There will be two free hands-on online database classes offered in Minneapolis at the Bio-Medical Library, AHC Learning Commons, Diehl Hall.
The NLM Gateway and ClinicalTrials.gov (3.5 MLA CE Hours) will be on Monday, September 15, 2008 from 1:00 to 4:30pm. (The NLM Gateway & Clinical Trails database is of particular interest to public and consumer health librarians and all health information consumers.)
The PubMed® (7.5 MLA CE Hours) class will be held on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
There have been many recent enhancements to PubMed®, including:
* Additions to “My NCBI” to allow for customize of your display, choosing your own filters, saving citations and generating automatic email alerts from PubMed®.
* Citation “sensors”.
* NEW “Automatic term mapping”.
* NEW Advanced search.
All these classes are intended for health sciences library staff, public librarians, health professionals and anyone interested in using the National Library of Medicine databases which are renowned. Use this on-line registration form for a simplified sign-up: http://nnlm.gov/ntcc/classes/register.html?schedule_id=408
These classes are taught by two trainers from the National Training Center & Clearinghouse, 800-338-7657 (press 2), of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine of the National Library of Medicine. All training materials will be provided free of charge.
Please contact me with questions. Thanks!
Martha
I don't know about you, but I <3 the searching and welcome opportunities to improve my skills. So, I am pleased to see that the JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship blog is now offering weekly search challenges.
Want to give it a try? Here is this week's question:
Does the use of a pressure-reducing bed or mattress lead to a reduction in the incidence of pressure sores or other complications in an adult hospital in-patient population?
Enjoy!
Martha
Greetings, campers!
Here are the search questions for our first Search Camp. Remember, one is a more traditional literature search question, and the other is a clinically-oriented question.
For the first Search Camp, we won't be putting one of you on the spot - Liz or Del will present the searches in the manner we'd like to run the sessions for the summer. That way, you can get a feel for how it will be done. Remember, though, that you'll get the most out of this if you work on the questions in advance. After the presenter goes over how s/he did the search, we'll open it up to discussion. Be ready to contribute!
And here are the questions:
1. Find studies on the use of colloidal silver as an antimicrobial agent.
2. A 14 year old boy presents in clinic with five days of persistent headache. Find clinical tools to help support the physician.
Some hints - for number 2, useful things include a differential diagnosis (ddx) list, which is a list of possible conditions that could cause persistent headache; guidelines on evaluating and treating headache in adolescents, etc. Try to anticipate the types of questions a clinician might have in this situation. Check out the "Resources for Clinicians" page, and the matrix I put together about our clinical resources (http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/help/guides/resourcesforclinicians).
Let me know if you have any questions, and see you on Wednesday at 10:00 in 555!
Liz
Hello all! Here is this month's reference challenge, based on what Martha showed us about Google U.S. Government Search and Google Patents at today's meeting:
1. What is the name of the bill recently introduced in Congress to address shortages of resident physicians in the U. S. due to Medicare caps? What are the House and Senate bill numbers?
2. What is the name of the device for which Samuel M. Kellum filed a patent in 1895? What it the patent number?
Give your answers to Del, and let Martha know if you have any questions about either of these resources. We'll go over these at our next meeting.
Enjoy!
Liz
If you didn't get a copy at the reference training meeting, here are this month's reference challenge questions. Remember, these are most easily answered using SciFinder Scholar. Clarify these cites, and figure out if they're held on campus. Give your answers to Del, and we'll go over the questions at the April Reference Training meeting. If you need help with SciFinder, see Liz or Del. Enjoy!
1. "Improvement of Blood Compatibility of Membranes by Discharge Polymerization," H. K. Yasuda, M. O. Bumgarner, R. G. Mason: ACS ORPL Prepar. 34(1) 574-677 (1974)
2. "Parylene Coated Polypropylene Microfibers as Cell Seeding Substrates," F. R. Tittmann, W. F. Beach, CA: 94(10)71420p
Hello all,
The Electronic Resources for Clinicians handout that I distributed at today's reference training meeting is on the O: drive (Biomed-->PubServ-->Instruction-->Electronic Resources for Clinicians-->Handout-Electronic Resources for Clinicians.doc). Feel free to post it to your page, distribute it to classes, friends, family, etc. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!
Liz
This month's reference challenge involves two old citations. Clarify the citation, and figure out if we have the material. Give your answers to Del. Have fun!
1) Carnegie Institution, Jennings, H. S, 1904, # 16
2) Tenchini (autor), Un Casa Asenza Completa Del Setto Lunido in un Bambino di Anni due e Mezzo Colla Integritta Delle Funcione Inteletualli. Boll. Scient, 2: 6, 1881.
HI all,
As we all know, the University Libraries has had a subscription to RefWorks for the past few years. Before we officially supported a campus-wide license to RW, librarians at Bio-Med and Magrath were helping our clients with EndNote. EndNote is a client-based software, which means you have to install it on one machine to use it. One reason why the U Libraries decided to support RefWorks was that it is web-based, meaning that users can get to their references from any Internet-connected computer.
