For more information about Bracken Library hours in the future, go to our Hours page.

Starting January 1st, 2008, the familiar interface we’ve all seen when accessing our favourite citation databases like Medline, Embase, Cinahl and Cochrane DSR, was updated along with the addition of a few new functions and features.

For a quick demo of the new OvidSP interface, please come to Bracken Health Sciences Library in group room 127 at the following dates and times:

• Tuesday, 8 January 2008, 12 pm to 1 pm
• Wednesday, 9 January 2008, 12 pm to 1 pm
• Thursday, 10 January 2008, 12 pm to 1 pm
• Thursday, 10 January 2008, 1 pm to 2 pm
• Friday, 11 January 2008, 12 pm to 1 pm

There will also be a hands-on session on Friday, 11 January 2008 from 1 pm to 2 pm in the Bracken eLab (room 128).

These sessions are open to all interested users including students, staff and faculty. Please ask a librarian at the Bracken reference desk if you have any questions.

Along with the evidence-based medicine (EBM) collections you have used before (ACP Journal Club, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects or DARE), Ovid is adding more EBM content to help you in patient treatment, care and safety:

• Health Technology Assessments (HTA) – Produced by the UK’s Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD), in collaboration with Sweden’s INAHTA Secretariat, HTA brings together details on ongoing studies of the medical, social, ethical and economic implications of healthcare interventions. Click here for more information on HTA.
• NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHSEED) – Also from the CRD, this database provides more than 6,000 abstracts of quality, assessed economic evaluations to assist decision-makers by systematically identifying and describing economic evaluations, appraising their quality and highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses.
• Cochrane Methodology Register (CMR) – Produced by the Cochrane group, CMR is a bibliography of more than 9,000 references to controlled trials in journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings and reports, and other publications of methodologies used in health studies. Content is constantly being expanded via an extensive hand-searching program and the development of a series of search strategies in MEDLINE and EMBASE.
• Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews (CDMR) – Also from the Cochrane group, these full-text methodology reviews have been added to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR).

(text from Ovid subscriber news)

Sometime in early 2008, the full text of JBI (Joanna Briggs Institute) evidence summaries, systematic reviews, and best practice information sheets will be available through the Proquest Nursing and Allied Health Source citation database.

For more details about this change, see Proquest’s news release on the subject. For more information about JBI, see their information page.

IBZ – International Bibliography of Periodical Literature is a new online database available at Queen’s.

Searchable from both an English and a German interface, IBZ is an international and interdisciplinary bibliography of academic periodical literature, mainly from the humanities, social sciences and arts. Coverage is from 1983 to present and is particularly strong for European journals.

We asked for posters, and Queen’s students delivered. 30 entries were received for the Cleaner, Greener Stauffer poster contest. The members of the judging committee were very impressed by the outstanding creativity and talent exhibited in each submission, ranging from visually stunning to witty and thought-provoking designs.

The shortlisting process has been challenging indeed! Each entry reflected important elements of the Cleaner & Greener Stauffer Campaign. The judging committee felt compelled to set aside several very attractive and clever designs, opting for the entries they felt would have the most impact.

Now, it’s your turn. We’d like you to tell us which poster you think will best capture the attention of and engage Stauffer library patrons in doing their part to help maintain a cleaner and greener library. Vote online (available now) or in person in Stauffer library (beginning early January 2008). The entry with the most votes as of 4:30pm on Thursday, January 31, 2008, will be declared the grand prize winner – and the designer will receive a fabulous iPod Touch!

All campus libraries close at 5 pm on Friday, December 22, and remain closed until January 2 except as follows:

As part of the launch this fall of the Campus Digital Information Network (a new initiative of Queen’s Marketing & Communications), the plasma  ‘announcements screen’ inside the Stauffer Library main entrance has a vibrant new look with dynamic and rotating content. 

As before, the screen displays announcements about upcoming events in the Queen’s Learning Commons and news items from Queen’s University Library: these items display in the screen’s left panel.  In addition, however, the screen now contains a wider range of content:

• announcements of campus-wide events 
• current weather information
• news headlines from CBC Newsworld
• the current time!

A further enhancement is the addition of a second screen, also connected to the Campus Digital Information Network, mounted in the Stauffer Loggia and displaying similar though slightly different content from the screen inside the Library proper.

We are pleased to have been able to upgrade the Stauffer Announcements Screen to a more professional level and expand the scope of the news coverage.  Your comments about this enhancement and suggestions for further improvements are welcome!

The December newsletter is now posted. News items include:

• Human Rights Day
• Articles/Websites
• Extended and Holiday Hours
• New Reference Chat Service
• Database News
• Peer-reviewed Science Journal for Undergrads
• New Books, DVDs