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Medical Library Reopens on August 24

August 24, 2020 - 9:48am by John Gallagher

*UPDATE: Beginning November 25, all Yale libraries will be closed to library users. We are happy to announce that we reopened the medical library on Monday, August 24. Our hours of service are: Mon-Fri:             7:30AM - 6:00PM Sat-Sun:           10:00AM – 6:00PM Building access is limited to Yale and YNHH users authorized to be on campus. Visitors will notice many changes to both our on-site services and facilities. Here's what to expect: Visiting Visitors must wear a mask at all times, maintain 6ft distance from others, and adhere to posted signage.   Seating capacity has been significantly reduced throughout the library, and the furniture layout in classrooms, meeting rooms, and study spaces has been intentionally adjusted to comply with Environmental Health and Safety recommendations and should not be moved.   Room reservations have resumed with considerably decreased seating capacities.   The Cushing Center will remain closed until further notice.   While custodial staff will be thoroughly cleaning public spaces daily, surfaces and workspaces must be disinfected by visitors before and after use with the provided cleaning materials. Using, Borrowing, and Returning Print Materials Visitors may browse and retrieve materials they wish to borrow from open stacks. Books and journals used in the library should be left in specified locations for quarantine.   To return borrowed items, please use the book depository located near the entrance of the library.   Print reserves are not available this semester but staff have worked to enhance access to content via online course reserves. Computers & Technology 20 computers are available for use throughout the library and the the 24/7 room. Visitors must clean workstations and equipment before and after use with the provided disinfectants.  Contactless printing has been enabled at printer stations for Yale ID holders. Visitors may also print directly from their laptop via Web Print or from their mobile device (instructions for iOS or Android). The Faculty Video Production Studio is available (reservations required). Special Collections Access to special collections materials is by appointment only for those authorized to be on campus. Please use this link to make an appointment. Please request items at least 2 days in advance. Digitization of materials continues for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 courses, and support for online sessions using Medical Historical Library materials. Continuing Online Research and Education Support We continue to provide many library services online including consultations, instruction, reference, and research support.   Please reach out to your personal or departmental librarian via email.  We're here to support you and we encourage you to contact us if you have any questions or concerns. We're excited to welcome visitors back to the library and are relying on everyone to do their part to minimize risk for themselves and others.

Book Lending Resumes

August 20, 2020 - 2:19pm by John Gallagher

We are excited to announce the resumption of several on-site library services, including book lending though a contact-free pickup system. TO BORROW BOOKS Simply select "Request for pickup at the Medical Library Entrance" in the Orbis record of the book you wish to borrow, enter your login credentials, and complete the prompts to place your order. Once submitted, the book will be checked out to your account and you'll be notified by email when it's ready for pickup. Your book will be held on a cart outside the medical library entrance for one week. If you have questions or can’t pick up your item in the allotted time, please email AskYaleMedicalLibrary@yale.edu before your pickup period expires. TO RETURN BOOKS To return materials, simply drop them in the book depository outside the medical library entrance. STAY SAFE When retrieving or returning items, please adhere to the following safety protocols: Maintain social distancing Wear a mask Move through pickup area as quickly as possible Avoid touching surfaces or materials waiting for pickup by others

Collection Budget Reduction

June 26, 2020 - 4:20pm by John Gallagher

The financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is being felt in many areas of the university, and the library is no exception. For fiscal year 2021, the library must reduce its general collection expenditures by around 10%. To achieve this target, we have compiled a list of journal titles and databases for cancellation. Each item on this list has been carefully assessed prior to being selected for cancellation.  Your feedback is an essential part of this process and we welcome your input. Please also let us know if the cancellation of a specific title will significantly impact your work, so that we can consider whether a different title can be cancelled in its place. See the list and learn more about our methodology here While it’s necessary to reduce our collection expenditures, we continue to offer a variety of services to minimize the impact of these cancellations on your research, teaching and practice:  Our interlibrary loan department stands ready to help you access articles in journals that we do not subscribe to, at no charge to you.  Your librarian can work with you to identify available resources that may be of interest. While we cannot commit to new subscriptions at this time, we will gladly take recommendations for potential future purchases.  The current financial situation is evolving, and the elimination of additional subscriptions may be necessary at a later time. Please let us know if you have any feedback, questions or concerns. We are here to support you in this uncertain time.

