Welcome to the 2010-2011 academic year and your health sciences and human services library. There are so many possibilities for new years around the university – new calendar years, new fiscal years – but nothing feels quite like the start of a new academic year. The pace of the campus picks up, and the energy returns. Here in the HS/HSL, the phone rings more often, there are more people everywhere, and I can never find any of the Library liaisons because they are out in the schools working with faculty and staff. We have some exciting new projects to be unveiled this year, including a presentation studio and the campus digital archive. We are working on ideas for the 2011 Library symposium, and Frankenstein is coming!

I suppose that a new year requires New Year’s resolutions.  So…

• The staff of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library resolves to meet the health and human services information needs of our diverse constituents through the provision of services, resources, and products in the best format, when needed.
• We resolve to support discovery, learning, and service, as well as preserve the historical record of the Campus.

Hmmm, that sounds suspiciously like our Mission Statement. Every year we recommit ourselves to this mission and this new year is no different.

So, Happy New Year and welcome, or welcome back!

The HS/HSL has created a variety of subject guides to assist you in using helpful resources such as e-books, databases, and websites. These resources have been carefully selected by HS/HSL librarians and staff and are a great starting point for a class assignment or research project.  As we begin the Fall semester, some of the subject guides that may be helpful to students are Research Essentials , which provides tools to help you begin searching for literature and writing a paper, Library Services for Distance Students , which will help students taking online courses gain access to library resources, and the Writing and Citing subject guide, which recommends online tools for citing resources  in a variety of styles, including APA and MLA.  To see these and an array of other guides the HS/HSL offers, please visit the Subject Guides page of our website.

The folks that bring you the esteemed scientific journal Nature are offering Scitable, “a free science library and personal learning tool…that concentrates on genetics, the study of evolution, variation, and the rich complexity of living organisms.” Topic Rooms cover gene expression, inheritance and transmission, and nucleic acid structure and function, to name a few. Scitable also offers group collaboration and study space, portfolio space, glossaries, and more.

Every semester the HS/HSL offers a wide range of library workshops to help you use library resources and technology more effectively. All workshops are free to UMB faculty, staff, and students. Sample topics include RefWorks, PubMed, Medical Apps for Your Smart Phone, and Grant Proposal Writing. This semester the HS/HSL is offering several new workshops, including Nursing Apps for Your Smart Phone and Medline Plus for Consumer Health Information.

We will also be offering a series of special workshops during Google: Beyond Searching Week (October 19th – 21st), where you will learn about Google Tools, such as Docs, Alerts, and Reader, that can help you gather and present information.  For the full list of workshops, with descriptions and online registration, please visit the Library’s Workshop Schedule.

Can’t make one of our regularly scheduled workshops?  Sign up for an On Demand Workshop. On Demand Workshops are offered to individuals or small groups who cannot make one of our scheduled workshops or would like instruction on a topic that is not included in the regular schedule.

August 23, 2010 – January 3, 2011

Holiday Schedule

Winter hours will begin on Monday, January 3, 2011

The HS/HSL is currently hosting selected paintings, sculpture and drawings from the Wounded in Action art exhibit.  This national exhibit has been developed by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and will be on display at the HS/HSL’s Weise Gallery and the SMC Campus Center until November 12, 2010.

In support of this exhibit, the Library will host a special workshop offered by the Southeastern Atlantic Regional Medical Library entitled "Combating Information Fatigue: Health Information Resources for Veterans" on October 6th from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.  This workshop will cover resources for finding information on general health conditions; mental health resources, including those for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); family issues; substance abuse; amputations; and support groups for veterans and their families.  To register, visit the Library’s Workshop Schedule.

For additional information regarding veteran’s health, take a look at the Wounded in Action guide created by HS/HSL librarians.  The title of the Wounded in Action guide will change to Veteran’s Health when the exhibit is concluded in November.

Shop UMB, located in the lobby of the HS/HSL, offers a selection of University of Maryland, Baltimore gift items. For a limited time, all merchandise is half off (excepting UMB cookbooks). Items are on display in a showcase in the Library’s lobby and include umbrellas, aprons, sweatshirts, note cubes, tote bags, and more, all sporting the distinctive UMB seal.

Request and purchase your item at the Circulation Desk while supplies last.

Yani Yancey will be working at HS/HSL for the next year as part of the National Library of Medicine’s Associate Fellowship Program.  Yani spent the first year of the program at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, where her projects included creation of a web-based preview for the MedlinePlus redesign and development of an institutional policy for using social media.  She received her Master’s of Library Science from the University of Maryland, College Park where she worked as a graduate assistant at McKeldin Library.  She looks forward to working with the Services Division staff and being involved in community outreach efforts here at UMB during the second year of her fellowship.

Libraries of all sizes and descriptions are increasingly facing space constraints. In an effort to help with this problem, the Congress of Academic Library Directors (CALD), an organization of academic libraries in Maryland, has instituted a shared distributed journal project.

Under this model, libraries identify complete runs of journal titles in their collection, promise to maintain them, and provide rapid interlibrary loan to other participating libraries.  Other libraries that own the journals are then free to discard journal backfiles to free space in their stacks.

While the HS/HSL has the space and is committed to maintaining all of its journal collection in our building, we have contributed nineteen titles to the collection as a service to other institutions in Maryland.

The HS/HSL offers a variety of tutorials on our own YouTube Channel and subject guides on our website to help students navigate the complex world of research options. We encourage faculty to link directly to these resources from their Blackboard classes so students will need to look no further for these useful tools.

Hispanic Heritage Month 2010 runs from September 15th through October 15th. Begun in 1968 as a week-long celebration and expanded by Congress in 1988 for an entire month, America celebrates the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. September 15th was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16th and September 18th, respectively.

The HS/HSL website offers an updated guide to health resources in Spanish, Recursos de salud en español, with links to reliable consumer health resources in Spanish.

This has been quite an active summer in the debates over publisher pricing, data sharing, and public access to federally funded research.

