Volume 10, Number 4
October 1996
- LIBRARY UPGRADES DATABASE SYSTEM
- AIMEE WILCOX COLLECTION
- NEW TIME-LIFE VIDEOS IN CONSUMER HEALTH COLLECTION
- CALL FOR FACULTY PUBLICATIONS
- LIBRARY RECEIVES LOUISE SCOTT SAMS COLLECTION
- SKILLED LILBRARIANS OFFER MEDIATED SEARCHES
- OCTOBER DESIGNATED MEDICAL LIBRARIANS' MONTH
- KEY REFERENCE SOURCES
- ROWLAND PROFILE: V.A. PATTERSON
- FRIENDS NEWS
New Logins Required for Users
Rowland Medical Library is upgrading its online database system. Ovid users with login names and passwords assigned before October 1996 will be required to reapply for new ones before the changeover takes place at the end of this calendar year.
OVID, which makes MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycLIT, and other databases available on campus, is migrating to a new server. A UNIX Sun server is replacing the 486 Novell server it has been running on for the past four years on December 31. This upgrade should result in marked improvement in response time and an increased capacity for remote connections. It will also allow for future enhancements such as the mounting of offsite full-text databases and the use of Netscape and other similar web browsers for searching the databases.
The bad news is that current OVID login names and passwords cannot be migrated to the new system. Users with login names and passwords assigned by the library before October 1996 must reapply to receive new ones. Access through the older Novell server will be possible until it is discontinued. The changeover may cause some inconvenience, but the library feels patrons will benefit more by the improved connectivity and service offered with the new UNIX system upgrade. For instructions on obtaining new logins, contact the reference desk, at 1231, or consult the library web page at http://library.umsmed.edu. Connections to the new server can be made through a vt100 telnet session (such as QVTNET which supports printing) or from a Windows client session. The Windows client is available via ftp or from the library's web page.
Users in SHRP, nursing, pathology, and hospital administration have already been switched to the new system and will only need to change individual logins if the system is accessed away from the user's office. For additional information, contact the appropriate departmental network administrator or systems personnel in the library at 1290.
- W. Morton
The Aimee Wilcox Collection of slides, color plates, negatives, books, and other publications on the diagnosis of malaria has been donated to UMC and will be housed in the Rowland Medical Library. Dr. Thomas J. Brooks, Jr., professor emeritus of preventive medicine and former chair of the department, is the donor.
Wilcox, one of the nation's leading authorities on malaria, produced the definitive manual for the laboratory diagnosis of malaria while working as a microscopist at NIH in the early 1940s. "The color plates were so universally admired," remarked Dr. Brooks, "that for four decades and more they were reproduced in the leading textbooks on parasitic diseases."
A native of Osyka, Wilcox attended elementary and high school in Jackson. She graduated from Millsaps College, with additional education at Peabody College and Southern Methodist University. Following the publication of her Manual for the Microscopical Diagnosis of Malaria in Man (National Institute of Health Bulletin No. 180), she was in great demand and lectured extensively throughout the United States. She also directed a symposium for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
When she retired, she returned to Jackson to live. For a number of years, at the request of Dr. Brooks, then chair of the preventive medicine department, she was a guest lecturer on malaria to second-year medical students at UMC.
Wilcox is now 97. Before moving to a nursing home recently, she gave her collection to Dr. Brooks who gave it to the UMC library.
Time-Life Medical has recently published a series of 30 videocassettes for the consumer, covering a variety of diagnoses including cataracts, obesity, diabetes, depression, asthma, hypertension, migraine, insomnia, breast cancer, and many others. The collection is housed with the Consumer Health texts on the first floor, near the Reference Department. Individual videos may be checked out for a period of two (2) days for viewing. A second copy is available in the Audio-Visual Collection and may be viewed in the library only. The videos are divided into four sections: 1) Understanding the diagnosis; 2) What happens next?; 3) Treatment and management; and 4) Issues and answers. An accompanying workbook highlights the topic, provides a glossary of relevant terms, and suggests resources in the form of organizations, support groups, or books and other literature.
Dr. C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General, is medical director for the series. Mike Schneider and Linda Ellerbee host many of the videotapes. The collection is close-captioned for the hearing impaired. It is a valuable addition to the library's expanding collection of consumer health information to support medical center patient education needs.
