TML News and Notes: March 2012

The 2012 VCU Technology Fair, co-sponsored by VCU Technology Services and the VCU Libraries, brings the latest in technology developments for the classroom, office and research to VCU on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 3 and 4.

Thinking about purchasing an iPad, tablet, laptop or desktop printer? Want to learn more about VCU wireless, video conferencing or the Google Apps for Education? Investigate through hands-on experiences and demonstrations of new products. Workshops by Apple, Atomic Learning, BlackBoard, Dell and Instructure will be offered.

Attendees get chances at winning a Dell laptop, an iPad, a Kindle or an Chrome Book.

Where and When
University Student Commons, Richmond Salons
Monroe Park Campus
Tuesday, April 3
9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. with light refreshments, faculty and staff only
10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. with snack luncheon, students, faculty and staff

Tompkins-McCaw Library
Medical College of Virginia Campus
901 North 12th St.
Wednesday, April 4
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with snack luncheon, faculty, staff and students

For additional information
Hope Adams at the Monroe Park Campus or Shannon Jones on the MCV Campus.

VCU Libraries now offers bicycles for patrons to borrow for 24 hours. The bike loan program is a joint project of VCU RamBikes and VCU Goes Green.

The project is designed to make getting across campus easier and faster for students who have occasional need of two-wheel transportation.

The bicycles are Sun Atlas coasters with foot breaks and without gears.

There are four bikes available at James Branch Cabell Library and another four bikes available at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences.

• Bikes must be returned to the location where they were borrowed.
• Bikes are loaned for 24 hours; patrons can renew them for an additional 24 hours using My Library Record or by calling the service desk at either library (Cabell Library 828-1111; Tompkins-McCaw Library 828-0636).
  
• Overdue fines of $25 per day or portion of a day are assessed on bikes not returned by the date and time due.
• Helmets are loaned with the bikes, and are available in small/medium and large/extra large; both are adjustable.
  
• The seat height is also adjustable, and an Allen wrench (also known as a hex key) is available for patrons to use.
• Bikes are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
  
• Patrons are required to sign a waiver of liability statement before they can check out the key to the lock securing a particular bike to the rack in front of the library building.

Wednesday, March 28

Tuesday, March 20

So you're writing a paper/grant/very important document and you need to know how to cite a particular reference.  If you're using a citation management tool like RefWorks, you can use the Preview Output Style to help you format a number of reference styles.  Book sections, conference proceedings, journal articles, and items that aren't easily categorized are all covered.

Wednesday, March 14

PubMed Health, a new resource from the National Library of Medicine, specializes in reviews of clinical effectiveness research, with easy-to-read summaries for consumers as well as full technical reports.

PubMed Health pulls together information from many agencies: summaries from The Cochrane Collaboration and the National Health Service (NHS) National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Programme, and full text reviews from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), England's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines program, and the Department of Veterans Affairs' Evidence-based Synthesis Program.

PubMed Health includes consumer, executive/policymaker, and clinical summaries of systematic reviews as well as the full-text of systematic reviews.  There is also a medical encyclopedia that presents medical and drug information for consumers.  The results page (below) allows you to choose the type of summary you want (1), view your topic in the Medical Encyclopedia (2), and find other systematic reviews with a PubMed Clinical Queries search (3).

Behind Headlines comes from the NHS and covers the research behind recent health news.  For instance, there was a headline that ice cream is 'addictive like drugs' recently and there is an analysis of the actual study showing that did not really state that.

So, next time you are searching for evidence for a healthcare decision, be sure to include PubMed Health, along with you other favorite Evidence Based resources.

The Community Health Education Center is hosting an Open House to celebrate 10 years of providing current and reliable health information in a welcoming and comfortable setting.  Come by CHEC between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm on April 17, 2012 to see what we have to offer and celebrate with us!  During this time, we will have giveaways, prizes, and refreshments available.  We hope you will visit during our Open House celebration and throughout our 10th year!
For more information please contact Sarah or Dana at 828-2432, or email seamick@vcu.edu.
The Community Health Education Center is a partnership of the VCU Health System, the MCVH Auxiliary, and the VCU Libraries.  CHEC is located in the VCU Medical Center Gateway Building, Ground Floor, 1200 East Marshall Street, Richmond, VA 23298.

Tuesday, March 6