Practising with a Stats Question

Sent by Laine, after her session at the Gerstein Librarians Meeting on March 23:

"When I got back to the office yesterday after the Gerstein event, there was a perfect question waiting for me:

The user wanted annual smoking rates for Ontario, from about 2000 to the latest. We checked CANSIM, but each time series from the Canadian community health survey seemed to consist of only one year per series, and it would have required 'gluing' together a series of numbers from disparate CANSIM tables.

So we went to the Canadian tobacco use monitoring survey. Selecting (in
SDA) each annual person file, and doing a cross-tabulation of the smoking status question (Q10 or Q010 in most years) and province, and noting down the % of daily smokers, occasional smokers, and non-smokers.

I encourage you to try the same thing, in SDA, and in to see the differences.

One major difference: in SDA the resulting table is by default weighted to the population, while in Nesstar (ie ) you need to add the weight variable. If you do not use the weight, you can only talk about the prevalence of smoking _in the sample_, while if you do use the weight, you are generating estimates of and can talk about the prevalence of smoking _in the Ontario population_ 15 years of age and over."

Qualitative Research Nursing assignment

My email response you can use for Masters of Nursing students looking for qualitative research in CINAHL:

"Hi _______,

I am attaching a handout with some tips for using CINAHL. Feel free to email ask.gerstein@utoronto.ca if you need any assistance with it. [CINAHL 2010 handout is located in the sidebar of the blog])

As for finding qualitative research articles you can copy and paste this text and search for it in CINAHL (**Make sure you UNCHECK the box that says 'Suggest Subject Terms' before searching for this. That will allow it to be searched as a phrase**)

(MH "cluster sample+") or TX life experiences or TX human science or TX discourse* analysis or TX narrative analysis or TX lived experience* or TX field research or TX field studies or TX field study or TX giorgi* or TX husserl* or TX merleau ponty* or TX van kaam* or TX van manen* or TX spiegelberg* or TX colaizzi* or TX heidegger* or TX participant observ* or TX data saturat* or TX semiotics or TX heuristic or TX hermeneutic* or TX etic or TX emic or TX focus group* or TX purpos* sampl* or TX constant comparison or TX constant comparative or TX grounded research or TX grounded studies or TX grounded study or TX grounded theor* or TX phenomenol* or TX ethnon* or TX qualitative or (MH "ethnological research") or (MH "ethnography") or (MH "phenomenology") or (MH "focus groups") or (MH "discourse analysis") or (MH "theoretical sample") or (MH "field studies") or (MH "constant comparative method") or (MH "thematic analysis") or (MH "content analysis") or (MH "observational method+") or (MH "purposive sample") or (MH "qualitative validity+") or (MH "grounded theory") or (MH "ethnonursing research") or (MH "phenomenological research") or (MH "ethnographic research") or (MH "qualitative studies")

This will look for all qualitative studies. If you want to, you can modify it and take out any of the terms that you are not interested in finding.
Then you can combine these results with your search subject terms (__[suggest some relevant terms based on their topic]__) in the search history screen.

These terms were found here: http://www.library.vcu.edu/tml/bibs/nursingevidencefilters.html (scroll to bottom)

There's also a good article on search strategies here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/4/5 for your information."

email dated March 25, 2010

Door Alarm Procedures

If door alarms go off we typically look for Peter Gurney to turn it off as he can resolve all issues. Also, if necessary most of the alarms can be turned off by anyone with a spare minute. The key and hearing protectors are in the key cabinet behind the Circ Desk.

Exceptions are the " English Wing" (i.e south end, 2nd floor) and "7 King's College". This set of alarms also sound at the Circ Desk and can only be turned off by Peter, Vidya, Bonnie or Renata. Alternatively, in the evening Building Patrol can also turn them off. (Note that these alarms are programmed to turn off after 3 minutes if nobody is available to attend to them.)

Please leave a note for Peter Gurney of all instances of alarms going off. (location, date, time, and any other specifics you think may be important)

Printing - Document Queue

The public printer system will retain jobs for only two hours.

This is occasionally a problem for alumni or other researchers who may sit at a computer for hours at a time. If you help anyone that fits this description, please let them know to print out their documents every 2 hours (at least).

