Merry Christmas from the Archives!

We recently found this very seasonal recipe booklet in our newly catalogued Nutrition Collection. Anyone for Mock Cream? Mock marzipan?

Reference: Nutrition/06/05 Ministry of Food wartime cookery leaflets.

Library Closure Saturday 18th December

The Library will close at 4pm on Saturday 18th December due to the adverse weather conditions.

Data sharing blog

If you are interested in the data sharing debate why not take a look at Chris Taylor’s (EBI, Cambridge and NEBC, Oxford) recent guest blog for the Research Information Network at:

http://www.rin.ac.uk/blogs/guest/chris-taylor/data-sharing-forced-altruism

In the blog post, Taylor discusses the role of data sharing in the biological sciences and considers how scientists can be encouraged and supported to share their data.

Worldometers

Want to add some more interest to your statistics? Have a look at Worldometers for real time updates on a selection of world statistics.
For example:

• Healthcare expenditure by worldwide governments today
• Number of people with no access to safe drinking water
• Deaths caused by communicable diseases this year
• Number of HIV/AIDS infected people

Most of the statistics are supported with references so you can check their accuracy.

Christmas cards

The 2010 LSHTM Christmas cards are now on sale in the Library.

This year the back of the card features shots of the new Tavistock Place building as well as a festive scene on the front.

Cards are 50p each or 5 for £2.00. They can also be purchased from the Refectory and from Ruth Kipling. Proceeds go to the Student Hardship Fund.

MeSH 2011 released

Details of the changes made to MeSH for 2011 have been released on the latest NLM technical bulletin.

These changes will take effect on updates published from January 2011 onwards. The changes are not made retrospectively.

If you have saved searches in Medline or PubMed, I recommend that you check the changes to ensure your searches continue to include the most up to date MeSH terms.

MeSH is updated annually to ensure it incorporates new areas of research and reflects changing terminology.

Get in touch with the Library if you have any questions about the update and how this may impact on you.

Christmas Closure

The Library will be closed from Thursday 23rd December 2010 until Monday 3rd January 2011 inclusively. We will re-open at 8:30 am on Tuesday 4th January 2011.

Your last opportunity to take out books before the Christmas break will be 8.25 pm on Wednesday 22nd December.

NEW - geographical information available for free online

There has been a large increase in the amount of geographical data released for free online recently. I thought I would bring this together here. If anyone knows of any more sources of free, good quality geographical information, let me know in the comments and I'll add them to the list.

Firstly, yesterday Google launched its Google Earth Engine at the International Climate Change Conference in Cancun. It provides access to satellite imagery and data. More information is available on the Google Blog.

Second, the Ordinance Survey has released access to many of it's data via the OS OpenData service. From here you can view or download maps of the UK or use the API to create your own web applications.

The Ordinance Survey data has been used by Edina to create additional resources.

• Use the Digimap OpenStream to use the data in conjunction with other mapping and online services.
• Use the Unlock service to convert postcodes and grid references to coordinates, locate place names and extract place names from text.
• Use ShareGeo to search and share geospacial datasets with other UK Higher Education institutions.
  

Interloans and document delivery over the Christmas period

Please note that any requests received after 5pm on 15th December will not be processed until the Library re-opens on Tuesday 4th January 2011. This is to ensure that all incoming requests are processed and received before the School and British Library Christmas closures.

Further information for users receiving their requests by email

Staff, grant-funded research students and remote users requesting journal articles or book chapters should be aware that these may be sent to your email address on any day up to and including 23 December. It is your responsibility to ensure that requested items are downloaded and printed within 14 days of the email send date. Any items which expire will need to be requested again, incurring another charge.

National Library for Public Health - Annual Evidence Update on HIV/AIDS

To coincide with World Aids Day on 1st December, the National Library for Public Health has published the 2010 Annual Evidence Update on HIV/AIDS - Behaviour change in high-risk populations.

This update identifies and contextualises all high-level evidence and guidelines published in the last 12 months on behaviour change in high-risk populations including ethnic minorities, gay men, injecting drug users, young people, commercial sex workers, and other populations. The Library has teamed up with experts in the field of sexual health to evaluate the evidence.

To view the update, either visit our home page (www.library.nhs.uk/publichealth/) and click on the link on the front or go directly to the update at http://bit.ly/eKZwoT.

The National Library for Public Health is an NHS funded, publicly available website. It aims to provide links to high quality evidence on all aspects of public health, relevant to healthcare professionals working in the NHS.

Remembering World AIDS Day Exhibition

An exhibition to mark World AIDS Day will be on display in the Library exhibition area throughout December. The exhibition contains AIDS awareness campaign posters, leaflets and ephemera from the 1980s and 1990s. The posters and ephemera were brought together from a wide range of European countries, including Russia, Romania and Switzerland and were intended to prevent the spread of the disease by informing the public of how AIDS can be transmitted. They serve as a fascinating visual record of how the world was beginning to come to terms with such a widespread threat over twenty years ago.

