LSHTM Library & Archives Service Blog

LSHTM publications freely available online!

2012-01-19T14:10:00.003Z

We are pleased to announce that LSHTM Research Online is now available http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/

LSHTM Research Online is the freely accessible database of the School's research, it holds the bibliographic details of research outputs together with the full text, wherever possible. At present there are over 19,000 records with more than 1,800 full text items, all authored by LSHTM researchers.

Material covered includes articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings and reports.

LSHTM Research Online is part of the growing Open Access movement to facilitate the open exchange of scholarly research.

Benefits:

Increased visibility, usage, citations and impact of research

Showcase for LSHTM of our research output

Rapid dissemination of research which allows further research to be conducted

Access to research not dependent on geography or finance

Availability of publicly funded research provides transparency

Features:

Browse by year, faculty, centre, author

Search by name, journal, author, funder, item type, PubMed ID, Web of Science ISI Id

Ability to hold various formats for text, image and video

Access to individual download/viewing statistics by article, researcher, department

Indexed by Google, Google Scholar,

Export to endnote, excel, reference manager

Embed list of publications in your own websites via RSS feeds

The LSHTM Research Online team can provide research with support on any issues relating to copyright, publisher permissions and open access. In the next few months we will be adding more full text to LSHTM Research Online, improving features and visiting researchers in the School to further publicise this new resource and answer any questions.

If you have any questions or comments please let us know on researchonline@lshtm.ac.uk

Collection of the month: Major HS Leeson

2012-01-04T16:02:00.004Z

Image reference: List of camping equipment for Leeson’s expedition across East Africa, 1936 (GB 0809 Leeson/01/03). Image credit: LSHTM Library & Archives Service.

To coincide with our exhibition on travel, expeditions and discovery currently on display in the Library we have chosen to focus on the papers of Major HS Leeson who travelled extensively during his career as an entomologist (someone who studies insects) for this month’s blog post.

Born in Liverpool, Leeson began his career in the Entomological Department of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1909. Leeson served in the Royal Army Medical Core during the First World War and on returning he passed his sanitation examinations and became an Associate of the Royal Sanitary Institute. He began his association with LSHTM in 1925 after being chosen as collector-demonstrator to Colonel A Alcock in the Entomological Department.

Leeson travelled widely for his studies of the Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus mosquitoes, which transmit the malaria parasite. His research took him to: Southern Rhodesia (1926-1928 and 1933-1936); East Africa, including Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika (1936); Greece (1938) and Albania (1938). During the Second World War he played an important part in malaria prevention in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Cyprus by carrying out anopheline surveys as the entomologist of No.2 Malaria Field Laboratory. From 1943-1945 he was also in charge of the malaria wing of the Middle East School of Hygiene. When the War ended he returned to LSHTM to work as lecturer in the Department of Entomology.

The Leeson collection, held in the School’s Archives contains a wealth of documents relating to his career and expeditions including scientific notes, reports, photographs, correspondence, maps, itineraries, menus and drawings. We also have a film of Leeson’s 1936 expedition across East Africa, which provides a fascinating record of the expedition’s journey from Croydon airport, travels and work in East Africa, the people they met and wonderful views of the scenery and wildlife they encountered.

If you would like to find out more about or make an appointment to consult the Leeson collection please see the Archives website or email us at archives@lshtm.ac.uk for further information.

The exhibition on travel, expeditions and discovery is on display in the Library until the end of this month.

2012 Ovid MEDLINE reload

2011-12-19T09:55:00.002Z

Ovid have informed us that they aim to complete the 2012 reload of Ovid Medline on 3 January 2012. Between 16 December 2011 and 3 January 2012 there will be no updates to the Medline database. Therefore, if you have auto alerts set up, you will not receive any updates during this time.

The annual reload allows Ovid to update the database, reconfigure the data and add any new MeSH terms. Updates for 2012 include:

Pharmacological Action limit added to limits
New MeSH terms including: coinfection, disease resistance, drinking water, numbers needed to treat, occupational injuries, patient safety, reproductive health, sex workers, social media, text messaging, water quality. A full list of new MeSH terms is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/newd.html.
Note that the new terms will only be added to articles added to the database from 01 January 2012. They will not be retrospectively added to articles already added to the database.
Changes to MeSH terms are listed at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/prefterm_change.html. There are a few changes which may be of interest to School staff and students.
Deleted MeSH terms are listed at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/deleted.html. These will not be deleted from articles already indexed with these terms, however from January 2012, the replacement terms will be used instead.
A complete list of the changes made to MeSH for 2012 is given at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/introduction.html.

Festive recipes from the Archives

2011-12-15T12:00:00.006Z

This leaflet, published in December 1945, is from a series of seasonal recipes produced by the Ministry of Food during the period of food rationing in Britain during and following the Second World War.

This and many other Ministry of Food leaflets are available to view in the LSHTM Archives as part of the Nutrition Collection. Please see the Archives website for further information.

Image reference: LSHTM Library & Archives Service, Nutrition/06/05 Ministry Of Food cookery leaflets and pamphlets

Inter-library loans over the holiday period

2011-12-12T11:18:00.002Z

If you are in a hurry to obtain material via the inter-library loans service please ensure that your requests are placed before 5.00pm on Friday 16th December. We will not process any inter-loan requests received after this time until the Library reopens on 4th January. This allows us to process and receive all requests before both the School and the British Library close for Christmas, reducing the chance of any going astray.

You can find more information about how the inter-library loans service can source information not held at the School on our webpages

Collection of the month: Centre for Sexual and Reproductive Health

2011-12-12T09:27:00.003Z

This month we are focussing on our collection of posters, ephemera, and campaign and evaluation material from our Centre for Sexual and Reproductive Health collection. The collection was donated to the Archives Service by the School’s Centre in 2004 and includes a wealth of visual and textual material concerning the first 20 years of AIDS prevention and awareness in Europe. The collection contains over 700 items which serve as a valuable resource for those studying the early impact of HIV/AIDS and global pandemics as well as public health propaganda.

The posters concern issues such as safe sex and the harmful effects of sharing needles. They originate from countries across Europe and use strong imagery to illustrate how HIV is transmitted. The ephemera in the collection includes t-shirts, caps, condom packaging, badges, bags, leaflets and tapes and videos from various countries. The evaluation and campaign material includes pamphlets and leaflets from campaigns carried out across Europe and surveys and research collated by various market research companies.

An exhibition of some of the posters from the 1980s-1990s is on display in the Library Exhibition area until 22 December 2011. If you would like to find out more about the collection or any other of the collections held in the Archives visit our webpage at http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives or contact us at archives@lshtm.ac.uk

Government committed to open access to publicly funded research

2011-12-09T09:35:00.003Z

The government report Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth includes a commitment to make publicly funded research free to access. http://tinyurl.com/dxu4wwy.

Resource of the month - Africa-Wide Information

2011-11-29T17:55:00.004Z

What information does Africa-Wide Information contain?

Over 4 million items from 50 different data sources, the majority from 19th C to present.

Focus on information produced in Africa.

