BANR

Greater Access to the NTIS Collection Now Available Search NTIS.GOV for titles from 1964 to present
http://www.ntis.gov/search/index.aspx

NTIS is pleased to launch its improved search engine with features such as: Enhanced retrieval with search functionality for categories, collections, and source agencies.

The NTIS search engine now more powerfully finds the information you need.

The Advanced Searching capabilities allows for an even greater
focus on appropriate content for your search.

Expanded access to the NTIS collection now includes the ability to
search, retrieve and select from over 3.0 million products.

==Improved access with new NTIS titles added each week.
==Customers are provided a Product File of related purchased titles
==Now you can find virtually any item in the NTIS collection and order many in your choice of format (downloads, printed copy, CD ROM or microfiche).
==Search Help has step by step instructions and graphics: http://www.ntis.gov/search/index.aspx
==All search results include a brief product description and easy access to place your order online, quickly, easily and securely.

Information for this posting came from the STS-L LIstserv posted on 12-12-2007

Posted by Allison Level at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CSU access to key scientific journals has been expanded with the addition of new collections in environmental sciences, energy, power, and other subject areas. Researchers may search via databases like Web of Science, then be seamlessly connected to full-text content of back-issues of many Science-Direct journals.

The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, known as "the Alliance," consists of ten institutions representing twelve major libraries located in Colorado and Wyoming. The consortium has enabled CSU to purchase a wide array of electronic resources that CSU would not have otherwise been able to afford. This most recent purchase involved leveraging the monies each library had already spent on portions of backfile collections combined with a new monies provided by the University of Wyoming. Prior to this year, CSU had already purchased 22 of Elsevier's ScienceDirect journal backfile packages on its own. Now without CSU spending any additional funds, the deal helped expand access to backfile collections by 9 packages and includes 385 unique journal titles.

The newly added collections include:

* Energy and Power
* Environmental Sciences
* High Energy/Nuclear Physics and Astronomy
* The Lancet
* Materials Science
* Medicine and Dentistry
* Nursing and Health Professions
* Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics
* Physics General

Some text for this posting is quoted from the CSU Libraries Website news about Science Direct Backfiles.

Posted by Allison Level at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Index to American Botanical Literature (vendor: NY Botanical Garden): According to NYBG, "The Index contains entries dealing with various aspects of extant and fossil American plants and fungi, including systematics and floristics, morphology, and ecology, as well as economic botany and general botany (publications dealing with botanists, herbaria, etc.). The searchable database includes all those entries published in the Index since 1996, and thus includes botanical literature appearing since late 1995."

Posted by Allison Level at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The National Agriculture Library is seeking comments on the "concept design" for the NDLA. http://www.nal.usda.gov/ndla/

The goals of the design are:

To establish the NDLA as a collaborative partnership-based initiative;
*To provide easy and quick searching of databases as well as Websites relevant to agriculture
* To highlight information available from an array of partnering institutions
*To provide access to a wide variety of information types and resources such as Web sites, databases, weather information, genetic data, images and photographs, citation information, statistics, advice, and the full texts of digital publications.

We are interested in your opinions on ease of use, content, and overall design.

Please take a few minutes to comment and make suggestions through the "Contact Us" tab on the page!

Information from this posting quoted from the AgNIC-L Listserv

Posted by Allison Level at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Plant Management Network (PMN)has recently developed a new online seminar technology that allows presenters to include actual audio of their talks along with their slides. Three seminars are currently available that feature recognized experts speaking on aspects of soybean cyst nematode, corn rootworms, and Xylella diseases. Future seminars are in development and are intended to increase PMN’s educational benefit to subscribers. Seminars are available through the “Education Center” link under the “Resources” tab on the navigation bar ."

The database PMN can be found off the CSU Libraries Databases page.

Text for this posting quoted from the PMN #67 Update

Posted by Allison Level at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evaluation Guidelines for Intute: Health and Life Sciences (including the former BIOME gateways - OMNI, AGRIFOR & VETGATE)

"INTUTE < http://www.intute.ac.uk/healthandlifesciences/ >is a free online service providing you with access to the very best web resources for education and research. The service is created by a network of UK universities and partners. Subject specialists select and evaluate the websites in our database and write high quality descriptions of the resources.