The DIY Historical Herbarium

June 1, 2020 - 11:03am by Melissa Grafe

Written by Alicia Petersen, PhD student, History of Science and Medicine Program (HSHM) Herbaria, collections of dried plant specimens that were (usually) adhered to sheets of paper, were very popular in 18th-century Europe. From professional botanists exploring the Americas to amateur scientists roaming the fields near their homes, many used herbaria to store preserved plants for later study. In order to better understand how early moderns “did” science, I decided to create my own herbarium (see the page below) following the guidelines for plant collection and preservation detailed in 18th-century British manuals. The simple act of following directions ended up being a bit more challenging than I had anticipated! Sitting on my bedroom floor, surrounded by an assortment of plant cuttings, I read and re-read 18th-century botanist William Withering’s instructions for plant preservation. Withering’s famous works contain directives like the following: “… specimens may be dried tolerably well between the leaves of a large folio book, laying other books upon it to give the necessary pressure: but in all cases too much pressure must be avoided.” (A botanical arrangement of British plants…, pg. xlvi) I couldn’t help thinking: that’s it? Withering fails to give his readers any indication of how much pressure is too much, a seemingly important detail. Other ambiguities led to a variety of errors on my part, including the burnt fern specimen pictured below. What’s more, when it came time to identify the specimens I’d collected, I found myself even more perplexed. Unable to rely on photographs or iPhone apps, it quickly became that 18th-century botany was like a foreign language. I needed to be fluent, but unfortunately, I only understood about every fourth word. This made for quite the adventure. The Medical Historical Library’s collections served as an important resource as I went tromping through the past. For this project, one object was particularly stunning: an actual 18th-century herbarium, complete with plant specimens that are over 250 years old. The herbarium dates back to the 1760’s and has been attributed to Frenchman Jean Seris, who is thought to have been a student at Paris’ Académie Royal de Chirurgie. While I relied on manuals like Withering’s to guide my collecting practices, I followed Seris’ example for format and layout. Perhaps my biggest takeaway from this project was the immense amount of knowledge required to engage in 18th-century natural history. Interacting with Seris’ herbarium, an object that represents knowledge in practice, provided even greater insight. By reading this “book of nature,” I was able to see 18th-century plants both through Seris’ eyes and my own. Below: Pages from Jean Seris’s Herbarium with dried specimens, 1761

COVID-19 Medical Student Elective Course

April 21, 2020 - 11:25am by Caitlin Meyer

When medical students were pulled out of clerkship rotations last month, the YSM Office of Education sought new electives for the students to take in their unexpected off time. Librarians Judy Spak, Caitlin Meyer, and Courtney Brombosz quickly developed a proposal: an intensive two-week elective where students would respond in real time to the COVID-19 pandemic by selecting a pandemic-related topic and acquiring, appraising, and synthesizing information as it becomes available. The proposal was accepted and the first cohort of students completed the class on Monday, April 13th. Over the course of two 20-hour weeks, students learned a wide range of skills that will be useful throughout their clinical and research careers including: ·      Foundations of evidence-based medicine ·      Articulating focused and answerable research questions ·      Constructing search strategies using subject headings and keywords ·      Identifying and effectively using medical and interdisciplinary academic databases ·      Finding and using research data and grey literature ·      Critically appraising evidence of all types ·      Distinguishing between review types ·      Strategies for organizing, synthesizing, and presenting information Research topics chosen by the first cohort of students included child maltreatment in times of economic uncertainty and the use of chloroquine for COVID-19 treatment. The library was also involved in another elective "COVID-19: History is Present" that featured instruction by Melissa Grafe, Bumstead Librarian for Medical History, and content about pandemics from our historical treasures.

Virtual Office Hours

April 8, 2020 - 1:47pm by Nur-Taz Rahman

Do you miss using the beautiful spaces at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library for studying, collaborating, and working? We do as well – but the good news is that we are providing all our support and services online! The library is very much open and functional. We would like to bring your attention particularly to the office hours, which are still happening regularly over Zoom. Here is a brief summary of the days/times of some office hours: Clinical librarian office hours: Alyssa Grimshaw (alyssa.grimshaw@yale.edu), Wednesdays 3-5pm Melissa Funaro (melissa.funaro@yale.edu), Tuesdays 8-10am Alexandria Brackett (alexandria.brackett@yale.edu), Fridays 11am-Noon (starting 4/17) Bioinformatics support office hours: Nur-Taz Rahman (nur-taz.rahman@yale.edu), Thursdays 11-1pm Public health librarian office hours: Kate Nyhan (kate.nyhan@yale.edu), most Thursdays 11-1pm Research and education librarian office hours: Caitlin Meyer (caitlin.meyer@yale.edu), Wednesdays 11-1pm Data services librarian: Sawyer Newman (medicaldata@yale.edu), contact for Zoom consultations   If you have any questions/comments please let us know via email.  

