Expert Research Tip: Organize

Since it's Thursday afternoon (between 3 and 5 p.m.), I am sitting in Wallace 342-A, waiting to see if any HNFE folks will drop by to research, seek library help, or just talk!  While I'm waiting (and since it's pretty quiet in here), I'll send out one of my fabulous research tips to you all!  So, my expert research tip for today is:

Whenever you're involved in a research project, always keep a running list of the terms/phrases you've searched for, where you've searched for them, and what results you got.  In other words:  organize your work.

While this may seem kind of middle school-ish, and like it would take a lot of extra time, I can tell you from personal experience that it will actually SAVE you quite a bit of time.  When I was the Food & Nutrition librarian at LSU, I also taught a 1-credit research methods course.  In this course, I had my students work on a research project all semester, writing weekly journal entries about their project.  At the end of the course, they had to turn in a spreadsheet that gave me all the information about their research:  terms used, places searched, and results from the searches.  Before I taught this class, I never actually did this myself; however, I thought that I should have some experience doing what I expected my students to do.  I'm so glad I gave it a try, because it's been a research technique that I've used ever since.

I don't use Excel, or anything fancy at all; I simply use a Word document where I list out all my keywords and phrases, and then the synonyms/subject headings that I find.  This system has afforded me the following benefits:

1.  I never repeat searches that were unfruitful, simply because I forgot

2.  I am constantly adding to my vocabulary bank for my research, which will only ensure that the literature I find is in-depth and versatile

3.  It can help me in the future, when I decide to build on research that I may have completed some time ago

4.  When it comes time to write an abstract or summary, I can easily do this, since I have a record of my summarized thoughts

5.  It just makes me feel more organized, and more confident.  I feel less harried, and more on track in my research when I have concrete evidence of what I'm accomplishing.

  

There are, of course, bibliographic managers and database tools that allow you to do this, to some extent.  However, you can organize your research with a simple word processor and a little time, up front.  Give it a try!  

Oh, and come see me during librarian office hours before the semester ends!   

EnMeSHed in HNFE!

Okay, so that title is a bit silly.  Hopefully, though, you could tell that it dealt, on some level, with Medical Subject Headings!  The 2011 MeSH are (is?) now availabe via the NLM website.  Why does this matter?  MeSH change every year--there are new descriptors, changed descriptors, and deleted descriptors.  The National Library of Medicine endeavors to use accessible and appropriate language in its controlled vocabulary, which means that it must always be changing in order to reflect that.  

A full history of MeSH can be found here, but all you basically need to know about are the changes, which again, are available on the NLM website linked above.  

Happy 50th, HNFE!

As HNFE begins to celebrate its 50th year, I began to think about what the curriculum was like in 1960-61.  What would my job, as the HNFE librarian, have been like back then?  What sorts of resources would I be helping you all find?  If I were really interested, I could certainly dig through University Archives to find old course catalogs and similar materials.  However, I think it may be more interesting to imagine what it would have been like...


First of all, there would be no EndNote, no PubMed, and no Web of Science.  Medline, in fact, wasn't in existence in 1960.  The first "medical index" was developed in 1874, and the first iteration of the Index Medicus was published in 1879 (Coletti & Bleich).  In 1927, the Index Medicus merged with the AMA's medical bibliography, and truly standardized subject headings (think early MeSH) arrived in 1951.  Interestingly, Medical Subject Headings, as we know them today (conceptually) is also celebrating a 50th anniversary this year!  In 1971, the National Library of Medicine introduced MEDLINE, which originally required extensive training to use.  


If you, as a student or faculty member in HNFE, were coming to see me in 1960, we would be digging through the physical Index Medicus, which filled a 3-volume set annually, and we would probably be figuring out how to use MeSH as a new organizing principle for all of this information.  University Libraries does still own early volumes of this index, available through Addison (view the record here).  You can even order the 1960 volumes--currently, they're in storage, but we do have 1960-2000.  


In 1960, research collaboration would also have been completely different. There was no Zotero, Mendeley, or Google Docs that allowed for easy sharing of documents and data.  Open access journals and Google Scholar were also just dreams at this point.  

