Health Sciences Librarian's News & Views

2010-06-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Just when I was starting to figure out Zotero, (wonderful, free Firefox compatible citation management program) now I've got to start all over with EndNote - while everyone back where I came from is having fun with RefWorks. They all are basically the same with the major functions. Researchers will love the ability to attach a PDF to their bibliographic data and basically create their own library - and search the full text of what they've imported. With all of the different style requirements form various publishers, this program should be great for researchers wanting to enter citations properly while writing for publication. There's new flexibility with online groups when collaborating. I'd love to hear form anyone wanting to share their experiences, especially assisting users or doing classes.

Announcing 2010 MeSH Vocabulary

2009-09-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

At long last - presenting the 2010 MeSH controlled vocabulary: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2010/mesh_browser/MBrowser.html

About the MeSH Browser:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/mbinfo.html

Some of us remember the long-awaited trio of volumes published annually by NLM: the alphabetical annotated MeSH, the "Tree Structures," and, Permuted MeSH - which quite honestly I miss for those times when serendipitous flipping through pages might lead to a great find. I also miss the annual NLM update when expert searchers in the arrea would define all of the new terms and alert us to what subject headings had been discontinued or changed.

Cell Press and Elsevier

2009-07-22T17:54:00.001-07:00

One very interesting post arrived today from a medical librarian list-serv I subscribe to that alerted me to a whole new concept, along with the wonderful librarian blog announcing it: http://scholarship20.blogspot.com/2009/07/article-of-future.html. More to follow, this is going to be big, and so powerfully described by McKiernan - enjoy!

PubMed Widget

2009-07-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

Be the first to use the PubMed widget just added to this blog and tell me what you think -

Whoa - Not so Fast on Clinical Reader!

2009-07-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

Medical librarian Nicole Dettmar has the scoop on "Clinical Reader," and thanks to her discerning watchdogging as chronicled on her blog, Eagle Dawg Blog, we've been spared any further slobbering over something that, simply put, was too good to be true.

Clinical Reader: A New Current Awareness Site!

2009-07-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

An announcement of a wonderful new current awareness Web site just came in via my medical librarian list-serv, from Duke Medical Center Librarian Connie Schardt, President of the Medical Library Association and who quotes from the Clinical Reader site:

"At this moment, high impact research and health news articles are scattered across hundreds of sites. That´s far too much for any reader to follow.Welcome to Clinical Reader, a truly quality collection of accessible clinical, scientific and health literature aiming to ease information delivery to the medical community. Focus your time, discover new links, fine-tune your online experience in a bid to effectively manage online clinical browsing. Our regularly updated content features the latest articles from high impact factor and popular journals, health news sources and prime multimedia content. Headlines are swiftly visualized and seamlessly linked to abstract or full content articles to keep our community aware of current research, trends and analysis. Login with Athens to further enhance your online experience."

very cool!

Don't waste another minute! Share your comments after checking out the the link: http://clinicalreader.com/

Coming Soon: Keeping current in your field of interest

2009-06-02T16:19:00.001-07:00

PubMed Changes & Recalling the Medline Updates of Years Gone By

2009-06-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

This is a mental note to link to the video presentation from this year's MLA (Medical Library Association) annual conference in Honolulu that outlines changes to the NCBI new home page - with a major redesign as well as new custom featueres and no limits now to the number of saved searches. Everyone is breathing a deep sigh of relief to learn that the Single Citation Matcher feature is NOT going away, as originally forecast! Instead there will be three different ways to complete a "citation fragment," including by means of the PubMed search box - without having to tag the terms, and finally by using the advanced search feature. the new PubMed summary format is like evrything else, simplified and more user friendly - and they showed a mock up of a cleaner, sharper image for the familiar PubMed home page. Another major change is the disappearance of the icons showing free full text links - there's a whole new feel to that , with three different types of links whether it be to a PubMed Central or free journal site. If a citation lacks the familiar abstract notation, then just knowthat it includes an abstract - unless indicated: "Abstract not available."

I look back to pre-Internet days and recall the big yearly "Medline Updates" each Fall, when the new MeSH subject terms were unleashed - my favorite ones being the wonderful presentations by the late Susan Feinglos, former Director at the Duke Medical Center Library. The most memorable update occured at Burrough's Wellcome Pharmaceuticals (everything there is top secret, amazing security procedures for visitors!). It was a sad day because Anwar Sadat had just been assassinated by a madman and the wide TV screens were all broadcsting the riveting news. Susan kept her calm and guided the update to a smooth finale amid the stunning news. Her passing several years ago was a big loss to the profession. There were so many outstanding professionals back there in the Reserach Triange Park area of beautiful North Carolina.

Enviro-Health Links - Swine Flu

2009-04-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

The National Library of Medicine has released a new web page on swine flu -

Included is the latest information from several US and international agencies and organizations, treatment information, genetic sequence data, information in Spanish, searches of PubMed, the NLM Catalog, and more.

Deciphering Medspeak

2009-04-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

Baffled by the ever-growing lexicon of medical terms? Let the Medical Library Association's brochure, Deciphering Medspeak demystify the jargon using an A to Z listing of common terms, a prescription shorthand guide, and guidelines to identify quality health-related informnation on the Internet - including a list of MLA's "Top Ten" Most Useful Websites.

