Good luck on your final exams, Hawkeyes! We have free snacks, hot coffee, and tea here for you at the Sciences Library! If you are looking for a good, quiet comfortable place to study, we have three floors with places for you to study that include study booths, study carrels, computer stations, tables and large monitors for group work, and soft seating. You can also take a book from Leo’s free library while you’re here!
If you are currently using the classic version of SciFinder, it is time to start using SciFinder-n. Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) will discontinue the “classic” SciFinder interface on Dec. 31, 2022.
SciFinder-n, will be the only SciFinder platform moving forward.
To access SciFinder-n, go to the Sciences Library SciFinder guide. The link on this page will work from anywhere.
If you have any questions, or problems, please contact one of the sciences librarians here https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sciences/contact/.
You can also learn more about SciFinder-n on the above guide, or review the following pages at CAS:
Search like a Hawk: Become an expert at InfoHawk+
Tuesday, March 8, 2:00–2:50 PM
Sciences Library, Room 102
There are more than a million ebooks, over 3 million print books, and thousands of journal articles available through InfoHawk+. How can you find what you’re looking for? Learn how to search like an expert in this workshop.
Intro to Biology Databases
Thursday, March 24, 3:30–4:20 PM
Sciences Library, Room 102
Are you interested in finding information on gene sequences, proteins, and metabolic pathways? Do you know the most useful databases for finding biology literature? Attend this workshop to learn about biology resources available to you through the UI Libraries.
Getting Started With Physics and Astronomy Literature Research
Wednesday, April 6, 2:30–3:20 PM
Sciences Library, Room 102
In this workshop, you will learn how to use:
Citing Science: What to Know About Sciwheel
Tuesday, April 19, 12:30–1:20 PM
Sciences Library, Room 102
Did you know that Sciwheel can help you keep track of the website and article references that you find? Did you know that it can give you article suggestions and help you format your citations in Word or Google Docs? Attend this workshop to find out how to use Sciwheel, a cloud-based reference management system and sharing tool.
Welcome back, Hawkeyes! We hope that you had a nice break, and we’re glad that you are back! Keep our Hawkeye community safe by getting your free COVID-19 vaccinations and booster if you have not done so yet.
Books, Articles, Laptops, and More
You can search InfoHawk+ to find books, articles, and other resources at the UI Libraries, and you can contact a sciences librarian to get expert help to use our resources.
We now have laptops that you can check out! Visit the Sciences Library Service Desk to check out a laptop. Laptops circulate for 3 days or for 3 weeks, depending on how long you need to use them.
Study Spaces
The Sciences Library offers a variety of study spaces that are available to you! If you are looking for a good place to study, we have study spots that include computer stations, study carrels, study booths, and large tables for group work. The Sciences Library is located at 120 Iowa Ave.
Sciences Library Spring 2022 Hours
The Sciences Library is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 9:00 PM, Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, and Sunday from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM for the spring semester. The Sciences Library is closed on Saturdays.
Study Help for BIOL 1411: Foundations of Biology
If you are taking BIOL:1411 Foundations of Biology, then you can take advantage of free study help with our Sciences Library Student Mentors!
Drop-in Tutoring for Foundations of Biology
Group Study Sessions for Foundations of Biology
As we wrap up the Fall 2021 semester, a good place to study for final exams is the Sciences Library! Whether you need a quiet place to study, group space, or study break ideas, the Sciences Library has you covered! We have a variety of study spots to choose from including bean bag chairs, large tables, study carrels, and study booths. There are rolling dry erase boards, large TV monitors, computer stations, scanning stations, and print stations that you can use. If you need a rest, then we have coloring sheets, building blocks, and games available for you to use to give your brain a break. You can also check out our virtual Sciences Library’s Finals Week Stress Relief Guide. You can put together an online puzzle of a porcupine, print off science coloring sheets, and view an assortment of animal live cams. You will also find links to xkcd and other science comics that will make you laugh on the Stress Relief Guide!
The James Webb Space Telescope will soon be on its way to take images of the first stars in the universe. The Ariane rocket will launch on December 22 from French Guiana and carry the James Webb Space Telescope to the stars. At the time of this writing, the James Webb Space Telescope countdown clock shows that launch will happen in 18 days, 15 hours, 36 minutes, and 26 seconds. After the telescope travels around one million miles away from Earth, it will unfold, cool down, calibrate, and deploy a sunshield the size of a tennis court!
