Library News

How Has the NIH Public Access Policy Affected You?

Heather Joseph at SPARC writes, “It’s hard to believe, but April 7, 2011 will mark the 3rd Anniversary of the implementation of the policy opening up access to articles reporting on the results of NIH-funded research.” (Read more about the NIH Public Access Policy here.) SPARC is gathering stories from authors as well as readers about how having wider access to taxpayer-funded research has affected them. Joseph continues:
The policy has shown tremendous signs of success. PubMed Central now contains more than 2 million full text articles reporting on the latest NIH-funded research, and nearly a half million individuals access these articles each day. With this new wealth of information now available, we’d like to know what your experience has been with it. Specifically, we’d like to hear: 1. How have you been using the database? 2. Have you used the articles to help inform yourself about new developments in a specific area? 3. Has the availability of these articles through PubMed Central helped you advance your research in ways that would not have occurred if they were not available? 4. Have articles that you have authored appeared in PubMed Central as a result of the policy? 5. Have you been contacted by other researchers who have found your work in the database, or vice versa? 6. Have you taken any of the articles to your doctor or other health care provider? 7. Has your healthcare provider used this database as a resource? (if you don’t know, please ask her/him!) 8. Has the availability of the articles in PMC had an impact on how you (or anyone in your community) manage your health care? We’ve heard from people who have used the latest research in various ways, and the stories are extremely powerful. If you have one, please share it! It will help us to not only ensure that PubMed Central remains open as an important public resource, but also to make the case to open up additional publicly funded databases from HHS and other federal agencies as well.
If you’d like to contribute your story about PubMed Central and the NIH Public Access Policy, you can e-mail Heather Joseph directly at heather@arl.org. (Source: http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/issues/nih/nih_action/callforstories.shtml)

Deborah Davidson's Visit Makes Us "Consider Books"

Earlier this semester a couple of coworkers and I participated on the planning committee for a campus visit by artist, curator, and educator Deborah Davidson, through the NU Humanities Center’s Artists and Practitioners in Residence Program. This week I was pleased to see those plans come to fruition, as the campus and Snell Library saw a successful series of events with Ms. Davidson, who has an interest in the book as subject and object in her artwork. On Tuesday morning, the lobby of Snell Library played host to a book-making event led by Davidson, in which participants could fold a piece of paper into a book form and then decorate/fill it however they chose, with a wide variety of art supplies she provided. The event was well-attended and participants really seemed to enjoy themselves. I myself channeled my inner 10-year-old and covered a few pages with smiley stickers and paper cutout hearts. For a great account of this event, including photos, see the nice writeup from news@Northeastern. On Wednesday at noon, an audience at Snell Library was treated to a “Meet the Artist” presentation by Davidson, in which she discussed her interest in making and thinking about books, and how books as art can both reveal and conceal themes and ideas. She focused on her book, Voices, which was part of a long-term project in which she used the book form to investigate her family history and its intersection with larger historical and cultural issues. She showed photos from exhibitions of her work and answered questions from attendees about her process and directions she may take with her future artwork. By the way, she has curated an art exhibit that is currently on display at NU’s Gallery 360 — I encourage you to go check it out to see some of Davidson’s work as well as that of other artists. Snell Library was delighted to host multiple events as part of Davidson’s residency on campus, and my colleagues and I certainly enjoyed this opportunity to look at and think about books in a way quite different from what’s required by our day-to-day jobs. We look forward to future collaborations with the NU Humanities Center!

5 Ways to Maximize Your Creativity

Last week, creativity and brain expert Dr. Shelley Carson visited Snell Library. She shared these five tips for maximizing your creativity. 1. Continue to actively learn and gather information throughout your life. 2. Turn off the automatic ‘censor’ in your brain (e.g. “that won’t work because…”). 3. Carry around a notepad or recorder– breakthroughs often happen in the strangest of places, when your censors are turned down. 4. Read about and hang out with other creative people 5. Don’t be afraid of failure. Creative people fail. Dr. Carson’s book, Your Creative Brain, is available for checkout at Snell Library. Thank you, Dr. Carson, for encouraging us all to be engaged explorers of the Universe.

