Lichtenberger Engineering Library Fall 2016 Newsletter

Contents

1. Engineering Library 2015-2016 Year in Review
2. NEW Creative Space – Imagine! Tinker! Design! Create!
3. Open House – September 8^th
4. New and Updated Resources
5. Lib Guides
6. InfoHawk+
7. E-books on the Bookshelves!
8. Instruction and Support
9. Course Reserves

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Engineering Library 2015-2016 Fiscal Year in Review

Want to see the numbers about how the Engineering Library did last year? Check out our infographic!

Creative Space – Imagine! Tinker! Design! Create!

A new creative space opening this fall! The Engineering Library and Engineering Technological Centers are collaborating on a Maker/Creative Space!

• 3D Scanners: Matter & Form; Sense 3D; Structor for iPad; Xbox Kinect
• Virtual Reality Station: Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset; Leap Motion Controller
• 3D Cameras: 360fly 4K & RICOH Theta
• 2 Collaboration Tables: each with 43” (4K) quad monitor; stationary computer; laptop jacks
• Modeling Station: 4 Computers; Leap Motion Controllers; Wacom Drawing Tablets; 3D Modeling Software
• Tool Library: Canon PowerShot Camera; Tape Measure; Screwdrivers; Light Meters; Webcam; Creative Boxes; other Technology Tools; Hand Tools; Measuring Tools; and LabQuest Equipment.

Open House! Mark Your Calendars!!

• September 8, 2016. 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
• See the new Creative Space first hand!
• Enjoy a hands-on experience with the new equipment

New and Updated Resources

Jane’s Online

Over 100 years of history, HIS Jane’s is the most trusted & respected public source of defense and security information in the world. Jane’s is available only to On-Campus Users. Our subscription includes:

• Jane’s Aero-Engines
• Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft Development & Production
• Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft in Service
• Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft Unmanned
• Jane’s Fighting Ships

Synthesis Series – Digital Library of Engineering & Computer Science

We now have 800 synthesis lectures which are 50-100 page electronic books with in-depth anaylsis of a current topic in 22 different areas, including:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Chemical & Biochemical Engineering
• Civil & Environmental Engineering
• Electrical & Computer Engineering
• Computer Science

RSMeans

• 2016 Editions now available In our reference section (non-circulating)
• Provides construction cost estimates, including: City Cost Indexes; Crew Composition; Labor; Profit Rates; Materials; Facilities Repair; Productivity Rates; and Green Building

Current Protocols

• Protocols are presented in a ‘recipe’ style providing step-by-step descriptions of procedures which you can take to the lab and immediately apply in your own research.
• Current Protocols in Bioinformatics
• Current Protocols in Cell Biology
• Current Protocols in Essential Laboratory Techniques
• Current Protocols in Immunology
• Current Protocols in Microbiology
• Current Protocols in Molecular Biology
• Current Protocols in Neuroscience
• Current Protocols in Protein Science
• Current Protocols in Stem Cell Biology
• Current Protocols in Toxicology

MIT Books

• More than 650 ebooks from MIT Press dating back as far as 1943
• approximately 65% of titles in computing-related fields, such as computer science, artificial intelligence, information theory, and computer programming

Springer Material:

• Providing access to numerical and graphical data on the properties of materials
• Search by elements, structure, or corrosion

SAE Technical Papers (Society of Automotive Engineers)

Provides access to over 175,000 continuously updated technical reports. Subjects include aerospace, automotive, and commercial vehicles. The reports date back as far as 1906.

Library Subject Guides

Check out our subject guides – available for each discipline. The guides are continually updated with new information and resources. You’ll find information on popular resources, subject guides, handbooks, and digital publications. The guides also include helpful links, including Citation Guides, Engineering Ethics, Copyright and Open Access Information among other things. Check our homepage to find the links!

InfoHawk+

The University of Iowa has implemented a new way to access library resources and materials! InfoHawk+ is replacing the InfoHawk basic catalog and Smart Search.  InfoHawk+ merges the two search engines into an easy-to-use, streamlined search engine which allows for clear access to the UI Libraries holdings and resources! Check it out!

E-books on the Bookshelves!

A pilot project is making our e-book resources accessible on our bookshelves!

• Each e-book has a book-sized plastic case shelved by call number.
• Each case has spine label, and both front and back covers
• There is a QR code on the spine
• NFC tag on the back cover
• Inside the case are info sheets which may be taken by the user. The information includes title, call number, and web address

Instruction & Research Support

Both Engineering Librarians are available for short or class length demonstrations on a wide variety of library resources.

Kari Kozak, Head of the Lichtenberger Engineering Library, is available to talk about resources and services to students, faculty, and/or staff.  This could range from an overview of the library and services to in-depth researching strategies including evaluating information, standards, and patents.  Sessions can be to individuals, small groups, lab groups, or classes. Email Kari at kari-kozak@uiowa.edu for more information.