Public Equipment Updates

March 2010 Update: T-Cards getting stuck in readers (Public Equipment Blog)

-Other computing facilities on campus: http://life.utoronto.ca/get-online/internet-access.htm (scroll down)

USB monitor ports active

At the Reference Desk (standing and sitting) computers, Stephen has activated the USB ports on the left-hand side of the monitors. You should be able to plug in your USB memory sticks/drives without bending down to use the USB ports in the computer box.

Arts and Science Online Exams

From Sian, December 2009:

I've just introduced a new feature to the Library Resources feed [in Blackboard] for St.George Campus Faculty of Arts and Science courses -- for courses that have previous exams online, a link to the course's old exams now appears in the Library Resources feed ....

The collection so far includes Faculty of Arts and Science exams for the last three years (December 2006 - August 2009).

Finding NTIS Documents

You can search by accession number from the following NTIS database:
http://search3.scholarsportal.info/ids70/advanced_search.php?SID=bcc0d51ef3990af9dfd2947de5ca9b49

Sam-chin
---------------------------------------------
I just did a title search in WorldCat--sort of banking on someone cataloguing it. Two records appeared, one was a dissertation record (probably could get it, then, from DissFT, the other record had the direct link to the .mil site.

Sheril Hook
------------------------
google gets you there as well.

Cris Sewerin

Papers software page updated

At yesterday's WAG mtg, Marc said he recently updated the Papers software page: http://discover.library.utoronto.ca/services/computing-connecting/how-do-i-access-u-of-t-licensed-databases-through-the-mekentosj-papers-software

There are three routes to this page:

Gerstein home page - Faculty - Supporting research
Gerstein home page - Students - Accessing e-resources
Gerstein home page - Services - Accessing e-resources

Occassionally there are email questions (usually via ask.gerstein) about Papers.

Thanks, Heather
Feb 19, 2010

BioMed Central Cancellation Information

Occasionally questions have come in from faculty/researchers asking about U of T's subscription to Biomed Central.

UofT Libraries had a BMC supporter membership for a number of years. However, in 2009 financial pressures resulted in the library discontinuing its membership. The library continues to support open access publishing through its institutional repository, T-Space, and encourages all UofT authors, whether publishing in non-open access or open access scholarly journals to:

a) retain rights to their intellectual property by requesting that an author addendum be appended to the contract they sign with each journal (More info about this at http://carl-abrc.ca/en/scholarly-communications/resources-for-authors.htmlhttp://carl-abrc.ca/en/scholarly-communications/resources-for-authors.html) and
b) to deposit in T-Space via the Faculty of Medicine's Office of Research and International Relations: http://www.medresearch.utoronto.ca/

For more information please contact Sandra Langlands, Director of the Gerstein Science Information Centre, at s.langlands.melvin@utoronto.ca or 416.978.6370.

Cheers, Allison
Jan 28, 2010

ChEMBLdb - Open access drug discovery database launches

ChEMBL is a database of ca. 500,000 bioactive compounds, their quantitative properties and bioactivities (binding constants, pharmacology and ADMET, etc). The data is abstracted and curated from the primary scientific literature and the data made available due to funding by the Wellcome Trust.

Direct link to the database website:

http://www.ebi.ac.uk/chembldb/

The database is part of the ChEMBL resources at the EMBL-EBI (European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute).

Press release at: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Information/News/pdf/Press18Jan10.pdf" "ChEMBLdb is a unique resource because of its focus on drug discovery and its size: information on an additional 100,000 compounds has been added to the database for its launch, taking the number of small molecules to over 520,000, and it contains over 2.4 million records of their effects on biological systems. The data include information about how small molecules bind to their targets, how these compounds affect cells and whole organisms, and information on the molecules' absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity."

This is a new resource and the creators invite feedback so that they can make future improvements.

Keep up to date with ChEMBL news and data releases by subscribing to the chembl-announce mailing list.

Gail Nichol
Jan 26, 2010

Visitor card - reason for refund

Very occasionally a user purchases a visitor card by mistake, usually
they think they are adding money to their TCard. Starting immediately
we will refund this money to them. Here is the process.

1.The user hands over the visitor card to the staff member.

