MIT Libraries News

Still the #1 database for research literature in computer science, electrical engineering, and applied physics!

Inspec:

• Covers material from 1896 to the present
• Tells you who the top researchers are in each discipline and sub-discipline
• Contains citations and links to journal articles, conference papers, and books
• Links to related literature in business, psychology, and design

Try searching Inspec for a computer science, electrical engineering, or applied physics topic you’ve been researching or reading about lately. If you do, please let me know what you think or what you find!

– Amy Stout, Librarian for EECS

Time: Thursday, April 24th, 6-8:30 pm

Location: 3-270

Is it possible to live completely waste free? In this multi-award winning, festival favorite, partners Jen and Grant go head to head in a competition to see who can swear off consumerism and produce the least garbage Their light-hearted competition is set against a darker examination of the problem waste.

Afterwards, join MIT community members for a discussion of living waste free.

Snacks will be provided.

Sponsored by MIT Libraries and the Earth Day Collaborative

Rare Book Program Manager Stephen Skuce (left) discusses the illuminated parchment pages of MIT’s 15^th century manuscript Book of Hours with visitors Stephen J. Milner (Serena Professor of Italian at the University of Manchester) and scientist Sarah Fiddyment (University of York).

Milner and Fiddyment and their colleagues Caroline Checkley-Scott (Collections Conservator at the University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library) and Professor Matthew Collins (University of York) gave a wonderful presentation on their groundbreaking work. Their collaboration involves sampling of centuries-old parchment (used in books and documents) to determine the species of animal used in the parchment’s manufacture. The collagen molecules are gathered through a novel, non-invasive technique: a plastic eraser, via minimal, gentle contact with the parchment, attracts collagen molecules from its surface, and the eraser “crumbs” are harvested: no abrasion or cutting required, and the sample can then be sent to the research team for analysis. This technique, developed by Fiddyment, gathers ample collagen molecules for investigation (sequencing through protein mass spectrometry), providing invaluable evidence for identification of the materials used to create our cultural heritage. The resulting data has numerous and exciting implications for various fields in both the humanities and the sciences.

Meet Mendeley Representatives–Refreshments served!

When: Friday April 25^th 3:30-5pm

Where: 14N-132

Come eat pizza and learn more about Mendeley, a tool that helps you manage and share pdfs and easily generate citations and bibliographies when writing.  Representatives from Mendeley,  MIT Mendeley Advisors and library staff will be on hand to meet you, answer your questions and get feedback on this great tool.

RSVP for the event.

Enhanced Mendeley Access for MIT Users

The MIT Libraries has purchased Mendeley Institutional Edition for the MIT community.  This gives MIT users more personal and shared space than what is available with a free Mendeley account.  To find out more see our Mendeley page.

Questions? Email personal-content@mit.edu

Join us for a lunchtime performance by MIT’s Florian Hollerweger (Music and Theater Arts) and Forrest Larson (Lewis Music Library) as they explore acoustic and electronic sounds of ethereal and earthbound origins in a new collaboration.

Date: Monday, April 28, 2014
Place: Lewis Music Library, Bldg. 14E-109
Time: noon – 1 pm
Reception follows
Free and open to the public

Barbara Haven, Raymond Roberts, and Robert Molino

Security on MIT’s campus has evolved since the 1950s when night watchmen, serving primarily as fire watch, patrolled the campus. The responsibilities, duties, and reporting structure of the police have changed with the times and the needs of the community. Crimes on campus previously handled by Cambridge police were taken on by MIT’s force in 1959. Over the last two decades the MIT Police have worked with students and staff more collaboratively on safety issues. Read more about the history of the MIT Police on the Institute Archives and Special Collections web site.

“Sneeze vector” by 729:512. CC-BY-NC license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

A new study by MIT researchers shows that the droplets our noses and mouths release during coughs and sneezes can travel much further than previously thought. John Bush, a professor of applied mathematics, and Lydia Bourouiba, an assistant professor in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, are two of the coauthors on a recent paper, “Violent expiratory events: on coughing and sneezing.”  The researchers directly observed sneezing and coughing, and also simulated it in the lab, and found that coughs and sneezes produce “turbulent buoyant momentum puffs,” or respiratory clouds, that can carry potentially infected droplets five to 200 times further than known before. This could mean airborne pathogens are more easily transmitted through ventilation systems and enclosed spaces.

