Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library Blog

You don’t need to travel far to find rare books, manuscripts and digital resources documenting the history of the health and life sciences. Located on the 4^th floor of the UCLA Biomedical Library is the History & Special Collections Division, one of the finest repositories on these subjects in the country. The Division owns important classical and seminal works upon which the fields of health and life sciences are built.

The Division is involved in a variety of activities to promote the study of the history of medicine, allied health fields, and the life sciences. The Study of the History of Medicine at UCLA is an interdisciplinary program designed to assist in the exploration of resources related to the history of medicine. This portal includes a brief overview of the collection, explains access procedures for using the collection, and provides links to other departments on campus with historical collections. There are also links to events, fellowships, people, and research tools such as indexes, oral histories and organizations involved with the history of medicine.  

On November 16-17, 2007, History & Special Collections and the History of Medicine faculty from the School of Medicine will co-host “The Architecture of Healing: an international conference at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.” The conference will focus on the development of the hospital and its place in our society today as a center of healing and research. Registration forms are available online and are due by November 2^nd. 

The Division is involved with many online exhibits and digitization projects which have allowed unique materials to be easily accessible to a wider audience.  One interpretive exhibit, Spices – Exotic Flavors and Medicines, showcases beautiful drawings of spice plants and provides information on the historical importance of spices.  Another project, Relief of Pain & Suffering, is an exploration of attitudes towards pain and its relief from 1800 to the present. The impressive AIDS Posters collection consists of 625 posters from public health campaigns worldwide. The Donald Ryder Dickey Photographic Collection includes photos of California’s wildlife and landscapes taken from 1911-1929. This collection currently consists of 350 images, and 1000 additional photos will be added by 2008. 

The History & Special Collections Division’s books, journals, manuscripts, medical artifacts and digital resources are an extraordinary resource not available at many other universities. The librarians, archivists, curators, and staff of the Division encourage you to explore our collections online or in person on the 4^th floor of the Biomedical Library.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, and RDF Site Summary. RSS is a way to receive the newest updates from all your favorite web sites and databases without having to visit each web site and database individually. The RSS feed provides a short description of newly added content. You can then click on the feed description to be taken to the full content on the original web site or database. Subscribe to RSS feeds for all your favorite sites, and view all the updates on one web page.

The first step to using RSS is to set up an RSS reader (also called “feed readers” or “aggregators”). There are many different kinds of feed readers—some can even be installed on your cell phone or PDA! Some available options include:

• Bloglines
• iGoogle
• RSS readers are built into the web browsers Firefox 1.0 (and all subsequent versions) and Internet Explorer 7.0.

The Library does not endorse or provide technical support for any RSS readers. To find one that fits your needs, search the Web using the words “free RSS reader.”

Once you have set up an RSS reader, it’s time to start subscribing to feeds. RSS feeds can be used to facilitate searching, keep up with new research, and stay abreast of resources and events at UCLA. Many web sites have orange RSS icons to indicate that the site includes an RSS feed. See the list below for some great places to start. On any site, click on the RSS icon () and follow the instructions to subscribe.

• The UCLA Library has created a Recent Acquisitions RSS Service which offers RSS feeds for nearly 80 subjects. These feeds provide information on new books purchased by the UCLA Libraries.

• Visit the UCLA Gateway RSS Feeds and Podcasts page to view the many RSS feeds of UCLA events and happenings. Subscribe to the Daily Bruin’s headline feed for news, the Happenings feed to find out about concerts, lectures, and sports, or one of the many social activity feeds to keep up with your friends.

• Perform a search in PubMed, and then click on the “send to” pull down box and select “RSS feed.” Name your feed, click “create,” then subscribe to the feed. The search will be automatically re-run each time you open your RSS reader.

• CINAHL Plus, a nursing database, will also allow you to save a search as an RSS feed. After performing a search, click “create alert for this search” and subscribe. The search will be automatically re-run each time you open your RSS reader.

• Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, and Zoological Record, three of our largest life sciences databases, allow registered users to create RSS feeds for citation alerts. Your feed is updated whenever the article is cited by another author. To do this, run a search in one of these databases, and click on the full record for the desired article. Click  and subscribe to the RSS feed. 

• Access Medicine is a collection of e-books, images, care guidelines, and drug information for those in the health care field. The Access Medicine RSS feed is updated daily and includes reviews, updates to e-books, and breakthroughs in therapy and clinical research. Click the RSS icon on the front page of Access Medicine to subscribe.

Regarding communication, library liaisons:

• understand the school, division, and/or institute’s information needs and represent those needs within the library; and
• promote the library’s resources and services to the school, division, and/or institute.

Regarding research, library liaisons are:

• well-informed on the subject matter and nature of the teaching and research conducted by the school, division, and/or institute; and
• proficient in print and electronic information resources within the given subject area.

Regarding instruction, library liaisons:

• work with faculty to develop course-integrated library instruction for classes; and
• hold one-on-one and group research consultations with current UCLA students, faculty, and staff.

Regarding library collections, library liaisons:

• evaluate collection strengths and weaknesses in designated areas; and
• purchase items for the collection, as well as evaluate purchase recommendations from students, faculty and staff.

Contact your library liaison to ask questions about library resources and services, schedule instructional sessions for your classes, or suggest materials to purchase. We want to hear from you!

Biomedical Library Liaisons
*=primary contact in this subject area

An independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) met this week to review interim data from a large, international HIV vaccine clinical trial known as the STEP study. The clinical trial is co-sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. Inc. Based on a review of interim data, the DSMB concluded that the vaccine cannot be shown in this trial to prevent HIV infection or affect the course of the disease in those who become infected with HIV. Therefore, Merck and NIAID instructed all study sites to cease administering the investigational vaccine but continue scheduled follow-up visits with all volunteers until the data can be more thoroughly evaluated and a course of action is developed. For the entire clinical alert, visit: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/alerts/hiv_step_study.html.

