Altmetrics as new indicators of scientific impact

In recent years, researchers and academics in growing numbers are starting to move their everyday work onto the Web, exploring new ways to spread, discuss, share and retrieve information outside of the traditional channel of scholarly publishing. As scholarly communication moves increasingly online, there is a growing need to improve the ways in which the impact of scientific research output is evaluated. Altmetrics, even if they are still in an early stage, have the potential to develop as complements to traditional metrics and to provide a useful insight into new impact types not included in existing measures. This paper summarises the major trends, opportunities and challenges of these new metrics for both researchers and academic research libraries

The Bibliosan 2.0 project: online tools for librarians, researchers and health professionals

This article describes the approach used by the Bibliosan 2.0 team (in a project funded by the Italian Ministry of Health)in developing the Bibliosan 2.0 website (http://bibliosan20.wordpress.com/) aimed at offering guidance and advice toour users for the use of Web 2.0 tools and technologies. To complement the website, we decided to deliver filteredinformation through Web 2.0 tools such as our blog, Twitter, Delicious and Zotero. To do so, we adopted a very targeted,strategic approach in selecting which tools to present, keeping in mind that our audience is made up of librarians,researchers and health professionals

The Rare Book Collection of the Library of the Italian National Institute of Health: from the past to the present

The Library of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), the Italian National Institute of Health, is the main library for public health and biomedical research in Italy and holds a small but valuable special collection of ancient books. Known as the Rare Book Collection, this fund consists of over 1200 scientific printed volumes published between the XVI and the XIX century. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the challenges and the process undertaken by the Library to share and digitalize this Collection

A role for microbial selection in frescoes' deterioration in Tomba degli Scudi in Tarquinia, Italy

Mural paintings in the hypogeal environment of the Tomba degli Scudi in Tarquinia, Italy, show a quite dramatic condition: the plaster mortar lost his cohesion and a white layer coating is spread over almost all the wall surfaces. The aim of this research is to verify if the activity of microorganisms could be one of the main causes of deterioration and if the adopted countermeasures (conventional biocide treatments) are sufficient to stop it. A biocide treatment of the whole environment has been carried out before the conservative intervention and the tomb has been closed for one month. When the tomb was opened again, we sampled the microorganisms present on the frescoes and we identified four Bacillus species and one mould survived to the biocide treatment. These organisms are able to produce spores, a highly resistant biological form, which has permitted the survival despite the biocide treatment. We show that these Bacillus strains are able to produce calcium carbonate and could be responsible for the white deposition that was damaging and covering the entire surface of the frescoes. Our results confirm that the sanitation intervention is non always resolutive and could even be deleterious in selecting harmful microbial communities

Calcite moonmilk of microbial origin in the Etruscan Tomba degli Scudi in Tarquinia, Italy

A white deposit covering the walls in the Stanza degli Scudi of the Tomba degli Scudi, Tarquinia, Italy, has been investigated. In this chamber, which is still preserved from any kind of intervention such as cleaning and sanitization, ancient Etruscans painted shields to celebrate the military power of the Velcha family. Scanning electron microscopy analysis has revealed the presence of characteristic nanostructures corresponding to a calcite secondary mineral deposit called moonmilk. Analysis of the microbial community identified Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria as the most common phyla in strong association with the moonmilk needle fibre calcite and nanofibers of calcium carbonate. Employing classical microbiological analysis, we isolated from moonmilk a Streptomyces strain able to deposit gypsum and calcium carbonate on plates, supporting the hypothesis of an essential contribution of microorganisms to the formation of moonmilk

Capacity building to boost information and communication skills inside an institute of research

To enhance its visibility, the Library of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) along with the Scientific Communication Unit of the same institution delivered a set of informal online training sessions, or webinars, on their fields of expertise: information retrieval, publication, effective communication, and research evaluation, specifically addressed to internal users. The collaboration was extremely useful in terms of improved knowledge on skills available among the personnel of these two services. It increased trust in the competencies of internal staff and at the same time it contributed to develop awareness of the value of the services rendered. Skills to use available online resources for training were improved as well as ISS staff cohesion favouring the development of new collaborations

Foscolo critico

Il volume, primo della collana open access dei "Quaderni di Gargnano", ospita i contributi presentati al XV Convegno internazionale di Letteratura italiana "Gennaro Barbarisi", tenutosi a Gargnano del Garda dal 24 al 26 settembre 2012. Il "Quaderno", dedicato al Foscolo critico, accoglie contributi di Giovanni Biancardi, Arnaldo Bruni, Andrea Campana, Massimo Castellozzi, Gustavo Costa, Alfredo Cottignoli, Christian Del Vento, Sandro Gentili, Franco Longoni, Ilaria Mangiavacchi, Donatella Martinelli, Giuseppe Natale, Enzo Neppi, Matteo Palumbo, Elena Parrini Cantini, Chiara Piola Caselli. \uc8 aperto da una Prefazione di Claudia Berra, Paolo Borsa e Giulia Ravera.This volume on "Foscolo critico" is the first volume of the "Quaderni di Gargnano", an open access book series which publishes the Proceedings of the "Gennaro Barbarisi" International Conferences on Italian Literature, held in Gargnano del Garda. It contains contributions by Giovanni Biancardi, Arnaldo Bruni, Andrea Campana, Massimo Castellozzi, Gustavo Costa, Alfredo Cottignoli, Christian Del Vento, Sandro Gentili, Franco Longoni, Ilaria Mangiavacchi, Donatella Martinelli, Giuseppe Natale, Enzo Neppi, Matteo Palumbo, Elena Parrini Cantini, Chiara Piola Caselli, preceded by a Preface by the Editor: Claudia Berra, Paolo Borsa, Giulia Ravera

How “free” we are: survey of the Italian policy in the document supply service

OBJECTIVES: The debate whether services must be charged or not is widely discussed in the library world and it still represents a controversial issue: the scope of this study is to analyse the Italian situation in order to evaluate what kind of policy (fee or free based) biomedical libraries have adopted in supplying the document delivery service (DD). Above all this study aims to state how “free” this service is in Italy. METHODS: The analysis is based on the Italian Union Catalogue of Serials - Catalogo Italiano dei Periodici (ACNP) which collects detailed data on the holdings and services of the Italian libraries and can be considered the most reliable source in this field. The available libraries’ web sites have also been consulted whenever the ACNP data were not complete or updated. DISCUSSION: Starting from the Italian context the case of the Italian National Institute of Health - Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), one of the main biomedical Italian libraries, is presented. Special attention is focused on how the DD policy of this Library has been changing over the years from a free basis system to a hybrid one based on exchange or fee. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion it is suggested that the results of the survey could be useful in order to re-examine the current DD policy of the ISS Library and its possible future developments

Altmetrics as new indicators of scientific impact

In recent years, researchers and academics in growing numbers are starting to move their everyday work onto the Web,exploring new ways to spread, discuss, share and retrieve information outside of the traditional channel of scholarly publishing. As scholarly communication moves increasingly online, there is a growing need to improve the ways in which the impact of scientific research output is evaluated. Altmetrics, even if they are still in an early stage, have the potential to develop as complements to traditional metrics and to provide a useful insight into new impact types not included in existing measures. This paper summarises the major trends, opportunities and challenges of these new metrics for both researchers and academic research libraries