Introduction to Library Resources for Chemical
Engineering students
Lynne Meehan (l.meehan@ucl.ac.uk),
Room 314, UCL Science Library,
020 7679 2634
Library catalogue (http://library.ucl.ac.uk/)
BOOKS
To find a book that you know the author and/or title of:
• Use the Quick search
• Enter the author surname and key words from the title
• No need for diacritic marks like commas
To find books on a particular subject:
• Use the “Browse” search
• Selecting “Subject” from the Browse by list
• Type in your chosen subject into the box below e.g. Biomass energy
• After entering your search you are presented with a list of subject headings and sub-headings, and by
clicking on one of these you can see a list of books on the subject. You can click on the full record on the
left-hand side where you will see what other Subject headings have been assigned to it. Click on any
heading in the full record of a book to find others on the topic and click through to the Location to see
where they are shelved.
e.g. Books on Biomass energy are mainly shelved in the Engineering collection and more specifically at ENGI-
NEERING QK 160 or ENGINEERING QC 35.
Results
By clicking on the blue “Library site” links on the right hand side of the “Results List” page you can see which
UCL Library the book is kept in as well as:-
‘Item status’ = how long the book can be borrowed for
‘Due date’ = displays as “Available” if it isn’t out on loan
‘Classmark’ = where it is shelved
TIP: The words “Quartos” or “Folios” in the location indicate that the book is large or enormous. These
are shelved in the same vicinity as the normal sized books, but in a separate block of shelves labeled
“Quartos” or “Folios”, usually at the beginning or end of the collection.
Reservations
You can ‘request’ books if all copies with the same loan status are out on loan. To reserve an
item, find it in the catalogue and display the holdings information. Select one of the copies
which are on loan, and click the ‘Request’ option on the left-hand side of the screen. You will
then be prompted to enter your barcode and PIN. Click ‘Go’ to confirm.
For more information on finding books please look at the UCL Library Services leaflet “How to
find a book” available to download from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/prints.shtml.
JOURNALS
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Journals are publications which are published in regular issues (weekly, monthly, annually
etc), and tend to contain results of experiments or reviews of the knowledge in a particular
topic. They are very good for finding up to date information. They are available in two formats:
either in print form in the library or electronically for viewing on a computer. Journals cannot
be borrowed from the library and so articles must either be photocopied from the print journal
or printed out from the electronic journal.
To find a journal if you know the journal To find a journal if you are unsure of the
title journal title
• Use the Browse search • Use the Quick search
• Select Journal title beginning with from • Type in the words you know e.g.
the Browse by drop down menu Chemical Engineering
• Enter the first few words of the journal title • Select “All journals”
• Click on Browse • Click on “Search”
• Click on the title you want from the • Click on the (copies/on loan) link for
alphabetically displayed list location information, or, if available
• Click on the (copies/on loan) link for electronically, click on the SFX link to go
location information, or, if available the full text
electronically, click on the SFX link to go
the full text
TIP: The library catalogue only lists which journals UCL has, and does not list the individual articles
within those journals, therefore when looking for journal articles ONLY look up the FULL NAME OF THE
JOURNAL on the Library catalogue; DO NOT look up the author’s name!!
SFX
SFX is a tool to link all UCL electronic library resources, including the catalogue and
databases, straight to the full text of journal articles and books.
For more information on finding journals please look at the UCL Library Services leaflet “How
to find printed & electronic journals & journal articles” available to download from
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/prints.shtml.
YOUR LIBRARY RECORD
• Click on “My account” (on the top tool bar).
• Enter your barcode – the 10-digit number located on your UCL ID card.
• Enter your PIN number which will be the first 4 digits of your date of birth, DDMM – not
the year, just the date/month.
• Click on ‘Sign-in’. Your name should now be displayed at the top of the screen, with a
list of books on loan, reservations, etc.
• Always click the “Reset” option (located at the top right-hand corner) after looking at
your personal information, so that no one else can see your personal details or borrow
books using your account.
TIP: Renewing books – when you have borrowed any books from a UCL library, it is possible to renew
your books yourself from within your personal record – select ‘loans’ followed by ‘renew’. You are not
able to renew if you owe the library more than £20 or if your books are reserved by other library members.
ONLINE TUTORIAL
For an online tutorial on the library catalogue, go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/moodle, log in, click
on WISE, and select Engineering and the Built Environment.
Looking for items on your reading list
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In order to locate references from a reading list you first need to look at the reference to see
whether it is a reference to a book, a chapter in a book, or a journal article. The following will
help you to decide;
WHOLE BOOK
Example:
Smith J M, Van Ness H C. Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics. 7th
ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2005.
This is a typical way of listing (citing) a book on a reading list. Some lecturers may use slightly
different styles.
Some clues that it is a book:
• there are publishing details
• there are NO volume or issue details
BOOK CHAPTER
Example:
Chua, David KH., "Value improvement methods", IN The civil engineering handbook.
