Chemistry journal use and cost: Results of a longitudinal study

Journal-use studies were conducted in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chemistry Library in 1988, 1993, and most recently in 1996. Between 1988 and 1996, the cost of purchasing the journal collection rose 66.9% while use of the collection rose 34.2%. These increases occurred during the cancellation of over 180 chemistry journals between 1988 and 1996. The data point to a collection with obvious top journals that generate most of the use. While the data confirm the 80/20 rule ( 84% of use was generated by the top 100 journals in 1996, approximately 20% of the journal collection), journal use is even more focused toward the top: approximately 40% of aU use in 1996 was generated by the top 10 titles. Use of the top 10 journals rose 60% between 1988 and 1996, with nearly identical titles occupying the top 10 positions over 8 years. Longitudinal trends in journal use and cost are explored, recommendations are made for successful journal-use study methodologies, and time series, data-centered collectian development is addressed

An Instructor\u27s Guide to Electronic Databases of Indexed Professional Literature

This document reviews 20 databases that are relevant to psychology but that are used primarily by professionals in other disciplines. Each database is described, any corresponding paper index is indicated, searching tips are provided, and, when available, free Internet access sites are identified

Where\u27s the Beef? Tests and Measurements Resources that Help You Find the Actual Test

Background When library users need to find a complete copy of an unpublished psychological test they often turn to the reference staff for help. The best places to look for unpublished tests are in journal articles and in test compilation reference books but searching for tests in these sources can be difficult. Research databases can help you determine which journal articles made use of a particular test but most databases don\u27t indicate if a copy of the actual test is included in the article. Searching for tests in reference books is even more difficult. Library catalog records rarely list the individual tests included in a compilation and your library catalog cannot search the compilations not owned by your library or library consortium. Fortunately, there are two resources freely available on the web that can help you determine which tests are available in journal articles and in test compilations. 1. TestLink, a database constructed by Educational Testing Service (ETS) is very useful for locating complete copies of tests in journal articles. 2. Tests and Measures in the Social Sciences: Tests available in Compilation Volumes, is a resource created by Helen Hough at the University of Texas at Arlington. It is an online index of tests available in test compilations. Resources TestLink Searching TestLink is the best way to determine which tests are available in journal articles. TestLink database records include an Availability field which often lists a reference to a journal article. When a journal article is listed a complete copy of the test is usually available in the article. Tests included in journal articles are frequently located at the end of the article, in an appendix, but some can be found within methods or results sections. Screen shots show the TestLink homepage with a description of the resource and an example of search results for the test Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans . The journal article listed in the Availability field includes an appendix that contains a complete copy of the test

An Instructor\u27s Guide to Electronic Databases of Indexed Professional Literature

This document reviews 20 databases that are relevant to psychology but that are used primarily by professionals in other disciplines. Each database is described, any corresponding paper index is indicated, searching tips are provided, and, when available, free Internet access sites are identified

Whose Mass is it Anyway? Particle Cosmology and the Objects of Theory

Physicists in different branches of the discipline were puzzled by the problem of mass during the 1950s and 1960s: why do objects have mass? Around the same time, yet working independently, specialists in gravitational studies and in particle theory proposed that mass might arise due to objects’ interactions with a new (and as yet undetected) field. Although the questions they posed and even the answers they provided shared several similarities - and even though both proposals quickly became ‘hot topics’ in their respective subfields - virtually no one discussed one proposal in the light of the other for nearly 20 years. Only after massive, unprecedented changes in pedagogical infrastructure rocked the discipline in the early 1970s did a new generation of physicists begin to see possible links between the Brans-Dicke field and the Higgs field. For the new researchers, trained in different ways than most of their predecessors, the two objects of theory were not only similar - some began to proclaim that they were exactly the same. Charting the histories of these two objects of theory illuminates the complicated institutional and pedagogical factors that helped to produce a new subfield, particle cosmology, which today ranks at the very forefront of modern physics