Happening at Falk Library in September

Visitors to Falk Library, located in Alan Magee Scaife Hall, are encouraged to check out these opportunities and displays:

Creative Corner

New this semester! Busy with classes, presentations, reading, and studying? Visit the Creative Corner, located next to the Leisure Reading Collection, and take a few minutes to unwind, de-stress, and explore your creative self. We offer a rotating selection of coloring supplies, puzzles, fidgets, and games to use in the study spaces throughout the library. Supplies are limited and are available during all regular library hours.

Make Your Own Trail Mix

Wednesday, September 17, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Take a custom-made snack with you. At this new monthly event, select from a variety of raisins, cranberries, pretzels, peanuts, and other small snack foods. This is offered as both a lunchtime and an evening session – pick which time works best for you. Pack your own tight-seal bag with your favorite goodies and enjoy throughout the day! Continue reading →

HSLS Staff News

The HSLS Staff News section includes recent HSLS presentations, publications, staff changes, staff promotions, degrees earned, and more.

News

HSLS welcomes Cassie Nespor, MLIS, who serves as the History of Medicine and Special Collections Coordinator. Cassie brings her extensive experience as a library and museum professional, most recently as Curator at Youngstown State University’s University Archives and Melnick Medical Museum, to support strategic initiatives and develop innovative programs to engage new audiences with HSLS’s historical collections.

Farewell to Brian Krummel, who has accepted the position of Webmaster for the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Office of Strategic Communications. Brian joined HSLS in May 2016 as the Web Developer for the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) Web Services Office (NWSO) and served as the Web Services Manager for the NNLM All of Us Program since 2021. Continue reading →

Citation Manager Updates

Sciwheel Is Now Lean Library Workspace

Sciwheel has been rebranded as Lean Library Workspace (LLW). If you are a current Sciwheel user, the largest differences you may notice are the color scheme and branding. The domain is now workspace.leanlibrary.com, but redirects are in place so that none of your existing links or bookmarks will break.

If you currently use the Sciwheel browser extension, you will need to download the Lean Library browser extension before August 31st. However, please note that a browser extension for Firefox is not currently available. LLW recommends that Firefox users continue to use the Sciwheel extension until the end of August.

Continue reading →

Happening at Falk Library in August

Visitors to Falk Library, located in Alan Magee Scaife Hall, are encouraged to check out these opportunities and displays:

Welcome Back Snacks

Monday, August 25, through Friday, August 29

We’re kicking off the new school year with free snacks in Falk Library! Snacks will be available on the main floor of the library from Monday, August 25, through Friday, August 29, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., while supplies last.

Therapy Dog Visit

Thursday, August 28, 1-2 p.m.

Golden retriever Blue will be back for the first week of the fall semester and will eagerly welcome your visit! Stop by the library entrance near the Main Desk to say hello and get some much-needed doggie cuddles.

Continue reading →

Zotero Connector Proxy Issues

If you have been having issues with PubMed, such as being unable to log into My NCBI through your Pitt account or to email articles to yourself or others, and you have the Zotero Connector plugin installed in your browser, then we may have the solution to your problem!

The Zotero Connector allows Zotero users to save references to Zotero directly from a web browser. Additionally, it can detect when you access a website through a proxy. (A proxy is how you can access Pitt library resources when you are not on Pitt’s network, and Pitt’s proxy is pitt.idm.oclc.org.) When you have the Zotero Connector installed in your browser, Zotero will prompt you to automatically redirect future requests to certain websites (such as nature.com, pictured below) through that proxy. However, you should not allow Zotero to do this, as it can cause problems on some websites, including PubMed. Continue reading →

Treasures from the Rare Book Room: Willis and His Seminal Works

An antique book is open on a table. The page on the left shows an engraved portrait of the author. The page on the right depicts a scene from antiquity.
Falk Library’s copy of “Opera Omnia,” open to a page depicting a portrait of Thomas Willis.

Thomas Willis (1621-1675) was a successful English physician, professor of natural sciences at Oxford, and a founding member of the Royal Society. He was an example of a physician who, instead of embracing classical authority, chose to study things based on direct observations. He was also the first to argue that research into the anatomy of the brain was the necessary foundation to speculations about the mind. Falk Library owns his work “Opera Omnia,” published in 1682 in Amsterdam by Henricus Wetstein. Continue reading →

HSLS Staff News

The HSLS Staff News section includes recent HSLS presentations, publications, staff changes, staff promotions, degrees earned, and more.

Publication

Stephen Gabrielson, Scholarly Communication Librarian, and Melissa Ratajeski, Assistant Director for Data and Publishing Services, coauthored the book chapter:

Gabrielson, Stephen W. and Ratajeski, Melissa A. (2025) No Substitutions: Preparing for Open Science Training by Sharing Your Own Research Protocol. In: The Open Science Cookbook. ACRL. ISBN 979-8-89255-296-7

 

Understanding E-book Licenses

Whether you are an instructor working to create reading assignments or a student digging into a research subject, it’s important to know how many e-book licenses are available. At Pitt and other university libraries, electronic versions of books are often purchased with a set number of user licenses.

In both the HSLS E-Books by Subject page and PittCat, you will notice that our links use the term “concurrent users.” This refers to the number of users that may view and read the book at the same time.

Continue reading →

Your Feedback Matters

As we wrap up the fiscal year and take time to reflect, we’d like to hear from you! Has the Health Sciences Library made a difference in your research, teaching, learning, or well-being? Your feedback helps us understand what’s working and where we can do better.

Let us know how we have supported you and how we can improve to better meet your research and academic goals by completing this brief feedback form. The form will be open through Thursday, July 31.

Helena VonVille Retires as Public Health Liaison Librarian

A white woman with short gray hair, wearing a dark sweater, standing in front of a brick wall.Helena VonVille, who served as a Reference and Instruction Librarian and liaison to the School of Public Health since 2019, has retired from the University of Pittsburgh. Helena brought a wealth of experience and some practical tools to HSLS, including an Excel workbook series for study selection in systematic reviews and a website focusing on health/determinants of health data. She also played a role in the structural changes to the HSLS systematic review (SR) program, resulting in an exemplary and unique SR program. Since coming to HSLS, she has had 11 reviews published and two more are in the manuscript stage.

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Learn @ HSLS: Find and Get the Research Funding You Need

Join us for this class:
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, noon-1:30 p.m., Online
Taught by Rachel Suppok
Register for Find and Get the Research Funding You Need*

Does finding funding feel like finding a needle in a haystack? While this class can’t write your grant proposals for you, it can show you where to look for funding opportunities, using the Pivot database and other resources. This class will also introduce you to reporting guidelines that can help guide the preparation of grants.

Upon completing this class, you should be able to:

  • Search the Pivot database for relevant funding opportunities.
  • Employ reporting guidelines and guideline extensions to guide the preparation of grants.
  • Identify contacts for grant proposal assistance.

Continue reading →

Create Persistent Links for HSLS Resources

Learn the most effective way to include links to resources in your syllabus, presentation, Canvas site, or other course content. This article will also cover forming and sharing durable library URLs, ensuring that students can access materials on campus or at home.

Durable URLs

A “durable” URL, sometimes referred to as a permalink or permanent URL, is a direct, stable link to a specific resource or document. Using a durable URL ensures proper access.

Continue reading →