Featured Electronic Resources

Read journals on your iPad using BrowZine

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Jennifer Hart at Crerar Science

browzineDo you own an iPad?  Do you read scholarly journals?  Then BrowZine might be a great tool for you!

The Library has arranged for a subscription to the Browzine app for all University of Chicago users.  BrowZine assists users by presenting open access and Library-subscribed journals on a common newsstand.  The result is an easy and familiar way to browse, read and monitor scholarly journals across the disciplines or to have a convenient list of favorite journals titles at your fingertips.  BrowZine works with the campus proxy server, giving you access to your favorite journals on your iPad.

Articles accessed through BrowZine may be synced up with Zotero, Dropbox or several other services to help keep all of your information together in one place.

If you have any questions about BrowZine or would like a guided a tour, please contact crerar-reference@lib.uchicago.edu

 Download BrowZine from the App Store on iTunes (requires a UChicago network connection): https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/browzine/id463787411?mt=8

If you need a little help getting started, BrowZine has this two-minute video tutorial to help: http://thirdiron.com/browzine-ipad-app/video/

(If you are already a BrowZine user, to access the full set of UChicago journals available in the trial, tap the Settings button, log out, then log back in selecting “University of Chicago” from the list of libraries.  You will be prompted for your CNetID and password to authenticate through the campus proxy server.)

This service will continue to expand and add new titles and features as time goes on.  Third Iron welcomes you to follow their progress on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/thirdiron) or Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/third_iron) and reminds you to watch for notifications on your iPad that an update to BrowZine is available. 

Butler-Gunsaulus Collection now available online

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Special Collections Research Center

The autograph letters, documents, and engravings of the Butler-Gunsaulus Collection have been digitized and are available online via the collection’s finding aid. Presented to the University of Chicago Library in 1910 by Frank Wakeley Gunsaulus, a preeminent collector of rare books and manuscripts, the source material concerning historic persons and events was amassed primarily by Chicago businessman Edward Burgess Butler. Though a number of the papers are of European origin and date from the sixteenth century forward, most were produced in America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Among the collection’s Civil War documents is, “Special Requisition of drugs and medicines for the use of the sick of the 2nd Regiment, Missouri Volunteers and of those of the other regiments remaining at the hospital, Boonville Fair Grounds, July 2, 1861,” shown here. Morphiae sulfatis and Aethiops antimonialis are but two of the drugs herein requested by Union Army surgeon Ernst Schmidt, medications needed to treat casualties of the First Battle of Boonville. During that engagement, which occurred two weeks earlier, seven of the Union forces were injured, and five were killed outright or mortally wounded. Confederate troops, moreover, sustained similar losses.

The requisition carries the signature of Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, whose victory in Boonville, at first glance, seemed insignificant. The aftermath, however, proved otherwise as Federal troops secured and retained control of the Missouri River, and supporters of secession were driven from the region.

New online legal history resource

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Lyonette Louis-Jacques at D'Angelo Law

Researchers campus wide can now access the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History online via the D’Angelo Law Library. Here’s a description of the print version (xxK50.O94 2009):

The Encyclopedia is a six-volume illustrated (B&W photos) interdisciplinary reference work with about 1000 articles on these and many other history of law topics. Picture of 6 volumes of the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal HistoryThe Encyclopedia specifically covers eight areas of scholarly research interest:  ancient Greek law; ancient Roman law; Chinese law; English common law; Islamic law; medieval and post-medieval Roman law; South Asian, African, and Latin American law; and United States law. And, within each area, these major categories of law–contracts, torts, civil procedure, criminal law, administrative law, and constitutional law. Contributors included internationally-renowned legal historians such as Law School Professor Richard H. Helmholz who authored the articles on:  Compurgation; Ecclesiastical Law in English Common Law; and Marriage: English Common Law.

Each Encyclopedia article includes cross-references to related articles and a bibliography of additional readings. The Encyclopedia has a Topical Outline of Contents (arranged by the eight areas listed above), a Directory of Contributors, an Index of Legal Cases, and an extensive 260-page subject index.