CWML Announces Public Collection of COVID-19 Citations

March 19, 2020 - 3:30pm by Caitlin Meyer

The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library is excited to share that it has developed a public collection of COVID-19 citations to aid the research and clinical practice missions of the Yale Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing and the Yale New Haven Hospital. The collection, accessible through this public Zotero library (no account required), includes daily updates from PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, Disaster Lit, and preprints* from bioRxiv and medRxiv.  This project was developed at the request of Sten Vermund, Albert Ko, and other researchers at YSPH who helped determine the project scope and organization. The citations have roughly been sorted into different topics: epidemiology, immunology, modeling, sequencing, and treatment. There are also folders for different regions and the ability to view the collection by citation source.  Most records include abstracts and all include links for users to pursue full-text access. To access the URL, click on a citation and scroll down to the URL field.  The tool, while thorough, is not the complete record of COVID-19 literature. Other resources in this space include: LitCovid: Curated collection of more than 1,200 journal articles hosted by the National LIbrary of Medicine COVID-19 Open Research Data: Tool leveraging natural language processing to aggregate articles about COVID-19 hosted by Semantic Scholar We opted for Zotero to share this project because of its ability to support public group libraries and its highly relevant retraction watch functionality. You can see more about how we are collecting citations below: PubMed: Citations of journal articles (strategy includes a daily date limit, too) covid-19[tw] OR COVID19[tw] OR COVID-19[nm] OR SARS-CoV-2[tw] OR SARS-CoV2[tw] OR severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2[nm] OR severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2[tw] OR 2019-nCoV[tw] OR 2019nCoV[tw] OR coronavirus[tw] OR coronavirus[mh]  ClinicalTrials.gov: Clinical trials registrations COVID-19 OR Covid19 in the “other terms” search box Disaster Lit: Guidelines, reports, conference proceedings COVID-19 OR COVID19 OR SARS-CoV-2 OR SARS-COV2 OR 2019-nCoV OR 2019nCoV OR coronavirus  bioRxiv and medRxiv: Preprints Utilizing the RSS feed listed here.  Suggestions or sources we should add? Let us know! *Preprints -- which are manuscripts made available prior to peer review -- support the rapid dissemination of information. However, this means that these documents should be critically appraised and monitored for updates.   

Bioinformatic Analysis Support during COVID-19

March 15, 2020 - 3:16pm by Nur-Taz Rahman

As you are likely aware, the recent global spread of the COVID-19 virus is causing disruptions in schedules, conferences, meetings etc. The Bioinformatics Support Program at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library is no exception and we are moving almost all our services online. Below is a concise guidance on how you can continue working with us for your bioinformatics questions and analysis needs.   Consultations: Please reach out to us for consultations as usual, through email (nur-taz.rahman@yale.edu; rolando.milian@yale.edu) All consultations will be held online through Zoom (free for Yale affiliates), a platform that we have been using successfully for remote consultations. For Zoom consultations you will need functional speakers and microphone, or a headphone. If the computer/external audio does not work, cell phones can be used to call in and connect to the audio. So please make sure your cell phone is fully charged. When we agree on a time to meet, we will send you the link to connect to the meeting.  Bioinformatics Office Hours: We will continue to hold weekly office hours, usually Thursdays from 11am-1pm. If the timing is changed or the office hours are cancelled, it will be reflected in the schedule here: https://library.medicine.yale.edu/classes Office hours will be held on Zoom as well, and the link to each meeting will be provided via the link above. If you want to "drop-in" during the office hours, you will click the Zoom link, which will take you to a virtual "waiting area." Meeting will start when we will "accept" you into the meeting, so that we can work with you. This is to make sure we can give attention on a one-on-one basis. If you find yourself in the waiting area for too long, know that we are busy helping someone else at that time. We appreciate your patience. Software Access: Access to our free bioinformatics software (e.g. Ingenuity Pahway Analysis, MetaCore, Partek Flow) here: https://library.medicine.yale.edu/bioinformatics/software/ As always, we are available to troubleshoot issues with you over email or virtual consultations. New users should feel free to register for and request access to any of the software we provide. Training & Collaborations: Until further notice, our training sessions will be hosted online through Zoom. We will make attendees aware of the Zoom link and other helpful resources as early as possible. However, to keep yourself aware of any developments, please make sure to REGISTER for any training of interest here: https://library.medicine.yale.edu/classes . This helps us to make sure that we email you the updates. For training-specific updates we will not email everybody in our mailing lists. We will continue our existing and future collaborations as usual, except that meetings and discussions will all take place virtually. Please email us if you have any questions/concerns.  We will do our best to support your bioinformatics analysis questions and needs. You can reach us at nur-taz.rahman@yale.edu and rolando.milian@yale.edu. You can receive monthly updates on classes, new software and services here:  https://subscribe.yale.edu/browse?search=bioinformatics   Wishing you all good health, Nur & Rolando

