MIT Libraries News

January’s Object of the Month exhibit describes the “Harmonic Diagram” designed in 1824 by physicist and inventor Charles Wheatstone. The “diagram” is a mechanical device for explaining music theory. It is one of the items from a wide range of time periods, on diverse subjects, in many formats, in the holdings of MIT’s Institute Archives and Special Collections.

Browse other exhibits for a sample of the scope of the Archives’ collections. All are welcome to visit the Archives for further exploration.

Are you wondering what an RSS feed is and how it can help your research? Interested in consumer or company information? Want to learn more about using GIS, EndNote or RefWorks? Need to find chemical information, energy information, social science data, or patents? Want to learn how to marble paper, improve your photography, or help developing countries?

Look no further! The MIT Libraries are offering classes on these topics and much more. Look at the MIT Libraries IAP Activities list for more information.

Check out the latest and greatest books that have recently arrived in the MIT Libraries!

See: Recent Additions to the Collections

We have RSS feeds for all different subjects – you can even find out about new music CDs and DVDs. Don’t know what RSS is or how to use it? No problem – you can simply view new items via the link above. You can also have lists of new items emailed to you on a regular basis.

If you would like to learn more about RSS:

• see our RSS guide
• attend our IAP class: Keeping Current: Using RSS Feeds to Stay Ahead in Your Research
• see also our feeds for MIT Libraries news RSS feeds by topic

Researching pharmaceutical markets? A new database from the Libraries, World Pharmaceutical Markets, provides reports, data, and 5-year projections for world pharmaceutical and health care markets in over 60 countries. Obtain data and analyses on health policies, demographics, health care facilities, and regulatory environments, all derived from annual surveys of national market contexts. Our subscription also includes quarterly pharmaceutical market intelligence reports for each country. Note: access is limited to one simultaneous user.

Access World Pharmaceutical Markets via Vera or its shortcut URL: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/worldpharma.

MIT recently received a $1,500,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the next phase of a project that promises to create new search technologies for digital libraries.

The project, called SIMILE, brings together researchers from the MIT Libraries Digital Library Research Group (DLRG) and the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) to create next-generation search technology using Semantic Web standards–a group of standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium to promote large-scale interoperability and reusability of content on the Web.

“With digital content increasing at a rapid rate; searching for, sorting through, and managing millions of digital documents is a serious challenge for today’s libraries and the libraries of tomorrow,” said MacKenzie Smith, Associate Director for Technology at MIT Libraries. Semantic Web technologies offer a way to make searching and navigating large digital libraries easier.

The new SIMILE work funded by the Mellon Foundation will focus on building software tools that can be used with large collections of digital content from the higher education and cultural heritage sectors. These will include authoring and editing tools, searching and browsing tools, tools for data management, and storage technologies to meet the needs of scholars, researcher and students. SIMILE technology will also be applied to DSpace, the open source digital archiving platform created by the MIT Libraries and Hewlett-Packard to manage and make accessible millions of digital documents including research articles and scientific databases.

The Libraries were awarded a $75,000 grant from the d’Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in Education to introduce first-year students to the scientific research process and provide them with the skills needed to find, evaluate and use information successfully. The project will focus on students taking 3.091, Introduction to Solid State Chemistry, a large freshman level chemistry course with an enrollment of over 400 students. Students will be taught how to:

Identify and critically evaluate a variety of potential sources of information relevant to their course work.
Determine the most appropriate tool(s) or resource(s) for their information requirements and develop effective search strategies for their use.
Properly cite information sources used in assignments.
Gain skills that are transferable to new subject areas and valuable throughout their educational careers.

The d’Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in Education was established through a generous $10 million grant from Brit, SM ’61, and Alex d’Arbeloff. Projects funded in the program are designed to enhance and potentially transform the academic and residential experience of MIT’s undergraduate students. Funding for the Libraries’ project is provided for one year, with the possibility of continuation for a second year. For more information on library instruction programs see: http://libraries.mit.edu/ask-us/instruction/index.html.

A video is now available of a recent authors@mit event. Diana Henderson discusses her book, Collaborations with the Past. For more info on this event see authors@mit presents Diana Henderson.

Download the video. (1 hour, 38 minutes) (606.4 Mb)

The recording of a previous authors@mit event is now available for downloading.

Placing Words: symbols, space, and the city: William Mitchell, 2005.