Effective August 27, 2007, the UCLA Library replaced the old copy card system used to pay for photocopies and prints with a new system that allows UCLA students, faculty, and staff to use their UCLA BruinCards.

UCLA faculty, staff, and students will now use their BruinCards to make copies, prints, or scans on the self-service equipment in campus libraries.
Campus visitors will be able to purchase a Visitor BruinCard to make copies, prints, or scans on the self-service equipment in campus libraries.   

The BruinCard can be used for purchases at other campus facilities and at more than twenty locations in Westwood.

Transferring the Balance of the Old Copy Card
Any user who has a BruinCard but still has value on an old copy card can transfer the value through the fall quarter 2007 at the Biomedical Library Administrative Office, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

New Rates
Library Reprographics is not supported by any state funds and is required by the university to charge rates that recoup all of its costs.
This is the first rate increase for photocopies, prints from computer workstations, and microform prints in ten years.  In that time, costs for staff, equipment, and supplies have risen substantially.
The cost for each service was calculated based on the staff time, equipment, and supplies allocated to that service.  Library Reprographics makes no profit from these fees.  The UCLA Office of Academic Planning and Budget, which must approve all fee-based services at UCLA, has approved the new rate structure.

Purchase a visitor BruinCard for a one-time fee of 58 cents.

Questions or comments about the new BruinCard system should be directed to Bob Freel, Head of Access Delivery Services, at bobfreel@library.ucla.edu or 310.206.3004.

After three and a half months of hard work, the Biomedical Library migrated our web site content on August 2, 2007 to the UCLA Library Web site style. UCLA Library Web site style has been user tested and is designed to make our resources and services easier to locate.  Missing your favorite resources? They are still available! Here are a few answers to frequently asked questions about the new web site design:

Q: What happened to the Quick Links Menu?
A: It became the Key Resources tab.

Q: Where did the Help tab go and all of those class pages?
A:  See the Research Help tab for our subject guides.

Q: Where did the other tabs go?
A: Most of the content in the other tabs (General Information, FAQ, Requests, etc.) is contained in the Services Tab or in the About Biomed section.

Q: How do I get to the UCLA Catalog?
A: Use the Search and Find drop down menu to click on the catalog.

Need more help? Check out our quick guide to new Biomedical Library web site or contact the Biomedical Library reference desk at 310.825.4904 or by email at biomed-ref@library.ucla.edu .

  New Content Added to MD Consult:

New Images:

• Search over 50,000 high-quality medical images from the MD Consult textbook library. Images include photos, tables, graphs, and more.

New Book Editions on MD Consult:

• Auerbach: Wilderness Medicine, 5th ed.
  “This indispensable resource equips rescuers and health care professionals to diagnose and treat the full range of emergencies and health problems encountered in the wilderness.”
• Rakel: Integrative Medicine, 2nd ed.
  “This manual provides the practical information needed to safely and effectively integrate complementary and alternative treatment modalities into your practice. Twenty-four new chapters and a new organization make this landmark reference more useful than ever.”
• Rakel: Textbook of Family Medicine, 7th ed.
  “A comprehensive, authoritative source that helps readers meet every clinical and professional challenge they face. The 7th edition features the latest approaches and findings, and continues to break new ground.”

New Online Encyclopedias (available through the Library Catalog):

• Encyclopedia of Biodiversity
  “Major themes of the work include the evolution of biodiversity, systems for classifying and defining biodiversity, ecological patterns and theories of biodiversity, and an assessment of contemporary patterns and trends in biodiversity.”
• Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science
  “This reviews the common themes of information and information processing, representation, and computation, with in depth coverage of the core areas of psychology, philosophy, linguistics and neuroscience.” Also includes 1500 illustrations.
• Encyclopedia of Genetics, Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics
  “The focus is on studies based on the human and mouse genomes, but other important model eukaryotes, as well as pathogenic bacteria, are given in-depth coverage.”
• Encyclopedia of Gerontology
  “The second edition includes all new articles and wholly new coverage of topics that have seen research advances.”
• Encyclopedia of Medical Devices and Instrumentation
  “Articles focus on developments in medical devices, including nanotechnology, fiber optics, and signal processing.”
• Encyclopedia of the Neurological Sciences
  “Explores all areas of the discipline in its 1000+ focused entries on a wide variety of topics in neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and other related areas of neuroscience.”

Want to know if UCLA has the full-text journal article that you’ve found using Google Scholar and/or Scirus?  First, you must access the Internet either from on-campus or via the Bruin OnLine Virtual Private Network or Bruin OnLine Proxy Server. Then you need to set your search engine preferences so the  button will appear with your search results. Google Scholar and Scirus determine to which journals UCLA subscribes and link to the full-text articles of those journals when full-text is available.

UC-eLinks provides:

1. direct access to full-text articles, when available
2. ability to search the Library Catalog or Melvyl Catalog for print holdings; and
3. ability to submit an interlibrary loan or document delivery request.

   Google Scholar provides scholarly literature from many disciplines and sources. Follow these steps to activate UC-eLinks in Google Scholar:

1. On the Google Scholar home page, click Scholar Preferences:

2. Type “University of California Los Angeles” into the Library Links box, and select Find Library:

3. Click “Save Preferences” at the bottom of the page.

 Scirus is a comprehensive science-specific search engine that searches over 450 million science-related web pages.

Follow these steps to activate UC-eLinks in Scirus:

1. On the Scirus home page, click Search Preferences:

2. Enable the Library Partner Links:

3. Select “University of California Los Angeles” from the drop down menu:

4. Click “Save Preferences” at the bottom of the page.