- C. Machado
An important and widely read section of SOURCE, "Faculty Publications," lists recently published scholarly works by UMC faculty. It is compiled primarily from SDILINE, an off-line bibliographic citation list generated by MEDLARS II, the National Library of Medicine's National Interactive Retrieval Service. Additional titles are supplied by UMC departments and individuals who send lists to the SOURCE on a quarterly basis. Access to information on chapters in books authored by UMC faculty is very limited. "Faculty Publications" is in no way a complete listing of all publications by UMC faculty. SOURCE needs help from the faculty and staff to keep the list current and complete. Please send announcements of recent publications to V. A. Patterson, Research Associate, Rowland Medical Library, Academic Information Services.
Books considered classics in the history of medicine were presented to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in July by Dr. James D. Hardy, first chairman of the UMC Department of Surgery and professor emeritus of surgery, in honor of his wife, Louise. The Louise Scott Sams Collection, consisting of approximately 150 titles by authors listed in the bibliography of medical classics by Dr. Fielding Garrison and Leslie T. Morton, will be permanently housed in the Dean Billy S. Guyton Room of Rowland Medical Library.
Dr. Hardy began his life-long interest in book collecting during his medical school days, when his parents presented him with copies of Rene Vallery-Radot's Life of Pasteur and Eve Curie's biography of her mother, Madame Curie. The collection grew as he studied the Garrison and Morton bibliography and carefully collected titles referenced in it. Today, his collection consists of more than 1000 volumes, a portion of which he donated to UMC in honor of his wife.
At the presentation ceremonies, Vice-Chancellor Dr. A. Wallace Conerly praised Mrs. Hardy for her contributions to the academic educations of Dr. Hardy and their four daughters. Three of the Hardy's daughters were in the audience with their families for the occasion. Dr. Julius Cruse, professor of pathology and also an avid book collector, gave a brief discourse on book collecting and the symptoms of "bibliomania."A special exhibition about Louise Scott Sams Hardy and the collection was prepared by the library. It can be viewed on the second floor of the library in the exhibit case at the entrance to the Dean Billy S. Guyton Room.
CD-ROM databases are excellent resources for meeting an immediate need to locate a few good articles. Subject-specific databases such as MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycLIT, and ERIC are easily accessed by all users either from the library or by using the dial-up access system. If a search is complicated or requires constant attention from a librarian, it could be handled by the reference department as a mediated, or customized, online literature search.
The reference librarians have access to many subject-specific databases beyond the standard MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycLIT, and ERIC. These include EMBASE for international medicine and pharmaceuticals, TOXLINE for toxicology, BIOSIS for biology, ABI/INFORM for business, Derwent World Patents Index for patent information, BIOETHICSLINE for ethics and public policy, Health Devices Alerts for medical device problems or evaluations, and many others. A recent addition is NLM's newest database PREMEDLINE, which consists of in-process citations and abstracts to articles before they are added to MEDLINE. It is updated every weekday, with basic citation information such as author, title, source, and abstract. This database is available through the reference librarians only.
The following guidelines are suggested as
situations in which it may be preferable to have a reference librarian conduct a
mediated, or customized, online search:
There is a charge for each mediated, or customized, literature search. The fee includes a base charge, plus the online charges and sales tax when applicable. Base charges are as follows: $5 UMC personnel; $10 Mississippi health care professional; $15 Non-affiliated personnel.
For additional information, or to request a mediated search, contact the library reference department at 1231.
- A. Haaland
October has been designated National Medical Librarian's Month by the Medical Library Association. This is a new program sponsored by MLA to promote the services medical libraries and librarians provide to the health care community. Observances began at the local level this year, with a major national kick-off celebration scheduled in October 1997. Rowland Medical Library and the Friends of the Library hosted several special activities October 15-17 to inaugurate National Medical Librarian's Month at UMC.
Bibliography of Bioethics indexes the published literature in the field of bioethics. A relatively new field, bioethics as defined in Webster's New World Dictionary is "the study of ethical problems arising from scientific advances, especially in biology and medicine. The field dates to the late 1960s. It is cross-disciplinary and includes participants from the fields of medicine, biology, psychology, sociology, law, religion, and philosophy.