Qianjin (Marina) Zhang, Engineering & Informatics Librarian, is also available to talk about library overview and services as well as detailed sessions related to data management and Endnote.  Email Marina at qianjin-zhang@uiowa.edu for more information

Check out the following instructional menu to help see how we can help personalize a class visit:  http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/files/2012/08/library-instruction-menu_v2.pdf

Have an item you would like to request for the Engineering Library to purchase? Just send us an email (lib-engineering@uiowa.edu).

Course Reserves

Course Reserves are being organized for the Fall Semester.  If you have not already done so and would like to have items put on reserve for the Fall Semester, please email the Engineering Library at lib-engineering@uiowa.edu with a list of the materials and course number.

Nikola Tesla  had a fascinating childhood. The son of a Serbian Orthodox Priest and a mother, who came from a long line of inventors, he was able to spend much of his childhood inventing and trying new things. During a long, cold and dry spell, he ‘discovered’ static electricity. He thought of this often and it profoundly influenced his adult life and his inventions. As a child he invented a cornstalk popgun, which contained the principles he adapted when he devised particle-beam weapons. And, after seeing a picture of Niagara Falls, young Nikola (he was somewhere between 10- and 14-years-of-age) told his Uncle Josip that one day he would place a gigantic wheel under the waterfall and harness it. In 1895, he and George Westinghouse built the first hydro-electric power plant in Niagara Falls.

His older brother died after a fall from a horse and thereafter Nikola began having “out-of body” experiences. In fact, those experiences were so real he sometimes needed his sisters to help him tell which were real and which were hallucinations. Those experiences continued throughout his life and actually were an asset to his creativity. He could visualize his finished inventions and modify them in his mind before committing them to paper.  To learn more about the life of this fascinating and influential man, check out Wizard : the Life and Times of Nikoa Tesla : Biography of a Genius. 

Nikola began his career as an electrical engineer in 1881 while working with a a telephone company located in Budapest. It was there that the solution to the rotating magnetic field flashed through his mind, which led to the creation of the induction motor. In 1884, Tesla moved to the United States to work with Thomas Edison. He and Edison disagreed on direct current versus alternating current. Edison promoted the direct current, while Tesla believed the alternating current was more efficient. Tesla won that disagreement…

He was a pioneer in many fields – in 1896 the Electrical Review published X-rays of a man which had been taken by Tesla. Others were also experimenting with X-rays at the same time but Tesla didn’t claim priority. It is reported that he said, “I don’t care that they stole my idea…I care that they don’t have any of their own.”

Interestingly, in 1901 Tesla imagined a means of instant communication – he imagined receiving telegrams, stock quotes, etc., assigning them each a different frequency, which would then be broadcast to a device held in your hand. He essentially envisioned the internet and smart phones…

He is perhaps most well-known for the Tesla Coil, which he developed in 1891. The Tesla Coil transforms energy into extremely high-voltage charges, which create powerful electrical fields capable of producing electrical arcs. A Tesla Coil is made of two parts – a primary coil and a secondary coil. Each has its own capacitor (which stores electrical energy like a battery does).  The whole system is powered by a transformer. The two circuits are connected by a spark gap. The Tesla Coil revolutionized the way electricity was understood. Variations of the Tesla Coil are still used in radios and televisions.

Interesting Facts About Nikola Tesla:

• He was born during a lightning storm, which the midwife claimed was a bad omen. She said he would be a child of darkness. The family legend is that his mother replied, “No. He will be a child of light.”
• By around the age of 12, he developed strange “habits.” He developed an aversion to women’s earrings, and the sight of a pearl would give him “fits.” He would never touch another person’s hair and could develop a fever looking at a peach.
• Not all his ideas were practical. One such idea was a ring around the equator which would transport people from one end of the globe to the other…

(Wizard : the life and times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius).

Resources:

Seifer, Marc. 1996. Wizard : the life and times of Nikola Tesla : biography of a genius. Seacaucus, N.J. : Carol Pub. Engineering Library TK140.T4 S65 1996

Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse built the first hydro-electric power plant…. Tesla Memorial Society of New York. Date accessed July 7, 2016.

The 10 Inventions of Nikola Tesla That Changed the World. January 10,2012. Activist Post.

Martin, Thomas Commerford. 1995. The inventions, researches, and writings of Nikola Tesla. 2^nd Edition. New York : Barnes & Noble. Engineering Library TK140.T4 M37 199

Wireless Electricity? How the Tesla Coil Works, by Kelly Dickerson. July 10, 2014. livescience.com

Tesla Coil.  Wikipedia. Page last modified July 5, 2016, accessed July 7, 2016.

**Other Resources:

Nikola Tesla : the Genius Who Lit the World. July 10, 1998. Tesla Memorial Society of New York.