Intute: Health and Life Sciences applies strict evaluation procedures when assessing internet resources for possible inclusion. These procedures cover criteria reflecting the quality of a resource, such as authority and reputation; currency, scope and accuracy of content; and accessibility, design and ease of use. Detailed guidelines explaining these procedures have recently been revised and can be found in full at (click on Evaluation Guidelines):

http://www.intute.ac.uk/healthandlifesciences/policy.html

Included in the same document you will find:

- a step by step guide to help you evaluate an internet based resource;
- a discussion of quality issues pertaining specifically to the individual gateways (Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, Natural History,
etc.) that make up Intute: Health and Life Sciences.

For further information about these guidelines please contact Laurian Williamson at laurian.williamson@nottingham.ac.uk

Peter Hoare, Service Officer, Intute Health & Life Sciences University of Nottingham. UK"

Information for this post is quoted from the IAALD-L Listserv

Posted by Allison Level at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PMN Adds Proceedings Link

"Plant Management Network has now published seven proceedings from various symposia and meetings. To locate them, see "Proceedings" under the Resources tab on the PMN homepage. Proceedings may be published either as a collection of materials (posters, PowerPoint presentations, etc.) from the event, like the 2007 National Plant Diagnostic Network Meeting, or written and published within a peer-reviewed journal, as were papers from the Organic Agriculture Symposium. For more information, contact the PMN editorial office. "

http://plantmanagementnetwork.org/

Information for this posting is quoted from USAIN-L

Posted by Allison Level at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Home Gardening AgNIC site

Information quoted from a posting to AgNIC-L Listserv:

"From Penn State:

Just in time for the 2007 gardening season, the new Home Gardening AgNIC site is ready to use. With links to the most important gardening sites from extension and business, this site will provide information to the academic audience and general public.

Major sections include: vegetables; flowers; lawn and turfgrass; gardening sites by state; large gardening sites; statistics and Federal sites; associations; Extension County agents "Ask a Question" and "Fun and other". Please feel free to recommend related sites so that we can evaluate them and add them if they are appropriate.

This summer we will add sections for books for "garden reading". Those will focus on books to read to children, in the garden, and books that are set in garden settings. We plan to add a section on garden newsletters. Any recommendations for these sections would also be helpful.

Please visit: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/agnic/homegardening/"

Posted by Allison Level at 08:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quoted from the SPARC press release,

"CERN, Geneva, Switzerland - As part of OAI5 - the 5th Workshop on Innovations in Scholarly Communication, held at the CERN Laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland, the SHERPA partnership was presented with the 2007 SPARC Europe Award for Outstanding Achievements in Scholarly Communications.

SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) Europe initiated the Award in 2006 to recognise the work of an individual or group within Europe that has made significant advances in our understanding of the issues surrounding scholarly communications and/or in developing practical means to address the problems with the current systems. In making the Award to SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access) the judging panel noted their advocacy for the adoption of institutional repositories and their development of a suite of tools in support of Open Access, including OpenDOAR (a world-wide directory of repositories hosting freely available peer-reviewed publications), JULIET (a listing of funding bodies' policies regarding deposit mandates) and RoMEO (listing publishers' copyright policies in relation to articles deposit)."

http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/

For more information, contact: David Prosser, david.prosser@bodley.ox.ac.uk

Posted by Allison Level at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Agriculture can be fun for big kids and small kids. The ARS Sci4Kids page, "Bridging the gap between science, agriculture and you." Sci4Kids

"You don't have to live on a farm or even have a garden to do an agricultural science project. You just have to be interested in what goes into growing plants and animals or how this affects the world around you." from: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/fair/story.htm

Posted by Allison Level at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"In view of the current situation concerning contaminated foods prepared for companion animals, we have made the following article free-access on our web site. This link will open the table of contents for the issue in which the article appears; scroll down to the article on page 1686 ("Timely Topics in Nutrition: Aflatoxicosis in dogs and dealing with suspected contaminated commercial foods"). The appendix on page 1691 offers procedures to follow. Please distribute this as widely as you wish."