The items on display are just a selection from a large collection of AIDS awareness material that was originally collected by the School’s Centre for Sexual and Reproductive Health and is now held in the School Archives. For more information on the exhibition or the Centre for Sexual and Reproductive Health collection please contact the archives team at: archives@lshtm.ac.uk

Annual MEDLINE data reload

Every year the MEDLINE data is reloaded, complete with the updated version of the MeSH thesaurus. This process is due to start this week. During the reload, no updates to the MEDLINE database will be made. Therefore November week 3, 2010 will be the final update, until the reload is completed. This is expected to occur in mid-December, however previous experience has shown that it may be mid-January until new updates are provided.

No data is lost during the reload process, the first update after the reload will just be larger than normal. Therefore if you have any auto-alerts set up, you will notice a break in provision, followed by an abnormally large alert.

Nutrition Exhibition

An exhibition showcasing items from the Nutrition Collection is now on display in the Library exhibition area. The Collection, which is held in School’s Archive, is a rich and varied resource consisting of historical records relating to scientific investigations in the field of nutrition created and collected by LSHTM staff between the 1920s and the 1990s.

Records on display include a range of diaries, photographs and research data from global nutrition studies undertaken by the School and other organisations, Ministry of Food recipe leaflets and booklets and records concerning malnutrition in internment camps during the Second World War. The exhibition will be on display until the end of the month so do come and visit the Library to take a look.

Library Catalogue unavailable

Due to essential maintenance of the School network, the Library catalogue will be down this coming Saturday and Sunday (13th and 14th November). Access to e-journals and databases from the Library home page will also be affected.

Follow an Archive Day on Twitter, Friday 12 November

This Friday, 12 November, is Follow an Archive Day on Twitter, so we thought that this would be a good week to launch our archives Twitter account, @LSHTMarchives.

Follow an Archive Day is an international event, following on from similar successful events for libraries and museums earlier this year. The hope is that it will increase public awareness of the work that archives do, and increase the number of followers for individual archives. For more information about the day, see http://www.archivesnext.com/?p=1699

If you are on Twitter, there are three things you can do to help:
1) Please follow us at @LSHTMarchives
2) Please give us a #followfriday / #ff mention on the 12th
3) Please tweet about the Follow an Archive event using the hash tag #followanarchive. ('Hash tags' are used to identify and search on key subject terms in Twitter posts)

Library e-resources workshop on e-books, Thursday 11 Novembe

The Library will be holding an e-resources workshop, focussing on e-books. This will be held on Thursday 11 November from 12 noon until 2pm in the e-library (next to the entrance to the Manson Lecture Theatre).

Library staff will be available to answer any questions you have on e-books, including how to access and use them. If you are responsible for reading lists, we can also discuss how to recommend e-books and add them to your module's ORC.

Online tutorials will be available for you to view and we will also have brief guides available for you to take away.

There is no need for you to book a timeslot for the workshop, just turn up.

Gems from the Collections - nutrition

Staff and students are invited to have a closer look at the wonderful historical collections that are held at the School. On Wednesday 10th November, between 12 and 2pm in the e-library on the ground floor of the South Courtyard, the Library & Archives Service is holding a 'Gems from the Collections - nutrition' session where staff will be available to show you some of the rare and unique documents and books that we hold relating to nutrition. Material on show will include:

· A range of educational leaflets, pamphlets and posters that have been used to promote healthy eating across the world from the 1930s to 1970s
· Original papers and published articles of former Department of Human Nutrition staff, including Professor Benjamin Platt, Erica Wheeler and Mary Griffiths
· Records from our unique collection of material from Stanley Civilian Internment Camp, Hong Kong, which were created and collected by Dr Dean Smith during his role as Camp nutrition officer, 1942-1945
· Photographs, maps and diaries from nutrition surveys undertaken in Nyasaland, 1938-1943 and The Gambia, 1946-1950

There is no need to make an appointment, just drop in and see us in the e-library and find out more about the School's historical collections.

For further information, please contact Emma Golding, Assistant Archivist.

NEW - Update your information skills while on a bus

The Library are producing a series of short videos on literature searching skills. The videos showing how to search the Library Catalogue, renew your books and reserve a book are already online at www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/collections/using_catalogue.html. These can be viewed on a computer screen or your mobile device.

Look out for more videos showing the five steps to an effective literature search, using the MyiLibrary ebooks and about URLs which will be available soon.

Open Access Africa conference

In partnership with Computer Aid International ,BioMed Central is hosting a two-day conference on open access publishing at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya from 10-11 November 2010.

The preliminary program is now available and features speakers from a range of organizations including AJOL, UNESCO, UNEP, Stellenbosch University and many more.

Registration to the event is free.

Visit the conference website for more information

E-journals

There is a problem with linking to e-journals from the Library Catalogue. We are looking to fix this as quickly as possible. For now, if you are looking for a specific e-journal go to the A-Z list and do a search from there. You can also link to the e-journal a-z list from the Libray home page from the quick links.

Use of e-books

There is a growing number of books that are now available as e-books. A number of core readings and other titles of interest can now be accessed electronically. These can be accessed within the School or remotely using your School network username and password.

