New Resources Available from the Melvyl Web System
ACS Journals
UC faculty, students, and staff can now access the abstracts, full text, and images of over 30 journals and magazines published by the American Chemical Society, via the Melvyl web system (click on Resources, then on Electronic Journals). The resource, licensed by the California Digital Library, is one of the most comprehensive online chemistry journal collections. Dates of coverage extend from 1997 to the present. Full text and images are available in HTML or PDF format. Articles are generally available before the print edition. UC users can also view an article as it moves through the production process (via a feature called “Articles ASAP”). In the future, users will be able to view the full text of many journal articles via citation links in the Melvyl abstracting and indexing databases (implementation is planned for Fall 1998). The URL for this resource is http://pubs.acs.org/.
RLG’s FRANCIS Database (based on an evaluation by Peter Briscoe, UC Riverside)
RLG’s FRANCIS database is now available as a Eureka option on the Melvyl system via telnet. FRANCIS contains over 862,000 citations from over 3,000 journals covering a wide range of multilingual, multidisciplinary information in the humanities, sciences, and economics. International in scope, it is strong in religion, the history of art, and literature, with particular emphasis on current trends in European and world literature. FRANCIS covers items from 1984-present and is updated monthly. Most items have abstracts. Citations, abstracts, and subject headings are generally in French, with about 33% in English. It is produced by the Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (INIST-CNRS).
The database’s breadth of subject coverage and international scope complement databases with a more narrow focus, making it an invaluable resource for research libraries. RLG is making the entire database available online in the U.S. for the first time. There is no print version of this resource, although a CD-ROM version does exist.
Since it may be some time before FRANCIS is available via the web version of the Melvyl system, campus training staff may want to emphasize native Eureka training for this resource, either via USE EUREKA or in a direct connection to Eureka on the web.
Anthropological Literature (@RLG) and CHICANO (@RLG) Databases
The Anthropological Literature and Chicano databases, previously available to UC users through the telnet version of the Melvyl system, are now available via the web interface. The Anthropological Literature database contains citations to articles and essays in the fields of anthropology and archaeology, as well as art history, ethnohistory, geography, genetics, folklore, geology, history, linguistics, music, and religion. The database is small and contains citations indexed from 1984 to the present in English and other European languages. It is produced by Tozzer Library, Harvard University and is updated quarterly.
The Chicano database contains records for all types of materials in the areas of Mexican-American topics and, since 1992, materials on other Latino cultures — e.g., Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Central American immigrants. Subject coverage includes art, language, sociology, public policy, economics, history, literature, politics, and law. Produced by the Chicano Studies Library, UC Berkeley, the database covers materials from 1967 forward and is updated quarterly.