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What's going on at Dalhousie Libraries

Category: Featured News

Killam Library McNab Reading Room Closed January 29 to March 16

Please note, as part of the Killam Library Deep Energy Retrofit, the McNab Reading Room and Upper Learning Commons on the second floor of the Killam will be closed from January 29 until March 16, 2024.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Students are encouraged to find alternative study space at the Killam or any of our other Halifax campus locations:

 

Health Sciences Study Tools at the Library

By Catherine Gracey and Hailey Wills

Now that the school year is well underway, the W.K. Kellogg Health Science Library is pleased to highlight resources that can help you prepare for learning and clinical placements, as well as practice for upcoming licensing exams. The Clinical Specialties Guide contains a study tools section that details many of the key resources across the Health Sciences, including media resources, a list of reference books, calculators, fast facts, and clinical practice guidelines. Listed in the guide is The Secrets Series, comprised of books containing question-and-answer content on numerous clinical specialties and topics. In our print collection, there are several physiology and anatomy-focused colouring books that can supplement your studying. These can be found by searching the Novanet catalogue for “colouring book” and narrowing the search to “DAL Health Science Library” using the filters on the left side of the screen, or by visiting us in-person at the Tupper Medical Building.

Acland’s Video Atlas and Anatomy.tv are both tools that can be useful for studying anatomy. Acland’s has 5 volumes of anatomy videos that feature real human cadavers, and an affiliated quiz for each volume. To access the quizzes, simply create a personal account using your Dalhousie email. Anatomy.tv has an extensive and interactive 3D atlas of the human body and a quiz with various settings for question types and difficulty. You can also download a variety of Health Mobile Apps, including Medscape, which contains simulations and quizzes.

Of particular interest to students in Medicine, you have access to BoardVitals, an effective medical exam review tool. After registering register with your Dalhousie email address, browse questions by clicking on “My Dashboard” on the top right-hand corner of the screen and select either USMLE Step 1, 2, or 3, or choose from specialized question banks in various specialties. Once you have selected your question bank, you can browse, start a quiz, and track your performance.

Access Medicine is another popular resource that also offers practice questions. With its Clinical Practice & Board Review questions and flashcards on multiple topics (found under the Study Tools dropdown menu), there are a variety of options to help with your studies. You can design custom questions based on Katzung & Trevor’s Pharmacology: Examination and Board Review, a key textbook in Pharmacology, among many other core texts. To do this, navigate to the book and locate “Go to Review Questions” under the title. From there, you can generate a random quiz, or build a custom version by selecting the number of questions you would like from various topics.

Bates’ Visual Guide and Jarvis Physical Assessment Video series can also support your studies, specifically in physical examination and assessment preparation, including for OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations). Finally, Mosby’s Video Series and Films on Demand will be of particular interest to those in nursing, as they contain useful nursing skill demonstrations.

No matter your program or year of study, we are here to support you in your learning and research endeavours. Don’t hesitate to contact us by email at kellogg@dal.ca, by telephone at (902) 717-5244, or by stopping into our locations in the Collaborative Health Education Building or the Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building. Happy studying!

 

From UNIWeb to ORCID

As of December 31, 2023, Dalhousie ended its subscription to UNIWeb. UNIWeb was implemented in 2019 as an information repository for researchers’ academic activity, intended to simplify the management of curriculum vitae (CVs including CCV), annual reports, promotion packages, and funding applications. It also allowed researchers to connect with colleagues and collaborators on topics of interest and to share information about their research.

Following a procurement and consultation process in 2022-23, Dalhousie decided to end its subscription to UNIWeb and encourage the use of other tools to maintain researcher profiles, such as ORCID iD, a permanent digital identifier system supported by Dalhousie through our membership of the ORCID Consortium in Canada.

“I am pleased to support Dal Libraries’ recommendation of the full use of ORCID as an alternative platform for our research community,” says Dr. Alice Aiken, Dalhousie’s vice president, research and innovation. “ORCID provides flexibility that allows scholars of all disciplines to choose how they share their activities and achievements, ensuring recognition for their work effectively and consistently over time, and it is recognized and used worldwide, including by Dalhousie scholars.”

More about ORCID and other tools that provide similar features:

1) ORCID iD – A unique identifier that ensures your research is correctly attributed to you, ORCID also provides a space to collect your research outputs, grant awards, different professional activities and links to social media and web profiles.    

ORCID makes it easy to add works to your profile and determine their level of visibility. ORCID’s auto-update feature allows you to link your ORCID profile to trusted third-party sources to have it updated automatically with information from those sources to save you time.   

If you don’t have an ORCID iD, registration is simple, and free.  Find out more about the benefits of ORCID, and how to register or link an existing ORCID account to your Dalhousie NetID in our LibGuide. 

We will also be holding an Introduction to ORCID webinar in January 2024, so stay tuned and watch our events calendar.   

2) Google Scholar – If you have published in an electronic journal, information about that article, including your name as author, is probably available in Google Scholar. Google Scholar groups works by the same author together, but these profiles may be inaccurate or incomplete as Google doesn’t read the bibliographic metadata the way databases do. Because this information is already available to searchers, authors are advised to claim their Google Scholar profiles to ensure their information is accurate.  

3) Scopus – Like Google Scholar, if you have published articles they are indexed in Scopus. The database creates a profile and list of your articles which may not be fully accurate. These profiles are not publicly available but they are widely consulted within academia. If you are thinking about your publicly available web profiles and haven’t already claimed and cleaned your Scopus profile, now is an ideal time. Information on how to update your Scopus profile so it is accurate and complete is available on the Author Profiles/IDs LibGuide. 