You can only print or download a maximum of 10 pages from e-books held on the myilibrary website. This is due to publisher restrictions. Please do not try to download or print more than this amount, or access to the book will be blocked.

EconLit now available

I'm pleased to let you know that the Library is now subscribing to EconLit, the most widely used economics database.

To start using EconLit, just follow the links from the Library's databases pages http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/databases/ and login with your School network username and password.

EconLit covers all aspects of economics literature, including journal articles, books, dissertations, working papers, collective volume articles, and the full text of book reviews. Information is from 1969 to present and the database is updated monthly.

Access is provided by OvidSP and the database can be searched using all of the features available for other databases on this system.

Library & Archives web pages

In addition to the changes to remote access, the Library & Archives web pages have been re-organised in order to make it easier to find information.

The link for the home page continues to be

http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library

Following suggestions from staff and students a number of changes have been made including a direct link to e-resources and quick links on various pages to improve access to supporting information and guides.

Remote access to Library resources

It is no longer necessary to run Remote Desktop to access Library resources when you are off-site.

E-journals, e-books, databases and other e-resources can be accessed from any computer with internet access by following the links in the web pages and the Library catalogue . When you are promoted to login simply use your School network username and password.

It continues to be vital that you access e-journals and other e-resources via the Library web pages and catalogue as this ensures that you will get access to subscription-based materials without being prompted for additional payment.

Training in the Library for new staff and students

Welcome to all new staff and students from the Library. To help you get your bearings in the Library, we are running two training classes to get you up to speed.

Foundation 1 – finding an item on a reading list in the Library

This session will cover the following:

• Dealing with references: differentiating between a journal article, book, book chapter or report from a reading list.
• Finding items on a reading list in the Library, either in print or electronic.
• Reserving and renewing books.
• Citing references in assignments and avoiding plagiarism.

This class will run two times per day during week 1 of term (04 - 08 October inclusive).

Foundation 2 – searching for information on a topic: the basics

This session will cover the following:

• Defining your search topic
• Choosing the resources to search
• Choosing your search terms
• Compiling your search strategy and running your search
  
• Finding the full text

This class will run two times per day during week 2 of term (11 -15 October inclusive).

Both classes will be held from 13.00 – 14.00 and 17.30 – 18.30 and will take place in the Library Reading Room.
Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
You will not be able to book a place in advance.
There will be a maximum of 30 places on each class.
You need only attend each class once.

Accomodation Helpdesk in the e-library this week

The Accomodation Helpdesk will be situated in the e-library this week at the following times.

• Tuesday 21, 10.00 - 13.00
• Thursday 23, 10.00 - 17.00
• Friday 24, 10.00 - 17.00
• Saturday 25, 10.00 - 17.00
• Sunday 26, 10.00 - 17.00

At these times the computers will not be available for general use.

EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles

The European Association of Science Editors (EASE) have recently published "EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles to be Published in English" (www.ease.org.uk/guidelines/index.shtml). The Guidelines are freely available as PDFs in 11 languages, while a few other translations are in progress.

The guidelines aim to help scientists and translators meet the requirements of renowned journals, therefore their manuscripts will be more likely to be accepted for publication. Using the guidelines may also make the editorial process faster, so authors, translators, reviewers and editors will save time.

Open House 2010

On Saturday 18th September 2010 the School will be opening its doors to the public for Open House London. This annual event celebrates the capital's architecture and aims to open up London's great buildings, especially those that aren't usually publicly accessible, to a wider audience. Participating provides a great opportunity to raise awareness of the Keppel Street building and the School's activities.

Last year over 400 people visited the School and were taken on a historical tour of the building which started outside in the sunshine looking at the features on the exterior of the building, visitors were then led round the ground floor to the North Courtyard building and then upstairs to the Library. The tour ended at an exhibition of historical photographs and documents in the foyer of Keppel St where visitors could pick up postcards, bookmarks, leaflets and publications relating to the School's history as well as to its current work.

For information on the Open House London initiative, please see the Open House London website.

Photos from past events:

Tour group viewing the exterior of the building	Exhibition in reception	Visitors in the Library

Teaching in the Library Reading Room TODAY

There will be teaching in the Library Reading Room TODAY, 15th September from 17.00-18.00, with set-up starting at 16.30 and clear-up completed by 18.30. The Library will remain open, however the Reading Room will be extremely busy and you may wish to find an alternative location to study.

Library Catalogue Down

The Library online catalogue will not be available on Friday morning (10th September) due to essential maintenance. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Teaching in the Reading Room TODAY, 4-5pm

Library staff are teaching 50 Short Course students in the Library Reading Room this afternoon. Teaching will run from 4-5pm, with set up starting around 3.30pm and clear up completed by 5.30pm. The Library will remain open to all users throughout. However it will be busier than usual for this time of year, and the overhead lights will be switched off for periods. It will also be noisier than usual.

Nutrition and History in the 20th Century

The Library & Archives Service and the Centre for History in Public Health are holding a conference to celebrate the completion of the project to catalogue and make accessible the nutrition collection. The collection includes reports, research data, photographs, dairies, correspondence and a range of published and unpublished papers concerning a variety of subjects, including multi-disciplinary surveys, applied nutrition, nutrition policy, nutrition in internment camps and the UK during the Second World War, obesity, protein deficiencies, famine and disease.

