Winning photograph: Fall Ride - Roof of Kennedy Center by Mehrshad Fahim Devin
Himmelfarb Library would like to congratulate Mehrshad Fahim Devin, MPS, the 2023 Fall Colors Photo Contest winner! Himmelfarb's Healthy Living Committee had their work cut out for them by judging the 39 entries to this year's contest. With so many fantastic submissions, it was challenging to select a winning photo. But after much deliberation, Mehrshad's photo, Fall Ride - Roof of Kennedy Center, was chosen by the committee as this year's winner! Mehsrshad, a first-year medical student, stopped by Himmelfarb earlier this week to pick up his prize, a coffee mug showcasing his photo.
Left to right: Deborah Wassertzug, Lonnie Williams, Mehrshad Fahim Devin, and Laura Abate.
We recently asked Mehrshad about his photography. Here's what he had to say:
How long have you been taking photographs, and what are your favorite subjects?
I have always loved taking photos, but 99% of the time they remain hidden in my camera roll! My interest in photography especially peaked when I took a class in high school. Learning about concepts like "the rule of thirds" and "depth of field" allowed me to take photos that brought me a feeling of satisfaction. But I don't consider myself a professional photographer at all, just someone who enjoys casually capturing the beauties of the world. Beyond tons of selfies, my camera roll is filled with photos of friends, pets, nature, and dishes I cook.
How did you hear about the Fall Colors Photo Contest? Tell us about your winning photo.
I first learned about the contest while browsing my inbox and it definitely piqued my interest. As I was walking around the Kennedy Center with a friend, we came across the rooftop patio and decided to have a look at the Georgetown waterfront. The sky, the skyline, the foliage, and the water were all breathtaking sights. I wanted to capture that moment to look back on later. Fortunately, while I was clicking away on my phone camera, a boat floated into the frame. I wanted to submit the photo to share the beauty I witnessed with the rest of my community.
Himmelfarb would like to thank all of you who submitted photos to our 2023 Fall Colors Photo Contest! And congratulations to this year's winner, Mehrshad Fahim Devin, MPS and first-year medical student!
Himmelfarb Library is proud to support GW Nursing students, faculty, researchers, and staff by providing professional-level, scholarly full-text nursing resources. Today’s post will highlight some of our top nursing databases, journals, books, and guides.
Databases:
CINAHL Complete is one of our most highly used nursing resources! CINAHL Complete provides access to nursing journals and publications produced by the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. In addition to full-text access to 600 titles, CINAHL Complete provides easy-to-understand Evidence-Based Care Sheets and Quick Lessons for a variety of conditions. Topics covered include nursing, biomedicine, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health, and 17 allied health disciplines.
ClinicalKey for Nursing is another top nursing database available through Himmelfarb. With access to full-text evidence-based nursing monographs, clinical trial modules, books, journals, practice guidelines, and core measures with nursing recommendations, ClinicalKey for Nursing is a great resource for all things nursing-related!
TelemedInsights, developed by the GW School of Nursing and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, supports interactive self-paced learning to support high-quality, culturally competent patient care using telehealth technology. This great resource is designed for students and healthcare professionals. To access this resource, click the login button. No login or password is required. However, if accessing this resource from off-campus, you must use the GW VPN.
Journals:
Himmelfarb provides access to more than 200 nursing journals! Our most popular, highest-use titles are:
American Journal of Nursing (AJN): As the oldest and largest circulating nursing journal in the world, AJN promotes excellence in professional nursing with articles focused on cutting-edge, evidence-based information while providing a holistic outlook on health and nursing.
Journal of Nursing Administration (JONA): With content geared to nurse executives, directors of nursing, and nurse managers, JONA is an authoritative source of information on developments and advances in patient care leadership. This journal prides itself in delivering practical, solution-oriented articles that provide the information and tools to help you excel in a changing healthcare environment.
International Journal of Nursing Studies (IJNS): IJNS published original research on a wide range of nursing topics including healthcare delivery, organization, management, policy, and research methods.
Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN): JAN publishes articles related to evidence-based nursing, midwifery, and healthcare. Topics include cancer nursing, community nursing, geriatric nursing, home care, mental health nursing, nursing research, and more!