Finally, I like to think that, in 1960, we would have been using some of the fabulous items from the University Libraries' Culinary History Collection.  The resources in this collection span three centuries of historical information about domestic sciences, eating behaviors, food choices and habits, and scientific and technological progress related to food and nutrition.  Many cookbooks in the collection are digitized, which makes for some really fun reading.  Check out a full list of related items here.  This collection also has quite a few images from the VPI College of Home Economics, such as pictures from the Metabolism Study Collection (1956-60).  The picture below is one of these items, and features a dining room and participants in this study.  

From the items that found through the University Libraries holdings, I get a very clear image of what my job, and yours, would have been like in 1960.  Although I'm definitely glad I'm living and working in 2010, it's still very interesting to look back at these resources and imagine...


References


Coletti MH, Bleich HL. Medical Subject Headings Used to Search the Biomedical Literature. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2001;8(4):317-323.

No HNFE Librarian office hours this week (TODAY)

I am, once again, at a conference this week and will be unable to hold my normal Thursday (3-5 p.m.) office hours in Wallace 342-A.  As always, if you would like to schedule a consultation with me, I'd be more than happy to meet with you at Newman, or wherever would suit you best!

Mobile Research

A Pew Internet study published late last week (October 14)--Americans and their Gadgets--reported that "the digital world has expanded far beyond the desktop" and that consumers are now choosing devices that allow them to connect "anytime, anywhere."  While these findings are hardly surprising, they did inspire me to check some of our major databases to see which ones offered mobile interfaces for research on the go!  Generally, mobile sites are streamlined versions of their robust sites; most of the time, researchers use mobile databases to quickly search for a resource and then save it to read later, perhaps on a larger screen.  If you have questions about doing research on your mobile device, just ask!  Otherwise, check out the following databases (both free and VT-subscription) that you have access to via your mobile device:

• Addison (VT University Libraries catalog):  m.addison.vt.edu
• University Libraries website:  m.lib.vt.edu
• PubMed:  http://pubmedhh.nlm.nih.gov/
• MedlinePlus:  http://m.medlineplus.gov/
• IEEE Xplore:  http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/mobile/
• EBSCOhost*:  https://login.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu:2443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=mobsmart&defaultdb=eh

More databases and publishers are developing mobile sites each year, so stay tuned for future updates relating to mobile research!

*Note that for subscription databases, like EBSCOhost, you'll still need to log in via Off Campus Sign In in order to access database content.  

New books from September 2010--with reviews!

It's that time again...we just released our new book list for September!  Below are a few highlights from the list...notice that an HNFE dissertation was added to Addison in September.  Be sure to check that out in our Electronic Dissertations & Theses digital library (linked below).

As always, any reviews posted below are through University Libraries subscription databases, so if you're off campus, you may need to sign in (via Off Campus Sign In) to read the reviews.  Enjoy!

The Astronaut's Cookbook:  tales, recipes, and more! 

*This is an e-book!

Read a review:
No bananas on my space flight  (A review from New Scientist)

The Agrarian Vision:  Sustainability and Environmental Ethics

Read a few editorial reviews:  from Amazon

Tasting Success:  Your Guide to Becoming a Professional Chef

Read editorial reviews:  from Amazon

Athletic Footwear and Orthoses in Sports Medicine*

*e-book!

Read editorial reviews: from Amazon

Dietary Fibre:  New Frontiers for Food & Health

HNFE Dissertation:  Childhood Obesity and the Home Environment
by Courtney A. Robert

Updates to NCM

I’m delighted to share with you the 2010 ADA Nutrition Care Manual® update summary! Beginning October 4, there will be several new sections and updates to your NCM subscriptions. Many of the new sections and additions to the NCM come from feedback received from subscribers. 

Please find the 2010 update summary here: 
http://nutritioncaremanual.org/vault/NCM%202010%20Updates_Brief.pdf

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me--hnfelibrarian (at) vt (dot) edu. For product feedback, please email editor@nutritioncaremanual.org

Access the Nutrition Care Manual through Addison:  http://addison.vt.edu/record=b2300517~S1

"Top Ten" Food Books

I'm working on a post that will showcase Newman's new September 2010 books, but until I get that finished, here's another list of books for you to enjoy:  Booklist Online's Top Ten Food Books (list by Donna Seaman).  You can view the entire list here, but here's the list, with Addison records linked when appropriate:


