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Libraries Celebrate the “Year of Science”

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, the Libraries’ fall exhibit will explore Darwin’s ongoing scientific legacies in the areas of biology, social science, and art. The opening event will feature a talk by Francisco J. Ayala, the Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences and second UCI faculty member to receive the National Medal of Science, the highest scientific honor in the United States.

The upcoming exhibit is one aspect of the Libraries’ broader participation in the “Year of Science 2009,” a 12-month celebration of the nature and process of science led by the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS). The Libraries participate in a campuswide planning group that will not only direct interested parties to ongoing activities in the community, but will also create programming to encourage public engagement and discussion around the sciences with a different science-related theme for each month of the year. Materials in the Libraries' collection that are related to each monthly subject will be provided on the COPUS website.

One such program kicked off UCI’s Year of Science programming in January. The theme was “Science and the Media” and the event was “Robots and Superheroes: Translating Science for the Public,” with presentations by Professors James Hicks and Michael Dennin, and a panel discussion moderated by the Orange County Register’s Gary Robbins. In addition to events, UCI and community partners such as the Southern California Science Café, the Discovery Science Center, and the Ocean Institute, will work to promote happenings available to members of the public.

For information about upcoming events at UCI, consult the UCI Libraries Year of Science site or contact Carol Ann Hughes (hughes@uci.edu or x49753).

Above left: A Woodburytype carte de visite photograph of Charles Darwin, published by John G. Murdoch.

Above right: Darwin, C. R. ed. 1839. Birds Part 3 No. 4 of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. by John Gould. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. London: Smith Elder and Co.


24/7 Reference Service Now Available

CHAT with a librarian and have your questions answered any time of the day or night.

Need to find out if you can read the magazine Science from your home computer at 1am? Have an incomplete citation to a journal article? With “Ask a Librarian CHAT,” UCI faculty and students now have access to reference assistance around the clock. UCI Libraries is participating in a 24/7 Academic Reference Cooperative through which librarians from a worldwide network provide reference help electronically, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week (including holidays). Providing assistance anytime, anywhere, continues the UCI Libraries’ long tradition of being at the forefront in providing excellent and innovative services to our patrons. This new service joins our other established methods of providing reference support through email, text-messaging, instant-messaging, and, of course, in-person consultation.

Our motto is: “Virtually any question, always expert answers!” We hope that you and your students take advantage of this exciting new service.

For more information, contact Cynthia Johnson, Head of Reference (cynthiaj@uci.edu or x40081).

 

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