Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library

PSU 016

This is a selection of library resources that you might find helpful as you start your career at Penn State. As you go further in your education, other resources will also become useful.

Library Resources

University Libraries Home Page
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul.html
Access our electronic and print collections, renew books online, request material from other locations, and much more.

Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/pams.html
Subject specific pages for chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics, and statistics

Library Learning Services (formerly known as Instructional Programs)
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/
Has a schedule of upcoming library instruction sessions, tutorials, and other useful information

Writing Resources

Information Literacy and You
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infolit/andyou/infoyou.htm
Tutorial that walks you through the process of picking a topic, doing your research, and writing a paper.

Quick Guide to Citing Using the ACS Style Guide, 3rd Edition
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/etc/medialib/psulpublicmedialibrary/pams/documents.Par.64266.File.tmp/Quick%20Guide%20ACS.pdf
Summarizes the American Chemical Society style for citing some of the more commonly encountered publication types.

Reference Resources

AccessScience
http://alias.libraries.psu.edu/ERESOURCES/PSU00808
Online versions of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology and the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Science and Technology.

Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology
http://alias.libraries.psu.edu/ERESOURCES/PSU01472
Highly respected professional-level chemistry and chemical engineering encyclopedia.

Journal of Chemical Education
http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu/
Excellent journal for finding chemical information of interests to students and teachers.

Knovel
http://alias.libraries.psu.edu/ERESOURCES/PSU00544
Indexes over 800 science and engineering handbooks.

Accessing Books and Journals

The CAT
http://alias.libraries.psu.edu/ERESOURCES/PSU00676
This is the catalog of what we have in our collections… print and electronic. There’s a tutorial at:
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/cat_tutorial/index.html

ProQuest
http://alias.libraries.psu.edu/ERESOURCES/PSU01407
This is a good “starter” resource… it indexes a wide variety of magazines and newspapers as well as some professional literature. However, once you get into more specialized coursework, you’ll find that other databases are better suited to your needs.

SciFinder Scholar
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/pams/download.html
Includes Chemical Abstracts… probably the most comprehensive chemical literature source available today. Indexes journal articles, conference proceedings, patents, chemical dissertations, and some books back to 1907. Searchable by topic, author, chemical formula, chemical structure and many others. Also has some properties information, chemical suppliers, etc.

Web of Science
http://alias.libraries.psu.edu/ERESOURCES/PSU01188
Consists of 3 databases, one of which ndexes the science and engineering literature back to 1900. Also allows you to search the references cited in the bibliographies of papers.

Nan Butkovich
Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library
201 Davey Lab
814-865-3716

or

John Meier
Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library
201 Davey Lab
814-867-1448