Blogs

   The Medical Historical Library is pleased to announce a new gift of patient records from Boston’s Waltham Hospital (which closed in 2003) dating from 1889 to 1897. Within 7 bound volumes are what are now called progress notes, operative reports, pathology reports, and medication records written by attending physicians. The volumes provide a snapshot of patient care, disease, and medicine in late 19th century Massachusetts. The collection is a generous gift of Alan M. Engler, M.D.; Yale College, Class of 1976.  The Waltham Hospital medical records (Ms Coll 82) are now available for researchers to view in the Medical Historical Library. Included in the volumes are notes documenting surgery in 1894 for a perforated appendix, in which Dr. Alfred Worcester operated and saved a patient’s life – under ether, and 50 years before antibiotics became widely available. Worcester was the founder of the Waltham Hospital and was known for advocating for early surgical intervention in the treatment of appendicitis and for the use of Caesarean section in difficult births. In the 1880s, appendicitis was treated by waiting for an abscess to form and was often fatal. Worcester found that he could usually operate before the appendix had ruptured by entering the peritoneum (the membrane lining the cavity of the abdomen) and greatly reduce morbidity and mortality. The reports of his cases and the controversy between him and the surgeons of Boston demonstrate the evolution of medical and surgical practice. The volumes also document trauma (gunshot wounds, people kicked by horses, occupational injuries), cancer, birth injuries, rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and suicide attempts.

The Medical Historical Library is pleased to announce a gift of approximately 230 books and manuscripts from the libraries of David Riesman, M.D. and John P. Riesman, M.D.  The books range over a wide variety of topics and time periods, with the earliest texts dating from the 16th century. While volumes containing the works from highly influential medical authors such as Florence Nightingale, Herman Boerhaave, and Thomas Willis are part of the gift, other books in the collection provide medical advice and science fun for more popular audiences. Examples include a 1774 copy of William Buchan’s Domestic Medicine and John Willison’s The Afflicted Man’s Companion (1794) , as well as “Tom Telescope’s” The Newtonian system of philosophy… for the use of young ladies and gentlemen, (1803), an introductory text to Newton’s scientific principles. David Riesman (1867-1940) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1892 and was Professor of Clinical Medicine there from 1912 to 1933 and, after introducing the study of the history of medicine to the medical school curriculum, became the first Professor of the History of Medicine at Penn from 1933 until his death in 1940. He was the author of many books including Medicine in Modern Society, The Story of Medicine in the Middle Ages, and High Blood Pressure and Longevity. His collection of books was bequeathed to his son, John P. Riesman, M.D., a 1938 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School who became a surgeon at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, CT and was affiliated with Yale Medical School. He was an active member of the Associates of the Medical Library at the Yale and the Beaumont Medical Club. Discover the collection, which is still being cataloged, in Quicksearch or Orbis.  Images from some of the books are highlighted in the Medical Historical Library’s Instagram account.

Melanie Norton, Head of Access and Delivery Services, was recognized for her outstanding leadership of the DiversAbility at Yale (DAY) affinity group. Throughout her career Melanie has been passionate and responsive to the needs of individuals impacted by disability, and in particular with the challenges students with disabilities encounter when trying to use public spaces and academic libraries. As the co-chair of the DAY from 2019 to 2021, Melanie championed the causes of faculty, staff, and students with disabilities (either visible or invisible) so as to improve their sense of belonging at Yale.  DAY's mission is to create a personal and professional network for all Yale employees impacted by disability, identify opportunities to promote recruitment, retention and advancement of people with disabilities, support and collaborate with other Yale affinity groups and efforts to create an inclusive Yale community, and increase awareness of issues related to disability through learning opportunities, social activities, and participation in outreach activities. Deborah Stanley-McAuley, Associate Vice President for Employee Engagement and Workplace Culture, presented Melanie with the award and commended her for her committment to accessibility, disability advocacy, and community building at Yale and beyond.   Kudos from DAY colleagues: "Thank you for your dedication, contributions and outstanding service as affinity group leader in making Yale a better place for different staff constituencies across camps." - Henry Kwan, Director for Shared Interest Groups "Thank you so much for everything you've done to make Yale a better place. Your commitment to the Yale community and our well-being is so very appreciated." - Tracy MacMath, Web Application Developer at Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library "Thank you for your leadership of DAY during an extraordinarily challenging time; I'm so grateful for everything you did to maintain and strengthen community during your term as co-chair!" - Julie Linden, Director of Collection Development Scholarly Resources

