AETG News

AETG visit to the Science Museum Library Wroughton, 5th September 2008

2008-10-01T05:16:00.000-07:00

Some 21 brave souls ignored the inclement weather to visit this wonderful new library, intriguingly based on an old WW2 airfield just outside Swindon. This is because the site is owned by the Science Museum and it also contains the large object store in large former aircraft hangars.

We were welcomed by Nick Wyatt, the Site Librarian and the team. The library is open by appointment 10 -5, free to access. It has an impressive 26 kilometres of shelving devoted to the development of science and technology. The oldest journals date to 1665 and the earliest book was published in 1486.

In the library reception there was a display of three books illustrating great moments in science and discovery: a 1st edition of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica from 1687, outlining laws of gravitational theory and planetary motion; a 1917 signed work by Albert Einstein on the theory of relativity; and the 1969 Apollo 11 flight plan acquired by ITN, signed by Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong of the moon landing.

Nick pointed out that the Science Museum’s London library still has the collection of 80.000 volumes of biographies of scientists and engineers, the rest of the historic material moved to this new facility between 2006 and 2007.

Cecilia Cassington, the Archivist described the approval procedure for acquiring stock which is catalogued onto the Science Museum Unicorn catalogue; onto Archon and made available as printed lists. There are 180 archive collections including the astronomer Herschel’s notebooks and the letters written between Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his father, Marc Brunel. Of more recent interest there’s the ICL company archive and the Hooper collection which covers coach building. .

We had a tour around the collection, Nick showed us an eclectic mix of material – to mention just a few here – coloured illustrations of the 1851 Great Exhibition; drawings from the building of the Eddystone lighthouse; the earliest drawing of diving helmet in use; and the huge volumes produced by the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt. Nick pulled from the stacks Galileo’s Siderius Nuncius (the Starry messenger, 1610) and a beautifully hand-coloured and annotated university text book, Reisch’s Margarita Philosophica (The Philosophical Pearl, 1535).

John Underwood showed us around the reading room with a large display of books laid out including the 1842 report of the Children’s Employment Commission examining the working conditions in the mines and containing the words of the children as young as six; wonderful coloured images of Volcanoes; Babbage’s notebooks; reports by Barnes Wallis of World War 2 bouncing bomb fame; and photos of Donald Campbell in the Bluebird.

Doug Stimson showed us the scanning operation used to satisfy document requests.

It was a very informative afternoon and well worth a visit - see the website on
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/about_us/about_the_museum/science_library.aspx

The visit rounded off by Nick outlining future plans to digitise more of the collection and make more full text available on the web.

Thanks to Rupert Williams Head of Science Museum Libraries for agreeing to have us, Nick Wyatt and his team

[Visit write-up by Sarah Groombridge, AETG Committee.]

Physics journals initiative - SCOAP3

2008-03-17T04:16:00.000-07:00

An important opportunity has arisen to achieve greater stability in the cost of high energy physics publication and other benefits by transferring library subscription payments into gold open access publication payments for all authors in the core journals. This is a world-wide initiative called SCOAP3, the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics https://mail.cds.cranfield.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.scoap3.org . This initiative has the support of the CURL/SCONUL Scholarly Communication Group. Libraries with high energy physics journal subscriptions are invited to express a willingness to join SCOAP3 by completing the web form set up by JISC Collections, who will be managing the UK participation in SCOAP3.

The url is http://survey.jisc.ac.uk/scoap3

No funds will be transferred until negotiations have been completed successfully, but an expression of interest from libraries is vital at this stage to let publishers know that UK libraries are willing to participate in the initiative, which already has support from research institutions and libraries in thirteen countries. Please address any questions to Fred Friend: f.friend@ucl.ac.uk.

Fred Friend, JISC Scholarly Communication Consultant, Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL, Land-line +44 1494 563168

Royal Society selects Highwire to host its online publications

2008-02-08T01:15:00.000-08:00

HighWire Press and the Royal Society have announced a new partnership in the provision of the independent scientific academy's publications online. All content of the Society's eight periodicals, some dating back as early as 1665, will be live on HighWire's premiere Publishing platform beginning in 2009 as the Royal Society joins HighWire's respected community of scholarly publishers.

