iComment iPod competition is drawn!

On Wednesday Jay Watson, President of MedSoc and Diane Good, Project Officer for the National Library of Guidelines, came along to the Health Sciences Library, to draw the prize for the iPod iComment competition.

and the winners are (drum roll) ...

1st prize 8gb iPod Nano Chris Lowry

2nd prize Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine Stuart Stokes

3rd prize Memory stick William Flowers

Thank you for everyone who has posted comments and taken part. I hope you will continue to find this blog a useful resource.

Vic

EXAM REVISION: late night opening at HSL-RHH

EXAM REVISION: late night opening at HSL-RHH

The importance to students of late-night opening of the Health Sciences Library at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital has been raised by many Medical and Dental Students and in particular by your MedSoc Student Reps. As a result, the Library is extending the opening hours of HSL-RHH, over the coming examination period, as follows:

Monday 1 December to Friday 5 December, open till 21.30
Monday 5 January 2009 to Friday 9 January, open till 21.30
Monday 26 January 2009 to Friday 30 January, open till 21.30.

On all other weekdays the Library will close at 19.00; Saturday and Sunday opening is unchanged.

The periods are offered as 'revision opening', providing access to books, journals and computers. The Library will be unstaffed apart from a porter.

We will monitor usage of the Library at these times.

Good luck in your exams

Vic

 

iComment Competition to win an 8gb iPod Nano or another fantastic prize

iComment Competition to win an 8gb iPod Nano or another fantastic prize :-) Open to all staff and students in the Medical School (a similar competition is taking place on the Librarians' Blog for Dentistry).

To enter simply comment here or against any of the blog entries. Comments should either respond to what is being said on the blog or could be about how well you think information literacy is supported in the Medical School or indeed about any aspect of the University of Sheffield Library service. Nothing offensive though ;-)

Ten of the best: 4 Behind the headlines

 

Ten of the best: 4 Behind the headlines

Last week I had an unplanned trip to the GP due to the experiment my nine year old had decided to do with a 20 pence piece (yes it does fit down the oesophagus). Given that he wasn't blue or anything, I figured he was probably ok and so took the opportunity to do a bit of people watching.

Sitting across from me were two middle aged women and a similarly aged chap, who was, for some inexplicable reason, and much to the envy of the nine year old, drinking one of those intriguingly coloured slush drinks (purple). He didn't contribute much to the conversation beyond 'aye, you can't be too careful.' The women, on the other hand, were intently studying a copy of the Daily Mail and discussing, in hushed tones (not all that hushed), the adverse effects of HRT. It transpired that one of the women was planning to question her treatment with the GP, in response to what they were reading in the paper.

I suspect that, for GPs up and down the country, this is a familiar situation and one that I'm sure you, as student doctors, will face sooner or later. Are you equipped with the skills to respond?

One resource that you may find useful is the 'Behind the headlines' service. The brainchild of Sir Muir Gray, Chief Knowledge Officer of the NHS, Behind the headlines provides an unbiased and evidence-based analysis of health stories that make the news.

This is how is works:

• Each day the NHS Choices team selects health stories that are making headlines.


• These, along with the scientific articles behind the stories, are sent to Bazian, a leading provider of evidence-based healthcare information.


• Bazian's clinicians and scientists analyse the research and produce impartial evidence-based assessments, which are edited and published by NHS Choices.

Behind the headlines can be found on the National Library for Health:

www.library.nhs.uk

or connect directly at:

http://www.nhs.uk/News/Pages/NewsArticles.aspx

If you want to use the service to keep up with health stories in the news you can set up an RSS feed or use the auto-alert function.

and remember ... just because it's in the Daily Mail, doesn't automatically mean it's wrong ;-)

Vic

Need help with referencing?

For those of you adding the finishing touches to your History of Medicine SSC I thought that a bit of advice on formatting your references might be timely.

