Communications
May 2002
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Contents:
Articles:
Communications,
the Newsletter of the School of Medicine Library,
May 2002


Introducing ILLiad

Interlibrary Loan Enters the Electronic Era

Through a special arrangement with Thomas Cooper Library, the School of Medicine Library will soon be implementing the ILLiad system. ILLiad organizes all aspects of Interlibrary Loan -- borrowing and lending, the Docline and OCLC systems, Ariel, copyright clearance, and billing -- into one web-based system.

For ILL users at the School of Medicine, ILLiad provides many benefits. There will be no more paper forms to fill out; after filling out a brief registration page on the web, you'll choose a username and password, then simply log into the system and send your requests through a simple web form. You will be able to check the status of your requests at any time, so you'll know without contacting or visiting the ILL office whether your item is waiting to be filled or is on its way. You will receive an email message informing you that your request has arrived, and, if you choose electronic delivery, you can access your article right from your office and view it and print it at your convenience.

For the Library, ILLiad means simplification of the process and no paper files to maintain. Requests sent by patrons are received and processed rapidly, since all informaiton is automatically transferred into our ILL systems, Docline and OCLC. Reports from those systems are checked by ILLiad, so continuously updated information on requests is available. Customized statistical reports and bills are also generated by the system.

We plan to test ILLiad over the course of the summer, and have it ready to go in time for the Fall 2002 semester.

Lisa Antley-Hearn, Reference Technician
epeake@med.sc.edu - 733-3174

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LibQUAL+ Survey Completed

Many thanks to all SOM faculty, students, and staff who completed our very first web based survey. The LibQUAL+ Survey had a very respectable faculty and student response rate (25% and 19% respectively). We will share the survey results when they become available in early Fall 2002.

Please know that your input is always important to us, and if you have suggestions for improved library service or materials, you can use our Online Suggestion Box under Forms on the Library's web page, or our SCarlit catalog suggestion form.

As mentioned in our last newsletter, the LibQUAL+ 2002 survey has been a nationwide endeavor, including 170 major research libraries, as well as a cohort of 40 academic health science libraries. This survey will allow us to measure our patrons' service expectations and needs.

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Individual Consultation Service Available

The Library provides an individual consultation service to School of Medicine faculty. Librarians are available to meet with an individual faculty member in his or her ofice, in the Library, or at any location on the VA or Palmetto Health campuses to work one-on-one on solving an information problem, provide training in using e-journals or databases, or assist with complex searches.

To consult with a School of Medicine librarian, contact us via email at asklib@med.sc.edu, call us at 733-3361, or visit us at the Reference Desk at the Library.

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Budget Crunch

Due to a 5% decrease in the Library's budget in 2001/2002, the Library cancelled the following print indexes which are available online: Current Contents -- Clinical Medicine, Psychological Abstracts, and Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health. In addition, the microfilm versions of several journals were cancelled and the book budget was decreased.

The budget outlook indicates that the Library may be subject to yet another budget cut in 2002/2003. In the face of 8% inflation for journal subscriptions and 4% inflation for books, even a flat budget in 2002/2003 will be problematic for the Library. Given the possibility of a further reduced budget next fiscal year, the Library is currently reviewing options for scaling back its collections and services. Potential actions being considered include the following:

  • Cancel print Current Contents -- Life Sciences index, available online.
  • Cancel Annual Reviews, available at Thomas Cooper Library and online.
  • Cancel Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, available at Thomas Cooper Library and online.
  • Convert print/online journal subscriptions to online only.
  • Decrease number of MD Consult user licenses.
  • Reduce book budget further.
  • Stop binding issues of journal titles for which we have electronic access.
  • Cancel Journals@Ovid full text journal collection.

Although it may seem obvious to cancel the print version of electronic journals to realize a cost savings, one must bear in mind that this savings is often fairly small. For example, Archives of Dermatology costs $400 for the print/online combination. The online version costs $305, a savings of $95. The journal Endocrine costs $875 for the print/online combination. The online only version costs $790, a cost savings of only $85. As you can see, the Library will only be able to realize minimal savings by converting print/online subscriptions to online only. As the Library moves forward with the investigation of these options, I will be requesting assistance from the Library Committee and department chairs as appropriate.