The Bibliography treats issues of current concern such as allocation of health care resources, assisted suicide, genetic engineering, and human experimentation. The intent of this annual publication is to cite all substantive materials in English, including journals and newspaper articles, monographs, essays in books, court decisions, and bills and laws. More than 100 journals and newspapers and 40 reference tools and databases are directly monitored for references. More than 500 other journals are selectively indexed. The subject entry section is the main part of the bibliography. There is also an author index.
The Encyclopedia of Bioethics is international and interdisciplinary in character with 464 signed articles written by 437 contributors from every continent and representing fields of learning from biology and medicine to language and literature. Most of the articles have extensive bibliographies. Articles are arranged alphabetically, with numerous cross-references. An appendix gives the text of codes and statements related to medical ethics. This five-volume set also includes an index.
- A. Haaland
V. A. Patterson has joined the Department of Academic Information Services, Rowland Medical Library, as a research associate. She previously worked with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History as curator of the Manship House Museum in Jackson. Prior to that, she was assistant director of the Gallier House Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana, and administrator of the Hermann-Grima Historic House Museum, also in New Orleans.
Patterson has a BA degree in English from Millsaps College, Jackson, and attended graduate school at Tulane University in New Orleans. She received additional museum training at the Winterthur Museum and Gardens, Winedale Historical Center of the University of Texas at Austin, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and National Trust for Historic Preservation.
During her years in the museum field, she was active in professional organizations at the national and regional level. She served on the Museum Assessment Program Advisory Committee and the Small Museums Administrators Committee of the American Association of Museums, the Council of the Southeastern Museums Conference, was state membership chair for the American Association for State and Local History, and is a past president of the Mississippi Museums Association. She has been a consultant to historic houses and historic sites in Mississippi and the southeast region.
Patterson was a library assistant and manuscripts cataloger in the Special Collections Division of the Tulane University Library for ten years before beginning a career in museum administration. She is currently a member of the Mississippi Library Association and the Southern Chapter/Medical Library Association.
The new academic year is underway with the students all here and the faculty in place. What a great time for those who thrive in academe, enjoying the myriad activities that are part of learning, teaching, working together, and progress!
There is a new chapter opening in the Friends of the Library, too. The first administration of Friends closed on June 30 with many accomplishments. We are surely indebted to the following officers for a job very well done: Dr. Robert Lewis, president; Jeanette Waits, vice-president; Marilyn Currier, secretary-treasurer; Gretchen Haines, membership committee chair; and, of course, Ada Seltzer, director of the Rowland Medical Library.
The new officers are Dr. Hal White, president; Gretchen Haines, vice president; and Jane Tallant, secretary-treasurer. There will be many other appointments. We are planning on all Friends taking an active part in the program this year. The Executive Committee met this August to plan activities for the new year. You will be notified about all the events.
July 1 marks the beginning of the new membership year. Reminder notices were mailed during September. We are relying on all current members who have not renewed to do so upon receiving the notice. Libraries have always held a high and special place. They are among our most worthwhile endeavors. For ages, the ideas, accomplishments, and discoveries of mankind have been recorded and collected at particular sites for use by the people. These collections became know as libraries (derived from the Latin liber meaning book). Today, we also add another dimension, the computer record, based on the tiny electron and the mathematical idea that all information can be represented as sequences of zeros and ones. Rowland Medical Library is well on its way to becoming one of the leading medical libraries in the United States. In a recent committee report, Dr. Julius Cruse, Life Member of Friends, reported that the Rowland Medical Library now ranks near the middle of all 127 medical center libraries with respect to its total collection and monograph titles. Except for external information, Rowland Medical Library expenditures in all categories are comparable do those in the top 25 in the nation. Since this is a relatively new medical center, these comparisons are rather remarkable!
At the recent presentation of the Louise Scott Sams Hardy collection honoring his wife, Dr. Jim Hardy said, in reference to a question about possible division of these history of medicine classics, "these books live together; they belong to each other." In a sense, this statement can be said about the whole library. It is a unique collection in a unique place with a unique destiny.
The Friends mission is to foster and support the library's programs, services, and facilities in a very meaningful way. We Friends have clearly shown our interest and desire to be connected with the Rowland Medical Library. We shall all build on that connection.
Harold B. White, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry
President