As always, the Scholarly Communications team is happy to assist with any questions at scholarly.communications@dal.ca. 

Dal Reads Title Announcement!

We are excited to announce that the 2023-2024 book title for Dal Reads is The Boat People by Sharon Bala!

  • Free copies of the book will be available at Dalhousie Libraries next week – look for our book stations to grab your copy.
  • eBook and audiobook copies are available by searching Novanet or the Libby app. To borrow materials, log in with your Dalhousie NetID and password. Get more information and guidance about borrowing eBooks.

About The Boat People:
In the tradition of Lawrence Hill’s The Illegal, Chris Cleave’s Little Bee, and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, and inspired by a real incident, this high-stakes and increasingly timely novel powerfully evokes what it means to leave behind everything you have ever known to seek out a better life in a strange land.

When the rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred fellow refugees reaches the shores of British Columbia, the young father is overcome with relief: he and his six-year-old son can finally put Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war behind them and begin new lives. Instead, the group is thrown into prison, with government officials and news headlines speculating that hidden among the “boat people” are members of a terrorist militia. As suspicion swirls and interrogation mounts, Mahindan fears the desperate actions he took to survive and escape Sri Lanka now jeopardize his and his son’s chances for asylum.

Told through the alternating perspectives of Mahindan; his lawyer Priya, who reluctantly represents the migrants; and Grace, a third-generation Japanese-Canadian adjudicator who must decide Mahindan’s fate, The Boat People is a high-stakes novel that offers a deeply compassionate lens through which to view the current refugee crisis. Inspired by real events, with vivid scenes that move between the eerie beauty of northern Sri Lanka and combative refugee hearings in Vancouver, where life and death decisions are made, Sharon Bala’s stunning debut is an unforgettable and necessary story for our times.

About Dal Reads:
Dal Reads is designed to encourage people in the Dalhousie community to share their love of books. Launched in 2009, the program brings the Dalhousie community together through the shared experience of reading the same book and taking part in programming related to the book.

A Glimpse into Canadian Soldiers’ Educational Journey During WWII

A Canadian Legion Educational Services publication series was identified while processing historical government documents at the MacRae Library. They appear to be unique, with very few copies found elsewhere in Canada.

The University of Fraser Valley’s online resource, The Encyclopedia of Canadian Adult Education, indicates that these items were under the care of the Canadian Legion Educational Services from 1939 to 1946. The series at the MacRae aligns with the Encyclopedia’s records, with imprints of 1945 and 1946.

The text on the back of the series instructs students enrolled in courses to carry their textbooks with them while traveling overseas. Upon arrival at their new stations, they were encouraged to promptly connect with the Education Officer or Naval Schoolmaster.

These agricultural textbooks were not just academic resources; they were intended to travel with soldiers during the peak of World War II. They provide powerful insight into the hopes and dreams these students had for their futures.

Visit the MacRae Library to view this publication series.

Free Two-Part Workshop – Make an Orange Shirt Day Pin

In recognition of and preparation for Orange Shirt Day and the National Day of Truth & Reconciliation on September 30, Dal Libraries presents a free two-part workshop to make Orange Shirt Day pins.

Instructional Support Technician Michelle McDonald, a beader from Sipekne’katik, is offering a two-part, in-person beading workshop where participants will learn how to bead their own pin.

  • Free! All materials are supplied.
  • Sign-up required: You must commit to attending both workshops in person in the Ko’jua Okuom at the Killam Memorial Library.
  • Beginners welcome! It is also very helpful if you have sewing or embroidery experience.
  • Tools to bring: (Suggested) Due to the bead size, it may be helpful to bring a pair of magnifying glasses.

When? September 21 & 28, 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m. 

REGISTER NOW!

GISciences Centre’s Lunchless Learn Series: Fall 2023

What is a Lunchless Learn? It’s a hands-on tutorial, held around lunchtime, open to all on campus – without the food!

A GIS, or Geographic Information System, is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data relating to positions on earth’s surface. In other words, it’s an easy and fun way to look at the world differently.

This series will give you a taste of what GIS is and how it can be used. These sessions are meant to be self-contained. After the intro session, take only the topics that are important or of interest to you.

This year, the Lunchless Learns are being taught using two different software packages – ArcGIS Pro and QGIS. ArcGIS Pro is currently the leading commercial GIS Software that is available only using the Windows platform. QGIS is an open-source software that is available across many platforms (the demo is shown on a Windows platform).  The content of both sessions is the same, only the software is different.

In order to run the ArcGIS Pro sessions, you will need to use either a Dalhousie Windows machine (in the library or lab), have the software downloaded on your own machine, or run it on VLab (ArcGIS). If you are not familiar with VLab, please read about it prior to the start of the session.

To run the sessions in QGIS, you must have QGIS loaded on the machine you’ll be working on – download the QGIS software.

Please register for each session you are interested in. In advance of the session, you will receive an email containing data that you will need to use during the session.

Killam Library Opening at 12:30 p.m., Friday, September 1

Facilities must replace the sewer lines in the Killam building. This work is scheduled to start at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 31, and crews will work overnight to finish by 12:00 p.m. on Friday, September 1. Water will be shut down and the Killam Library must be closed during this 15-hour period.

The Killam Library will open at 12:30 p.m. Friday, September 1. 

 

Please note: The Archives & Special Collections Reading Room and the GIS Center will remain closed for the day. Virtual service is available for the GIS Center by appointment from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and can be booked online.
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