Ruth Riley, Director of Library Services
ruth@med.sc.edu

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Consultant Evaluates Condition of Rare Book Collection

In January, Tina Mason, Preservation Field Services Officer from the Southeastern Library Network, conducted an assessment of the Library's 500-volume collection of rare medical books. Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, this assessment gave the Library a clear idea of the condition of the collection, along with advice on how to best care for the books.

The consultant found the collection to be in "moderate to good condition." Most of the materials are very soiled, and there is evidence of pest and mold activity. Water damage is also apparent, but it is not clear whether the damage occured before or after the books were donated to the Library. Storage conditions have improved drastically since library renovation, and chances of further water damage are minimal. Some specific recommendations found in the consultant's report were: (1) clean the collection thoroughly, (2) monitor the relative humidity and temperature of the storage room to make sure readings fall within the ideal ranges, and (3) prioritize the collection (based on condition and monetary or historical value) to determine which books to treat and preserve first.

The Library has applied for a second NEH grant that would allow for the purchase of cleaning supplies, environmental monitoring equipment, and specialized preservation training.

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USC School of Medicine Library

Finding E-Journals

Everyone wants to use e-journals, but finding what you need may be a several step process. As a SOM Library patron, you have access to the full text of potentially over 2,000 journals, which includes USC Thomas Cooper Library e-journals, as well as access through the Infotrac database provided to all SC Libraries. The following suggested strategy might help with your search. Use the SOM Library's Homepage for easy access to all of the resources listed below: http://uscm.med.sc.edu/.

If you want to know if a specific journal is available to you online:

  1. Check the SOM Library E-Journal Webpage. The E-Journal Webpage will show fulltext biomedical e-journals available through the publisher, OVID, MD Consult, JSTOR, etc. http://somjournals.sc.edu/. (If the title is NOT here, look at our online catalog SCarlit for print access.

  2. Check SCarlit, the SOM Library online catalog, which contains hot links to e-journals on journal records. http://muscls.musc.edu/search~S5/.

  3. Check USCAN. Thomas Cooper Library's catalog, which contains hot links to e-journals on journal records. http://www.sc.edu/uscan/.

  4. Check the Thomas Cooper Library Online Electronic Journal Master List http://www.sc.edu/library/science/alljnl.html

If you are searching databases, and want to find e-journals:

PubMed Articles that appear in journals for which our library has an electronic subscription can easily be spotted in your PubMed search results. After doing your search, change your display to "Abstract." Look for the garnet logo that reads "USC SOM Library." A click on the logo will get you to the full-text of the article. To make the logo appear, you need to start your search from the PubMed link on the Library's web page.

If you have bookmarked the standard PubMed URL and wish to see our new online links, please edit the URL:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=usclib

If you are asked a username and password for a title when using PubMed, go back to our E-Journal webpage to see if we have access, and call Circulation at 733-3344 to give you the most recent username and password information for a title.

Ovid There are two ways to find ejournals in Ovid. First, you may use the Limit to Ovid Full Text Available feature. This will limit your search to the 60 Journals@Ovid title to which the Library subscribes and provide direct links to the full text of the individual journals articles. Alternatively, as you browse your search results, look for the message "for full text see SCarlit" and click on "Library Holdings" and this will take you to SCarlit where you can click on the hot link and go to the ejournal page but you will then have to find the specific journal article cited in Ovid.
Web of Science, Current Contents As you are reviewing your search results, watch for the "View Full Text" icon. Web of Science includes links to Elsevier ScienceDirect E-Journals.
ScienceDirect You can search the 1,200 full text e-journals in ScienceDirect by author, subject, and keyword using the Search button.
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe Keyword searching and access to full-text of 20 medical and health journals.
InfoTrac, Health and Wellness Resource Center, General Reference Center, Expanded Academic Index ASAP Choose Limit to Full Text option when formulating your search.