Historical speakers on nutrition science, food policy, diet and famine and other topics include David Smith, Anne Hardy, Tim Lang, John Manton and Sander Gilman.

The conference is being held on Wednesday 15th September at LSHTM. For further information on the conference and to register, please go to: http://history.lshtm.ac.uk/Nutrition.htm

Bank Holiday Closure

The Library will be closed all day on Monday 30th August for the Bank Holiday. We will open again on Tuesday at 8:30 am.

Exhibition on Sir Ronald Ross

To celebrate Mosquito Day which was on 20th August, the Archives Service has put on display an exhibition on Sir Ronald Ross, the discoverer of the mosquito transmission of malaria. This exhibition can be viewed by all visitors to the Library in the foyer area.

Material on display includes the page from his notebook where he made his famous discovery in 1897, photos, correspondence between Ross and Sir Patrick Manson, founder of the School and information on his career working on the eradication and prevention of malaria through sanitation measures.

The archives hold a collecion of 20,000 items of Ross material which are accessible for researchers to use either via the on-line catalogue or through visiting the archives in person. For further information on the collection, please see: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/

UPDATE: Problems importing MEDLINE results into EndNote SOLVED

I'm happy to announce that a solution to the recent problems experienced by those trying to import their search results into MEDLINE has been found. This has been implemented by IT Services for those using EndNote on a School computer, or via Remote Desktop.

Those of you who use an installation of EndNote on your own computer will need to update the OvidSP MEDLINE filter. Updated filters can be downloaded from the EndNote website at www.endnote.com/support/enfilters.asp. Please contact the IT helpdesk or your departmental IT support for further help.

Problems importing MEDLINE results into EndNote

Following the re-design of the OvidSP interface, there are some problems downloading MEDLINE results into EndNote.

The Library is working with OvidSP and IT Services to get this resolved as quickly as possible.

Mosquito Day Celebrations - 20th August

On the 20th August, as part of Mosquito Day, the anniversary of Sir Ronald Ross's discovery that mosquitoes transmit malaria, the School will be hosting a number of exciting events. One of these is in the Library and includes a reading of Ross's play "The Marsh" and a 1930's style tea party. There are further details on this event.

As these activities are taking place on this day, you will not be able to use the Library between 1:30 pm and 6:30 pm.

Annual Journal Consultation 2010

The Library & Archives Service invites staff and students of the School to take part in our Annual Journal Consultation, which will determine our journal subscriptions for 2011. The consultation runs from 9th August until 5th September, and can be found at
https://www.survey.lshtm.ac.uk/annualjournalconsultation2010.
The link will also shortly be available via the Library & Archives Service home page and the Library tab on Blackboard. Please do take the time to participate - your input is important.

RIN/RLUK study: an investigation into the value of libraries to researchers in UK institutions

LSHTM is participating in a study that is being conducted by the Research Information Network (RIN) and Research Libraries UK (RLUK).The study involves 10 research-lead UK universities and the School has been selected to be the only post-graduate focussed institution. As well as contributing to a national study, the outcomes will provide the School with useful data which will help to inform the future planning for Library Services. Further details on the study are at the end of this post.

Claire Davies, who is leading the study, will be visiting the School on 23rd August and would like to meet with a group of staff and students to discuss their research methods, information needs and use/non-use of LSHTM Library resources.

The meeting will be from 1pm to 2.30pm and a sandwich lunch will be provided.

The meeting is limited to 10 participants, if you would like to take part please email library@lshtm.ac.uk to book your place.

RIN/RLUK study: an investigation into the value of libraries to researchers in UK institutions

Qualitative data will be gathered through focus groups with researchers and one to one interviews with key staff such Directors of Research and Directors of Planning. These will be carried out at 10 research-lead UK universities.

The qualitative aspects will complement a quantitative analysis being undertaken by HESA, the project partners. HESA is investigating correlations between research performance and library characteristics (from nationally available statistics). The study will then investigate possible causation behind correlations.

Student BMJ iPhone app

Student BMJ has launched a new iPhone app "so students can keep track of latest developments in medicine, digest research on the move or check out medical events relevant to them". For further information on the app go to http://itunes.apple.com/uk/app/bmj-student/id374244698?mt=8&utm_campaign=7684605&utm_content=47655513361&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailvision

Open City

The School is participating in Open City (formerly Open House) on Saturday 18th September. This is a wonderful opportunity for the public to learn more about the history and architecture of the Keppel Street building. Visitors will be taken on a tour of the building which will include reception, the exterior of the School, the North Courtyard and South Courtyard buildings and the Library. These tours will run on the hour, from 10am to 4pm, and will be on a first come first served basis.

Visitors will also be able to view an exhibition on the history of the Keppel Street building. A leaflet on the history of the building has also been produced for visitors to take away.

For further information on participation in Open House and on the history of the School and the building, please contact the Archivist & Records Manager at archives@lshtm.ac.uk

For information on the Open House London initiative, please see the Open City website

Library Closure

The Library will be closed from 12pm on Friday 16th July as the School hosts its summer picnic. We will be open again on Saturday from 9:00 am. We apologise if this disrupts your plans.