Updated every quarter

Includes information on the following topics from all 56 African countries:

Politics & Economics
Industry & Mining
Agriculture
Development
Legal systems
Religion
History & Cultural history and heritage
Health
Natural resources & Biodiversity
Current affairs
Sport
Literature, Art, Drama & Music

Includes records from African Journals Online, South African Journals Online, African Development Database, African Healthline

Africa-Wide Information does not contain full-text

How do I get access to Africa-Wide Information?

Africa-Wide Information is supplied by EBSCO. It is available to all current LSHTM staff and students from any computer with an internet connection.

Go to http://search.ebscohost.com/
Click the Shibboleth Login link
Choose “UK Higher Education” from the drop-down list
Click on London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Enter your username and password (staff and London-based students enter your network username and password, Distance Learning students, enter your Portal username and password).
Click “Africa-Wide Information” from the list of available databases

Opening hours : 30th November

2011-11-29T11:28:00.003Z

The Library will be open from 5pm to 8.25pm only on 30th November and will re-open for normal opening hours at 8.30am on 1st December

World AIDS Day exhibition

2011-11-28T10:47:00.009Z

An exhibition to mark World AIDS Day is now on display in the Library. 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

The exhibition will be on display in the Library exhibition area until 22 December 2011.

Collection of the month - Sir Henry Harold Scott (1874-1956)

2011-11-22T08:57:00.005Z

Our recent ‘Gems from the Collections’ session on breakthroughs and discoveries in public health and tropical medicine got us thinking about some of our smaller collections in the Archives. One of these is the papers of Sir Henry Harold Scott relating to his investigations into vomiting sickness in Jamaica, 1915-1918.

While serving as a government bacteriologist and pathologist in Jamaica, British physician Scott made a significant contribution to the understanding of vomiting sickness. A connection between ackee fruit and vomiting sickness had been noted around the time of Scott’s birth, but his investigations into cases of ackee poisoning raised awareness of the dangers of eating the fruit when it had not been properly ripened, in which state it was later proved to contain the toxins hypoglycin A and hypoglycin B.

Scott went on to become Milner Research Fellow in comparative pathology at the London School of Tropical Medicine and later Director of the Bureau of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases (1935-1942) and President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1943-1945).

The Archives hold a series of letters sent to Scott from individuals who believed they had suffered from vomiting sickness after eating unripe ackee fruit, publications, press cuttings and reports relating to vomiting sickness and ackee poisoning.

If you would like to view or find out more about the Scott collection visit our webpage or contact us at archives@lshtm.ac.uk

Take part in the SCONUL library access student survey

2011-11-21T17:41:00.003Z

Studying at LSHTM? Do you use other academic libraries? Would you like to? Can you get what you need?

The Higher Education library community wants to provide the best possible service to students, researchers and staff who, for all sorts of reasons, wish to access other academic and specialist libraries.

Please help us develop the services and access you need by completing this short online survey - it should take 5-6 minutes.

You can access the survey at http://www.sero.co.uk/sconul_access.html, and if you'd like to be entered for a prize draw you can opt to provide your email address at the end of the survey for a chance to win one of six £30 Amazon vouchers. The survey closes on Friday 9th December.

Data Protection - Sero Consulting is registered with the Information Commissioner and undertakes that your data will be held securely and will not be disclosed in any way that can be traced to an individual.

Library Laptops

2011-11-09T15:06:00.002Z

The Library has re-launched its student laptop loan scheme. You can now borrow a laptop in the Library whenever you need. There is no need to book, just come to the Library desk with your LSHTM card and you can use it straight away. There is more information on laptops and other IT in the Library from our web site.

New exhibition: Wartime at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

2011-11-07T15:57:00.010Z

Bomb damage to the Malet Street side of the School's Keppel Street building, May 1941. Photo credit: TH Everitt & Sons/LSHTM Library & Archives Service

An exhibition to mark Remembrance Day (11 November) is now on display in the Library exhibition area. Designed as a tribute to staff and students who have served in or been affected by war, the exhibition features photographs, official war records and reports from the School’s archive collections. ‘Wartime at LSHTM’ includes material relating to the activities of the School and the roles of staff, students and associated individuals during the First and Second World Wars.

Highlights include photographs and documents recording: Sir Ronald Ross’s military service in Alexandria in 1917; an extract from Ross’s memoir where he records his experience of serving as a consultant on malaria and dysentery during the First World War; the bombed Keppel Street building in 1941 and work of former School staff, Dean Smith and AW Woodruff, on malnutrition in prisoner of war camps in Hong Kong and Singapore during the Second World War.

The exhibition will be on display until the end of November.

The LSHTM Archives preserve and make accessible manuscript material, personal papers, photographs and artefacts relating to the history of tropical medicine and public health since the mid-nineteenth century. Further information is available at on our website.

Rada Vlatkovic and Emma Golding, LSHTM Archives Service

Pioneers: discoveries and breakthroughs in public health and tropical medicine

2011-11-07T11:03:00.006Z

Box of blood slides used by Sir Ronald Ross for his research into the mosquito transmission of malaria. Image credit: LSHTM

Staff and students are invited to have a closer look at the wonderful historical collections that are held at the School. On Wednesday 16th November, between 12pm and 2pm on the ground floor of the South Courtyard, the Library & Archives Service is holding a 'Gems from the Collections ' session where staff will be available to show you some of the rare and unique documents, artefacts and books that we hold relating to important breakthroughs and discoveries in the fields of public health and tropical medicine. Material on show will include:

• A first edition of Edward Jenner’s book on smallpox vaccination from 1798, with annotations by the Southampton Anti-Vaccination League
• The notebook where Sir Ronald Ross made his discovery of the mosquito transmission of malaria on 20 August 1897
• The box used to transport malaria infected mosquitoes from Italy to London for an experiment by Sir Patrick Manson which demonstrated Ross’ 1897 discovery
• Map by John Snow showing cholera cases in the London epidemic of 1854

There is no need to make an appointment, just drop by and see us outside the Manson Lecture Theatre and find out more about the School's historical collections.

For further information, please contact Emma Golding, Assistant Archivist at archives@lshtm.ac.uk

Staff & student tours of Keppel Street building - FULLY BOOKED

2011-10-12T14:41:00.002+01:00

Staff & student tours for this term are now fully booked. The Archives Team will be running another two tours next term which will be advertised in the new year. If you are interested in finding out more about the Keppel Street building a free leaflet on the history of the building is available to collect from the Library and Archives Service.

Valerie Mizrahi at the Wellcome Collection

2011-10-11T12:53:00.003+01:00

Valerie Mizrahi, Director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine and professor at the University of Cape Town, will be speaking at a free event at the Wellcome Collection on October 20th 18.00-19.15.

Professor Mizrahi will discuss her work in HIV and TB research, and her interest in development in low-income countries. There will also be time for audience discussion; giving an opportunity to question a leading scientist on her work in infectious diseases and health in the developing world. The event will be recorded for broadcast by the BBC World Service.

