Science questions I have answered 3/16

_Articles for a master's thesis reading list on athletic trainers (ATC) and how having a family effects what work they do and where.[they asked for me by name. a student of Susan V's in HP. Talked a lot about boolean logic, MESH and then WoS and SportDiscus for good measure. I still think they need *the* seminal work on women and work. Asked Lora, the sociologist to do a little searching for me.]
_What code do I need to make the wireless network work on my laptop? [sent them to the ITC] _Where is the photocopy room?
_I found volume 49 on the self, but where can I find vol. 50, issue 5 of the 2004 journal Cellular and Molecular Biology? [it was still on the new journal shelves]
_If the staff meeting isn't starting, can I go get lunch?

Doc Center question 3/9/05

Question (as asked): "I need to find the price of whale meat for the past few decades."

Question (as negotiated with librarian): "I need statistical indicators to measure the success (or failure) of the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling (1946)."

Answer:
1) We looked for international statistics, using Lexis Nexis Statistical and the Food & Agriculture Org's (FAO's) databases, but found them unusable, for a number of reasons.
2) We then reasoned that Congress, in its oversight role, was likely to have held hearings from time to time, assessing the effectiveness of this treaty, to which the U.S. is a party.
3) We searched for hearings in Lexis Nexis Congressional, using the name of the treaty as our search term. Bingo! There were several hearings, and upon opening them we found that various witnesses had come armed with statistical data designed to shed light on the question, Is the treaty working?

Lesson: Congressional hearings can be a useful source of quantitative information designed to assess public policies and programs.

Admin: getting started

Dear Invitees:

Couple of things:

- This is an experiment & participation is optional. Based on the Knight Ref blog experience, though, this kind of documentation can be very useful. In addition to a rudimentary knowledge base for other reference colleagues, this becomes a source for stories about the expertise of reference librarians, and the phenomenal range of topics being explored by the UO's students & faculty & the larger community we serve.

- Knight (main) Reference librarians should continue to log your questions at knightref.blogspot.com

- Be sure to get the name of your service desk in the title of the post, as in Annie's good example.

Thanks, & let me know if you have any questions.

Andrew

Questions from the Science reference desk 3/7

_How can I find references about the volcanic explosion at Mount Shasta?
I tried the Geological Sciences study guide for encyclopedia sources....
_How can I find books I can check out about motor learning and motor control?
A keyword search in the catalog with "motor learning" in quotes did the trick.