1. The summer began with the well-publicized dispute regarding the University of California System Libraries and Nature Publishing Group (NPG). The situation arose when the UC libraries were presented with a 400% increase to the cost of their system-wide site license to the 67 journals published by NPG – including their flagship title, Nature. This increase would boost the price per journal at UC from $4,500 to more than $17,000 per title. Faculty at the UC System has rallied behind the libraries in protest of this increase. More details can be found in this article from The Chronicle of Higher Education. At the HS/HSL and University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions Library Consortium, we are closely monitoring this situation.
2. In October 2010, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will begin mandating the submission of a data management plan with all proposal submissions. More about this policy change is available at the NSF website. Later this summer, CIO and Vice President for Computing and Information Technology Services, Peter Murray; Vice President for the Office of Research and Development, James Hughes; and I will be meeting to discuss potential approaches to this mandate. Data curation and access will continue to be important issues as it is expected other federal agencies will eventually follow suit.
3. Finally, discussion continues regarding public access to federally funded research. Since 2008, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has mandated the submission and depositing of articles into PubMed Central when the research upon which the articles are based has been funded by the NIH. The Federal Research Public Access Act, which was introduced in the Senate on June 25, 2009 and in the House of Representatives on April 15, 2010, would require that 11 U.S. government agencies with annual extramural research expenditures over $100 million make manuscripts of journal articles stemming from research funded by that agency publicly available via the Internet. On July 29, the Information Policy, Census and National Archives held the first-ever hearing on the issue of public access. Ten witnesses representing a broad spectrum of the stakeholder communities testified. The spirited testimony can be found at the Republican Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform website.

These are all items of interest to our scholarly community. Throughout the year, HS/HSL staff will be monitoring progress (or lack thereof) on these topics. If you have any thoughts on, or would like to discuss any of these issues, give me a call at 410.706.7545 or send me an email.

The staff of the HS/HSL welcomes UMB’s new president, Dr. Jay Perman in true library fashion. We have developed a resource guide entitled Childhood Obesity to honor his arrival and his special interest.

All Ovid databases, including MEDLINE, PsycInfo, and Evidence Based Medicine Reviews, now have a new interface. While there is a slight change to the look of these databases, searching within them remains the same. There are a couple notable changes. The Results Manager section, where you could previously email, print, and export citations, has been replaced by a streamlined toolbar. In addition, a new feature called My Projects allows you to share, comment on, and manage references.

RefWorks also has a new interface with a different look but the same basic functionality. Improvements to the interface include a new toolbar that allows you to easily create folders, generate bibliographies, or add new references, and quick access buttons for managing your references.  A citation viewer now allows you to paste citation place holders into a document without using Write-N-Cite.  Ref Grab-It and Write-N-Cite will remain unchanged.

Please contact the Reference Desk at 410.706.7996 or by email if you have any questions. The HS/HSL will also be offering RefWorks 2.0 Update Sessions where we review the new RefWorks features. Visit our Fall 2010 Workshop Schedule webpage to register.

Many of us rely on Google to find quick and relevant information, including research articles. But have you ever clicked on a link only to be faced with an annoying password screen? Drat! Now what? You can avoid this problem by starting your research at the HS/HSL homepage.

Publishers and database vendors only provide their articles to people with individual subscriptions or whose institutions pay large amounts of money per year for access. You CAN’T get directly in from the Google link to the publisher’s site because the site does not recognize that you are part of UMB. That’s why they ask for a password or payment. You CAN get in for free when you access the information through the Databases or Journals links on our webpage.

If you are connecting from an off-campus computer, you will only need to enter the UMB barcode from the back of your campus ID card and your last name. To avoid the frustration of being asked to pay for resources the Library already spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on, always begin your search from our website.

In addition you can try searching Google Scholar and configure it to link to UMB resources. At the Google Scholar homepage, click on the Scholar Preferences link next to the search box. There you will see a section called Library Links where you can search for the HS/HSL and save it in your preferences. Now when you search Google Scholar, the HS/HSL button will show up and link you right through! If you need assistance, please contact the Reference Desk at 410.706.7996 or by email.

The NIH has announced that as of July 23, 2010, Principal Investigators will be unable to enter citations manually into eRA Commons and must use My NCBI’s “My Bibliography” tool to manage their professional bibliographies. The goal of this change is to create “a more efficient, accurate and user-friendly way to manage their professional bibliographies, associate publications with their grant awards, and ensure compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. Visit the eRA website and click on "Manage Your Professional Bibliography (My NCBI)" which will expand into step-by-step instructions and/or tutorials for both Applicants and Grantees.

Beverly Gresehover, former Associate Director for Resources, retired on July 31st. Not many library users knew Bev because she oversaw the division of the Library that acquires the materials, organizes the information, and supports the access to our vast array of resources. The Resources staff members are the unsung, unseen heroes of the Library. Bev led the Resources Division for about six years although her career here stretched back further and included stints in Circulation, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, and Interlibrary Loan. During her time leading the Resources Division, she shepherded the team through some of the greatest changes the library community has ever seen. Through new library systems, automation of the interlibrary loan processes, the evolution of cataloging into metadata analysis, and most recently the planning for our digital archive and the next generation of discovery tools for our users. She worked with calmness, grace, and vision, learning with and being part of the team every step of the way. She was an excellent focus group facilitator and superlative note taker. Bev wanted to retire over a year ago but stayed on because she knew furloughs and freezes had had such a negative impact on the HS/HSL and that we would flounder with one more loss. What a colleague and friend! We will miss her but wish her all the best.

Each month the HS/HSL guide Cool Tools features a web-based application that can make your information gathering, tracking, and organization more efficient. July’s guide, Exploring Google Tools, provides helpful hints and tips on using some of the free web applications offered by Google.

Did you know that you can collaborate with a group by using Google Docs, a free web application that allows you to create, share, and edit documents, presentations, and spreadsheets online?

Keep updated on the topics of your choice by setting up Google Alerts. Google Alerts go directly to your email for easy access.

Want to know what The New York Times headlines are? Want to see the current table of contents for your favorite research journal? Google Reader manages your blog, news, and informational feeds through RSS.

In late October, the HS/HSL will feature a series of workshops focused on Google Tools. Visit our Workshop Schedule webpage to register.

Health literacy is defined as the ability to read, understand, and act on health care information. A number of important studies have linked low health literacy in the U.S. to low quality of health, low patient compliance, and disparities in the quality of health care. HS/HSL librarians have created a list of resources to guide you through the complex world of health literacy and clear health communication. Coverage includes assessment of literacy and readability, writing guides, and patient resources. The Cultural Diversity and Informed Consent sections include updated results from PubMed searches on those topics (via RSS feeds). Information is also offered as podcasts, videos, webcasts, and tutorials.

