Pearl Jacobson's Key Resources to Keep your Food Science Researcher Happy presentation

1. +
Key Resources to Keep
Your Food Science
Researcher Happy
Researcher Happy
Pearl Jacobson, Science
Librarian, Carleton University
Pearl Jacobson
Science Librarian
Carleton University Library

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Why food science….?
 As „scholarly‟ subfield, it‟s relatively new
 Cuts across disciplines – „hard‟ sciences, social
sciences, policy and legal studies
 Food science more ideologically driven (compared to pure
chemistry, chemical engineering, biochemistry)
 For all these reasons….assessing quality and reputation of
resources can present real challenges

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Databases: General
Examples Impression
 SciFinder  All very useful, „core‟
 PubMed (+Agricola)  Indexing can be an issue
 Food science jargon, i.e.
 Web of Science beverage, cereal, confectio
nary, marine, oil
 Scopus
 Google Scholar

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Specialized databases
Examples Impression
 Culinary Arts Collection  Both useful, „niche‟
 Food Science and Technology  Culinary Arts
Abstracts (FSTA)  Focus is trade information: “food
commodities” and product devp‟t
 E.g. Journal of Herbs, Spices and
Medicinal Plants, World
Grain, Animal Production  FSTA focus is scholarly
Science, Journal of the American  E.g. topic search „breast milk
Oil Chemists’ Society isolates‟ – unique results found
compared with multidisciplinary
dtbses

5. + Food Science and Technology
Abstracts
 Organization IFIS (UK) produces index; since 1969
 Need STN academic account to access content per-search
 Purchase database on EBSCO, Thompson ($6K to 9K)
 Interesting model
 Team of scientists: biotech, plant chemist, medic, microbiologist
 Determine what to include: little cover-to-cover indexing
 Team rewrites abstracts and keeps blog
 Indexing extensive (e.g. MeSH has 2 terms for wine and beer; FSTA
has over 100!)

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Monographs/Series
Examples Impression
 Taylor and Francis (CRC/Dekker)  Variable
Series
 Food Sci & Technology Series  Use caution with:
 Food & Culinary Science  Series such as “Progress…” or
“New developments…”
 Wiley-Interscience  Books formatted as textbooks
(Wiley)
 Food
safety, security, processing, tech, f
ood legislation
 Large edited volumes <5,000 pages*
* “The whole of the journey that our food
 Springer-Verlag takes, from farm to fork, is fraught with the
risks of contamination” -Food Safety: A Practical
 European emphasis; several series and Case Study Approach, ISEKI European Food
Consortium, Springer (2006)

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Monographs Cont‟d
Examples Impression
 Nova (US) - global focus  Variable – check
 Food production/security studies; language, editing, industry
China, Middle East, Australia representation bias
 Chemistry of specific foods: e.g.
peanuts, cherries, beans, barley  May be more targeted; can find
material that otherwise would not
 Woodhead (UK) - incorp‟d Chandos see in larger series publications
 Focus on food quality and safety
 Destech (US) -eng/tech publisher
 Specializes in food
packaging, materials and thermal
processing

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Government sources
Examples Impression
 PubMed Agricola (USDA)  Discovery difficult because
metadata poor or incomplete
 Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada (Canadian federal
government)
 Statistics Canada

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Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
(AAFC)
 AAFC Database: 9 Canadian research centres
 Mostly BC and Ottawa
 Technical and industry-related reports, book
chapters, proceedings (some peer-reviewed)
 Many documents produced by external consultants through gov‟t
contracts
 Still, can be extremely valuable for research in food science
 Useful where the science has safety or regulatory implications

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What‟s different?
Chemistry Food science
 „Let‟s try to collect everything!‟  Capturing niche areas –global
publications, smaller
 What do other universities publishers, journals with narrower
have? appeal
 Much of what needed available  Attention to government-
in package journal deals produced and industry
sources, and smaller publishers
 More vigilant and proactive about
evaluating quality and credibility

11. Despair.com

12. Thank you!
Pearl Jacobson
Pearl Jacobson
Science Librarian (Chemistry, Food
Science, Physics, Mathematics)
Carleton University Library
613.520.2600 x1354
pearl_jacobson@carleton.ca