2015 Becker Library Annual Report Now Available

By — November 23, 2015

During the 2015 fiscal year Bernard Becker Medical Library continued to provide a world-class collection of information resources and services to the Washington University Medical Center and St. Louis communities. Notable contributions by Becker Library to the success of others included

  • Creation of a comprehensive study guide for first year medical students, providing direct links to course texts, journal articles, and supplemental information.
  • Gaining approval for CME credits for several library instructional classes, including Critical Appraisal of Medical Research, Evidence Based Medicine and Searching the Literature, and Getting Organized with EndNote.
  • Planned and hosted the significant Vesalius and the Invention of the Modern Body symposium in partnership with the School of Arts and Sciences and Saint Louis University.
  • Presented a series of seminars and informational sessions to more than 500 researchers about the new NIH system for creating and submitting biosketches.
  • Added 5 new collections to Digital Commons@Becker: Program in Physical Therapy Publications, BJC Healthcare Publications, WU Publications, Center for History of Medicine, and Genomics and the Era of Personalized Medicine Lecture Series.
  • Facilitated a collaborative effort to host and manage a local mirror of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database.
  • In partnership with the Human Research Protection Office, developed a four part workshop series to help researchers improve and enhance their consent forms for clearer language and readability.

Becker Library’s collection is more broadly available as digital resources continue to dominate as the preferred method of access by our users. In fiscal year 2015 the library made 35,855 e-books available, compared to 25,364 the previous year.

Becker Library staff members continue to make significant contributions to the professional community through presentations, publications and participation in professional organizations. During fiscal year 2015 they appeared as authors on 21 articles in peer-reviewed journals, gave 3 invited presentations, and contributed 5 presentations and posters at professional meetings.