Download mp3. (1 hour, 11 minutes) (32.8 Mb)

For more information on this event, see authors@mit presents William Mitchell. To watch a video of this event, see the MIT World page. (streaming video)

The MIT Libraries now have a half-time position supporting MIT faculty and researchers who have questions about their options and rights in the world of scholarly publishing, which has evolved dramatically with the advent of the digital age. This position has been made possible with support from the Provost’s office.

In what ways would a faculty member make use of this new position?
For example:
• To ask about what rights you have over your own work, and how you can ensure that you have the rights in the future to do what you want with your work;
• To ask questions about standard publisher copyright transfer agreements, including the use of MIT’s amendment to such agreements ;
• To gain feedback about options and rights related to archiving your work on the web, whether via a faculty home page, Dspace, or a discipline-based archive, or another means;
• To discuss the options for publishing an article so that it will be openly available, without permission or subscription barriers, whether in a new open access journal or a long-standing journal; or
• To ask about open access publication options, and funder or government policies in relation to those options.

If you would like to discuss any of these issues, please contact Ellen Finnie Duranceau, who moved into the new position in mid September.

Duranceau has worked in the MIT Libraries since 1990 in a variety of roles. Since 1996, she has been negotiating license agreements for ejournals and databases so that this content can be made available on the MIT network under terms for access and use that meet MIT’s needs. Her new role expands the focus from purchase of digital scholarly content for use at MIT, to support for MIT faculty and researchers at the time of publication, when many rights and potential uses are defined in publisher agreements.

Duranceau’s new role supports a collaborative process being engaged in by the entire academic community to realize the full potential of technology to increase the reach and impact of research.

The Hayden Library (a.k.a. the Humanities and Science Libraries) will be open 24 hours a day for members of the MIT community only, from the last day of classes through the last day of the final exam period: December 13 through December 22, 2006.

On Thursday, December 14th the MIT Tango Club and the MIT Libraries’ Bookmobile are offering a unique opportunity to see a performance of one of the most beautiful dance styles in the world, and check out great books and music.

From 12:30 to 1pm members of the Tango Club will take to the floor and steam up the Stata Center with their elegant moves. Before or after the performance, be sure to check out the Bookmobile’s selection of popular books and music including an expanded selection of Tango music (recently donated by the Tango Club) available for immediate check-out with your MIT ID.

Where: Stata Center (Building 32), Libraries’ Information Intersection
When: Thursday, December 14th, 11am-2pm
Cost: Free!

Light refreshments will be served.

Interested in statistical and economic information from China? Then try our new database, China Data Online, which provides:

• monthly and yearly reports on China’s macroeconomic development
• statistical databases on China’s population and economy at the county and city level
• financial indicators of industries
• statistical yearbooks
• industrial and marketing surveys
• an atlas of China

Access it via Vera or its shortcut URL: http://libraries.mit.edu/get/chinadata.

Did you know the MIT Libraries has Chinese census data, to the county level, from 2000 to 1953 in GIS format? We also have township level census data for 2000, as well as satellite imagery. It is now easier than ever to find these datasets on the MIT GIS lab website at: http://libraries.mit.edu/gis/data/findingaids/china.html

The 89 compact discs of tangos donated by the MIT Tango Club are now in the library and ready for use. They include historic performances by artist such as Alfredo De Angelis, Julio De Carlo, Lucio Demare, Troilo Fiorentino, Alfredo Gobbi, Osvaldo Pugliese, Quinteto Real, Enrique Rodríguez, Beata Söderberg, and Aníbal Troilo, as well as other artists listed in the news blog of 11/20/06.

To find these discs, go to Barton advanced search, set “Formats/Types:” to CDs, and search for the subject Tangos.

Music compact discs circulate for 3 days (limit of 5, no renewals). The Lewis Music Library is located in Bldg. 14E-109 and library hours are posted on the web.

MIT’s founder, William Barton Rogers, was born 202 years ago on December 7. It is appropriate, then, that the Institute Archives and Special Collections, in its December Object of the Month exhibit, announces a grant from the Fred J. Brotherton Charitible Foundation to perform conservation work on one hundred documents from the Rogers papers, one of MIT’s most important historical collections. The grant includes funds to convert the guide to the Rogers papers to EAD (Encoded Archival Description), an encoding standard for electronic archival finding aids, to make information about the collection available on the World Wide Web.