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About the Biotechnology Information Center

What is the Biotechnology Information Center?

The Biotechnology Information Center is a "Virtual Branch" of the University of Illinois Library.  The BIC is not a physical library.  Rather, it provides specialized services and support to those engaged in biotechnology, molecular biology, genomic, etc. research or study on campus. We work frequently with those in the Schools of Life Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, Bioengineering, and others. Our services are provided by email, phone, or in person -- yes, we make office, lab, and classroom visits!

A few examples of the kinds of services offered:

• Help you locate a specific journal article or book
• Help you fine articles on specific topics, by recommending citation databases / resources you may not be aware of
• We can teach you, your class, or your lab group how to use the many citation databases (PubMed, Web of Science, CAB Abstracts, etc.) and how to determine which are appropriate for your subject area
• We can teach you, your class, or your lab group how to use RefWorks and EndNote to build your own database of citations
• We'll create a customized Web page for your class or lab group, with links to appropriate databases, journals, Google Scholar, etc.
• Help you gain access to our subscription-based journals and databases from off-campus
• Help you with questions that may arise as you're preparing a grant application
• Help you set up effective search strategies in the appropriate databases, so you will receive weekly email alerts with the latest  latest articles published in your area
• Help you obtain materials that are not available on-campus
• Help you submit your articles to PubMed Central, thus fulfilling the new NIH Public Access Mandate
• When you're ready to publish an article, help you with verbiage that will enable you to keep some of your author-rights -- you needn't give them all to the publisher
• Help you put your article into the University's scholarly archive (IDEALS), where it will receive a secure, perpetual home that is easily "discoverable" by Google and other search engines.

Who is in the Biotechnology Information Center?

Katie Newman is the Biotechnology Librarian.  She has a background in the Plant Sciences, having been, in a "previous life", a member of  the Plant Biology Faculty at Southern Illinois University, a post-doc in the Yale University Biology Department, and having obtained a Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Kansas. Vitae

Katie is very ably assisted each semester by a graduate student who is studying in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science program.  Currently this position is filled by Shu-wen Huang.

CONTACT:

Dr. Katie Newman
Biotechnology Librarian

Mailing address:
Biotechnology Information Center
Institute for Genomic Biology, Rm 2130
1206 W. Gregory Avenue, MC 195
Urbana, IL 61801-3832

Email: florador@illinois.edu
Phone: (217) 265-5386
FAX: (217) 244-1800

Mortenson talk - 2008 (PowerPoint)

For comments on this page contact: Katie Newman

Last modified by: Shu-wen Huang on 11/7/08