For more information, and to reserve a place, please see the Wellcome Collection webpages.

Mobile Library resources - help us create a list

2011-10-07T11:20:00.002+01:00

We're trying to create a list of useful mobile library resources and we want your help. Send us details of your favourite apps and mobile websites (don't forget the link) via the comments or tweet us @LSHTMlibrary. We'll add the best to our list which will be published on our website next month.

Staff & student tours of Keppel Street building - UPDATE

2011-10-06T16:55:00.002+01:00

The tour on the 27 October is now fully booked. There are still a few places available for the tour on the 29 November at 1pm, please email archives@lshtm.ac.uk if you would like to book a place.

Staff & student tours of Keppel Street building

2011-10-05T10:17:00.002+01:00

The Library & Archives Service are running two tours of the Keppel Street building for staff and students. The tour route will take in the exterior of the building, the North Courtyard, the South Courtyard and the Library, and will include information on the architecture and origins and history of the School. The tours will be conducted by Emma Golding, Assistant Archivist.

These will take place at 1pm on Thursday 27 October and Tuesday 29 November and will last approximately 40 minutes.

Places are limited to 20 people. Please contact Emma at archives@lshtm.ac.uk to book a place, stating which date you would like to attend.

These tours complement the history walks organised by the Centre for History in Public Health.

Collection of the month: the class of 1911

2011-09-30T15:57:00.005+01:00

This month, as students prepare for the start of a new academic year, we are looking back at the London School of Tropical Medicine official staff and student photograph taken 100 years ago to mark the autumn term in 1911. The photograph shows fifty-seven students and members of staff, including laboratory assistants, lecturers and administrators, and notes the absence of a further twenty.

Seated in the second row at the centre of the photograph sits Sir Patrick Manson, the founder of LSTM and (by general agreement) ‘the father of tropical medicine’, then one year away from retiring for health reasons. Next to him is his close friend Dr Charles Daniels (sixth from left), who had distinguished himself by confirming Ronald Ross’ 1898 discovery of the complete life-cycle of avian malaria, in Calcutta. The then director of the School, Dr Hugh Newham sits in the same row (fifth from right). Recently returned from a four month stint at the Georgetown laboratory and hospital in British Guiana, he was in the first year of his directorship, which continued, interrupted by a couple of years as consultant in tropical diseases to the East African forces during the First World War, until the School received its Royal Charter in 1924.

Some of those pictured are ex-students who stayed on to become demonstrators after completing their studies. One of these is Philip Bahr (third row, fourth from right), who later married Manson’s daughter and became a leader in the field of tropical medicine as Philip Manson-Bahr. Also shown is Robert Mackay (standing at the front on the far left), labelled as ‘Robert’, a laboratory assistant who served at the school from its foundation, when he was only 14, until his accidental death in 1928. His skill was already well respected within the School, especially since his discovery of the organism in the first case of human trypanosomiasis in England in 1902.

Sixty-four students enrolled for the 37th session, which ran from October to December 1911. Those shown include William Moore (back row, fourth from left), who went on to receive an OBE for his work in the Hong Kong Government Medical Service, where he rose to become deputy director of medical and sanitary services, and Hugh Stannus (third row, second from left), who received a number of honours in recognition of his contribution to tropical medicine, including a CBE. He served as principal medical officer to the Nyasa-Rhodesian Forces during the First World War and worked for Ministry of Health in the Second World War. Three of the students were women, who went on to work as medics in India and China after leaving the School. By this time, around 5 per cent of the students who had passed through the school were female.

If you would like to find out more about the history of the School or our archive collections visit our webpage here or email us at archives@lshtm.ac.uk

Philippa Mole

Interloans is changing

2011-09-29T17:10:00.002+01:00

The process for requesting interloans is changing. From Monday 3rd October interloan requests should be placed through the Library catalogue. We hope this will make it easier for you to request the material you need for your research as you will no longer have to print or scan paper forms.

All the information you need about this new service can be found on our webpages.

New students - find the information you need fast.

2011-09-29T11:47:00.003+01:00

Welcome to all new MSc students.

The Library is running a series of training sessions to help you find the information you need and allow you to get started on your studies straight away.

1. Finding an item on a reading list

•Deciphering a reading list and differentiating between different reference types.
•Finding printed books and journals in the Library.
•Accessing electronic journals and books, wherever you are in the world.

This class will run twice a day (13.00-14.00 and 17.30-18.30) between 3rd and 7th October.

2.Searching for information on a topic and assessing its quality

•Planning and executing an effective literature search using Google and PubMed.

This class will run twice a day (13.00-14.00 and 17.30-18.30) between 10th and 14th October.

All sessions take please in the Library. Just turn up. Maximum of 30 students per class. You only need to attend once.

Module Reading lists (ORC)

2011-09-28T17:02:00.004+01:00

For your MSc modules, you can now access essential and additional readings using ORC (Online Reading for Courses). To access the ORC, log onto to Blackboard and choose the module you are studying. In the Library tab will be the ORC, this will let you get to the full text of each article in the reading list.

Open House is a great success

2011-09-26T16:18:00.000+01:00

Over 400 members of the public visited the School during Open House on Saturday 17th September; the majority of these were taken on tours of the building including the North and South Courtyards and the Library. The visitors were very enthusiastic about the event and we received very positive feedback. Many commented on the great use of space in the South Courtyard and enjoyed looking at the original features in the Library.

The Archives team will be running two tours of the building in the Autumn term which will be advertised to all staff and students, more information soon.

Library closing 12.45pm-1.45pm on Friday 30th September

2011-09-24T12:59:00.003+01:00

The Library will be closed between 12.45pm and 1.45pm on Friday 30th September to enable all LAS staff to attend the Director's Meeting.

Access Journal of Biological Chemistry and Journal of Lipid Research from your mobile

2011-09-22T14:40:00.003+01:00

Full text access to Journal of Biological Chemistry and Journal of Lipid Research is now available from any mobile device. Go to http://m.jbc.org (for JBC Mobile) or http://m.jlr.org (for JLR Mobile).

Collection of the month: Sir Patrick Manson

2011-08-31T15:57:00.014+01:00

Sir Patrick Manson's name on the frieze above the entrance to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

This month we are focusing on the collection of Sir Patrick Manson (1844-1922), who founded the School in 1899 and is known as the ‘father of tropical medicine’.

Sir Patrick was born in Scotland in 1844 and studied medicine at Aberdeen University. In 1866, he moved to China where he became Medical Officer for the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs in Formosa (Taiwan) and later in Amoy. It was whilst working in Amoy in 1878 that Sir Patrick discovered filarial worms, which can cause elephantiasis, in the tissues of mosquitoes. In 1883, he move to Hong Kong and with the doctor James Cantlie he established a medical school in 1887. The medical school later developed into the Medical Faculty of the University of Hong Kong.

Sir Patrick moved to London in 1889 and became a doctor at the Seamen’s Hospital Society in 1892. In 1897, he was appointed Medical Advisor to the Colonial Office and played an important role in the development of tropical medicine as a discipline and in the founding of the London School of Tropical Medicine in 1899. He worked at the School until 1912 when he retired due to poor health.

