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University of South Alabama Biomedical Library |
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Create Change:
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Create Change was formed by the Association of Research Libraries, the Association of College and Research Libraries (a division of the American Library Association) and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition in response to the serious crisis facing scholarly communication. Despite advances in information and communication technologies (such as digitized archival collections, content-rich databases and the Internet) several extenuating circumstances have actually decreased scholars’ access to essential research resources all over the world. Although a number of factors have contributed to this situation, the
most significant have been the dramatic rise in journal costs and the
increasing commercialization of scholarly publishing. According to the organization’s web page (http://www.arl.org/create/home.html), Create Change “seeks to address the crisis in scholarly communication by helping scholars regain control of the scholarly communication system-a system that would exist chiefly for them, their students and their colleagues in a worldwide scholarly community, not primarily for the benefit of publishing businesses and their share holders.” The site also contains suggestions for faculty on how they can help curb the rising cost of scholarly journals.
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Food For Thought: The University of Maryland Health Sciences Library noted recently that for the same cost of a year’s subscription to Brain Research a family of four could enjoy an 8-day cruise through Alaska’s Inside passage (including round-trip air fare from Seattle). Additionally a year’s worth of the Journal of Comparative Neurology roughly equals the purchase price of a new Nissan Frontier King Cab pick-up truck.
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From the DirectorIn addition to ScienceDirect, OVID, and other full text databases we have added Wiley titles as well as Springer-Verlag titles to our online collection. This brings the total number of online, full text titles now available to over 2,000. As more titles go online we may see less of you in the library but many more of you “virtually.” We expect this trend to continue. The new library at Children’s and Women’s Hospital has really caught on. Usage continues to increase and our conference room is becoming quite popular. With the addition (under way) of telemedicine equipment, the room will become even more useful. Due to (dare I say it?) proration the journal budget for 2002 has been cut substantially. We are currently in the process of identifying titles for cancellation. Our goal is to cause a minimum of inconvenience to our users. As it looks now the vast majority of cancelled print titles will still be available online in full text so we will not be actually losing the titles. Those few print titles which we cancel and which are not available online have been identified as getting little or no use or where the cost of use does not fully justify purchase. In such cases, it would be cheaper to provide those articles via interlibrary loan and/or document delivery. All departments will be receiving the list of titles for possible cancellation and none will be cancelled without your feedback. This is the very first budget cutback we’ve received since the early 90’s so we expect the impact to be minimal. Enjoy the rest of your summer and, as always, we’ll be here to
assist you with all of your information needs.
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More, More, More! Many New E-Titles
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E-Journals |
More than 2000 full text electronic journals are now accessible from the Biomedical Library’s Electronic Publications page (http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/epub.htm).
In May, the Biomedical Library began providing access to over 300 titles from Wiley Interscience. These titles include:
- Acta Biotechnologica
- Developmental Genetics
- Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Seminars in Surgical Oncology.
- American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
- European Journal of Surgery
- Journal of the History of Medicine & Allied Sciences
- Nursing
- Palliative Medicine
- PT
- Scandinavian Audiology
- Texas Heart Institute Journal
The Wiley Interscience and EBSCO Host titles are accessible from home
through the Biomedical Library's proxy server. To learn more about accessing
electronic journals from home visit the library's proxy server instruction
page (http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/medgate1/index.html).
To quickly determine whether a specific title on the Electronic Publications
page is available from home, look for the picture of a house directly
to the left of the title.
Fifty-eight titles from BioMed Central were added to the Electronic Publications page in April. According to the BMC web site (http://www.biomedcentral.com/), “BioMed Central publishes peer reviewed research across all areas of biology and medicine, with immediate, barrier-free access for all.” BioMed Central titles include:
- BMC Clinical Pathology
- BMC Gastroenterology
- BMC Physical Therapies
- BMC Pulmonary Medicine.
- Breast Cancer Research
- Critical Care
- Current Controlled Trials in Cardiovascular Medicine
- Respiratory Research.