A Week Full of Events!

As many of you may know, this month is filled with an assortment of fun and exciting events. We are headed into the second week of March with four programs you won’t want to miss! We hope to see you at one, or all of the events this coming week! If you have any questions on these or other upcoming programs at the library please contact k.forsberg@neu.edu. Tuesday, March 15th @8:30am – Breakfast with Artist Deborah Davidson To kick off the Northeastern University Humanities Center’s Artists and Practitioners in Residence Program, featuring Deborah Davidson, we will be serving a complimentary breakfast for attendees to meet and mingle with the artist. Breakfast will be served in the Alumni Reading Room on the first floor of Snell Library. To attend please R.S.V.P. to nin.shah@neu.edu. Tuesday, March 15th @10am- Book Making Workshop with Deborah Davidson Following the breakfast, Deborah Davidson will be leading an informal book binding workshop in the lobby of Snell for those interested in seeing how a hand bound book is made. This event is open to everyone so drop in between classes or during your study break! Tuesday, March 15th @12pm- Meet the Analysts: Baseball Prospectus 2011 Join us in 90 Snell Library for a look into this year’s coming baseball season! The analysts of Baseball Prospectuss have insights into over 60 different players, their teams, and their managers. Wear or bring your favorite team’s baseball cap! Wednesday, March 16th @12pm- Considering Books: A Talk with Deborah Davidson Come by 90 Snell Library to hear Deborah Davidson talk about her interest in making and thinking about books. Her focus will be on the book Voices, a 27’ scroll, which is included in the exhibition, What is Contained: The Book As Subject and Object, now open in Gallery 360. Wednesday, March 16th @6pm- Meet the Artist: Patrick Rothfuss Fantasy fiction writer Patrick Rothfuss will visit campus for a talk and book signing of his latest publication, The Wise Man’s Fear. This program will be in 200 Richards Hall and books will be made available for purchase. We will also have copies of The Name of the Wind for purchase.

March Madness at Snell!

March Madness: Helpful Hints for a Successful Semester Spring break has come and gone and now students are gearing up for their own March Madness—that final stretch of the semester when the weeks race by and then, BAM, papers are due and final exams have arrived. Ready or not, it’s time to start getting research together for whatever projects you may have and Snell Library is here to help you find what you need. Check out the hints below to learn how Snell can help you get the wheels in motion: Ask a Librarian! Seriously—they know their stuff about digging up the research you need and not to brag, but I think our staff here at Snell is pretty exceptional. And really easy to get in touch with! You can meet them at the reference desk on the library’s second floor or you can email, text, and chat with librarians online. Group projects. Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re a fact of life for many students. The first floor (especially the Cyber Café) is a great place to meet up and divvy up assignments. You can also book a group study room right on the library website. Finding Books and Articles. Sometimes that obscure book about realist perspective on the development of the dessert banana just isn’t available here on campus. Fortunately, interlibrary loan can help you get the things you need. You can also apply for a Boston Library Consortium card if you want to go raid BU’s bookshelves yourself. But remember, the card takes up to a day to process and it can take a little time for an article to be scanned and uploaded for you from another library. Start thinking about the research you need now so you can bang out that paper come April. Collecting citations. Creating a bibliography has never been easier. Northeastern provides a subscription to EndNote (ideal for grad students) and Refworks.com (perfect for undergraduates and researchers looking to share sources). Check out this post by Amanda to get started. Wireless Printing. You’ve burned the midnight oil, your paper is done, and you’re ready to print. Thanks to new software that you can download from myneu.com, you can send documents straight to the library’s printers from your own laptop. This can be especially helpful when you’re printing out a paper five minutes before it’s due. Not that any of us students do that… Phew! Well, I hope this list helps you out. Take it easy on those late night cups of coffee and stay tuned to Snippets for more hints on how to take advantage of everything our libraries have to offer. Good luck with the rest of your spring semester!