1	Finding and using physics information in the electronic age A. Ben Wagner Physics Subject Specialist/Liaison Science and Engineering Library University at Buffalo abwagner@buffalo.edu
2	Finding nanowires of information in gallium arsenide haystacks
3	We’ve come a long way – 1 1947-48 – 1^st transistor (Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley) 1949 – 1^st large-scale electronic computer ENIAC 17,468 vacuum tubes 70,000 resistors & 10,000 capacitors 6,000 manual switches 5 million soldered joints. 30 tons & 160 KW of electrical power Could do 38 divisions per second Mean time to failure – 2 days
4	We’ve come a long way - 2 1952- Univac 1 predicted a landslide for Eisenhower – only a few million votes counted. 1958 – 1^st Integrated Circuit (Kilby & Noyce) 1964 – 1^st computerized literature database, MedLine, 4-5 week turnaround 1969 – ARPAnet (the original Internet)
5	We’ve come a long way – 3 1970 – Floppy disks used 1972 – 1^st remote-access, real-time database (MedLine) 1973 – TI-SR10 (death of the slide rule) 1975 – High speed online terminals (30 char./sec) T1=193K char./sec) 1975 – 1^st personal computer, Altair 8800 – 256-byte memory (no, not KB)
6	We’ve come a long way – 4 1977 – Apple II computer – 4 kb RAM, audiocassette for magnetic storage 1982 – 1st CD players 1990 – The World Wide Web (WWW) - Tim Berners Lee & Robert Cailliau Moore’s law - # of transistors on a chip doubles about every 2 years.
7	Future Shock – Alvin Toffler 1970 Accelerative thrust “If technology ... is to be regarded as a great engine, a mighty accelerator, then knowledge must be regarded as its fuel. And we thus come to the crux of the accelerative process in society, for the engine is being fed a richer and richer fuel every day.”
8	Importance of Good Information Why Wright Brothers first to “fly”? Lilienthal's lift and drag tables
9	Outline - 1 Chaos vs. ordered systems - Google vs. INSPEC Grand Unification - SciFinder Scholar Time Travel - Web of Science Free Energy – arXiv, Google Scholar, Scirus
10	Outline - 2 Background without noise – AccessScience & Knovel Expanding Our Universe – Beyond journals (data, theses, govt. reports) Random Walks - Celerity Center of Mass - Library Website
11	The Three Essential Take-aways There are many tools out there, don’t get stuck using 1 or 2 to answer all your questions. Know how it works. Fantastic development in search interfaces – there is so much beyond throwing in a few random keywords.
12	Google vs. INSPEC – chaos vs. ordered systems Google – Quantum wells www.google.com INSPEC – Quantum wells Rich, deep indexing Physics, electrical & electronics engineering, computer & control sci. http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/inspec.html
13	SciFinder Scholar – Grand Unification Superior interface, great breadth Chemistry, physics, materials science, engineering, biochem, biomed, environment, polymers Analysis/Refine (Limit) Tool unsurpassed Gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide
14	Time Travel - Web of Science Also known as Science Citation Index Just about our largest and most multidisciplinary resource Citation-forward in time from an older article http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/webofscience.html
15	Free Energy – arXiv, Google Scholar, Scirus Free web, but targets scholarly material. www.arxiv.org www.scholar.google.com www.scirus.com
16	Background without noise – AccessScience & AccessScience AccessScience – 20-volume McGraw-Hill Encycl. of Science & Technology http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/as.html Knovel - - 1,000 handbooks – materials and applied sciences strength http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/knovel.html
17	Expanding Universe – Beyond journals Data – Knovel - http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/knovel.html NIST databases - http://www.nist.gov/srd/ ProQuest Dissertations and Theses http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/dissertations.html Government Reports – NTIS http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ntis.html
18	Random Walks - Celerity Staying current Table of contents browsing Save search queries – get Email alerts across dozens of publishers http://celerity.iop.org/
19	Center of Mass - Library Website Quick Links – where the action is Electronic Journals New Bison catalog ILL/UB Document Express/Annex (Storage) requests now single system. http://ublib.buffalo.edu
20	The Three Essential Take-aways There are many tools out there, don’t get stuck using 1 or 2 to answer all your questions. Know how it works. Fantastic development in search interfaces – there is so much beyond throwing in a few random keywords.
21	WANT MORE? PHY 584 Special Topics 1-credit course Find & Use Physics Information Spring ’07 - Thursdays 5-5:50 p.m. Extensive hands-on work Choose topics of interest to you Efficiently find, evaluate, and use scholarly information to further their research & educational goals.
22	Acknowledgements: SEL Sciences Team David Bertuca – Maps/Web Tech. Jill Hackenberg – Computer Science Nancy Schiller – Engineering Michelle Shular – Geology/GIS/Geog. Fred Stoss – Biology/Math Ruth Oberg – Collection Management