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HAPI

Health and Psychosocial Instruments Now Available through OVID

The Library has now added Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI) to its list of databases searchable through Ovid. HAPI provides ready access to information on measurement instruments (i.e., questionnaires, interview schedules, checklists, index measures, coding schemes/manuals, rating scales, projective techniques, vignettes/scenarios, tests) in the health fields, psychosocial sciences, organizational behavior, and library and information science. HAPI assists researchers, practitioners, educators, administrators, and evaluators, including students, to identify measures needed for research studies, grant proposals, client/patient assessment, class papers/projects, theses/dissertations, and program evaluation. By creating an organized resource of previously unavailable measurement information, HAPI: (a) provides a means of locating a variety of instruments; (b) helps to reduce inefficience and cost, and (c) eliminates duplication and "reinvention of the wheel."

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Print Journal Use Plummets

OK, so when we boxed up the print journals for our 2001 second floor renovation, we didn't know that it would encourage this much electronic journal use. All journal print use appears to have declined, and electronic usage is soaring, according to our use statistics pulled from our E-Journal Web Page and from the reshelving of print journals.

Actually, this is a trend in all libraries, with patrons foregoing print journals for what they can find online. We do want to remind you that our print journals are still on the second floor, and if you can't find the journals you need without leaving your computer, you may need to take a trek to the journal print stacks. Be sure to check our SCarlit catalog to see what we do have in print, so you are not requesting titles readily available here in the Library.

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A FIELD GUIDE TO GENBANK AND NCBI MOLECULAR BIOLOGY RESOURCES

As part of its role as the Bioinformatics Core of the South Carolina Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (SC BRIN), the School of Medicine Library hosted a workshop to help South Carolina researchers learn to use GenBank and other related databases available from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). On March 12-13, instructors from NCBI provided training to more than 61 scientists and graduate students from across the state. The workshop consisted of a three-hour lecture on Tuesday morning followed by two hours of interactive hands-on training presented to small groups on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. The training covered use of the Entrez text search service, the NCBI structures database, similarity searching NCBI BLAST, and Genomic Resources at NCBI. Participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire to assist in further planning for the Bioinformatics Core.

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New on the Library's Webpage:

PDA Resources

As the second year students finish their classroom work and begin to prepare for their clinical rotations, a new challenge awaits: PDAs. To help you get ready for using your PDA, the Library has created a webpage of helpful links. Located at http://uscm.med.sc.edu/LIBRARY/PDA.HTM, the page includes links to general introductory information about PDAs, PDA manufacturers, medical software available, comparisons, electronic journals, tutorials, and a plethora of other helpful links.

We've also included a page created by Bryan Lundquist, Class of 2003, which lists links to the websites he's found most useful (http://uscm.med.sc.edu/LIBRARY/pdalund.htm) in his clinical rotations.

You can reach the PDA Resources pages either at the above URL or from the Library's homepage (http://uscm.med.sc.edu/) and clicking on "PDA Resources" in the "Biomedical Websites" section.

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New E-Textbooks

The Library has added seven new e-textbooks to its E-Textbook Page. These titles are also available via PubMed's Bookshelf.

  • Cancer Medicine. 5th edition.
    Bast, Robert C.; Kufe, Donald W.; Pollock, Raphael E.; Weichselbaum, Ralph R.; Holland, James F.; Frei, Emil, editors. Canada: BC Decker Inc; c2000.
  • C. Elegans II.
    Riddle, Donald L.; Blumenthal, Thomas; Meyer, Barbara J.; Priess, James R., editors. Plainview (NY): Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; c1997.
  • Introduction to Genetic Analysis. 7th edition.
    Griffiths, Anthony J.F.; Gelbart, William M.; Miller, Jeffrey H.; Lewontin, Richard C. New York: WH Freeman & Co; c1999.
  • Modern Genetic Analysis.
    Griffiths, Anthony J.F.; Gelbart, William M.; Miller, Jeffrey H.; Lewontin, Richard C. New York: WH Freeman & Co; c1999.
  • Molecular Biology of the Cell. 3rd edition.
    Alberts, Bruce; Bray, Dennis; Lewis, Julian; Raff, Martin; Roberts, Keith; Watson, James D. New York and London: Garland Publishing; c1994.
  • Molecular Cell Biology, 4th edition.
    Lodish, Harvey; Berk, Arnold; Zipursky, S. Lawrence; Matsudaira, Paul; Baltimore, David; Darnell, James E. New York: WH Freeman & Co; c1999.
  • Retroviruses.
    Coffin, John M.; Hughes, Stephen H.; Varmus, Harold E. Plainview (NY): Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; c1997.