This assignment requires the use of Vancouver referencing and you may find the attached resource, provided by the BMA, useful:

http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/LIBReferenceStyles

The Library has designed some further referencing guidance available at

http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/useful/refs.html

and don't forget the online tutorial, written specifically for the UofS Medical School. Here is how to connect:

Step 1 Login to MUSE

Step 2 Connect to MOLE (My Online Learning Environment)



Step 3 Connect to the Library-Information skills tutorials



Step 4 Select subject specific tutorials

Step 5 Select Medicine

Step 6 Connect to the Vancover referencing tutorial





Vic :-)

Library fines … and how not to pay them …

Library fines … and how not to pay them … Exclusive interview with Lynn Greenwood, Head of Lending Services at the Univ of Sheffield Library



One issue which crops up repeatedly on the library blogs is that contentious matter of library fines and book loan periods. Vic went along to meet Lynn Greenwood, the Library's Head of Lending Services, to find out why on earth library books can only be borrowed for a week and why students can accumulate £15.00 worth of fines quicker than they can shout 'give me the directions to Blackwell's.'

Lynn has the unenviable responsibility of ensuring that the library stock circulates effectively and she has the ultimate power to decide on loan periods, library fines and indeed all matters to do with lending services.

Vic: Lynn, thank you for agreeing to contribute to the Library Blogs. With around 25,000 students and over 1.3m items in stock, it must be no mean feat to ensure that the books circulate effectively amongst our students.

Lynn: That's right, the Library issued 1.6m books last year so it is big and busy business, especially in the Information Commons where much of our undergraduate borrowing takes place.

Vic: One of our students has commented that the Library at the University of Leeds has loan periods of 12 weeks. Why are our books issued for just a week at a time?

Lynn: This particular student was undertaking an intercalated research year and as such will have benefited from the longer loan periods afforded to researchers. The University of Sheffield also grants longer loans to our research students. Leeds issue all books on student reading lists for one week only and their loans policy appears to be fairly consistent with our own.

Vic: So why do we issue books to undergraduates for just one week at a time?

Comment Competition to win an 8gb iPod Nano or another fantastic prize

To launch the Librarians' Blog for Dentistry we are running a competition to win an 8gb iPod Nano

iComment Competition to win an 8gb iPod Nano or another fantastic prize.
Open to all staff and students in the Dental School (a similar competition is taking place on the Librarians’ Blog for Medicine).

To enter simply comment here or against any of the blog entries. Comments should either respond to what is being said on the blog or could be about how well you think information literacy is supported in the Dental School or indeed about any aspect of the University of Sheffield Library service. Nothing offensive though ;-)

Endnote Web

Hi Dental Students

Hope the new term is going well.
One of the resources that I am getting many, many queries about at the moment is Endnote Web and so I thought a blog post about this might be timely.

Endnote Web

Have you ever written a report and found that formatting the bibliography has taken almost as long as writing the text? Perhaps you could benefit from using reference management software such as Endnote Web which does all the fiddly formatting for you. Endnote Web is a resource which allows you to manage your references and generate and format a bibliography using different styles, eg Vancouver, Harvard or a style compatible with an academic journal. It allows the import of references from databases such as Medline which can then be used on a cite while you write basis within Word. Endnote Web is available via Web of Knowledge to all members of the University of Sheffield.

Learning to use Endnote Web

More info about Endnote Web is available here
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/refmant/endnoteweb.html

I am, apparently, the University Library’s Endnote Web Oracle! I’ve no idea how I have got myself such a position but if you would like tuition in its use I’m the person to contact. Interested? Let me know. If there is sufficient demand I will run a course. Remember that if you express an interest here on the blog you automatically enter the competition to win an 8gb iPod Nano. If you prefer you can email me directly at v.grant@sheffield.ac.uk

Vic

Top geeky techie tips required!

Philip Sadler has asked for a blog post to collate top techie tips. So all you techie geeks out there comment away and let's see how many top tips on using Library eResources we can get :-). Or alternatively why not come and demo your Uber Geek dances to the Library Assistants at the Library Counter ;-) To start you off here is a repeat of Phil's tip, on how to add a new tab in MUSE.

Vic

Maybe we could have a blog on these pages for ideas like this?

TIP for “book-marking” databases in MUSE

You only have to log in to MUSE rather than Athens now, but you still have to navigate to your favourite database start page (OVID SP in my case) via the library indexes, so here’s a geeky trick that you might want to try if you want the OVID page to come up when you first open MUSE.