A more powerful telescope than the famous Hubble telescope, the Webb space telescope has been called the “Next Generation Space Telescope.” In addition to the magnificent sunshield, the Webb space telescope has infrared detectors, microshutters, and a cryrocooler. The infrared detectors will allow scientists to measure faint light sources of stars and planets, while the microshutters allow scientists to captures the images of multiple objects in the sky at once. The cyrocooler will keep one of the instruments on the telescope at a temperature lower than –448°F so that the instrument can capture light at mid-infrared wavelength. Perhaps the most beautiful part of the Webb space telescope is the gold hexagonal mirrors that will facilitate the collection of faint light from stars, planets, and galaxies so that scientists can learn more about these distant objects.
To read more about space telescopes, check out these books from the UI Libraries. To find more, search InfoHawk+ or contact a science librarian for help.
University of Iowa Professor Keri Hoadley researches how galaxies are formed as part of a mission called Faint Intergalactic-medium Redshifted Emission Balloon, or FIREBall-2. Using a balloon telescope, her research involves measuring gas emissions from over 200 galaxies. In a second mission, Hoadley studies how galaxies evolve in a mission called Aspera. This mission uses a satellite to measure gas flow between galaxies.
By visiting NASA Visualization Explorer, you can watch a simulation of galaxy formation that would take 13.7 billion years in a 46 second video. In the open access ebook Hubble Focus: Galaxies through Space and Time, you can read about how galaxies form and evolve based on observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope. If you would like to listen to a cluster of galaxies translated into sound, you can watch Nasa’s 30 second video “Sonification of a Hubble Deep Space Image.”
If you are interested to learn more, you can check out materials about galaxy formation from the UI Libraries. You can browse what is listed here and find more by searching InfoHawk+. If you have questions or need help accessing our materials, you can reach out to one of our librarians at the Sciences Library.
Iowa City Darwin Day celebrates the benefits of science for humanity, and all are invited to celebrate this year by attending virtual talks by prestigious scientists! All Iowa City Darwin Day events are free and open to the public.
Erich Jarvis’ talk “Evolution of Brain Pathways for Vocal Learning and Spoken Language” will be on Friday, February 12 at 12 PM CST. Erich Jarvis is a professor and head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language at the Rockefeller University. He uses song-learning birds and other species as models to study the molecular and genetic mechanisms that underlie vocal learning, including how humans learn spoken language. He chairs the international Vertebrate Genomes Project which studies how species are genetically related and how unique characteristics evolve. Jarvis also collaborates on a project to generate a new human pangenome reference that will represent over 90% of genetic diversity.
Dr. Jarvis is the 2002 recipient of the National Science Foundation Alan T. Waterman Award and was awarded the Director’s Pioneer Award by the National Institutes of Health in 2008. He received the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award in 2019
Charmaine Royal’s talk “Race, Genetics, and Health” followed by a panel discussion will be on Friday, February 19 at 4 PM CST.
Charmaine Royal is a 2020 Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor. She is Associate Professor of African & African American Studies, Biology, Global Health, and Family Medicine & Community Health at Duke University. She is also core faculty in the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, senior fellow in Kenan Institute for Ethics, and faculty in the Social Science Research Institute where she directs the Center on Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference and the Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation. Dr. Royal’s research, scholarship, and teaching focus on ethical, legal, and social issues in genetics and genomics, particularly the intersection of race and genetics and its policy implications and practical interventions.
Panelists:
UI Professor of History Mariola Espinosa
UI Visiting Professor of Law Phoebe Jean-Pierre
Dr. Brian Donovan , BSCS
Moderator: UI Associate Professor of Law Anya Prince
You are invited to the Sciences Library for a comfortable, quiet place to study! There are computer stations, study carrels, and booths with USB and outlets for phones and computers. If you have group work to do, there are tables and large mobile monitors to use for sharing your computer screen. The Sciences Library is located between Phillips Hall and the Biology Building on Iowa Ave. The building is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5 PM for the Spring 2021 semester. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have hygiene stations available with disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer. A face covering is required, and yellow stickers mark off seats that are to remain unoccupied. The book stacks are open so feel free to peruse the shelves!
If you need help with your research, then you can meet with a librarian in a one-on-one research consultation to help you find books and articles that you need for a paper or project. You can search InfoHawk+ to find out what the UI Libraries has that you can use online or check out & take home, which includes print books, ebooks, newspapers, journals, and magazines (both print and online), DVDs and streaming videos. You can request that the library purchase something that we don’t have, or request to borrow something that we don’t have through Interlibrary Loan. You can access all of our ebooks, electronic journal articles, streaming videos, and online resources from off-campus by logging in with your HawkID.
You can ask librarians for help about research and using the library whenever you need it through chat, email, in-person, or by phone. Have a great semester! We’re glad to have you at the Sciences Library!