E-Books:
We also have some great e-books available! Notable titles include:
Learn more about Himmelfarb’s nursing resources by visiting our Nursing Guide. You’ll find information about nursing textbooks, and NCLEX resources, as well as information for BSN, MSN, Nurse Practitioners, DPN, and Ph.D. nursing students. We also have a Nurse Practitioners Guide that includes information on physical examination, diagnosis, drug information, links to professional organizations, and evidence-based medicine. Himmelfarb’s Antiracism in Healthcare Guide is another fantastic resource providing resources to help you learn about antiracism and racial bias in healthcare.
Are you interested in scholarly publishing, but aren’t sure where to start? Himmelfarb Library has a library of short video tutorials focused on a variety of scholarly publishing topics! We add new videos to this library each semester, so the library is always growing. Videos range from 3 to 10 minutes in length, so you can learn in small chunks of time that fit your schedule. Here are some of our newest videos!
Journal Impact Factors: What You Need to Know
In this video, Tom Harrod, Himmelfarb’s Associate Director of Reference, Instruction, and Access discusses journal impact factors. You’ve probably heard that journals with higher Impact Factors are more reputable, and are more desirable when the time comes to publish your research. But what is a journal Impact Factor exactly? And how is an Impact Factor calculated? This six-minute video answers both of these questions and also explores how to address Impact Factors in context and why some journals don’t have an Impact Factor.
Artificial Intelligence Tools & Citations
In this 6-minute video, Himmelfarb’s Metadata Specialist, Brittany Smith, explores generative artificial intelligence tools. This video starts off by discussing the emergence of AI and the importance of checking current guidelines and rules regarding AI, as this is a new and constantly evolving field. This video discusses how AI can help with your research, discusses GW’s AI policy, and how to create citations for AI in your research.
Updating Your Biosketch via SciENcv
Tom Harrod discusses the differences between NIH’s ScieENcv and Biosketch and demonstrates how to use SciENcv to populate a Biosketch profile in this 5-minute video.
UN Sustainable Development Goals: Finding Publications
In this 5-minute video, Stacy Brody explores why the United Nations' sustainable development goals were developed, and the intended achievements of these goals. This video discusses how to find publications related to these goals using Scopus.
Dimensions Analytics: An Introduction
Sara Hoover, Himmelfarb’s Metadata and Scholarly Publishing Librarian provides a brief overview of the Dimensions database and discusses how to access Dimensions from Himmelfarb. This 7-minute video also provides several examples of use cases for this great resource!
The library will be closed during the Thanksgiving Holiday. Our hours during this time are as follows:
We will resume normal 24/7 hours after re-opening at 9:00 am on Sunday, November 26, 2023.
Even though our building is closed, our electronic resources (including our databases, e-books, and e-journals) remain available from anywhere during this time.
The results of the 2023 Fall Colors Photo Contest are in! This event, sponsored by Healthy Living @ Himmelfarb, welcomed digital photo submissions of the beautiful fall foliage. Students, faculty, and staff affiliated with the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), School of Public Health (GWSPH), and School of Nursing (Nursing) submitted their original photos taken in 2023. Judging was based on creativity, originality, and overall artistic impact.
So without further ado, this year's winner is Mehrshad Fahim Devin (SMHS student). Here’s Mehrshad’s photo, entitled “Fall Ride - Roof of the Kennedy Center”:
Himmelfarb Library would like to thank everyone who submitted a photo for this year’s contest! We loved seeing all of your great photos and getting to see fall through your beautiful pictures. You can view all of the photo submissions on Himmelfarb’s first floor, as well as online:
We’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about Open Access (OA) journals, and predatory journals, and how to tell the difference between them. Navigating the publishing landscape is tricky enough without having to worry about whether or not the journal you choose for your manuscript might be predatory. The concept of predatory journals may be completely new to some researchers and authors. Others who are aware of the dangers of predatory journals might mistake legitimate scholarly OA journals as predatory because of the Article Processing Charges (APCs) charged by OA journals. In today’s post, we’ll explore the differences between OA journals and predatory journals, and how to tell the difference between them.
