Join the Friends for a discussion featuring Geraldine Brooks, author of People of the Book, the 2012 Pasadena citywide One City, One Story selection.

Ms. Brooks will discuss the historical choices and research methods that she undertook to write People of the Book, Caleb’s Crossing, Year of Wonders, and March, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

Date: Friday, March 23, 2012 at 3:00 p.m.
Location: Baxter Lecture Hall, Caltech Campus – located within Building 77

Event presented by The Friends of the Caltech Libraries

Patents

Hannah Dvorak-Carbone (Office of Technology Transfer) will present a review of the patenting process. This will be followed by a quick review of patent searching, locating English language patent equivalents, legal status issues, and current awareness techniques by Dana Roth and ample time for questions.

Thursday, March 22

2:00-3:30pm

Sherman Fairchild Library, Multimedia Conference Room 328

Register: http://library.caltech.edu/forms/cls-classes.php

The lists of new books and journals added to the libraries’ collections during the month of February 2012 are now available. This month’s book list includes book cover images for many items, and links to Amazon to allow you to browse the books electronically. Please note that we provide no guarantee that Amazon has contracted with the publisher to allow viewers to browse specific books.

A lecture + discussion with Dr. Jonathan Eller, director of the Bradbury Center and author of the recently published biography, Becoming Ray Bradbury.

Date: Monday, March 12, 2012, 7:00pm

Location: 101 Guggenheim Lab, Lees-Kubota Lecture Hall

Join the Friends for a matinee screening of Fahrenheit 451 (1966) Starring Julie Christie and Oskar Werner. François Truffaut, Director. Followed by a discussion led by Caltech Professor of English, Cathy Jurca, Ph.D. Professor Jurca’s research focuses on 20th c. literature and film.

Date: Sunday March 11, 2012, 3:00pm

Location: 101 Guggenheim Lab, Lees-Kubota Lecture Hall

James (Jim) Edward O’Donnell , July 22, 1952 – Feb. 20, 2012

Jim O’Donnell, 59, passed away peacefully at home in Altadena, CA surrounded by family and friends. Jim was a thoroughly modern librarian with gusto for all things bibliographic especially if a connection could be made to his love of cooking and his affinity for maps. Jim owned over 125 cookbooks and had maintained a blog since 2006  describing his favorite recipes. Typically, he also found pleasure in cataloging all his books on LibraryThing.

Jim was very active throughout his career in anything geosciences information related. He held a number of leadership positions in the Geoscience Information Society including secretary and webmaster and published in its proceedings. He was a past president and subscription manager for the Western Association of Map Libraries, a group that honored him with an Award of Excellence. He served on the Georef Advisory Council and the Geological Society of America Publications Committee. Jim’s legacy includes numerous library assistants and newly minted librarians that benefited from his training and mentoring over the years.

In 1986 Jim came to Caltech from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, where he had been the science librarian, to take up the management of the Geology and Planetary Sciences library. His professionalism and knowledge had immediate impact causing then Library Director, Glenn Brudvig, to note “his impressive record in the improvement and development of the Geology collections and services in so short a time.” Over the years, Jim became the go-to librarian. He was tapped to run the Earthquake Engineering Library, luckily just before the Northridge earthquake of 1994, and with his knowledge of the U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Mines resources he was a natural to oversee the library’s government documents collections.

In 2004 he was promoted to Head of Collections, Information and Research Services overseeing the subject librarians and their liaison and education activities as well as the collection purchases of the Caltech Library. His compassionate and caring nature endures as characteristic of his manner in facilitating change and helping staff embrace the digital and electronic technologies affecting libraries so greatly. His good listening skills and genuine interest in others allowed him to touch many individuals who remember his bright blue-eyes and sense of humor and his willingness to share so easily of himself. His joyful role-playing as “Santa” at both Division and library holiday gatherings certainly embodied his presence both literally and spiritually.

Jim was a born and raised Californian attending UC Berkeley for his undergraduate degree in linguistics and then UCLA for his Masters in Library Science. It is there that the geosciences bug bit him when he served as acting Head of the Geology – Geophysics Library in 1981.

Jim is survived by his partner, Ben Perez, and four sisters, Joanne O’Donnell, Sheila O’Donnell Nicol, Mary O’Donnell and Anne O’Donnell. A memorial service will be held at All Saints Church, Pasadena, CA on March 31, 2012, at 11 AM. The family will announce preferences for donations or other remembrances in Jim’s honor at that time. Meanwhile notes of condolences may be sent to 3233 Alaca Dr., Altadena, CA 91001

Life Sciences Information Resources

Covers various bibliographic databases to consider for interdisciplinary information retrieval related to life sciences, as well as options for automatically updating yourself on new literature on your topic, use of subheadings in PubMed/Medline, and other database functions and features.

Wednesday, February 8

2:00-3:00pm

Sherman Fairchild Library, Multimedia Conference Room 328

Register: http://library.caltech.edu/forms/cls-classes.php

Introduction to CaltechTHESIS for Option Coordinators

Do you work with graduate students who are working on their thesis?  Did you know that electronic copies of theses must be submitted to CaltechTHESIS (http://thesis.library.caltech.edu/) as part of the PhD graduation requirement?  How often do you get questions about formatting, printing, or binding theses?  Do you maintain web pages that include information about theses?  This class is geared toward option coordinators or other Caltech staff who work with graduate students or their theses, but is open to anyone interested on campus.   We will give you an overview of the  CaltechTHESIS database, brief you on the steps the students need to take to deposit their thesis, and touch on intellectual property considerations and access.  We will also give you tips on using the information in the database to populate your web page more effectively.

Tuesday, February 7

2:00-3:00pm

Sherman Fairchild Library, Multimedia Conference Room 328

Register: http://library.caltech.edu/forms/cls-classes.php

The Library has recently subscribed to a number of chemistry journals from the Royal Society of Chemistry. They are: Analyst (1876+), Analytical Methods (2009+), Education in Chemistry (2006+), Food and Function (2010+), InfoChem (2008-2011), Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (1986+), Journal of Environmental Monitoring (1999+), Laboratory Hazards Bulletin (1981+), Metallomics (2009+), and The Mole (2012+).

The library will be observing Martin Luther King Day on Monday January 16, 2012. Sherman Fairchild Library will be open normal hours, with Caltech ID required at all times. Millikan and Dabney libraries will be open from 9am to 1am, with Caltech ID required at all times. Geology and Cahill libraries will be closed.