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Lexicomp replaces Micromedex as clinical medication reference provider

September 22, 2022 - 11:56am by Zsuzsanna Nemeth

On September 27, 2022, the Yale New Haven Health System will replace Micromedex with Lexicomp as the clinical medication reference provider. Links to the Lexicomp website will replace the current Micromedex links in the Library Services Epic Toolbar Menu and in the MAR.  Additionally, links to Micromedex will be removed from the Medical Library website. Lexicomp offers a comparable, full-featured drug information database as a direct competitor to Micromedex. View the YNHHS announcement.

Holly Grossetta Nardini Selected as NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellow

September 17, 2022 - 11:39am by John Gallagher

Associate Director Holly Grossetta Nardini has been selected as a Fellow in the 2022/2023 NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program. Selection for participation in this program is highly competitive and a testament to Holly’s experience, talent, and recognized potential for future leadership within health sciences librarianship.  The NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program prepares emerging leaders for director positions in academic health sciences libraries. The jointly sponsored program matches fellows and mentors in a one-year leadership development program. Since the program began in 2002, over 52 percent of fellow graduates have assumed director positions.  The program provides a combination of in-person and virtual learning experiences for fellows and offers the opportunity to work collaboratively with a cohort of participants. Fellows are paired with mentors who are academic health sciences library directors. Mentors work closely with their fellows throughout the year and host their fellow’s visit to their library. Congratulations Holly!

“Natural Interactions in the Book as Art and Making Knowledge”

September 7, 2022 - 3:50pm by Melissa Grafe

Post by curator Renata Nagy, Ph.D. Candidate, History of Art and Renaissance Studies, Yale University Explore our newest online exhibition: “Natural Interactions in the Book as Art and Making Knowledge” When readers call up early printed books in libraries, they expect to see clean copies. It is a fair belief, for most rare library collections include books with the least signs of wear, which were often cherished by collectors. In addition, a lot of used books either perished over the centuries or remained in private collections. This falsely gives the impression that books were barely used in the past. Books were widely engaged with in Europe between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. This was especially true for books about nature. Readers at the time interacted with their books and created art in them in an attempt to better understand nature and produce knowledge about it.  In Spring 2022, art history Ph.D. candidate and GSAS Professional Experience (GPE) fellow Renata Nagy conducted extensive research into the Library’s holdings. She uncovered books that readers engaged with in relation to their studies about nature. Rich and diverse, the Library’s collection allows for a better understanding of how people thought about natural specimens in the early modern period. Renata curated and authored the exhibition with the generous help of the Library’s colleagues, particularly the John R. Bumstead Librarian for Medical History and Head of the Library, Melissa Grafe. Featuring over seventy images from fifteen different books from the Medical Historical Library’s collection, the exhibition showcases how elite collectors, interested laymen, artists, and naturalists shaped the book as an active work of art and a site of knowledge production about nature via various reading and learning practices. Illustrations of richly colored flowers, book collections of pasted dried plants, translations of wobbly annotations about the rose root plant, and videos of unfolding the oversized microscopic flea in Robert Hooke’s Micrographia (1665) demonstrate the variety of ways in which users processed information and invented new ones about natural specimens. We invite you to explore “Natural Interactions in the Book as Art and Making Knowledge,” which is a safe platform to browse the often fragile pages of these remarkable materials.     

New Exhibition: “Pasteur at 200”