More information can be found at:

http://royalsociety.org/

http://highwire.stanford.edu

SBAC to manage aerospace and defence KTN

2008-01-22T04:33:00.000-08:00

The Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) has recently announced that it is has been chosen by the Technology Strategy Board to manage an Aerospace and Defence Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN). The KTN will help promote innovation and collaboration across industry, Government and academia, helping to improve industrial performance and implement the National Aerospace Technology Strategy (NATS).

The priorities for the new Aerospace and Defence KTN will be to deliver improved industrial performance through innovation and new collaboration, to make the UK a more globally competitive environment for investment in aerospace and defence research and technology, to facilitate innovation and knowledge transfer across the civil and defence sectors and closer collaboration between academia, industry and the Ministry of Defence, and to improve coherency and effectiveness of industry in science, technology and innovation.

http://www.sbac.co.uk/pages/99769228.asp

Student Award - entries now invited

2008-01-22T04:30:00.000-08:00

The Engineering Subject Centre is offering a £250 prize to the UK undergraduate engineering student who writes the best essay (around 1000 words) telling them 'what makes a good Engineering lecturer.' The deadline for entries is 28 March 2008.

The aim of this competition is to highlight good practice in this area and to motivate students to think about how they learn. Once they have written their essay all they have to do is submit their entry via email to enquiries@engsc.ac.uk. All shortlisted entries will be published on the ESC website and the winner will be presented with their prize of £250 at the Higher Education Academy's national conference in July 2008.

Publicity material in the form of posters and postcards will be sent out to Departmental Contacts shortly but in the meantime you can visit the web page for more information and advice on promoting the scheme to your students at:

http://www.engsc.ac.uk/us/fundopps/student_awards_tutor.asp

SBAC to manage aerospace and defence knowledge transfer network

2007-12-31T04:56:00.000-08:00

The Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) has been chosen by the Technology Strategy Board to manage the Aerospace and Defence Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN). The KTN will help promote innovation and collaboration across industry, Government and academia, helping to improve industrial performance and importantly help to drive forward the implementation of the National Aerospace Technology Strategy (NATS).

SBAC, as the national trade association for the aerospace industry, has extensive knowledge, experience and contacts with companies operating in the aerospace and defence industry. Its broader network of regional partners and their close working relationships with some 2,600 companies will give the KTN direct contact to a diverse range of companies at all levels of the supply chain.

The priorities for the new Aerospace and Defence KTN will include:

To deliver improved industrial performance through innovation and new collaboration maximising the impact of new research and technology and better co-ordination of resources for the delivery of the NATS.

To make the UK a more globally competitive environment for investment in aerospace and defence research and technology.

To facilitate innovation and knowledge transfer across the civil and defence sectors and closer collaboration between academia, industry and the Ministry of Defence.

To improve coherency and effectiveness of industry in science, technology and innovation towards Government supported by more rigorous analysis and technology road-mapping.

The Aerospace and Defence KTN will be jointly funded by the Technology Strategy Board and the Ministry of Defence. It is expected to have a budget of approximately £2.4 million over three years and will have a dedicated team to run the KTN and support the implementation of the NATS.

Further details can be found at: www.sbac.co.uk

Invitation to our AGM

2007-12-14T01:14:00.000-08:00

ASLIB Engineering Group invite you to banish those January blues at their Annual General Meeting combined with a half-day seminar.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS AND EVIDENCE–BASED LIBRARIANSHIP to be held at
IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 58 Prince’s Gate, London, SW7

17 JANUARY 2008

and followed by

WINE AND NIBBLES

The afternoon will commence at 1 p.m. with lunch and the seminar
will run from 2 – 5 p.m., with the AGM from 1.45 p.m. to 2 p.m. and
wine and nibbles after 5 p.m.

The seminar will feature four presentations:

Victoria Bird (Reading University Library) will be talking about
various theories on measuring value added to companies by
libraries, focussing on Cost-Benefit Analysis, and outlining some of
the problems of statistical assessment, as well as providing a few
guidelines.

Selena Killick (DCMT Library, Cranfield University) will be talking
about the LibQUAL+ library survey methodology, allowing you to
ascertain users’ expectations and perceptions of the quality of the
library service in comparison with other libraries.

