In celebration of Mole Day on Oct. 23 and National Chemistry Week, Chauncey invited all of his mole friends over to hang out at the Sciences Library. Now the moles have taken over the library! Find a mole hidden at the Sciences Library during National Chemistry Week (Oct. 22-26) and bring it to the Sciences Library service desk for a treat!
In Dr. Hendrix’s talk “Protecting Iowa’s Wild Bees: Your Backyard Counts,” we learned that honey bees are the only type of bees that are social. Most bees are solitary bees! Solitary bees create nests in holes in wood, bamboo, or in the ground. These solitary wild bees are important pollinators of almonds, berries, and other crops. Wild bees are more effective at pollination than honey bees because when wild bees visit flowers, the wild bees typically stay for a longer amount of time compared with honey bees. There are over 300 species of solitary wild bees in Iowa!
We learned a little about what life is like for bees who live in Iowa City! What spaces have a lot of greenery and flowers? Where are they located? How does the supply for bee foraging compare with demand?
And, finally, we learned what we can do to help bees thrive!
Bees will flock (or buzz?) to native prairie plants, so it helps to plant the following:
The four plants listed above are known to be exceptional at attracting bees. However, planting any species of native flower will be helpful! Size doesn’t matter—even small gardens and potted plants will help!
You can create nesting spots for bees, such as this bee house:
You can reduce your use of lawn chemicals to help bees. You can even let your lawn grow a little longer and take a break from mowing. You can leave stems and be a little less tidy! The bees will like this, and you will too!
We appreciate everyone who came out to learn about Iowa’s wild bees! Thank you to Dr. Hendrix for sharing the scoop on Iowa’s wild bee population with us!
Goodbye, Dr. Hendrix and biology students!
Join us at the Sciences Library for “Protecting Iowa’s Wild Bees: Your Backyard Counts” presented by Dr. Stephen D. Hendrix, UI Professor Emeritus.
Wed., Oct. 3, 12:30-1:30 PM, Sciences Library 3rd floor
Pizza & beverages provided while supplies last. Free & open to the public.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Laurie Neuerburg in advance at 319-467-0216.
The following workshops are open to all students, faculty, and staff. There is no need to register in 
advance.
Staying Current Workshop – Thursday, September 20, 3:30-4:20 PM, SL 102
In this workshop you will learn how to:
EndNote Workshop – Tuesday, September 25, 11-11:50 AM, SL 102
In this workshop you will learn how to use EndNote to:
EndNote Web is available for free to all members of the University of Iowa community. EndNote Desktop is available for free to all UI graduate students, faculty, and staff.
EndNote Workshop – Wednesday, October 10, 1-1:50 PM, SL 102
In this workshop you will learn how to use EndNote to:
EndNote Web is available for free to all members of the University of Iowa community. EndNote Desktop is available for free to all UI graduate students, faculty, and staff.
Scholarly Journals Workshop – Tuesday, October 23, 11-11:50 AM, SL 102
In this workshop you will learn how to:
Evaluating Science Workshop – Thursday, November 1, 3:30-4:20 PM, SL 102
In this workshop you will learn how to:
Search Strategies Workshop – Wednesday, November 14, 12-12:50 PM, SL 102
In this workshop you will learn how to:
If you’re interested, but unable to attend these workshops, private appointments and webinars can be arranged. If you have any questions or if you’d like to request a workshop for your class or group, please contact Laurie Neuerburg (319-467-0216 or laurie-neuerburg@uiowa.edu) for more information.
10. You can connect with us on Facebook and Twitter!
9. You can email, call, or schedule an appointment with one of our librarians (Laurie Neuerburg or Leo Clougherty) if you need help finding books, articles, or anything else for your research.
8. You can use our scanner on the 1st floor for free.
7. You can take a rest and study comfortably using our bean bag chairs, tables, armchairs, and carrels.
6. It’s easy to visit us from downtown–you will find us on Iowa Ave across from Joe’s Place.
5. Our mascot is a gorilla named Chauncey.
4. We can help you find datasets online and properly manage your own research data.
3. Our building was designed to be an anatomical theater for medical students and so the back of the building has a semicircular shape!
2. You can use our subject guides to find the best resources for your research in astronomy, biology, chemistry, environmental science, physics, and more.
1. We provide free coffee and tea!
NCBI has improved its search functionality in the “all databases” search to be compatible with natural language searching. In the past, natural language searching for sequence data brought up too many results or sometimes zero results. Now you can search NCBI more intuitively than before and receive good results for genes, nucleotides, and assemblies! How do you get started with NCBI’s new natural language searching?
Go to the homepage of NCBI. The default search shows “All Databases” in the drop-down box. Here you can try out some of the improved search queries:
Genes
Nucleotide Sequences
Genome Assemblies
There was a lively “hive” of people at the Sciences Library for Beekeeping 101!
We heard an informative talk about bees and beekeeping from Jim Davis.
Then we made a bee-line for the courtyard to take a closer look at bees and how they compare with other insects.
Finally, some of us acted out the waggle dance of the honey bee!
A huge thanks to Jim Davis of the East Central Iowa Beekeepers Association and the Iowa City Science Booster Club for making this an enjoyable and educational day for everyone!
For several years, UI Libraries has maintained an Open Access (OA) Fund to help researchers pay for the article processing charges (APCs) on open access publications. This fund supports authors choosing to make their publications open for anyone to read, broadening their audience and providing wide access to important research. We have decided to sunset the OA Fund for APCs within two years due to budget constraints. We found that the fund did nothing to offset our rapidly increasing journal subscription costs. In fact, the fund largely supports the same publishers to which we pay our pricey subscriptions. Given this reality, the final year that funding will be available is 2020, and the amount of funding for 2019 has been reduced from $3,000 per article to $2,000 per article. Additionally, each author will only be eligible to receive funding from the OA fund one time per fiscal year in 2019. Articles must have been accepted into a high quality, peer-reviewed, open access journal with ethical standards. 
Though the OA Fund will be sunsetted, there are other options to support open access publishing. Authors can take advantage of green OA through the Iowa Repository Online (IRO) or pre-print and post-print repositories. Additionally, authors might be able to find grants or ask their departments to fund APCs. In the meantime, the UI Libraries will be exploring sustainable models to fund open access publishing in the future. If you have specific questions, feel free to reach out to Mahrya Burnett, Scholarly Communications Librarian, mahrya-burnett@uiowa.edu or 319-335-5937.
Join us for Beekeeping 101 at the Sciences Library for an all-ages beekeeping talk and activities on Tuesday, July 31, 2-4 pm!
2-3 PM (Sciences Library room 102): Jim Davis of the East Central Iowa Beekeepers will give a talk on the management of bees, why bees are important, and what you can do to help all bees.
2-4 PM (Sciences Library courtyard): The Iowa City Science Booster Club will lead activities for learning about bee diversity and the bee waggle dance.
Free and open to the public. Refreshments provided.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Laurie Neuerburg in advance at 319-467-0216.
The following workshops are open to all students, faculty, and staff. 
There is no need to register in advance.
EndNote Workshop – Wednesday, July 18, 2-3 PM, Chemistry Building, W258
In this workshop you will learn how to use EndNote to:
EndNote Web is available for free to all members of the University of Iowa community. EndNote Desktop is available for free to all UI graduate students, faculty, and staff.
Biology Databases Workshop – Wednesday, July 25, 2-3 PM, Biology Building, B20
In this workshop you will learn how to:
If you’re interested, but unable to attend these workshops, private appointments and webinars can be arranged. If you have any questions or if you’d like to request a workshop for your class or group, please contact Laurie Neuerburg or Sara Scheib for more information.