August 26, 2022 - 1:25pm by Melissa Grafe

“Pasteur at 200” Cushing Rotunda, August 24th, 2022 - January 20th, 2023  Join us at the Medical Library for our newest Rotunda exhibition! “Pasteur at 200” commemorates the work of French chemist Louis Pasteur, born December 27, 1822, along with his longer scientific legacy, which continues today. If you drink pasteurized milk, or take your pet for a rabies shot, Pasteur was the renowned chemist behind these innovations, among many others. Pasteur was celebrated in his lifetime for discoveries that helped propel changes in industry, science, and medicine. With his colleagues, he clarified the role of microbes in fermentation, and developed a process called pasteurization to prolong the shelf life for wines and beers. Pasteur also helped establish the laboratory development of vaccines in animals and humans, expanding on a larger germ theory of disease. By examining aspects of Pasteur’s work, this exhibition highlights how Pasteur remained in the public’s eye for centuries after his death, and how much of his legacy still resonates in our everyday lives. This exhibition was curated by Melissa Grafe, Ph.D, Head of the Medical Historical Library with contributions from members of the Medical and Historical Library teams, and the valued expertise of Bert Hansen, professor emeritus of History at Baruch College of CUNY. Many of the items on exhibit are drawn from The Bert Hansen collection of medicine and public health in popular graphic art. Image: “Hydrophobia” by Théobald Chartran for Vanity Fair, January 8, 1887. This lithograph shows Louis Pasteur holding two white rabbits, in reference to his experiments using rabbits for his rabies vaccine.  

Upcoming NIH Data Sharing Policy Change

August 11, 2022 - 2:45pm by Kaitlin Throgmorton

On January 25, 2023, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will update its Data Management and Sharing Policy to further accelerate biomedical research discovery through scientific data sharing. The policy includes two main requirements: submission of a data management and sharing plan agreement to comply with that plan, including sharing and preserving data for the long-term Though the policy builds on the NIH’s initial 2003 policy, one significant change is that the new policy will apply to all funded research, not just projects with large awards. The Cushing/Whitney Medical Library welcomes this new policy and supports its emphasis on translating research results into accessible knowledge on human health. To receive assistance with research data management, specifically help in writing a data management plan, please contact Kaitlin Throgmorton, data librarian for the health sciences, at kaitlin.throgmorton@yale.edu QUICK FACTS: The policy goes into effect for applications received on or after January 25, 2023. Complying with the policy is required for all NIH-funded research, including awards under $500,000.  Data management plans must be submitted with NIH applications. There are also additional components to be included. Researchers are expected to share their data when appropriate. The NIH has launched a new website to support the policy. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Manage Data from the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library Scientific Data Sharing from the NIH Research Data Management from Yale Library DMPTool – a free tool for generating data management plans based on funder templates, including the new NIH policy (for writing DMS plans) re3data – a free tool for looking up research data repositories (for sharing data) FAIRsharing – a free tool for looking up data standards, databases, and policies (for writing DMS plans) Gonzales S, Carson MB, Holmes K (2022) Ten simple rules for maximizing the recommendations of the NIH data management and sharing plan. PLOS Computational Biology 18(8): e1010397. Michener WK. (2015). Ten simple rules for creating a good data management plan. PLOS Computational Biology, 11(10): e1004525.