Explore Professor Bush’s research and Professor Bourouiba’s research in the Open Access Articles collection in DSpace@MIT, where it is openly accessible to the world.

Since the MIT faculty established their Open Access Policy in March 2009 they have made thousands of research papers freely available to the world via DSpace@MIT. To highlight that research, we’re offering a series of blog posts that link news stories about scholars’ work to their open access papers in DSpace.

On Monday, April 21, 2014, the following libraries will open at noon (12pm):

• Barker
• Dewey
• Hayden (Humanities & Science)
• Lewis Music
• Rotch

All other library locations will be closed for the holiday; the Libraries resume regular hours on Tuesday, April 22.

Have questions? Ask Us!

You keep telling us you want more e-books and we aim to please. The Libraries are pleased to announce a cooperative pilot project with Wiley Online Library. Beginning now for one year, about 15,000 electronic books published by Wiley will be available to the MIT community. After this pilot we will purchase perpetual access to books with significant use. (Note some textbooks, extensive encyclopedias and/or handbooks might not be available). This project will also help us determine how to provide access to major STEM e-books in the most cost efficient way.

Soon the links to these books will appear in Barton, but now you may visit the Wiley Online Library.

To read these on your e-book device see our E-reading FAQ.

Happy reading, and Tell Us what you think!

By MIT Libraries’ student blogger, Pri Tembhekar

Hello everyone! This week’s post is about the Libraries series of April events called IAPril. Many of these are hands-on events to help you solve particular problems or learn about resources in the Libraries. Essentially, it’s like a tiny piece of that wonderful IAP month compressed into 1-2 hours. If you are like me, you often tell yourself that you’ll download software or check out new offerings at a later time. However, without live training or a spot on my calendar, resources that could make my life easier often fall to the wayside. Needless to say that self-motivation is difficult. Enter the IAPril events. These events are diverse but all focus on a way that the Libraries can make research, citations, data analysis, or life in general easier!  In case you’re already sold, you can see the full listings and register here.

Last Wednesday I attended the event on Mendeley basics.  Mendeley is a free tool that can help you organize and manage your citations and PDFs. As a part of senior year in chemical engineering, I am completing a long and arduous design project. One major point of feedback our team received last week was that our citations were weak. This came as no surprise since each member had been writing feverishly with little attention to collaborating and combining the citations of the team. Streamlined software to share and cite the many PDFs we had in fact used would have been useful.

A library workshop on Mendeley Basics

Learning about Mendeley during the event was much more effective than if I had done it independently. The event instructor was accessible and answered many audience questions. The session ended up being very interactive because a couple of audience members had extensive experience with the software.  I learned that I could easily save PDFs with a browser add-on. A Word add-on allows me to cite it as I write. Notating and highlighting the PDF can also be done within the Mendeley software. Some quotes from the audience on why they use Mendeley:

“It’s amazing for managing a PDF library.”

“You get a great amount of space.”

Although the software still has some bugs around being compatible with other citation software such as Refworks, it might be worth a shot! The most important take away for me was that I still have a lot to learn about resources in the Libraries. IAPril is a great way to dive in and keeping my eyes open is a must. I look forward to continuing to discover the Libraries with you!

Many will already be aware that Dr. James Hansen, one of the most prominent voices in the climate change conversation, visits our campus next week. In honor of his visit, the Libraries would like to highlight the new, five volume online resource, Climate Vulnerability: understanding and addressing threats to essential resources.

It would be difficult to find an aspect of this challenging topic not addressed in this collection of essays. Well referenced and written by experts, the articles explore the vulnerability of human health, food resources, energy, ecosystems and water to our climate and its changes. They address science, policy, economics and social ramifications of these changes in the world around us.We hope you explore!  Image credit: NASA

Please join the MIT Libraries for a discussion with Samip Mallick, co-founder and Executive Director of The South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA). SAADA works nationally to give voice to South Asian Americans by documenting, preserving, and sharing stories that reflect their diverse experiences.