Access to JSTOR

A reminder that the JSTOR e-journal archive continues to be available to all staff and students of the School from their desktop, both within the School or remotely, via Senate House Library.

Access to Senate House Library's online resources is available to all University of London students and staff who hold current SHL cards. To access JSTOR and these other SHL resources members of the School should take their School ID card to the admissions desk at Senate House Library and join the library. You will receive a Senate House Library card with a membership number, which can be used to access the physical library, its printed collections and its electronic resources.

A direct link to JSTOR via Senate House Library, plus a link to SHL's catalogue of online resources, can be found on the LSHTM Library & Archives web pages at http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/ejournals.html. Alternatively, search the Senate House Library e-resources via their catalogue at http://catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/search~S22.

Estates work in the Library, 5th July -23rd July 2010

Estates will be carrying out some work in the Library from 5th July until 23rd July. The Library will remain open as usual, but there will inevitably be some noise disruption during this period.

Please note that the Library will be closed completely on Tuesday 6th July.

2009 Impact Factors now available!

The 2009 data for Journal Citation Reports is now available. There are approximately 700 additional Journal titles with their first Journal Impact Factor.

These are available via the Web of Knowledge interface (sign in with your School network username and password).

Further Information about the Journal Citation Reports is available at the Web of Knowledge website at: http://isiwebofknowledge.com/products_tools/analytical/jcr.

Preparing for your summer project - drop in Library help in the eLibrary

Now that exams are over, work can begin in earnest on your summer project. To help you with the literature searching and retrieval process, the Library will be running a series of drop-in sessions.

These sessions will run from 14:00-17:00 every Wednesday afternoon from 23 June to 28 July in the e-library (the glass computer room next to the Manson Lecture Theatre). Each session will be staffed by a member of the Library training team.

Just come down to the eLibrary at any time during the afternoon to ask your queries.

If you have a number of queries or if your queries are complex, we may recommend you arrange a one-to-one appointment with a member of Library staff instead. These can be arranged during the drop-in sessions.

NEW - Document Delivery service - Let the Library come to you

Are you a student or member of overseas staff?

Could you benefit from increased access to Library services whilst working remotely?

Would you find it useful to have journal articles and book chapters delivered to you directly?

If yes, then the Library’s new Document Delivery Service is the answer.

From Monday 21st of June the service will be available to all students and overseas staff. We can make life easier by sending you journal articles and book chapters directly, wherever you are in the world. If you need a book chapter or journal article that is not part of Library collections, we can send this to you direct. Students and staff working overseas can also order photocopies of material from the Library’s print collections. If you are a UK-based student we cannot send you photocopies of Library resources. However, you will be able to use academic libraries local to you by joining the SCONUL Access Scheme.

There are a number of direct delivery options for you to choose from including email, post or fax.

We will invoice students for the items they have been sent in September 2010. Each item will cost £2.00 for students.
Staff requests will be charged at full cost to a departmental or grant code, with authorised signature.

The service will be available from 21st June and you will need to register to make requests.
All the relevant forms and information is on the inter-loans web pages
Please contact us with any questions interloans@lshtm.ac.uk

OECD Factbook available on iPhone and other smart phones

The OECD Factbook provides a global overview of today’s major economic, social and environmental indicators and is updated annually.

Now, as well as being available in print and via the web, there's an app for it too. See www.oecd.org/site/0,3407,en_21571361_34374092_1_1_1_1_1,00.html for details.

The app can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store.

The Library will be open on Monday 31st May 2010

The Library will be open to members of the School from 11am until 8pm on Monday 31st May (the bank holiday) to assist students preparing for exams. We will be operating a weekend service, with a limited number of staff on duty to answer routine enquiries - please refer complex queries to relevant Library & Archives Service staff during our normal weekday opening hours.

Minor Estates work in the Library 24th/25th April.

Minor Estates work will take place in the Library this coming weekend (24th/25th April). There will be some noise disruption, but this will be kept to an absolute minimum, and the Library will remain open as usual.

National Library for Public Health launches Annual Evidence Update on childhood obesity from 19 April 2010

The National Library for Public Health has launched the 2010 Annual Evidence Update on childhood obesity today, focusing on childhood obesity surveillance and preventative public health interventions. The Evidence Update includes a number of key policy documents and guest editorials written by experts, which provide a snapshot summary of preventative interventions for childhood obesity and international surveillance activities. Find out more at http://www.library.nhs.uk/publichealth/ or http://bit.ly/d85AwF.

Annual Evidence Updates aim to compile the best evidence on a specific topic published in the last 12 months.

Collection of the month: Ross notebook

To mark World Malaria Day 2010 and the LSHTM Malaria Centre event held at the School on 23rd April, we have chosen an item which documents one of greatest discoveries in tropical medicine and advanced our knowledge of malaria.