A Busy Summer at the Medical Library

August 5, 2022 - 10:11am by Dana Haugh

Medical librarians have been extremely busy this summer orienting and educating new fellows, residents, and faculty members across the medical campus and Yale New Haven Hospital. These sessions give new and seasoned users the opportunity to meet their dedicated library liaison and receive a primer on the medical library’s numerous resources and services. Perhaps most importantly, these sessions establish medical librarians as partners in research, clinical, and educational endeavors, and help cultivate relationships that will last throughout each user’s Yale career. In June, first-year Surgery residents journeyed to the Medical Library’s large classroom to meet with Alexandria Brackett, Clinical Research & Education Librarian, and Melissa Grafe, Head of the Medical Historical Library, and learn about contemporary and historical library resources. Alexandria highlighted a variety of tools to help them in their practice and emphasized her role as liaison librarian in supporting their success. Melissa showcased many of the Medical Historical Library’s collections and shared tips and tricks for searching the archives. Over on Yale’s West Campus, Janene Batten, Research & Education Librarian for Nursing, met with new Yale School of Nursing (YSN) faculty members to suggest services and library resources that align with their curriculum. Embedded across all levels in the YSN curriculum, Janene regularly educates faculty and students about using evidenced-based resources like Scopus and PubMed, and point-of-care tools like ClinicalKey for Nursing, which are essential to the nursing profession. Back on Cedar Street, Melissa Funaro, Clinical Research & Education Librarian, visited the Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Child Study Center departments to familiarize fellows and residents with the myriad of services and resources the Medical Library provides. Melissa connected each department with their curated research guide and highlighted services such as literature searching, data management planning, and scholarly publishing to ensure new users were aware the many ways the Medical Library can assist in research and clinical practice. Kate Nyhan, Research & Education Librarian for Public Health, held an orientation session at the Medical Library for Yale’s Research Education Institute for Diverse Scholars (REIDS) on evidence synthesis methods, maximizing research impact, complying with funder public access policies, and choosing the right journals to disseminate their work. She also taught in the Summer Program in Environmental Health Sciences, which introduces rising college sophomores and juniors to environmental health and toxicology. Kayla Del Biondo, Simbonis Librarian for Public Health, and Kate also presented virtually and in-person to incoming Executive MPH students, Advanced Practice (AP) MPH students, new MPH, PhD, and MS students. Their sessions covered everything from health science databases to library spaces to historical materials. Kaitlin Throgmorton, Data Librarian for the Health Sciences, and Dana Haugh, Web Services Librarian, held virtual training sessions for Yale School of Public Health summer internship participants. Dana provided tips and tricks for creating effective PowerPoint presentations and Kaitlin gave an overview of best practices for incorporating data visualizations into their presentations. Additionally, Kaitlin taught an introduction to research data management seminar to the Yale Interdisciplinary Prostate Program (YIPP) and the OB/GYN residency orientation. Courtney Brombosz, Research & Education Librarian, headed to the Cohen Auditorium to give a library orientation for incoming medical students who choose to do research before they start medical school through the START@Yale program. Courtney introduced them to some of the key databases for conducting research and shared ways the Medical Library can help them throughout their career at Yale. Alyssa Grimshaw, Clinical Research & Education Librarian headed upstairs to the Beaumont Room to give a Grand Rounds presentation to the Urology Department titled “Connecting to Library Resources and Services.” The presentation covered library resources and services available to the clinical and academic Yale affiliates. Attendees also learned useful tips for searching medical databases, why citation management software is helpful in organizing and preparing their research, and how to take ownership of their author profiles after publishing. In the Medical Library's instruction classroom, Caitlin Meyer, Research & Education Librarian, taught multiple sessions for Physician Associate students to help with their thesis projects. The workshops helped students transform nascent thesis topics into focused research questions as well as develop search strategies for multiple literature databases. Sofia Fertuzinhos and Rolando Garcia-Milian, of the Medical Library’s Bioinformatics Support Hub, organized a hybrid teaching series entitled “Intro to Transcriptomics: from counts to functional analysis.” This series of seven workshops is designed for researchers interested in learning the basic steps for re-analysis of publicly available bulk-RNAseq data. It covers basic genomic data annotation concepts, databases where to find datasets for re-analysis, how to perform differential gene analysis, add gene annotations and perform gene pathway analysis, as well as tools to visualize the results. Additionally, Rolando and Sofia gave several orientation classes to new medical students and BBS graduate students. Terry Dagradi, Cushing Center Coordinator, gave dozens of tours of the Medical Library and the Cushing Center to groups of middle and high school students in programs around New Haven and Yale. Students enrolled in programs such as the Ulysses S. Grant Foundation, EduExplora, Horizons at Foote, Yale Pathways to Science excitedly followed Terry through the library while learning about Harvey Cushing, Phineas Gage, and saw real human brains for the first time. Finally, a cohort of medical librarians recently welcomed this year's incoming class of medical students to Yale and the Medical Library. Led by Courtney Brombosz, the group comprised Megan Nance (Access Services Librarian), Caitlin Meyer, Melissa Grafe, Zsuzsa Nemeth (Head of Clinical Research and Education), Sofia Fertuzinhos, and Lei Wang (Head of Technology and Innovation). Each librarian provided a brief overview of services and tools available to the incoming students and reiterated the Medical Library's commitment to supporting them throughout their educational journey.