Mallick will share stories from the archive and SAADA’s unique approach to documenting and preserving community history. The discussion will be moderated by Professor Vivek Bald of MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing.

Founded in 2008, SAADA has built a digital archive of over 1600 items, and through outreach and educational programming has raised awareness about the rich histories of South Asians in the United States.

Refreshments will be served.

Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Place: 2-105
Time: 4:00-6:00pm
4-4:30: refreshments
4:30-6:00: talk followed by Q&A

The event is free and open to the public.

Additional support is provided by the MIT Asian Pacific American Employee Resource Group, the Center for Bilingual/Bicultural Studies, MIT India, and MIT’s programs in Comparative Media Studies/Writing and History.

Happy Charter Day, MIT!

On this day, 153 years ago, the Massachusetts legislature passed, and Governor John Andrew approved, legislation that established MIT.

On March 9, 1861, Governor Andrew had written to William Barton Rogers that a meeting had been scheduled with the State Board of Education to afford an opportunity for proponents of the plan to explain its advantages for education and industry. The letter reproduced here expresses the governor’s confidence in Rogers’s dynamic personality and powers of persuasion.

Rogers had worked long and hard to establish a polytechnic school in Boston, spending years sharing his vision and soliciting support. Two days later the U.S. Civil War began when Confederate soldiers fired upon Fort Sumter. MIT’s first classes were not held until 1865, shortly before the end of the war.

More information about the establishment of MIT is available on the  Institute Archives and Special Collections web site. MIT’s original charter is housed at the Massachusetts Archives among the acts and resolves of the Commonwealth.

Is one of these players your ancestor? Help identify members of MIT’s Banjo Club of ca.1893, the picture hanging outside the Lewis Music Library!

From yearbooks in the Institute Archives and Special Collections, we have made some tentative IDs. Left to right, standing: Nathan Cheney ’94; possibly Floyd Frazier ’96; Winthrop Tracy Case ’94; possibly Edwin Francis Hicks ’94; possibly F.S.V. Sias ’95. Sitting: possibly Lucius Spaulding Tyler ’96; Albert William Thompson ’95 or ’96; George Frederic Shepard, Jr., ’95.

Post a comment on the Lewis Music Library Facebook page if you can help!

Need business case studies for a course? There’s no shortage of sources — a Google search turns up hundreds of distributors of business cases. Here are our top picks for cases on any subject within business and management.

Sloan LearningEdge
A collection of cases from Sloan in entrepreneurship, leadership, ethics, operations management, strategy, sustainability and system dynamics.

MIT Center for Information Systems Research
To find business cases on the CISR website, go to Publication Search and select Working Paper (case studies are found in this category).

Harvard Business School case studies
Harvard Business Publishing has thousands of business cases available. Our interlibrary borrowing service can obtain cases needed for your MIT-related coursework or research. Abstracts of HBS cases can also be found in Business Source Complete. Enter “Harvard Business School cases” in the SO Publication Name field.

ABI/Inform Global and Business Source Complete are Libraries databases covering scholarly articles and other types of literature in business and management. To find case studies, use the Document Type limiter in Advanced Search.

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is resource for working papers in management and other social sciences. Use Title/Abstract search and include “case study” (in quotes) in your search.

Many websites list cases available for purchase. Here are some of the best-known distributors:

• The Aspen Institute sponsors CasePlace.org, a distributor of cases and other teaching resources from a variety of publishers. Use Advanced Search and select Product Type: cases.
• The China Europe International Business School provides access to cases through its China Case Clearing House. Although it distributes cases from schools worldwide, the emphasis is on China-related enterprises.
• The Case Centre is an independent, non-profit organization focused on promoting the case method in business education.
• The Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, distributes cases from business schools worldwide through Ivey Publishing.

Have questions about business case studies? Ask Us!