1. Go the page you’d like to access quickly and copy the address from your web browser,
(in my case it was the OVID page http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/cdfiles/biomed.html)
2. Login to MUSE and click the “Customise Layout” link
3. Click the “Add New Tab” button.
4. Add a name for your tab in the “name the tab” box and select the “Framed - URL:” radio button and add the address you copied in step 1 to the box, then click the submit button
5. Now you will see a page that has all your tabs on so click on the link for the name you used in step 4. On the next page and click “Make this the default Active Tab”. Finally click the “back to …” link at the top right to get back to the tab you just created.
6. Cheer at your IT prowess and do the dance of the Uber geek

When you next login to MUSE that tab will be the first thing you see!

You can add several database pages as tabs by only using steps 1-4 without changing your default page

Geekily yours

Phil

Blogging resumes

Thank you to everyone who has been posting comments on the blog over the last couple of weeks and apologies for the delay in responding.

I am busy busy busy at the moment teaching information literacy to the new students so thank you to those of you who have mentioned how useful these skills have been to your academic work and also to your clinical practice.

I'm working through the comments now and will respond either individually or in the form of blog posts.

Vic :-)

Get this blog in your Facebook!

You can see the RSS feed (i.e. the headlines of any new posts) of this blog right in your Facebook account by installing the "Librarians' Blog for Dentistry" application! Keep up-to-date without even leaving Facebook!! Why not install the application now - its easy:

Log in to Facebook. On the right hand side, in Applications box, click on Edit:

Get this blog in your Facebook!

You can see the RSS feed (i.e. the headlines of any new posts) of this blog right in your Facebook account by installing the "Librarians' Blog for Medicine" application! Keep up-to-date without even leaving Facebook!! Why not install the application now - its easy:

Log in to Facebook. On the right hand side, in Applications box, click on Edit:

The University of Sheffield Library welcomes all new Dental Students

Welcome to all new Dental Students. My name is Vicky Grant and I am the Faculty Librarian for all the departments in the Faculty of Medicine. It is my role to ensure that the University Library is providing all the information resources to support your studies and also to ensure that you are taught the skills of information literacy as part of the Dental School curriculum. Initially you will receive a lecture about the Library service and further into the course you will attend information skills workshops to support your assignments. If you need help with any aspect of the Library service then please do ask either at one of the Library Enquiry Desks or by email (library@sheffield.ac.uk ) or you can contact me directly at v.grant@sheffield.ac.uk.

Welcome to Sheffield. I hope you enjoy your time here.

Vic

:-)

The University of Sheffield Library welcomes all new Medical Students

Welcome to all new Medical Students. My name is Vicky Grant and I am the Faculty Librarian for Medicine. It is my role to ensure that the University Library is providing all the information resources to support your studies and also to ensure that you are taught the skills of information literacy as part of the Medical School curriculum. Initially you will receive a lecture about the Library service and you will also attend information skills workshops to support the History of Medicine SSC. If you need help with any aspect of the Library service then please do ask either at one of the Library Enquiry Desks or by email (library@sheffield.ac.uk ) or you can contact me directly at v.grant@sheffield.ac.uk.

Welcome to Sheffield. I hope you enjoy your time here.

Vic

:-)

Goodbye Athens: Hello seamless access to eResources

My name is Rachel Mason, I’m part of the Library’s eServices Technologies Team -we work closely with CiCS to ensure that you can access Library eResources
through MUSE, wherever you are in the world, 24/7. Over the last year, in line
with national changes, we’ve been working hard to set up Federated Access
Management (FAM) at the University. From 1 August 2008, this improved service
will be integrated into MUSE and will replace the old Athens system, and the
old Athens protection will be removed from all Library eResources.

So no more Athens, and no need to click on Athens links in order to access
Library eResources! FAM will work in the background to make your eResource
access even more simple - in other words, MUSE will do the hard work, so you
don’t have to! To access eResources from 1 August 2008, simply login to MUSE
with your institutional username & password and connect via the eResources
links on the Library tab in MUSE. (Or access via the eResources A to Z links on
the Library Web pages - you’ll be prompted to login to MUSE as necessary.)

