Meredith Ayers

Popular Culture in the Junior College Library.

ABSTRACT Popular culture is extremely influential in both academe and society at large. However, formal disciplinary study of popular culture lags far behind that influence. Anthropology, film studies, history, musicology, and sociology are only some of the disciplines that frequently include popular culture as a research focus. This article advises on how to more actively include popular culture in an academic librarys collection plan.

Reviews of Science for Science Librarians: Metal Recycling Overview for Librarians

ABSTRACT Metals are a finite resource, and the retrieval of metals from the earth is labor intensive, expensive, and often an environmentally destructive process. One method of limiting this cost is to recycle metals, already retrieved from the earth, and in use at the end of their life-cycle such as wiring, vehicle parts, construction I-beams, etc. As it becomes more difficult to find ore deposits that are economically feasible to extract from the earth, recycling is increasing in its importance in order to maintain the level of technological development that humans currently enjoy. Recycling, however, is not without its problems and complications, only some of these problems can be solved by recent technological advances in metallurgy. There is still a lot more work to be done before recycling can become a truly efficient process. Therefore, one can safely presume that both economic and environmental pressure will increase the amount of research scientists dedicate to recycling. Thus, a basic understanding of some of the terminology and areas of interest will enable librarians to more effectively aid patrons in finding information in all aspects of this important topic.

Comparison of core full text coverage in CINAHL Complete, ProQuest’s Nursing and Allied Health Source and Lippincott Wilkins and Wilson’s Nursing & Health Professionals Premier Collection

Purpose – This paper aims to assess relative full-text coverage of core nursing and allied health journals in three databases: CINAHL Complete, ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source and Lippincott Wilkins and Wilson (LWW)’s Nursing & Health Professionals Premier Collection. Design/methodology/approach – The 2012 Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section (NAHRS) of the MLA list of 213 core nursing journals and the 1996 Brandon Hill list of 75 important allied journals were checked against full-text coverage of the three databases. Findings – CINAHL Complete provided 126 of 213 titles or 59 per cent of NAHRS titles and 31 of 75 or 41 per cent of the Brandon Hill titles; ProQuest provided 74 of 213 titles or 35 per cent of NAHRS titles and 27 of 75 or 36 per cent of the Brandon Hill titles; LWW provided 42 of 213 or 20 per cent of NAHRS titles and 5 of 75 or 6 per cent of the Brandon Hill titles. Research limitations/implications – If researchers have access to CINAHL Complete, they have access with that single database to significant coverage of quality nursing and allied health titles. The other two databases provide additional coverage and some unique title coverage, but their offerings are more limited. Originality/value – As no studies comparing full-text coverage of core nursing and allied health journals in three databases, CINAHL Complete, ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source and LWW’s Nursing & Health Professionals Premier Collection, exist, this study fills that need for librarians.

Climate Engineering/Geoengineering Research

As the subjects of global warming and climate change gain greater acceptance by society as a whole, the more interest students, faculty, and other researchers will have in accessing information on climate engineering solutions to counter or solve this problem. Simple definitions and background information for climate engineering and its various processes are scarce in reference materials. However, there are numerous books and news articles on the subjects concerning the possible solutions for global warming and climate change. This article examines research for climate engineering/geoengineering in the form of journal articles and gives highlights of some useful resources.

Reviews of Science for Science Librarians: Rare Earth Elements, An Overview for Librarians

Many modern technological advances are due to rare earth elements. Chinas restrictions on rare earth exports have drawn the attention of the media and the public to these previously seemingly anonymous elements. The abundance and location of rare earth elements is now in the global spotlight, and it is a matter of international, political, and economical concern. This article discusses both the geological and economic situation related to rare earth elements and the implications for finding and accessing scholarly research.