From one print journal to a digital library: Agricultural engineering

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MIT Libraries have added several databases in agriculture, food, and water recently: CAB Abstracts and Water Intelligence Online are examples.  And while our newest product comes from a more humble beginning than these larger ones, it makes discovery and access to a key journal and its close relatives much easier.

The Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural Engineering (ASAE) used to arrive in print only in Barker Library. Now, thanks to a new subscription to the Technical Library of the ASABE, (the B adds in biological engineering) papers in this journal and several others will be online at our fingertips. MIT will have access to ASABE conference papers, standards and books on topics including agricultural technologies, crops, soils, and more. And, since many people find these papers searching the engineering database Compendex, they should be able to connect to full text right there.

This month’s Transactions has papers on smart phone apps for irrigation, flood modeling of the Yellow River, and turfgrass evapotranspiration: something for everyone! The very first paper (1958) is “Applying Digital Computers to Farm Tractor Design.” And the most recent? “Cotton, tomato, corn and onion production with subsurface drip irrigation: a review.”

We hope you have a reason to harvest ASABE information soon! Any questions, just Ask Us.