Category Archives: Internet Resources

The power of crowdsourcing in libraries and archives

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Unidentified photo from the UT Southwestern Collection. https://www.flickr.com/photos/utswlibraryarchives/15412543801/

Crowdsourcing, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.” In the library and archives world, crowdsourcing has proven to be an effective tool in helping to identify photographs, transcribe documents, and provide other descriptive information that helps libraries and archives to increase the discoverability of and access to their materials.

Crowdsourcing is a popular method for archives to identify people, places, and events in photographs. Many eminent institutions – e.g., the Library of Congress – have harnessed the power of crowdsourcing and Flickr to aid in the identification of photographs through the launch of the Flickr Commons project. A 2008 Newsweek article highlighted that within 24 hours of the project’s launch, “all 3,115 images had been viewed at least once (with 650,000 total views), more than 500 pictures had received comments, and 4,000 unique tags had been added.”

Following in the model of the Library of Congress’s Flickr Commons project, the UT Southwestern Archives has a Flickr account, and we upload photos to that account from our UT Southwestern Collection for which we have little to no identifying information. You may wonder: Why are we putting this call for information out on the Flickr-verse? Don’t we know everyone in the photos? What about the date of and location where the photo was taken? The answer is: We would love to!

This opens up the conversation about the importance of metadata at the point of creation of a photograph. What is metadata? Put simply, it is data about data. A simple example of metadata is writing a name, date, or description on the back of a photograph (or included with the photograph and recorded on a separate piece of paper). To carry this example into the digital age, born-digital photographs can have descriptive metadata easily embedded in them with software applications like Adobe Bridge.

An example of metadata: we know who took this photo and when it was taken. Source: Repository: University Archives, University of Miami. Collection: University of Miami Historical Photograph Collection. http://merrick.library.miami.edu/cdm/ref/collection/umiscel/id/28

If metadata is not associated with a photograph at the beginning, even the best investigative archivist will struggle to identify the people, places, and events in photographs. To help with this, many archives utilize crowdsourcing to help identify photographs in their holdings. Here are a few examples:

With the 75th anniversary of UT Southwestern approaching, the UT Southwestern Archives is going through many photos in our collections, including these mystery photos. Excited to help the archives in their crowdsourcing endeavors? Get started today by visiting our Flickr page and browsing through the images. See anyone you know? Have other information to share about a photo? Leave a comment!

Want to learn more about the UT Southwestern Archives? Visit our webpage here and send any questions you may have to us at archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

Prices change for Interlibrary Loan on July 1

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Beginning July 1, 2017, all affiliated clients will be charged for all Interlibrary Loan requests. This change, which was recommended by the Library Advisory Committee and supported by the Dean’s Office, will mark the first time that the UT Southwestern Library has ever charged students, residents, and fellows for regularly delivered materials.

The pricing model will look like this:

Delivery Speed Cost per Item
*(Affiliated)		 Cost per Item
**(Not Affiliated)
Regular
(2-10 Days)		 $5.00 $13.00
Rush
(By the end of next business day)
Not available for book requests		 $15.00 $60.00

Please note: We will continue to provide materials – both books and articles listed in our catalog at the Joint Library Facility (JLF) – at no cost for a regular delivery.

This change is being made for two main reasons:

  • Decline in state revenue funding
  • UTSW clients making requests for items to which we already have access

In 2016, approximately one in every three InterLibrary Loan requests were for documents that UTSW clients can currently access.  To remind clients to first look to see if the Library has access to their articles before placing the request, we have recently added links to Ejournals A to Z and related tutorials and PubMed on the ILLiad login page.

Once this policy takes effect, Library staff will cancel article requests that can be obtained through Ejournals A to Z to help save our clients money.

Check out the Library’s updated Nursing Portal!

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The Health Sciences Digital Library and Learning Center provides reliable information resources that nurses can use. The Nursing Portal was updated based on recommendations and suggestions provided by UTSW nurses and is designed to assist nurses in identifying, accessing, and utilizing Library resources to support patient care, quality improvement, research, policies, and procedures.

Source: Nursing Portal: Health Sciences Digital Library and Learning Center. Nakashima, C., and Scott, J., 2017.

The Nursing Portal’s resources are organized into seven categories:

  1. Databases – include CINAHL, Clinical Skills, ClinicalKey for Nursing, UpToDate, and more
  2. Electronic Books – search the Library’s collection of more than 1,500 nursing books
  3. Journals – explore the Library’s collection of more than 750 nursing journals
  4. Nursing Resources – check out links to web and Library-subscribed resources
  5. Patient Resources – links to Library-subscribed patient education handouts
  6. Local Nursing School Libraries – links to libraries of local CCNE and ACEN accredited nursing programs
  7. Evidence-Based Practice Portal – provides an overview of EBP for clinicians as well as how to develop a PICO question, use the EBP Pyramid, and find evidence in web and Library-subscribed resources.

