2019 Issue

Art on the Brain is a unique exhibit on display at Falk Library. The centerpiece of the exhibit is six awe-inspiring works by artist and neuroscientist, Dr. Greg Dunn. The artworks are titled: Self Reflected (illuminated micro etching), Visual Cortex (custom designed), Olfactory Bulb, Synaptogenesis, Basket & Pyramidals, and Retina in Inks. Dunn visits HSLS for the opening reception and lecture titled, “Self Reflected: Deeply Fusing Art and Science to Create the World’s Most Complex Artistic Depiction of the Human Brain,” on April 3 from 2-4 p.m. in Scaife Hall. These works will remain in the library on permanent display after the exhibit.

On the library’s upper floor, Dunn’s artwork is accompanied by a creativity relaxation station. Just in time for some finals week relief, visitors are encouraged to build a brainy puzzle, use an app to create digital art, or color your own brain images. Does all of the beautiful art have you feeling inspired? Compete in our coloring contest to win a cool neuro-themed prize!

The exhibit also extends to include locally produced images from Pitt’s Center for Biologic Imaging (CBI). CBI’s mosaic posters are prominent in the main floor study area, while journal covers and smaller prints are viewable in the display cases of the main hallway of the library. Continue reading →

Search back issues of the HSLS Update for “liaison” and you will find many articles that report on liaison librarians’ activities and listing the services they provide. Liaisons either serve a health sciences school, or they concentrate on meeting an important information need such as scholarly communications or molecular biology bioinformatics that cuts across schools. The opportunity to combine librarianship with deep subject knowledge and to participate in long term collaborative projects with faculty, staff, and students makes liaison librarianship a rewarding career choice. A good liaison enjoys teaching information skills and the intellectual challenge of providing advanced information services such as systematic review searching.

At the end of April, Barbara Folb will retire, and Helena VonVille will be the liaison to the Graduate School of Public Health. Barbara was the first liaison to the school to hold an MPH in addition to a library degree. She established a strong systematic review search support service for the school, and promoted the informationist model of liaison librarianship, maintaining an office in the school, and participating in collaborative projects with the faculty as well as teaching and consultation.

Continue reading →

Are you a biomedical graduate student who needs to draw a gene regulation pathway for an upcoming poster presentation, but you don’t have the right software to use? Perhaps you’re a medical student editing a video project, and the tools in Windows Movie Maker feel a little outdated. Maybe you’re simply a student in the health sciences who likes to draw, edit photos, or create other forms of digital media, and you’re ready to elevate your technique past the free software you can find online.

To aid these creative projects and more, Falk Library now has Surface Pros available to borrow that are equipped with full versions of Adobe Creative Cloud 2018. With a touchscreen, removable keyboard, and adjustable kickstand, the Surface Pro is a fully functional Windows laptop. When combined with the Surface Pen (also available to borrow at Falk Library), the Surface Pro also converts into a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet. Its responsive touch screen, with palm rejection, makes it an ideal tablet to run powerful Adobe programs, including Illustrator and Photoshop. To see a full list of software offered on HSLS devices, including details on the Adobe Creative Cloud programs offered on the Surface Pro, visit our Available Software website.

Interested, but not familiar with Adobe Creative Cloud? HSLS offers an Introduction to Image Editing class along with more detailed Illustrator and Photoshop classes; scheduling information is available online. If you’re looking for the latest Adobe software but prefer to use a traditional laptop, a limited number of circulating PCs and Macs also have Adobe Creative Cloud installed—inquire at the Technology Help Desk.

Surface Pros, Surface Pens, and laptops are available to borrow now from the Technology Help Desk with a valid Pitt ID. For more information on available technology and borrowing procedures, please contact the Technology Help Desk.

~Julia Reese

The National Library of Medicine Training and Education Center (TEC) for the All of Us Research Program is celebrating its first year at HSLS! The TEC is the central repository for educational content and trainings related to the program. Our goal is to leverage resources, highlight expertise, and create accessible products for a variety of target audiences, including All of Us Research Program participants, All of Us consortium members, researchers, health professionals, citizen scientists, and for general consumer health. The TEC uses a Team Science framework to collaborate with NLM staff and All of Us leadership to determine priorities and best practices.

Over the past year the TEC has focused on creating a solid and sustainable infrastructure, which includes operationalizing policies, procedures, and a program logic model, creating and populating an online Training and Educational Platform, creating an Expert Partners Database, determining our participant engagement strategic plan, and launching multiple SharePoint 365 project sites for internal project management and external collaboration with project stakeholders. The TEC implemented a 4-step instructional design process (consult, prototype, build, and go live) for the consistent creation, delivery, and evaluation of all TEC deliverables. All TEC products meet federal standards to be 508-compliant with language and accessibility, with an upcoming goal for all participant engagement materials to be available in Spanish. Continue reading →

With the help of Google, we’re used to getting the search results we want right away. It’s easy to parse whether a search engine has given you what you need if you’re looking for a quick dinner recipe or Pitt’s current academic calendar. However, searching for biomedical literature isn’t as easy, and incorrect search terms, incomplete searches, or using the wrong database could lead to inadequate results. That matters a lot, especially when designing studies involving human subjects. With an ever-increasing amount of biomedical literature and so many ways to find it, how can researchers be sure they aren’t missing anything?

HSLS is here to help! We have released an updated version of the Responsible Literature Searching module for clinicians, scientists, and anyone looking to improve their biomedical literature searching skills. The module provides guidelines to follow in order to search the literature in a responsible manner, especially when working with human subjects. Continue reading →

Are you interested in virtual reality (VR) simulations? Join Dr. Bill McIvor, Professor of Anesthesiology, for HSLS-based VR “office hours.” Starting in April, Dr. McIvor will be available to mentor students and faculty interested in learning more about VR-based technology. Not just a solitary endeavor, VR simulations offer a great way for health sciences students to work interprofessionally with one another within complex real life scenarios such as the care of acutely unstable patients.

Dr. McIvor’s HSLS VR office hours:

For more information, please see the Virtual Reality at HSLS LibGuide.

~Fran Yarger