June 1, 2006 (Vol 228; No. 11: pp. 1686-1693)
http://avmajournals.avma.org/toc/javma/228/11

Diane A Fagen, Librarian
American Veterinary Medical Association

Information for this posting is quoted from a listerv message from USAIN-L

Posted by Allison Level at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Answerlink is a great Web-based resources for easy access to Cooperative Extension information--online 24 hours a day/seven days a week.

The information is designed for Colorado situations. The site provides a way for people to search for frequently asked questions, ask a question, or just browse helpful information on a variety of topics. With the "my info" part of the site users can log in and check the status of a question.

Do you want to know...
How to prune roses?
How to prepare your soil for a perennial garden?
How to find out more information about Colorado noxious weeds?

Answerlink can help.

Colorado Cooperative Extension Home
Cooperative Extension--Your front door to the research, information and expertise of your land-grant university.

Information for the blog entree comes from the Answerlink homepage and the Colorado Cooperative Extension site.

Posted by Allison Level at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The National Agricultural Library (NAL) is pleased to announce the launch of a design concept Web site - www.nal.usda.gov/ndla - for the National Digital Library for Agriculture (NDLA). NAL would appreciate receiving your comments and suggestions concerning the site, which will be available for the next several months, as NAL continues to work closely with our customers, partners, and stakeholders to collectively develop the National Digital Library for Agriculture. Please visit www.nal.usda.gov/ndla and share your comments with us via the Contact Us button.

The design concept Web site was developed to demonstrate the following major NDLA goals:

- To establish the NDLA as a collaborative partnership-based initiative;
- To provide easy and quick searching of databases as well as Web sites relevant to agriculture
- To highlight information available from an array of partnering institutions
- To provide access to a wide variety of information types and resources such as Web sites, databases, weather information, genetic data, images and photographs, citation information, statistics, advice, and the full texts of digital publications

Many thanks go to those partnering with NAL in the launch of this NDLA design concept site, including the AgNIC Alliance, the Science.gov Alliance, the Digital Library of Georgia, the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC), the Library of Congress, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and Agricultural Research Service colleagues responsible for the ARS Image Gallery, GRIN, and other databases.

The site search uses the Explorit search technology from Deep Web Technologies, the search technology for www.science.gov.

PETER R. YOUNG
Director
National Agricultural Library

Information for this posting is quoted from a listserv posting to USAIN-L

Posted by Allison Level at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Plant Management Network (PMN) Database provides full-text access to several publications including the Biological and Cultural Tests for Control of Plant Diseases. Quoting from their Website, "Welcome to B&C Tests Online. Biological and Cultural Tests for Control of Plant Diseases is published annually by The American Phytopathological Society utilizing volunteer authors and editors and APS staff. It is intended to serve plant pathologists, nematologists, agronomists, horticulturists, foresters, extension specialists and agents, consultants, and others submitting or needing information on current plant disease control results."

The PMN also provides access to Fungicide and Nematicide Tests. Quoting from their Website, "Published annually, F&N Tests provides fungicide data from the following crops: pome fruits; stone fruits and nuts; small fruits; vegetables; cereal and forage crops; field crops; turfgrass; ornamentals and trees; citrus, tropical, and miscellaneous crops, as well as seed treatments and nematicides from all crops; plus a comprehensive list of the active ingredients and common names of the products listed in the section entitled “Materials Under Trial."

Access to PMN is restricted to CSU faculty, staff, and students.

Posted by Allison Level at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AGRICOLA Has Been Re-scoped
New Indexing Policy in Effect as of January 1, 2007
The National Agricultural Library has completed the process of re-scoping the AGRICOLA Index and has published its list of titles recommended for indexing in 2007. The decision to re-scope was necessary because our appropriated resources were not sufficient to keep the AGRICOLA Index current and permit us to increase the number of items indexed.