 

Women and the law

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Lyonette Louis-Jacques at D'Angelo Law

March 8 is International Women’s Day.  To celebrate, here are some key resources on women and the law worldwide:

  • Gender Jurisprudence Collections (GJC)(database of the War Crimes Research Office (WCRO) and Women in International Law Program (WILP)  of the American University Washington College of Law; international criminal tribunal cases on sexual and gender-based violence)
  • Gender Law Library (World Bank; legislation on women’s economic status in 183 economies; constitutional provisions, statutes, decrees and regulations, treaties on gender equality, family and inheritance law, labor law, and restrictions on women in countries worldwide; including WBL (women, business and the law) indicators)

Gender Law Library screen capture

Screenshot of OECDiLibrary's GI-DB (gender institutions database)

 

 

Landsat 8 to launch Feb. 11

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Andrea Twiss-Brooks at Crerar Science
Landsat based imagery of New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina

Landsat based imagery of New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina

Landsat satellite based earth imagery data and visualization is ubiquitous, and provides a unique resource for those who work in agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping, and global change research. Landsat images are also invaluable for emergency response and disaster relief. NASA is continuing the nearly forty-year old program with the launch of Landsat 8 on February 11, 2013.  As  a joint initiative between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA, the Landsat Project and the data it collects support government, commercial, industrial, civilian, military, and educational communities throughout the United States and worldwide.

Print and electronic resources related to Landsat program, technology, and uses of the data are available from the Library by searching Lens for “Landsat.”

The following links provide detailed information on the Landsat program including press releases, program history, live views of launch preparations, datasets for download and more:

NASA Prepares for Launch of Next Earth Observation Satellite http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/news/ldcm-launch-prep.html

USGS-NASA Landsat Program:
USGS : http://landsat.usgs.gov
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/main/index.html

Landsat aims to maintain gold standard – [BBC World Service's Science In Action programme] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21063401

USGS Views in the News: http://eros.usgs.gov/#/About_Us/Views_of_the_News

USGS EROS Image Gallery: http://eros.usgs.gov/imagegallery/

Additional information, data downloads: Earth Explorer: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/136/

Additional information, data downloads: Glovis: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/137/

 

LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Vedana Vaidhyanathan at Crerar Science

LiverTox is a comprehensive database that provides practical information on the diagnosis, cause, frequency, patterns, and management of liver injury attributable to prescription and nonprescription medications. It includes information about the affects of herbals and dietary supplements on the liver.  It contains a case registry system to track liver toxicity cases. It was designed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDKK).

Whitman manuscript now digitized

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Special Collections Research Center

Walt Whitman signature, from letter to his publisher.

The original manuscript of Walt Whitman’s “The Bible as Poetry,” bound with related pieces of Whitmaniana, is now online.  The manuscript includes a letter sent from Whitman to his publishers,  Jeannette Leonard Gilder and Joseph B. Gilder, part of which is shown to the left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bulk of the manuscript consists of Whitman’s edits to his work, as seen in this example.  The complete essay was published in The Critic in 1883.

 

Explanation of new tax law available via CCH IntelliConnect

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Todd Ito at D'Angelo Law

You’ve probably heard by now that Congress finally managed to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” by passing new tax legislation. The main features of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 are that it allows the Bush-era tax rates to sunset after 2012 for individuals with income over $400,000 and families with incomes over $450,000; permanently “patches” the alternative minimum tax (AMT); revives many now-expired tax extenders; and provides for a maximum estate tax of 40 percent with a $5 million exclusion. In total, the Act makes over 100 changes to the Internal Revenue Code. If you are interested in learning more about the specific implications for tax law (and who doesn’t find tax law fascinating?), then take a look at American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012: Law, Explanation & Analysis, a new publication available via CCH IntelliConnect. Since 1913, CCH has been a leading source of comprehensive, ongoing practical and timely analysis of the federal tax law.

 

Halloween research guide

Posted on October 29, 2012 by The University of Chicago Library
"October's Bright Blue Weather, A Great Time to Read"

Albert Bender’s Illinois WPA Art Project

In celebration of Halloween, the University of Chicago Library has created a research guide that provides a lighthearted, yet informative look at some of the scary resources available to UChicago students.

A few of the featured items in this Halloween guide include:

 

 

 

 

 

United Nations resources

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Lyonette Louis-Jacques at D'Angelo Law

On this day, October 24, in 1945, the  Charter of the United Nations entered into force, and the UN was born.  To celebrate, here are a few useful resources on the Charter’s history and law, and the UN generally:

Flag of the United Nations