The Electronic Publications page is updated frequently and is continuously growing to better serve our users.
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E-Books |
E-Books are available through searching SOUTHcat (http://southcat.usouthal.edu), from the Biomedical Library Electronic Books web page (http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/ebooks.htm) or from URL listed after each selection. (Some titles may require passwords.)
PHARMACOLOGY
- Drug facts and comparisons : pocket version. Facts and Comparisons,
2001.
http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/ovid.htm (OVID Password Required)
- Interpretation of diagnostic tests / Jacques Wallach. 7th ed. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2000. http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/ovid.htm (OVID Password Required)
- To err is human : building a safer health system / Linda T. Kohn ; Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. Institute of Medicine. National Academy Press, 2000. http://www.nap.edu/books/0309068371/html/
- The 10/90 report on health research, 2000. Global Forum for Health
Research, 2000.
http://www.globalforumhealth.org/report.htm
- Kelley's textbook of internal medicine. 4th ed. / H. David Humes. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2000. http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/ovid.htm (OVID Password Required)
- HIV InSite knowledge base : the comprehensive, on-line textbook of HIV disease from the University of California San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital / Laurence Peiperl, Paul Volberding. AIDS knowledge base. 3rd ed. http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/akb/1997/
- Textbook of gastroenterology / Tadataka Yamada. 3rd ed. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1999. http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/ovid.htm (OVID Password Required)
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Merritt’s neurology. 10th ed. / Lewis P. Rowland. Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins, 2000.
http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/ovid.htm (OVID Password Required)
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Journal Use Study Continues... |
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| Over the years the Biomedical Library has tracked the use of journals
in the collection. Every time a journal is re-shelved, its use is captured
for inclusion in a database. (This is why users are asked to not re-shelve
items after using them.) While we continue to monitor journal usage and
their cost, we have also begun monitoring the electronic availability
of journal titles. Realizing that electronic access often makes a journal
more convenient to access there have been some cases in which the library
has opted for the electronic version while discontinuing the print subscription.
The Biomedical Library, along with the University Library, participates in several consortia agreements through the Network of Alabama Academic Libraries. These arrangements, such as ScienceDirect, allow USA clients to access some journals electronically that are not in the BML collection. (See article on page one for more about Electronic Journals.) The cost of journals increases 10%-15% each year, with some increasing as much as 40%. (Follow link to see article elsewhere in this issue about rising subscription rates.) The following table shows the most expensive titles in the Biomedical Library collection. (These prices may vary slightly from those given in the chart above in the other story due to a variety of mitigating factors.)
When the cost factors are compared with the usage for these same titles (using data compiled from 6/98-4/01), the result is the following table:
Data such as the above is monitored to make sure the journal collection meets the needs of our clients. Annually, some journal subscriptions are discontinued based on usage while new titles are added by faculty request.
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University Library Resources |
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In the spring issue of Biofeedback (#51) we reported
on the newly installed Biomedical Library proxy server allowing access
to resources previously only available to campus network connected computers.
In June the University Library installed a similar server. Using the
proxy server, approved USA faculty, staff and students should now be
able to access most electronic services from off campus. To explore the Library’s electronic resources, go to the UL Homepage (http://library.southalabama.edu/). If requested, provide information identifying your USA affiliation. For those interested specifically in Biomedical information some of the databases you might want to examine are:
The University participates in the Federal Depository Library Program.
Government Documents department librarians have recently unveiled a
web page for easy access to government resources from the federal and
Alabama governments in both print and electronic formats. Included is
a long list of statistical resources including the National Center for
Health Statistics.
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Media Production Services News |
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New Media Production Services Charges |
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Effective August 1, 2001, Media Production Services will begin charging for the setup and/or delivery of AV equipment. The charge will be $15.00 per hour with a half hour minimum and will include travel time for delivery to sites outside the USAMC complex or the University Campus. There will be no charge for setup or delivery of AV equipment in the following locations:
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Ray Butler Conference Room Dedication |
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The University of South Alabama College of Medicine is pleased to announce
the establishment of the Ray Butler Conference Room, MSB Room 2360.