Celia Waters (Army Library and Information Service) will be
talking about how to demonstrate the impact of libraries to parent
organisations, and present a case study of the assessment of
DSTL library resources on the ability of research staff to undertake
research.

Frankie Wilson (Brunel University Library) will be talking about the
different aspects of measuring performance, and the importance of
the ‘human factor’.

The afternoon will include lunch, afternoon tea and coffee and the
social afterwards. A nominal charge of £10 to members and £15
to non-members will be made for catering.
Places are restricted to 20 so book early to avoid disappointment!
For further information or to book, please contact Rachel Daniels
on 01793 785 113 or r.j.daniels@cranfield.ac.uk

58 Prince’s Gate is located just off Exhibition Road, opposite
the main entrance to Imperial College, adjacent to the Tanaka
Business School:

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/30141696.PDF

(It is no. 24 on the campus map.)

Elsevier develops Research 2.0 tools

2007-12-07T01:56:00.000-08:00

Elsevier have recently announced their development of two new social networking tools to help academic libraries support their researchers. Both tools are aimed at encouraging collective intelligence and providing researchers with innovative ways of discovering and organising scholarly information using Web 2.0 technologies.

2collab is a social bookmarking site where you can store and organise favourite web resources. These can be stored within private or public groups so that individuals can share, tag, and comment on the bookmarks collated.

Scirus topic pages are wiki-based reference lists of key papers, citations, web resources and other materials on defined topics written by subject-matter experts.

Both tools provide a platform to facilitate and stimulate scholarly debate.

For more information see:

2collab: www.2collab.com
Email: enquiries@2collab.com

Scirus Topic Pages: http://topics.scirus.com
Email: feedback@scirus.com

ITU-T Recommendations now free

2007-11-14T04:33:00.000-08:00

Recommendations on standardisation from the International Telecommunication Union are now free in view of the overall success of a recent trial. The ITU Council 2007 has adopted this policy on a permanent basis. The new policy also includes access to in-force and superseded ITU-T Recommendations (posted in PDF format only). It should be remembered this information is relative to ITU-T Recommendations only.

ITU-T Recommendations can be accessed at the International Telecommunication Union website.

Online material for mechanical engineers

2007-11-13T05:37:00.001-08:00

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is in the process of building a digital library to provide a single point of access for all its publications. When the full service is launched in 2008 users will be able to view the following:

ASME's current Transactions Journals
ASME's journal archive dating back to 1990
ASME's conference proceedings dating back to 2002
ASME Press e-Books

The test/ preview site currently provides subscriber access to ASME's Transactions Program online journals and can be found at:

http://www.asmedl.org/

We are encouraged to visit the site frequently as much more will be added throughout the rest of 2007. Feedback on the progress of the site is welcomed.

New British Library Service

2007-11-13T05:14:00.000-08:00

The British Library have announced the launch of a new database to aid resource discovery - British Library Direct Plus. This subscription-based service provides access to details of over 67,000 journals and 400,000 conference proceedings in the British Library collection. Articles identified through this service may be ordered via the British Library Document Supply Service.
A basic service is now live, but an advanced version is planned for early 2008 which will allow users to build up individual libraries of resources including websites and e-journals.

For further information and to request a free trial contact: marketing@bl.uk

Science and Innovation report published

2007-10-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Lord Sainsbury recently published his Review of the UK science and innovation system which examines the role of science and innovation in ensuring the UK remains competitive in our increasingly globalised economy.

Key recommendations in the review include:

A new leadership role for the Technology Strategy Board Working with the RDA's the Research Councils and government departments to co-ordinate public sector support for technological innovation, leverage public sector resources and simplify access to funds for business.
Building on our success in knowledge transfer by giving more support through the Higher Education Innovation Fund to business-facing universities, setting targets for knowledge transfer from Research Councils, doubling the number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and extending these further to FE Colleges.
A major campaign to enhance the teaching of science and technology including raising the number of qualified STEM teachers, increasing the number of young people studying triple science, improving careers advice, establishing a National Science Competition, and rationalising the many schemes to inspire our young people to take up careers in science and engineering.
A key role for Government Departments based on an improved procurement capability, a reformed Small Business Research Initiative managed in partnership with the TSB, and consideration for the incorporation of innovation into the duties of the economic regulators.
Increasing the focus of RDAs on science and innovation by encouraging them to put additional resources into TSB programmes, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, high-technology clusters around world-class research universities, and proof-of-concept schemes consistent with a nationally agreed specification.