New Gifts: Health and Lyme Disease Activism

July 19, 2022 - 11:07am by Melissa Grafe

The Medical Historical Library is delighted to announce two new gifts detailing student and patient health care activism starting in the 1960s. Dr. Michael Charney, YSM class of 1972, donated his papers related to student activism in his Yale career. Charney was an editor of the Yale Medical Center Newsletter, a student activism newsletter for Yale School of Medicine produced in the late 60s and early 70s.  Charney also donated materials related to his activism for Ralph Nader and the health rights of workers in New Haven and other places; The Organizer’s Manual, which he was involved in producing as part of a multi-university student strike; and publications from other groups, including the Black Panthers and The Medical Committee for Human Rights. The Charney papers provide insight into healthcare activism at Yale and in other parts of the country, highlighting links between the various student, political, and community activist groups. The Medical Historical Library also received the papers of Lyme disease activist Polly Murray, as a gift from her family. Murray lived in Lyme, CT., and alerted the CT State Department of Health and Yale – particularly doctors Allen Steere and Stephen Malawista—to the outbreak of symptoms that included herself, her family, and other members of the Lyme community. Steere and Malawista investigated beginning in 1975, and by 1977 Lyme arthritis (now Lyme disease) was first identified as a new infection spread by ticks bites.  Murray was a layperson integral to the early investigation, and published an account of her experiences with Lyme disease in her book The Widening Circle: A Lyme Disease Pioneer Tells Her Story (1996). Her papers include correspondence with Malawista and others; the original handwritten list of people in town/symptoms that she showed to Steere in 1975; scrapbooks containing Lyme disease publications including newspaper articles; and other material. This gift complements the Stephen Malawista papers already held in the Medical Historical Library collection. Both gifts are currently unprocessed, so please contact the Medical Historical Library at historical.library@yale.edu for access and further information. Initial records for the Michael L. Charney papers and Polly Luckett Murray papers are in the library catalog and Archives at Yale.

Activism through Historical Posters

June 13, 2022 - 10:09am by Melissa Grafe

Come visit the newest exhibition featured in the Medical Library’s Hallway space! Highlighted on the walls of our newest exhibition are posters reflecting activism on behalf of women, children, and the HIV/AIDS community, dating from 1970-1998. These posters provide snapshots of larger efforts by activists to challenge the status quo and promote the welfare of people who needed action from government and industry groups. The Historical Library houses over 2,000 posters reflecting the history of medicine and health broadly, including materials related to activism and social movements. Featured posters include AIDSGATE, 1987, from the Silence = Death Project, criticizing President Ronald Reagan’s lackluster response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that roared through America and the world in the 1980s. Don’t Iron While the Strike is Hot, 1970, created by Mary Ann Lupa, was used in support of the Women’s Strike for Equality, a nationwide demonstration marking the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage. Lupa was Chicago’s National Organization for Women (NOW) chapter president and one of the organizers of the Women’s Strike for Equality in Chicago.  