The HS/HSL recently received a WWI period photograph depicting the staff of Base Hospital #42, stationed in France during 1918. The item came to us through our collaboration with the University’s Medical Alumni Association, to whom the donor originally presented it. The Association graciously funded conservation work for the piece, which now hangs outside our Historical Reading Room. Base Hospital #42 originally was organized at the University of Maryland in June 1917 and subsequently mobilized at Camp Meade on April 1, 1918. The unit arrived at Bazoilles-sur-Meuse, Vosges, France on July 15, 1918 and began receiving and treating patients on the 19th. Our photograph is dated at Camp Meade on April 29, 1919, after the unit had returned from service and just a few days before being demobilized on May 2, 1919.

Even though we are open all year round, summer included, the conclusion of the academic year always seems like an endpoint. We say goodbye to the students who are leaving and wish them all the best. Or “see you next year” to the ones who still have to complete their academic journey. And then we shift gears. We adjust our hours for the summer, and the frenzy and tension of finals week becomes a memory. It used to be that the summer was truly our “slow” time. We would defer projects until we had time “in the summer” but we don’t seem to have a slow time anymore. As UMB has grown and advanced, this university has become a 365-day-of-the-year campus. About two weeks after graduation and the campus’ collective sigh of relaxation, it all begins again. Discovery continues in the labs. Grant applications are submitted. Students start summer classes. Residents begin at the hospital. We see more shorts, flip-flops, iced drinks, and even dress a little more casually ourselves but, we are into “summer busy.”

To students who are graduating – all the best!
To students who are returning – see you next year!
To everyone else – we’re here for you and we’ll see you around!

Summer Hours
(Friday, May 21, 2010 – Sunday, August 22, 2010)

Exceptions To Regular Hours

The HS/HSL sponsored the successful symposium @Hand: Mobile Technologies in Academia + Medicine on April 21, 2010. The symposium’s keynote and eight guest speakers addressed a range of topics including mobile application development, novel uses of mobile devices such as smart phones and ebook readers, and the adoption and dissemination of these tools in medical and academic settings.

Following the keynote address, the day was divided into three panels of invited speakers. The panel topics were Educational Uses of Mobile Technology, Clinical Uses of Mobile Technology, and Mobile Technology at UMB. The symposium attracted over 200 attendees from the UMB community and nearly 30 other regional institutions. The event was also streamed live over the internet to increase the potential audience. You can view the presentations at the @Hand website.

HS/HSL’s Consumer Health site now has a new look and new features! Here is what you can find…

Start Here: Looking for quality health information? Use the search box in this section to locate trusted health information from MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s consumer site with over 800 health topics. Read the tip of the day from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or ask the HS/HSL staff a question through the reference desk chat.

Health Check Tools: Need to calculate your body mass index or check out a lab test? Visit this section for links to lots of cool tools.

Maryland Resources: Trying to locate a nursing home or evaluate a hospital in Maryland? Links to directories and evaluation tools for nursing homes, hospitals, and more can be found here. Links to information and referral services such as 2-1-1 Maryland are also provided.

Medical and Health News: Want the latest news? RSS feeds from MedlinePlus and the CDC can be found in this section. Links to selected headline news sources such as the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post are provided as well as links to resources that can help you understand medical and health news.

At this year’s annual Campus Recognition and Community Service Awards program, three members of the Maryland Health → Go Local (MHGL) team, Alexa Mayo, Patricia Hinegardner, and Marianne Potter, accepted a Community Service Award on behalf of the entire team.

Back Row: Thom Pinho, Meredith Solomon, M.J. Tooey, Alexa Mayo, Michele Nance, Patricia Hinegardner, Brad Gerhart
Front Row: Marianne Potter, Ashley Cuffia, Emilie Ludeman, Christopher Hansen, Priscilla Anderson

Maryland Health -> Go Local, a web-based directory of local health care services and programs has served the citizens of Maryland for over five years. The team has worked diligently to build and maintain the directory. They were very pleased that the campus recognized the Health Sciences and Human Services Library’s contribution to community service through MHGL.

A new online submission form for HS/HSL E-Reserve requests is now available!

Each semester, faculty members can simply fill in the required information, attach a reading list or syllabus, and click “submit”.

On May 5, 40 members of the UMB community gathered in the Southern Management Corporation Campus Center to hear Tom Richardson, NEJM Director of Institutional Sales discuss “Publishing and the New England Journal of Medicine.” After discussing the NEJM publication life cycle, the standards NEJM applies to the selection and publishing process, and the value of the editorial review, Richardson fielded questions from the audience. Questions ranged from “How do I stand a better chance of getting published in NEJM?” (Answer: Unique, quality research), to “How do you get appointed to an editorial board? (Answer: It’s good to be a leader in the field.)

This lecture was the first in what we hope will be a series of two to three talks per year regarding issues in scholarly communication. Attendees will be receiving a very short questionnaire regarding future programs. The survey will also be available on the HS/HSL web site. UMB community members who are editors or serve on editorial boards are encouraged to contact M.J. Tooey by email or at 410.706.7545 to discuss possible participation, programs, and ideas.

The HS/HSL will be offering a series of workshops throughout the summer. Scheduled workshops include RefWorks, Google: Beyond Searching, Creating Effective Presentations Using PowerPoint and Locating the Evidence. All workshops are free of charge to UMB faculty, staff and students; UMMC staff; and HS/HSL Corporate Members. For full course descriptions and registration, visit our Workshops web page.

If you can’t make one of our regularly scheduled workshops, or if you are interested in a topic not covered by our scheduled workshops, be sure to check out our complete list of On Demand Workshops. You can request On Demand Workshops for yourself individually or with a group of your colleagues.

Students, thank you for completing the library survey on the presentation practice space that would be most useful to you. Over 100 students took the time to answer the three question survey. Your responses are very helpful in designing the space and equipping it with the tools most useful to you. Thanks!

The studio will allow for the creation of PowerPoint presentations and for audio and video recording, playback, and capture. Look for more information on the studio in Connective Issues as it develops.

Achromatic by Ario Mashayekhi

Wounded in Action: An Art Exhibition of Orthopaedic Advancements, an exhibit of art works inspired by experiences with the wounds of war, is on display at UMB and the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C. through November 2010. Wounded in Action is organized by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

Will You Please
Take Care of Me?
by Paul F. Glorioso

Wounded in Action honors those who have suffered orthopaedic injuries while serving our country in a time of war. From World War II, to Korea, to Vietnam, from the Gulf War, to Afghanistan and Iraq, thousands of uniformed service members have sustained severe musculoskeletal injuries. Their stories are told through the art on display in the installation. The exhibition also recognizes orthopaedic surgeons who have risked their own safety to care for military service members. In treating devastating combat injuries that are often more complex than traumatic injuries in the civilian population, these surgeons have contributed to major advancements in medical research and trauma care.

