New campus library website!

The new UW-Madison Libraries website launched this week. The new design features:

• A single tabbed search box for Articles, Books, Journals, Databases, and Site Search
• Re-worded links, based on user testing
• No deleted content
• A commitment to continuous improvement

If you'd like assistance finding the new location for your favorite resources or services, please let me know.

As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Note: the MadCat library catalog will soon undergo design changes, as well.

Coming soon: A new look for PubMed

The National Library of Medicine has announced that the PubMed database will soon undergo an interface redesign. Stated goals are to make PubMed easier to use, simplify the interface, refresh the look, better organize the text on the screen, and promote scientific discovery. NLM anticipates that the new design will be ready in mid-September.

Among the expected changes is the replacement of the current tab system (Limits, Preview/Index, History, Clipboard, Details) with a single screen combining many features onto one page.

The campus libraries offer hands-on training for PubMed (and many other research tools) - check soon for the Fall workshop schedule.

FAQ:

• What is the launch date? Proposed for mid-September.


• Where have changes been discussed? June issue of the NLM Technical Bulletin.


• Where will Single Citation Matcher & Clinical Queries be? Links will be on the front page and on Advanced Search.


• Is “Preferences” replacing “MyNCBI”? Undecided.


• What are the most results we can view on a page? Changing from 500 to 200 as a max.


• Will there still be links to the MeSH database? Yes.


• Will there be a direct export function to bibliographic management software? No, can’t support the many types of software.


• Is Advanced Search changing? Not at this point.


• Why not call it MySavedSearches instead of Preferences or MyNCBI? Because it includes functionality for all of the other Entrez systems.


• Are there any plans for adjacency searching? No. Not part of the base technology.


• Where will clipboard items be displayed? A link to access clipboard items will be available in the upper right hand corner, similar to the Limits message.


• Will saved searches be lost when the new interface goes into effect? No.


• Will LinkOut still exist? Yes


• Will search screens for other NCBI databases change as well? Others will eventually change, unsure which ones and on what timeline.


• Will cross-database searching be available? They are not implementing a new technology, just a change in appearance. The only cross database search capability is found on the Entrez home page.


• Will it be possible to e-mail to more than one address? Not at this point as far as we know.


• Will the library links to full text still be there? Yes, probably in the upper right corner on individual citation display.


• Will we still have the ability in history to combine search numbers? Yes, will probably have to go to Advanced Search page.


• What citation display views will we still have? All, except Citation and AbstractPlus won’t exist anymore.


• Is it still possible to display text on the screen not as HTML? Yes, in Summary and Abstract views.


• Will the hyperlinked MeSH terms in the display run a search or link to the database? They will probably only run a search, not link to MeSH database.


• Where is "details"? Only by clicking into AdvancedSearch at this point.


• Will Journals and MeSH database be available like on the sidebar now? Yes, on front page and through a drop-down menu above search box. Drop-down menu should be customizable in MyNCBI.


• Is there a limit to the number of buttons for full-text access? Not that we are aware of.


• Will the preview function still exist? Yes, on Advanced Search.


• Will Powerpoint slides be available? Yes, in the June TB issue. A webinar recording will also be available later.


• Are the limits available for both search boxes? There is only one search box.


• Will there be another orientation when the new look debuts? Yes, including tutorials, quicktours, etc.


• Where will limits be? Advanced Search page.


• Where will history be? Advanced Search page.


• Where will single citation matcher be? On the home page and on Advanced Search page.


• Can you select to view MeSH terms in the citation record? Yes, you can set that preference in MyNCBI.


• Can Advanced Search be set as the default searching page? No, the search box will be at the top of every page, so the page itself can’t be set.


• Is it possible to get rid of the boxes on the right-hand side? You can click the minus sign, but they won’t totally go away.


• Will we have to change our OutsideTool settings? No.


• How much of a heads-up will we get? As much as we can get from NCBI.

[Thanks to Ebling Library blog]

Ulrich's Periodicals Directory maintenance: 7/31

The UW Libraries subscription to Ulrich's Periodicals Directory may be unavailable for as long as six hours on Friday, July 31, from 8:00 pm – 2:00 am Central Time.

Ulrichsweb.com is an authoritative source of information on and reviews for more than 300,000 periodicals — scholarly journals (including open access publications), magazines, newspapers, newsletters, zines and more from around the world.

Search for active, ceased and forthcoming periodicals by title, ISSN, subject, publisher/distributor, peer reviewed/refereed status, keyword, abstracting and indexing services, country/state/city of publication, language, frequency, open access status, price, etc.

