Did You Know....Sawyer Library Does Library Instruction?

The business of the Reference team at Sawyer Library is to empower all of our users, from undergraduate students to faculty, to achieve the best possible research results to meet their academic research needs. To this end, we not only answer individual "reference questions" (in person, and by phone and email), but we also do Library Instruction.

Library Instruction is usually initiated by a faculty member for a class that will require students to do academic-level research. We usually chat with the faculty member in person or by phone (call us at [617-573] x8532), find out something about the course and assignment--if we can get the syllabus and/or the assignment sheet ahead of time, it's a help--and design a presentation of a half-hour to 45 minutes that will give students basic research techniques training and also show examples of the best search strategies in the most appropriate electronic resources for that class.

Fall is our busy season, since we do many frosh courses like SU-101 and the freshman seminars, but we are happy to set something up for other research-oriented classes within the constraints of our staffing and existing schedule. (In other words, we book up fast!) It is best to stop by or call us, but if it is more convenient we also have a Library Instruction Request Form. We will follow-up with an email confirmation, and probably ask a few follow-up questions.

There is also information about Library Instruction at this faculty services page.

In addition, because there are so many new students and faculty at the start of the academic year, we also offer several "drop-in" sessions. There is no need to make an appointment for these sessions, during which a Reference Librarian will provide a brief orientation towards the Sawyer Library webpage, resources, and services. Simply come to the Reference Desk at one of the below times. These sessions take about 15 to 20 minutes.



Wednesday, September 5th 5:00pm
Thursday, September 6th 1:00pm
and 7:15pm
Saturday, September 8th Noon
Monday, September 10th 5:00pm
Tuesday, September 11th 1:30pm
Wednesday, September 12th Noon
Saturday, September 15th 5:10pm


And remember, whether you can make one of these sessions or not, we are here to help. Come in and talk to us if you are ever having problems finding or accessing the information you need!

New Database: BioOne.2

Here is another "New" database, that is not so much new as "New and Improved!" (as advertisers love to say). We have actually had the scholarly scientific database, BioOne, for a couple of years. But we have just added a new module of journals to that database that has been given the dubious name of BioOne.2.

First, a word on BioOne from the publisher: "BioOne is the product of innovative collaboration between scientific societies, libraries, academe and the private sector. BioOne brings to the Web a uniquely valuable aggregation of the full-texts of high-impact bioscience research journals. Most of BioOne’s titles are published by small societies and other not-for-profit organizational publishers, and, until now, have been available only in printed form."

BioOne launched their original aggregation, now retroactively dubbed "BioOne.1", with forty titles in 2001. Now at maturity, the collection includes over eighty high-impact publications. BioOne.1 provides the scholarly community with a must-have collection of critical, high quality titles across the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. Most of BioOne.1's titles are ISI ranked and available back to Volume 1, Issue 1 through JSTOR.

BioOne.2 is BioOne's new collection, and currently includes forty high-impact titles, with additional journals to be added through 2008. The majority of BioOne.2 titles, many of which are internationally based, have not been available online until now. A subscription to the BioOne.2 collection includes access to six titles from Japan's UniBio Press.

To see a list of all 41 of the added journals, please take a look at this PDF.

By the way, BioOne automatically loads both journal sets, so you can just search for your topic on the opening screen or browse issues. You will simply see a globe-like symbol with a 2 or a 1 next to it--this will indicate which set that particular citation or journal issue belongs to.

We hope that researchers in the biosciences will find this addition useful!

[FIND BioOne on our "Databases by Subject" List in the "Sciences" category.]

Library News: Magnificent Map Presented to the Library

If you've visited the Poetry Center or Paul's Copy Center office on the Library's 3rd floor recently, perhaps you have seen the large, magnificent map that now resides on the wall opposite the group study tables on 3. If not, please do come by and take a look. It is a fascinating piece of cartographic history!

It is a centuries-old map of Africa. And here are a few details:

Nova Africae Geographica Et Hydrographica Descriptio
Blaeu-Jaillot Wall Map of Africa [Paris, 1669]

46 ¼ x 66 inches; 16 sheets (including text & title) joined & mounted on new linen, encased in a fine Dutch-style archival frame.

This Blaeu-Jaillot map is very rare and exceptionally well-preserved. It stands as the visually richest map of Africa produced during the Golden Age of Mapmaking. It is the first edition of the Paris plates. Alexis-Hubert Jaillot faithfully re-engraved Willem Blaeu’s map of 1608 capturing all the verve and visual drama of its Dutch model, but rendering it more accessible and readable by providing the text panels in both French and Latin and by translating place names into French. Particularly striking are the illustrations of ships engaged in battle or confronting sea monsters or monstrous seas. Notable is the variation in the conventional Neptune depiction of the sea-god, as well as the cartouche with a European woman flanked by two African women, and a border displaying contemporary depictions of costumes and centers of trade. The interior of the image of Africa teems with images of wildlife of all kinds.

This is an amazing historical document, and it is the very generous gift of Dr. Gerald Rizzo, the founder of the AFRITERRA Foundation, which is a a non-profit cartographic library and archive assembling and preserving the original rare maps of Africa.

For more on the Afriterra Foundation and and the Afriterra Collection, visit their website, where you will find many other digitized maps of Africa for armchair exploration!