The exhibition is located in the HS/HSL’s Frieda O. Weise Gallery and in the 2nd floor reception area of the Southern Management Corporation Campus Center. More information about the exhibit is available at the Library’s Weise Gallery website and at the Wounded in Action website.

Welcome to this special edition of Connective Issues highlighting the HS/HSL’s April 21st symposium, "@Hand: Mobile Technologies in Academia and Medicine." Earlier this year I wrote about the 2010 Horizon Report which identified mobile technology as a breakout technology for the next year. I mentioned our symposium was coming on April 21st. And now it is almost here. The planning committee has put together an outstanding program with a stimulating keynote speaker and sessions focused on practical applications in academia and medicine. There will be vendors. There will be prizes. Visit the web site for more information about this exciting day. I will see you at the symposium, mobile device in hand!

On Wednesday April 21, 2010, the Health Sciences & Human Services Library will be hosting an all day symposium, @Hand: Mobile Technologies in Academia and Medicine. The day will consist of a keynote speaker, panelists, and vendors addressing the emerging and evolving uses of mobile technologies, such as smart phones and e-readers, in clinical and academic settings. We hope that attendees who attend for part or all of the day will gain a better understanding of mobile technologies and how they can be used in innovative ways.

This event is free, and advance registration is not required. The symposium will be held from 9:30 am to 3:15 pm at the SMC Campus Center, followed by a closing reception in the Gladhill Boardroom on the Library’s 5th Floor.

For more information about the event including, the program and information about speakers, visit the symposium web site.

Neil Versel is a freelance healthcare journalist, specializing in health information technology, healthcare quality, hospital/physician practice management, and healthcare finance. He will be providing the keynote address for the @Hand Symposium entitled "Healthcare Here, There, Everywhere."

Versel edits online newsletters FierceHealthIT, FierceEMR and FierceMobileHealthcare and is a regular contributor to CMIO Magazine. He has written for numerous other healthcare publications in the U.S., Canada and Europe, including Medscape’s Business of Medicine, Healthcare IT News, MD Net Guide, Inside Healthcare Computing, Hospitals & Health Networks, and E-Health Insider. He also has been published in the Chicago Sun-Times and Red Herring. Versel also blogs on health information technology.

Versel won a 2006 APEX Award for Publication Excellence for a story that appeared in For The Record. For more than three years, Versel was a staff reporter at Modern Physician magazine, where he won two Crain Communications Editorial Excellence Awards.

Register at the Library’s April 21st mobile technologies symposium, and you will be entered in a drawing to win one of two iPod Touches. You do not need to be present to win. The drawing will take place during the closing reception in the HS/HSL’s Gladhill Boardroom.

Selected pages of the HS/HSL website is now optimized for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch devices. You can search resources, register for library workshops, view video tutorials, request assistance, and more!

Simply point your Safari web browser to http://www.hshsl.umaryland.edu/touch/ or visit the regular HS/HSL website, which will automatically redirect you to the new mobile version.

The HS/HSL Mobile Apps Guide* provides information about various smart phones and the health-related apps that can be used on them. The guide contains information and reviews for a variety of smart phones including the Droid, Nexus One, and iPhone. It also provides a listing of apps in several categories including Clinical Tools, Drug Information, and Medical Calculators.

*The HS/HSL does not endorse the use of any specific device or application.

Our FY 2008-2009 Annual Report is now available for your reading pleasure. Yes, the annual report is late. At the HS/HSL, we attempt to get our annual reports out in January. This year we decided to try something new. In an effort to control expenditures and go green, we committed to developing an online annual report. Inspired by online annual reports of places like the British Library, we tapped into our collective staff creativity. However, this turned out to be a more complicated project than we thought. Collaborative vision, creative differences, editorial egos, snow, illness, design delays, missed deadlines – this was hard work! However, I am proud to present the Health Sciences and Human Services Library’s 2008-2009 Annual Report, You Say You Want an Evolution. Taking advantage of the Beatles and Darwin allowed us to illustrate ways our library world is changing and how we are evolving to meet user expectations and needs. As with previous annual reports, we have focused on sharing the stories illustrating our evolution from old to new. We have designed the report so that it can be printed out or viewed online with live links to supplementary content. Hope you enjoy our evolutionary stories.

Sometimes I get caught up in thinking about all the new things our library should be doing…technology, outreach, new roles. I forget that for so many reasons a library is meaningful just because it is a library, an idea that resonates in spite of the changes swirling around us. Anne Ramsay served on the Library’s Board of Visitors from its inception, and with her departure from Baltimore, our board is diminished. Her gracious advocacy for the Library and many kindnesses are a model for all of us. She was responsible for bringing the first art exhibit into the Library. She also came up with the idea of selling UMB "stuff" in the Library. She and Dr. Ramsay were often the hosts at events in the Library. Her project ideas for the Library came from the heart and with a passion for making us the best we could be. I was really, really hoping she would be around to help us with the planning for our 200th birthday in 2013. Perhaps as an ex officio member of the planning committee?

Thank you, Anne, for your care of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library and for your support and friendship. We will miss you.

The HS/HSL website, Congenital Heart Disease: A Public Health Perspective now features a new, easier-to-navigate design. The main topics listed across the top of each page have dropdown menus for easy access to all of the subsections. The Selected References sections are more accessible since they now display at the bottom of each menu.

The Selected References section also includes a new search feature. Under each topic heading in the list of references, there is a link you can click to automatically run a PubMed search on that topic, with results limited to the most recent 5 years.

The HS/HSL is pleased to announce the availability of Lexi-Comp for Dentistry, a dental drug database providing dental professionals with point-of-care information updated on a daily basis. Along with providing access to extensive drug information, Lexi-Comp for Dentistry is enhanced with information of special interest to the dental professional, such as a drug’s effect on dental treatment, local anesthetic precautions, the effects on bleeding, and other dental comments. In addition to the drug information, which is based on the Drug Information Handbook for Dentistry, co-authored by several UMB dental faculty members, the database also includes full-text access to several other Lexi-Comp diagnostic handbooks and manuals. Lexi-Comp for Dentistry is easy to use, and the concise drug information makes it an ideal resource for use in both clinical and research settings.