Now, EndNote has come out with a web-based program, as well as continuing to sell their client-based software (which is currently in version 10). The web-based software is now embedded in Web of Science databases (since ISI owns WOS & EN).
You can see this for yourself by logging into WOS and doing a search. The option to add this to EN Web appears to the right of the search results.
To use EN Web, you have to register with ISI (which you can do within WOS).
If you get questions about EN or EN Web please refer people to EndNote's tech support and/or web pages:
EndNote (www.endnote.com)
EndNote Web (www.endnoteweb.com)
We still have on our web site, pages for assisting people with EndNote software (http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/help/guides/software) While I believe that the essential mechanics of using EndNote hasn't changed that much since version 6 (when we last taught RW), I think it is wise to also direct general questions about how to use EN to their tech support listed on their web site.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Lisa
This month's reference challenge concerns finding meeting abstracts. A patron approaches you at the desk with the three citations listed below. Do we have the abstract books for these meetings? What are the complete citations?
Give your answers to Del, and remember how you found them so that we can discuss at our February training meeting. Enjoy!
1. Rosendorf C. Catecholamine-induced coronary spasm in hypercholesterolemia. Proc. Florence Int. Meeting on Myocard. Infarction: Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, 1979; 217.
2. Rogers GG. et al, Tiapamil – hemodynamics and myocardial salvage in primates. Abstracts, 1st International Symposium on Tiapamil, Lausanne, April 8-10, 1981.
3. Klugman KP et al, Intracerebral noradrenergic pathway and hypothalamic blood flow. Abstracts, Int Symp. On Neural Mechanisms in Cereb. Blood flow, Iowa City, 1981.
Thanks to Steve and Ryan, there is now a patron account for the Reference staff in Aleph. So, from now on, any new books of interest that are routed to staff should be checked out to this account. This accomplishes a couple of things. First, it means that these books show up in MNCAT as being checked out (instead of available, as they have in the past). Second, it means that patrons can recall them, if necessary.
Katherine has the actual library card. The account name is medref and the email attached to it is medref@umn.edu. This means that overdue notices, recall notices, etc. will be emailed to medref. If a book goes missing or is recalled, however, I am happy to make the rounds to track it down amongst the staff.
Questions? Please let me know.
Thanks,
Martha
Did you know you can save a search in PubMed and create a URL to that search to post to a blog or wiki or whatever?
Here's how to do it:
1. Create your search in PubMed
2. Go to the Details tab
3. Click on the URL button
This will generate a URL that you can copy and save for whatever diabolical purposes you have in mind!
For an example, visit my del.icio.us page about public health resources and go to the PubMed search on "avian flu"
That's your Tip of the Day!
--Lisa
Those of you who were at the Reference Training meeting on 11/22/06 got a copy of this month's Reference Challenge question. At every reference training meeting, we'd like to hand out a real-life tricky question that we received from a patron, and give everyone a chance to try and answer it. This is a great opportunity to flex your reference muscles, and see how your colleagues approached a tough question. And, let's admit it people, stuff like this is ridiculously fun.
So, without further ado, here is this month's Reference Challenge:
A patron wants to cite this reference. Verify the citation, and determine if the item is held at the University of Minnesota.
Bielschowsky, A. "Die Innervation des musculi recti interni als Seitenwender," Ber Dtsch ophthalmol Ges 1903; 30: 164-71 (as cited in Van Vliet, A. G. M.: "Posttraumatic Ocular Imbalance." In Vinken, P. J. Bruyn, G. W., (eds) Handbook of Clinical Neurology. vol. 24, Amsterdam: North Holland, 1976; 75.)
Give your answer to Del, and keep track of your strategy so we can compare at the next meeting! Also, if you've worked on a question you'd like to nominate for the next Reference Challenge, let Del or Liz know. Have fun!
Liz
Here is a brief recap of the information Lisa covered at the Reference Training meeting on 11/22, regarding access to electronic resources/sending PDFs of articles to patrons.
See the InfoPoint staff page (http://staff.lib.umn.edu/rcs/dist/ref/infopoint/) for resources that may be helpful to you when troubleshooting access to resources.
In addition to the information on the InfoPoint page, here is a brief blurb InfoPoint (IP) uses when they end up emailing a PDF to a patron who is having access difficulties. IP will only send out a PDF to an affiliated patron (faculty/staff/student) when they are having access problems to a resource and/or indicate a need for the information ASAP. Staff who do medref should also be aware of this and utilize the language below whenever emailing a PDF occurs.
Here is a template of text that IP includes when this happens:
We apologize for the difficulties you encountered in attempting to access the article needed from [Journal Name]. We are still working to resolve the access problem, but in the meantime are sending you the document you indicated needing. [The language in the first paragraph varies, depending on the situation]
Please note that this article is protected by copyright and licensing terms. This copy should be for your own personal use and not be distributed further. [These last two sentences should be included somewhere in the email every time we send a PDF of an article or other copyright-protected or licensed information].
Thanks for your patience.
If you have any questions, feel free to talk to Lisa.