This notebook, which belonged to Ronald Ross, was kept during the years 1895-1897 whilst he was working in India. The page we have displayed here shows the working notes made by Ross on 20th August 1897 in his office in Secunderabad. During the dissection of the stomach tissue of an anopheline mosquito fed four days previously on a malarious patient, Ross found the malaria parasite, from which he proved the role of Anopheles mosquitoes in the transmission of malaria parasites in humans.

Ross took ten days' leave to write a paper, 'On some peculiar pigmented cells found in two mosquitoes fed on malarial blood', and was cautious enough to have his work verified by a colleague, Surgeon-Major John Smyth. He sent this off immediately to the British Medical Journal, which took three months to publish it.

In recognition of his work, Ronald Ross was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1902. The notebook is part of the Ross collection and is available to researchers. Please contact the Archives for further enquiries at archives@lshtm.ac.uk.

Opening hours

From Monday 29th March until Sunday 18th April the Library will be operating vacation hours:

Monday-Friday: 8.30am-8.25pm
Saturday: 9.00am-12.30pm
Sunday: closed

The School, and the Library, will be closed from Friday 2nd April until Tuesday 6th April inclusive.

Lunchtime Library teaching in the Summer term

Now your thoughts are beginning to turn to your summer project, the Library will be providing lunchtime teaching on a variety of topics. These aim to provide you with the skills you will need to find relevant information to support your research.

The classes are run each day for a week. You only need to come to one. There is no booking for the classes, just turn up. Once the room is full you will be asked to come back another day.

The classes are:

Planning & conducting a literature search

19, 21, 22, 23 April, 13.00-14.00, 49/101

20 April, 17.30-18.30, 49/101

Finding full-text

26-30 April, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding evidence-based clinical information

04-07 May, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding social sciences information

10-14 May, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding information from low and medium-income countries

17-21 May, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding grey literature

24-28 May, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding statistical data

01-04 June, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Further details will soon be available on the Library tab in Blackboard and also on the Library's training page (http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/training.html).

Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response

On Word TB Day, I'd like to draw your attention to the publication of the WHO 'Multidrug and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: 2010 Global Report on Surveillance and Response'. This is available online at http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2010/9789241599191_eng.pdf.

Hannah Wood joins us in the Library

Hannah Wood joined the Library staff on Monday 22nd March. She will be assisting Jane with information skills teaching and supervising the interlibrary loans service.

Hannah has previously worked for Derby Hospitals NHS Trust, Sheffield University and the Kings Fund.

I'm sure you will all make her feel very welcome at the School.

Using TRIP to help identify content suitable for resource poor settings

The TRIP Database is a portal of high quality clinical evidence. They have launched an initiative to promote evidence which can be used in resource poor settings and would like our help to make this happen.

The following is from Jon Brassey (jon.brassey@TRIPDATABASE.COM).
"The idea is that TRIP (along with other search engines) has a high proportion of content focussed on resource-rich settings (e.g. new diagnostic tests, new drugs). This content is typically unsuitable for poorer settings. Therefore, we're trying to harness the users of TRIP to indicate which articles are suitable for such settings - thereby making it easier for clinicians to identify suitable evidence.

As of today under each link on the results page will have a link ‘Developing World?’ If a registered user of TRIP believes the article is appropriate (see definition below) for such setting we encourage them to click on the link. If two separate people click on the link the article is then deemed suitable; these articles will form a sub-set of data in TRIP. Users of TRIP will then be able to search TRIP and then (via a tick box at the bottom of the ‘Filter your search’ box) be able to select only those articles in the subset.

We encourage TRIP users to get involved by either tagging articles or to help spread the word of this project!

A few additional pieces of information:

The term ‘Developing World’ is problematic and controversial. We have used it as it is a widely recognised term which we hope will aid adoption, the reality is that the alternative ‘Low resource?’ carries less meaning. However, we welcome input on the term used (send comments to me).

The working definition of an article suitable for this initiative is ‘any clinical evidence that can be implemented in primary care and small-district-hospital settings with basic drugs and equipment.’ As the subset of the database is developed, we expect users to discuss and refine the definition and criteria for inclusion. This highlights the fluid nature of this whole project."

Jon welcomes comments and feedback on this project.

Access to Senate House Library

LSHTM students and staff are able to use resources from Senate House Library. This includes borrowing books, using the study space and accessing electronic reources. All you need to do is take your LSHTM photo id over to the Library Enquiries Desk on the 4th floor and ask to join the Library. They will issue you with a Senate House Library card there and then.

Being a member of the Library allows you to use materials that are not at LSHTM.

Teaching in the Library 09 March, 17.00 - 18.00

There will be teaching taking place in the Library's Reading Room tomorrow (Wednesday 09 March) from 17.00 - 18.00 for the Diploma in Tropical Nursing students. The Library will be open as normal, however the Reading Room will be very busy. However, if you wish to use the Library for private study, you may want to go elsewhere during this time.

Diploma Day

The Library will be closed on Saturday 13th March due to Diploma Day. It will be open as usual on Friday 12th, but there will be limited seating and no available PCs in the afternoon and evening due to Diploma Day activities.

We are sorry for any disruption to your study.