Medical Information and the Flu Pandemic of 1918

2009-04-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

Are we a culture of fear? there's lot's of buzz today over the growing swine flu outbreak - so much for local worry over the copepods and rotifers here in Hartford's public water supply! Great that friends overseas are actively concerned, we are all in this together. I'm reminded of Alfred Cosby's highly acclaimed book, "America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918," which among other things noted that ignorance and limited medical information and knowledge of public health practices accelerated transmission of the flu (and pneumonia), while news of the disease and precautionary measures took a back seat, censored and suppressed in favor of military communication and updates during World War I. stay tuned for more onthis and for the best late-breaking news check out EBM and Clinical Support Librarians @ UCHC

Current Awareness Strategies

2008-08-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

What's Current Awareness? It's developing a strategy for staying abreast of the latest advances or developments in the published literature in your subject areas of interest and goes along with continuing education in your profession.

How do I stay current? The most popular plan is to set up automatic alerts - either eTOCS (electronic journal tables of contents) or Saved Searches AKA Subject Alerts, like the old SDIs - which you may receive by email or RSS Feeds. The great news is that eTOCS and Search Alerts are free!

Two kinds of eTOCS
1. Set up a free account at individual journal's Web sites, such as The New England Journal of Medicine: http://content.nejm.org/ or The Medical Letter: http://medicalletter.org/html/email_notification.htm

2. Set up an account to receive tables of contents of multiple journals from publisher's sites such as OvidSP: http://gateway.ovid.com/ Science Direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/ or PubMed Central: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/

Receive automatic updates on subject searches:
1. Run a search on a database such as Science direct, CINAHL or PubMed and save the search or select "Alerts." Set up your free account. With PubMed set up NCBI account.
2. Go to a journal Web site and look for search box, save search, then sign in or set up free account.

2. Get results by email or RSS Feeds
After selecting journal titles or saving search subject, you'll be asked for delivery method. You might want to just type in your email address where updates will be sent, or -
Set up an RSS Reader! the major way to do this is to either register at Google Reader using your existing Google account or register with Bloglines.

3. Some basic info on RSS (Really Simnple Syndication) Journal updates and search results will arrive right to your reader - Basically you can log in from any computer with an Internet connection or cell phone with Web access. Or, you may have a site's feed automatically sent to the RSS reader built into your web browser - but accessible only from that one computer.

Stay tuned for more information on why and how to use a RSS Feeder!

2008-08-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

MedlinePlus - The Number One Consumer Health Website

Want to stay abreast of the latest health news and get quick and reliable information on hundreds of health topics? Move over, Web MD - That's because Medline Plus is the most authoritative and up-to-date health information Web site from the world’s largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Here are a few of its major features:
*most recent and accurate information on prescriptions or over-the-counter medicines
*basic health information on over 800 topics in over 40 languages
*current health information on medical advances, controversies or topics in the news
*extensive medical encyclopedia that includes definitions, pictures and diagrams
*pre-recorded video webcasts of surgical procedures
*interactive tutorials on dozens of major health topics
*option to receive updates and news via RSS feeds or email ...and much more! MedlinePlus is an excellent starting point for consumer health information in both English and Spanish and is noted for its well-organized search interface, including an option for large font display. MedlinePlus is a top choice of health professionals for patient teaching and includes preformatted PubMed database search results formulated by librarians at the National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus directs consumers to dictionaries, organizations, directories, libraries and clearinghouses for answers to specific health questions and then matches consumer language to medical terminology. Also included is the quarterly MedlinePlus Magazine for patients and families published by the National Institutes of Health. Whether for your own or for your friends and family’s health concerns, MedlinePlus is the premiere consumer health resource and is one of the best examples of your tax dollars at work.

LibGuides Are Coming!

2008-07-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

The SHU Library has added LibGuides to our resources and offers subject guides to help you search a favorite subject area or look at some quick research techniques to use with our resources. You'll discover that Libguides hold the key to more effective searching, useful collections of links, book lists, research help, multimedia, RSS feeds, customized search results, and other information useful to faculty and students alike.The LibGuides format offers a standard platform to give Sacred Heart University students and faculty useful help with research topics, book lists, searching tips, and other information that should get you to the information you need. LibGuides are used widely by the best librarians to package information and provide knowledge using a variety of features from blogs, social bookmarking tools, wikis, and other venues - and they even integrate with Blackboard and Facebook. Come back and visit over the next few months to sharpen you search skills or tap into the latest in health information. You might hear about an amazing and reliable health related Web site or database that's new to you, or you might enjoy commenting on some of our many new health sciences books or evidence-based search technique.

Welcome to the Health Sci Info Blog

2008-07-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Health Sci Information Blog here at Sacred Heart - It's not easy to keep up with the latest scientific advances and best practices in the fast-changing health and life sciences, so stay tuned for helpful strategies and useful resources to connect with what you need to know. Even though the focus will be on information in Biology, Human Movement & Exercise Science, Nursing, Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy, health inforamtion has grown more multidisciplinary so look for coverage in all areas of clincial medicine and health informatics too. Let me know how this blog can best be put to work, and you'll hear back from me as soon as possible. See you here or in the library- Ellen B.- Librarian for Health Sciences at SHU