Information Resources for BE2600: Introduction to Biomedical Engineering

Ryan Gilbert, faculty

Dave Lepse, librarian (487-1443; dlepse@mtu.edu)

Selected topics:

Circulation
To borrow an item from the collection, bring the book to the Circulation Desk with your
"Tech Express" card. Books may be borrowed by graduate students for seventeen weeks,
but are subject to recall after three weeks if needed by another borrower. Periodicals may
be borrowed for three days.

Interlibrary Loan
To request books and articles from other libraries, complete an Interlibrary Loan Request
Form. Forms are available on the Library Web Page. There is no charge for this service.

Research assistance
For individual assistance or instruction from a librarian, visit or phone the
Reference/Information Desk (487-2507), or use the Ask a Librarian service on the Library’s
web page.

Locating Books on the Library Shelves

Shelved by Library of Congress call number in the Main Collection on Third Floor.

Locating Periodicals on the Library Shelves

Periodicals are shelved by Library of Congress call number in these locations:
CURRENT JOURNALS (1st Floor): Recent issues kept here until bound or reissued in
microfilm or microfiche.
BOUND JOURNALS AREA (Garden Level): Bound periodicals dated 1971 or later.
MICROFORMS AREA (2nd Floor ) Microfilm & microfiche cabinets, as well as readers.

Electronic Journals at JRVP

JRVP subscribes to an increasing number of journals which provide electronic versions of
their publications online. Access them under E-Resources on the Library’s web page. You
can limit your search to “Business & Economics” or “News & Current Events.”

Reference Collection – 2nd Floor

The reference collection contains dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, directories,
standards, codes, catalogs, etc., shelved by Library of Congress Classification System call
number.

JRVP Online Catalog

On the Library’s web page at www.lib.mtu.edu.
Use to find what books, journals and government publications that the Van Pelt Library
owns and where they are located. When you enter the catalog, a “Basic” search screen
appears.

To search for a periodical title, click on the “Journal Title” button, and then type the title of
the periodical in the box provided. A Journal Title search may result in a list of several
records for the same title; you may need to view more than one of these to find the issue
date you’re seeking.

When searching for more complex titles such as conference proceedings, a keyword search
is usually effective. Click on the “Keyword Search” button, then enter several of the most
unique keywords from the conference title, then select “all of these” from the pull-down
menu on the right.

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Other catalogs
WorldCat
Unified catalog of OCLC member libraries
Linda Hall Library
The largest private science and engineering library

Databases of journal articles & abstracts

To find citations to recent articles from journals, conference proceedings, and other
publications, go to the Library’s web page at www.lib.mtu.edu and select E-Resources, then
Search for an E-Resource.

The resulting screen offers four search options for finding databases or electronic journals:
(1) Keyword search of database titles and/or descriptions, (2) Search by subject area, (3)
Search by collection name, (4) Browse an alphabetical list by title.

JRVP librarians have written a guide to common database keyword searches. Before you
start your search, you might want to look at these tips.

Please note that many article databases include full-text, but some have abstracts only.
The library’s new HuskyFetch software summarizes the library’s services that are available
for each abstract. Just click on the HuskyFetch button.

Suggested databases

Compendex
Provides comprehensive access to the latest engineering research covering engineering and
applied science, containing over seven million references and abstracts taken from over
5,000 engineering journals, conferences and technical reports. Compendex is the online
version of Engineering Index.

Engineered Materials Abstracts

Provides citations regarding the research, manufacturing practices, properties and
applications of these materials have been taken from 1,300 journals, plus dissertations,
government reports, conference proceedings, and books indexed by expert editors from
Materials Information.

IEEE Xplore
Provides access to full-text articles from all journals published by IEEE and IEE (the
Institution of Electrical Engineers. Full-text for all IEEE and IEE conference proceedings
and standards is included as is select legacy content dating back to 1950.

INSPEC
Comprehensive database of bibliographic information and abstracts for published works
in physics, electrical engineering and electronics, computing and control, and
information technology. Covers scientific and technical journals, conference
proceedings, books, reports, and dissertations. The print version is Science Abstracts,
Sections A, B, and C.

Mechanical & Transportation Engineering Abstracts

Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the serials literature in mechanical and
transportation engineering and their complementary fields, including forensic engineering,
management and marketing of engineering services, engineering education, theoretical
mechanics and dynamics, and mathematics and computation.

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METADEX
Comprehensive source for information on metals and alloys: their properties,
manufacturing, applications, and development.

PubMed (Medline)
A service of the National Library of Medicine, includes over 14 million citations for
biomedical articles back to the 1950's. These citations are from MEDLINE and additional life
science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other
related resources.

SciFinder Scholar (Chemical Abstracts)

Retrieves information from databases produced by Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS). The
database contains over 16 million documents from more than 8000 chemical and chemistry-
related journals covering literature from 1967 to the present. Search terms include research
topic, author name, document identifier and chemical substance (including reactions and
substructures).

Web of Science
Offers Web of Science access to ISI Citation Indexes (Science Citation Index Expanded,
Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index), which contains
multidisciplinary, high quality research information from the world's leading science, social
science and art and humanities journals. Only 3 simultaneous users at any one time are
able to use this resource.

Suggested Reference Works

Encyclopedia of Polymer Science & Technology

TP1110.E53 2003 Reference

ENGnetBASE
Compiles a wide range of information previously published in CRC engineering handbooks.
The online database will be updated continually, and its coverage will be expanded. Current
coverage includes general, structural, electrical, mechanical, civil, environmental,
remediation, and optomechanical engineering.

MatWeb: Material Property Data

Database of material properties includes thermoplastic and thermoset polymers such as
ABS, nylon, polycarbonate, polyester, and polyolefins; metals such as aluminum, cobalt,
copper, lead, magnesium, nickel, steel, superalloys, titanium and zinc alloys; ceramics; plus
a growing list of semiconductors, fibers, and other engineering materials.

Plastics Data Digest

TA455.P5P524 2000 Reference

Polymer Handbook
QD388.P65 1999 Reference

Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

TK9.E53 1999 Reference

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