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.