Monthly Archives: August 2019

Library offers test proctoring services

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Did you know that the UT Southwestern Library offers test proctoring services for students, staff, and faculty upon request? Proctoring will be monitored by Library staff at the Bass Center Library Administration Offices (BL5.500) in the Paul M. Bass Administrative and Clinical Center, Tower 2. The cost is $10 per hour.

  • Payments can be made via cash or credit after receiving an invoice for the service.
  • Payment must be made before the proctoring service appointment. There are no refunds once payment is received.
  • Invoices must be paid in advance according to the standard length of the exam.
  • Cancellations will be accepted until 48 hours before the service appointment.

For scheduling or more information, call 214-648-2626 or email libADS@utsouthwestern.edu.

National Library of Medicine’s Loansome Doc services discontinued for non-affiliates

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On July 1, 2019, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) retired the Loansome Doc system. The system was closed due to a continued decrease in use that peaked in 2002.

UT Southwestern alumni and local healthcare professionals must register as “Unaffiliated” clients with the UTSW Library’s Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service to request articles. For further information, please see First Time User Registration for Interlibrary Loan.

Registered users who previously used Loansome Doc from within PubMed to request articles from UT Southwestern Library can continue to do so in the future by directly using their UTSW ILLiAD account to request articles. Please refer to the following video tutorial for a step by step guidance: How To Order Articles from UTSW Library.

PubMed remains the key source for indexed, peer-reviewed literature. Copies of many articles are available for free, and others are available for purchase. (See “How to Get the Journal Article for more information.”)

In addition to PubMed, the following resources offer access to journal articles:

Please contact UTSW Interlibrary Loan unit with any questions at 214-648-2001 or LibILL@utsouthwestern.edu

AVP for Library Services Kelly Gonzalez chosen as mentor for 2019/2020 AAHSL and NLM Leadership Fellows and Mentors Program

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The Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) recently announced the members of the 2019/2020 class of the NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program. Kelly Gonzalez, Assistant Vice President for Library Services, has been chosen to mentor Marisa L. Conte, MLIS, AHIP, Assistant Director, Research and Informatics, Taubman Health Sciences Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. The jointly sponsored program matches fellows and mentors in a one-year leadership development program.  Since the program began in 2002, 54 percent of fellow graduates have assumed director positions. The cohort includes five fellows and their mentors, who will begin their work together at the November AAHSL meeting in Boston.

The NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program prepares emerging leaders for director positions in academic health sciences libraries. The program provides a combination of in-person and virtual learning experiences for fellows and offers the opportunity to work collaboratively with the cohort of participants. Fellows are paired with mentors who are academic health sciences library directors. Mentors work closely with their fellows throughout the year and host their fellow’s visit to their library.

The candidate pool for fellows and demand for the program remain strong. Selection is competitive and recognition of a substantial record of leadership accomplishment and potential for a director position.

PubMed changes coming in September 2019

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In September 2019 PubMed 2.0 is scheduled to become the default PubMed version, and the existing PubMed is currently planned to be retired completely in January 2020. For now, the PubMed Labs website provides an opportunity to test the new PubMed, get further information, and provide feedback. Further details on the new version are available in a September 2018 article at PubMed Central; however, please note that some PubMed 2.0 features have changed since the article was published.

The major changes to PubMed include:

  1. Search results sorted by “relevance” by default (instead of the current “most recent”) and include text snippets relevant to your query
  2. A new search algorithm that uses machine learning to optimize results
  3. Compatibility with any screen size
  4. A more limited set of highly used features
  5. Improved “results by year” functionality

PubMed 2.0 is still evolving. Look for future information on the Library website or email LibAsk@utsouthwestern.edu.

Protocols at your fingertips

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Over 30 videos filmed at UT Southwestern appear in JoVE Journal of Visualized Experiments, including a recent contribution by Michael Kalwat, PhD and Melanie H. Cobb, PhD, “Measuring Relative Insulin Secretion using a Co-Secreted Luciferase Surrogate,” filmed at UT Southwestern in May 2019.

Protocols—also known as methodologies, procedures, techniques, or experiments—are invaluable and popular resources for anyone involved in scientific research, bench work, grant writing, and/or research project planning. Protocols provide practical guidance by describing the design and implementation of a scientific experiment. The foundational information found in protocols is indispensable for fostering standardized research methods and reproducible results.

Protocols offer many benefits, such as:

  • Save time by accessing highly tested, peer-reviewed techniques and procedures from some of the most established books and journals in your field
  • Stay up-to-date with the latest cutting-edge methods
  • Accelerate scientific discovery by accessing the most reliable protocols in the various scientific disciplines
  • Ensure reproducible results, safeguarding and validating research results
  • Utilize step-by-step guidelines and troubleshooting tips from authoritative, reliable sources
  • Avoid reinventing the wheel

The Library provides online access to many popular protocols resources. Most individual protocols articles appearing in these resources are indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE and Embase. Here are a few major protocols options currently offered by the Library:

  • Cold Spring Harbor Protocols – This resource continues the renowned Cold Spring Laboratory’s long-standing practice of providing trusted, step-by-step laboratory techniques, covering cell and molecular biology, genetics, bioinformatics, protein science, and imaging.
  • Current Protocols (Wiley) – Creators of the standard protocol format over 30 years ago, this long-standing, “gold standard” offers rigorously reviewed and curated protocols in fields such as molecular biology, microbiology, and stem cell biology.
  • JoVE Journal of Visualized Experiments – This scientific methods video journal publishes protocols articles along with detailed videos of laboratory procedures for novel methods, innovative techniques of existing techniques, and gold standard protocols for the life and physical sciences.
  • Methods in Enzymology (Elsevier) – This is one of the most popular and heavily used eBook series offered by the Library, with complete full-text access back to volume 1 (1955). These critically acclaimed, individually themed volumes have served as one of the most highly regarded life sciences standards for more than 50 years, covering research methods in fields such as biochemistry, microbiology, cancer research and genetics.
  • Methods in Molecular Biology (part of the SpringerProtocols database; click on “Protocols” link) – This respected series offers step-by-step protocols, tips, tricks, shortcuts, and troubleshooting advice in the more than 2,000 MIMB volumes. MIMB is a standard resource in labs throughout the world with each volume providing focused, in-depth coverage on a specific sub-discipline. Online access to MIMB is now part of the SpringerProtocols database, which combines MIMB and other high quality laboratory protocols in biomedicine and the life sciences.
  • Springer Nature Experiments – SpringerNature developed this specialized search tool for researchers by researchers. It searches more than 60,000 references from the SpringerProtocols database, Nature Methods, Nature Protocols, and Protocol Exchange (open repository for scientific research protocols). Advanced search options allow filtering by technique, video availability, publication year, article category, etc. to identify relevant content more quickly. While this tool is freely available, UT Southwestern affiliates benefit with direct access to the Library funded full-text articles from the SpringerNature suite of resources.

For assistance with these tools or other reference inquiries, please contact us. We’re here to help.