Sir Patrick is perhaps best known as the person who introduced and encouraged Sir Ronald Ross to investigate the theory that malaria was transmitted between humans by mosquitoes, which Sir Ronald proved in 1897 (see collection of the month for April 2010).

The School’s Archives hold a fascinating collection of papers relating to Manson’s career, including: his dairies which contain notes on mosquitoes as carriers of malaria and his discovery of filaria in mosquitoes; correspondence with Charles Wilberforce Daniels, Herbert Edward Durham and James Michelli on tropical medicine; photographs; research papers; medical examination forms for candidates working in British colonies and protectorates and scientific artifacts and medals.

If you would like to find out more about the records of Sir Patrick Manson or any of the collections in our archive visit our webpage here or email us at archives@lshtm.ac.uk

Library closure

2011-08-25T11:15:00.003+01:00

The Library will be closed on Bank Holiday Monday (29th August). We will re-open on Tuesday at 8:30 am as usual.

Open House London 2011

2011-08-25T10:16:00.004+01:00

The School is participating in Open House London on Saturday 17th 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 the reception, exterior of the School, North 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 London and on the history of the School and the building, please contact the Archives Service at archives@lshtm.ac.uk

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

Sir Ronald Ross Exhibition

2011-08-24T11:43:00.008+01:00

Page 107 from Sir Ronald Ross'notebook showing his discovery of the mosquito transmission of malaria, 20 August 1897

If the recent postings and events concerning World Mosquito Day have left you wanting to know more about Sir Ronald Ross, who discovered the mosquito transmission of malaria in man, why not view our latest exhibition which covers his life and work.

The exhibition contains material from the Ross and Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases archive collections, including: the page from Ross’ notebook where he made his discovery of the transmission of malaria in man by mosquitoes; photographs of Ross and the Ross Institute; documents relating to Ross' mosquito research across the world, including during the First World war and examples of Ross' artistic and literary work.

The exhibition will be on display in the Library exhibition area for the next three weeks. More information about the Ross and Ross Institute archive collections is available on the Archive Services website here.

Tea, scones and mosquitoes

2011-08-23T16:48:00.016+01:00

Over a 100 people celebrated Mosquito Day at the 1930's style tea dance and Tiffin extravaganza in LSHTM Library on 19th August.

Much fun was had by all, including a mass Charleston, and many thanks are due to everyone who contributed time, energy and effort to create an afternoon of entertainment that had 'just enough eccentricity'!

Write-ups and comments on the event can be found on the New Scientist and Gates Foundation blogs.

Mosquito Day "Tiffin" and afternoon tea dance

2011-08-16T11:03:00.004+01:00

The Library will be closed from 12 pm on Firday 19th August as part of the Malaria Centre celebrations of Mosquito day. This event, incorporating afternoon tea and dancing has now SOLD OUT. However, a number of the exhibits used in this event will be put on display in the Library over the next two weeks.

Government reponse to the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property

2011-08-03T11:00:00.002+01:00

The Government has responded to the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresponse.htm

Collection of the month: Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases

2011-08-01T10:22:00.009+01:00

Luncheon at the Ross Institue for the 34th Mosquito Day celebration , 20 August 1931

The 20 August is World Mosquito Day, which marks the day in 1897 that Sir Ronald Ross made the discovery of the mosquito transmission of malaria in man. With the commemoration of Ross’ work in mind we have chosen the Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases as our collection of the month.

The Ross Institute was opened in 1926 on Putney Heath as a memorial to and in recognition of the work of Sir Ronald Ross. The main focus of the Institute was the study of the nature and treatment, propagation and prevention of tropical disease. Due to financial problems arising after Ross' death in 1932, the Institute was incorporated into the London School in 1934, eventually to become the School's Department of Tropical Hygiene.

The Ross Institute collection includes: correspondence, minutes, press cuttings and papers concerning the foundation and history of the Institute; volumes of manuscripts and published articles on tropical medicine; records of Ross Institute branches in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and East Africa; papers of George MacDonald, Director of the Ross Institute, 1947-1967 and photographs of buildings, expeditions, staff members and mosquito day celebrations (see above photograph).

If you would like to find out more about the Ross Institute or any other collections in our archive visit our webpage here or email us at archives@lshtm.ac.uk

LSHTM Malaria Centre will be celebrating World Mosquito Day with afternoon tea and dancing in the Library on Friday 19 August, for more information click here.

New e-book

2011-07-29T13:06:00.002+01:00

The popular title, Essential Medical Statistics by Betty Kirkwood is now available as an e-book. You can access this from anywhere over the web using your username and password. More e-books can be located on the Library catalogue.

Web of Science problems

2011-07-21T14:45:00.002+01:00

We are currently experiencing problems with access to the Web of Science (Science Citation index etc...) and are working with the provider to rectify these.

In the meantime you can access Web of Science from any School computer or via Remote Desktop by going directly to http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/

New E-Journal Trial

2011-07-21T09:15:00.003+01:00

You can try out the Journal of Visual Experiments, Jove. This is a video journal for biological, medical, chemical and physical research indexed in PubMed. The trial ends at the end of July and we would welcome your feedback. Please send comments to the journal consulation survey or direct to the library by email.

Journal Consultation Survey

2011-07-20T13:57:00.002+01:00

This is your chance to tell us which journals you need. Every year we review the journals we hold in the Library to make sure we are providing the right titles for your research or teaching. We look to buy in new titles if they are needed and remove ones which are no longer used. Please select your journals now, the survey ends 31st July.

Forthcoming Library & Archives Service Closures

2011-07-06T14:53:00.003+01:00

The Library & Archives Service will be closed all day on Tuesday 12th July to enable staff to take part in a training and planning event.

The Library & Archives Service will close at 5pm on Friday 15th July.

2011 PhotoLibrary Competition Winner

2011-07-04T09:57:00.004+01:00

The winner of the 2011 PhotoLibrary Competition is the photo entitled 'Pinned specimens awaiting a name' by Seth Irish.

The judges were impressed by the high standard of photos entered into the competition and would like to thank all those who participated.

To view all of the competition entries go PhotoLibrary and search under the Competition entries/2011 category. Entries will also be on display in the Library for the next couple of weeks.

Collection of the month - visit from HRH The Prince of Wales, 18 July 1929

2011-07-01T09:43:00.012+01:00

With much talk of royal weddings, birthdays and visits in the media at the moment we have been thinking about some of our own royal visitors to the School. In particular, the visit by HRH Prince of Wales to officially open the School’s new Keppel Street building on 18 July 1929.

The School’s archives have a remarkable set of records from the visit of the future King Edward VIII, including photographs, invitations, tickets, music programmes, order of proceedings and menus. From these documents we know that the Prince gave a speech in the library and then was taken on a complete tour of the building which included visiting the museum, laboratories and finally visiting the workmen in a marquee in the south-west courtyard. Music from the Cold Stream Guards was played at intervals throughout the visit and the Chairman of the Board of Management, Lord Melchett hosted a luncheon which included cantaloupe melon, portions of salmon, chicken in béchamel sauce, lamb chops with Russian salad and raspberry marquise.