Photo Competition 2010

Due to the success of the 2009 School Photo Competition, it has been decided to run a 2010 competition. Staff and students are encouraged to submit photos which represent the theme of the competition: Life and Work at the School - this can be interpreted fairly widely to reflect work activities - both in London and overseas, studying at the School, social activities and living in London.

The winning entry, chosen by a judging panel, will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Chariot and on the website, and the photographer will receive a £25 gift voucher. All entries will be available for staff and students to view in PhotoLibrary.

Submission guidelines are available at: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/competition_submission_guidelines.html

The closing date for entries is 31st May 2010.

To see last year's entries, go to PhotoLibrary (please note that you will need the login and password which are available on the intranet at: http://intra.lshtm.ac.uk/library/passwords.html, these are different from your School login and password) and search under the competition entries category, 2009.

Collection of the Month: Carpenter Diary

The collection we have chosen to focus on this month is one single item but is a unique example of life in the Colonial Medical Service in Africa during the inter-war period.

This travel diary gives a day-by-day account of life in the tropics and serves as a rare and fascinating insight into the social aspects of living and working abroad in the late Colonial era. The diary was kept from 1913 to 1930 by Geoffrey Carpenter and his fiancée Amy Frances. There are photographs, pressed flowers, postcards, concert programmes and even their wedding invitation. Geoffrey Carpenter was appointed by the Royal Society to the Sleeping Sickness Commission and carried out much work in Uganda. A few years previously he had passed the certificate at the London School of Tropical Medicine in 1910 under Patrick Manson. His specialist as an entomologist included the phenomena of mimicry, polymorphism and matters of evolutionary interest.

One of the more memorable entries features the Carpenters’ description of HRH Prince Edward of Wales’ dancing at a dinner they attended as ‘weird and wonderful’. The diary is available to researchers in the archives by appointment.

Article in Wired magazine about Google's search algorithm

If you have ever wondered how Google manages to consistently retrieve such relevant results, this month's Wired magazine lifts the lid. The article illustrates how important the words you enter into the search box actually are "a rock is a rock. It’s also a stone, and it could be a boulder. Spell it “rokc” and it’s still a rock. But put “little” in front of it and it’s the capital of Arkansas. Which is not an ark. Unless Noah is around". It pays to think about the search terms you use, especially with Google, where it is being used to find information on every topic imaginable.

Levy, Steven. How Google's algorithm rules the web. Wired 2010, March. Published online 22 Feb 2010. The article is available online at www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_google_algorithm/all/1.

Library & Archives Service Staff Survey

This is an opportunity for all staff to provide feedback on the services we provide and would appreciate it if you could take some time to complete our survey.

Your feedback will help us form our strategy for the next 5 year.

Library & Archives Service Student Survey

The Library would welcome your feedback on the services we provide and would appreciate it if you could take some time to complete our survey.

All entries are anonymous and this will help us plan our services for now and for the future.

Changes to the Library Laptop Loan Scheme

From Monday 22nd February, in response to feedback received at the Enquiries Desk, the Library Laptop Loan Scheme will be operating slightly differently.

In order to ensure a steady rotation of fully-charged laptops throughout the day, laptops will be loaned out to registered users for use within the Library in fixed two-hour time slots. Laptops may be taken out at any time during the time slot, but must be returned by the end of the current session. Library staff will advise you what time the laptop is due for return when they loan it to you.

The new system should guarantee that 7 fully-charged laptops are available for loan at the start of each two-hour time slot. As before, laptops are issued on a first-come, first-served basis.

Web of Knowledge - Maintenance this Sunday, February 21st 2010 beginning 14.00hrs

Thomson Reuters have sent out the following message:
Please be advised that Thomson Reuters will be performing maintenance to the ISI Web of Knowledge, EndNote Web and Researcher ID this coming Sunday, February 21st, 2010 beginning 14.00 GMT (9:00 AM EST). During this time, there will be disruption of service and access to these products. We apologise for any inconvenience this might cause.

Wartime diets at home and abroad - collections from the LSHTM nutrition archive

An exhibition displaying archive material from the School's nutrition collection is being held in the library.

The material looks at wartime diets at home and abroad, focusing on Ministry of Food literature and surveys and prisoner of war diets in the Far East.

For further information on the nutrition collection, please see the nutrition project webpage at: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/nutritionproject.html

Library e-resources: support for teaching & research @ e-library, 19 Feb, 1-2pm

The amount of academic information available electronically is increasing each year. It's not just databases and journals which are available online, the Library now provides other types of information in electronic format, such as:

• online reading lists (does your module have an ORC?)
• images (via PhotoLibrary)
• e-reports
• e-books
• online reference works
• help and user-guides

Come along to the drop-in session in the e-library where Library & Archives Service staff will be on hand to provide advice, answer queries and demonstrate the wide range of e-resources which are now available.

The e-resources session will take place on Friday 19th February from 1-2pm in the e-library (ground floor of the South Courtyard, next to the Manson Lecture Theatre).

