Wednesday, August 17, 2011



On June 2, 2011, the National Academies Press (NAP) announced that nearly all of their publications would become freely available on their web site. Over 4000 titles from NAP have been digitized and are available as HTML full-text or PDF full-text. (You must register with the site to download the PDF files, but registration is free and painless.)

The National Academies Press publishes reports issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. More than 200 books are published by NAP each year on a wide variety of topics ranging from Space and Aeronautics to Math, Chemistry & Physics to Education to Computers and Information Technology to Conflict and Security Issues and many, many topics in-between!

A group of approximately 25 librarians from Kazakhstan, Canada, and the United States have joined together (virtually) to catalog the entire NAP digital collection. So far, just over a thousand titles have been cataloged. These cataloging records will be loaded into our catalog here at St. Mary's as they become available, so check the catalog frequently and if you can't find something, try searching the NAP web site. Of course, you're always welcome to contact a librarian for further assistance!

Some of the reports that have just been added to the catalog are Marine Protected Areas: Tools for Sustaining Ocean Ecosystems, Improving Mathematics Education: Resources for Decision Making, Immunization Safety Review: Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and A Modified Baseline Incineration Process for Mustard Projectiles at Pueblo Chemical Depot.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

eBooks migrate to EBSCOhost platform


Many of our subscription electronic books or eBooks have now migrated from the netLibrary platform to the EBSCOhost platform. What does this mean for you as a researcher or faculty member? It means a platform that has many familiar features, that is easier to search, and that makes it easier to download, email, or print portions of our books.


Many of our popular databases, such as Academic Search Complete and Business Source Complete, use the EBSCOhost platform, so many of the icons and user features should look familiar. If you have set up a MyEBSCOhost account in one of these other databases, you can also use in with the eBook Collection. Just follow this MyEBSCOhost account link if you would like to learn how to set up an account.


Additional features include:


  • Navigate to eBook chapters or sections directly from Result List and Detail Record

  • Search within an eBook for specific terms, yielding a list of hyperlinked pages

  • Create notes that are associated to eBook pages

  • Optional download capabilities and user-selected checkout duration


Our eBooks will continue to be searchable in our library online catalog. Enjoy searching and using the eBook Collection via the EBSCOhost platform!