ACED 2012

12 December 2011 : The 16th Asian Conference on Electrical Discharge (ACED 2012) will be held at Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia, on December 10 -12, 2012. This is the 16th conference of a series that had its last venues in  Xian, China, (2010), Bandung, Indonesia (2008), Hokkaido, Japan (2006), Shenzhen, China (2004), Seoul, Korea (2002), Kyoto, Japan (2000), Bandung, Indonesia (1998), Bangkok, Thailand (1996), Xian, China (1994), Oita, Japan (1993) and Singapore (1992). The purpose of this conference is to provide a forum for researchers, scientist and engineers to exchange ideas and discuss recent progress in properties, phenomena and applications of electrical discharges. The organizing committee cordially invites you to...

Read more »

Biggest Issues on Social Media Faced by Librarians

12 December 2011 : Prepared by Lisa Surihani Aziz (Senior Librarian/Head, Automation Division)  Bloggers, what I would like to share today? What is the hot issue? Oh ya, social media using Web 2.0 technologies is a phenomenon in today’s world right?? If we were to just walk around, we would see how many of people are looking at social media especially Facebook, twitter, blogs, chat and Youtube. However, there are several biggest issues faced by librarians personally and professionally need to think. Personally: One of the issues is not all librarians are ready to employ Web 2.0 applications. Some of them do not ‘believe in’ or ‘are fearful of’ using these online tools (Rogers, 2009). The most common reason associated with...

Read more »

Watch: APEX status

7 December 2011 : University Sains Malaysia beat a field of eight other higher learning centres to emerge as the Ministry of Higher Education's choice for Apex University. (Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/89023)...

Read more »

Library Workshops for December 2012 - Registration opens now!!

6 December 2011 : INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS WORKSHOP (ILS) & ENDNOTE WORKSHOP MONDAY : ILS (8:30AM – 11:00AM) TUESDAY: ENDNOTE (8:30AM – 11:00AM) WEDNESDAY: ILS (8:30AM – 11:00AM) THURSDAY: ENDNOTE (2:15PM – 5:00PM) ATTENTION !! Register : At Reference Counter, Ground Floor, PHS [New Wing] or By phone: 04-6535350 or By e-mail: rujukan@usm.my Registration should be made two (2) weeks before the chosen date. No earlier registration is allowed. WORKSHOP VENUE: Computer Lab, Ground Floor, PHS1 Note: BLUE : NO CLASS YELLOW : FULL WHITE : AVAILABL...

Read more »

Watch: Accelerated Programme for Excellence (APEX)

6 December 2011 : Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has been granted apex status. The Cabinet had agreed to USM being given the apex status on Aug 27. Watch the news from TV3....

Read more »

USM gets APEX status

5 December 2011 : PUTRAJAYA: Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has been granted apex status. With it, USM can expect hundreds of millions of ringgit in additional funding to transform it into Malaysia's first world-class university. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that quantitative and qualitative criteria were used to select USM under the accelerated programme for excellence (apex).  Announcement time: Khaled flanked by deputies Dr Hou Kok Chung (right) and Datuk Idris Haron with a copy of the statement announcing USM as the country's first apex university. “The selection committee evaluated each university's state of readiness, transformation plan and preparedness for change. “After a thorough...

Read more »

IFLA 2012

3 December 2011 : The IFLA World Library and Information Congress, which is also the IFLA General Conference and Assembly, is traditionally held annually in varying parts of the globe. The Congress IFLA WLIC 2012 will be held in Helsinki, Finland, from 11-17 August 2012. Congress theme: "Libraries Now! - Inspiring, Surprising, Empowering". Further information: http://conference.ifla.o...

Read more »

ICOL 2012

3 December 2011 : USM Library, supported by the Librarians Association of Malaysia will be proudly hosting: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIBRARIES 2012ICOL 20122 - 4 July 2012 | Kota BharuTransformation to Humanize Libraries With the theme "Transformation to Humanize Libraries", the conference will be held at the Renaissance Hotel Kota Bharu, the capital city of Kelantan, one of the states in Malaysia. Further information: https://sites.google.com/site/usmicol2012/&nb...

Read more »

Book Review: Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (8th ed.)

3 December 2011 : Prepared/Reviewed by Kamal Adli Karim (Senior Librarian/Head, Technical Processing Division) Title:Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (8th ed.) Author:Bruce L. Berg and Howard Lune Call Number:H61. B493 2011 Year:2011 This book is, by far, the most comprehensive book on qualitative research methods ever written. Berg covers all of the major areas of qualitative research methods with the expertise of a seasoned veteran researcher--of which he is. This book is written in an accessible and easy-to-understand style. Each chapter revolves around one central element of the qualitative research methods picture. Having been a reader of earlier editions of this book (in fact, all editions), I can testify...

Read more »

Impact Factor and h-Index

 1 December 2011 : Prepared by Husriati Hussain (Librarian, Reference & Research Division)  Impact Factor:n  The only quantitative way of ranking a journaln  A quantitative measure of the frequency with which the "average article" published in a given scholarly journal has been cited in a particular year or period.n  Is used in citation analysis n  It is calculated each year by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) for those journals which it tracks, and are published in the Journal Citation Report. n  Impact Factors have a huge, but controversial, influence on the way published scientific research is perceived and evaluated h-Index:The h-index is an index that attempts to measure both the...

Read more »