2.The staff member fills out a TCard claim form.
Where the form says Reason for Refund in the Notes field on the right
say "card purchased in error"
HAVE THE USER SIGN THE FORM. It doesn't matter where

3.Attach the visitor card to the TCard claim form and give it to Peter
or Renata

4.Give the user $5 _from the float of $5 bills_

5.Peter or Renata will leave a note on the $5 float, alerting staff that
the float will not be $100.
Peter or Renata will send the TCard claim form and the card to Julian
and who will return the funds to Peter or Renata.

WE DO NOT REFUND MONEY IF TOO MUCH VALUE WAS ADDED TO A VISITOR OR TCARD

Renata, Jan 8, 2010.

NEJM Videos in Clinical Medicine

NEJM Videos in Clinical Medicine
Link to the videos through the EIR: http://main.library.utoronto.ca/eir/EIRdetail.cfm?Resources__ID=893655&T=M&FID

They are also available via the Highwire version of the NEJM, they are easy to find by typing 'videos' in the search box at top of the page.

About this title: Since April 13, 2006 the New England Journal of Medicine added a new journal feature, Videos in Clinical Medicine. The Journal's table of contents includes this new type of article. For optimal viewing, the instructional videos will be displayed as streaming video in a version that includes chaptering and captions. The videos will also be available both in a downloadable file (of about 20 MB) and in a version compatible with handheld digital devices.

Each video will be from five to eight minutes long and will be accompanied online by a printable summary to supplement the video. Access to the Videos in Clinical Medicine is limited to subscribers, including all those who access the Web site with institutional subscriptions such as UofT.

Receipts for adding money to print cards/student cards

If a patron requires a receipt for adding money to their card and/or purchasing a visitor card, loan services desk staff can issue one after the funds have been added.

Refworks Alumni Program

RefWorks is pleased to announce that the Alumni Program will now be offered as a standard feature of RefWorks, providing lifelong access to users that are alumni of subscribing institutions. As long as an institution subscribes to RefWorks, alumni will have access, allowing them to continue using their personal research databases for future professional and academic endeavors.
Lifelong access to RefWorks will be an added benefit for alumni, and help academic institutions maintain the healthy alumni relationships that are so essential for donations, rankings and other ongoing involvement.
To learn more about the Alumni Program, please click here.

Direct Borrower Fees - exception for Ryerson & McMaster

Direct borrowers from Ryerson ( and McMaster) will have their charge paid for by their University. However, this will not change the procedure of sending people to Robarts Reader Registration for their renewal.

It may be that over time other institutions follow suit. In this regard, when sending direct borrowers to Robarts it might be prudent not to get into the discussion of charges at all. This is best negotiated by the staff of Reader Registration, who may determine, for example, that a person is eligible for an alumni card for a lesser sum than the direct borrower card.

Bonnie
Oct 13

iClickers at U of T

“Clickers,” or Classroom Response Systems, are a type of polling system seen on some game shows like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” In an academic context, they have been used very successfully to engage students in large classes....

All three UofT campuses offer i-clicker (www.iclicker.com) as their centrally supported Classroom Response System. The system will work for classes as large as those in Convocation Hall and on Macs or PCs. The main benefit of selecting one vendor is that students will only be asked to purchase one unit, and it will work in all their classes that use a Classroom Response System.

More information here: http://content.library.utoronto.ca/rcat/services/clickers/

Regis Library relocation/construction delay

The Regis library remains closed due to construction and will not be re-opening on Sept 14th as previously planned. I apologize for any inconvenience this delay may cause. The date of re-opening is not yet finalized. Our deepest gratitude goes to the staff at the Kelly library for running our short term loan service out of their library for the interim. When plans for re-opening have been confirmed I will post to the list again.

Teresa Helik
Sept 11, 2009

Racer - request form issue with publication date

Sometimes, when filling out the RACER request form for a book loan, patrons may be prompted for a publication date - BUT THERE IS NOWHERE TO ENTER IT!

In this case, enter it in the 'DATE PUBLISHED' field, under 'PART DETAILS'.

This works.
Helen
Sept 10, 2009

Reader Registration - change in hours of service

Reader Registration is now open on Sundays as well as their usual Mon-Sat 9-5 hours.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further to my recent e-mail concerning the issuing of Direct Borrower
cards at the Reader Registration Desk, Robarts Library, please note
that, effective Sunday, Sept. 13, the Reader Registration Desk service
hours will be changed to:

Monday - Saturday - 9 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday - 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Thank you,
Lari Langford
Sept 10, 2009