Teaching in the Library 09 March, 17.00 - 18.00

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

Diploma Day

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

We are sorry for any disruption to your study.

Photo Competition 2010

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

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

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

The closing date for entries is 31st May 2010.

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

Collection of the Month: Carpenter Diary

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

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

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

Article in Wired magazine about Google's search algorithm

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

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

Library & Archives Service Staff Survey

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

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

Library & Archives Service Student Survey

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

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