Happy Peer Review week! Despite many criticisms and calls for reform1,2,3 peer review remains an intrinsic part of the academic scholarly lifecycle. Like faculty, librarians are deeply involved in peer review – both receiving peer review on our own scholarship and volunteering our peer review services to journals. In particular, librarians are skilled at reviewing methodologies and search strategies for evidence syntheses papers like scoping and systematic reviews. In evidence synthesis, the quality of the literature search, and the clarity with which it is reported, are foundational! Research from Cushing/Whitney Medical Library librarians has shown that librarians could play a larger role in the peer review process4. If you are a journal editor, you can use the Librarian Peer Reviewer Database to find qualified and available librarians to review aspects of submitted manuscripts. “Segmented peer review” is an excellent way of involving librarians in partial peer review of manuscripts5, as few individual peer reviewers have the knowledge to evaluate all aspects of team science manuscripts. Yale librarians are also available to consult on all aspects of scholarly publishing. References 1. Gerwing TG, Allen Gerwing AM, Avery-Gomm S, Choi C-Y, Clements JC, Rash JA. Quantifying professionalism in peer review. Research Integrity and Peer Review [Internet]. 2020 Jul 24  2. Gerwing TG, Allen Gerwing AM, Choi C-Y, Avery-Gomm S, Clements JC, Rash JA. Re-evaluation of solutions to the problem of unprofessionalism in peer review. Research Integrity and Peer Review [Internet]. 2021 Feb 16 3. Brainard J. The $450 question: Should journals pay peer reviewers? Science [Internet]. 2021 Mar 1  4. Grossetta Nardini HK, Batten J, Funaro MC, Garcia-Milian R, Nyhan K, Spak JM, et al. Librarians as methodological peer reviewers for systematic reviews: results of an online survey. Res Integr Peer Rev. 2019;4:23. 5. Nyhan K, Nardini HKG. Evidence synthesis papers would benefit from segmented peer review. Translational Oncology [Internet]. 2021 May 1

  As of this month, the library is officially supporting EndNote 20! Classes will be taught in 20 and we encourage you to upgrade to best follow along and take advantage of the software’s new functionalities. What’s the difference between X9 and 20? Some of the the biggest differences between the versions are visual: new icons, reorganized menus, and more space between references for easier reading. Notable changes include the Word icons from X9 now living as menu options under Tools and the integrated library view (local, shared, and online) being the default. If the new font size is too big for your screen, you can modify it by heading to Preferences -> Display Font.    Various processes are now more intuitive, such as modifying references and copying formatted citations. There is an explicit Edit button in the right-side reference pane that also facilitates text formatting that was previously complicated (like making text superscript or bold). The Copy Formatted menu option still exists under Reference but there is now a button next to the preview of the formatted reference as well. On the technical side, 20 enables deduplication by DOI and PMCID as well as further integrates Web of Science citation report functions. Things to think about prior to upgrading:  ·      Make sure your computer is compatible. For PCs, EndNote 20 requires at least Windows 10 and Microsoft Word 2010. For Mac users, you’ll need at least OS 10.14 and Microsoft Word 2016. ·      Back up your library. While EndNote libraries are supposed to be forwards-compatible, it’s best to save a compressed version of your EndNote library before upgrading just in case. Head to File, then Compressed Library (.enlx) and modify the file name to include the date of the backup. Email this file to yourself. ·      Consider your collaborators and how you share. While libraries are forwards-compatible, they are no longer backwards compatible beyond X9.3. This means if you have 20 and your colleague has X8, they won’t be able to use the library you send them. When you decide to upgrade, EndNote 20 is available through the  ITS Software Library. If you’re on a managed machine, contact ITS to install the software. Check our calendar for upcoming workshops as well as the vendor’s EndNote 20 YouTube series.