Gems from the Collections - malaria

Staff and students are invited to have a closer look at the wonderful historical collections that are held at the School. On Wednesday 17th February, between 12 and 2pm in the e-library on the ground floor of the South Courtyard, the Library & Archives Service is holding a 'Gems from the Collections - Malaria' session where staff will be available to show you some of the rare and unique documents, artefacts and books that we hold relating to malaria. Material on show will include:
· The notebook where Sir Ronald Ross made his discovery of the mosquito transmission of malaria
· The box used to transport malaria infected mosquitoes from Italy to London for an experiment by Sir Patrick Manson in 1901
· Material from an expedition to East Africa by School staff to study malaria in the 1930s
· Material from the collections of School staff who worked on malaria including Draper, Garnham, Gillett, Leeson, Lumsden, MacDonald, Macfie, Marshall, Shute, Watson and Wilcocks
· Maps relating to the study of malaria

We will also be displaying some of our rare books and journal articles on all aspects of malaria, including

• Torti, F. Therapeutice specialis ad febres quasdam perniciosas,[Special treatment for certain harmful fevers] Modena, 1712.
• de Blegny, Nicolas. Le remede anglois pour la guerison des fievres [The English remedy for the curing of fevers] 1682.
• Laveran, A. Traite des fievres palustres avec la description des microbes du paludisme. 1884
• Grassi, GB Studi di uno zoologo sulla malaria. Roma, V.Salviucci, 1900.
• Ross, R. On some peculiar pigmented cells found in two mosquitos fed on malarial blood. BMJ 1897; 2: 1786-8.

There is no need to make an appointment, just drop in and see us in the e-library and find out more about the School's historical collections.

For further information, please contact Victoria Cranna, Archivist & Records Manager.

Want to borrow from another library?

Members of the School can join many UK university libraries (including libraries within the University of London) as borrowers via the SCONUL Access Scheme. All you need to do is pop into the Library here at LSHTM with your School ID card and register at the Enquiries Desk. We'll then give you a SCONUL Access card, which you can use to join any participating library in the country.

Estates Works Affecting The Library, Saturday 6th February

This Saturday Estates staff will be carrying out essential work within the School, which will include some work adjacent to the Keppel St lift on the first floor landing outside the Library. We will keep the doors closed to minimise the noise transfer, but there will inevitably be some disruption. Estates apologise for any inconvenience to Library users caused by these works.

New Ovid Books

We have just purchased a number of new E-Books on the Ovid platform. These include key and useful texts in Virology, Epidemiology and Public Health.

You can access these at Ovid. You can also browse all our E-book collection from the Library web page.

Difficulties logging into Shibboleth

Some students and staff have reported not being able to access electronic resources through the Shibboleth authentication system. This is the page which asks for a username and password (your School IT username and password) when you try and access resources, such as Embase and Web of Science. When they have logged in, a message states, username not found.

If you experience this, change your School IT passsword to re-activate your Shibboleth log in. This will work within 24 hours of changing your password.

The Grey Literature Report from the New York Academy of Medicine

Are you interested in grey literature on aspects of urban and public health? If so, you may want to check out the Grey Literature Report, published for free by the New York Academy of Medicine, online at www.nyam.org/library/greyreport.shtml.

The Grey Literature Report contains details of reports published by non-commercial organisations such as government agencies, non-profit non-governmental organizations, universities, independent research centers, and international organizations. The subject scope includes health and science policy, public health, health of minorities and special populations and those areas of general medicine and disease in which the Academy has research interests. The focus is on research material, not consumer health material. More details of the content and collection development can be found at www.nyam.org/library/greycolldev.shtml.

Grey literature was defined at the Fourth International Conference on Grey Literature (GL '99) in Washington, DC, in October 1999 as "That which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers."

Module Reading Lists

A number of modules for this academic term have an online reading list located on Blackboard.

You can access the reading list by clicking on the Library button on the module page.

If your module does not currently have a reading list on Blackboard you can contact your module organiser or the Teaching Support Office to suggest adding one.

Collection of the month: Prisoner of War papers from the nutrition collection

During the Second World War a number of medical officers, who had been interned in prisoner of war camps in the Far East, produced a fascinating set of records and data concerning nutrition and diet in civilian camps. They have now become available to researchers.

From 1942-1945 British medical officers who specialised in nutrition spent their time monitoring and alleviating the worsening situation in prison camps. A wealth of material was amassed and was later used in the publication 'Deficiency diseases in Japanese prison camps, MRC Special Report 274' by Dean Smith and AW Woodruff.

Woodruff was held in the notorious Changi internment camp for three years and over that time carried out medical inspections on patients suffering from malnutrition. Dean Smith, who was in the Stanley camp in Hong Kong, was chief medical officer for nutrition and brought back with him patient records, nutrition reports, rationing plans and statistics. All of this material reflects the duress under which the work was carried out since the officers only had primitive means of recording data and we are very fortunate that it has survived.

The papers are catalogued and can be searched through on the online catalogue: http://193.63.251.56/DServe/dServe.exe?dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Index.tcl

Library Opening

Welcome back after the Christmas break.

This week we are still running vacation opening times, this means the Library is open 8:30 am to 8:25 pm Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 12:30 pm on Saturday and closed on Sunday.

Further details are available on the Library opening hours page.