Open Access Journals
The open access publishing movement stemmed from a need to make research more openly accessible to readers and aims to remove the paywalls that most research was trapped behind under that traditional publishing model. In a traditional, non-OA journal, readers must pay to access the full text of an article published in a journal. This payment may be through a personal subscription, a library-based subscription to the journal, or a single payment for access to a single article.
This video provides a great overview of why and how OA journals came about:
OA journals shift the burden of cost from the reader to the author by operating under an “author pays” model. In this model, authors pay a fee (often called an “Article Processing Charge” or APC) to make their articles available as open access. Readers are then able to access the full text of that article free of charge and without paying for a subscription. OA articles are accessible for anyone to read and without a paywall. The author fees associated with OA journals can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. OA journals charging APCs is completely normal and paying to publish in an open access journal is not itself a sign that the title is predatory in nature - this is normal practice for open access journals that helps publishers cover the cost of publication.
Open access journals offer all of the same author services that traditional journals offer, including quality peer review and article archiving and indexing services. Legitimate OA journals have clear retraction policies and manuscript submission portals. There are different types of OA journals, including journals that publish only OA articles, and hybrid journals that publish OA articles alongside articles that exist behind a paywall. To learn more about the types of OA research, check our recent blog post on Green, Gold, and Diamond OA models.
Predatory Journals
Predatory publishing came about as a response to the open access movement as unethical businesses saw OA journals as a way to make money off of researchers' need to publish. Predatory journals use the OA model for their own profit and use deceptive business practices to convince authors to publish in their journals.
One key difference between reputable, scholarly OA journals and predatory journals is that predatory journals charge APCs without providing any legitimate peer view services. This means that there are no safeguards to protect a quality research article from being published alongside junk science. Predatory journals typically promise quick peer review, when in reality, no peer review actually takes place.
When you publish with a legitimate OA journal, the journal provides peer review, archiving, and discovery services that help others find your work easily. Predatory journals do not provide these essential services. Publishing in a predatory journal could mean that your work could disappear from the journal's website at any time, making it difficult to prove that your paper was ever published in said journal. Additionally, because predatory journals are not indexed in popular databases such as Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, or Web of Science, despite false claims to the contrary, other researchers may never find, read, and cite your research.
Some general red flags to look for include:
Emailed invitations to submit an article
The journal name is suspiciously similar to a prominent journal in the field
Misleading geographic information in the title
Outdated or unprofessional website
Broad aim and scope
Insufficient contact information (a web contact form is not enough)
Luckily, identifying scholarly open access journals and predatory journals can be done if you know what to look for, including the red flags listed above. OA journals that are published by reputable publishers (such as Elsevier, Wiley, Taylor and Francis, Sage, Springer Nature, etc.) can be trusted. If a journal is published by a well-known, established publisher, it’s a safe bet that the journal is not predatory in nature. These well-known, large publishers have policies in place that predatory journals lack, including indexing and archiving policies, peer review policies, retraction policies, and publication ethics policies.
Learn more by watching our How to Spot a Predatory Journal tutorial:
Check out the assessment tools available in our Predatory Publishing Guide for more tools that can help you evaluate journals, emails from publishers, and journal websites. There are even some great case studies available on this page to put your newly learned skills into practice!
On September 12, 2023, Crossref, a not-for-profit membership organization aiming to make research easy to find, cite, link, assess, and reuse, formally acquired the Retraction Watch database, a comprehensive database of retractions. Retraction Watch began in 2010 as a journalism blog that aspired to “examine whether scientific correction mechanisms were robust” (Oransky, 2023). In 2018, with financial support from the MacArthur Foundation, the Arnold Foundation (now Arnold Ventures), and the Helmsley Trust, the Retraction Watch Database in its current form was officially launched.