The over-arching goal of the re-scoping of AGRICOLA was to create a sustainable index that filled a unique niche. Specifically, the re-scoped Index will better serve NAL's current customers by offering more links to full-text articles and by avoiding duplication with other abstracting and indexing services.

In order to achieve these goals, it was determined that publications indexed in AGRICOLA must meet at least one of the following criteria:

1. be a U.S. Department of Agriculture publication or contain articles or chapters authored by USDA personnel;
2. support NAL's Information Centers;
3. contain articles or chapters on core agricultural topics, written in the English language;
4. not be indexed by any other abstracting and indexing service.

For more information, visit the National Agricultural Library

Information for this blog posting is from an NAL press release.

Posted by Allison Level at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new bibliography from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now available on the topic of conference practices on grazing lands. The report includes information on agricultural conservation programs and the effectiveness of agricultural conservation practices.

"This is one of two new bibliographies, both available on the Web (www.nal.usda.gov/wqic/ceap/index.shtml) were published by the National Agricultural Library (NAL), part of USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

This bibliography is "Wetlands in Agricultural Landscapes," a guide to recent scientific literature covering environmental aspects of wetlands in agricultural landscapes. The bibliography highlights research findings in two main areas: (1) the effect of conservation practices and other agricultural activities on wetlands, and (2) the environmental effects of wetlands as conservation practices, including constructing and restoring wetlands.

ARS is USDA's chief scientific research agency."
__________________________________________________

* Start, stop or change an e-mail subscription at www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/subscribe.htm
* NewsService@ars.usda.gov | www.ars.usda.gov/news
* Phone (301) 504-1638 | fax (301) 504-1486

Content for this entree is quoted from an email posting from the ARS News Service

Posted by Allison Level at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new bibliography from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now available on the topic of conference practices on grazing lands. The report includes information on agricultural conservation programs and the effectiveness of agricultural conservation practices.

"This is one of two new bibliographies, both available on the Web (www.nal.usda.gov/wqic/ceap/index.shtml) were published by the National Agricultural Library (NAL), part of USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

The first new bibliography is "Environmental Effects of Conservation Practices on Grazing Lands," a guide to recent scientific literature covering environmental effects of conservation practices on grazing lands. This information is useful in designing policies and on-the-land conservation systems that foster practical and environmentally sound grazing practices.

ARS is USDA's chief scientific research agency."
__________________________________________________

* Start, stop or change an e-mail subscription at www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/subscribe.htm
* NewsService@ars.usda.gov | www.ars.usda.gov/news
* Phone (301) 504-1638 | fax (301) 504-1486

Content for this entree is quoted from an email posting from the ARS News Service

Posted by Allison Level at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The National Agricultural Library Agricola Database http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/ was updated in mid-September. The article catalog allows for direct linking from the Agricola catalog to the full-text of some journal articles. When searching Agricola, locate the line that says, "Electronic Resource" then click on the URL. If the CSU libraries have an online access to the journal, the DOI number should be automatically linked.
Example:
Title: Animal Agriculture: Symbiosis, Culture, or Ethical Conflict? \h [electronic resource].
Author(s): Lund, V. Olsson, I.A.S.
Found In: Journal of agricultural & environmental ethics. 2006 Feb., v. 19, issue 1 p. 47-56.
Electronic Resource: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10806-005-4378-9

For more information about the Agricola Catalog visit: http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/help/aboutagricola.html.

If you have questions, contact your subject librarian for more information.

Posted by Allison Level at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"The new AGRIS search application gives the user the possibility to search the entire AGRIS data, comprising 2.3 millions bibliographic references, stored in the AGRIS XML format. This completely new interface exploits the advantages of both open-source full text search engine APIs (Lucene), and structured XML. The result is an extremely fast application, as with a Google query language but with the potential to formulate highly complex queries.

AGRIS is the international information system for the agricultural sciences and technology. It was created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1974, to facilitate information exchange and to bring together world literature dealing with all aspects of agriculture. AGRIS is a cooperative system in which participating countries input references to the literature produced within their boundaries and, in return, draw on the information provided by the other participants. To date, 240 national, international and intergovernmental centres participate."

