So we just had a massive solar flare storm that caused GORGEOUS aurora borealis, not that we could see them cuz of cloud cover, but still… between the 22nd and 25th there were solar flares. Canada and Scandinavia (basically, the northern climes) seemed to reap the most benefit visually from it all but it got me thinking about space and stuff.  Well, it got me thinking about space and then I realized how very little I knew about it, so I started thinking about stuff I have some knowledge of (19th century whaling, for example).  If you’re like me (which, in all honesty, I wouldn’t wish on anyone) and want to learn more about space stuff, here are a few stars from our collection (did you see that? Did you see what I did?  Stars.  Get it?  Stars):

• Philips Astronomy Encyclopedia – I like this one cuz it has lots of pics.  But then it got really physicsy and I fogged up
• Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy – heady stuff
• Collins Dictionary of Astronomy – I wandered around in this one and landed on planets, where I learned the sidereal period, perihelion, aphelion and inclination of the planets.  I don’t know what any of those terms mean in this context, but the Collins Dictionary defined them all for me.  Yeah, still… I’m in waaaaaaaaaaaay over my head here folks!  Are there any astronomers out there?  A little help here.

If you’re interested in astronomy and/or physics and are looking for articles, please give Summon a try.  It’s really strong in the sciences and since I so obviously am in over my head when it comes to the aforementioned topics, I don’t feel like I’m the best person to put Summon through its science paces.  Once again, I’m calling on all astronomers and scientists out there in our community to give this stuff a look-see.  HEY YOU GUUUUUUUUUUUYS!!!! (that’s gonna zooma-zooma-zoom right over most people’s heads, but if you recognize it, give a shout out).  Please report back if you found these resources useful or interesting.  Or if you recognized the “hey you guys” or zoooma.

Huge props to Havard Bartnes for the Vimeo video.

That title is just a lot of fancy industry-speak.  Basically what it means is that this company   bought this company  .   If you use any of these library resources,

• Applied Science & Technology Full Text
• Art Full Text
• Art Index Retrospective
• Book Review Digest Retrospective
• Education Full Text
• Index to Legal Periodicals and Books Full Text
• Index of Legal Periodicals Retrospective
• Readers’ Guide Retrospective

you’ll notice a new look and maybe a bit of additional functionality.  If you have any questions, please ask us.  We’re here to help.

For those of you used to following up the evening news with an online trip to JAMA, I have some bad news. We no longer are able to receive the current 6 months of JAMA online.  We only have this in print copy.  So you’ll have to follow up the evening news with a trip into the library if you want to read the latest JAMA study on fill-in-the-blank.  If you’re looking for an older article from JAMA, you’re in luck and can stay put.  We have JAMA online from 1998-current 6 months ago and in print for the current 6 months.  We offer you print copy all the way back to 1921-1990.  For 1991-2011 we have microfiche.

Happy New Year y’all.  January 1 always comes with a few surprises and 2012 blew in with no exceptions.  We are experiencing a few glitches with a few resources, but all in all, none of it is a big deal.

The following resources are currently unavailable:

• Academic Search Premier
• Alt Health Watch
• Business Source Premier
• Health Source Complete
• ERIC
• Health Source
• Masterfile
• Megafile
• Points of View
• Professional Development
• Regional Business News
• Science Reference Center

The common denominator of these resources is that they are the ones that we get free from the state of Minnesota through the ELM (Electronic Library of Minnesota) agreement.   The state currently pays for these for all Minnesota residents and as a library, we are able to link to them from our websites.  With the budget crunch, we are in danger of losing this type of state government support. These resources are incredibly valuable to us as information consumers.  If you are currently bummed that these are not available at this time, think of the possibility of losing these resources altogether. Right now we only lost them temporarily because of a Jan 1 computer glitch.  But this could be a glimpse of the future.  Please contact your state representative to encourage them to support ELM.

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON 1/5/12 at 9:01.  Access to the above resources has been reestablished.

Gale Virtual Reference Library is not working in Internet Explorer, but other browsers are handling the changes just fine.