You can find more information about this at:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/libnews/accessman.html. Happy studying - and
remember, from 1 August 2008, at Sheffield, Athens will be a thing of the
past!

Rachel

Welcome to the Librarians’ blog for Dentistry

My name is Vicky Grant and I am the Faculty Librarian for all the departments in the Medical Faculty. I am working with colleagues and students to develop this blog which I hope will keep you informed about developments in the Library service and give you the opportunity to communicate your comments and questions.

The blog also includes links to the best of library resources for Dentistry (see the column to the right of the page).

Please post your comments or suggestions directly on to the blog or, if you prefer, you can email me directly, v.grant@sheffield.ac.uk

Bye for now,
Vic

iComment, iCompetition … iPod

Just to remind you that there is to be a blog competition to win one of several very fab prizes including an 8gb iPod Nano. I'm working with MedSoc to launch this and details will follow anon. Everyone in the Med School will be entitled to enter so keep checking for posts  so that you don't miss out. Or why not set up an RSS feed to the blog so that you are notified automatically. Instructions for this are available under the links to the right of the screen.

Vic

Goodbye Athens: Hello seamless access to eResources

My name is Rachel Mason, I'm part of the Library's eServices Technologies Team -we work closely with CiCS to ensure that you can access Library eResources
through MUSE, wherever you are in the world, 24/7. Over the last year, in line
with national changes, we've been working hard to set up Federated Access
Management (FAM) at the University. From 1 August 2008, this improved service
will be integrated into MUSE and will replace the old Athens system, and the
old Athens protection will be removed from all Library eResources.

So no more Athens, and no need to click on Athens links in order to access
Library eResources! FAM will work in the background to make your eResource
access even more simple - in other words, MUSE will do the hard work, so you
don't have to! To access eResources from 1 August 2008, simply login to MUSE
with your institutional username & password and connect via the eResources
links on the Library tab in MUSE. (Or access via the eResources A to Z links on
the Library Web pages - you'll be prompted to login to MUSE as necessary.)

You can find more information about this at:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/libnews/accessman.html.  Happy studying - and
remember, from 1 August 2008, at Sheffield, Athens will be a thing of the
past!

Rachel

This librarianship malarkey is such hard work!

Ok, so we have found time for a little fun here at the Medical Librarians' EAHIL conference here in Helsinki but rest assured medical students that I have been thinking about you all whilst here.



Now some might say that having a gobby type as your medical librarian is a bit of a liability but today I have used my high quality negotiating skills (aka gobbiness) and secured several very impressive prizes for you guys. These include an iPod Nano (top spec type where you can choose your own colour), several USB sticks and an OUP medical textbook. Many many thanks to Swets, Ovid, OUP, and Proquest. A competition to win these prizes will be launched next week. Keep logging in to find out more :-)

Vic

Are citrus fruits the answer?

Today in Helsinki, medical librarians from all over Europe had the opportunity to consider how we might deal with uncertainties.

Why, for example, did it take 40 years to acknowledge that the issue of lemon juice on ships would be beneficial in the treatment of scurvy?

Uncertanties? Are we all certain about what is uncertain? You know, it is ok to say that we are uncertain about what the effects of a treatment might be. In fact, if there is no systematic review of the evidence on a topic or if the only systematic reviews are inconclusive then we have no choice but to say “we are uncertain”. DUETs (the Database of Uncertainties about the Effects of Treatments) has recently been introduced under the aegis of the James Lind Alliance.

So, if you have a clinical question for which you cannot find an answer from the evidence base, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are searching incorrectly or that you are asking the wrong question. It may be that your question constitutes an uncertainty and that further research is necessary. Find out about registering your question with DUETS by visiting the website at http://www.duets.nhs.uk .

This may help to get your question onto the research agenda and to ensure that research reflects the questions that appear at the cutting edge of medicine. Influence how research grants are allocated by registering gaps in the evidence base. In doing so you may make a real contribution to improving patient care.

