Temporary hiatus summer 2012

The Genetics Library will be unstaffed from Thursday 26 July to Monday 20 August inclusive, whilst the concierge [pictured] enjoys a well-earned rest at Butlins

Same old same old

Unlike the Plant Sciences Library, which underwent upheavals during summer 2011, the Genetics Library remained a bastion of calmness and scholarship. The Library remains busy, and has provided a home for Postgrads writing up as well as Part IIs catching up on their reading. Who says libraries are dead??!!

New Genetics Library website

The Genetics Library website has been completely redesigned, ta-DA, and now includes such state-of-the-art innovations as :

• A bit more detail on what we have and haven't got
• A direct catalogue search box
• Help with finding information, with links to all those exciting user ed publications you cannot manage without [seriously, you can't]
• FAQs on those annoying barriers to getting the journal paper you want online
• An image of the confusion that greets you as you enter the door ... but with helpful information about where the stuff actually is

And there's also a Delicious page of useful links to sources pushed, and help with them

LibrarySearch - A new search facility to try

The University Library has made available a beta version of the new search facility it will be implementing, called LibrarySearch.

Searching the various library catalogues is far more efficient than on Newton, and the results are much easier to understand. Helpfully, if you are trying to find out if the University holds a particular journal, the electronic version will appear at the top of the results if it is available.

But as scientists, will less interest in books, you might find the additional facility of simultaneously searching across the major reference databases most helpful. So you can perform a metasearch across Scopus, PubMed and Web of Knowledge, for example, saving time and comparing the appropriate coverage of each.

If you are trying to find books, and you remember them by their colour or appearance, the additional images of the covers will also help you identify the one you need with a quick scan.
You can use the beta version instead of Newton, so it is highly recommended you give it a try - see the search interface on http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/

Signs of life...

The Library is once again staffed.
Here's a reminder of when you can expect to find a real live person to help you out in the Genetics Library:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons
All day Wednesday

Remember, you can always e-mail library@gen.cam.ac.uk if you need help

The Marie Celeste

The Genetics Library will not be staffed between Friday 13 August and Tuesday 31 August.

Please e-mail Library@gen.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions and I'll get back to you ASAP after 31 August.

Image at left courtesy of the Part II Class 2009/10

Blog? E-mail? Website?

Perhaps it is easier to pass on important information via a blog, soooo...
Here we are, the Genetics Library [University of Cambridge] Blogette
Just haven't got anything to say just yet
Watch this space!