Ulrich's is also connected to Journal Citation Reports (JCR), WorldCat, and UW-Madison's "Find It" tool.

Informaworld maintenance: 8/1

The Informaworld database will be down:

• Saturday, August 1st 5:00am- 7:00am
  

Informaworld is the interface for several publisher imprints, including Taylor & Francis and Routledge. Publications affected include:

• Bioremediation journal
• Chronobiology international
• Communications in soil science and plant analysis
• Critical reviews in biochemistry & molecular biology
• Critical reviews in biotechnology
• Critical reviews in microbiology
• Critical reviews in plant sciences
• Encyclopedia of Animal Science
• European journal of agricultural education and extension
• European journal of phycology
• Food & foodways
• Geomicrobiology journal
• Historical biology
• International journal of phytoremediation
• International journal of remote sensing
• International Journal of Science Education
• The Journal of agricultural education and extension
• Journal of Agricultural & Food Information
• Journal of Agromedicine
• Journal of Applied Statistics
• Journal of Further and Higher Education
• Journal of Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Plants
• Journal of New Seeds
• Journal of sustainable agriculture
• Journal of Sustainable Forestry
• Landscape Research
• Research into higher education abstracts
• Scandinavian journal of forest research
• Science as Culture
• Science & Technology Libraries
• Society & natural resources
• Soil & sediment contamination
• Studies in science education

Journal use at the UW-Madison

Online journal usage statistics for selected titles related to the plant and insect sciences at the UW-Madison:

Title - # Articles Accessed 2008

Cell - 26,926
Journal of Molecular Biology - 13,134
Current Biology - 9,482
Molecular Cell - 8,752
FEBS Letters - 7,193
Molecular Microbiology - 4,770
Virology - 4,344
Gene - 4,200
Forest Ecology and Management - 3,939
Current Opinion in Cell Biology - 3,629
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences - 3,306
Chemistry & Biology - 3,247
Trends in Ecology and Evolution - 3,199
Current Opinion in Chemical Biology - 3,071
Trends in Cell Biology - 3,069
Atmospheric Environment - 2,971
Current Opinion in Structural Biology - 2,967
Biological Conservation - 2,849
Current Opinion in Plant Biology - 2,810
Current Opinion in Biotechnology - 2,791
Trends in Genetics - 2,625
Trends in Plant Science - 2,561
Soil Biology and Biochemistry - 2,451
Current Opinion in Microbiology - 2,435
Remote Sensing of Environment - 2,387
Ecological Modelling - 2,367
Journal of Power Sources - 2,290
Journal of Biotechnology - 2,260
Trends in Microbiology - 2,253
FEBS Journal - 2,139
Conservation Biology - 2,137
Chemosphere - 1,948
Biotechnology and Bioengineering - 1,888
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment - 1,799
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - 1,643
Cellular and molecular life sciences (CMLS) - 1,523
New Phytologist - 1,488
Proteomics - 1,480
Global Change Biology - 1,454
Oecologia - 1,452
Ecology Letters - 1,336
Science of the Total Environment - 1,334
Molecular Ecology - 1,317
FEMS Microbiology Letters - 1,264
Journal of Cellular Physiology - 1,249
Environmental Microbiology - 1,223
BioEssays - 1,208
Genomics - 1,204
Bioresource Technology - 1,074
Fungal Genetics and Biology - 1,064
FEMS Microbiology Letters - 1,049
Journal of Applied Microbiology - 1,024
Restoration Ecology - 997
Cellular Microbiology - 964
Landscape Ecology - 963
Animal Feed Science and Technology - 880
Plant Molecular Biology - 874
Ecosystems - 863
Plant Science - 859
Biometrics - 839
Journal of Applied Ecology - 808
Planta - 791
Environmental Management - 757
Biotechnology Letters - 695
Climatic Change - 679
Cytometry Part A - 639
Plant Cell & Environment - 623
FEMS Microbiology Ecology - 576
Plant and Soil - 573
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology - 564
Microbial Ecology - 563
Global Environmental Change - 551
Journal of Ecology - 546
Euphytica - 542
Biological Invasions - 534
Journal of Biogeography - 519
Plant Ecology - 483
Virus Research - 483
Biodiversity and Conservation - 470
Molecular genetics and genomics (MGG) - 463
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture - 459
Biogeochemistry - 441
Journal of Cereal Science - 436
Archives of Microbiology - 429
Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - 417
Journal of industrial microbiology & biotechnology - 415
Oikos - 412
Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology - 365

Biopesticide success with locust infestation

Green Muscle™ is a biopesticide that's proving successful against locusts in Africa. It consists of the spores of the Metarhizium anisopliae fungus, and is sprayed as a mineral oil suspension. Developed out of the LUBILOSA project, it is now produced by Biological Control Products (BCP) in South Africa and SenBio in Senegal. It has not as yet been approved for use in the United States.

BOOKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:

• Biological control: a global perspective - case studies from around the world


• Control of pests and weeds by natural enemies: an introduction to biological control


• Convention on biological diversity and product commercialisation in development assistance projects: a case study of LUBILOSA


• Exploitation of microorganisms


• "Fungal parasites of insects and nematodes" in Fungal biology


• Impact of science on African agriculture and food security


• Use of microbes for control and eradication of invasive arthropods

DOCUMENTS:

• Consultancy on entomopathology: strain selection on the fungal pathogen, Metarhizium anisopliae, for biocontrol of groundnut chafers: Myanmar, 1 August-5 September 1991


• Current status of Metarhizium anisopliae var. majus to control Oryctes rhinoceros in the Philippines, November 1991

JOURNALS:

• BioControl (was, Entomophaga)


• BioControl Science and Technology


• Biological Control


• Environmental Entomology


• Focus on Biopesticides PLUS


• Journal of Biopesticides

NEWS:

• Biopesticide developed by CABI averts locust disaster in Eastern Africa
  

Blight affecting tomatoes and potatoes

--------------------------------
UPDATE August 5, 2009: The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection confirms that late blight on tomato has appeared in Dane and Rock counties, the first cases of the disease in the state in six years. Full article: LATE BLIGHT ALERT
--------------------------------

Gardeners are being warned to destroy any Solanaceae plants (tomato, potato, eggplant) suspected of suffering from "late blight" disease, especially those purchased from big box stores.

The disease, associated with the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840's, is caused by the Phytophthora infestans fungus. While not harmful to humans, it is extremely contagious and deadly to plants.

Books:

• Phytophthora infestans: The cause of late blight of potato
  
• Resistance to phytophthora infestans in the potato


• Diseases, pests and disorders of potatoes: a color handbook


• Potato health management
  
• Phytophthora: identifying species by morphology and DNA fingerprints


• Illustrated glossary of Phytophthora / Glossário ilustrado de Phytophthora: técnicas especiais para o estudo de oomicetos

Conference proceedings:

• Phytophthora: Symposium of the British Mycological Society, the British Society for Plant Pathology, and the Society of Irish Plant Pathologists held at Trinity College, Dublin, September 1989


• Proceedings of the IInd International Symposium on Tomato Diseases: Kusadasi -Turkey, October 8-12, 2007
• Proceedings of the IIIrd International Late Blight Conference: Beijing, China, April 3-6, 2008

Video:

• Late blight and the Irish potato famine

UW-Madison dissertations & theses:

• Biological properties of Phytophthora infestans isolates from Wisconsin
• Characterization of RB and identification of additional genes involved in RB-mediated potato late blight resistance
  
• Genetic analysis of R9 conditioning late-blight resistance in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)


• Late blight resistance linkages in a novel cross of the wild potato species Solanum paucissectum (series Piurana)
  
• Characterization of late blight resistance and unilateral incompatibility in diploid (1EBN) solanum species
  
• Characterization of late blight resistance and unilateral incompatibility in diploid (1EBN) solanum species

UW-Madison patent:

• Late Blight Resistance Gene from Wild Potato

UW Extension Report:

• Control Late Blight of Potatoes and Tomatoes (1963)

More information:

• Plant Pathology Research Guide
• Tomato Fruit Disorders (UW Extension)
• Tomato Diseases Powerpoint (UW Extension)
• Potato Diseases Powerpoint (UW Extension)
• Plant disease hits eastern US veggies early, hard (Associated Press)

Ant symbiosis and Biofuels

[Photo: B W Hoffman]

UW-Madison Communications recently covered a project of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center to sequence the genome of ants that break down and digest cellulose, along with their associated fungi and bacteria ("Sequencing effort to chart ants and their ecosystem").

Recent publications by this project's researchers include:

Adams, A.S., Currie, C.R., Cardozea, Y.J., Klepzig, K.D., & Raffa, K. 2009. Effects of symbiotic bacteria and tree chemistry on the growth and reproduction of bark beetle fungal symbionts. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 39(6): 1133–1147.