Alison and Vic

Partying and conferencing in Helsinki. Don't tell our Director about the former ;-)

 

Blogging live from Helsinki

Tomorrow I'm off to Helsinki with the Health Sciences Librarian to present at the very prestigious EAHIL Medical Librarians Conference ;-) . I'd just like to say that the rumour insinuating that our main priority during this holiday (oops I mean conference) is to party in the midnight sun is absolute nonsense. To prove this point we will be blogging, live from the conference centre and reporting back on all the latest information resources for medicine.

Keep checking for posts. There may be freebies on offer :-)

Vic

Final year students: library accounts

Library procedures for final year students:

Please ensure that all Library items are returned, and outstanding
charges paid, by the end of serviced hours on Saturday 14 June.

In accordance with the University's debt management policy, if you do
not clear your debts you will not be eligible to either attend a Degree
Congregation or receive your degree certificate.  It is therefore
important you make sure that your account is clear before you leave the
University.

If you have any queries about your Library account please ask staff at
any Library site.

Good luck for your finals

Maggie

Health Sciences Library Services Manager

Revising for exams?

 

Looking for somewhere quiet to study? The Library at RHH has a quiet study room that you may find useful. It is located right at the end of the IT corridor (past the NHS IT Room). If you choose to work in this room please respect the silence code, ie no talking, whispering, laptops or iPods. If you are using this room and find that someone is disturbing you please tell the library staff as we just love the opportunity to screech shhhhhh at people ;-)

Good luck in your exams.

Vic

Are you doing research? Want to use the British Library?

 Did you know that the University Library runs a free minibus service to the British Library at Boston Spa? Find out more at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/services/illbus.html

or phone 0114 22 2 7245 or email lib-dsu@sheffield.ac.uk

Ten of the best: 3 myResource Lists

Ten of the best: 3 Star Resource Lists

Your course readings can be accessed via Star Resource Lists. These may include links to electronic resources such as full text journals and websites in addition to items in the Library.

 Access

There are three ways to access the Resource Lists:

1. Via the useful links listed at the right of this blog


2. Via Minerva. Click onto your appropriate Online Handbook and then click onto the Recommended Reading List. This will take you directly into the Resource List.


3. Via the library catalogue (Star). Clicking on the Star Resource Lists button will take you into the Resource List welcome page.

Search tips

To view all the lists for your department select from the drop down list on the Welcome page and click go. You can also use the search box in the header bar and from here you can search by keyword, module name or lecturer.

You will need to be logged into MUSE to view the lists with fulltext links.

If you want to print all or part of your list click on the printer icon and a printable version will load.

If you cannot find the list you are looking for please ask at the Library Enquiry Desk and we will investigate.

Frances

For further help and advice please contact me f.ludlow@sheffield.ac.uk

Clinical medicine eBook

Hi

There is currently a problem with access to the e version of Kumar and Clarke's Clinical Medicine. This is a combination of technical problems and problems with negotiations with the publisher. Our techie people are on the case of this and I'm hoping it will be resolved soon. In the meantime there are multiple copies of this texbook in both of the Health Sciences Libraries at WB 102 (K) and in the Information Commons at 616 (K). I'll post a note when access is restored.

Vic

Evidence based medicine: a soft option?

Evidence based medicine: a soft option?

On Saturday I went along to Weston Park Museum to visit the Medical Students’ Teddy Bear Hospital.



Green Teddy visits Radiology!

As a medical librarian I was keen to find out if clinical decisions in the teddy bear hospital were being made according to the best evidence!

Take Green Teddy for example, brought in by my 6 year old daughter Annabel who was concerned that his obstinate refusal to go in the washing machine set him at high risk for contracting an infection. Fortunately a thorough consultation was undertaken by Dr Hannah who quickly spotted that poor old Green Ted was also suffering from what appeared to be the early signs of alopecia. She was rightly concerned that washing Green Ted might aggravate his alopecia and that this was perhaps a contraindication in his care.

I spoke to Teddy Hospital organisers, final year medical students, Abi Jones and Emily Lees to find out how their decision making was influenced and if they would use the research available from the Health Sciences Library to influence their decisions!

As Abi quickly pointed out, the evidence base for treating soft toys is very limited and is largely based on the judgement and experience of the teddy bear doctors!
However I was assured that clinical guidelines, systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials would be used to influence their decision making, whenever they were available.

