The Voluntary Library Gift concept was brought to GW by former University President Trachtenberg. Mr. Trachtenberg felt strongly that it is important to provide additional support to the university library system, the backbone of any top tier learning institution. While it is common for colleges and universities to have a mandatory library/technology fee, GW has continued to make this $50 gift a voluntary donation.

The Voluntary Library Gift appears on your tuition invoice. While you may opt out, you should know that these funds are used to support important student resources in Himmelfarb. Last year, thirty-two new computer workstations were installed in the Library with student gift funds. Additional comfortable seating and study tables are on order for delivery by the beginning of the fall 2008 semester. In previous years, the Library has used these funds to upgrade wireless connections and purchase updated seating for study carrels. Library staff greatly appreciate your generosity and assistance in making Himmelfarb Library an even more inviting place to study. Thank you.

Today’s edition of the Washington Post features an article entitled Fathering Autism which is about a father’s experience caring for a daughter with autism. The father in the article is GWUMC’s Dr. Peter Hotez who is the Walter G. Ross Professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and the principal scientist for the Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative.

In the article, Dr. Hotez describes his daughter and his family’s life as well as the suggestion that autism is caused by mercury or thimerosal, a mercury derivative, which used to be used as a preservative in vaccines. To learn more about this controversy, the following materials may be useful:

• Baker, J. P. (2008). Mercury, vaccines, and autism: One controversy, three histories. American Journal of Public Health, 98(2), 244-253.
• Doja, A., & Roberts, W. (2006). Immunizations and autism: A review of the literature. Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 33(4), 341-346.
• Hughes, V. (2007). Mercury rising. Nature Medicine, 13(8), 896-897.

You can explore additional information on this topic in Himmelfarb Library’s print and electronic collections.

Image: Finkenstaedt, M. (2008). Autism in a Doctor's Family. [Online image]. Retrieved July 1, 2008 from http://www.washingtonpost.com.

The majority of Americans support carefully regulated and appropriate use of animals in medical research benefiting human and animal health. Upholding its motto 'good animal care and good science go hand-in-hand', the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) launched a website Medical Research with Animals. You'll find information here on preparedness, policy & guidance, grant and funding resources, as well as training & education. If you are working with animals or plan to in the future, this site provides valuable support.

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/air/researchers_institutions.htm

Himmelfarb will be closed on Friday, July 4th, for the Independence Day holiday. We will be open our regular hours on the 3rd and 5th.

We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday!

Photo used courtesy of rjs1322.

“Is that a psychedelic light show?”

This question begins a Washington Post article about a patient’s experience with a detached retina. The patient and author of the piece, Bob Guldin, saw odd flashes of light and floaters before first seeking medical care. After seeing what appeared to be a curtain rising across his field of vision, he sought care at the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates where he was seen by Dr. Fadi Nasrallah. Diagnosed at 1 p.m., his surgery occurred at 6 p.m. and the patient was home by 10 p.m.

You can learn more about the patient’s condition and treatment from Himmelfarb Library’s online and print collections:

• Retinal Detachment in FirstConsult/MDConsult; Brief, evidence-based information including diagnosis, treatment, outcomes, and prevention.
• Gariano RF, Kim CH. Evaluation and management of suspected retinal detachment. Am Fam Physician 2004;69:1691-8
• Retina / editor-in-chief, Stephen J. Ryan. Stacks RE551 .R43 2006 V 1
  • Volume 3 Surgical Retina, Section 2 Retinal Reattachments: Surgical Principles and Technicques
  • This book is part of a three volume set of which one or all can be checked out of Himmelfarb Library.

Image from: A.D.A.M., Inc. (2008). Detached Retina. [Online image]. Retrieved June 4, 2008 from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/9931.htm.

As summer gets underway, it is a good time to submit materials for fall 2008 courses! The deadline for submitting reserves materials early is:

Monday, August 4, 2008

Submit your requests and materials by the deadline to ensure that all materials for your course(s) will be available to students at the start of classes. Materials are processed on a first come - first served basis. Our easy to use submission forms are available 24 hours a day.

• Request Reserves Materials for Blackboard – use this form for Blackboard e-reserve materials.
• Request Print or Audiovisual Reserves – use this form for print and audiovisual materials.

Remember to provide us with good quality photocopies (single sided) of journal articles or book chapters that you want to use for print or electronic reserves.

More information about placing materials on course reserve and links to the forms can be found at the Reserves Services home page. If you have questions, please contact Leah Pellegrino (Head of Cataloging & Reserves - mlblcp@gwumc.edu, 202-994-3685).