Job Opportunity: Collection Development & Scholarly Communication Librarian

May 12, 2022 - 1:23pm by Holly Grossetta Nardini

We're hiring!  Join our team, or share this link with colleagues who may be interested. Collection Development and Scholarly Communication Librarian Rank: Librarian II-III Salary Range: $66,000-$87,000 Schedule: Full-time (37.5 hours per week), currently hybrid with a minimum of 2 days/week on campus STARS Requisition number: 73466BR APPLY HERE Position Focus: The Collection Development & Scholarly Communication Librarian provides leadership in developing and sustaining collection development and scholarly communication activities at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library (CWML). Primary responsibilities include license and price negotiation, vendor relations, collection analysis and assessment, budget management, and trouble-shooting local e-resource access issues. This position also serves as the in-house expert for staff and users on matters of open access and new openness opportunities, publishing models, copyright, and other services related to scholarly information. Reporting to the Associate Director of the Medical Library, this position partners closely with all departments and collaborates with staff throughout the Yale University Library (YUL) on approaches to resource expenditures, coordinated collection development and policy creation, license review, and scholarly publishing. This position provides decision-making support to the Director for complex academic and health system licensing partnerships, including working with the Yale New Haven Health System-affiliated hospitals and librarians.  Primary Responsibilities Supports the selection, acquisition, licensing, promotion, and discovery of collections, databases, and information tools and resources that bolster the clinical, educational, and research missions of Yale New Haven Medical Center. Manages a budget of $4.4M and works closely with the medical library’s Operations Manager to provide budget projections for library collections and ensure effective management of general account and endowed collection funds. Works with hospital librarians, procurement staff and leadership in the Yale New Haven Health System to negotiate pricing and licenses for clinical point-of-care resources, especially those integrated into the electronic health record. Partners with medical librarians to license and market unique content such as bioinformatics analysis software and storage, clinical materials, nursing and medical educational resources, and biomedical datasets. Utilizes metrics, usage data, and other evaluation criteria to support data-driven collection development decisions and to increase the efficiency of processes and workflows. Supports medical library e-resources access and authentication solutions. Investigates and helps resolve e-resources access issues from clinical sites. Collaborates with YUL collections, e-resources, scholarly communication, and technical services units and serves on committees. Understands and follows trends related to scholarly communication, publishing, copyright, and emerging information and data sharing, particularly in the health sciences. Collaborates with other librarians to offer programming and educational materials about scholarly publication trends and to encourage openness and new publishing models. Works closely with medical library users and staff on questions about publishing, including manuscript submission, navigating copyright policies, and complying with funder mandates. Participates in library planning, committees, and task forces, and engages in campus, regional, and national professional organizations, and collaborative activities. May represent Yale to state, national, and international organizations. May be required to participate with disaster recovery efforts. Required Education and Experience Master’s degree in Library Science from an American Library Association Accredited Library school and two years of professional library experience and professional accomplishments, preferable in academic setting. Required Skills Demonstrated ability to manage a budget and strong Microsoft Excel skills. Demonstrated experience with analyzing usage statistics and transformative agreements. Knowledge of the electronic publishing environment and scholarly communication trends. Demonstrated experience with electronic resources management, including license and product negotiations, vendor relations, and collection development and management. Excellent organizational skills and demonstrated ability to solve problems and manage complex workflows. Excellent oral and written communication skills, including public presentations. Excellent interpersonal and team collaboration skills; and the ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, rapidly changing, and ambiguous environment. Commitment to an inclusive workplace. Ability to engage with diverse audiences (age, gender, nationality, race/ethnicity, profession, sexual orientation, etc.). Preferred Education, Experience and Skills: Knowledge of health sciences libraries and their evolving roles in medical education, biomedical research, clinical practice, and scholarly communication. Experience with implementing joint licenses between academic entities and health systems. This position will be assigned a rank of Librarian 2 to Librarian 3. Librarian ranking information can be found at https://bit.ly/YULRanksPromotions. Background Check Requirements All candidates for employment will be subject to pre-employment background screening for this position, which may include motor vehicle, DOT certification, drug testing and credit checks based on the position description and job requirements. All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of the background check. For additional information on the background check requirements and process visit "Learn about background checks" under the Applicant Support Resources section of Careers on the It's Your Yale website. COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement Thank you for your interest in employment at Yale University. Please also note that the university has a COVID-19 vaccination and booster requirement for all students, staff & faculty which is described in the COVID-19 Vaccine Program. As you search our open positions, you will see that all postings list their on-site addresses which gives more detail on the on-campus work location of the role.  
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