New Electronic Resources: July 2005 Archives

We have added substantial back file access to Nature and several Nature Research Journals. Our online coverage for Nature is now from 1987 through the present, adding more than 37,000 articles that can be obtained online. Nature is the top ranked* multidisciplinary science journal. Nature Publishing Group journals are some of the world's premier information resources for the basic biological and physical sciences.

The Nature research journals are:

Nature Biotechnology. v.1, 1983- present. Ranked #1 in Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology.

Nature Genetics. v.1, 1992 - present. Ranked #1 in Genetics and Heredity.

Nature Medicine. v.1, 1995 - present. Ranked #1 in the Medicine, Research and Experimental category, #2 in Cell Biology, and #2 in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. v.1, 1994 - present. Ranked #3 in Biophysics, #10 in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and #10 in Cell Biology.

All journals may be accessed via Journal Finder and Diamond.

*Rankings based on impact factors in the 2004 Journal Citation Reports.

--Laura Lane, Science Librarian

Many of the Libraries' electronic databases index newspapers, magazines, and journal articles. One unique database, Reference Universe, indexes thousands of print reference works such as dictionaries, handbooks, and encyclopedias. The database now also indexes web-based reference works. Why is this important?

Suppose you are assigned a research paper on the impact of religion during the Han Dynasty. Maybe you've heard that the Han period represents a "Golden Age" in Chinese history. Beyond that, though, the Han are a mystery. Obtaining background information now becomes critical to both your understanding of the topic as well as your ability to properly research it. That's where Reference Universe comes in! A quick search of the Reference Universe database for the phrase "Han Dynasty" reveals citations for Temple-owned reference works including the Encyclopedia of Religion and War. Even better, Reference Universe indicates that there are no less than 15 entries in the back-of-the-book index to the Han Dynasty. Examples include "Confucianism, Han Dynasty" on pp. 82-87, and "Legalism and Confucianism--Han Dynasty" on pp. 83, 84, and 106. The next step is simply to walk into Paley Library's reference stacks and retrieve the encyclopdia in question.

As mentioned above, Reference Universe now goes one step further by both indexing and providing direct links to Temple-owned online reference works from ABC-CLIO, Oxford, and netLibrary, among others. It's never been so easy to search and retrieve the important background information critical to good research.

--David C. Murray

Temple has just purchased electronic access to seven excellent encyclopedias, mainly on religious topics, through The Gale Virtual Reference Library, which is accessible from TUL homepage on the A-Z database list, the eBooks list, and in the Library Catalog. These specialized encyclopedias are great places to start research on unfamiliar topics, providing nice overviews, bibliographies, and linked cross-references. In addition to the great content, The Gale Virtual Reference Library interface is much more user-friendly than those of other e-book vendors, and each encyclopedia can be searched or browsed. Check out the links below!

1) Contemporary American Religion 2 volumes, 1999

• Examples: Angels; Astral Planes; Book of Common Prayer; Born Again Christians; Confucianism, and hundreds more

2) Encyclopedia of Buddhism 2 volumes, 2004

• Examples:Ascetic Practices; Buddhahood and Buddha Bodies; Consciousness, Theories of; Confucianism and Buddhism, and hundreds more

3) Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World 2 volumes, 2004

• Examples:Abu Bakr (573-674); Caliphate; East Asian Culture and Islam; Hadith, and hundreds more

4) Encyclopedia of Religion 2nd ed., 15 VOLUMES, 2005

• Examples: Aegean Religions; Akhenaton; Alphabets; Christian Ethics; Canaanite Religion, The Literature; Conservative Judaism, and thousands more

5) Encyclopedia of Science and Religion 2 volumes, 2003

• Examples: Anthropic Principle; Avicenna; Causation; Creationism; Descartes, Rene, and hundreds more

6) New Catholic Encyclopedia 2nd ed., 15 VOLUMES, 2003

• Examples: Abelard, Peter; Alexandria; Boston College; Celtic Religion; Celibacy, Clerical, History of, and thousands more

7) New Dictionary of the History of Ideas 6 volumes, 2005

• Examples: Anarchism ;Aristotelianism; Black Consciousness; Evolution; Free Will, Determinism, and Predestination, and hundreds

  --Fred Rowland