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Health Sciences Study Tools at the Library

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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!

 

National Medical Librarians Month

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It’s National Medical Librarians Month, and we want to take this opportunity to introduce our specialists and let you know how they can help you.

The library supports faculty and student research through consultation and reference services, and teaching and learning opportunities through workshops and seminars on effective literature search techniques.

Reference and research services are available virtually, by booking an appointment online, and in person at our service points:

  • the W. K. Kellogg Library on the first floor of the Tupper building, or
  • the Kellogg Library Learning Commons on the second floor of the Collaborative Health Education Building (CHEB).

To contact us, you can:

  • call our reference desk at 902-717-5244 – our hours are 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. with voicemail after hour,
  • email kellogg.library@dal.ca to request help or be connected with your liaison librarian, or
  • book a virtual meeting with a specific librarian through our website.

Proposed cancellation of ClinicalKey

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Along with the other libraries in the Dalhousie University Libraries system, the W.K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library will have a significant collections budget shortfall for 2016-17.  Reducing book purchases and spending endowment funds will help reduce the shortfall, but additional cancellations will be required.

We are in the process of cancelling ClinicalKey as our first step toward balancing the 2016-17 budget.

ClinicalKey, an Elsevier product, has two main components: journals and ebooks. This subscription cost more than $100,000 CAD in 2015/16 and was the second most expensive item on our budget.

The majority of journals included in ClinicalKey are duplicates of titles the University Libraries already subscribe to in another Elsevier package.

The ebooks portion of ClinicalKey is required to support the Health professions and Medical curricula is well used, and provides unlimited access to students. To date, the vendor has not been able to provide a model that would allow us to subscribe to just the ebook portion.

In order to support the curricula, a portion of the funds saved by cancelling the ClinicalKey subscription will be repurposed to purchase ebooks. Replacement of the required ebooks will be phased in over two budget years.

Over the next six weeks liaison librarians will review titles identified as most relevant to the curricula in consultation with faculty. The Resources team will then purchase replacement ebooks and, in a few cases, print books.

Although ClinicalKey is a large, well-known education resource for Medicine and the Health Professions, we must be good stewards of the Dalhousie Collections funds while also meeting our user needs. Due to the increased annual renewal cost, the duplication of journal content, and the unfavorable currency exchange rate, we are making this difficult choice. The contingency plan outlined here will fill in the collection gaps left by the absence of this product.

Deadline for comments regarding this decision: 5 pm Friday, May 13, 2016.  Please send your comments to: Patrick Ellis or Ann Barrett at Kellogg.Library@Dal.Ca

Copyright Office presents on changing Access Copyright Licensing Agreement.

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As you may be aware, Dalhousie will be experiencing changes to our copyright licensing scheme effective January 1, 2016

To prepare for these changes, the team at the Copyright Office has had a busy fall providing 26 presentations on copyright to many of the university’s departments and faculties (including FASS, Science, Engineering, Health Professions and Medicine).

The goal of these short, 10-15 minute, presentations has been to discuss the changes in licensing, why they are important and the tools that faculty and instructors have at their disposal in making materials available.Although the major discussion has focused on Fair Dealing and licensing changes, the presentations have served as springboards for discussions on various copyright issues.

Check out some Common Copyright Questions.

Interested in having the Copyright Office team present to your faculty or department? Contact Copyright Services Coordinator, John Yolkowski by email at jyolkowski@dal.ca, or by phone at (902) 494-4346.

Looking for more information about Copyright? Visit http://www.dal.ca/dept/copyrightoffice.html

John.Y

Embase services are currently not available

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Dear Embase users,

Due to technical problems Embase services are currently not available. Our team is working with the highest urgency to resolve the issue.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by this outage and thank you for your patience.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

Your Embase Team

Upcoming Kellogg Library Subscription Changes

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The W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library has determined that it has a significant collections budget shortfall for 2015/16. Reducing book purchases and spending endowment funds will help reduce the shortfall but additional cancellations are also required. The following items will be cancelled in the New Year but much of the material will be available through other Dalhousie subscriptions or through free Document Delivery.

Subscriptions to be cancelled Continuing alternate access
Nursing and Allied Health Database CINAHL and other databases
Elsevier Clinics Clinical Key
Springer Protocols Access will remain for pre-2016 content
Karger Journals Request newer content through Document Delivery
Karger eBook Series Collection Request through Document Delivery

Why is there a budget shortfall at the Kellogg Library?

This year the Libraries collections budget increased by 1.9% and money was provided to offset some of the effect of the 2014/15 US dollar exchange rate. In addition to its portion of the Libraries’ collection budget, the Kellogg Library receives funds from other sources to help cover the costs of some programs. In general, the amount of these additional funds has decreased.

Roughly 85% of Kellogg library materials are paid for in US dollars. The Canadian dollar has declined significantly this year. In May, a $10,000 US subscription was worth $12,200 Canadian. Today, that subscription will cost $13,360, a 9.5% increase.