Other members of the royal family to have visited the School since its foundation include: HM King George V; HM King George VI (patron of LSHTM 1937-1952); HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (patron of LSHTM, 1952-present); HRH The Princess Royal; HRH Princess Alexandra; and HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.

If you would like to find out more about the history of the School or the archive collections visit our webpage at http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/ or contact us at archives@lshtm.ac.uk

2010 Journal Citation Reports released

2011-06-30T09:35:00.002+01:00

Thomson Reuters have just released the 2010 Journal Citation Reports which provide a variety of journal bibliometrics, including the Impact Factor.

To access the JCR, click on the link on the Library website www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/databases/databasesall.html and logon using your network username and password (DL students can logon using your UoL Portal username and password). Once logged into the Web of Knowledge, click the Additional Resources tab at the top of the screen and choose the Journal Citation Reports.

The JCR now includes over 10,000 journal titles, and the 2010 edition provides metrics for over 1000 new titles. Remember, as the 2010 impact factor is derived from citations received in 2010 to articles published in 2008 and 2009, any journals included will have to have been published since the start of 2008.

Preparing for your summer project: Library drop-in sessions

2011-06-23T14:57:00.003+01:00

The exams are over and now work on your summer project can really begin.

To help you find the information you need for your research, the Library is holding a series of drop-in sessions. Library staff will be on hand to give help and advice on all aspects of the literature search process.

Sessions will be held in the e-Library between 14.00 and 17.00, each Wednesday from 29 June to 27 July. Just come down at any time during the afternoon to ask a question or get feedback on your search strategy. For example:

Why can't I find any material on my topic?
How do I use MeSH terms?
Have I put my strategy together correctly?
How can I access the full text of this elusive paper?

If your question is complex, a one-to-one appointment may be more appropriate. These can be arranged at the drop-in, or contact Hannah Wood

Brief Library closure on Tuesday 14th June.

2011-06-10T17:08:00.002+01:00

The Library will be closed for 1 hour between 4pm and 5pm on Tuesday 14th June.

This is to allow the Library & Archives Service team to attend the Director's termly meeting with staff.

Ask Archivists Day

2011-06-10T10:56:00.006+01:00

Yesterday (9 June) was Ask Archivists Day where archivists from all over the world were on hand to answer questions about their collections and the archives profession in general.

LSHTM Archives took part in answering questions about our Sir Ronald Ross and Second World War Ministry of Food information leaflets as well as general questions about our archives. As a result of the day @LSHTMarchives has gained a number of new followers and now follows archives and archivists from all over the world.

Why not follow us on Twitter @LSHTMarchives

Collection of the month

2011-06-01T09:18:00.004+01:00

This month we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Sir Ronald Ross' knighthood. Ross was awarded the Knight Commandership of the Bath (KCB) in the HRH King George V coronation honours in June 1911 for his services to preventative medicine, most notably for his discovery of the transmission of malaria parasites in man by Anopheles mosquitoes. He was invested on 6 July 1911 at St James's Palace by the King.

News of Ross' award was reported widely in local and national newspapers and medical journals in the United Kingdom, India and Africa. Ross also received over 250 letters and telegrams of congratulations from his family, friends, colleagues and Members of Parliament including the Home Secretary, William Churchill and Prime Minister, Henry Asquith.

The Ross Archive, held here at LSHTM, contains over 300 press cuttings, letters and telegrams sent to Ross on being awarded the KCB and correspondence and ephemera relating to his investiture. For further information please see the archive catalogue at: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives

Library opening hours on Monday 30th May

2011-05-26T10:48:00.002+01:00

The Library will be open on Monday 30th May from 11am until 8pm to assist LSHTM students in the run-up to the examination period. School ID will be required to enter the building, as the School will be officially closed - visitors will not be able to access the School on that day.

Wiley Open - New Series of Open Access Journals

2011-05-24T16:47:00.005+01:00

Wiley Publishing have now joined the Open Access journal route with their Wiley Open series of journals. At present they list 3 journals Brain and Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution and Microbiology Open with hopefully a lot more soon. So now we have

Springer Open

BMJ Open

Sage Open

Scientific Reports from Nature Publishing

So all the big publishers apart from Elsevier have responded to the challenge that PLoS One threw down. Like PLoS One all move the charge from the reader to the author with fees upwards of £1,500. Of course such Open Access fees should be included in any funding applications from the beginning. If you intend to publish in such a journal please contact Andrew Gray andrew.gray@lshtm.ac.uk for advice on keeping your copyright. Hopefully one day we will also see a reduction in subscription fees as a result of publishers being paid upfront

Reminder - Photo Competition 2011

2011-05-23T10:10:00.007+01:00

The closing date for the 2011 photo competition is 31 May 2011. Staff & students are are encouraged to submit photos that 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 Chariot and on the website and the photographer will receive a £25 gift voucher. All entries will be available to staff and students to view in PhotoLibrary.

Submission guidelines are available at: http://www.lshrm.ac.uk/library/archives/photolibrary/competition.html

Information regarding Internet Explorer 9 & Web of Knowledge

2011-05-20T15:13:00.002+01:00

Thomson Reuters, the suppliers of the Web of Knowledge database interface do not support Internet Explorer version 9. The Web of Knowledge does not work well with this version of the browser. If you are having problems using the databases on the Web of Knowledge (Web of Science, Biosis Previews), please check which version of the browser you are using.

The Web of Knowledge has provided the following work around:

Currently the Web of Knowledge platform does not support Internet Explorer version 9 browsers. Therefore, in order to view the results using this version of the browsers, users need to turn on the compatibility mode in the browsers or switch to a different browser that is compatible. For example: Firefox 3.5.

The users can enable the compatibility mode in the browser as follows:

Click on Tools menu
Click on Compatibility View Settings 3. Type 'isiknowledge.com' in the textbox and click on Add

The operating systems and browsers supported by Thomson Reuters are:

Windows XP or Windows Vista Operating System / Browsers

- Microsoft® Internet Explorer, v7.0 and v8.0

- Mozilla Firefox, v3.5

Macintosh® OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Operating System / Browsers

- Safari, v4.0

- Mozilla Firefox, v3.5

Open Access Publishing Workshop

2011-05-18T15:41:00.003+01:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wingedwolf/

It was good to meet people at the Open Access Publishing workshop and talk I gave, lots of questions and so little time!! However the slides are now available on slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/andrewtgray/oaworkshop

I also gave asked a few True of False questions around Open Access, which are listed below.

1. OA means that you lose your copyright
2. OA increases your citations
3. The reader of an OA article pays to read
4. If you are funded by the Wellcome Trust you can choose to make your research OA
5. ESRC Economic and Social Research Council require that you make your data OA
6. Once you leave LSHTM you can still access all the e-journals
7. You can make your article OA by putting it up on your staff page
8. Publishers own the copyright to your articles

answers at the bottom of the post.