Online Services & Resources from the Medical Library

March 11, 2020 - 1:53pm by Dana Haugh

LAST UPDATED: 3/29/20 Library staff are here to support you. Virtual Support from Your Librarian  Please email your specialty's librarian or personal librarian (students) for support or to schedule a consultation by phone or Zoom.  For general questions, contact AskYaleMedicalLibrary@yale.edu. You can speak to a librarian on our virtual reference desk through the link on our website. Remote Access Remote access to our vast electronic resources is available to the Yale and YNHH community regardless of your location.  Scanning Articles and Book Chapters Yale Library has suspended scanning and digitization operations. We will continue to process interlibrary loan requests for articles and chapters will continue however, the fulfillment of these requests is dependent on partner libraries remaining open. Please prioritize requests that are the most urgent for your courses, research, policy decisions, and patient care. Submit interlibrary loan requests Books At this time, checking out books, physical interlibrary loan of books, and BorrowDirect are suspended. Please keep any books you may have in your possession. All Yale library books have been renewed until September 15, 2020. **If you are graduating and won't be returning to campus in the fall, please drop materials into the book depository located outside the medical library doors on the right side. You can also return materials to the Sterling Memorial Library or Bass book bins. Board Review Materials and Expanded Collections Board review materials and access to expanded collections currently licensed by the medical library. (Frequently updated as we acquire more resources) COVID-19 Literature Library The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library has developed a public collection of COVID-19 citations to aid the research and clinical practice missions of the Yale Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing and the Yale New Haven Hospital. The collection, accessible through a public Zotero library (no account required), includes daily updates from PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, Disaster Lit, and preprints* from bioRxiv and medRxiv.  Comprehensive COVID-19 literature library Clinician Information & Consumer Health A research guide curated by medical librarians with resources for consumer health and clinically-focused guidelines and latest news.  Online Resources for History of Medicine This guide provides a starting point for researchers inside and outside of Yale to find history of medicine resources online. Online Classes, Tutorials and Guides Instruction sessions and workshops continue online via Zoom. Research tutorials cover everything from how to manage citations to systematic searches to finding articles in PubMed.  Research Guides are subject- and department-specific collections of tools, databases, and resources aggregated by our medical librarians. Clinical/YNHH Resources list of tools for point-of-care, drug information, evidence-based practice, and more. Educational Software list of biomedical education resources. Freely Accessible Literature on COVID-19 Many publishers are offering free access to literature on the COVID-19 pandemic: AccessMedicine - COVID-19 Central Mary Ann Liebert - COVID-19 Collection SpringerNature - SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Elsevier - Novel Coronavirus Information Center BMJ - Coronavirus (COVID-19): Latest News and Resources JAMA - Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Lancet - COVID-19 Free Resource Center NEJM - Coronavirus (COVID-19) UpToDate - Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Wiley - COVID-19: Novel Coronavirus outbreak DynaMed - COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) Karger Publishers - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Clarivate Analytics - COVID-19 Resources BioWorld - COVID-19 News Coverage BioOne Complete - Peer-Reviewed Research to Inform the COVID-19 Crisis Taylor & Francis - COVID-19: Novel Coronavirus Content Johns Hopkins Dashboard - This dashboard leverages data from a number of national and global sources, and monitors the current scenario of COVID-19. Data is available in CSV format, and is available at the country, province, and date levels. GitHub containing the code behind the dashboard, as well as the WHO data behind these visualizations MIDAS 2019 Novel Coronavirus Repository - This repository serves as a central platform to share resources relevant for modeling of the COVID-19 outbreak.  
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