WISER Science

WISER Science

CAB Abstracts for environmental research

Judith Pinfold, Anne Marie TownsendFebruary 2007

2

Why use an abstracting service?• Plus points

• Wide coverage• Content chosen by subject specialists• Publisher independent• Long back runs• Currency• Abstract is an indicator of usefulness

• Minus pointsNot full text within database, but may have link to full textComplex searching

3

Biological/environmental abstracting services

•Leading products available in Oxford• Biological abstracts• CAB abstracts• CSA Illumina• Forest Science• GeoBase• Zoological record

4

Main scope• Very broadly• Biological Abstracts – life sciences• CAB Abstracts – applied science• CSA Illumina – diverse coverage - arts, social science,

biology including environmental sciences/pollution management

• Forest Science – forestry, forest products, wood Includes relevant CAB Abstracts records• GeoBase –sciences including environment• Zoological Record - zoology

5

Today•CAB Abstracts

• Biological Abstracts and Zoological Record covered in WISER session on 26 February

• Details and booking at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/staff/information_skills/wiser

6

CABI / CAB abstracts ?• Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International• Founded 1913, International status 1985• HQ in Wallingford, Oxon.• Offices worldwide• Inter-governmental, not-for-profit organization• 40 member countries• Research/information services in applied life sciences

(global focus)

7

CAB Abstracts

• Over 5 million abstracts• Online since 1972• 200,000+ new records added each year• Regular weekly updates• Source material from over 158 countries • 50+ languages• 20% environmental records non-English• Older material (1910-1971) covered by CAB Abstracts archive• Print publications also available

8

Types of source documents

• Scientific journals• Bulletins• Books• Theses (if published in a series)• Reports• Conferences

9

CAB subject coverage

•Agriculture in the broadest sense, including

Plant Science, Animal Science, Human Health, Parasitology, Ecology, Forestry, Soil Science, Food Science & products, Agricultural economics, Biotechnology, Agricultural Engineering, Leisure and Tourism

10

Environmental subject coverage• Forestry• Soils• Water• Grasslands• Climate change• Biodiversity

From 222 core environmental journals +other sources

11

Forest science• Subset of CAB Abstracts• Listed separately on Oxlip

Coverage

• Forest management• Forests and forest trees• Agroforestry and community forestry• Non-wood forest products• Wood technology

12

Future developments for 2008• Enhanced coverage of biodiversity

Will cover all vegetation types more comprehensively (e.g. tundra, fynbos)

Better coverage of freshwater aquatic biodiversity

Improved coverage of ecology – theoretical and applied

13

Access in Oxford•Via OXLIP (portal for networked electronic resources)• Biological abstracts• CAB abstracts• Forest Science• Zoological Record• All above are on ERL (using OVID [Silverplatter] software)

• CSA Illumina and GeoBase use different software

14

Platforms?• Way of viewing data• Functionality / appearance varies between platforms

• OVID now owns SilverPlatter and plans to merge platforms later this year

• So our current platform will change – probably Autumn 2007

15

OVID

• This is the current platform for CAB Abstracts and Forest Science used in Oxford

• On ERL (Electronic Reference Library) via Oxlip

• Biological Abstracts and Zoological Record also use OVID

• Convenient for cross-searching between databases

16

Access outside Oxford -Remember to set up BEFORE leaving Oxford via OUCS

• Register for Remote Access Account https://register.oucs.ox.ac.uk/self/remote_access• Sign in using Oxford single sign-on login (as for Webmail/Weblearn)• For ERL databases use Virtual Private Network (VPN)

http:/www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/network/vpn/oucs-service• Download Cisco VPN software

17

How do I find Oxlip?• Go to the general library webpage

http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk

• ‘Information for users’ in box on right

• ‘Electronic resources’

• Oxlip

18

Find electronic resources from Oxford libraries webpage

19

Choose Oxlip

20

Oxlip – Oxford list of electronic databasesBrowse by Subject group or Name of database

21

Let’s do a search• From Oxlip go to CAB Abstracts via Title list

22

Choose first letter of database

23

CAB Abstracts

24

Useful information about Database coverage

25

Access via WebSpirs – click again to get to CAB Abstracts

26

Nearly there …

27

We can now start searching …

28

Useful information on screen• Coverage = 22 databases, i.e. range of years

29

Topic: Effects of climate change on biodiversity in Asia

Easiest is ‘simple search’ - defaultType keywords in boxAll fields searched (Subject, Title, Author, Descriptor, CABI codes)

Keywords:Biodiversity, climate change, Asia

30

31

Results

Full text icon + link

Click here for full record

32

Change display / sort records

33

34

Full record – search terms highlighted

35

Get full text

36

Electronic journal available to Oxford University

37

Ready to print

38

Link not available?• Sometimes full text not available

• BUT don’t give up …

Look on OLIS

Ask a Librarian

Obtain via Inter Library Loan (ILL) Standard charge of £3.50 (OULS)

39

Search history

Can be modified, saved, rerun

40

While we’re here – get email alerts to latest additions to database with SDI

41

Same search – but limit• Limit by subject / title / author

42

Fewer results

CABI field codes containingsearch terms

43

More sophisticated searching

44

Lots of fields to choose from

45

and limit by year?

46

Other limits?

47

48

You can also get better searches if you• Use truncation

south* to retrieve south, southern

afric* to retrieve africa, african

oil spill* to retrieve oil spill, oil spills, oil spillage

49

Thesaurus / index

50

Try the thesaurus

To find Narrower terms, related terms, broader terms – ‘explode search’

51

Use the index – for example author search – note how CABI cites authors – e.g. bloggs-t

Authors not always consistent –Check and combine sets?

52

Mark and print records

Print, download,or email records

53

Select which fields to print/print all records

54

Or export to Refworks

55

56

First make sure you have a Refworks account – go via Oxlip

57

58

59

Have a go?

• Try the exercise sheets

• Any questions / comments?

judith.pinfold@ouls.ox.ac.uk

anne.townsend@ouls.ox.ac.uk