There was also 2 scenarios for people to consider

Scenario 1:
You have received funding for your research from Wellcome Trust and decided you want to publish in a journal owned by the publisher Wiley Fox. Your article has been accepted and as required by your funder you ask for the article to be made OA. The publisher informs you that they do not have an OA option. What do you do?

Scenario 2:
You have produced some groundbreaking research and you are eager to share your findings via an article. You want to have the maximum reach and impact and believe that OA is essential. However your research has not been funded and therefore you do not have funds to pay for OA. How would you approach making your article OA?

While there are no true definitive answers, possible solutions could be...

Scenario 1:
• Contact the publisher and let them know that your funder requires that you make your research publicly available and would they consider allowing this if the funder paid for this. If not you could find out if the publisher/journal allows the deposit of your article in UKPMC, a repository or on your staff website after 6 months. To do this check Sherpa Romeo, enter in the name of journal or publisher and then look at the information. If publisher still will not allow this you need to find another journal. Look at Directory of Open Access Journals and/or Sherpa Romeo to discover which journal will allow OA. Insist on retaining your copyright, use the SPARC addendum. If you need any assistance, advice or help contact your Library or Institutional Repository.

Scenario 2:
• Make a selection of journals that you would like to publish in. Check on Sherpa Romeo and DOAJ for their position on OA and whether they need payment. If a journal is not Open Access check to see if they will allow you to deposit your own author manuscript (after peer review) into a repository or your personal website after 6 months. Ideally any embargo should not be for more than 6 months. If a journal charges a fee, contact them and explain that you do not have the funds and whether they would be happy to waive the fee. Insist on retaining your copyright, use the SPARC addendum.If you need any assistance or help contact your Library or Institutional Repository

True of False Answers:

1.False 2. True 3. False 4. False you must make your research OA 5. True 6. False 7. True if you keep your copyright/False if you give away your copyright 8. False unless you sign away your copyright!

Essential Estates work in the Library this weekend (21st-22nd May)

2011-05-16T13:47:00.002+01:00

Estates staff will be undertaking emergency lighting work in the Library Reading Room this weekend (21st/22nd May). There will inevitably be some disruption to Library users as furniture is moved and a tower erected to allow access to the lights, so users seeking quiet study space may wish to work elsewhere whilst this essential work is carried out.

EBSCO Databases on your smartphone

2011-05-13T18:56:00.002+01:00

Download the EBSCOhost app to search databases available on the EBSCO platform. The app allows you to search the databases, limit your results and email them to whatever email address you want.

More details are available at the EBSCOhost mobile page.

We currently subscribe to the following databases on the EBSCO platform:

CINAHL Plus
Africa-Wide Information
Greenfile
LISTA

Repository Software and Host

2011-05-11T19:10:00.005+01:00

I'm pleased to announce that after reviewing a number of repository softwares and vendors we have commissioned University of London Computer Centre ULCC to develop, build and host our repository using Eprints software

The next few months will see us working closely with ULCC to configure and develop a repository that best suits the School. For more information please contact Andrew Gray andrew.gray@lshtm.ac.uk

Survey on Open Access

2011-05-09T15:37:00.004+01:00

In partnership with the United Kingdom Council of Research Repositories (UK-CoRR) http://www.ukcorr.org/ and the Repositories Support Network (RSP) http://www.rsp.ac.uk/ we are c0nducting a survey on attitudes and experiences of Open Access. Even if your knowledge of Open Access is minimal or non existent! please do complete the survey since this will help us to develop information and guidance around Open Access.

The survey is open until 30th June and you can find it here

https://www.survey.lshtm.ac.uk/openaccess

If you have any problems, want to know more or give feedback please contact the Repository Manager Andrew Gray andrew.gray@lshtm.ac.uk 020 7598 8193

Get the World Bank on your iPhone or iPad

2011-05-05T13:39:00.003+01:00

The World Bank has just released a number of mobile apps for iPhone and iPad. If you frequently need access to the World Development Indicators, or just want an easy way to stay up to date with World Bank publications, they may be for you.

Details of each of the apps and how to download them onto your mobile device can be found on the World Bank Mobile Apps webpage.

This follows on from the launch of the OECD Factbook app, and an increasing number of apps and mobile sites from PubMed and the National Library of Medicine.

We are interested in finding out about other relevant apps and sites for mobile devices. If you know of any, let us know in the comments.

Interested in finding out more about LSHTM Archives?

2011-05-03T16:44:00.003+01:00

If so, why not listen to our podcast which provides an interesting introduction to the LSHTM Archives Service.

In the podcast, LSHTM archivists Victoria Cranna and Emma Golding talk to Sarah Maxwell about their roles, some of the fascinating collections held in the School's archives and how they can be accessed.

To listen go to: http://lshtm.ac.uk/news/audio

Happy Easter from the Archives

2011-04-21T09:07:00.002+01:00

This leaflet is from a series of seasonal recipe leaflets published by the Ministry of Food during the period of food rationing in Britain during and after the Second World War.

This and many more Ministry of Food publications are available to view in the LSHTM Archives as part of the newly catalogued Nutrition Collection. Please see our website for further details: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives

Completion of the Nutrition Collection cataloguing project

2011-04-15T13:02:00.010+01:00

We are pleased to announce the completion of our two year project to catalogue and preserve the papers of the School's Nutrition Collection.

The project to make this unique resource accessible was made possible through a generous grant from the Wellcome Trust's Research Resources in Medical History funding initiative. The collection is an extensive and varied resource consisting of over 4000 items relating to scientific investigations in the field of nutrition created and collected by LSHTM staff between the 1920s and 1930s. Records include reports, diaries, notebooks, research data, photographs, correspondence and nutrition educational and promotional materials. The collection is particularly rich in records relating to nutrition surveys in Africa, Asia and South America and work on malnutrition, protein requirements, Second World War diets, health promotion, obesity and the diets and health of specific groups, including children, teenagers, prisoners of war and the elderly.

Nutrition is one of the most important public health agenda items of the 21st century and the completion of this project has opened up this previously inaccessible resource to the medical research community and researchers in associated areas, including epidemiology, anthropology, geography and social, colonial and military history.

The collection can be searched on our online catalogue at: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives

Researchers are welcome to visit the archive by appointment. Details of how to contact us and access our collections can also be found on our website at the above address.

Library closures over Easter

2011-04-14T16:34:00.006+01:00

The Library will be closed from Friday 22nd April until Tuesday 26th April. The Library will be open on Wednesday 27th April and Thursday 28th April. The Library will be closed from Friday 29th April until Monday 2nd May. The Library will be open from the start of term on Tuesday 3rd May.

Wellcome Collection exhibition - Dirt

2011-04-12T13:24:00.002+01:00

The Wellcome Collection has put together a new exhibition titled 'Dirt: The filty reality of everyday life'.

The exhibition includes Robert Hooke's images of bacteria, John Snow's map of Cholera and Joseph Lister's instruments amongst the exhibits.

The exhibition is on until 31 August 2011.

