Author: Lisa Ngo
ASHRAE Standards and Guidelines: now online!
UC Berkeley researchers now have full online access to standards issued by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). ASHRAE Standards and Guidelines are widely used by researchers and professionals in the design and maintenance of indoor environments and those interested in refrigeration processes. Access is provided through the Techstreet Enterprise platform and requires the proxy or VPN from off-campus.
In addition to the Standards and Guidelines, ASHRAE also publishes a series of Transactions and Handbooks. Interested in other ASHRAE publications? Check OskiCat for access or contact a librarian for help!
NTRL discontinues Digital-on-Demand service
The National Technical Reports Library (NTRL) has discontinued its Digital-on-Demand service. Requests for digitization will no longer be filled after October 1, 2016.
NTRL indexes over 3 million U.S. government agency reports with more than 800,000 reports available as full-text PDFs. Questions about pending unfulfilled digitization requests can be directed to NTRLHelpDesk[at]ntis[dot]gov.
Fall Workshops
The science and engineering libraries are holding a series of workshops during Fall Semester that can help you get the most out of freely available as well as Berkeley subscribed resources. Workshops include:
- Intro to citation management: EndNote, RefWorks, Mendeley, and more
- Intro to LaTeX: introduction to learning how to write documents in LaTeX
- Productivity tools: Berkeley online tools for reading, writing, and collaborating more effectively
- Intro to GIS tools and resources: an introduction to Geographic Information Systems and mapping tools
- Efficient Data Management Practices: Tools and services at UC Berkeley: learn about data management best practices, funder requirements, and how to best achieve transparency and reproducibility for the long-term.
Check out the full schedule with locations and times on our Events Calendar. All workshops are drop-in – no registration required.
Cambridge Structural Database
Established in 1965, the CSD is the world’s repository for small-molecule organic and metal-organic crystal structures. Containing over 800,000 entries from x-ray and neutron diffraction analyses and more than 50,000 new structures added every year, this unique database of accurate 3D structures has become an essential crystallography resource to scientists around the world.
The UC Berkeley Libraries provides access to both the WebCSD (no downloads needed) and the complete CSDS client system (download here).
Fall workshops
The science and engineering libraries are holding a series of workshops during Fall Semester that can help you get the most out of freely available as well as Berkeley subscribed resources. Workshops include:
- Citation management: EndNote, Evernote, Mendeley, and more
- Productivity tools: Berkeley online tools for reading, writing, and collaborating more effectively
- Intro to GIS tools and resources: an introduction to Geographic Information Systems and mapping tools
- Data management: the best ways to create a data management plan, create, store, backup, and share your data
- Publish for impact: This session gives tips on publishing your research for maximum impact and will cover open access, alternative publishing options, and promotion of your work
Check out the full schedule with locations and times on our Events Calendar. All workshops are drop-in – no registration required.
Digital on Demand service from NTRL
The National Technical Reports Library (NTRL), a repository for technical reports from government agencies produced by the NTIS, rolled out a new Digital-on-Demand service for academic users. The new digitization service allows users to request reports that are not available in full text to be digitized and made available in the database.
The process is simple: locate a report in NTRL, click on the “Digital on Demand” link, and enter your contact information. The requested report will be digitized and made available in about a week. Questions about the service? Contact lngo[at]berkeley[dot]edu.
Try it out: AccessEngineering
The UC Berkeley Library invites you to test a new resource, McGraw-Hill’s AccessEngineering, available until May 15.
Providing online access to a suite of instructional videos, ebooks, online calculators and tools, curriculum maps and study guides, AccessEngineering aims to provide fast, authoritative information to faculty, students, and professionals in the field.
We’d like to hear what you think – try it out and contact Lisa Ngo at lngo[at]berkeley.edu with your feedback.
Spring workshops
The science and engineering libraries are holding a series of workshops during Spring Semester that can help you get the most out of freely available as well as Berkeley subscribed resources. Workshops include:
- Citation management and productivity tools: EndNote, Evernote, Mendeley, and more
- Intro to GIS tools and resources: an introduction to Geographic Information Systems and mapping tools
- Data management: the best ways to create a data management plan, create, store, backup, and share your data
- Easy thematic mapping: This workshop will introduce 3 different web platforms for mapping thematic and demographic data – SimplyMap, Social Explorer, and Policy Map
- Publish for impact: This session gives tips on publishing your research for maximum impact and will cover open access, alternative publishing options, and promotion of your work
- LaTeX/BibTeX: … coming soon!
Check out the schedule on our Events Calendar. All workshops are drop-in – no registration required.
Engineering Case Studies Online
Engineering Case Studies Online is an innovative new resource that focuses on the analysis of engineering failures. It covers more than 50 of the most frequently taught case studies including:
- Air France Flight 4590
- The Big Dig
- Deepwater Horizon oil rig
- Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
- … and more
Each case includes a collection of materials that provide in-depth analysis of the disasters including feature-length video documentaries, relevant books explaining key engineering concepts and issues, simulations, primary footage of accidents, engineering ethics, and other materials not normally found in the scholarly literature.
Materials come from a variety of reliable content partners including the BBC, the Digital Rights Group, Princeton University Press, and the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Find out more about Engineering Case Studies Online with Alexander Street Press. UC Berkeley users can access the product at Engineering Case Studies Online.
Introducing ASTM Compass
The ASTM Digital Library, our source for current and historical ASTM Standards, has launched a new platform called ASTM Compass. The new platform features new tools including:
- active and historical standard revision comparisons
- annotations functionality
- alerts for standard revisions and changes
ASTM Compass continues to provide our users with access to the ASTM Special Technical Publication series, all ASTM Journals, the Dictionary of Engineering Terminology, and more.
Check it out at http://compass.astm.org.