Faculty of 1000 Biology on trial

The library has access to Faculty of 1000 Biology for a month. F1000 Biology, from BioMedCentral claims to be 'the next generation literature-awareness service that highlights and evaluates the most interesting papers published in the biological sciences, based on the recommendations of a Faculty of over 2000 of the worlds leading researchers'.

F1000 Biology allows you to set up alerts for papers that have been evaluated by researchers from around the world and deemed to be 'exceptional' or 'must read'. There are lists of top ten articles, updated weekly as well as 'Hidden jewels', which are top papers published in lesser known journals.

Log into F1000 Biology and test it out - please let me know if you think this is a service useful enough to establish a subscription.

UK PubMed Central

UK PubMed Central (UKPMC) is now live and freely available at: http://ukpmc.ac.uk

"Based on PubMed Central (PMC), the U.S. National Institutes of Health free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature, UKPMC provides a stable, permanent, and free-to-access online digital archive of full-text, peer-reviewed research publications."

This may be important to Biology and Biochemistry and Pharmacy and Pharmacology because of the positions on open access publishing which were adopted last year by three of the major biomedical funding bodies, as below. [NB The University is also planning to set up a repository for its academic output.]

"For applications submitted from 1 October 2006 the MRC requires that electronic copies of any research papers accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, which are supported in whole or in part by MRC funding, are deposited at the earliest opportunity - and certainly within six months - in UK PubMed Central (UKPMC)."

"From 1 October 2006, BBSRC will require a copy of any resulting published journal article or conference proceedings to be deposited, at the earliest opportunity, in an appropriate e-print repository, wherever such a repository is available."

"The Wellcome Trust requires electronic copies of any research papers that have been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, and are supported in whole or in part by Wellcome Trust funding, to be deposited into PubMed Central (PMC) or UK PMC once established, to be made freely available as soon as possible and in any event within six months of the journal publisher's official date of final publication"

Reading Lists

It's that time of year again (ie. on the cusp of a new semester) when we try to make sure the library has copies of texts on student reading lists.
Please let us know as soon as possible of changes to your semester two reading lists. Many thanks to those organised souls who have already sent their updates and/or recommendations.

Ejournal access

A note of caution from the Serials and E-resources Librarian here in the Library. At this time of year many of our online journal subscriptions are being renewed, and we would ask that you report any difficulties you have in accessing a particular ejournal in case it is a subscription issue. You can either email myself or Linda, with as much of the following information as possible:
*the title of the e-journal
*the url where you accessed it
*the volume and issue number
*the title of the article
*if you are accessing the e-journal from off-campus
*a description of the e-journal problem, including any error messages that appear on-screen

Due date reminder emails now available!

If I had to say the most asked-for service from the library in 2006, it would be requests for a loan reminder email, sent a day before your items are due to remind you to renew or return their items. Well, starting the new year off in great service style, loan reminders, otherwise known as "underdue notices" are now available.
You must opt in by going to the library catalogue or Your use of the Library at http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/you, and choose Check your borrower record or Renew your loans.
Then enter your library card number and PIN - the next screen will ask you to click on the button to opt in. You will then receive email reminders regarding your loans the day before they are due.
The final screen in this process contains a reminder that YOU are still ultimately responsible for the timely return of items on loan in your name.
Happy New Year everyone!