Resources in the spotlight

We don’t intend to feature a resource of interest every week or month, but ocasionally we might highlight a website or two of particular interest.  As I’ve recently been in contact with several MSc students undertaking dissertations in planning, housing, urban regeneration and real estate management, I think that the following two websites may be of interest.

Planetizen is an online urban planning and real estate network for the urban planning, design, and development community.  There’s a great deal of information available at this site, including news and announcements, features, book reviews, a regular podcast, an e-newsletter, various RSS feeds (for more information about RSS look here), and a daily blog called Interchange.

Planetizen is a really active website - but remember that its focus is very much on American issues.

The second website I want to mention is a thriving subject gateway called Sapling.info. It describes itself as a global gateway for information and a forum for its exchange, centred around more than 1,000 reviewed links to architecture, planning and landscape-related websites.  Sapling is based in the UK and has sections on architecture, construction, culture, heritage, interior design, landscape, planning, regeneration, sustainability, transport, and urban design, and as well as listing websites in those subject areas there’s news and events lists.

What’s useful about Sapling is that its very focussed on the subjects covered, and whilst it doesn’t attempt to list every relevant website, its is a good starting point if you are looking for important websites.  For example, see their list of organisations relevant to regeneration or their planning section.

For more websites of this kind, see the Internet section of the How To Find Out in the Built Environment guide.

Relevant ejournals that the Library subscribes to in this area include:  

• Journal of Urban Design
• Journal of Urban Planning and Development
• Regional Science and Urban Economics
• Urban Affairs Review
• Journal of Corporate Real Estate
• Journal of Real Estate Research
• Environment and Planning: Part A
• International Planning Studies

For more ejournals, see the A-Z list of electronic journals.

Roddy MacLeod
Senior Subject Librarian 

I like the library because . . . . .

Tell us why you like the library. Why not post a comment on this blog?  Or . . .  tell us what you really think of the library using our online survey.

Marion Kennedy
Subject Librarian

Using the Library for research

Yesterday, I gave a talk on using the Library for research to a group of MSc students in the School of the Built Environment.  The powerpoint presentation is available, and may be of use to others making literature searches in subjects such as urban regeneration, urban real estate management and development, and housing.

The presentation gives some tips on making a literature search, on how to use the Library’s website to find information, on using various tools such as Zetoc, Iconda, Ei Village 2, CSA Illumina, EbscoHost, ISI Web of Knowledge, and Google Scholar to find articles, reports and other kinds of materials, on locating copies of documents and resources, and on other information tools such as the SAPLING gateway. 

It also refers to the How To Find Out in the Built Environment guide, where much more information of this kind can be found.

The other Subject Librarians also give presentations on information gathering. Please contact us for more information.

Roddy MacLeod
Senior Subject Librarian 

Suggest a book for Life Sciences

     

Know a good textbook you think the library should have?  Let us know! 

Fill in a recommendation form,  have it signed by your School’s Library Representative and we’ll do the rest.

Need some ideas for books to suggest? Have a look at some new and soon-to-be published titles in Life Sciences from: -

Taylor & Francis CRC Press (select Life Sciences from the drop down subject list)
Elsevier
Palgrave
Springer

Find more links to new and forthcoming titles in the Library’s How to Find Out Guide for Life Sciences

From another School? You can suggest books in the same way.  For more information see our page on ordering mateial for the library

Marion Kennedy
Subject Librarian

Remember to return your books by 2nd March

Reminder to all Undergraduates, Masters & Diploma students & External Borrowers

Any Standard Loan books which you’ve borrowed since Christmas are due for return or renewal by Friday 2 March.

If you want to keep them for longer, you can renew them at any time before the deadline by logging on to your Library record (via Patron functions) in the catalogue.  Simply select the books you want to renew, and then click on the “Renew Items” button.

 

Remember - You cannot renew your books through the computer if you have already renewed them 3 times, if you have any overdue items, or if you have unpaid fines of more than £2.00.

If you need help renewing your books, please contact the Service Desk in Riccarton or Martindale Libraries.

Gill McDonald
Reader Services Manager

New services make it easier to find patents

Patents contain information about inventions that can be useful in research. Many thousands have been published: identifying and obtaining patents has never been simple. Recently introduced free services offer more direct access to patent documents and information about patents.

 Google Patents provides quick, free access to U.S. patents.

based here in Heriot-Watt University, uses the search engine to search for U.S., European and World patents and standards.

Free Patents Online offers a search engine and provides an RSS service enabling you to keep up to date in any of several hundred subject categories.

Further services and information relating to patents can be found on our Web page, Finding information on your subject: by publication type - patents.

Arnold Myers
Senior Information Scientist

This week’s new books in the Library

25 new books were added to the Library this week.

