Using other libraries - Search25 and SCONUL Access

 

Sometimes you might find that LSHTM library doesn't hold all the information you need for your research or study. Luckily, you can often still get access to the material you need by visiting other libraries in the local area. The Bloomsbury area has one of the highest concentrations of educational and research institutions in the world, and they all have libraries! There have been some changes to two services - Search25 and SCONUL Access - which can help make accessing material in other libraries even easier.

Search25

Search25 is a new resource discovery tool which allows you to search the collections of nearly 60 well-known institutions within the M25 Consortium of Academic Libraries in a single place. These resources are all located in London and the South East of England. The video below explains how to use the service and start 'library hopping'!

http://youtu.be/0L_POBn_3F4

You can also use the service to search the 'Union List of Serials' - all the periodicals held by the libraries of the University of London, plus Imperial College London and the University of Westminster - just select this option from the drop down box on the homepage.

SCONUL Access

 

The SCONUL Access scheme allows members of the School to join many other university libraries in the UK and Ireland. You can now register to use this scheme online, via the SCONUL Access website. Just tell the site what kind of user you are and it will display a map showing you the libraries you can access. You'll need to complete an online application form, which will be sent through to the LSHTM Library for approval. When we have approved your application, you will receive an email confirmation - you just need to take a printed copy of this email and your LSHTM ID card to the library you would like to visit.

When you apply online, you'll be asked to choose a specific library to access, but your email confirmation for this library will also allow you to access other libraries participating in the scheme. It's also worth bearing in mind that you are unlikely to be able to access electronic resources from other libraries as these are usually restricted to use by each institution's staff and students.

If you have any questions about either of these services, or other ways to access material in other libraries, let us know by emailing library@lshtm.ac.uk. Don't forget that members of the School are also entitled to join Senate House Library, which allows you to borrow material and access electronic resources - just complete a membership form and bring it along to the LSHTM Library Enquiries Desk to be validated. You can also visit other University of London libraries via the reciprocal access scheme. We can also source material that we don't hold in our own library via the inter-library loan and document delivery service.

But how can I publish open access if I have no money?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/le_haricot/347965672/



I think we can safely say now that open access has become a mainstream option for academic publishing and the Research Council UK's open access policy alongside the UK Government backed Finch Report will increase the number of open access articles and journals available. However there is only a limited amount of money and open access costs! While it is true that there are always costs to publishing it is not wholly true that to publish in an open access journal a fee has to be paid. Here are some ways to avoid fees but still be open:

1. Look through the Directory of Open Access Journals which lists over 700 open access journals in the areas of Medicine and Public Health with the majority not having any publication charges at all!

2. If you a student you can request a discount or in certain cases a complete waiver of the article processing charge from publishers such as PLoS and BioMed Central. Also remember that all staff and students from LSHTM automatically qualify for a 15% discount from BioMed Central.

3. Try e-Life the recently launched biomedical and life sciences open access journal from Wellcome Trust, Max Planck Institute and Howard Hughes Institute. Currently they have no article processing charges and welcome submissions particularly from early career researchers.

Hopefully that will help but if you need some advice just let us know.

Promote your research at the click of a button

It’s easy to promote your research using the social media functions in LSHTM Research Online.

Simply find the paper you want using the search or browse functions. Under the abstract you will find buttons for posting the paper to your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages and a range of other social media sites.

Simply click on the button for the service you want to use, login and post, it’s that simple.

If you have any questions or comments about LSHTM ResearchOnline please contact us.

Library Opening Hours 12th February 2013

On Tuesday 12th February the Library will be closed between 10.30am and 12pm for an LAS staff meeting.

FREE TRIAL - Digimap Ordnance Survey Collection

The Library has organised a free trial of the Digimap Ordnance Survey Collection for current staff and students. This runs until 6 March 2013.

The Library is interested in your feedback. Please let us know if you would find this useful for your research or studies, as well as any other comments you would like to make. This will be used to help us decide whether to subscribe to the collection. To send feedback email jane.falconer@lshtm.ac.uk.

What is Digimap?

Digimap delivers Ordnance Survey maps and map data, available either via download facilities for use with appropriate application software such as GIS or CAD, or as maps generated by Digimap online. A simple mapping tool allows users to view and print maps of any location in Great Britain at a series of predefined scales; a more advanced mapping tool enables the user to specify map scale, area and content, as well as print maps at up to A0 in size.

How do I access the free trial?