The database was licensed to organizations to help researchers stay informed about current retractions. With Crossref’s purchase of the Retraction Watch Database, the database will now be completely open and freely available. According to a Crossref blog post, this agreement “will allow Retraction Watch to keep the data populated on an ongoing basis and always open, alongside publishers registering their retraction notices directly with Crossref” (Hendricks, et al., 2023). This agreement only pertains to the Retraction Watch Database - the Retraction Watch blog continues to be separate from Crossref, and will continue to independently investigate retractions and related topics. Crossref will remain a “neutral facilitator in efforts to assess the quality of scientific works” (Hendricks, et al., 2023).
So why does all of this matter? The volume of journal articles being published continues to grow. With so many articles being published, it’s difficult to keep track of articles that are later retracted. Researchers who want to avoid citing a retracted article in their papers have to put in a lot of time and effort into checking each reference on publisher sites for retractions, and it’s incredibly difficult to catch all retractions (Oransky & Lammey, 2023). It’s even more difficult for readers to know if a work they are reading is citing retracted articles. According to Hendricks et al., “combining efforts to create the largest single open-source database of retractions reduces duplication, making it more efficient, transparent, and accessible for all” (Hendricks et al., 2023).
Interested in learning more? Watch a discussion about this new collaboration:
Fall is here! Head outdoors to admire the beautiful fall foliage around you and capture those amazing photos. Enter your best photo with a chance to win a PRIZE. All digital photos submitted will be showcased in the 2023 Himmelfarb Fall Colors Photo Gallery.
How to Enter and Contest Rules:
Photo submission dates: Monday, October 16, 2023 – Friday, November 3, 2023.
By submitting an entry, each contestant agrees to the rules of the contest.
Who Can Enter:
Staff or students affiliated with GW School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Milken Institute School of Public Health, and School of Nursing.
Judging:
Photo entries will be judged based on creativity, originality, and overall artistic impact. One winner will be chosen by select participants and members of the Healthy Living @ Himmelfarb Committee.
*Himmelfarb Library reserves the right to cancel the contest or modify rules at its discretion. Himmelfarb Library reserves the right to reject any entrant whose entry appears off-topic or violates the rules.
Himmelfarb Library recently purchased nine new anatomy models that are available and on display in the Bloedorn Technology Center on Himmelfarb’s third floor. These new additions to our physical anatomical model collection are available for in-library use (they cannot be checked out of the library). These new models are 3D-printed, lifelike replicas of human cadavers.
The pictures below will give you an idea of what these models look like, but pictures can’t do these models justice. Next time you’re in the library, head to Himmelfarb’s 3rd floor and take a look at these models for yourself!
In addition to these new models, Himmelfarb also has several other anatomy materials available for in-library use, including bone boxes! Bloedorn is a great place to study in groups and work with these models. Collaborative tables are available so you can move bones and models to use them for study in a way that works best for you!
Want to learn more about Himmelfarb’s anatomy resources?
Himmelfarb Library congratulates Catherine Sluder on her 40th anniversary working at The George Washington University! Catherine has been a member of Himmelfarb’s staff since May of 1985, and we are lucky to have had her as part of our team for the past 38 years!
We interviewed Catherine to learn more about her amazing career at Himmelfarb, the changes she’s seen in her time here, and why she enjoys working at Himmelfarb.
When did you start working at GW? What was your first position here?
I worked one summer in the early 1980s for the Pathology Department. My father, Frank Miller, was still teaching Pathology at GW, and he hired me to organize the department’s collection of stored specimens and slides.
When did you start working at GW? What was your first position here?
I worked one summer in the early 1980s for the Pathology Department. My father, Frank Miller, was still teaching Pathology at GW, and he hired me to organize the department’s collection of stored specimens and slides.
Image: Catherine standing next to the portrait of her father, Frank Miller. Catherine gets to walk past this portrait every day on her way to her office on the 3rd floor of the library.
When did you start working at Himmelfarb? What was your first position at Himmelfarb?
I started working at Himmelfarb in May of 1985. I worked at the Audiovisual (AV) Study Center (now the Bloedorn Technology Center). All lectures were recorded on cassette tapes, which we made copies of for the students on high-speed tape duplicators. We checked out boxes of 35mm Pathology slides and did lots of equipment troubleshooting.
What different positions have you held during your time at Himmelfarb?