Lexi-Comp for Dentistry is now available to all UMB students, faculty, and staff thanks to shared support by the UMB School of Pharmacy and the HS/HSL, with assistance from Lexi-Comp. Access is available from the HS/HSL Databases page. Off-campus access will require inputting the library barcode number from the back of your UMB1 One card. An academic discount is available for students and faculty wanting to use this resource on a handheld product.

Each month the HS/HSL guide Cool Tools features a web-based application that can help make your information gathering, tracking, and organization more efficient. This month’s focus is Prezi, an easy to use, Flash-based tool that breaks free of the ordinary, slide-after-slide approach of PowerPoint presentations.

With Prezi, you can present the same ideas in a more exciting and visual way. Animation effects allow you to zoom in and out on words, images, and videos. It’s web-based, so no download is needed, and it’s free. In addition to creating presentations, Prezi can also be used to design engaging online CVs, to explain research methodology, and much more.

For an example of what you can do with this tool, take a look at this Introduction to PubMed, created with Prezi.

The HS/HSL offers free workshops throughout the semester for all UMB faculty, staff, and students. Two of the upcoming workshops are new additions to the workshop schedule. In "RSS Feeds with Google Reader" you will learn how create a Google Reader account and subscribe to RSS feeds that can keep you up to date with current news and literature. "Magnet Status: What It Means for You" will give a brief history of the American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet Program, focusing on the attributes that exemplify excellence in nursing and the benefits of working at a Magnet institution.

For full course descriptions and registration, please visit the Library’s Workshops page.

We are pleased to introduce Katherine Downton, M.S.L.I.S., who, along with Kristen Young, is a library liaison to the School of Nursing.

Katherine received her Master’s of Science, Library and Information Science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998. Since then she has worked as an academic reference librarian and liaison to a variety of academic programs at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and St. Louis University in Missouri.

HS/HSL liaisons work closely with their individual schools, providing instruction as guest lecturers, teaching library workshops, and offering research consultations to faculty, staff, and students. They also participate in orientations, present at conferences, work with faculty on grants, create resource guides, develop the library’s digital collection, and contribute to UMB outreach activities.

If there is any way Katherine can help you with your information or outreach needs, please contact her:

Katherine Downton, MSLIS
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Health Sciences & Human Services Library
410.706.7373
kdownton@hshsl.umaryland.edu

As part of its Excellence for Research in Australia program, the Australian Research Council asked experts in the field to evaluate 20,712 research journals. While subjective, the rankings are the result of an exhaustive process.

• Learned Societies developed the list of journals and initial rankings
• The list and rankings were reviewed by experts in the field
• The list was opened for public review
• A final review of the list and rankings was performed by 700 expert reviewers

The final product is a list of journals organized by subject area and ranked according to this scheme:

• A*    A journal that is one of best in its field
• A      A very high quality journal
• B      A journal with a solid reputation
• C      A quality, peer reviewed journal that doesn’t meet the higher standards

The complete results can be viewed online (categorized by subject) or downloaded as a large spreadsheet. Medical and Health Sciences are located in category 11; Social Work is found under 1607.

This January the Library enhanced our electronic holdings for JAMA and nine specialty titles published by the American Medical Association by initiating an agreement that includes perpetual access to the backfiles of these journals. Each journal is now archived from its start date through 1997. This provides researchers with complete access to JAMA back to the first issue published in July 1883 through to the present. The backfile collections make up over 1.7 million pages, thousands of optimized images, and even include advertisements. A variety of advanced research tools are available on the site. HS/HSL has set up linking from our subscription databases and PubMed into each title for seamless access.

You can read more about the JAMA and Archives current collection and the backfile collection.

J. Dale Prince, MLS, AHIP and Kristen Young, MLS, two members of the Health Sciences and Human Services faculty, have been selected to participate in the Biomedical Informatics course held at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole. The week-long survey course, funded by the National Library of Medicine, is "designed to familiarize individuals with the application of information science and computer technologies in health care, biomedical research, and health professions education." Prince is the Technology Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Southeastern/Atlantic Region and Young is an Outreach Liaison to the School of Nursing. They will be attending the Institute in September. Congratulations, Dale and Kristen!

On the afternoons of March 3rd and 4th, the Health Sciences & Human Services Library hosted an Educause web conference called Mobile Learning 2.0: The Next Phase of Innovation in Mobility. The conference was attended by faculty and staff from the Library as well as instructional technology professionals from around campus and members of the staff from the Center for Information Technology Services (CITS).

Conference topics included: A Revolution in Learning Is Taking Place in Our Hands; Your Campus on a Smartphone and the Future of Mobile Education; Enabling Personalized Learning and Mobile Collaboration: Redefining the Classroom.

Besides viewing and listening to presentations, we were able to collaborate and work interactively with other conference attendees around the world, including Hawaii and Australia. Ahead of the conference attendees were given resources to help us frame the discussions.

The session received many positive comments from attendees.

After a long review and evaluation process, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) is phasing out its support for all MedlinePlus Go Local projects, including Maryland Health -> Go Local. We at the Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HS/HSL) support the decision made by our partners at the National Library of Medicine.

Over the past nine years, the Internet environment has changed, and there are many sites that now offer similar local information with enhanced detail. NLM’s evaluation of Go Local projects nationwide shows that overall use has declined.

The HS/HSL will continue to perform basic maintenance on Maryland Health -> Go Local until it is retired on June 30, 2010. Thanks to everyone who supported and encouraged the development of the project.

Welcome to 2010. Some people look upon the dawning of a new year as a time for fresh beginnings, resolutions, opportunities. All of those are of course important. I look forward to the dawning of a new year because I know that the new edition of the Horizon Report will be coming soon. And arrive it has! The 2010 Horizon Report is a joint project of the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. (Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., & Stone, S. (2010). The 2010 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.) This annual report identifies emerging technology trends "likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative inquiry on college and university campuses within the next five years." The report ranks the trends in terms of time-to-adoption. This year the number one trend with an adoption timeline of one year or less is mobile computing. And, based on requests and inquiries we are seeing at the HS/HSL and in our profession, this trend is spot on. Mobile technology is here.

A few years back, the medical library and publishing communities were wrestling with the issues of providing medical literature in developing countries. In countries where electricity was sporadic and computers were scarce, this was a daunting task. Efforts such as the U.N.’s HINARI project, which provided free access to information in these countries, faced an uphill battle. However, the expansion of reliable wireless technologies and the ubiquitous presence of cell phones and mobile devices (over 4 billion cell phones worldwide according to some estimates) have gone a long way toward solving information access disparities. Clearly, we are expanding the use of mobile devices beyond telephony. Our preferred information devices are in our hands.