These include several Heriot Watt theses which have been added to the Theses Collection, three new books in the Institute of Petroleum Engineering Library, and eight titles added to the Martindale Library, Scottish Borders Campus, including the following:

Blue jean, by Alice Harris, Extreme design, by Spencer Drate and Jutka Salavetz, and Linoleum, by Jane Powell.

You can search inside Extreme design and Linoleum at Amazon.

For the full list, go to the New Books section of the Catalogue.

Information on how to place a reservation for a book is available.

Roddy MacLeod
Senior Subject Librarian

Internet Resources Newsletter - March issue now available

The latest issue of the Internet Resources Newsletter, Heriot-Watt Library’s own current awareness service, is now available.  This newsletter is edited by Marion Kennedy, Catherine Ure and myself, and is full of information about new and notable websites of interest to academics, news about blogs, and news about anything else which has caught the eye of the editors, including some local websites of interest.

Roddy MacLeod
Senior Subject Librarian

Further recent journal articles from Heriot-Watt University

In a previous post, I listed ten recent articles by Heriot-Watt University authors as found in the Web of Science service.  This time, I’m using the CSA Illumina Technology Section to generate a similar list.  One thing this exercise shows is that to do a complete search of this kind (or indeed on any topic), you may need to use different database services.

1.	Wilkinson, Martin; Wood, Paul; Wells, Emma; Scanlan, Clare Using attached macroalgae to assess ecological status of British estuaries for the European Water Framework Directive Marine Pollution Bulletin [Mar. Pollut. Bull.]. Vol. 55, no. 1-6, pp. 136-150. 2007.

2.	Consistency of three-phase capillary entry pressures and pore phase occupancies Van Dijke, MIJ; Sorbie, KS Advances in Water Resources [Adv. Water Resour.]. Vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 182-198. Feb 2007.

3.

CHARMNZ, 2006 Gas Hydrates Survey on the Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand: First Results From Seismic and Related Data Pecher, I A; Henrys, S A; Coffin, R; Gorman, A R; Kukowski, N; Crutchley, G; Fohrmann, M; Kilner, J; Senger, K; Wood, W T; Chiswell, S M; Herzer, R; Charmnz Working Group, T EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union. Vol. 87, no. 52, Suppl. 26 Dec. 2006

4.	Modeling multiphase flow of H2O-NaCl fluids in volcano-hydrothermal systems by combining CSP5.0 with SoWat2.0 Geiger, S; Coumou, D; Heinrich, C A; Matthai, S K EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union. Vol. 87, no. 52, Suppl. 26 Dec. 2006

5.	Upscaling permeability in natural analogues of highly heterogeneous hydrocarbon reservoirs: Variations in solute transport behavior. Geiger, S; Gardiner, A EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union. Vol. 87, no. 52, Suppl. 26 Dec. 2006

6.	Three-phase flow simulations in discrete fracture networks Geiger, S; Niessner, J; Matthai, S K; Helmig, R EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union. Vol. 87, no. 52, Suppl. 26 Dec. 2006

7.	A study of the tribological behaviour of piston ring/cylinder liner interaction in diesel engines using acoustic emission. Douglas, R M; Steel, J A; Reuben, R L Tribology International. Vol. 39, no. 12, pp. 1634-1642. Dec. 2006

8.	Internet Resources Newsletter. Aug/Sep 2006. MacLeod*, Roddy; Ure, Catherine; Kennedy, Marion Internet Resources Newsletter, no. 143, pp. np, Aug 2006-Sep 2006

9.	A design study of microscale magnetic components for operation in the MHz frequency range Flynn, D; Dhariwa, R S; Desmulliez, M P Y Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. Vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 1811-1818. Sept. 2006

10.	Explosive oxidation of HPHT diamond particles. Lee, Jae-Kap; Anderson, Michael W; Gray, Fraser A; John, Phillip Diamond and Related Materials. Vol. 15, no. 9, pp. 1206-1209. Sept. 2006

If you’d like to see a more complete listing, go to the CSA Illumina service, select Advanced Search, and search for Heriot Watt within the Affiliation field (Affiliation, AF= ).

Roddy MacLeod
Senior Subject Librarian

Got a question?

The Library provides an Enquiry Service in both Riccarton and Martindale Libraries.  This Enquiry Service can help members of the University with various information issues, for example to identify and use print and electronic resources for teaching, research or study, or with any other library-related question.

The service is staffed by the Subject Librarians, and other senior members of Library staff.

You can contact the Enquiry Service in person (see the Enquiry Service pages for details), by phone (Riccarton: 0131 451 3582 - Martindale: 01896-892241 ) or by email (Riccarton: libhelp@hw.ac.uk - Martindale: sbclibhelp@hw.ac.uk )

We’d be happy to answer your questions.  

Roddy MacLeod
Senior Subject Librarian