In 1991, I became assistant manager of the AV Study Center, and later became manager of the renamed Bloedorn Technology Center. For many years, I have also worked with the Circulation Department, and have coordinated onsite access to Himmelfarb.
Tell us about your current position and what you do at Himmelfarb.
I still manage the Bloedorn Technology Center and oversee physical access to Himmelfarb. And I’m part of the Circulation Department team. I recently became the library’s current 3D printing liaison. And I have the privilege of being a library instructor in CIS small groups. Getting to know, work with, and learn from our medical students has been more rewarding than anything else I’ve done at Himmelfarb.
Can you tell us about how Himmelfarb has changed over your career?
The biggest change I experienced was the transition from physical media to digital. The old AV Study Center was stocked with 35mm slide projectors, VHS and U-Matic video players, and x-ray view boxes.
Years later, we offer VR anatomy programs to our students and are building a collection of streaming media titles in the health sciences and public health. Our assortment of anatomical models, articulated skeletons, and bone boxes, however, have never gone out of fashion. In fact, we are currently expanding our collection of anatomical models.
What are some of the things you enjoy most about your job and working at Himmelfarb?
I have always loved the people I work with (I can’t imagine working without them). And I love that our administration has continually encouraged staff to grow and to master new skills. And if you’re passionate about something that you’d like to pursue, however outside the boundaries of your traditional job description, supervisors and administrators will help you to nurture that passion in a way that benefits both you and the library.
Can you share one or two of your favorite memories of working at Himmelfarb?
When my boss at the time (and forever friend) Lynn Povanda managed the AV Study Center, we used to celebrate AV staff birthdays at work with champagne and white chocolate cake from the Watergate Bakery. We’d invite a few folks from the first floor to join us if we knew that they liked the bubbly (and wouldn’t snitch on us).
Also, in the festive vein, Himmelfarb staff have always thrown terrific winter holiday parties. The older parties were lavish potluck affairs. We’d decorate every square foot of Room B103, and then we’d indulge in all the amazing food that our co-workers had prepared.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I came to Himmelfarb Library as an avowed technophobe. With the encouragement and support of many colleagues over the years, I have learned to face my fears and to adapt to the challenge of new technologies in ways that would have surprised my older self.
And I hope that my father would be proud of my role, however tiny, in continuing to share knowledge with our medical students.
Catherine has certainly seen many changes in her time working here. We are appreciative that she has documented so many of these changes by being our unofficial photographer for Himmelfarb events. Even though she spends a lot of time behind the camera, we’re lucky to have captured some pretty great pictures of Catherine through the years.
Catherine (sitting) and former staff member Anne (standing) in the old computer lab.Catherine (right) posing with Josh (left) and Himmelfarb’s old Mickey Mouse painting.Catherine (2nd from left) with former staff members Lynn, Anne, and Lance (left to right).Catherine (2nd from left) posing with other “Crowned Heads of State” Himmelfarb staff members. Catherine (right) attending a service awards event with Barabara and Lynn (left to right).Catherine and George, former Acquisitions Librarian.Catherine (left) & current Himmelfarb Librarians Sara, Ruth, & Laura (left to right) at the GW Give a Gift present drop-off.Catherine (2nd from right), with former Himmelfarb staff members Anne, Truman, and Aytan (left to right).Catherine and Himmelfarb staff circa 2019.Catherine received the SMHS Dean’s Excellence in Service Award in March 2022 from Dean Bass.Catherine (middle) with Himmelfarb staff (Ruth, Laura, Kathy, & Tom - left to right) after receiving the SMHS Dean’s Excellence in Service Award in March 2022.