Information for this posting was compiled from an AGRIS listserv announcement and the AGRIS Website

Posted by Allison Level at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas School of Law announces two new reading rooms with access to numerous online resources.

The Conservation Programs site includes information about programs managed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Farm Service Agency (FSA), along with other information.

The Sustainable Agriculture site provides information about the goals, applications, and processes which combine for sustainabiligy.

Both reading rooms provide links to statutes, CRS reports, AgLaw Center Publications, reference resources, and other information of interest.

Posted by Allison Level at 02:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The AgNIC Alliance is happy to announce the launch of a new topic site at Kansas State University (KSU). The Website on Grain Milling and Processing is a collaborative effort by the Kansas State University Libraries and the K-State Grain Science & Industry Department. More information about the site is available from http://www.grainmilling.org/aboutus.html.

Continue reading "New Grain Milling and Processing Website" »

Posted by Allison Level at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The CSU Cooperative Extension Library Research Information Web Resources (http://lib.colostate.edu/research/coopext/) have been updated. The page includes links to information about accessing journals and research information from databases and online journals. Other sections include links to statistical information and other related websites.
The CSU Cooperative Extension Home Page can be found at (http://www.ext.colostate.edu/index.html). "Cooperative Extension is your front door to the research, information and expertise of your land-grant university. "

Posted by Allison Level at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AskFAO is a service driven by user information needs, providing answers to queries related to the organization's areas of expertise. Working with FAO offices around the world as well as with our partner organizations, it provides a mechanism to communicate directly with technical experts in a particular field of interest.

Direct access to FAO's knowledge through a dialogue with experts. Bringing the right information, to the right people, at the right time.

Today, on its 60 th anniversary, FAO is bringing access to its knowledge and information to a new level by launching an interactive facility to provide direct access to both the formal and tacit knowledge of its staff and technical experts around the globe."

Information for this post is quoted directly from the FAO website

This entry was edited on 2 April 2007 to remove broken links.

Continue reading "Ask FAO, Questions and Online Chat" »

Posted by Allison Level at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Plant Management Network (PMN) is a subscription database available from CSUL.
Information from the PMN online newsletter, "Fungicide and Nematicide Tests, Volume 61 (2006), has now been posted under the Resources tab at Plant Management Network.
The volume contains 472 new reports of test results for fungicides and nematicides on cereal and forage crops; field crops; ornamentals and trees; pome fruits; small fruits; stone fruits and nuts; turfgrass; vegetable, citrus, and tropical crops; and seed treatments.
Information for this posting is from the PMN Update

Continue reading "New Fungicide and Nematicide Tests Online via Plant Management Network" »

Posted by Allison Level at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The National Agricultural Library (NAL) has launched the NAL Digital Repository (NALDR), providing convenient access to the full text of selected USDA publications. http://naldr.nal.usda.gov/

The NALDR contains a wide variety of publications that have been digitized by NAL. One example is the Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture, which was published from 1864 to 1992. The Yearbook provides statistical information and comprehensive surveys of particular subjects important to agriculture and in its later years covered more popular topics of interest to both urban and rural audiences. The volumes for 1894 through 1914 are currently available in the repository and the remaining volumes will be added later in 2006.

Continue reading "The National Agricultural Library (NAL) Launches the NAL Digital Repository (NALDR)" »

Posted by Allison Level at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CSU Libraries has enhanced our historical scientific content with two recent additions. The Web of Science - Century of Science collection added the records for 262 scientific journals published between 1900-1944 to the Web of Science database. This is a broad collection and includes subject matter in the biological sciences, chemistry, and math. The CAB Abstracts Archive includes 1,860,000 records from 1900-1973. The focus of this resource is agricultural sciences, veterinary medicine, and natural resources. Both of these resources are available through CSU Libraries databases page.

Posted by Joanna Blair at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AgEcon Search, http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/, is a free-to-user Web resource with full-text of working papers, conference papers and journal articles in agricultural, resource, environmental, consumer, and other areas of applied economics.

Continue reading "AgEcon Search Reaches 20,000th Paper Milestone" »

Posted by Allison Level at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)