The library might not always be able to help with soft toy medicine but it is here to support evidence based practice in the clinical setting. We can guide you through the hierarchy of evidence to support your clinical practice. Here are some resources that you might use …

The National Library of Guidelines is the index to retrieve all clinical guidelines
www.library.nhs.uk/guidelinesfinder/

The Cochrane Library indexes all systematic reviews
www.thecochranelibrary.co.uk

Ovid Medline is the key resource for searching for randomized controlled trials (retrieving just rcts from Medline can be done using the publication type limit)
Connect via MUSE-Library-Databases

Thank you Abi, Emily and all involved, for organising the Teddy Bear Hospital. My children and their friends had a fantastic time. As for Green Teddy … we have settled on a gentle hand wash :-)


Dr Abi and Dr Emily with a 'patient'

The Subject Librarians are in the Infomation Commons

Just a reminder that throughout this semester, specialist subject librarians will be available in the Information Commons to give you in depth help and advice with using all types of library and information resources. So if you have an assignment or dissertation but are unsure about how to access, evaluate and organise the information needed, drop in for a chat.

No need to book, we’ll be at the first floor help desk in the Information Commons every week,
Mondays 2-4pm
Thursdays 11am-1pm

If you want to see me, it is my stint this Thursday :-)

And, on the subject of the Information Commons, the Dental School students have made a YouTube clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D08XykTvOIo

I'm waiting with bated breath for the Med School one as I'm sure you guys can do so much better!

Vic

Bookmarking eResources in your Web browser

Ok, so you all keep telling me that connecting to a Library eResource involves too many clicks and I have to say I am inclined to agree. At the moment our eTechnologies  team are working on a project which will authenticate access to the resources using a different system to Athens (Shibboleth) and I am hopeful that the access will then be much quicker and more straightforward.

In the meantime, if you have resources which you visit frequently then it may be worth bookmarking them. This must be done in the following way to ensure access is facilitated:

eJournals and eBooks

• Open your preferred browser


• Connect to the a-z eJournal or eBook listing


• Right click on the required title


• Add to favourites (IE) or bookmark this link (Firefox)

Databases

• Open your preferred browser 


• From the a-z list select the required database


• Right click on the 'connect to ...' link in the quick links box


• Add to favourites (IE) or bookmark this link (Firefox)

When you return to your bookmarked page you will be asked to log into MUSE to meet with our legal obligations. You only need to do this once per browser session. Hope this helps.

I'll keep you posted on the Shibboleth developments.

Vic

Off campus connections to electronic journals

Did you know that all of the journals listed on the University of Sheffield's eLibrary are available from any internet connection in the world? Connecting off-campus is not always as straightforward as connecting from a University pc and as many of you are away on placement, or going home for Easter, I thought it timely to give you some connection advice. Here is what to do in 8 easy (!) steps:

Step 1: Connect to www.shef.ac.uk

Step 2: Login to MUSE

Step 3: Click on the Library tab

Step 4: Select eJournals (under eResources)

Step 5: Select a-z list

Step 6: Find the required title and check the years covered by our subscription. An open ended range indicates that we are still subscribing.

Step7: Click on the required title. The article may open immediately here. If not carry on to step 8.

Step 8: (Where most people fail but it really is easy – once you know how). Connections differ according to the supplier. Often they require you to click on 'login' followed by 'Athens login' or perhaps you will see 'Athens login' immediately. Do not at this stage enter any passwords. All the connections work via MUSE and by simply clicking on 'Athens login' access should be facilitated.

As I said the connection routes vary depending on the supplier and detailed connection instructions for all the suppliers we work with can be found at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/elecjnls/ejsup.html If you don’t get access please, please, please contact the Library:

• 0114 2712030


• hsl.rhh@sheffield.ac.uk


• v.grant@sheffield.ac.uk

We can advise you of the route in. Do not enter your credit card number as some of the screens suggest. The University Library is paying huge sums of money to the publishing companies for institutional access to these journals and you therefore don't need to pay again. Buy some Easter eggs or something instead ;-) Remember too that if a journal is not part of our holdings we can still get the article for you from the British Library. Medical students get a free allowance (5 per yr) to do this. Ask at the Library Counter for more info.