On April 21, I hope you will join the library staff for this year’s day-long symposium, @Hand: Mobile Technologies in Academia + Medicine, where guest speakers and panelists will explore developments and challenges of using mobile technologies in our campus environment.

The HS/HSL collected a bumper crop of 1,071 food items to donate to the Maryland Food Bank with our 2009 Food for Fines Program. Thanks to all who participated, our donation increased by 53% from 2008!

The new HS/HSL Guide, Course Reserves, provides information about the Library’s Electronic Reserve service. The Faculty guide includes submission dates and policies, a FAQ, and a printable Reserve request form. Students will find links to E-Reserves and Blackboard, information on checking out reserve books, and HS/HSL YouTube tutorials on accessing E-reserve articles and finding call numbers in the USMAI catalog.

This month RefWorks is releasing a beta version of its new interface and UMB will be one of the test sites. You will still be able to access the current, familiar version of RefWorks, but look for a link to try out the new version. RefWorks is hoping for input from their users before the release is final. Check the HS/HSL homepage, for an update when this new version becomes available.

The Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HS/HSL) will be offering a series of workshops free of charge to UMB faculty, staff, and students; UMMC staff; and HS/HSL Corporate Members during the 2010 Spring Semester. New workshops this semester include Medical Apps for Your Smart Phone in 30 Minutes, Public Health on the Web, and Google Alerts in 30 Minutes.

The Library will be offering Grant Proposal Writing Thursday, February 25th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This workshop presents an overview of the grant and funding processes. Each component of the grant writing process will be addressed: documenting the need; identifying the target population; writing measurable objectives; developing a work plan, an evaluation plan and dissemination plan. For the full course schedule, descriptions, and registration, click here.

The Library also offers On Demand Workshops for individuals or small groups who cannot make one of our scheduled workshops or would like instruction on a topic that is not part of the regular schedule. For a full listing of On Demand Workshops, click here.

Did you know you can receive RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds for Tables of Contents and search alerts from select journals and databases? If you currently use an RSS reader, such as Google Reader or the one provided within your RefWorks account, feeds of journal content and citations on a particular topic are easy to set up.

You can also find RSS feeds at many popular websites such as the New York Times, Google News, CNN, and more.

For more information on RSS feeds, check out the new HS/HSL Guide called Cool Tools. This guide links to tutorials, database instruction guides, and lists of popular RSS feeds so you can familiarize yourself with this time saving research tool.

On April 6th, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., the Library will be hosting a workshop entitled RSS Feeds with Google Alerts in 30 Minute. Please visit the Library’s Spring Workshops page to attend this or other workshop offerings.

For additional assistance with setting up RSS and search alerts, Ask us! or contact your Library Liaison.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) announced that it will partner with an notable list of scholarly publishers to offer free full-text articles to more than 200 biomedical journals and 65 reference books for use by hospitals, libraries and responders in Haiti. Known as the Emergency Access Initiative (EAI), it features an impressive list of books and journals including many emergency medicine titles. This program is meant to act as a replacement and/or supplement for libraries and hospitals affected by the disaster so that they can continue to serve healthcare personnel.

A part of the initiative includes a PubMed filter to search for the program’s free full text articles. Begin your search at the PubMed main page. When your results appear, you will see the filter Emergency Access – Free Articles with this icon

More information about the Emergency Access Initiative can be found at the NLM’s EAI site, or by contacting the National Library of Medicine at 1.888.346.3656. More health resources for Haiti can be accessed at the NLM’s Disaster Information Management Resource Center.

Barbara H. Pappas has begun an internship with the Resources Division of the HS/HSL. Barbara is pursuing her MILS degree at Southern Connecticut State University. During her time at the Library, she will be learning about – and helping with – electronic resources management, cataloging, and web services.

Join us in welcoming Barbara!

The Frieda O. Weise Gallery at the HS/HSL is now featuring an exhibit, sponsored by the UMB Outreach Council, of artwork by students of Diggs-Johnson Middle School and George Washington Elementary School. A portion of the artwork themed "Optical Layers" can be viewed with 3-D glasses available in the gallery. Please stop by to view the art or even participate in a silent auction fundraiser. Silent bids for the student artwork can be entered any time during the exhibit, up through the closing ceremony, to be held on Friday, February 19th. For more information, visit the Weise Gallery web page.

A researcher from the Sons of Confederate Veterans C.S.S. Shenandoah Camp in Anchorage, Alaska contacted us seeking information about the Civil War service of our first librarian, Eugene Cordell. The researcher is writing a book about the Virginia unit in which Cordell served. During his tenure with the university, Cordell founded the campus periodical Old Maryland. He recounted his military experiences in the series "Recollections of Slave Days and War Times," which appeared in segments throughout the journal between 1906 and 1912.

Born June 25, 1843, in Charlestown, Jefferson County, Virginia, Cordell embraced his hometown’s fervor for the Confederacy. Intending to enlist, he hiked for several hours hoping to join the Stonewall Brigade mustering at Harper’s Ferry, only to discover that his father had arrived there surreptitiously ahead of him, forbidding the officers from enlisting Eugene. After some time, however, his father finally acceded to his wishes and consented to his admission into the Virginia Military Institute, which was training young cadets for service. Cordell eventually joined the 60th Virginia and participated in several engagements throughout the Kanawha Valley. Wounded at Winchester in September 1864, Cordell later was captured at Waynesboro and spent two nights imprisoned in Baltimore’s Fort McHenry before enduring fifteen weeks of incarceration at Fort Delaware. Following the cease-fire, Cordell finally gained his release on June 19, 1865, just shy of his 22nd birthday.

The Library has lowered the price of color printing available at our public computers from $1 per page to 50 cents. The goal of the cost reduction is to provide faculty, staff, and students with more affordable color printing.

The Maryland Health -> Go Local (MHGL) team is happy to announce that they have been re-certified by the HON (Health on the Net) Code. The HONcode is described as "the oldest and the most used ethical and trustworthy code for medical and health related information available on Internet.” In addition, check out the newly created video that demonstrates how to search for health services within MHGL and how to easily connect to MedlinePlus for trusted health information. It takes about 3 minutes to view.

Coming this spring – The Library will be hosting an all-day symposium on mobile technologies.

Save the date!

Watch for more details in future issues of Connective Issues.