1.  52 Loaves:  One man's relentless pursuit of truth, meaning, and the perfect crust

2.  American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields

3.  Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy, and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment

4.  Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do about It

5.  The Food Matters Cookbook: 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living
6.  Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food

7.  Now Eat This: 150 of America’s Favorite Comfort Foods, All under 350 Calories

8.  The Perfect Finish: Special Desserts for Every Occasion

9.  The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food

10.Twain’s Feast: Searching for America’s Lost Foods in the Footsteps of Samuel Clemens

ACC Interdisciplinary Forum & University Libraries

Earlier this week, I presented during the ACC Interdisciplinary Forum for Discovery in Life Sciences.  I know that several of you HNFE folks are presenting today, and I was really hoping to be able to attend your sessions! Because the schedule got moved around a bit, and there was some confusion over who was presenting when, I wanted to post the presentation that I gave on Tuesday.

Entitled "Discovery of Technology:  Tools for Research Management and Interdisciplinary Collaboration," the presentation really could have been called "From the Library to the Lab..."  After listening to many of the presentations from Monday and Tuesday, I thought a lot about how important it is for you all to be able to quickly and efficiently consume and disseminate relevant literature.  The tools mentioned in this presentation should help with that.  In case you don't make it to the very end of the presentation, I'll go ahead and let you know what I think the most important tool for you may be:  the librarian!

 Enjoy the presentation (below) and let me know if you have any questions, or would like to know anything more about the tools mentioned below. A big thanks to Allison Scripa for assisting in developing the presentation. Update: it looks like SlideShare interpreted a few of the images/slides strangely...let us know if you have any questions or trouble interpreting the information!

Acc discovery of_technology

View more presentations from Rebecca Miller.

Webinar on the NEW Medline Plus

In case you're interested:  

Wednesday, October 27 (3-4 pm)
The New Medline Plus: An In-Depth Look (Infopeople)

Join Kelli Ham, the Consumer Health Coordinator for the National Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Southwest Region (NN/LM PSR), to learn more about all of the resources available on Medline Plus.

To register for this event, go to: http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/list

Expert Research Tip: PDFs & EndNote

It feels like I've been focusing a lot on EndNote lately, but that's because 1) a new version (with some of the expected bugs) was just released and 2) it's still the beginning of the semester, which means that a larger than usual number of people are experimenting with it.  There are a lot of "insider" tips that can help you use EndNote efficiently, and one of those is:

Import PDFs, or entire folders of PDFs, into EndNote to automatically generate entire references.


Now, like all other EndNote functions, the "import PDF/PDF folders" option doesn't work right 100% of the time.  Nevertheless, utilizing this EndNote X4 feature can save you a lot of time, energy, and frustration.  Basically, if you already have a PDF or a folder of PDFs that you would like to add to your EndNote library, you should be able to generate an entire reference, with the PDF attached, by following these steps:

1) Open the EndNote library you'd like to add to
2) Go to the Import option (located in the File menu)
3) Select  the correct option (File or Folder)
4) Make sure the Import Option box has the "PDF" option as the drop-down selection
5) Navigate to the file or folder you'd like to import using the "Choose" option
6) Select the file or folder you'd like to import, then click "Import"
7) Voila!  The file/folder you've selected should now be in your selected EndNote library.

There are a few things that are helpful to keep in mind about using this method.  EndNote uses crossref.org to pull metadata (basic information about a document, in this case, the DOI or "digital object identifier") from the PDF to fill out the reference information.  This means that the PDF must be created by the publisher AND be entered into the crossref.org database.  If not, then the PDF will still be added to your EndNote library, but without any of the related information (i.e., without the author, title, journal title, dates).

There are a few good tutorials that discuss using this method of importing references.  First of all, EndNote released a "What's New in EndNote X4" tutorial that is very helpful.  Go to minute 1:06 of this video for detailed instructions about importing a PDF (or folder of PDFs) into EndNote:



Next, I would recommend checking out this text (and image) based guide from Northwestern University Libraries:  http://libguides.northwestern.edu/content.php?pid=26823&sid=1137823.

And, you can always search the EndNote help files (the "Help" menu at the top toolbar when you open EndNote) for information about this option.  Simply go to "Help" and then select "Search for help on..." and then type in "Import PDF folder."

Questions?  As always, just ask me!