Research Bites 2014 announced!

The programme for the Research Bites 2014 seminars has now been announced. These short, informal seminars will be held in the Library 2nd Floor Workshop A on Wednesdays at 1pm throughout July and August, and feature topics relevant to researchers at all levels. Whether you want a quick refresher on a single topic or a comprehensive updating of your information and research skills, you will find something for you.

Topics for this year's seminars include:

• Distinguish yourself: get an ORCiD
• Open Access publishing – an important growth area at Aston
• Get more citations: strategies for increasing the visibility of your work
• Cite it! Sort it! EndNote it!
• Level Up: enhance your literature searching
• Safeguarding Research Data

You can find the full programme and more details about each topic on the Research Bites 2014 webpage.

New Law Journals available on LexisLibrary

 (Access via the Law LibGuide)


Lexis Library is one of our key databases for Law.  Recently, the database has uploaded content from new journal titles including:
 
Uniform Law Review
Published by Oxford University Press, this quarterly journal has an archive commencing from 1996.  The journal provides information on the political and technical problems of the harmonisation of private and commercial law the world-over. A large part is being reserved for the work carried out in UNIDROIT. It comprises a collection of material on the continuing progress achieved in the field of the unification of law, in particular:

• Periodical reports on the progress realised in this field by international and regional organisations
• Studies carried out with a view to the unification of law
• Texts of uniform laws, conventions and other instruments adopted at international level
• An updated bibliography on the subject
• A regular selection of case law of various countries illustrating their application of uniform law texts

Emerald Insight journals
Lexis Library has recently added another five journals from Emerald Insight:

• The Journal of Money Laundering Control – The world’s only quarterly, peer-reviewed journal designed to give quality insight into the latest law, regulation, techniques and best practice in the prevention, identification and prosecution of money laundering.

• The Journal of Financial Crime – The leading journal in its field publishes authoritative and detailed insight on the latest law, regulation and best practice in the prevention, detection and prosecution of financial crime, and tracing and recovering missing assets.

• The Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance – Publishes high quality applied research in regulation and compliance through expert analyses, reviews, case studies and authoritative research articles.

• The International Journal of Law in the Built Environment – Provides a vehicle for the publication of high quality legal scholarship in the context of the design, construction, management and use of the built environment.

• The Journal of International Trade Law and Policy – Provides a forum for current issues in all aspects of international trade, including legal, economic, management and policy issues.

Book Rescue!

Please take your unwanted text books to the Library.
Staff will select those which can be added to Library stock.

The rest will be offered to students at a low cost next term.

Result: new homes for all books.

The Library is open Monday 26 May 2014

The Library is open 24/6 at the moment and the Library will also be open on Monday 26 May.

Please remember to bring your uniCARD with you on Monday as day passes won't be available. Self-service facilities will be available as normal, although the Help desk won't be open.

If you have any queries about fines, reservations, book loans etc. then these can be dealt with today (Friday) until 18:00 or on Tuesday 27 May when the Help desk re-opens at 09:00.

Study spaces during summer term 

Ground Floor: Group study
Floor 1: Silent study (excluding LDC)
Floor 2: Group study
Floor 3: Single silent study

If you have any problems with noisy neighbours in the Library please speak to a member of Library staff or text details to the phone number displayed on posters throughout the Library. Please include details of where you are studying so that Library staff can assist.

You can also email library@aston.ac.uk if you need any help and Library staff will get back to you when the Help desk re-opens on Tuesday 27 May. (Emails are responded to Monday - Friday 09:00 to 18:00).

Best of luck for your revision and examinations during this period.

Library Public Services Team

Teaching Kits for Intellectual Property and Patents

If you would like your students to know more about Intellectual Property (IP) and Patents, you can now borrow Teaching Kits prepared by the European Patent Office (EPO) from the Library.

Each kit consists of a CD/USB stick with a complete PowerPoint presentation (including optional subject-related examples), speaking notes, and background information to help you answer student questions.  No prior knowledge of IP or Patents is required to use the kits, which can be used straight from the box, or modified to suit your particular needs (provided the EPO is credited).

You can borrow the IP Teaching Kit and the Patent Teaching Kit from the Library, or you can order your personal copy via the EPO website.  

Also available from the Library is an Intellectual Property Course Design Manual, for those who wish to teach in more depth, as well a large number of books about IP.

If you would like to know more about the IP and Patent Teaching Kits, you can add yourself to the waiting list for a "Train the Trainer" course run by the Centre for Staff & Graduate Development.