At the recent Association of American Medical Colleges Annual Meeting in Boston, as you can imagine, much of the discussion centered upon healthcare reform. Whether it was at the keynote addresses, at the breakouts, or in the hallways, healthcare reform was a hot topic. And while there were many versions of solutions for reform discussed, one of the themes I heard over and over again was that healthcare in America could save millions, even billions of dollars by applying the best evidence to solve health issues. Then, as I was flying back to Baltimore, I read an article in one of the airline magazines about how Utah’s Intermountain Health System actually is cutting costs through efforts to monitor and support evidence-based medicine. The topic was everywhere!

It occurs to me the best evidence is found in the health literature and that staff at the HS/HSL have an important role to play. A quick and dirty search of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Social Work Abstracts, and other relevant databases showed that there are articles focused on evidence-based practice in all of the disciplines at UMB. In addition to licensing the resources providing access to this important literature, faculty liaisons at the Library are experts in finding the best evidence and in training others in our community to find the best evidence as well. Clearly, library staff can be important partners in these efforts. Add us to the team making healthcare reform a reality.

With exams around the corner, the SMC Campus Center is opening its doors for late night study Sunday – Thursday until 2:00 a.m. The late hours will be offered December 6th – December 21st with the additional perks of snacks and massages provided by the University Student Government Association (USGA). Your OneCard will provide access to the SMC Campus Center, so be certain to have it with you. HS/HSL hours will remain the same with midnight closing Sunday – Thursday.

The Food for Fines program is back! The Library will collect canned food items at the Circulation Desk during HS/HSL’s open hours from Monday, November 30th to Friday, December 18th. We will waive $1 in HS/HSL overdue fines when you donate one canned food item, $2 for two items, etc. This offer does not apply to lost book charges. The goods collected will be donated to the Maryland Food Bank. Note: only unexpired canned food items will be accepted.

Recently two separate groups of individuals on our campus donated money to the Library to honor former co-workers and departed friends. Thank you for thinking of the Library. We feel privileged to be involved in helping to honor or remember your loved ones.

Ways to Honor Someone at the Library
Honoring someone can be accomplished by naming places and things in the Library, such as study rooms, tables, conference rooms, or even a classroom. If you are looking for a way to permanently remember someone, think about a tax deductible gift to the Library naming something special in their honor.

For more information, visit our website or call 410.706.7545.

The National Library of Medicine recently launched a redesign of the PubMed interface in an effort to simplify and streamline searching for their many users. Here is a summary of some of the changes you may have noticed:

• The Go button is now a Search button
• Access to popular tools like the Single Citation Matcher and Clinical Queries, previously on the sidebar, are now found under PubMed Tools
• The Limits, Preview, History and Details have been consolidated into Advanced Search. This option is found on the top right above the search box.
• Linkout buttons for full text from HS/HSL now appear on the top right
• Filters for review articles and journals owned by HS/HSL are found in a box on the right side of the results screen

For a complete description of all the recent changes you can read the NLM Technical Bulletin. For assistance with searching PubMed, please visit the Reference Desk or contact the Reference Department or your Library Liaison.

On November 19th, staff of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library honored Dr. William J. Kinnard, Jr. with its highest honor – The Theodore E. Woodward Award at a reception in the Gladhill Board Room at the HS/HSL. Over 30 friends and colleagues gathered to join in the celebration.

Named for Dr. Theodore "Ted" Woodward, this award is given to someone who has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the mission of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library. And it is not just about monetary donations. It is about contributing, as is said in fund raising, "time, talents, and treasures." Past winners of the award have included Dr. Woodward himself, Dr. Joseph Lakowicz, Jim and Sylvia Earl of the Helena Foundation, and Dr. Charlotte Ferencz. All of these award recipients have shown a devotion to the library far exceeding the "treasures" aspect. Dr. Kinnard surely fits this description to a "T."

When I first met Bill Kinnard, he was one of the "thespians" of the early nineties, a series of "acting" administrators that seemed to inhabit UMB in those days. In his case, he was the acting president! It is due primarily to his skill, support for, and belief in a new home for the Library that it moved up the capital projects list both on campus and in Annapolis and opened in 1998. He re-entered the life of the Library when he joined the HS/HSL Board of Visitors. And it was his belief that our faculty, staff and students needed a way to relax their brains that led him to found the Kinnard Leisure Reading Collection in 2003. This collection of over 30 popular magazines and popular literature is one of the well-used areas of the Library. The dog-eared copies of People magazine or the circulation statistics for the latest Grisham novel are testimony to the popularity of the collection.

Dr. Kinnard continues to serve on the Board of Visitors and continues to advocate, some would say harass, on the Library’s behalf. It is a joy to know him and an honor to work with him.

Have you written a book lately? Would you like a little free publicity? Then do what Dr. Richard Colgan did. For the last few weeks, a slide on the Library’s digital display has been promoting his book, Advice to the Young Physician: On the Art of Medicine.

Contact the Library via our web site and we will develop a slide to exhibit on the digital display. Visit the Digital Sign Submissions page of our web site and provide us with information about your book and yourself. Pictures of yourself and the book jacket are great for adding a little visual interest.

Over 300,000 people come through the library’s doors every year. What a great way to get the word out about your latest accomplishments!

During the 2009-2010 holiday season, the Library will close from December 23rd through January 3rd. Regular hours will resume on January 4, 2010.

For more details about the Library’s holiday hours, please visit our web site.

In participation with the Campus Police, the HS/HSL is collecting used wireless phones, batteries, and accessories through the end of the year. The donations will go to the Verizon Wireless HopeLine program, which will use them to support victims of domestic violence. Our donation drop-off point is at the Circulation desk in the front of the Library.

Have you received a question via email or telephone and wished you could just show your desktop to the person on the other end? Explaining how to search a database, use software, or access an online resource would be much simpler to explain if you could. A new tool, Screencast-O-Matic, makes it all possible.

"Screencast-O-Matic is the original free and easy way to create a video recording of your screen (aka screencast) and upload it for free hosting all from your browser with no install!"

If you are new to the term, "screencast", it is a recording of your desktop. It’s a simple, easy way to demonstrate something. All you do is start your recording, perform the activity one step at a time (narrating along the way if you wish), then stop the recording. The end result is a video which you can email to others, post to YouTube, and so on.

For questions about Screencast-O-Matic, please email Anna Tatro, Liaison to the School of Social Work, or call 410.706.7374.

C. Steven Douglas, Acquisitions Librarian, assumed the responsibilities of Acting Head of Collection Oversight in the Resources Division of the library, on December 1, 2009.

