Our newly renovated West Wing library space is slated to open on May 1! Here are the highlights of what you can look forward to:
A new entrance on Lothrop Street. We are more conveniently accessible to the health sciences community because the library’s new main entrance is located right inside the West Wing’s entrance on Lothrop Street.
While you’re hitting the books in our new study areas you can also enjoy some grab-and-go snacks to help fuel your long hours of studying. The light refreshments will be available in the afternoons during finals week, April 24-28.
The end of April will mark four months—and ten application due dates—since the NIH’s Data Management and Sharing Policy (2023) went into effect. Judging by the application drafts that HSLS librarians have read, Pitt health sciences researchers are rising to the challenge and writing data management and sharing plans that demonstrate careful thought about how their research data will be organized, shared, and preserved.
Continue reading
LibKey Nomad is a browser extension that enables easy, one-click access to HSLS electronic resources. This is beneficial for Pitt users who prefer to conduct searches on the web, rather than at the HSLS webpage. With LibKey Nomad, you are able to quickly download PDFs from many publisher websites, PubMed, Web of Science, and more. Those familiar with the Reload via HSLS bookmarklet will be pleased by LibKey Nomad’s success at finding articles.
Continue reading
Join us on Wednesday, April 19, from 1 to 3 p.m., for an online workshop, Command Line for Biologists*.
This workshop is based on the Software Carpentry Lesson on the Unix Shell. The Unix shell is a powerful tool that allows users to perform simple tasks, including managing data. In recent years, basic programming skills such as Unix shell have become vital for biomedical research. Learning how to use the shell is still relevant, as the instructor notes explain:
The HSLS Staff News section includes recent HSLS presentations, publications, staff changes, staff promotions, degrees earned, and more.
Farewell to Arlie Chipps, Library Specialist, who is leaving the HSLS Technology Help Desk team to become the CAUSE Program Coordinator at Carnegie Mellon University.
Ansuman Chattopadhyay, Program Director for Molecular Biology Information Services, coauthored the article:
Kharel P, Singhal NK, Mahendran T, West N, Croos B, Rana J, Smith L, Freeman E, Chattopadhyay A, McDonough J, Basu S. NAT8L mRNA oxidation is linked to neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis. Cell Chem Biol. 2023 Feb 24:S2451-9456(23)00056-9. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2023.02.007. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36882060.
HSLS librarians have worked with health sciences faculty and students on dozens of systematic reviews over the years and, in acknowledgement of their scholarly contributions, have typically been included as co-authors on final manuscripts. Unfortunately, that has not always been the case for our librarian colleagues at other colleges, universities, and academic medical centers. For that reason, the Medical Library Association (MLA) and the Canadian Health Libraries Association/Association des bibliotheques de la sante du Canada (CHLA/ABSC) have issued a statement asking journal editors, publishers, and guideline associations to ensure that librarians and other information professionals assisting with systematic reviews receive appropriate credit for their contributions. MLA and CHLA/ABSC encourage these groups to clarify their authorship criteria to make explicit reference to the contributions of librarians and to promote adherence to the criteria by formally endorsing the MLA/CHLA/ABSC statement. If you are a journal editor or member of a guideline association, we encourage you to read the full statement and to partner with MLA/CHLA/ABSC by becoming a formal co-signing organization.
Can you tell which of these images are real people and which of them are AI-generated faces? Find the answer at the end of this article!
Deceptive visualizations are not only produced by bad actors hoping to confuse or mislead people. They can also be found in scientific publications, official health department communications, and news reports from generally trustworthy sources. These images are not always designed with malicious intent, but it can be extremely difficult to determine whether they are inaccurate. Of concern, evidence suggests that visual misinformation may be particularly persuasive and can impact viewers’ emotions, attitudes, and behaviors.
HSLS is offering a new online class, When Seeing Isn’t Believing: Identifying Visual Health Misinformation, on Tuesday, March 28, at 3 p.m. This one-hour interactive class will introduce attendees to visual health misinformation as a particular problem for the scientific community and explore the breadth and potential impact of the issue. Continue reading
Partek Flow is a robust software application for analyzing high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. Developed by Partek Incorporated, it is aimed at providing researchers with a comprehensive suite of NGS data analysis tools, including modules for bulk and single-cell RNA-seq analysis, ChIP-seq analysis, and more.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that the NIH Plan to Enhance Public Access to the Results of NIH-Supported Research (NIH’s Public Access Plan) is now available for public review and comment. NIH prepared this plan to accelerate access to the results of NIH-funded research and address the guidance issued last August by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on equitable public access to federally funded research results.
The authors of the historical and practical treatise on inoculation, Traité historique et pratique de l’inoculation (Paris 1799), were both champions of prophylaxis experimentation with preventive treatments for smallpox. Both were French physicians and military surgeons. Francois Dezoteux (1724-1803) participated in the War of the Austrian Succession. He established a school of military surgery in Paris, served as inspector of military hospitals, and studied the success of the Suttonian method of inoculation in England. Louis Valentin (1758-1829) served as military surgeon on Saint-Domingue (in present-day Haiti), but in 1793 he had to flee to the United States, where he was in charge of treating French sailors in hospitals in Virginia. While there, he gained experience in inoculation against smallpox.
During ongoing library construction, access to books on the shelves has evolved as space considerations change. Starting in February, books in the General Collection and Medical Humanities Collection are unavailable for browsing when visiting Falk Library.
If you need a book at Falk Library, you can:
The Leisure Reading Collection books, including newly published fiction and non-fiction titles, continue to be available on the library’s main floor.
The HSLS Staff News section includes recent HSLS presentations, publications, staff changes, staff promotions, degrees earned, and more.
Anthony Harris, MSIS, has been promoted to Instructional Technology Manager for the NNLM All of Us Program Center (NAPC). In this role, he acts as a super-user to maintain and enhance the All of Us Training and Education Platform (TEP); leads the investigation, pilot testing, and evaluation of new educational technologies to enhance learning and engagement; and works closely with the NAPC evaluation team to support data visualization for learning outcomes and other key metrics.
February 13-17, 2023, is Love Data Week (LDW), an international event designed to raise awareness about research data management, sharing, preservation, and—most importantly—how we at the libraries can help you! To celebrate, a variety of workshops, presentations, and drop-in help sessions have been planned throughout February.
To tie in with the Pitt 2023 Year of Emotional Well-Being, many of the LDW presentations emphasize healthy learning and professional development. These sessions will help you learn to avoid getting hung up on producing the perfect code or plot, instead focusing on starting where you are and working with the tools available to you.