The Wellcome Collection is situated on Euston Road, opposite Euston Station and is free to view. If you are interested in the history of medicine and science, you may also find their library interesting. It is also open to the general public and free to use.

Malaria resources exhibition

2011-04-11T10:48:00.003+01:00

An exhibition to mark World Malaria Day (25 April) will be on display in the Library exhibition area until the end of the month. The exhibition showcases some of the unique and fascinating items relating to malaria held in the School’s archives and rare books collections. Items on display include: the page from Sir Ronald Ross’ notebook where he made his discovery of the transmission of malaria in man by mosquitoes; extracts from rare books on malaria by Giovanni Grassi and Alphonse Laveran and photographs of malaria investigations and training courses in Palestine, Malaysia, Panama, Nigeria and Putney Heath! Please get in touch with us at archives@lshtm.ac.uk for further information.

QR Codes

2011-04-07T10:03:00.002+01:00

The Library is introducing QR Codes for our electronic resources. Look out for the laminated sheets next to print copies of books we also have in electronic format. Also look in the reference section for QR codes to links to electronic dictionaries and reference books.

QR Codes are an advanced version of a barcode which can be used by your smartphone to read web addresses, add contact details to your address book or send SMS messages.

You will need to install a QR Code reader on your smartphone before you can use the codes. Then just take a photograph of the code using the reader and your phone will interpret it as appropriate.

The QR Code above contains the Library's web address.

Find out more about QR Codes on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code.

MSc Projects

2011-04-04T10:01:00.002+01:00

MSc projects from 2010 are now available online from the Library website. Choose the course you want to view and then select any of the MSc titles.

Collection of the month

2011-04-01T11:20:00.003+01:00

This Sunday (3 April) is Mother’s Day and the Library & Archives Service has decided to mark the occasion by focusing on our collection of nutrition information leaflets aimed at mothers, children and families issued during the Second World War. Food rationing in Britain was introduced on the 8 January 1940, shortly after the start of the war, due to difficulties in the importing of food produce by ships which were frequently under attack. During the period of food rationing (1940-1954), the British government via the Ministry of Food, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Information educated the nation in what food they should be eating through a vast number of information leaflets, recipe books, posters and television and radio broadcasts. Under the system of rationing expectant mothers and children under five were provided with additional rations in an attempt to ensure they received adequate nutrients. The extras provided to pregnant women and children included milk, meat, dried egg, concentrated orange juice and vitamin A, vitamin D and cod liver oil tablets. This collection forms part of a wider collection of material relating to nutrition research carried out at the School between the 1920s and 1990s. For further information, please see the archive catalogue at: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/

Photo Competition 2011

2011-03-21T14:01:00.002Z

It is the time of year again when budding photographers have the opportunity to show off their photographic skills to the rest of the School. 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/photolibrary/competition.html

The closing date for entries is 31st May 2011.

To see previous year’s entries (such as the winning entry as shown above), 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.

Library Student Survey

2011-03-09T13:47:00.003Z

For all students at LSHTM, this is your chance to tell us what you think of our services and what other things we can provide for you. We would welcome you completing the survey and providing us with your valuable comments. The survey is available at https://www.survey.lshtm.ac.uk/library11

International Women's Day

2011-03-07T15:36:00.003Z

To help celebrate International Women’s Day on 8th March, the Library & Archives Service has created an exhibition on Women in Tropical Medicine and Public Health.

Highlights of the exhibition include a letter published in 1913 by Sir Ronald Ross, discoverer of the mosquito transmission of malaria, on the subject of women’s suffrage; letters from Mary Kingsley (left), a traveller and writer who explored western Africa throughout the 1890s; material on Dame Cicely Delphine Williams, who studied and worked at the School, as well as other organisations, on her work on maternal and child health, especially nutrition and breast feeding; material from the Nutrition collection such as food tables and menus produced by Mabel Clark and information on the first three women who studied at the School in January 1900.

The exhibition will be on display in the Manson foyer in the South Courtyard on 8th March, to complement the events run by MARCH – Centre for Maternal, Reproductive and Child Health, and then it will be on display in the Library foyer for the rest of March.

Collection of the month

2011-03-01T15:22:00.003Z

This month we are focussing on the Macfie collection. John William Scott Macfie (1879-1948) worked as a Medical Office in West Africa between 1910 and 1922. He embarked on 8 tours of West Africa, visiting Nigeria and the Gold Coast [Ghana]. While there he studied malaria, yellow fever and other diseases and illnesses carried by parasites in West Africa. On applying to the Colonial Office to become a Medical Officer, he was told that he had to study tropical medicine at either the London or Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; he chose the Liverpool School and the archives holds the notes from his lectures, including those given by Sir Ronald Ross. The collection also contains material from his 8 tours including diaries, photographs (such as the one shown of a laboratory motor van in Accra, Gold Coast in 1922), travel details, correspondence with the Colonial Office and invoices for provisions – it is very interesting to see what he ordered to eat while he was in Africa. The collection was donated to the archives in the 1980s by his nephew. For further information, please see the archive catalogue at: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/

Reception for Distance Learners

2011-02-24T10:44:00.003Z

The pre-Diploma Day reception for Distance Learners will be held in the Library once again this year. The Reception is on Friday 4th March from 4pm to 7pm, and the Library will close at 1.30pm that day to allow preparations to take place. This year the Library will be open as usual on Diploma Day itself (Saturday 5th March) from 9am.

Open Access Africa 2010 Conference

2011-02-18T14:45:00.003Z

A 2 day conference on the state of the Open Access (OA) movement in Africa was held in Nairobi in November 2010 and the slides and videos from the presentations are now freely available online http://www.biomedcentral.com/developingcountries/openaccessafrica/

Hosted by BioMed Central in partnership with ComputerAid this conference explored the wide range of issues, challenges and benefits of Open Access in Africa. Open Access is a movement that promotes and provides free online access to research to all. There were a number of speakers from African academic institutions, open access journal publishers in Africa, UNESCO, BioMed , African Journals Online, Malaria Atlas, African Journal of Food Agriculture Nutrition and Development, SunScholar and ComputerAid.

Among topics discussed were the importance of Open Access Repositories in providing access to research that was previously unavailable. How OA helps to remove the barriers of high journal subscriptions. The sharing of knowledge among African research communities and the developed world. Highlighting important resources such as African Journals Online http://www.ajol.info/ and the Malaria Atlas http://www.map.ox.ac.uk/ . How OA can challenge traditional ideas of impact and citations as true measures of research. ComputerAid http://www.computeraid.org/ role in reducing poverty through ICT. The role of OA in preventing ‘lost science’ and building inclusive knowledge societies and tips on how to get published.

Open Access proves that greater access to knowledge benefits all and the greatest fear for research is obscurity.