In this capacity, Steve is responsible for leading and overseeing the selection, acquisition/access, processing, and budget oversight for the HS/HSL collection in all formats. Steve continues to lead the Collection Development Committee and support collection initiatives for the library.

Congratulations, Steve!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens… "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things" is the 5th annual HS/HSL holiday door decorating contest theme. Please come by to tour the doors throughout the building anytime after Wednesday, December 9th. Judges from across the UMB campus will cast their votes with the winning door announced on Monday, December 14th. Check our website after December 14th to cast your vote for the Campus Choice Award.

Recently, I had the pleasure of hearing my colleague Jim Neal, formerly of Hopkins and currently Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian at Columbia, speak at the opening of the new Goucher College Athenaeum. In his remarks, he referred to the library as being "virtual and virtuous." My first thought was, "Darn, why didn’t I think of that phrase?" Upon reflection, I realized that he very neatly characterized the main attributes of libraries today.

There is no doubt that libraries exist in the virtual space where library staff provide increasingly seamless access to all types of resources and many of our services. However, it was nice to reflect that we are indeed virtuous institutions as well. Our core values provide institutional conscience and a moral compass through our support of intellectual freedom, copyright and fair use, advocacy for our users and their right to information, and privacy. We maintain neutrality, applying our values to everyone equally. We exist to ensure and support the success of our users. We believe passionately in the work we do, making a difference every day. Whether we are serving on an Institutional Review Board, collaborating with faculty, reaching out into the community, teaching classes of students, preserving the historical record, rounding with residents, or providing the information infrastructure for discovery, our staff recommits to UMB every day.

Please consider supporting our virtual and virtuous progress through the Maryland Charities Campaign.

Designate your Maryland Charities contribution to the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation (#5384). Make sure to check the "Release my name" box. Fill out a supplemental form and pledge card, available from your Maryland Charities representative, and designate the Health Sciences and Human Services Library as the recipient of your contribution.

Thank you!

Join us for an afternoon refreshment break at the HS/HSL on Tuesday, October 27th from 3:00-5:00 p.m. to celebrate National Medical Librarians Month.

Come chat with the librarians of the HS/HSL and find out what we do and how we can assist you while you enjoy some tasty treats.

We hope to see you there!

Health literacy is the ability to read, understand and act on health information. Skills needed for good health literacy include the ability to evaluate relative risks and benefits, calculate dosages and interpret test results.

The average American adult reads at an 8th grade level. About 20% of American adults read at or below the 5th grade level. For health care providers, awareness of these facts is the first step toward realizing that the responsibility for clear health communication belongs to them.

Health Literacy Month is especially timely this year, when we are debating health insurance issues in the U.S. Overall, annual health care costs are four times higher for the low health literacy population, despite controlling for other factors such as socio-economic status, education, race, and, most importantly, health status.

Let’s celebrate Health Literacy Month by being aware of our environment. Is the signage where we work easy to read and understand? Do we use professional jargon when communicating with individuals who may not understand it? Are the materials we distribute to patients written so that the majority can understand the information and follow the instructions?

If you would like more information on health literacy, the Partnership for Clear Health Communication web site is a good place to start. Also, please note that the HS/HSL offers a class called "In Other Words: Understanding Health Literacy." To arrange the class for a group, or to attend the next time it’s offered, please contact Paula Raimondo.

The HS/HSL will be hosting a webcast offered by the Medical Library Association on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. (with wraparound discussion) in Room LL05. The webcast will focus on current and emerging mobile technologies and software. For more information, contact Alexa Mayo.

Also, coming this spring – The Library will be hosting an all day symposium on mobile technologies.

Save the date!

@hand:
mobile technologies in academia + medicine

April 21, 2010

Watch for more details in future issues of Connective Issues.

The HS/HSL offers free workshops throughout the semester for all UMB faculty, staff, and students.

This month we will be offering Locating the Evidence on Tuesday, November 3rd from 12:00 -1:00 p.m. This workshop will review principles of evidence-based healthcare and offer strategies for finding the best medical evidence. Resources covered during this workshop include Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, and CINAHL.

For full course description and class registration, visit our Workshops web page.

Dropbox is a tool that allows you to store, synchronize, and share your files online. There is no complicated interface to learn because it works seamlessly with your operating system (Windows, Mac, or Linux) and automatically makes sure your files are up-to-date.

Dropbox software syncs your files online and across your computers. Put files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any computer where you’ve installed Dropbox. Copies of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, so you can also access them directly from the Dropbox website. Dropbox offers 2GB of storage free.

To learn more about what you can do with this tool, check out the Dropbox Features list.

• Living Frugally
  Looking for ways to save money and live more frugally? Visit the Recession Resources guide compiled by library staff. It provides information and links to resources that may assist you during these hard economic times. Topics covered in the guide include frugal living, energy savers, finances, health, staycations, and more.
• Disability Awareness
  Governor O’Malley has proclaimed October Disability History and Awareness month in Maryland.

  "Disability History and Awareness Month will serve as an outstanding tool in creating greater awareness, understanding and support for individuals with disabilities," said Governor O’Malley. "By emphasizing disabilities awareness activities in our school systems, we are working toward a future where every person with a disability is respected and valued as a contributing member of our community." (Disability History and Awareness Month)

  In response to the governor’s proclamation, HS/HSL librarians have compiled a Disabilities Awareness guide with links to resources about disability awareness and history, as well as resources for people with disabilities.

In recognition of his contributions to the Health Sciences and Human Services Library, the HS/HSL is pleased to present the Theodore E. Woodward Award to Dr. William J. Kinnard on November 19, 2009 at a reception in his honor.

The Library established the award in 1995 to recognize the significant and enduring contributions to the Library by Dr. Theodore E. Woodward, Professor Emeritus of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The purpose of the award is to acknowledge a significant contribution of resources or exemplary service in support of the Library’s mission.

RefWorks has announced a new "Alumni Program to be offered as a standard feature of RefWorks, providing lifelong access to users that are alumni of subscribing institutions. As long as an institution subscribes to RefWorks, alumni will have access, allowing them to continue using their personal research databases for future professional and academic endeavors."

RefWorks is still working on the particulars of how they will offer this exciting new benefit, so we will be rolling out the details over the next few months. Look for a future article with specifics on how UMB alumni can enjoy the continued value of their RefWorks account after they graduate. This is great news for all our RefWorks users, so stay tuned!

During the 2009-2010 holiday season, the Library will close from December 23rd through January 3rd.

Regular hours will resume on January 4, 2010.

For more details about the Library’s holiday hours, please visit our web site.