This post was written by Andrea Denton and edited by Kimberley R. Barker.

If you're new to Excel, please consider joining us in June or July for “Excel Bites”. Each online session will focus on a different feature in Microsoft Excel, from navigating your spreadsheet, to formulas, to PivotCharts.

These 20-minute demonstrations will be held via Zoom, and a handout for at-home practice will be made available. Six sessions will be offered in June and then repeated in July: you can attend any or all of the sessions, and all are designed for Excel beginners. Join us to learn about what Excel can do, and to meet other Excel users! Topics will include:

· navigation basics

· formulas

· merging and separating data

· PivotTables

·PivotCharts

· Sharing and Q & A

The sessions are free but registration is required. See the full roster and register on the Health Sciences Library’s Research and Data Services Workshops page.
Questions? Contact Andrea Denton, Research & Data Services Manager, at ash6b@virginia.edu
Hope to see you online at one or more of the sessions! 

This post was written by Kate Joshua and edited by Kimberley R. Barker.

I recently cut my own hair. I have six liters of homemade tomato sauce in my freezer. I sweep my front porch like a maniac. I’ve rearranged the furniture in my house six times, and I finished my 2020 reading challenge six weeks ago.

I think it’s safe to say that my personal life, like yours, has changed amidst this pandemic.

However, my job as a medical librarian… well, it’s pretty much the same. Did you know that your liaisons worked from home while the Library was physically closed? And now, with the Library open for limited hours and with limited staff on-site, we are still working from home! In between crushing tomatoes and reading up on why my couch shouldn’t face West, I’m still working to find the information that clinicians need to do their jobs. I’ve been working on several review article teams, keeping up with search requests, and teaching remote sessions on EBP vs. QI; how to search the literature; and basic critical appraisal.

Whether you need help with a literature search for a review manuscript, or you’re trying to determine if writing a case report is feasible, we’ve got you covered. We’re happy to help you find journals suitable for your papers, share tips/tricks for searching, help you navigate QI projects, commiserate on the annoying aspects of APA and AMA citation styles, and basically any other information need that you may have. In fact, working remotely allows us greater flexibility to meet you where you are. For instance:

Are you on a unit, but want to discuss an upcoming project? Let’s meet on Zoom.

Do you only have a few minutes to ask a question? Use the Ask Us form, and we can work on answering your question while you continue to care for patients.

Have a question about the quality of the article you’re reading? Send us an email, and we'll help you assess it.

While many things have changed for all of us, our ability and willingness to serve patrons hasn’t: we’re still here for you. Reach out!

This article was written by Elaine Attridge and edited by Kimberley R. Barker.

You’ve heard that it was coming and, as of May 18th, it’s finally here: the new PubMed! On first glance, you will notice a new, modern interface; this is intentional as it makes PubMed easier to view on all mobile devices. But what else is different? Here’s the skinny on what new PubMed has to offer:

· Your search terms are highlighted in the displayed abstracts

· A graph prominently displays how often your term has been written about over the years so that you have a sense of how far back in the literature you should search

· The most relevant articles to your search are displayed first. This is called "best match". Best Match uses a state-of-the-art machine learning algorithm that is trained on aggregated user searches.

· You can easily connect to author-supplied data associated with an article if available

· Click on "Cite" to obtain a reference in AMA, APA, NLM, or MLA formats

· The "Share" feature seamlessly posts your citation to Facebook or Twitter, or provides a permanent link to the citation so that you can email it to others

· Automatic alerts can be created using a Google or eRA Commons account in addition to NCBI.

· PubMed is using the PubMed format (formerly known as “Medline”) for tagged output to reference management systems
 

Some Things Never Change
NCBI accounts remain unchanged which is good news for those who rely on this resource to save citations. For more savvy searchers, the advanced search is still available. Advanced search allows for search term building within specific fields such as Medical Subject headings (MeSH), the title/abstract, and more.

For More Information
To learn more, check out these resources:

Quicktours: https://learn.nlm.nih.gov/documentation/training-packets/T0042010P/
PubMed Transition FAQ: https://support.nlm.nih.gov/knowledgebase/article/KA-05275/en-us

If you have specific questions, please email Elaine Attridge, Clinical Services Librarian: Elaine@virginia.edu

This article was written by Dan Wilson, and edited by Kimberley R. Barker.