Happy Easter Med Students. I'm away for a couple of weeks now. Blogging will resume at the beginning of April.

As long as my musculoskeletal system remains intact during my skiing holiday that is :-)

Vic

Ten of the best: 2 Endnote

The medical librarian's top 10 information resources continues with Endnote

Ten of the best: 2 Endnote

Have you ever written a paper and found that formatting the bibliography has taken almost as long as writing the text? Perhaps you could benefit from using reference management software such as Endnote which does all the fiddly formatting for you. Endnote is a piece of software which allows you to manage your references and generate and format a bibliography using different styles, eg Vancouver,  Harvard or a style compatible with a medical journal. It allows the import of references from databases such as Medline which can then be used on a cite while you write basis within Word.

Connecting on campus

• Select start


• Applications (you may need to select the load applications menu)


• Academic


• Social sciences


• Endnote

Using Endnote from home

You may purchase the Endnote software from CiCS but unfortunately we are not able to get a license to allow off-campus access via MUSE.

Learning to use Endnote

I am, apparently, the University Library's Endnote Oracle! I've no idea how I have got myself such a position but if you would like tuition in its use I'm the person to contact. Interested? Let me know. If there is sufficient demand I will run a course.

Vic

Easter loans and opening hours

Easter loans

We are now in the Easter vacation loan period. Remember to renew your books before you leave for the holiday, but don't forget others may have reserved them. You can check this in 'My Account' on Star (http://star.shef.ac.uk)
For further information about Easter loan periods see our web page at: www.shef.ac.uk/library/services/easterloan08.html

Library opening hours over Easter

The Health Sciences Library at RHH closes at 17.00 on Thurs 20 March and reopens at 09.00 on Tuesday 25 March. More information about library opening hours is at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/libsites/opengen.html

Maggie

Library and information skills clinic

A reminder that we are running a drop-in clinic tomorrow lunchtime (Thurs 6 March, 13.00-14.00) in the Library NHS IT Room at RHH.

So if:

Medline is making you muddled

Athens is 'aving you addled

Ovid is only outwitting you

or

eJournals are always elusive

Come along and we will help.

Vic

Ten of the best: 1 The Cochrane Library

One of the things that I am hoping to use this blog for is to promote some of the information resources that I think provide the best evidence for students, staff and researchers in the Med School.

So, I thought I'd tell you what my top 10 resources are, including some old favourites and also a few obscure gems. Take a look and post your comments in terms of ease of use, quality of information and whether you have a preferred alternative to find the same information. I'm kicking off with the Cochrane Library because, if you haven't used this before, it's time you did ...

The Cochrane Library

What is it?

The Cochrane Library contains a number of databases, the primary one being the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. These reviews are produced by Cochrane Groups which bring together the world's healthcare experts to systematically search for and appraise every clinical trial on a given topic. Those that meet the stringent appraisal criteria will then be synthesised together to produce one document of best evidence. Cochrane reviews are widely seen as the gold standard in evidence for healthcare due to their rigorous research methods. The Cochrane Library also gives access to DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects), a resource which aims to index all other well conducted systematic reviews. Finally, a word of warning about systematic reviews. Not all have been well researched and all too often I will see a simple review being published under the guise of  a systematic review.  So, if it's not from Cochrane or DARE, make sure you appraise it well...

Connecting to Cochrane:

www.thecochranelibrary.org gives access from any network connection in the UK. No password is required.

Searching:

Simple, advanced and MeSH searches are all available but because the number of individual documents is much smaller than in a database such as Medline, retrieval is fairly straightforward.

That's all for now,

Vic

Hello and welcome to the Medical School Liaison Librarian’s blog

My name is Vicky Grant and I am the Academic Liaison Librarian for the Faculty of Medicine. I am working with colleagues and students to develop this blog which I hope will keep you informed about developments in the Library service and give you the opportunity to communicate your comments and questions.

The blog also includes links to the best of library resources for Medicine (see the column to the right of the page).

Please post your comments or suggestions directly on to the blog or, if you prefer, you can email me directly, v.grant@sheffield.ac.uk

Bye for now,
Vic

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