Do you use Fame or ORBIS? Wish you could upload your own list of companies?

NEW SEARCH OPTION

Fame and ORBIS now have a new option called ‘Batch search’ to make it easier and quicker for you to search for more than one company at the same time.

You can use batch search if you want to search for more than one company by typing in their names, or you can upload details of up to 1,000 companies on Fame and 100 companies on ORBIS.

The database will automatically search for your companies and then will give you a list of suggestions. You can then:

Accept these suggestions and view them in a list Accept these suggestions and save them as a company set Manually check the companies    To help the database find the companies more accurately you can also add in some location information. You’ll find the Batch search option in this menu (it can be at the right or left or your screen depending on your preference)

Open Access publishing - a growth area at Aston

Open Access publishing is all about sharing research freely and openly. This not only benefits research communities and the general public but there are also clear benefits to individual researchers and their institutions. The infographic below highlights just some of the benefits and impacts of OA publishing.

Please click on the image to enlarge

At Aston OA publishing is increasing. Here in the library we can administer payment for OA publishing, indeed we may also be able to pay for publishing costs from a special budget* - please contact Malcolm Horne, Open Access & Research Repository Specialist (m.horne@aston.ac.uk, x4506), for advice on this aspect. If you would like to know more about the general benefits of OA publishing please contact your Information Specialist in the library.

Many thanks to Safia Begum, Research Support Officer, for designing the infographic.
* An 'article processing charges' budget for a select number of journal articles.

Last few weeks at University? Have you any unwanted items?

Are you leaving University in a few weeks? Do you have unwanted items you will leave behind? Think about donating these items to the British Heart Foundation. The Aston University Environment Team have allocated donation points in ASV1, by Mary Sturge Residences and in the Library Foyer. Pick up a donation bag in the Library!

Would you like to benchmark your research activity? Try Journal & Highly Cited Data

What is Journal & Highly Cited Data?  Journal & Highly Cited Data is the module name for Journal Citation Reports and Essential Science Indicators.  This is part of a larger initiative by Thomson Reuters to provide a single environment for research and bibliometric assessment & evaluation.

How do I get access to Journal & Highly Cited Data?  Thomson Reuters are running a free trial and you have access to Journal & Highly Cited Data from 1^st May to 30^th September 2014 via Aston University IP range only. 

1. Go to the Library homepage and choose Library SmartSearch
2. Choose "Databases" on the grey toolbar
3. Choose "W" and click on "Web of Science"
4. You can access Journal Citation Reports and Essential Science Indicators from the black toolbar at the top of the screen

Also, Journal & Highly Cited Data will link to Web of Science, so you can move from from search into analytics without having to re-enter search details.

How will this benefit me?  Journal & Highly Cited Data is a single resource to help institutions make the most informed decisions to support programmes and policies. You’ll be able to easily compare individuals, institutions, and publications, plus pinpoint emerging trends and influential researchers, using this new platform.

What are the key changes?  A re-designed and unified platform for assessing and evaluating research performance that includes:

·        Improved data clarity with indicators based on publication year

·        New trend data views and visualisations

·        Easily save and export reports

·        Drill down to access  underlying data that informs Journal Citation Reports metrics

·        Easily analyse and compare journal trends over time

·        New exploratory environment promoting discovery and easier analysis

·        Personalisation options to support your workflow

Aston University Library welcome your feedback as the module will be on a subscription basis from the 1st October 2014.  Please send your comments to library@aston.ac.uk and use the Subject: Journal & Highly Cited Data feedback

Important information from the Library for students graduating in July 2014

Graduating students (July 2014) are kindly requested to return all Library books and pay off any outstanding library fines by Friday 6 June.  (Degree certificates can only be released if a student has no outstanding library debts or other University debts.)

Fines can be paid using the self-service machines in the Library or you can check your Library Record and pay any fines via the online payment form.

Best of luck for your revision, final assignments and exams from all Library staff.

Please come and say goodbye before you leave!

Library Public Services Team

Happy Birthday Science Citation Index!

The Science Citation Index (SCI), a key component of the Web of Science Core Collection, is 50 today!

From an idea by Dr Eugene Garfield in 1955 [1], the SCI was first published in 1964 as a five-volume print edition of indexed scientific work.  This was made available online in 1972, quickly followed by the Journal Citation Reports in 1975. 

Thomson Reuters have created a 50th anniversary web page with more information, a full timeline, and some vintage video instructions!

1. Garfield, E. (1955). Citation Indexes for Science: A New Dimension in Documentation through Association of Ideas. Science, 122 (3159),108-11.