Repository Manager

2011-02-18T14:42:00.001Z

I’m Andrew Gray the newly appointed Repository Manager at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I am very happy to join not only the Library but the whole of LSHTM and I’m sure it will be a fruitful experience. My goal is to set up an institutional repository for the research output of the school. Repositories are online databases that collect, share and preserve the intellectual output of an organisation or institution. Repositories are closely aligned with the Open Access movement which aims to provide free, permanent web access to peer reviewed research articles to anyone who has an internet connection. This is a 2 year project and by the end I hope that our repository will be a place and a service that not only shares and preserves research but promotes the research, researchers and LSHTM to a wider audience.
I am located in the library, Monday to Wednesday, so if you have any questions or just want a chat please come and say hello. My email is andrew.gray@lshtm.ac.uk and my number is 020 7598 8193.

Love in the archives

2011-02-14T12:53:00.002Z

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we are focussing on our most romantic item in the collection – the Carpenter diary. This is a joint diary between a married couple, Geoffrey and Amy Carpenter, who lived and worked in Uganda in the 1920s researching sleeping sickness.
The diary starts in 1919 with the engagement of Geoffrey and Amy, her maiden name was Peter and this is how he refers to her throughout the diary. They got engaged in Fowey in Cornwall and revisited in 1926, where there is a photo in the diary of them by the engagement stone. Geoffrey writes ‘Where the best thing in the world happened to me ’. There are news clippings of the engagement announcement and also a poem written by Geoffrey entitled 'Peter, my rock', and then an invitation and news clippings on their wedding on 30th Dec 1919. They travelled to Africa in August 1920 to begin their new life in Uganda.
The diary gives a great insight into the life and work of a scientist and his wife living in Africa in the 1920s, this diary is available in the archives for researchers, please see the archives website for further information on access: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/

2011-02-08T09:25:00.000Z

The winner of the Alumni Photo Competition is the photo entitled 'Patiently waiting' by Dan Wiklund MD, DTM&H, taken during a medical mission to Africa.

The judges were impressed by the high standard of photos entered into the competition and would like to thank all those who participated.
To view all of the competition entries go PhotoLibrary and search under the Competition entries/Alumni Competition2010 category.

Watch this space for details of the 2011 photo competition for staff and students.

Annual Reviews mobile app launched

2011-01-24T14:06:00.003Z

Annual Reviews have launched a mobile app which enables users to pair their device with their institution's subscriptions and then access their institution's Annual Reviews journal subscriptions from their phone. The app is available for iPhone / iPod Touch and Android. Further details are available on the Annual Reviews web site at http://www.annualreviews.org/page/about/mobile.

Lancet news: Elsevier reverses their decision to withdraw from HINARI in Bangladesh

2011-01-21T14:35:00.010Z

Reproduced with permission of Neil Packenham-Walsh (HIFA2015)

"A Lancet editorial published online today reports that Elsevier has reversed their decision to withdraw from HINARI in Bangladesh. An accompanying comment by HIFA members Tracey Pérez Koehlmoos & Richard Smith calls on 'the big publishers and all other publishers to continue to provide free access to all of their journals in all of the 64 low-income countries signed up to the HINARI system'. Both are freely accessible on-line.

1. Editorial: Bad decisions for global health. Lancet.
Published online January 18, 2011 DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60066-4
http://download.thelancet.com/flatcontentassets/pdfs/S0140673611600664.pdf

2. Smith R. Big publishers cut access to journals in poor countries.
Published online January 18, 2011 DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60067-6

Richard Smith wrote an excellent article, and the full text can be
accessed at;
http://download.thelancet.com/flatcontentassets/pdfs/S0140673611600676.pdf

This is good news for Bangladesh, and indeed it is good news for all of us.

Congratulations to Tracey Koehlmoos and Richard Smith (former Editor of the BMJ), and Richard Horton (Editor of The Lancet) for their effective action to resolve this issue, and for their steadfast and continuing support for health information access in low-income countries.

Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh MB,BS, DCH, DRCOG
Coordinator, HIFA2015
Co-director, Global Healthcare Information Network
16 Woodfield Drive
Charlbury, Oxfordshire OX7 3SE, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1608 811338
Email: neil.pakenham-walsh@ghi-net.org"

LAS cotton bags now available for just £1.50.

2011-01-11T10:47:00.003Z

You can now pick up a Library & Archives Service cotton bag for just £1.50. These fairtrade accredited, ethically audited, carbon neutral bags are only available whilst stocks last. Why not ask for one at the Enquiries Desk next time you're in?

Mobile apps for Wiley-Blackwell journals launched

2011-01-07T10:03:00.003Z

Wiley-Blackwell is launching new mobile applications for some of its health science journals, accessible via iPhone, Blackberry, Android and other devices. See http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/PressRelease/pressReleaseId-88337.html?print=true for more details.

E-Journal A-Z List (TDNet) Updated

2011-01-05T18:39:00.005Z

With the start of the new year our E-Journal A-Z list (TDNet) has had a minor facelift, with the tabs on the toolbar re-labelled to help you find your way around more easily. As before, you can undertake a basic search of the LSHTM e-journal collection or choose more advanced search options, and you can set up your own customised A-Z list or email alerts via the My Profile tab. New links have also been added, and you can now jump straight to a search for open access journals via the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) or get more information about the LSHTM journal collection from the LAS web pages. To access the E-Journal A-Z directly go to our Electronic Resources page at http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/databases/. We hope you like it!

New blog

2011-01-05T14:59:00.005Z

Partnerships in Health Information (PHI) have launched a new blog

Health Information Updates to and from Africa (http://jeanshawphi.wordpress.com/)

Further information about PHI is on their website at http://www.partnershipsinhealthinformation.org.uk/

News archives from Google and Senate House Library

2011-01-04T16:41:00.002Z

Did you know Google news has an archive of Newspapers from around the world? Have a look at http://news.google.com/newspapers.

Obviously, due to restrictions imposed by the newspapers themselves, you cannot view the most recent editions. However, you may find this useful if you are interested in historical issues. Many of the newspapers have been published since the mid 19th century. Be aware that this is not a complete archive.

If you would like to search a complete archive of newspapers, I recommend you use the newspaper resources available from Senate House Library (SHL). All current staff and students of LSHTM are eligible to join SHL. If you are based in London, just visit SHL with your School ID and they will provide you with a membership card and logon to their electronic resources. If you are based overseas, please email interloans@lshtm.ac.uk for details.

Merry Christmas from the Archives!

2010-12-21T11:08:00.019Z

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

2010-12-18T14:57:00.001Z

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

Data sharing blog

2010-12-17T11:57:00.001Z

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

2010-12-14T14:53:00.002Z

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

2010-12-14T11:54:00.009Z

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

2010-12-14T10:34:00.002Z

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

2010-12-09T15:21:00.006Z

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

2010-12-03T09:41:00.003Z

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

2010-11-30T11:53:00.002Z

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

2010-11-30T07:41:00.002Z

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

2010-11-26T10:16:00.000Z

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

2010-11-16T17:03:00.002Z

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

2010-11-15T10:02:00.000Z

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

2010-11-11T09:35:00.004Z

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

2010-11-10T10:40:00.000Z

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

2010-11-10T09:54:00.000Z

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

2010-11-03T11:41:00.002Z

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

2010-10-28T15:53:00.004+01:00

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.