Entries for July 17, 2006

More IEEE Content

CASE subscribes to IEEE Xplore and thus has access to this new content as described in the following IEEE announcement.

The IEEE this week made available to its online subscribers the earliest issues of its first technology journal, dating back to 1913.

Currently known as "Proceedings of the IEEE," the journal was titled "The Proceedings of the IRE" when it premiered in January of 1913.

The IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers) was one of two predecessor organizations which merged to form the IEEE in 1963.

This week's update brings the first seven years of the title online (1913 - 1919). "Proceedings of the IEEE" issues from 1963 forward were previously available online through the IEEE Xplore digital library. Issues from later years will follow in the coming months.

Papers in the first issue included "A Discussion on Experimental Tests of the Radiation Law for Radio Oscillators," "High Tension Insulators for Radio-Communication," and "Recent Developments in the Work of the Federal Telegraph Company."

"IEEE has made a commitment to digitizing our entire journal backfile, along with past editions of many of our conference publications," said Barbara H. Lange, Director, IEEE Publications Product Line Management and Business Development. "This is a small part of a two-year plan to bring our historic, scholarly content to new generations of researchers and practitioners."

IEEE will continue to digitize the historic backfile of its journals over the coming months.

Upcoming Tangled Bank

Make sure to checkout the next Tangled Bank on July 19, 2006, at Salto Sobrius. Entries to be included can be submitted to host@tangledbank.net.

EPA Scientists Fight for Libraries

Here is an update on my earlier post about the closing of EPA Libraries.

From the Environment News Service (July 7, 2006) comes word that over half of the EPA workforce (10,000 scientists, engineers and other technical specialists) have asked Congress to stop Bush's administration from closing the EPA libraries.

They contend that thousands of scientific studies are being put out of reach, hindering emergency preparedness, anti-pollution enforcement and long-term research, according to the letter released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

EPA internal studies show that providing full library access saves an estimated 214,000 hours in professional staff time worth some $7.5 million annually, an amount far larger than the total agency library budget of $2.5 million.