This week’s resource is AGRICOLA. AGRICOLA is the premier agricultural database, indexing articles on the subjects of agriculture, plant science, animal science, aquaculture, forestry, entomology, environmental science, soil and water resources, agricultural engineering, and food and nutrition. AGRICOLA indexes journals, monographs, theses and dissertations, patents, audiovisual materials, and more. Coverage dates back to 1970.

AGRICOLA is provided on the EBSCO platform, allowing for 3 terms searchable in more than 20 fields combinable by AND, OR, or NOT. AGRICOLA provides some full text, and searches are limitable by full text only, date range, and language. Search histories are available and may be combined or turned into email alerts.

From Bill Armstrong:

“Yes, you may indeed upgrade your office computers and any lab computers to the 2006 version of SciFinder Scholar. The software can be downloaded from the following site:
http://www.lib.lsu.edu
User Name: scifinder
Password: LSU_sci_fin (case sensitive)

If you are upgrading an earlier version on your machine, you only need to download the executable installation file, SFS2006.exe.

If, however, this is a brand new installation, then you’ll also need to download the site.prf file for Windows. Once you’ve installed the program, go back to the download site and save the site.prf file directly into the folder in which SciFinder installed itself, C:SFSCHLR. The information contained in this file is essential for CAS to allow your computer to connect.”

This week’s resource is OCLC’s Electronic Collections Online (ECO). Electronic Collections Online is a service from the Online Computer Library Center that indexes articles from a number of scholarly and academic publishers in all subject areas, including substantial full text holdings. Journals included are browseable by publisher and by LC call number — a very useful feature for those looking for a relatively narrow topic. ECO indexes more than 5000 journals with access from 1995 to the present.

The advanced search allows searching of up to three terms in more than 20 fields combinable by AND, OR, or NOT. It also allows you to limit your search by publisher, first two letters of the LC call number, and to limit to full text or to journals held by LSU. Previous searches can be combined from the “Previous Searches” tab.

From Bill Armstrong, our Chemistry Librarian:

“SciFinder Scholar has now been upgraded to the 2006 version in the
Reference area, including Ref Desk. The OCS labs have already been upgraded
as well.

Most of the improvements have been to the substructure searching
capabilities, but there are a couple of other organizational changes on the
opening search screen I wanted to call your attention to. Previously, your
access points to the bibliographic literature and the compound Registry
file were all found on the opening screen. Now they’re organized into two
groups: Explore and Locate. Under Explore, you’ll find the Topic Search,
one of the two types of searches you’ll do the most. The other search
useful to you is the compound search by name or CAS RN, and this is now
located under Locate.”

From IEEE Xplore maintenance:

“IEEE has scheduled necessary maintenance to the IEEE Xplore digital library
for Monday, 28 November from approximately 2 - 3 PM EST. During
maintenance users will be able to access the site, search, and view
abstracts, but they will be unable to view full-text PDFs. We are posting
a message to the IEEE Xplore welcome page so that users become aware of the
limited access.”

Recent Advances in Marine Biotechnology
Milton Fingerman
Volumes 2-10
Enfield, NH: Science Publishers, 1997
Call# TP248.27 .M37 R42 1997

From Science Publisher:

“While advances in marine biotechnology will certainly enhance our capabilities in the marine realm, what we learn there will doubtless provide new insight into the biology of freshwater and terrestrial organisms. This volume is a compilation of information that covers a wide range of animal groups. This book will be of interest not only to biotechnologists but also to aquaculturists, comparative animal physiologists, comparative endocrinologists, and developmental biologists.”

Integrating Ecology and Evolution in a Spatial Context
Jonathan W. Silvertown
Malden, MA: Blackwell Scientific, 2001.
Call# QK911 .I46 2001

From Cambridge University Press:

“The profound consequences of the deceptively obvious statement that plants stand still but their genes don’t are only just becoming clear. In this volume, an international team of authors, experts in the field of population biology, aim to advance our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes by integrating them within a common frame of reference: space. Processes operating at three different spatial scales are examined: that of the population, metapopulation and the geographical range. Themes that recur at these different scales include spatial population dynamics, population genetics at boundaries, the imprint of spatial population dynamics upon genetic structure, adaptation, evolution of mating systems and the consequences of population genetics for ecological dynamics. Whilst the focus is largely on plants, the questions addressed are equally applicable to animals. It will be a valuable tool for researchers and advanced students, not only in this field, but also evolutionary biology and resource management.”

Sorry it’s late this week, folks.

This week’s resource spotlight is on CABDirect. CABDirect is the premier database in applied life sciences, covering primarily agriculture, animal science, plant science, and forestry, but also including human health and nutrition, aquaculture, soil science, environmental topics, and biotechnology. CABDirect indexes over 9000 journals with records as far back as 1973.

CABDirect has a unique interface that allows you to search any combination of the general subjects of Animal Sciences, Plant Sciences, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Economics and Rural Studies, and Human Sciences. Each general category can be subdivided into specific subject abstracts.

The advanced search allows you to search up to 3 terms in almost 30 fields combinable by AND, OR, or NOT. You can also limit your search by publication date range, document type, and language. The full record for each result gives a link to the full text if available, and searches are combinable through the search history screen.

Genetics and Ecotoxicology
Valery E. Forbes, ed.
Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis, 1999.
Call# RA1226 .G46 1999

From Amazon.de:

“This first volume in the series [Current Topics in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Chemistry] provides a detailed treatment in ecotoxicology and stresses why genetics is important in understanding if and how chemical contaminants affect populations. Written by an array of international contributors from various fields covering mammals, invertebrates, fish, plants, as well as molecular ecotoxicology, this book considers both ecological/evolutionary consequences and practical implications of the interplay between chemical toxicants and the genetic population.In broadening the understanding of ecological response, this resource ranges from molecular to classical genetics, from plant to animal, from asexual to sexual, touching on some fundamental issues of evolutionary biology. In addition, gaps in our present understanding of genetic and ecotoxicological processes and future research directions have been identified.”

Energy and Water and Related Agencies Appropriations 2006 Senate Hearings
United States Congress. Senate Committee on Appropriations
Y 4.AP 6/2:S.HRG.109-107

Use of Simulation-Optimization Modelings to Assess Regional Groundwater Systems United States Geological Survey (USGS)
I 19.127:2005-3095

Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District Bird List
United States Fish & Wildlife Service
I 49.44/2:R 13