CSA Illustrata:
Natural Sciences
CSA Illustrata: Natural
Sciences is the first in a series of CSA Illustrata
databases of searchable tables, figures, graphs, charts
and other illustrations from the scholarly research and
technical literature.
CSA employs what it calls “deep indexing” to categorize
data, variables and other content represented in tables,
maps, photographs and other figures. Usually, indexing
of research articles is done at a rather high, general
level where only the key concepts of the work are
represented by a dozen or so index terms, but by going
deeper and specifically indexing the content associated
with all the individual tables and figures, CSA
Illustrata enables the researcher to find information
that otherwise would not be retrievable in traditional,
article-level indexing systems. Search results – the
objects – can be viewed in full along with the caption,
author and source information and additional index terms
that can be used for further searching. A link back to
the parent record provides a summary view of all the
objects associated with that paper. In most instances,
the parent abstract is displayed and context is further
preserved by links to the full-text documents when
available. Thus the researcher can find relevant data
faster and, because of the visual impact of the results,
can quickly determine whether or not to spend time
reading the source documents. The visualization of data
and the interdisciplinary nature of CSA Illustrata:
Natural Sciences can also lead to unexpected discoveries
or connections between seemingly disparate pieces of
work.
These claims were borne out by empirical evidence during
the development of CSA Illustrata when researchers were
given access to a prototype and asked to comment on what
they perceived as the potential uses and benefits of the
system; such uses included:
- gaining faster and
more precise understanding of the work reported in
articles by direct examination of the tables and
figures
- improving the
efficiency of searching by providing more precise and
smaller results sets
- finding suitable
illustrations that could be downloaded directly into
presentation software for
teaching/lectures/presentations
- locating and
retrieving data in particular formats or particular
object types
- making comparisons
between their work and the work of others
- assistance with
writing of review papers, meta-analyses, proposals,
and for generating hypotheses
- supporting the
transformation of practice and supporting the learning
of new skills and methods, including how to
effectively present results in tables, figures and
graphs
- use of objects by
librarians to directly answer reference questions
Subject Coverage
CSA Illustrata: Natural
Sciences is interdisciplinary, covering a wide variety
of journals from all major areas such as:
- Biology
- Earth Sciences
- Environmental Studies
- Medical Sciences
- Agriculture
- Fish and Fisheries
- Education
- Geography
- Veterinary Science
- Food and Food
Industries
- Pharmacy and
Pharmacology
- Meteorology
- Public Health and
Safety
- Water Resources
- Conservation
- Forests and Forestry
Dates of Coverage
1997 - Current. Note: The
majority of objects date from literature published from
2000 forward, however there are approximately 9,000
objects from publications older than 2000. This number
will continue to grow as older content will be added
along with current material.
Size
Initially, at launch in
January 2007, the database contains almost one million
indexed objects from more than 1000 peer-reviewed
journals. The number of objects is projected to increase
by approximately 150,000 each month.
Browsable Indexes
A browsable index is an
alphabetical listing of terms used in a specific field
of a database. You can browse this list to see, for
example, how authors' names are spelled and therefore
how they are indexed, or what categories are used to
classify each object in CSA Illustrata. Browsable
Indexes are available for the following fields:
This last index, the
Objects Descriptors Index, may be particularly useful
because it is an alphabetical list of all the terms from
each of the more specific fields:
Object Geographic
Terms, Q7=
Object Statistical Terms, Q8=
Object Subject Terms, Q5=
Object Taxonomic Terms, Q6=
To access these browsable
indexes, first click the purple Search Tools tab above
the search form or the results display, then click the
Indexes tab.
Field Codes
The following field codes
are found in the records of this database. Here they are
listed in alphabetical order by field name followed by
their two-character code.
|
Abstract, AB= |
Journal
Name, JN= |
| Accession Number,
AN= |
Keywords, KW= |
| Affiliation, AF=
|
Object Descriptors,
OD= |
| (All Article)
Descriptors, DE= |
Object DOI, OI=
|
| All Descriptors, DX=
|
Object Geographic
Terms, Q7= |
| Article DOI, DO=
|
Object Statistical
Terms, Q8= |
| Article Geographic
Terms, Q3= |
Object Subject
Terms, Q5= |
| Article Subject
Terms, Q1= |
Object Taxonomic
Terms, Q6= |
| Article Taxonomic
Terms, Q2= |
Publication Year, PY= |
| Author, AU= |
Publisher, PB=
|
| Caption, C1=
|
Source, SO=
|
| Category, M1=
|
Subfile, SF=
|
| Geographic Terms,
TG= |
Taxonomic Terms, TX= |
| ISSN, IS= |
Title, TI= |
Contact us
Bharat Book Bureau
207, Hermes Atrium,
Sector 11, Plot No.57,
PO Box.54, CBD Belapur,
Navi Mumbai - 400 614, India.
Phone:+91-(022)-2757 8668 / 2757 9438
Fax:+91-(022)-2757 9131
E-mail: info@bharatbook.com
WebSite: http://www.bharatbook.com
|
|
|
