Hello,
It looks like our access to Access Medicine has been restored.
If you continue to experience any problems, please let me know right away.
Thanks,
Anne
Hello-
FY2008-09 Form
Just a reminder that there is a new form for logging instruction and outreach statistics for FY 2008-09, meaning anything after July 1, 2008. I've seen some August and September statistics on the FY 2007-08 form, so please change your bookmarks to: https://hsllibs.wufoo.com/forms/hsl-instruction-outreach-statistics-200809/. I've also posted this link on the LEIS page in the FY2008 section.
Don't forget about outreach
Also, I encourage you to log not only all of your instruction efforts (except for consultations, of course, which now go into Desk Tracker), but also to log your outreach efforts. Have you spoken to any outside groups or unaffiliated professionals? Have you done any exhibits, either on or off campus? These need to be logged. As an official Outreach Library for the Greater Midwest Region (GMR) of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM), we have a contractual obligation to provide outreach to the region and we need to be able to report these efforts to the GMR. Also, of course, we need to have a clear picture of what outreach we are doing for our own internal purposes.
Thanks very much,
Martha
Hello,
As some of you may have already noticed, our access to Access Medicine has been cut off. We are working on the problem and hope to have access restored soon.
We get several e-books through Access Medicine, so you may receive some questions at the reference desk. Please let the patron know that we are aware of the problem, and we are working on it.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Anne
Greetings,
As you know, we do have a few guest passwords for public workstations (PCs) at the Bio-Medical Library. They are listed on a clipboard at the Circulation Desk. Please log the passwords used, along with the time and the workstation ID (found on the hard drive box under the table).
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Log the patron in. We do not give out the usernames and passwords.
- The passwords are very tricky (eg, it is easy to confuse l and 1).
- Remember to change the pull down menu to AD.
- The public workstations are primarily for research and study.
The clipboard is currently located at the Circ Desk near the cash register, but that will likely change with the reconfiguration of the integrated service desk (deconstruction and reconstruction start Monday).
Thanks,
Martha
Greetings,
Another thing the NTCC trainers talked about in the PubMed Class on Tuesday were the big changes coming any moment now to MyNCBI. At some point this week, MyNCBI will be taken down for a few hours (see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so08/so08_myncbi_unavailable.html).
For a sneak peak at the changes to MyNCBI, please see: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/so08/so08_myncbi_redesign.html. There will be significant changes to navigation, managing collections and saved searches plus a new bibliography feature. Also, according to the NTCC trainers, one will now be able to save an unlimited number of searches within a single MyNCBI account.
If you are not yet subscribed to the NLM Technical Bulletin, I strongly encourage you to do so. It really is an essential resource for keeping up with news from NLM, especially changes to PubMed and thus avoid at least some of those awkward moments of logging into PubMed and being totally surprised by new features or functionality. You can sign up to receive email alerts or subscribe to the RSS feed here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/tb.html.
Martha
Greetings,
Those of you who do instruction might be interested in this 12-minute video from NLM: Branching Out: The MeSH Vocabulary (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/video/). We watched this during the NTCC PubMed class on Tuesday. I think it could be useful to push this out to students before an integrated instruction class to introduce them to the concept of MeSH. We could also post this and other similar videos and presentations on WebCT/Vista or Moodle pages as supplementary material. Should we post this on our Bio-Med Web page? What do you think?
The NTCC trainers also showed these cute little animated tutorials from the University of Lethbridge Library about Boolean Operators: http://www.uleth.ca/lib/guides/research/display.asp?PageID=35.
There's a bunch of other instructional material on the NLM Distance Education Program Resources page (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/dist_edu.html).
Martha
Now that we are using Desk Tracker to record literature searches, there is no longer a prompt to record “purpose of search.” This information should be entered in the notes field at the bottom of the form, however it is important to use standard language in order to facilitate data-mining for subsequent reports.
Please record purpose of search using standard language, as found on the print and online search request forms:
Patient Care
Clinical Decision Making
Management Decision Making
Research or Teaching
Paper or Presentation
Other
Judy Stanke
Greetings,
As you know from my earlier email, the Bio-Medical Library is participating in the University Libraries 2008 Voter Registration Drive. Reference staff will likely be called upon by student workers to answer more complex questions about voter registration and related topics, so please familiarize yourself with this information. Many questions can be answered by consulting the Minnesota Secretary of State's Election Center.
Here are a couple of additional, handy resources:
- National Mail Voter Registration Form: This form can be used to register for any state in the United States.
- United States Election Assistance Commission Voter Information Center: includes information about becoming a poll worker, polling hours by state, finding a congressional district, etc.
Below is the text of my original email, so that you can easily find it again by searching this blog.
Please contact Emily or me with questions. Thanks to all of you for helping to make this voter registration drive a success.
Martha
****************************************************************
Greetings,
I am very pleased to announce that the University Libraries are sponsoring a voter registration drive in partnership with MPIRG. According to the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (http://www.ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea98/HR6.pdf), the University has an obligation to make a "good faith effort" to distribute voter registration forms to students and to facilitate the voter registration process. The University Libraries are making voter registration forms are readily available in all Twin Cities libraries.
Soft roll out of voter registration drive begins today (Wednesday, September 10). At the Bio-Medical Library, the voter registration forms are on the 2nd floor Circulation Desk. The official start of the drive is Monday, September 15. The drive ends October 14. Emily Reimer and I are the drive coordinators for the Bio-Medical Library, so please contact either of us with any questions.
The drive will be publicized via the Monday Memo, the Daily and posters posted around campus. We will post additional posters in the snap frames, post a news item on the Bio-Medical Library site, and include an item in the stall fliers. Bookmarks should soon arrive from the printer which publicize the drive.
Key procedures:
* Place completed registration forms in the box on the Circulation Desk.
* In order to be valid, registration cards must be signed and dated.
* Do not seal the forms.
* The voter registration drive must be a non-partisan effort. It is not appropriate for any staff to engage in discussion of candidates or issues with or around patrons during this registration drive.
* While the University Libraries cannot dictate staff apparel, please use your best judgment about wearing political buttons or garb to work during the drive.
* Please let me or Emily know if you notice that we are low on registration forms.
Resources for more information about the drive and the voter registration process:
* Staff Wiki page (https://wiki.lib.umn.edu/VoterRegistrationDrive2008/HomePage). See especially Instructions for Registrants (http://staff.lib.umn.edu/cdm/ersc/instructions.pdf).
* Minnesota Secretary of State Elections Center (http://www.sos.state.mn.us/home/index.asp?page=4). Many answers to questions about registering or voting in Minnesota can be found here.
* Voting in the 2008 United States Elections (http://govpubs.lib.umn.edu/guides/election2008.phtml). This University Libraries public Web page includes basic information about the voter registration drive.
* Wilson Reference public Web page (http://wilson.lib.umn.edu/reference/politics/). (Note: this page is still in process and the title may change.)
o This is a fun, interactive Web page that includes all kinds of neat features, including information on political issues & candidates, lists of books & videos, news feeds and more. I encourage you to go look at the wonderful set of posters created by University students that encourage people to register and to vote. Students can also post about why they want to vote or think that voting is important.
Stay tuned for more information regarding a number of on-campus events the University Libraries are offering in conjunction with the voter registration drive. Kirsten Clark will offer workshops on Researching the 2008 Elections (http://www.lib.umn.edu/registration/index.phtml#eventidXX272). One or two more events are in the works but not yet confirmed. We will keep you posted.
Questions? Please let us know.
Martha Hardy and Emily Reimer