In conjunction with the reopening of UVA Health clinics, the Health Sciences Library is scheduled to reopen with limited services and physical access on Monday, May 18th, 2020. The safety of Library staff and patrons is the primary focus and, with that goal in mind, a Pandemic Planning Task Force was established to guide decision-making not only for the reopening, but for the duration of the pandemic.

Composed of Library leadership, managers, and volunteers from amongst the Library staff, the Task Force is relying on both its understanding of patron needs and guidance from leadership at the Commonwealth, University, and Health System levels in its decision-making processes.

At each of those levels, a slow approach to reopening is advised; as a result, the Library’s reopening will be characterized by the conditions described in Tier Three of its pandemic planning document, including reduced hours, and limited access to space and in-person services. Consequently, for the foreseeable future the Health Sciences Library will limit its onsite service hours to 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. In addition, access to physical space will be restricted to the lobby and the 24-hours space, and all shared equipment, other than six Health Information and Technology computers, will not be available. As conditions improve, the Pandemic Planning Task Force will approve the Library’s movement to subsequent, less restrictive tiers, which will trigger the return of essential shared equipment.

During Tier Three (which begins on the 18th with this limited re-opening), several changes will be in place; for instance, visitors wishing to enter the Library will be required to do so through the Health System ID badge-locked door that leads into the 24-hours space. Setting this requirement on ingress will assist the Library in remaining in compliance with the order on reduced levels of occupancy. Another change is that, upon entering the Library, patrons will be greeted with signs listing required safety protocol, including masking and social distancing. Finally, in order to reduce contact with other patrons, unidirectional flow measures for traffic patterns will be implemented.

When the Library reopens on the 18th, only scheduled Service Desk team members will be on site. For their safety, we have implemented the following safety measures:

· the installation of Plexiglass barriers at the Service Desk aims to reduce the chance of infection during interactions between visitors and staff (who will also be masked).

· the rearrangement of furniture, the removal of shared equipment, and the application of tape to the floor to assist patrons in remaining at least six feet apart when standing in line at the Service Desk are all aimed at supporting social distancing standards.


          

 

· the implementation of a request-and-retrieval system for physical books and journals. With this system, patrons may request a specific title which will be pulled by Service Desk team members and then made available to the requester for pick-up. Returned materials will be quarantined based on Centers for Disease Control and Safety guidance.

· The assignment of office space to all team members ensures that each person has a place to safely remove their mask.

Most of the Library's services will continue to be provided virtually. Librarians and other professional team members have been working productively from home and continue to be available via Zoom or email. If you have a question or request, please use our Ask Us form.

We strongly encourage feedback from patrons as we work through this process. Please contact Dan Wilson, Associate Director for Collections & Library Services at danwilson@virginia.edu if you have any feedback, questions, or concerns.

This post was written by Karen Knight and edited by Kimberley R. Barker
 

"Our medical students and interns would be so smart to use this opportunity."
                                                                                           - Neeral Shah, MD

Did you know that you can publish in this prestigious case reports journal for free? It's true!

The Health Sciences Library pays an annual Institutional Fellowship fee to BMJ Case Reports that enables you to submit your case report to them without paying the normal per article submission price.

Your article will still go through their peer review process and there is no guarantee that it will be published - but the Library has removed the first hurdle by making the submission process free to you and easy to navigate. 

BMJ states that, “Emphasis is placed not on rare cases, but on common cases that present in unusual ways, cases that present diagnostic, ethical, or management challenges, or cases that explore lessons learned from errors.”

BMJ reports that approximately 50% of the cases submitted are accepted for publication. There have been at least 19 successful submissions by UVA authors since the Library began the Fellowship subscription!

For a full review of BMJ Case Reports, visit: https://dcdm.doody.com/2018/06/a-review-of-bmj-case-reports/

To submit a case report, please visit the “Instructions for Authors” that includes a user guide and help on how to submit cases: https://casereports.bmj.com/pages/authors/. The UVA Fellowship Code that is needed when submitting cases is 567181.

BMJ Case Reports is a great venue for us to write case reports with medical students and residents, and having the library fellowship code made it much easier and affordable.
                                       - Andrew Parsons, MD