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Logoff

Please remember: when using any of the Library's premier electronic resources or electronic journals (i.e. Ovid, STAT!Ref, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, et al), it is extremely important that you formally logoff (using the logoff option appropriate to the resource) when your session is complete. Many of our electronic resources have limited user licenses; if you do not properly logoff, you may prevent another user from getting to the resource they need.

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High School Tours

The Library is proud to have welcomed some of the brightest young minds from around South Carolina in for a presentation entitled "Computers in Medicine." Various high school science classes from around the state came for half-day tours of the School of Medicine between January and April. The students toured much of the campus and learned about the rigors and rewards of medical school.

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Staff Spotlight:

Tim Schafer

Having just completed his twentieth year of service to the University of South Carolina, Tim Schafer could be called one of the Library's most loyal staff members. In his position as Library Specialist in Circulation, Tim's is a familiar face to School of Medicine students, faculty, and staff. Born in Akron, Ohio (also known as the Rubber Capital of the World), he was raised Catholic and spent 12 years in Catholic schools. He enrolled in Kent State University the year after the fateful shootings, participated in a few anti-war rallies, and discovered his love for rock n roll concerts ("Aerosmith still rocks!"). During his college days he worked in the medical supply field, selling to doctors and nurses his "fine line of bedpans, otoscopes, and tongue depressors."

Tim married in 1978 and moved to South Carolina. He has two children: Katie, a Junior Scholar who is going to start high school next year and has aspirations of going to college in England; and Tim II, a scholarship student at Carolina studying computer engineering. The library staff believes Tim's greatest accomplishments are his children!

After nine years of working at USC's Thomas Cooper Library, Tim was transferred to the School of Medicine Library and has been there ever since. Tim says that in this relatively small setting, "I get to know nearly everyone." Thanks, Tim, for your years of service to our library!

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Upcoming Events of the USC School of Medicine Alumni Association

SEPTEMBER
20-21 -- Alumni Weekend for all alumni, faculty, staff, students, residents, and invited guests. CME, Gala, Tailgate, Full Membership and Committee Meetings (details will be mailed this summer).

OCTOBER
20 -- Walk for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (students, residents, faculty, and staff volunteers/walkers needed).

NOVEMBER
7-9 -- SC Academy of Family Physicians, SOM Exhibit, Hilton Head.

9 -- Breakfast for alumni, faculty, students, and residents, 7:00 a.m., AFP in Hilton Head.

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Center for Disability Resources Library News

Spring has been a productive time for the Center for Disability Resources (CDR) Library. CDR Librarian Roz McConnaughy exhibited at the following conferences this spring to promote the library: the South Carolina Council for Exceptional Children State Convention, the South Carolina Association of School Librarians Annual Conference, the South Carolina Assistive Technology Expo, and the South Carolina Medical Association Annual Meeting. These conference exhibits, along with the distribution of the CDR library pamphlet, have increased usage statistics dramatically. Reference questions tripled from December to January and have remained consistent. The number of items being checked out per month doubled from December to January and has been increasing every month since.

Videotapes comprise a large portion of the CDR Library, and they check out for three weeks at a time. Now you can view the videos in the library, too. The Library has two media carts, each equipped with a television and VCR. Media carts can be requested at the Circulation Desk for viewing videos in the Library.

