Finding Information in the
Atmospheric Sciences
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Overview of library services
MadCat, the library catalog
Searching
Finding journal articles
Finding government documents
Finding dissertations
Schwerdtfeger Library Services
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Project support, general and in-depth reference
Provide access to and instruction in use of library
resources, e.g., Resources in Atmospheric Sciences
Find, recall, borrow, return books from/to campus
libraries
Borrow books from libraries off campus
Get articles from journals not available on campus
Current Contents
Instructional support to faculty and graduate students
Create bibliographies/subject collections
Create image collections
MadCat
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The Library catalog, used to find books,
government reports, journal titles and their
locations on campus
Journal articles or contents of books (specific
chapters) ARE NOT in MadCat -- find them in
appropriate database, then search for journal
or book title in MadCat
Schwerdtfeger Library holdings in MadCat
MadCat Options
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View your library record
Renew books
View course reserves
Place requests
Proxy service
Searching
E-mail search results
About electronic journals
Search Strategies
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Plan your search
Remember variant word endings, Boolean
connectors and synonyms
Limit search terms to specific fields (title,
subject heading), within a certain proximity to
each other, year ranges
Note controlled vocabularies
Finding Journal Articles
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UW Madison Libraries have licensed many
databases for your use
Emphasis is on finding literature related to the
atmospheric sciences
After finding specific articles, search for the
journal title in MadCat for location on campus
Some databases may have links to full-text
Databases
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Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts
Oceanic Abstracts
Aerospace Database
Web of Science
INSPEC
GEOREF
NTIS
Meteorological &
Geoastrophysical Abstracts
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Updated monthly, July 1974 MGA covers meteorology, climatology,
oceanography, remote sensing, atmospheric
chemistry, hydrology, etc.
Indexes journal articles, conference
proceedings, books, technical reports
Includes abstract for most entries
Pre-1974 literature can be found using print
version of Met. Abstracts
Search Met Abstracts
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Select “Advanced Search”
Serials source list
Thesaurus -- subject terms
Author index
Search history
Search results -- retrieve full-text for AMS
journals, e-mail or export results
Oceanic Abstracts
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Updated monthly, 1984 Premier database for marine resources
Covers biology, ecology, marine geology,
geophysics, geochemistry, oceanography,
marine pollution, environmental protection
Search results
Same interface as Met Abstracts, Aerospace
Database
Aerospace Database
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Updated quarterly, 1986 Journal articles, conferences, books, reports,
theses and patents
Covers fields of aerospace engineering,
technology, and space-related research,
including meteorology
Same search interface as Met Abstracts,
Oceanic Abstracts
Web of Science
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Updated weekly, 1982 Combination of three databases
Indexes peer-reviewed journal literature only -- does
not include reports, conference proceedings,
dissertations…
Known for its currency and meticulous indexing
Used to do general, cited reference or author
searching
Pre-1981, use Science Citation Index in print
Search Web of Science
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Full Search
Select “Science Citation Index” and coverage
General search
Cited reference search
Search results
Inspec: Information Services for the
Physics & Engineering Communities
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Updated monthly, 1969 Covers physics, electrical engineering, electronics,
computers, etc.
Includes journal articles, conference papers,
significant books, tech reports, dissertations
Includes abstracts
Pre-1969, consult Computer and Control Abstracts,
Science Abstracts Series A: Physics and Science
Abstracts Series B: Electrical, in print
Georef
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Updated bimonthly, 1785 Indexes earth sciences literature of the world
Includes journal articles, conference papers,
reports, guidebooks, theses, monographs
Recommend using “search builder” and
“indexes”
NTIS, Inspec and Georef have same search
interface and can be searched
simultaneously
Government Documents,
Gray Literature
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What are they?
Why are they important?
Who publishes them?
What characteristics do they have?
Where can I find them?
How can I obtain them?
NTIS Bibliographic Index
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Updated quarterly, 1983 Contains descriptions of U.S. government sponsored
sci/tech research from DOD, DOE, EPA, NASA,
NOAA…
Covers astronomy, atmospheric science,
biotechnology, computers, energy, engineering, etc.
Included are: reports on contracts/grants, tech
memos, tech reports, dissertations, etc.
Pre-1983, consult Government Reports and
Announcements Index in print
Search NTIS
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Advanced search
General index
Search history leads to search builder
Search results
Other Gray Lit Databases
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GrayLit Network
DOE Information Bridge
NASA Online Directives Information
System (NODIS)
Air Force Master Catalog
Finding Dissertations on Campus
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Schwerdtfeger Library holds masters theses and
doctoral dissertations for AOS
Memorial Library is the depository for all Ph.D.
dissertations; not all masters theses are deposited in
libraries
Search MadCat for location
Contact a library for interlibrary loan, to see if it was
published in report form, or to purchase
Some dissertations published as journal articles,
reports if funded by government contract
Finding Dissertations: Databases
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Proquest Digital Dissertations, 1861Current Research @ UW-Madison
Index to Theses…..Great Britain and Ireland
CRL’s Foreign Doctoral Dissertations
Database
Recap
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Determine search criteria or what it is
you’re searching for
Select database(s) to be searched
Check MadCat for availability and
location
Questions? Check with a librarian
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http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/library/e-resources.htm
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