Betsy Appleton, Himmelfarb Library Serials Librarian, was chosen as the 2008 North American Serials Interest Group Horizon Award winner. The Horizon Award is annually awarded to a new information professional that demonstrates leadership potential in working with serials. To qualify for the Horizon Award, applicants submit an essay discussing the 2008 NASIG Annual Conference theme, “Taking the Sting Out of Serials.” Appleton’s winning essay will be published in the upcoming NASIG newsletter; a preview is available on the NASIG blog.

Appleton had the opportunity to attend the NASIG annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona June 5-8, and will be serving on the NASIG Public Relations/Publications Committee for 2008-2009.

Established in 1985, the North American Serials Interest Group, Inc. (NASIG) is an independent organization that promotes communication, information, and continuing education about serials and the broader issues of scholarly communication.

The last year has been a busy one for the Library. A new web page debuted that was designed to increase access to and ease-of-use for our growing collection of electronic resources. A portal for Research and Publishing was added to provide faculty and students with a gateway to topics such as scholarly publishing and funding sources. New workshops on research skills, poster preparation, and keeping current with electronic tools such as RSS feeds were presented. An information session on the new NIH Open Access Policy was held in March and links to important information on this topic added to the Library web page at http://www.gwumc.edu/library/portals/nihaccess.cfm. It has been a busy year for our faculty, staff and students as well. If you have not had a chance to explore our electronic resources or attend a workshop of interest, please give your liaison library (See the list below!) a call. Liaisons are happy to answer questions about our collections or demo a key piece of software. We especially look forward to working with faculty over the summer on placing reserves, scheduling orientations, and ordering textbooks for the fall semester. Hope to hear from you soon! Best wishes for a pleasant and productive summer!

Anne Linton, Director, Library Services
mlbaml@gwumc.edu

The Himmelfarb Library recently purchased 30+ books on various topics relating to the history of medicine and public health. The books cover a diverse array of topics both national and international.

All are available in our stacks to be checked out. Call numbers can be found in the library catalog. As always, please ask us if you need assistance in finding anything.

Here is a sampling of the books:

• Vaccine: The controversial story of medicine's greatest lifesaver. Allen, A. (2007).
• Who goes first? The story of self-experimentation in medicine. Altman, L.K. (1998).
• Forgive and remember: Managing medical failure. Bosk, C.L. (2003).
• AMA: Voice of American medicine. Burrow, J.G. (1963).
• Medical malpractice in nineteenth-century America: Origins and legacy. De Ville, K.A. (1990).
• Chinese medicine. Huard, P. & Wang, M.M. (1968).
• The formation of the American medical profession: the role of institutions, 1780-1860. Kett, J.F. (1968).
• Silent travelers: Germs, genes, and the "immigrant menace". Kraut, A. M. (1995).
• Doctor and patient. Laín Entralgo, P. (1969).
• The Morality of abortion; legal and historical perspectives. Noonan, J.T. (1970).
• Contraception: a history of its treatment by the Catholic theologians and canonists. Noonan, J.T. (1965).
• Ethics in medicine: historical perspectives and contemporary concerns. Reiser, S.J. & Dyck, A,J. (1977).
• Dying for work: Workers' safety and health in twentieth-century America. Rosner, D. & Markowitz, G. E. (1987).
• Devices & desires: gender, technology, and American nursing. Sandelowski, M. (2000).
• A short history of anatomy from the Greeks to Harvey: the evolution of anatomy. Singer, C.J. (1957).
• A short history of medicine. Singer, C.J. & Underwood, E.A. (1962).
• The social transformation of American medicine. Starr, P. (1982).
• The double helix: A personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA: Text, commentary, reviews, original papers. Watson, J.D. & Stent, G.S. (1980).

This April, we held the 2008 annual art show together with Brush Medicine, the student art group. It was our biggest art show ever and a huge success. There were fifty nine individual pieces of artwork from twenty different artists. The artwork was diverse in theme and medium and included color and black and white photography, paintings, drawings, sculpture, and jewelry. The artists included students, faculty, and staff from departments throughout the medical center.

Having had such a successful and interesting art show we wanted to share it more widely and make it available to those who were not able to see it “live.” Many of the artists granted us permission to post photos of their artwork in a virtual art show.

Click here to view a slideshow of artwork from the 2008 Himmelfarb Library Art Show. We hope you enjoy it!

And if you are an artist working or studying at GWUMC, keep us in mind for next spring. The art show is held every April in the library and we are always looking for new GWUMC artists. All are welcome!

The artwork shown is: Black Madonna (Clay Sculpture) by Roberta Lilly