from our special collections on display - this is very exclusive, as we do not have space to show these off within the library at present. If the tour proves popular maybe we can deliver some more next year.

The event takes place on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th September, culminating in the Bridge the Gap Charity Walk on Sunday 11th.

For more details of what's on please see the Open Cambridge website at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/opencambridge/ Bookings now open.

Job opportunity for a scientific researcher at UK PubMed Central / the British Library

Engagement Manager - UK Pubmed Central

UKPMC needs an experienced biomedical researcher who will lead on engagement to raise awareness of UKPMC and communicate its benefits.

For more information and to apply visit: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ACX383/engagement-manager/

This post has been advertised on jobs.ac.uk and researchresearch.com.

Book cleaning project in the library

I am pleased to announce plans for a book cleaning project to take place in the library througout the summer vacation 2011.

Local 'heritage volunteers' from NADFAS (National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies) will be cleaning our rare books. They will be using a range of specialist brushes and a vacuum cleaner to delicately remove the hundred years' worth of dust that covers the ca. 6,000 items in the library's Special Collections! The dust is one major cause of the deterioration of the bindings and the pages of the books.

This does mean that there will be some disruption during the times that the volunteers are cleaning. The volunteers will be here most Thursday mornings from 10.00 a.m. until 1.30 p.m. Their first session is on Thursday 14th July, and they will be here hopefully right up until October. There will be some noise in the 'Newton Room' (i.e. the room where the photocopiers are), which is where the volunteers will be based; they will be using the desks there and will have all their equipment there. Please ask library staff for assistance if you need access to anything in this area when the volunteers are present. Using the photocopiers will still be fine however. Please note that we have temporarily moved the scanner into the domed study area of the library.

There will be 4 volunteers in total, I'm sure you will make them feel welcome if you see them out and about in the department and in the Tea Room. We will introduce them to members of the department whenever we can. We are extremely pleased that they will be able to help make the items in our special collections much more pleasant to handle, and to conserve and preserve them for future generations of scholars.

You can find out more about NADFAS here: http://www.nadfas.org.uk/

Watch this space for further information: we hope to post some 'before and after' photos and include some other general photos in informative blog posts during the project!

Leading research organisations announce top-tier, open access journal for biomedical and life sciences

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max Planck Society and the Wellcome Trust have announced that they will be supporting a new top-tier, open access journal for biomedical and life sciences research.

For more information, see the Wellcome Trust's 'News and features' page on their website at: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/index.htm

Journal Citation Reports 2010 data now available

The 2010 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) are now available.  The JCR are the recognised authority for evaluating journals and present quantitative data that support a systematic and objective review of the world’s leading journals. 

The 2010 JCR includes:

• More than 10,000 of the world’s most highly cited, peer reviewed journals in 238 disciplines
• Nearly 2,500 publishers and 84 countries represented
• Over 1,300 regional journals
• 1,075 journals receiving their first Journal Impact Factor

A list of new journals receiving their first Journal Impact Factor in JCR can be found here: http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/imgblast/JCR-NewTitles2010.pdf

The full 2010 Journal Citation Report data can be accessed via the eresources@cambridge database here http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/electronicresources/fulllist.php?search_term=J using your Raven log-in.

Darwin's personal library put online

Notes and comments scribbled by Charles Darwin on the pages and margins of his own personal library have been made available online for the first time.

See the News item on Cambridge University Library's website here: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/newspublishing/index.php?c=1#news274