University Libraries

What's New

Databases & Catalogs

• Database change: The Libraries have expanded the Knovel Library subscription to include all Premium content. One of the new items now available to you is Merck Index - An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals (14th ed., 2006). Older editions of the Merck Index are available in print in the Libraries. 5/2/2008
• Database changes: America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts are now available on the EBSCO interface. Please note that the ABC-Clio interface will cease as of June 30, 2008. More info about America: History and Life. More info about Historical Abstracts. 4/22/2008
• New databases: Three former Sage Abstracts journals in print are now available online as EBSCO databases: Race Relations Abstracts covers areas related to race relations, including ethnic studies, discrimination, and immigration studies. Human Resources Abstracts covers areas related to human resources, including human resource management, employee assistance, and organizational behavior. Urban Studies Abstracts covers areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history. More info about Race Relations Abstracts. More info about Human Resources Abstracts. More info about Urban Studies Abstracts. 4/21/2008
• New database: EBSCO has made available a free database called GreenFILE, which covers all aspects of human impact on the environment; it indexes scholarly, government and general-interest titles. We've added it to our EBSCO profile so that citations will have Get it! buttons to full-text where available. More info. 4/11/2008
• Database change: Grove Art Online is now part of Oxford Art Online, a comprehensive and authoritative guide with extensive surveys and in-depth articles on the history of art; provides links to museums, galleries, and art collections around the world, as well as images. More info. 4/9/2008
• Database change: Grove Music Online is now part of Oxford Music Online, covering all aspects of music. It includes the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, the Oxford Dictionary of Music, and the Oxford Companion to Music. More info. 4/9/2008
• New database: The Libraries have subscribed to the (New) Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition, edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume, which contains over 1,850 articles by more than 1,500 of the world's leading economists. More info. 4/8/2008
• New database: Washington University students, faculty, and staff have access to GuideStar, due to a subscription by the Social Work Library. This database provides information about the operations, personnel, and finances of nonprofit organizations. More info. 4/3/2008
• New database: The Libraries have subscribed to Archäologische Bibliographie (via Projekt Dyabola). Based on the catalog of the German Archaeological Institute, this is the major bibliographical database for classical archaeology. More info. 4/2/2008
• New database: The Libraries have subscribed to Chemical Business NewsBase (CBNB), a leading provider of global chemical business news and information. More info. 3/28/2008
• New database: The Libraries have subscribed to Materials for Medical Devices Database, a comprehensive and authoritative set of mechanical, physical, biological response, and drug compatibility properties for the materials and coatings used in medical devices. More info. 3/25/2008
• New databases: The Libraries have subscribed to CHEMnetBASE
  and SCI-TECHnetBASE. These consist of full-text books from CRC Press and Taylor and Francis publishers, and are searchable and/or browsable. Included are:
  • Combined Chemical Dictionary (CCD), consisting of:
  • Dictionary of Commonly Cited Compounds
  • Dictionary of Drugs
  • Dictionary of Inorganic and Organometallic Compounds
  • Dictionary of Natural Products
  • Dictionary of Organic Compounds
  • The Handbook of Chemistry & Physics
  • Polymers: A Property Database
  • Properties of Organic Compounds
  • CRCPress Periodic Table Online
  More info about CHEMnetBASE. More info about SCI-TECHnetBASE. 3/24/2008
• New database: The Libraries have subscribed to Central and Eastern European Online Library, which is 'an online archive which provides access to full text PDF articles from 312 humanities and social science journals and re-digitized documents pertaining to Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European topics.' (from database homepage) More info. 3/20/2008
• New database: The Libraries have subscribed to The Literary Encyclopedia, an expanding global literary reference work written by over 1,800 specialists from universities around the world, which currently provides over 4,700 profiles of authors, works and literary and historical topics. More info. 3/10/2008

Events & Exhibits

• The Washington University Libraries are delighted to announce the 2008 undergraduate and graduate winners of the annual Neureuther Student Book Collection Essay Competition. 4/17/2008

• Exhibition: Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures, on display in the Grand Staircase lobby and Ginkgo Reading Room in Olin Library, until June 6, 2008. It is accessible during normal Olin Library hours.

  You are invited to attend a talk, part of "Our Favorite Books" Series, on Thursday, April 10, 4:15pm, in the Ginkgo Reading Room: 'The Growth of the Small' by Joseph Loewenstein. Is this remarkable collection of miniature books a set of beautiful curiosities, mere oddities, or can they be opened to afford a tiny window into a much larger past? Professor Loewenstein will situate the collection in the development of Early Modern European (and especially English) book culture.

