Use of SciFinder Scholar Database

The American Chemical Society, suppliers of the SciFinder Scholar Database, have asked us to remind you that the terms under which we purchase it allow use for academic research only. This means that if you are working part-time for another company or research institute then you are not permitted to use SciFinder Scholar for this work as it is non-academic research.

There is no reason to believe that these terms are being breached at Massey.

IEEE Xplore upgrade

IEEE recently upgraded their Xplore database. IEEE Xplore release 2.0 has a new interface which aims to look more up-to-date and requires less clicks to access results than the previous one.

There are some significant improvements:

• You can now select several records to view or download.
• When you export records to EndNote it identifies the reference type correctly (it can tell the difference between journal articles and conference proceedings).
• PDF's are searchable
• You can view and edit your search history

However, there is one notable problem.

IEEE reverses the journal and conference titles on the Xplore database, e.g.
"Systems, Man and Cybernetics, IEEE Transactions on"
"Paper presented at the Fuzzy Systems, 2004. Proceedings. 2004 IEEE International Conference on".
This means that the records you download into EndNote or other reference software will be reversed and you will need to edit them within your EndNote records.

Updated Browser Recommendations

For best performance and to ensure accuracy, IEEE recommends you use one of the following supported platforms and browsers:

Windows - Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher; Netscape 7.x or higher; Opera 7.23; Mozilla Firefox 1.0
Mac - Internet Explorer 5.2.3 ; Netscape 7.1
Unix - Netscape 7.x or higher

In addition, cookies, JavaScript and CSS styles must be enabled within the browser.
For best dial-up performance, a 56.6 or higher modem is recommended For viewing PDF files, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.X or higher is recommended.

IEEE's own release notes:

Search Enhancements

• IEEE Members and institutional subscribers Basic Search of all fields from the home page
• 100% full text searchable PDFs
• Search the latest content update
• View the citation or citation & abstract in search results
• Select items to print, email, or download citations
• Session history view and edit your search history

Browse Improvements

• Filter the Journal & Magazine or Conference Proceedings list by publisher
• The default view for each list has increased to 25
• Conference Proceedings are grouped to show title history
• Standards list now includes the standard number in addition to title

Abstract and AbstractPlus Enhancements

• Abstract records include: document’s citation, DOI (if available), posted online date, abstract, link to full text, and buy document option
• AbstractPlus records include: document’s citation, DOI (if available), posted online date, abstract, index terms, references (if available), citing documents (if available), and link to full text

Direct Export to EndNote from Biological Abstracts

If you find that a pesky SO - is appearing before journal titles when you export records from the Biological Abstracts database to EndNote the following "simple" operation will fix the problem:

1. Click on Edit/Import Filters
2. Click on Open Filter Manager
3. Scroll to Biological Abstracts (OVID) and double-clickto open the Filter editor
   
4. From the list on the left hand side of the screen click on the bottom option, Source Parsing
5. Click on the Use Smart Parsing option
6. Click on File/Save and close the Filter editor

Your direct export should now work probably. If it doesn't, or if you can't follow these instructions, please contact us.

Seminar on scientific publishing

Dr Peter Jolly has kindly agreed to offer a repeat of his seminar on scientific publishing originally delivered on 8 April as part of the IVABS Seminar Series. It will be held in the Library Training Room next Friday 6 May at 3.30 pm and this session will be aimed primarily at librarians, but anyone who missed out on attending first time round is very welcome to attend. It would be of particular interest to those involved with the editing or publishing of journals or conference proceedings.

Microbiology Abstracts Online

At the beginning of 2004 the Library converted its print subscriptions to Microbiology Abstracts to online access only. The three parts are -

• Industrial and Applied Microbiology Abstracts (Microbiology A)
• Bacteriology Abstracts (Microbiology B)
• Algology, Mycology and Protozoology Abstracts (Microbiology C)

It is possible to search these parts separately or as a single block - the latter strategy is preferable in most circumstances. Due to the nature of the subscription electronic coverage beginds from the start of 2004 and does not overlap with the printed abstracts.

There is a substantial overlap between the coverage of Microbiology Abstracts and that of Biological Abstracts and Web of Science, but for absolutely comprehensive coverage of a topic a search of all three databases is still recommended. Microbiology Abstracts' point of difference is its substantial coverage of conference proceedings. The Cambridge Scientific Abstracts interface is used - the Boolean logic is quite standard and the * symbol is used for truncation. Records can be exported to EndNote.