Collection of the month: Ross notebook

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

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

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

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

Opening hours

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

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

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

Lunchtime Library teaching in the Summer term

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

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

The classes are:

Planning & conducting a literature search

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

20 April, 17.30-18.30, 49/101

Finding full-text

26-30 April, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding evidence-based clinical information

04-07 May, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding social sciences information

10-14 May, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding information from low and medium-income countries

17-21 May, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding grey literature

24-28 May, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

Finding statistical data

01-04 June, 13.00-14.00, eLibrary

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

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

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

Hannah Wood joins us in the Library

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

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

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

Using TRIP to help identify content suitable for resource poor settings

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

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

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

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

A few additional pieces of information:

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

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

Jon welcomes comments and feedback on this project.

Access to Senate House Library

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

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