Library services for nurses include:

For more information or to schedule training with a health sciences librarian, please visit the Nursing Portal or contact us by completing the Ask Us form or call 214-648-2001.

“We’re on the move!”: Library relocates archive and history materials

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St. Paul Hospital on Harry Hines Blvd., babies in incubators being moved into new building (1963)

Like the St. Paul nurses in the photo above, Library staff will soon be moving some precious cargo of our own! The UT Southwestern History of Medicine and Archives Collections are in the process of being shifted to different locations. The archives’ records are currently stored in multiple library locations. This move will result in most of the UT Southwestern Archives being consolidated into one storage space, which will provide easier records processing and reference services. (Quick archival education side note: “Processing” is the arrangement, description, and housing of archival materials for storage and use by patrons.) Additionally, a local area is being renovated for other materials.

In preparation for the move, Library staff have been re-housing archives materials into acid-free folders and placing these folders in acid-free boxes. It is general practice in archives to house unbound documents in acid-free, lignin-free, buffered file folders, which are then stored in chemically-stable document storage boxes. These improvements are important steps toward ensuring a better preservation environment for the thousands of records that document the institutional history of UT Southwestern.

During the move, reference services for the archives will be temporarily placed on hold. While our physical archives are moving, don’t forget about the access you have to the archives via various online resources.

  • Our UT Southwestern Image Archives collection has over 700 photos documenting the history of UT Southwestern and 300 photos detailing Dallas’ medical history.
  • The UT Southwestern Institutional Repository is an amazing source of information for accessing some Medical Student Research Forum posters and other student publications, historical UT Southwestern documents, Grand Rounds materials, and much more!

Other activities requiring the archives may also be suspended or delayed; we will keep you updated via social media and through the Library News blog. Stay tuned, however, for we will be holding an archives grand “re”-opening for UT Southwestern faculty, researchers, students, and staff once the move is completed.

Questions? Contact the archives at archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

Library launches new Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Portal

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Where do I look for the best evidence to answer a clinical question? 

The Library is excited to launch a new portal, Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)!

With an estimated 2,000 new articles indexed daily in PubMed, finding evidence-based answers can be overwhelming. Even knowing where to start searching the Library’s numerous subscribed resources and key websites can be daunting!

To assist and streamline searching this portal, the Library’s resources are organized in the EBP Pyramid’s three categories:

  1. Filtered/pre-appraised resources appraise the quality of studies, often making recommendations for practice and to save time (i.e., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, UpToDate, National Guideline Clearinghouse).
  2. Unfiltered/unappraised resources are the databases of original studies (i.e., MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase).
  3. Background information/resources link to select textbooks.

Note: The new Evidence-Based Portal replaces the existing Clinical Evidence Portal, which will be sunsetted at the end of March; please update your bookmarks accordingly.

For more information on EBP, click on the Portal’s horizontal tabs or links listed in the left sidebar of the Portal’s home page. Questions? Please complete the Ask Us form or call 214-648-2001.

2017 Medical Student Research Forum posters now available online

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Posters presented at the 55th Annual UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum are now available through the UT Southwestern Institutional Repository’s Annual Medical Student Research Forum Collection, along with a booklet containing information on all posters.

Beginning in 1962, the UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum is an annual event celebrating research conducted by UT Southwestern medical students. The event is open to any medical student who participated in research, whether through the Summer Research Program or a yearlong program like HHMI.

For the last four years, presentation posters have been submitted to the Institutional Repository collection. Each publicly-available poster in the collection includes additional descriptive information, as well as a citation formatted according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, which can be used with CVs or in various applications.

For questions about contributing content in general to the UT Southwestern Institutional Repository, contact Cameron Kainerstorfer at archives@utsouthwestern.edu.

New year brings new skills!

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aceIs learning a new skill on your list of New Year’s resolutions? Do you want to get organized, reduce stress, or manage time differently in 2017? The UT Southwestern Health Sciences Digital Library & Learning Center can help with that!

More than 22,000 training books and modules housed in the Academy of Career Enhancement’s Books 24×7 collection are available through the Library catalog and includes a variety of topics including project management, time management, work-life balance, stress reduction, and organizational effectiveness. By using the Library catalog to access the entire Books 24×7 collection, you may dive further into a particular topic via the sidebar. Once you locate an item of interest, simply click on the online access link and use your campus log-in to continue. You can quickly jump to particular chapters, take notes, create bookmarks, and more.

This collection – part of the Academy of Career Enhancement (ACE) – is provided to the UT Southwestern community through an enterprise license of online resources for the continuing development and engagement of the UT Southwestern workforce. The multi-year contract is funded by several campus departments, including the Office of Human Resources.

Introducing CiteScore: a new standard for measuring your impact in Scopus

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7904846012_2e76778e68_bCiteScore™ metrics are a new standard to measure citation impact. Comprehensive, transparent, current, and free, CiteScore metrics help you to analyze the impact of all serial titles – including journals – at all levels – journal, article, and author – in Scopus, a scientific citation database provided by the UT Southwestern Health Sciences Digital Library and Learning Center.