  Articles about Julian Edison and his collection of miniature books can be viewed at:

  • The West End Word
  • St. Louis Platform
  • Off the Shelf, a WU Libraries' publication. Once at this site, scroll down to page 18 (page 11 of the PDF)
  3/24/2008

• Check out Exhibitions in Olin Library & Whispers Café for the latest info about what's on display in Olin Library Lobby & Whispers Café. Take a look! 3/4/2008

New Services & Changes to Services

• Summer 2008 hours begin Thursday, May 8. 5/1/2008
• Help with compliance with the NIH Public Access policy: The revised NIH Public Access Policy is effective today. It requires NIH-funded investigators to submit (or have submitted for them) their final, peer reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central upon acceptance of publication to be made publicly available within 12 months of publication. This policy applies to manuscripts accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008. The University Libraries stand ready to help you with questions you may have about compliance, copyright policies of journals where you may want to publish, etc. Save Your Time! Ask Us: Subject Librarians for NIH Public Policy Compliance & Journal Policy Concerns. 4/7/2008

• More added features in the catalog! Back in January we announced that the Libraries had subscribed to a service that provides full-color cover images and links to author notes, fiction and biography profiles. Now we've added more features: through a service called LibraryThing for Libraries some records have these additional fields:

  • Similar books. "Recommended reads" coming from data collected in LibraryThing, reputedly the world's largest personal- and social-cataloging site, whose members have added over 24 million books since 2005.
  • Other editions and translations. Links to other editions and translations of a work coming from data in LibraryThing.
  • Tags. Tag clouds for books, and tag-based search and discovery, drawing on the over 31 million tags added by LibraryThing members.

  About 38% of the records for books in the catalog now have this added content. LibraryThing continues to add features; in the future you may be able to add your own tags to catalog records, contribute your own reviews, and add ratings to books. 3/31/2008

• Need help with your password or PIN? Now you can get assistance all hours the Reference Help Desk is open - including evenings and weekends. Call 314-935-5410 or email passwordhelp@wumail.wustl.edu, and include your first and last names and WU ID number in your message. 3/24/2008
• Card access change: Beginning March 16th a current Washington University identification card will be required of each person entering Olin Library or the adjoining Whispers Café after 9 p.m. This change makes Olin Library's card access schedule consistent with all other buildings on campus. According to Dean Baker, "We believe this change will enhance student safety without greatly restricting the larger community's access to Olin Library. Our students, faculty members, and staff already carry their University ID cards for many other functions. We hope having to present their cards at the Library after 9 p.m. will only be a minor inconvenience." 3/13/2008
• Don't lose your files! Be careful saving your files from Word, Excel, and other applications on library computers so that you can retrieve them later:
  • Save As to a USB drive (thumb drive, flash drive)
  • Save As to a CD
  • Email the document to yourself BEFORE closing it and the application
  Ask at the nearest help desk for assistance. 1/14/2008

Collections & Resources

• The Libraries have subscribed to Cabell's Directories, which help you select those journals that are most likely to publish your manuscript. The subject areas are Accounting, Finance and Economics, Marketing and Management. Click Member Area button on the site to access the directories. More info. 5/1/2008
• The Libraries have subscribed to Medieval Sourcesonline, which provides full-text access to a number of translated medieval texts. You can search within the individual works (in PDF), using the search function of Acrobat, but cannot search across all the texts. More info. 4/29/2008
• The Art and Architecture Library with help from Digital Library Services has created a gateway to the 19th Century Architectural Photography Collection of Russell Sturgis. The digital collection is over 1,000 images from Russell Sturgis' photographic collection which are primarily related to architecture and also document period travel, archaeological, and portraiture conventions. The digital images and their data are delivered through Luna Insight. The photographs are housed in University Archives and the Art and Architecture Library. 4/28/2008
• The Business Library has purchased two ebook series: International Directory of Company Histories, which provides detailed histories of many of the largest and most influential companies worldwide, and Business Plans Handbook, a collection of actual business plans compiled by entrepreneurs seeking funding for small businesses throughout North America. These ebooks are fully searchable. 3/18/2008
• New ebook: The Libraries have purchased Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences. 'Regularly updated with new articles and revisions to previously published articles, the Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences includes the full text of the second print edition, the entire original edition, plus supplements and updates all rolled into one fully searchable site...[The] reference of choice for those working in statistics, probability theory, biostatistics, quality control, and economics with emphasis in applications of statistical methods in sociology, engineering, computer science, biomedicine, psychology, survey methodology, and a host of other client disciplines.' (from database homepage) 3/18/2008
• The Libraries have purchased, jointly with the Law Library, the Congressional Hearings Digital Collection, covering 1824 to the present. It is part of LexisNexis Congressional; deselect Committee Prints, CRS Reports, House & Senate Documents, House & Senate Reports, Legislative Histories, Serial Set Maps, and Serial Set if you do not choose to search those as well as the Hearings. More info. 3/10/2008
• The Libraries have upgraded our subscription to Oxford Reference Online from one concurrent user to five, and added the Literature Collection, which provides access to the Oxford Companion series. It is also now searchable in Find it! More info. 3/10/2008

Renovation News

Olin Library Wins Keystone Award: The renovation of the John M. Olin Library has won the Keystone Project of the Year Award in the category of interior build-out project.

See the Renovation website for photos and other information. Here's a PDF copy of a brochure showing the completion of the project.

View past announcements