A dedication ceremony and unveiling of the commemorative plaque is planned
for August 16, 2001, at 3:30 in the afternoon, in the Medical Sciences
Building Auditorium. We hope everyone will attend. A fund has been set up to maintain this conference room.
To contribute, please send your gift to:
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Prospero Service Continues to Grow |
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The Library’s new desktop delivery service has been well received and is continuing to grow. As the chart below indicates, the service has grown steadily since its inception in June 2000. In addition to our patrons at USA, many Loansome Doc users around the country find this delivery method convenient. Some hospital libraries are also requesting electronic delivery. Sally Murray and Ellen Sayed have presented a paper on Prospero at two professional meetings. The presentations were well attended on both occasions, reflecting the high level of interest in this new form of document delivery.
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New On Our Homepage: Trial Area (Testing) |
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There is a new area where we will be putting ‘trial’ web sites. The library has the opportunity to test some web sites before deciding whether or not to purchase them. We’d like to let you try out these sites too! Go to:
Feel free to give us feedback on which sites you like and why.
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“I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.” -Carl Sagan |
Site Spotlight: Antibiotic
Guide
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The handheld format provides convenient access to data for doctors who are visiting patients or prescribing drugs over the phone. PDA devices are growing in popularity among physicians, rapidly becoming as ubiquitous as the stethoscope.
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“The closest thing we will
ever come to an orderly universe is
a good library.”
-Ashleigh Brilliant
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Website Gets A New Look! |
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Beginning July 2nd, MDConsult will be sporting a new
look and a name change. Designed to make navigation more intuitive, a new pop-up
search feature will also make searching quicker. At the search window,
a drop down menu allows you to search either a particular section
of the site or all of MDConsult simultaneously. The new design of
the search results window puts the query and results on the same page
so users may modify their query without leaving the result list. There
will also be a ‘What’s New’ page containing the latest
additions in MDConsult to keep users abreast of new content and stories. Check out MDConsult's new look at: http://www.mdconsult.com/
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New Classes Web Page
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In an effort to increase the amount of helpful content on the Biomedical
Library website, the “Classes” section of the library homepage
has been updated and revamped. Besides listing a schedule and description
of Bibliographic Instruction (BI) courses available, the page also has
links to online tutorials for many of the databases available to library
patrons. It also contains a tutorial on using common database tools
such a Boolean Operators, truncation symbols and wild cards, a seven-step
guide to beginning a research project and electronic Pathfinders designed
to help you understand and use various library resources more effectively.
Over time new content will be added to the site, including all class materials for each BI session taught during a given semester. This will allow both students and instructors alike to access electronically the materials used in any BI session taught in their class. You can view the new “Classes” site at: http://southmed.usouthal.edu/library/ref/classes.htm
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Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know, -William Wordsworth |
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SOUTHmed UpdateMonroe County Hospital and Washington County Infirmary and Nursing Home
have joined the SOUTHmed Information Network this quarter. They join
the following hospital Network members: Baptist South, Montgomery; Fort
Walton Beach Medical Center; Mobile Infirmary Medical Center; Providence
Hospital & Springhill Medical Center.
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| BIOFEEDBACK, New Series, Issue #52 Summer 2001 The Biomedical Library Newsletter, a publication of the University of South Alabama Biomedical Library, is published at irregular intervals. Editor: Justin Robertson. Contributors to this issue: Judy Burnham, Mike Carmichael, Jie Li, Sally Murray, Justin Robertson, Ellen Sayed, Jana Slay, Geneva Staggs, Diane Williams and Tom Williams. Comments should be addressed to Justin Robertson, Biomedical Library, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688-0002 or: jroberts@bbl.usouthal.edu |