Journal Metrics

  • CiteScore metrics: A family of eight indicators that offers complementary views to analyze the publication influence of serial titles of interest. Derived from the Scopus database – almost twice the size of the next-leading abstract and citation data provider – CiteScore™ metrics offer a more robust and accurate indication of a serial’s impact.
  • SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): A prestige metric based on the idea that not all citations are the same. With SJR, the subject field, quality, and reputation of the journal have a direct effect on the value of a citation.
  • Source-Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP): Measures contextual citation impact by weighting citations based on the total number of citations in a subject field. The impact of a single citation is given higher value in subject areas where citations are less likely, and vice versa.

Additionally, you can compare total number of citations received per year, total number of documents published per year, the percentage of documents each year that have never been cited, and the percentage of documents published in the year that are review articles.

Article-level Metrics

Article-level metrics (ALMs) quantify the reach and impact of published research. Scopus incorporates data from new sources (such as social media mentions) along with traditional measures (such as citations) to present a richer picture of an individual article’s impact.

The Article Metrics module on Scopus combines citation and alternative metrics in a new way to help you benchmark articles better. Use it to both determine which articles to read, and to gain deep insights into how an article compares with similar articles. On the Scopus article page, a sidebar highlights the minimal number of meaningful metrics a researcher needs, including (as available):

  • Citation count and percentile benchmark
  • Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI)
  • Count of one type of scholarly commentary (e.g., blog posts, Wikipedia)
  • Count and benchmark of one type of social activity (e.g., Twitter, Facebook)
  • Total count of additional metrics and link to see breakdown by source

From the sidebar, clicking <View all metrics> opens the full Article Metrics module, providing an overview of all available metrics and the underlying content for further analysis and understanding.

Author Metrics

Scopus bibliometrics can help you assess an individual author’s research output and scholarly impact. The depth and breadth of content on Scopus – which includes 2.5 million pre-1996 records – provides the quality data needed to build accurate measurements of an author’s impact. With Scopus you can easily analyze and track an individual’s citation history. In addition to finding an author’s total citation and document counts from an author’s details page, you can also access the following metrics and tools:

  • h-index and h-graph: Rates a scientist’s performance based on his or her career publications, as measured by the lifetime number of citations each article receives. The measurement depends on both quantity (number of publications) and quality (number of citations) of an academic’s publications.
  • Citation overview tracker: An adjustable table that includes the number of times each document has been cited per publication year.
  • Analyze author output: A collection of in-depth and visual analysis tools designed to provide a better picture of an individual’s publication history and influence.

For more information about Library resources or to schedule a one-on-one training, please contact your health science librarian by email or use the Ask Us form on the Library’s website.

To schedule an individual or group training session, please use the Request Training page.

EndNote X8 is here! Upgrade now available for download for Mac and PC

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cw1x7zrveaauraqThe new EndNote X8 software is now available for install from the UT Southwestern Information Resources EndNote software support page. This upgrade has been anticipated for many Mac users with Sierra who have experienced downloading issues of X7.

An EndNote comparison chart of X8, X7, and X6 versions provides a comprehensive list of existing features along with new X8 additions that include:

  • Sharing functions including a large increase in shared libraries
  • Activity Feed with Shared Library member activity 
  • Learn when new members join the Shared Library
  • Automation and full text management including Recently Added Group
  • Automatically find and apply bulk reference updates
  • Unified iconography across both Mac and Windows.

More information, resources, and news about EndNote can be found at the Library and Learning Center’s EndNote Portal. If you have a specific EndNote question, contact our EndNote experts by email or Ask Us form on the Library & Learning Center’s website. To schedule an individual or group training session, use the Request Training page.

Color, share, and celebrate Picture Book Month in November!

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An 1835 illustration featured in the National Library of Medicine’s #ColorOurCollections Coloring Book.

Art Therapy, Adult Coloring Books and Your Mental Health

According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is a mental health profession in which the process of making and creating artwork is used to “explore feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety and increase self-esteem.”

The Health Benefits of Adult Coloring Books

Despite the fact that coloring and art therapy aren’t quite the same thing, coloring does offer a slew of mental benefits. Coloring definitely has therapeutic potential to reduce anxiety, create focus, or bring [about] more mindfulness. Groundbreaking research in 2005 proved anxiety levels dropped when subjects colored mandalas, which are round frames with geometric patterns inside. Simply doodling, though, had no effect in reducing the other subjects’ stress levels.

Just like meditation, coloring also allows us to switch off our brains from other thoughts and focus only on the moment, helping to alleviate free-floating anxiety. It can be particularly effective for people who aren’t comfortable with more creatively expressive forms of art. Now get coloring!

The South and North Campus Branch Libraries will have coloring stations with crayons and pages of science and medical related material for you to enjoy this month.

Download these free science and medical-related coloring books featured at the Library coloring tables this month:

Follow the Library’s Facebook or Twitter page for a daily page to color from these collections.