Caldera, E.J., Poulsen, M., Suen, G., & Currie, C.R. 2009. Insect symbioses: a case study of past, present, and future fungus-growing ant research. Environmental Entomology 38: 78-92.

Ivens, A.B.F.; Nash, D.R.; Poulsen, M.; Boomsma, J.J. 2009. Caste-specific symbiont policing by workers of Acromyrmex fungus-growing ants. Behavioral Ecology 20:2, 378-384.

Little, A.E.F & Currie, C.R. 2008. Black yeast symbionts compromise the efficiency of antibiotic defenses in fungus-growing ants. Ecology 89: 1216-1222.

Oh, D.C, Scott, J.J., Currie, C.R., & Clardy, J. 2009. Mycangimycin: a polyene peroxide from a symbiotic Streptomyces sp. Organic Letters 11: 633-636.

Oh, D.C., Poulsen, M., Currie, C.R., & Clardy, J. 2009. Dentigerumycin: the bacterially produced molecular mediator of a fungus-growing ant symbiosis. Nature Chemical Biology 5: 391-393.

Oh, D.C., Scott, J.J., Poulsen, M.Z., Currie, C.R., & Clardy, J. 2008. Discovery of new secondary metabolites mediating insect-microorganism symbioses. Planta Medica 74(9): 906.

Poulsen, M., Fernandez-Marin, H., Wcislo, W.T., Currie, C.R., & Boomsma, J.J. (in press). Ephemeral windows of opportunity maintain horizontal transmission of fungal symbionts in leaf-cutting ants. Evolution.

Poulsen, M. & Currie, C.R. 2009. On ants, plants and fungi. New Phytologist 182(4): 785-788.

Scott, J.J., Oh, D.C., Yuceer, M.C., Klepzig, K.D., Clardy, J., et al. 2008. Bacterial protection of beetle-fungus mutualism. Science 322: 63.

Library Express system maintenance 7/3-7/4

** Library Express will be unavailable from 10 pm on Friday night (July 3) until 3 am Saturday morning (July 4) for system maintenance. **

What is Library Express?

Library Express is the UW-Madison's "document delivery" and "interlibrary loan" (ILL) service.

UW-Madison students, staff and faculty may also use Library Express to request books sent by mail, if they're living outside of Dane County. For more information, see Distance Services.

What can be requested?

• Articles scanned from print journals located on campus
• Articles not available in print on campus, or through online subscription
  
• Books not available in print on campus, or through online subscription

What can NOT be requested?

• More than 50 requests per week
• Books available on campus - instead, use "Place Requests" in MadCat to have these sent to your preferred pick-up library
  
• Books available at other UW System campuses (ex: UW-Milwaukee) - instead, use "UW System Search" in MadCat and "Place Requests" to have these sent to your preferred pick-up library
• Articles longer than 50 pages from journals that are available in print on campus. However, if the article is not available on-campus, then there is no page limit.
• Articles available in full-text PDF online through library subscriptions - check
• These items are very difficult to borrow from off-campus:
  • Audiovisual materials including videos and CDs
  • Computer software and manuals
  • Genealogical resources
  • Materials for class reserve or group use - talk to your Reserves contact about purchasing copies instead
    
  • Rare books
  • Recently published books - if rejected, use the "Purchase Recommendation form"
  • Reference materials
  • Technical reports and standards
  • Textbooks
  • Whole volumes or issues of periodicals
    

2008 Journal impact factors released

2008 Journal impact factors released

Thomson Reuters has just published the 2008 Journal Citation Reports, available to UW-Madison library users. These metrics, including the "impact factor," can be used to compare journal performance. JCR includes 8,000+ highly cited, peer-reviewed journals from around the world.

New features:

• 350+ new journals with their first published impact factor
  
• Updated 5-year impact factors and Eigenfactor metrics
  
• "Journal self cites" analyzes the contribution of self-citation to the impact factor (20 journals were dropped from JCR due to high self citation rates)
  
• "Rank in category" for each journal's subject area, along with a box plot of impact factor distribution for all journals in that category

Top 3 in Agronomy by impact factor:

1. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
2. Theoretical and Applied Genetics
3. Advances in Agronomy

Top 3 in Entomology by impact factor:

1. Annual Review of Entomology
2. Advances in Insect Physiology
3. Insect Molecular Biology

Top 3 in Horticulture by impact factor:

1. Theoretical and Applied Genetics
2. Tree Genetics and Genomes
3. Postharvest Biology and Technology

Top 3 in Plant Sciences by impact factor:

1. Annual Review of Plant Biology
2. Annual Review of Phytopathology
3. Plant Cell