Catherine has long been a valued colleague to the staff she’s worked with through the years. So we thought it only fitting that we give current Himmelfarb staff an opportunity to express their congratulations and share their thoughts about working with Catherine on this momentous occasion. Here’s what they had to say:
“Catherine exemplifies what we strive for at Himmelfarb. She is a detail-oriented problem solver who focuses on providing consistent and high-quality services for our users. Catherine's thorough understanding of library systems, services, and processes, is demonstrated as she looks for ways to make improvements to support users and library staff alike. I'm most impressed with Catherine's work as a library instructor over the past few years as she took on a new challenge and systematically sought to learn a new type of library work, asking questions, clarifying her understanding, and asking for feedback along the way - demonstrating her commitment to serving Himmelfarb's users as she learned and expanded her skill set.” ~ Laura Abate
“Working with Catherine has always been an absolute pleasure. Not only has she always been so helpful, and always in a fantastic mood, Catherine also never seems to mind it when I flood her inbox with cat pictures. Happy 40th Catherine! Himmelfarb is lucky to have you!” ~ Andy Puro
“Cat Sluder is one cool cat!” ~ Temitayo Wolff
"Congratulations on 40 years at Himmelfarb, Catherine! What an amazing accomplishment!" ~ Rachel Brill
“When I started working at Himmelfarb, I wasn't necessarily expecting to find colleagues to talk about fairly obscure music with. I was so happy to discover that in Catherine! She is also one of the most positive people I know. I am always smiling after a chat with Catherine.” ~ Deborah Wassertzug
“Catherine is a kind-hearted, creative, and wonderful colleague. She has a great personality and is always willing to extend a helping hand. Catherine is usually one of the first people I see every morning and she is always upbeat and energetic, even at 8am. I love the work she does when it comes to celebrating staff birthdays and she has incredible Photoshop, video editing, and graphic design skills! I am so grateful that I get to work alongside Catherine!” ~ Brittany Smith
“Working with Catherine is one of my favorite things about working at Himmelfarb. Catherine is creative, curious, fun, and above all, kind. She has an incredible institutional memory that we will never be able to replace, while always keeping up with the changes in service and technology over the years. Catherine keeps me sane when things get crazy! She always provides a laugh or a virtual hug when most needed.” ~ JoLinda Thompson
“Catherine has always been a joy to work with. I appreciate how she always has everyone's back. She is always ready to lend a helping hand to staff, students, and faculty. Her patience and smile are legendary. Congratulations Catherine on 40 years at GW!” ~ Velda Jones
“Congratulations Catherine - thank you for all you do to make Himmelfarb a welcoming place for patrons!" ~ Tom Harrod
“Catherine is by far the most humane and empathic person I know. Her capacity to connect with the pains of others is without boundaries! One day I had the misfortune of having to dispose of a trapped mouse, captured in the Library. The unique way in which the mouse was trapped didn't lead to its' demise, but a very painful outcome that involved a hind leg and genitals. So in a very Catherine kind of way, she pressed me to release the mouse outside of the campus to give it an opportunity to live. I was compelled to do just that! All because it was Catherine asking! Congratulations my friend on your 40th Work Anniversary!” ~ Lonnie Williams
“Catherine's energy and positivity are an inspiration. She is a font of ideas that make Himmelfarb a better place to work and study. Congrats to her on 40 outstanding years!” ~ Ian Roberts
“Catherine is an absolute joy to work with and I feel so lucky to call her a colleague and a friend. Catherine can always be counted on to help with projects and provide valuable advice, and words of encouragement. Her sense of humor always brightens my workday. Although Catherine has seen a lot of staff come and go in her time here, she always welcomes everyone with open arms and has an uncanny ability to not only see the best in people but to bring out the best in people! Congratulations on 40 years at GW, Catherine! I’m honored to have shared some of those years with you.” ~ Ruth Bueter
“Congratulations Catherine on this amazing milestone of 40 years at GW! It has been a pleasure to work with you over the many years. The birthday collages have to be the best idea you have created. You are always so helpful here at the library and doing what needs to be done. Again, Congratulations!!!” ~ Val Bowles
“Every organization needs at least one person holding things together and I'm so happy that Himmelfarb has you! Wishing I were talented enough to make you a special slideshow like the ones we all have come to love for our birthdays each year. I know there must be a perfect song out there somewhere to celebrate such a wonderful achievement. Congratulations and thanks for all you do!” ~ Sara Hoover
From all of us at Himmelfarb Library - Congratulations, Catherine on your 40-year anniversary at GW! It is truly an honor to work with you every day, and we are lucky to have you as part of our team!