The MIT Libraries, through the Aga Khan Documentation Center, now receives Portal 9, a journal of stories and critical writing about urbanism and the city. Two issues, in both English and Arabic, are published each year, each focused on a unique topic and addressing “the need for a conscientious debate about architecture, planning, culture, and society in urban contexts across the Middle East and the rest of the world.” Portal 9 can be found in Rotch Library’s Limited Access collection, beginning with issue #1 (Autumn 2012).

Readers concerned with issues of urbanism and the city might also be interested in the Aga Khan Program at MIT’s upcoming symposium, “The Orangi Pilot Project & the Legacy of Architect Perween Rehman,” taking place this Friday and Saturday (April 11 & 12) at MIT. The program includes a keynote address by architect Arif Hasan, and papers on topics in the areas of Land & Housing; Planning, Politics & Conflict; Community-based Planning & Professional Choices; Gender, Development & Finance; and Documentation, Knowledge & Evaluation. Sharon Smith, the Libraries’ Aga Khan Documentation Center Program Head, will be speaking at the symposium. More information can be found on the event’s website.

Would you like to have your very own “locked letter”? One that’s based on a historic manuscript letter folding format used by Elizabeth I, Queen of England? If so, plan on attending our talks on “The Art and Science of Document Security: Past, Present, and Future” on April 29th. Each attendee will receive their very own locked letter with a secret message. This event kicks off Preservation Week at MIT, April 29-May 1, 2014.

Historic letterlocking refers to any movable object (such as paper, parchment, or papyrus) that has been written on, folded, and secured shut to function as its own envelope. The tradition dates back 4,000 years in Western and Mediterranean cultures. Documenting the physical details of well-preserved original manuscripts has helped to define the different locking formats with their multiple levels of built-in security and their various authentication devices. In some instances the letters employ anti-tamper and authentication devices that enhance the format protection.

All events are free and no registration is required.

The MIT Libraries is hosting a poetry reading in the Lewis Music Library on Thursday, April 10, with author and professor Adam Dickinson.

Dickinson’s latest collection, The Polymers, is an imaginary science project at the intersection of chemistry and poetry. It was a finalist for Canada’s 2013 Governor General’s Award for Poetry and was recently called “the most exciting book of English poetry published anywhere last year.”

Dickinson sees The Polymers as part of “ecopoetics,” or “ecocriticism, …a kind of environmental activism practiced using the resources of poetry and poetics rather than simply traditional academic scholarship.”

Date: Thursday, April 10, 2014
Place: Lewis Music Library, Bldg. 14E-109
Time: 5:00- 6:00 pm
Reception to follow

The event is free and open to the public.

As the deadline for submitting theses for the 2014 June degree period approaches, students may be wondering how the specifications originated. 

In May of 1868 the MIT faculty voted to approve the first specifications for theses, requiring only that a thesis be written “on paper of ordinary letter size (about 8 x 10 in.), on one side of the paper only, and with a margin of one inch on the left.” In 1872 additional specifications were added: the paper was to be of good quality, “with drawings on double elephant paper 40 x 27, or single elephant 20 x 27.” Early theses were handwritten, with hand drawings of illustrations, until about 1914 when typewriters began to be used with regularity.

For more information about early theses, and the development of thesis specifications, contact the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Current thesis specifications are prescribed by the Committee on Graduate Programs and the Committee on Undergraduate Programs and are published by the MIT Libraries.

Karen Gleason

Chemical Engineering professor Karen Gleason was named this week as MIT’s Associate Provost. Gleason, a faculty member since 1987, has previously served in several administrative roles, including associate dean of engineering for research. She holds 18 patents for work in chemical vapor deposition polymers and their applications in optoelectronics, sensing, microfluidics, energy, biomedicine, and membranes. Provost Martin Schmidt said Gleason’s entrepreneurship and experience with industry  will be helpful in “strengthening MIT’s industrial engagements.”

Explore Professor Gleason’s research in the Open Access Articles collection in DSpace@MIT, where it is openly accessible to the world.

Since the MIT faculty established their Open Access Policy in March 2009 they have made thousands of research papers freely available to the world via DSpace@MIT. To highlight that research, we’re offering a series of blog posts that link news stories about scholars’ work to their open access papers in DSpace.