The Libraries are diligent and negotiate the lowest possible increases, but vendors are increasing prices anywhere from 1% to 8% per year. These vendor increases significantly inflate costs over time: a subscription that cost $50,000 USD in 2010 and increased 5% annually will cost $64,000 USD this year.

Will there be further cancellations?

When inflation combines with a weak Canadian dollar, university libraries face very difficult choices. Across the country, libraries are making cuts to stay within their budgets. Most recently Memorial University announced cuts, but many others have made similar announcements, including British Columbia, Brock, Ottawa, Queen’s, Ryerson, Simon Fraser, and Western.

We monitor spending closely and make adjustments throughout the year. We work to minimize the impact on student learning and faculty research, but journal and database subscription cancellations are increasingly common and are likely to continue.

Deciding what to retain and what to cancel is a complex balancing act. To help ensure that we make the best choice in the circumstances, the Kellogg librarians will be discussing collection changes with their departments throughout 2016 and 2017.

Alternate access to cancelled material

Despite these cancellations, the Libraries continue to provide a large collection of journals (110,000) and books (1.5 million) to support learning, teaching and research.

When a subscription is cancelled, the content is often available in another database and we often retain access to previously purchased materials.

When we don’t have alternate access, we can usually obtain the material you need through Document Delivery. (Haven’t used Document Delivery before? Watch this video.)

Contact:
Patrick Ellis, Associate University Librarian, Resources and Head, W.K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library
Patrick.Ellis@dal.ca (902-494-1669)

Update: ACP withdraws ebooks

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Updated December 4, 2015:

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has withdrawn their books from the StatRef ebook platform. Their decision means that effective December 1st, 2015 Dalhousie users will no longer have access to the ebooks: MKSAP for students 5 and Internal medicine essentials for clerkship students. However, MKSAP for students 4 is available in print at both the Kellogg and UNBSJ libraries and a newer edition of both titles is on order at both libraries (rebranded “IM Essentials: Text and IM Essentials: Questions”). Neither book is available electronically to institutions.

These books are kept on reserve at both libraries to ensure availability. Books on Reserve cannot be borrowed through Document Delivery but individual chapters may be available. Requests can be placed through Dalhousie Document Delivery.

Effective immediately ACP Smart Medicine will no longer be published (the content is in the process of being merged with Dynamed Plus). AHFS DI Essentials, which was bundled with ACP Smart Medicine on StatRef, will be available as AHFS Drug Information via MedicinesComplete.

Updated: Your guide to extended hours at the Dal Libraries

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Fall2015ExtendedHours

Updated: December 8, 2015

Exam time is quickly approaching! But fear not, the Dal Libraries are here for you, providing you with longer hours to linger in the library with your favourite study buddy or night owl.

For more information about the Night Owl program at the Killam Library, see here.

Killam Memorial Library
Effective November 21- December 20*

Sundays: 8 a.m.–3 a.m.*
Mondays-Thursdays: 8 a.m.–3 am.
Fridays: 8 a.m.–midnight
Saturdays: 8 a.m.–midnight

*On Sunday, December 20, the Killam Library will be closing at 6 p.m.

**Access to the Killam Library from midnight to 3 a.m. is for Dalhousie and King’s students only. Students must have their student ID with them to get in. Regular library services are not offered during this time, students will have access to the South Learning Commons or the atrium.

MacRae Library
Effective November 23 –December 16:

Monday–Friday: 8:30 a.m.–midnight
Saturday: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m.–midnight

Sexton Design & Technology Library
Effective December 4 – 20th:

Monday – Friday: 8:00am – midnight
Saturday: 10:00am – midnight
Sunday: 10:00am -midnight

Sir James Dunn Law Library

Friday, December 4: 4:00 p.m.–10:45 p.m.
Saturday, December 5: 6:00 p.m.–10:45 p.m.
Thursday, December 10: 8:00 a.m. – 10:45 p.m.
Friday, December 11: 4:00 p.m.–10:45 p.m.
Saturday, December 12: 9:00 a.m. -12:00p.m. & 6:00 p.m.–10:45 p.m.
Thursday, December 17: 8:00 a.m. – 10:35 p.m.
Friday, December 18: 4:00 p.m. – 10:45 p.m.
Saturday, December 19: 6:00 p.m. – 10:45 p.m.

W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library
Effective November 6 –December 19:

Monday–Friday: 7:30* a.m.–11 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m.–11 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m.–11 p.m.

*Circulation is available at 8:00 a.m., Monday-Friday

* The Kellogg Library will be closed from December 21-January 3.

Remembrance Day Hours for the Dalhousie Libraries

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remembrance day hours1

Remembrance Day is the day for all Canadians to recognize the contribution our veterans have made and to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of Canada.

Remembrance Day is always on November 11. The Dal Libraries will be observing holiday hours on Wednesday, November 11.

Killam Memorial Library
1–9 p.m.

MacRae Library
1–10:30 p.m.

Sexton Design & Technology Library
10 a.m.–6 p.m.

W. K. Kellogg Health Sciences Library
10 a.m.–11 p.m.

Sir James Dunn Law Library
9 a.m.–10:45 p.m.

Wallace McCain Learning Commons
1:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.