The relevant PDF documents relating to the review can be downloaded from the HM Treasury website:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/sainsbury_review/sainsbury_index.cfm

Or go direct to the Review:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/5/E/sainsbury_review051007.pdf

Web 2.0 - What It's all About - an Aslib Engineering workshop held at at Brunel University

2007-09-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

On a warm and promising day last week, Phil Bradley did an excellent job of guiding a room full of 'first-timers' through the essentials of Web 2.0. Essentially Web 2.0 brings things together favourite links, "to do" lists, key searches, contacts, and so on, and provides the ability to share what you've found and stored with friends, colleagues, or just the world in general!

The big advantage is that you clearly do not need any real technical knowledge in order to do this. You can create your own web page complete with blog and even a customised search engine in a matter of minutes. Phil introduced us to some of the best tools available - Pageflakes, Rollyo and Zimbio - as well as offering comparable alternatives from the thousands available. The real benefit of the day (aside from Phil's immense knowledge and experience!) was Time - time to play and experiment without interruption.

So what is Web 2.0 all about? Constant change - forget your ideas of the Internet as it is, we're moving on. Not sure if it's for you or afraid to get started? We left with Phil's advice ringing in our ears: "Just Do It!!!"

For more information on Web 2.0 please see Phil's website.

Phil's presentation on Web 2.o is available to download from Slideshare (another great Web 2.0 tool!)

If anyone reading this was at the workshop, please do share your thoughts with us! Have you started using any of the skills or tools you learned about last week?

Free access to Royal Society Digital Journal Archive

2007-09-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

Following a recent announcement from the Royal Society, the Digital Journal Archive, dating back to 1665 and containing in excess of 60,000 articles, will be free online from 1st September to 30th November 2007. During this three month period, librarians and academics will be able to access and download any article from arguably the most comprehensive publishing resource in science.

More details may be found at:

www.publishing.royalsoc.ac.uk/archive

New sports engineering journal announced for 2008

2007-08-22T03:05:00.000-07:00

Professional Engineering Publishing, publishers to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, has launched the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, which will commence publication in 2008. The journal will form Part P of the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
The launch of this journal comes at a time when academic activity within Sports Engineering and Technology is on the increase. Many Universities, over 20 in the UK alone, offer undergraduate degree programmes in Sports Engineering or Sports Technology. Coupled with the increasing number of global sports engineering associations this is a discipline that is flourishing.

Professor Mike Caine, Loughborough University, has been appointed Editor of the new journal. Professor Caine commented: “There can be no better home for the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology than that of the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. I am delighted that the IMechE have elected to publish such a contemporary journal within their Proceedings.”

The Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology aims to become the publication of choice for authors seeking to disseminate original research findings related to the development or application of technology in sports.

The scope of the journal includes but is not limited to papers on:

Equipment used for competition, training, rehabilitation and coaching
Sports equipment related design and innovation (the ideation process, concept creation, embodiment refinement, design for mass manufacture and for sustainability)
The development and validation of instrumentation, processes or software to enhance research activities within sports engineering and technology

The Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology will be available as a combined print and online subscription in 2008. For more information about the journal visit:

http://journals.pepublishing.com/jset

New nanotechnology journal from the ACS

2007-08-17T03:21:00.000-07:00

The American Chemical Society has recently launched a new online journal - ACS Nano.

The inaugural issue of ACS Nano was released online August 14, 2007. During 2007, the journal is available on the web at no charge. This is an important new forum for one of the fastest growing and most exciting areas in chemistry and its related disciplines. It provides comprehensive articles on nanoscience and nanotechnology research at the interfaces of chemistry, biology, materials science, physics, and engineering.

The journal also helps facilitate communication among scientists from all these research communities in developing new research opportunities, advancing the field through new discoveries, and reaching out to scientists at all levels.

