Becker Library is co-sponsoring The Curren(t)cy of Frankenstein forum to be held on Sept. 28-30 in Clopton Auditorium as part of Washington University’s year-long celebration of the novel’s 200th anniversary. Space is limited and RSVPs are required (click here to register). Each day of the forum will begin with a 30-minute reception prior to the 7 p.m. [Read more]
Many of the items in our rare book collections feature beautiful illustrations of the human body. While these are often the obvious choices to use in exhibits and highlight on social media, a book does not need to be visually spectacular to be interesting. Some of our most fascinating holdings are small and unassuming in [Read more]
As follows is a brief overview of the 2015-2017 publications produced by authors from Washington University in St. Louis using Elsevier Scopus and SciVal. Scopus is a large database of peer-reviewed literature that contains 69 million publication records representing 25,000 journals and other sources worldwide covering the Sciences, Social Sciences and Arts & Humanities. SciVal [Read more]
After a great start with Nina Siegal’s “The Anatomy Lesson,” we’re excited to announce that our next book selection will be “Year of Wonders” by Geraldine Brooks. Published in 2001, the novel was inspired by the true story of Eyam, England. “When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid [Read more]
Vaccination. The word, coined by Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823) as a combination of the Latin word for cow, “vacca,” and the Latin word for cowpox, “vaccinia,” has carried emotional weight from its inception as a scientific endeavor to control smallpox, an infectious disease. Today, the word “vaccine” likely provokes immediate, charged associations with other words [Read more]
The word embargo is often in the news but it comes up in the academic publishing world, too. “Embargo” can have different meanings depending on the context and that can create confusion. Embargo periods related to the media The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Nature and other journals have embargo policies that allow qualified [Read more]
Patients highlight listening and empathy – “the ability to understand the patient’s situation, perspective, and feelings and to communicate that understanding to the patient”1 – as two of the most important qualities they look for when choosing a physician. Despite this, studies of patient-physician communication show that physicians interrupt their patients, on average, within the [Read more]
Authorship is the topic of July’s Round-Up with a look at multiple first authors and corresponding authors.
PubMed is a commonly used database, but it can sometimes be challenging to search. Becker librarians have produced a brief tutorial to assist users in improving their PubMed skills: Advanced Pubmed Search Tips from Becker Medical Library on Vimeo. The tutorial covers using Boolean, nesting, truncation and field tags to create more effective PubMed search [Read more]
When the United States entered World War I, Base Hospital 21, the medical reserve unit based at the Washington University Medical Center, placed a call for volunteers as the U.S. had yet to institute the draft. There was a great response from the public. In a nation of immigrants, many enthusiastically joined up in support [Read more]