Articles by Tag | Drexel University

Medical Students Test Advanced Literature Search Skills in Small Group Assignments

Submitted on November 30, 2011 - 5:34PM

Drexel librarians are ready to collaborate with faculty to integrate literature search skills into the curriculum. One example at Drexel University College of Medicine is the Program for Integrated Learning (PIL), which offers first- and second-year medical students an alternative to a lecture-based curriculum. Guided by faculty, PIL students meet in small groups, where clinical cases act as a framework for learning the scientific basis of medical practice. Students identify information they need in order to explain the facts of the case. After searching for relevant information between group meetings, they present it at the next session. This interactive learning format has extra benefits of building skills in teamwork and lifelong, independent learning. Students' need to find case-related information makes PIL a good opportunity to introduce advanced literature search training into the curriculum. Students already know how to do simple, Google-type searches, but in the career of a physician, the cost of missing information can be high -- a patient or research subject could die. That's why it's important to learn advanced features of MEDLINE (PubMed), physicians' key source for primary literature. Teaching begins with a presentation by a Health Sciences librarian and continues as students complete hands-on-the-keyboard learning with a tutorial. Next, students work in pairs to find research articles (primary literature) on a case-related topic. They meet with a librarian to review the search and clear up any confusion about advanced techniques, and finally, they present the information they found to the group. Students express gratitude when they recognize the new search power at their command, for example: 'These skills were imperative to have during the Primary Care Practicum and I utilized my new search knowledge every week'. Faculty are encouraged to contact a reference or liaison librarian to discuss collaborative teaching opportunities. Article by: Martha Kirby

Libraries Launch Search Interface to Streamline Discovery Process

Submitted on September 18, 2011 - 5:05PM

Searching the Drexel University Libraries' collection just became easier with the Summon search feature, located on the library website's homepage. Summon, a web based service provides a 'Google-like' experience, which streamlines the discovery process and allows researchers to search across many different subscription resources, books and journals. Detailed results are ranked by relevancy, with the most relevant results appearing at the top of the list. Summon is widely used in major academic libraries around the world and its agreements with scholarly content publishers allows for article-level indexing of the full-text of articles, pulling together the content from individual interfaces such as those provided EBSCO and JSTOR. The Libraries acquired Summon last summer with a larger release occurring in fall 2011. For more information about the Summon service, its coverage and its relevancy to Drexel University Libraries, please visit: https://www.library.drexel.edu/summon/about.

The Libraries Welcome: Tom Ipri

Submitted on August 29, 2011 - 8:00PM

On Monday, August 22, 2011 the Libraries welcomed Liason Librarian for Media Arts and Design, Tom Ipri. Tom was most recently the Head of Media and Computer Services at UNLV's Lied Library and before that, the Media Services Librarian at LaSalle University. Tom received his MLIS from Drexel and has published and presented on the topics of technology, media collections and transliteracy in libraries. The Libraries are excited to welcome Tom's subject expertise in film, film studies and media arts. Tom works in room 135 in W. W. Hagerty Library.