In addition to comprehensive, original research articles, ACS Nano offers reviews, perspectives on cutting-edge research, conversations with nanoscience and nanotechnology thought leaders, and discussions of topics that are important for the entire community.

To access the journal and learn more about the topic, visit the ACS journal website:

http://pubs.acs.org/journals/ancac3/

New Open Access Scheme from Professional Engineering Publishing

2007-08-03T03:15:00.000-07:00

Professional Engineering Publishing - the publishers for the Institution of Mechanical Engineers - have this month announced the launch of a new open access service for engineers entitled "Engineering Open Choice". This option will help authors publishing in any of the PEP journals make their research material open access for just a standard fee.

For more information see the flyer on their website:

http://www.pepublishing.com/pep/guidelines/Engineering_Open_Choice.PDF

Your Opinion:
Is Open Access a good model? Have you used it yourself? Post us your thoughts!

New Internet tutorials from Intute

2007-08-03T03:04:00.000-07:00

Nine Internet tutorials for Science and Engineering have recently been released. They are designed by subject specialists to help students develop Internet research skills for their university or college work but would also be of use to anyone searching for information on the Internet in these subject areas.

They are all free of charge and available from the Intute Virtual Training Suite at:

http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk

Here below are the direct links for the individual subject areas

1) Internet for Aeronautical Engineering
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/aviator
By Emma Turner, Kings Norton Library, Cranfield University

2) Internet for Construction
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/cons
By Virginia Havergal, E-Learning Advisor, JISC Regional Support Centre,South West

3) Internet for Earth Science
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/earth
By John Blunden-Ellis, John Rylands University Library, The University ofManchester

4) Internet for Engineering (FE)
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/eng
By Virginia Havergal, E-Learning Advisor, JISC Regional Support Centre, South West

5) Internet for Health and Safety
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/safety
By John Niven and Nicola Harrison of Harley Haddow Consulting Engineers

6) Internet for Information and Communication Technology (ICT)http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/ict
By Martin Callaghan, Head of ICT, John Leggott College, Scunthorpe

7) Internet for Materials Science and Engineering
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/materials
By Nicola Harrison of Intute at Heriot-Watt University

8) Internet Mathematician
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/maths
By Anne Reed, Intute Content Coordinator for Mathematics, The John Rylands University Library, The University of Manchester

9) Internet for Mechanical Engineering
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/he/tutorial/mechanical
By Nicola Harrison of Intute at Heriot-Watt University

Web 2.0 workshop - learn from the Master

2007-08-03T02:39:00.001-07:00

The Aslib Engineering Committee are organising a Web 2.0 workshop at Brunel University Library on Thursday 6th September 2007, to be led by renowned Internet guru Phil Bradley.

Cost:
Aslib members: £60.00
Non-members: £120.00

Price includes lunch and refreshments throughout the day

Booking Your Place:
Places are limited so don’t delay – please book by Friday 24th August.

To book a place or make further enquiries, contact Rachel Daniels on 01793 785113 or email:

r.j.daniels@cranfield.ac.uk

Social Networking Tools for Engineers & Visit to Ratcliffe Power Station

2007-05-30T01:03:00.000-07:00

The AEG recently held an event at Ratcliffe-on- Soar. The event looked at how social networking tools are being used by engineers at an industrial library. Ten people attended the course working for various organisations, in various roles including traditional library roles & knowledge management.

The day started with a presentation by myself on how we are using Social Networking tools, where I tried to share experiences from my workplace (both positive & negative) with the rest of the group. We also had plenty of opportunity to network and share experiences over lunch. Culture, uptake and support from other parts of the business were often seen as barriers to the use of social networking tools.

Lunch was followed by a visit to Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station which seemed to be enjoyed by all despite the heavy rain. I've received good feedback from the attendees and hope some of them will join us at future AEG events.

Welcome to the AEG News blog

2007-05-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

This is the blog for the Aslib Engineering Group - a special interest group which caters for information professionals working in all areas of engineering. We hope you will find the information posted here of interest - we will be writing about future and past events we have organised, engineering news, and information from the Aslib Engineering Committee.