Edited by W. F. Chen and J. Y Richard Liew. 2nd ed. CRC Press, 2003, pp. 7/1-7/23
Some clues that it is a book chapter:
• there are publishing details
• there are NO volume or issue details
• there appear to be two titles - use the book title to search in the catalogue
• there appear to be two authors - use the book's author/editor to search in the
catalogue
• the word "in" appears after the first title, indicating that the material appears in some
other item
You will find this book in the catalogue under the names of the editors (Chen and Richard
Liew). If you look up the author of the chapter (Chua), you will not find this item.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
For example:
Hart, Gary C., Srinivasan, Mukund. "Typical costs of seismic rehabilitation of existing
buildings", The structural design of tall buildings, 17(2), 2008, p. 445-469
Some clues that it is a journal article:
• there are no publishing details
• there are volume or issue details
• there seem to be two titles - use the journal title to search the catalogue
There are a number of different ways this information can be written, the two most widely
used formats are called ‘Harvard’ and ‘Vancouver’
Access to electronic resources (institutional login)
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Accessing electronic resources via the UCL Library Services website
UCL users are advised to access resources through the lists of ejournals
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/ejournal) and databases (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/database)
available on MetaLib. This will guarantee that you get free access to all the resources to
which you are entitled as a UCL member. If you are on-site you will not need to log in to
resources. If you are off-site, you will be prompted for your UCL userid and password
automatically.
How do I log in to UCL e-resources?
Many electronic resources do not require a login
from computers on the UCL network. However, if
you are using a computer which is not on the UCL
network, then when you follow links to electronic
resources from the UCL Library Services website,
you will often see the UCL e-resource login screen.
This allows the resource to identify you as an
authorised UCL user. Simply enter your UCL
userid and password in the boxes to access the resource.
Logging in on a resource's homepage
If you come across an electronic resource to which UCL subscribes, but you have not
followed a link from MetaLib as described above, you can also login from the website of the
resource.
You should look for a link labelled something like
Different resources use different labels, but in
each case if you follow the link you will then
be asked which institution you belong to (and
sometimes also your geographical region, i.e.
UK), and you can select UCL from a list.
This will then take you to the UCL login
screen shown previously. For many
resources, you have to select UCL from the
list each time you use the resource, but some
have an option to “remember” which institution you are from, as above. However, to
save time, the recommended route is always to access resources through the lists on the
Library website, as these automatically identify you as a UCL member.
Further information
For more information on access to e-resources, visit http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/e-res.shtml.
To report a problem with access, please fill in a problem report form at
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/e-res_prob.shtml.
Knovel
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Knovel is an interactive e-book and database package which gives searchable access to
the full text of a range of text and reference books. It covers all aspects of engineering and
applied science. Link to Knovel from the Library’s databases list:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/database/.
• You can search for terms within all of the subscribed titles or browse the available
resources by navigating through the subject areas.
• You can use G.E.T. search to search for the physical properties and numerical data. For
example you will be able to search for material composition and materials with specific
optical or physical properties.
• For help with using Knovel, see section 3 of WISE (Finding information): go to
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/moodle, log in, click on WISE, and select Engineering and the Built
Environment.
Finding References in other Libraries. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/otherlib.shtml
Despite the many libraries and broad subject coverage at UCL, there are still many journals
and books which we do not hold. The Library web page
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/otherlib.shtml) gives a thorough list of alternative libraries and
websites where you can check for holdings of other libraries in and around London.
Interlibrary loans
If you cannot find a location for a book or journal that you require, it is possible to order an
inter-library loan. This will cost £3. More information can be found on our website
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/ids.shtml.
Web gateways
There are plenty of web sites to choose from, but quality can be an issue.
A few useful sites to look at are
Intute: http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/.
The IChemE has useful links at http://www.icheme.org/informationportal/index.htm
For more information on useful websites for Chemical Engineering go to the Library’s subject
resource page at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/guides/subjengin.shtml
Evaluating information and critical thinking
It is important not to accept information and ideas at face value but to take time to reflect,
compare ideas, evaluate the work done and build you own reasoned arguments. Treat the
information you find with caution. Remember to scrutinise and ask questions and don’t form
conclusions until you see what others have written.
Key things to look for when evaluating information: -
• Relevance to your topic • Accuracy of the information
• Intended audience • Authority of the author or source
• Currency of information • Level of objectivity of author
• Coverage of the topic
Citing sources
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It is important to include references in your work in order to indicate that you have used
relevant information resources, to avoid plagiarism and to allow readers of your work to be
able to find the information sources for themselves. You should remember to list all the
details of the books/journals that you consult so that you can reference them correctly.
Failure to cite your sources constitutes plagiarism and you may be penalised!
Citing acknowledging within your piece of work the source from which you
obtained information.
Reference full details of the source from which you obtained your information.
Bibliography a list of the references you have used, usually placed at the end of your text.
These definitions imply that citation and bibliography rules are easy to follow and understand.
However you may struggle with the complexity of citation.
For help with citing sources,
• See section 5 of WISE (Working with information): go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/moodle,
log in, click on WISE, and select Engineering and the Built Environment.
• Read Neville, C. (2008). Complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism. Milton
Keynes: Open UP held at MEDICAL SCIENCES A 9 NEV (2nd floor) and
GEOGRAPHY A 9 NEV (1st floor)
For more information, please go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/current-students/study/plagiarism/ for
more information.
Keeping up to date with the library
For the latest news about the library and resources available for Engineering subscribe to
Library News for Engineers or follow the twitter feed of UCL Science Library at
http://twitter.com/_sciencelib_. We are also planning on holding sessions on Tuesday
lunchtimes in the Engineering Cafe where you can come and ask one of the Science
Subject team your library questions.
Further help
• Library website http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/
• WISE: go to http://www.ucl.ac.uk/moodle, log in, click on WISE, and select Engineering
and the Built Environment.
• Science Enquiry Desk: located on the ground floor of the Science Library. It is
staffed from 09:30-18:00, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 09:30-17:30 Tuesday
and Thursday. Telephone on ext. 37789 or 020 7679 7789.
• Lynne Meehan (science subject librarian) contact me on l.meehan@ucl.ac.uk or 020
7679 2634 or come and see me in Room 314, Science Library.
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