Introduction to Copyright Law

The Lamar Soutter Library in conjunction with the Copyright Clearance Center is sponsoring an “Introduction to Copyright Law” on Tuesday, February 16, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm in the Faculty Conference Room (lunch will be provided). This will be a great opportunity to learn about the history and definition of copyright, public domain and fair use, with specific focus on the academic and library environment. If you have ever been concerned about using journal articles and other copyrighted materials in a teaching setting, this session will answer many of your questions. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to Barbara Ingrassia in the library (Barbara.ingrassia at umassmed.edu – in the global address book) by February 12th

Library releases first Library Guide

The Lamar Soutter Library has released its first “Library Guide. Library Guides are web-based tools that allows libraries to develop customized and interactive sites for specific groups and/or programs. This first Library Guide is targeted to those faculty and staff focusing on research and scholarly communications but the LSL plans to introduce more of these content-specific guides in 2010 with some that will focus on clinical information. To see the new Library Guide, go to the library’s home page and click on the LSL Research Guide button at the top of the page.

More on the new PubMed

Have you tried the new version of PubMed yet? As mentioned in the Library Corner back in October, the look has changed but the functionality and power of the database have remained. One of the new features added with the PubMed redesign is the “auto-suggest” feature. Type in the search box, for example, “low back pain” and you will see searches that other users of PubMed have recently done on this topic and associated therapies and conditions. Choose the search you would like to copy (e.g. low back pain exercise) and PubMed will automatically launch that search and will map the search to best relevant subject terms as it always has. More tips and tricks on the new PubMed coming in the weeks ahead.

Micromedex Point-of-Care

The home screen in Micromedex was changed to the “Point of Care” interface as of Tuesday, November 17th. The Point-of-Care view is easier to navigate and contains many user-friendly tools to assist you finding and managing pharmaceutical data. Drug information is displayed in short bullet points for quick access to drug information, Evidence-Based health and disease management tools, dosing calculators, JCAHO compliant patient education information and IV compatibility checks. The familiar “in-depth” interface containing full drug monographs is still easily available from links within Point-of-Care entries as well as the “Switch to In-Depth Interface” link at the top right-hand corner of the page.

WorldCat Local

WorldCat Local, now at the top of the Lamar Soutter Library “Quick Links” list, allows you to search the Lamar Soutter collection, the Boston Library Consortium's collections, and the collections of many other libraries worldwide at one time. Most importantly, WorldCat Local will allow you to order books from the Boston Library Consortium Libraries (BLC) or from Interlibrary Loan (ILL) through one seamless interface. Faculty and staff who are registered (i.e., who have an active LSL barcode) with the library are eligible to order material through WorldCat Local. Books from the 19 Boston Library Consortium members (including Brown, Boston University, Boston College, UNH and U Conn) are free! Watch this space for information about training sessions coming up before the end of the year.

Online Journals – More Available Than Ever

The Lamar Soutter Library recently broke the 5,000 mark of biomedical journals available on our online journal list.  If you haven’t looked at the list recently (especially by subject), take a fresh look and you will find many new titles.  Many of the links also have direct access (look for the orange “Current Issue” button) to the current Table of Contents.  The online journal list is near the top of the “Quick Links” index on the left-hand side of the Lamar Soutter Library home page.

DynaMed Now Includes Drug Information

DynaMed, the Evidence-Based Point-of-Care resource tool, now offers information on drugs from the AHFS (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) in addition to its 3,000 plus clinical topic summaries.  The drug summaries include dosage and administration, adverse effects, interactions, pharmacokinetic and stability and compatibility information in addition to patient information and a robust bibliography.  To access the drug entries in DynaMed, use either the A-Z browse tool or the search feature that will map brand names to generic and vice-versa.  DynaMed is located on the “Quick Link” left-side tool bar of the Lamar Soutter Library’s home page.