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PDA Teleconference a Success

On February 6th, the Library, in conjunction with Computer and Communications Resources, sponsored a teleconference presented by the Medical Library Association entitled "Sync or Swim: Surviving the Flood of PDAs in Healthcare." The event was hosted by the Palmetto Health Richland Library at the Hospital's main auditorium. Over thirty medical librarians, medical students, residents, and physicians attended the two-hour program that explored current trends of PDA use in medical practice, education, and information delivery.

The Library has a videotape copy of the teleconference on reserve at the Circulation Desk. It can be viewed in the Library or is available for short-term loan. For copies of the teleconference bibliography, please contact Erica Peake at 733-3344 or epeake@med.sc.edu.

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Staff News

  • Library Director Ruth Riley has been appointed to the Medical Library Association 2004 National Program Planning Committee. This committee is charged with selecting the annual meeting theme, inviting speakers, calling for and evaluating contributed papers, and planning general sessions.

  • Roz McConnaughy attended the SC Rural Health Association and SC AHEC Annual Conference February 27, 28 and March 1 in Columbia.

  • Roz McConnaughy and Sarah Gable exhibited at the South Carolina Council for Exceptional Children State Convention, February 24, 2002 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

  • Roz McConnaughy exhibited at the South Carolina Association of School Librarians Annual Conference, March 6-8, 2002 in Charleston, South Carolina.

  • Roz McConnaughy exhibited at the South Carolina Assistive Technology Expo March 14, 2002 in Greenville, South Carolina.

  • Volunteers from the Library stuffed 30 dozen (360) Easter eggs with candy for the First Lady's Easter Egg Hunt. This event is for the children treated last year at Palmetto Health Children's Hospital.

  • Laura Kane attended the annual Innovative Users Group Meeting April 27-30, 2002. Innovative Interfaces, Inc.'s INNOPAC is the trade name for the Library's online catalog, SCarlit. The meeting was held in Houston, Texas.

  • Ruth Riley made two appearances on Gary Poszick's show "Health, Wealth, and Happiness," discussing web sites dealing with depression in January and various health related web sites in February.

  • Ruth Riley attended the BRIN Bioinformatics Meeting in Los Alamos, New Mexico, March 8-10.

  • Ruth Riley was selected as a member of the inaugural class of the School of Medicine Executive Leadership Institute. Ruth attended a retreat with the Institute in Myrtle Beach, SC, February 15-17.

  • Ruth Riley has been elected as Chairperson of CONBLS, a Consortium of Southern Biomedical Libraries. Ruth attended a CONBLS meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, April 5-6.

  • Ed Sperr attended the Computers in Libraries 2002 conference in Washington, DC March 13-15 followed by the ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit in Baltimore, Maryland, March 15-17.

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Library Departments

Administration (Director, Ruth Riley): 733-3350
Circulation (Head, Victor Jenkinson): 733-3344
Reference (Head, Sarah Gable): 733-3351
Cataloging and Acquisitions(Head, Laura Kane): 733-3352
Serials (Head, Karen Rosati): 733-3355
Systems (Head, Ed Sperr): 733-3347
Interlibrary Loan (Head, Sarah Gable): 733-3347
Center for Disability Resources Library (Head, Roz McConnaughy): 733-3310

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Library Hours and General Information

Hours:
Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. to midnight
Saturday - 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday - 1 p.m. to midnight

Telephone Number: (803) 733-3344

Fax Number: (803) 733-1509

Address:
School of Medicine Library
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208

Home Page: http://uscm.med.sc.edu/LIBRARY/LIBRARY.SHTML

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Newsletter Committee

  • Laura Kane, Chair
  • Karen Rosati
  • Lisa Antley-Hearn
  • Victor Jenkinson
  • Roz McConnaughy
For comments or suggestions regarding the newsletter, please call Karen Rosati at 733-3355.

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Return to the School of Medicine Library page


Report any problems to Lisa Antley-Hearn, epeake@med.sc.edu

This page was last updated 13 June 2002.
This page copyright 2002, The Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina.
URL: http://uscm.med.sc.edu/LIBRARY/com27.htm