• Go to http://digimap.edina.ac.uk and click the blue 'Login' button
• Enter EDINA (staff and trials) in the box, then select and continue.
• Login using the username and password available from library@lshtm.ac.uk

Is the free trial available to staff based overseas?
Yes

Can I get help with using Digimap?
Yes. Daniel Lewis has volunteered to answer queries about using the Digimap trial.

Gems of the collection: Smallpox and vaccination

Tuesday 19 February
12 noon - 2.00pm
South Courtyard, opposite Manson LT

"... the most complete library in this country of the old literature of small-pox, variolation, and vaccination." [1]

This is how the BMJ described the book collection of Dr Richard James Reece in his obituary. The BMJ was unsure what would happen to Dr Reece's collection but hoped that it would be kept together and available for future consultation. Happily the Library & Archives Service obtained Dr Reece's collection in 1930, and you now have a chance to view some of its gems.

Items from the Library's Reece Collection will be displayed, together with other items on vaccination and smallpox from the Rare Books and Archives collections. Highlights include:

• 1st and 2nd editions of Edward Jenner's Enquiry, owned and annotated by the Southampton Anti-Vaccination League.
• The letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, describing the process of variolation used by the Turks in the early 18th century.
• Items written by prominent members of the National Anti-Vaccination League, including William Tebb and Alfred Wallace.
• Manuscripts from Sir Leonard Rogers on forecasting epidemics, including smallpox.
• A 1937 reprint of Thomas Thatcher's Guide to the common-people of New England... from 1677, commonly thought to be the first medical publication of North America.
• Letters from Sir Ronald Ross on prevention of disease in India, including smallpox.
• A radio script from 1968 on 'The continuing problem of smallpox'.

There is no need to book, just come along to view the items. Due to the rarity, value and fragility of the items, we ask that you wash your hands before touching the exhibits and consume your lunch elsewhere. The exhibition is only available to view by current staff and students at LSHTM.

All items included in the Gems of the Collection are available to view in the Library on request. Our website contains further details on our Archives Collections and our Rare Books collections.

Image taken from Edward Jenner, An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ, a Disease Discovered in Some of the Western Counties of England, Particularly Gloucestershire, and Known by the Name of the Cow Pox (London: Printed for the author by Sampson Low ... and sold by Law ... and Murray and Highley, 1798)
[1] Obituary: Richard James Reece, C.B. M.D., Senior Medical Officer, Ministry of Health. Br Med J 1924;1:803-5.

LSHTM Annual Reports through the years

As the School’s annual report for 2012 has recently been published and is in a new format this year, we have been looking back over the LSHTM Archive’s complete collection of Annual Reports dating back to the earliest days of the School’s existence.

When looked at collectively the series of Annual Reports provide a wonderful summary of how the School has changed and grown over the years, and the way it has chosen to present itself to the general public.

We hold a copy of the Report for Year 1899-1900 - the School’s first year of operation, when it formed part of the Seamen’s Hospital Society’s Branch Hospital at the Royal Albert Dock.

Cover of 1899 Annual Report and list of appointments held by graduates

  

At this time the School was known as The London School of Tropical Medicine, and the focus was only on treating and studying tropical diseases, before the connection with public health and hygiene was established in the 1920s. The School’s objectives are recorded as being ‘not only to acquaint the Student with the diseases of the Tropics, and teach him how to treat the various ailments he may meet with, but also to put him in the way of investigating Tropical diseases, to train him to observe, to record, and to study scientifically the great Tropical disease scourges’. 96 students were registered and taught in that first year and the School was ambitious in its aims for the future, with plans to double the size of its library and laboratory (which were achieved in 1912).

    Cover of 1925 Annual Report with Student Photographs for the Course in Tropical Medicine and Parasitology for Services Medical Officers 1941

In 1924 the Reports changed format as the School officially became The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and prepared to move to its current location in Keppel Street.

Throughout the 20s and 30s the Reports show the School growing significantly, with much larger numbers of staff and students listed and many new departments and areas of research becoming established, as well as research trips to many parts of the world.

During World War II the emphasis turns to how the School ‘never closed its doors’ in spite of bomb damage to the building in 1941.

The reports reflect much change through two periods of modernisation and restructuring, the first in the early 1970s when universities were under severe financial pressure and the second in the late 1980s.

       Covers of 1989/90 and 2004/05 Annual Reports

Throughout this time the Reports change from being merely factual and become bright glossy documents with lots of pictures to help promote the School and its work. It will be interesting to see how the Annual Reports continue to change and reflect the School in years to come.

Collections covering the complete administrative history of the School can be viewed via the LSHTM Archive Service. Please see the Archives website for further information.