Scientific Library

Summer has officially begun, and that means two of the Scientific Library’s most popular events—the Summer Video Series and the Student Science Jeopardy Tournament—are right around the corner.

Why are we here? Are we alone? Can we time travel? If you have ever asked these big questions about life, the Scientific Library’s Third Annual Winter Video Series may help you find the answers.

A 20-year-old database of scientific publications by NCI at Frederick, FNLCR, and affiliated employees has gotten a significant facelift. Maintained by the Scientific Library, the redesigned database—which is linked from each of the Scientific Library’s web pages—offers features that were not available in previous versions, such as additional search limits and non-traditional metrics for scholarly and scientific publishing known as altmetrics.

The Scientific Library’s annual Summer Video Series was so successful that it will be offering a new Winter Video Series beginning in January.

For this inaugural event, the staff is showing the eight-part series from National Geographic titled “American Genius.” 

Altmetrics, also known as alternative metrics, offer a way to gauge the attention that research output (such as articles, data sets, program code, slide decks, and posters) is generating on social media, reference sharing sites (such as Mendeley), blogs, and other online media.?

The term “altmetrics” was coined on Twitter in 2010 by Jason Priem, then a graduate student at the University of North Carolina’s School of Information and Library...

By Robin Meckley, Contributing Writer, and Tracie Frederick, Guest Writer

Open access and public access—are they different concepts or are they the same? What do they mean for the researchers at NCI at Frederick?

“Open-access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. What makes it possible is the Internet and the consent of the author or copyright-holder,” according to an open access website maintained by Peter Suber, director, Harvard Open Access Project. 

Robin Meckley, Contributing Writer

The Scientific Library’s 14th Annual Book and Media Swap, held on April 16 in the lobby of Building 549, proved to be a popular event.

When the swap was rescheduled from fall 2013 to spring 2014, the library staff was uncertain if the response would be equal to previous years, said Sue Wilson, principal manager of the Scientific Library. NCI at Frederick employees rose to the challenge, however, with 87 people donating more than 3,200 books and DVDs, according to Pam Noble, serials technician and book swap team leader. By the end of the first day of the swap, almost half of the materials had been claimed.

By Robin Meckley, Contributing Writer

The 14th annual Book and Media Swap will be held on Wednesday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the lobby of the Conference Center in Building 549.

The staff is holding the swap to coincide with National Library Week, an annual celebration of libraries that occurs in April.

As of April 10, the library had collected nearly 2,000 books, DVDs, and CDs for the swap. Employees who donated these items received book cards indicating the number of items donated. 

By Robin Meckley, Contributing Writer

The new RAS initiative recently undertaken at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research has prompted the Scientific Library to provide support in a creative way to the laboratories at the Advanced Technology Research Facility (ATRF), where the research is centered.

With the help of the Culture Club, which is a group of employees who organize events at the ATRF, the staff of the Scientific Library has created a RAS Corner at the ATRF Scientific Library.