Skip to content

Category: Books

Published on
Photo of the Healthy Living collection on the library first floor with the Healthy Living @ Himmelfarb logo.

Himmelfarb Library engages in a number of initiatives to promote wellness for library users. See our Healthy Living @ Himmelfarb Research Guide to find services, resources, and apps to support wellness and well-being. The library maintains a Healthy Living Collection of physical books, equipment, and other recreational items that can be used in the library or checked out. These items are housed in a shelving unit near the library elevators.

You can see a list of our full collection in the library catalog. Here are a few highlights of things you might want to check out.

Exercise equipment: Yes, we have hula hoops! Five of them, so invite your friends for a hula hoop party. Other items for fun and physical fitness include double Dutch jump ropes, hand weights, a yoga mat, and block, and three exercise balls.

Relaxation equipment: From a relaxation kit with eye pillows to board games, we can help you ease stress. The game collection includes Scrabble, Blockus, Chess, and Sorry. We also have a variety of jigsaw puzzles. Feel free to start a puzzle and leave it for other library users to work on.

Videos: Videos are instructional on exercise, yoga, meditation, and other stress management techniques. Most are in DVD format.

Books!: Books make up most of the collection. We have cookbooks to help you cook and eat healthy. Other titles range from mindfulness and stress management to crafting, improving sleep, and tidying. Here’s a sample of titles:

Al-Najjar. (2021). Beneath the white coat : doctors, their minds and mental health (Gerada, Ed.). Routledge.

Ellgen. (2017). The 5-ingredient college cookbook: easy, healthy recipes for the next four years and beyond. Rockridge Press.

Evetts, & Peloquin, S. M. (2017). Mindful crafts as therapy : engaging more than hands. F.A. Davis Company.

Holmes. (2022). Happier hour : how to beat distraction, expand your time, and focus on what matters most (First Gallery Books trade paperback edition.). Gallery Books.

Huffington. (2017). The sleep revolution : transforming your life, one night at a time (First paperback edition.). Harmony Books.

Jenna Zoe, & Winfield, C. (2013). Super healthy snacks and treats : more than 60 easy recipes for energizing, delicious snacks free from gluten, dairy, refined sugar and eggs. Ryland Peters & Small.

Seaward. (2022). Managing stress : skills for self-care, personal resiliency, and work-life balance in a rapidly changing world (Tenth edition.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Stop by and browse the collection!

Published on

Book Sale flyer. Information on flying is included in post.

Our Annual Book Sale will be held from Tuesday, September 12th through the Friday, September 15th in  Himmelfarb’s first floor reference alcove. The sale will be open from 8:00am to 8:00pm Tuesday to Thursday, and from 8:00am to Noon on Friday.

Textbooks, study guides, books of historical interest and more will be available - arrive early to see what we have to offer! Prices will be $4 for hardcover books, $2 for paperbacks. Card payments only. Contact us at himmelfarb@gwu.edu if you have any questions.

With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing “My Stroke of Insight” by Jill Bolte Taylor. 
Published on

With Humanities Highlights, Himmelfarb staff aims to spotlight useful books from our Humanities collection. This week, we’re showcasing “My Stroke of Insight” by Jill Bolte Taylor. 

About the Book: “My Stroke of Insight” is a memoir and patient advocacy book by the neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor who suffered (and recovered) from a stroke caused by an arteriovenous malformation. The book reconstructs the morning of the hemorrhage, her experience of the stroke, and her complete recovery. 

What Makes This Book Invaluable: The book provides a rare first person account of a stroke from someone with the training and vocabulary to analyze their own experience. Dissolving her sense of self, the stroke gave Taylor eight years to reimagine the meaning of consciousness and self. 

Some Caveats: 

It’s worth noting that Taylor’s experiences are anecdotal (just one puzzle piece of the overall picture), and therefore, her experiences won’t relate to every stroke victim. 

Moreover, Taylor reports her experience of the stroke in almost mystical terms and relates feelings of oneness (observed by contemplative traditions worldwide) with right-brain neurological activity. It’s important to separate her experience from her conclusions and to maintain a receptive - but critical - eye for both. 

Reasons to Read: 

For the future physician, the book provides a striking reminder of what it’s like to be a patient. The second half focuses on her eight year recovery, the difficulties faced, and her accumulation of little victories, which culminates in advice for better patient care (see Appendix B). 

For the philosophically inclined, Taylor’s experience raises fascinating questions about the relationship between physiology and consciousness and how disruptions can help reveal how the brain works. 

Fun Facts: Beyond the TED Talk, “My Stroke of Insight” has also been adapted as a ballet called Orbo Novo by the Cedar Lake Ballet Company.

Published on
August is National Immunization Awareness Month. Vaccination is the best protection against serious diseases.
Image created by Yvonne Lee from CDC NIAM promotional graphics and an American Association of Immunologists vaccine handout.

August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). Regular immunizations are an important part of staying healthy. Vaccines help provide immunity before potential exposure to diseases. Vaccines help your body create antibodies to fight off infections by training your immune system to recognize and destroy harmful pathogens before they can cause serious illness. To learn more about how vaccines work, check out this great video from Nature - which you can also share with your patients:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a great resource for information on immunizations for healthcare professionals and patients. The CDC’s Vaccines and Immunizations website provides information on immunization schedules for children and adults, information about pregnancy and vaccination, as well as a list of recommended vaccines for travelers. Their website also provides a wealth of information for healthcare professions including clinical resources, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations and guidelines, immunization schedules, vaccine storage, administration protocols, and patient education resources. 

Himmelfarb Library also has a number of immunization resources available! Next time you’re in the library, check out our current book display on the first floor with immunization and vaccine-related resources. If you see something of interest, ask at the circulation desk to check out the book.

Picture of books on immunization on display in Himmelfarb's display case.

We also have some great e-books available on the topic of vaccines:

Published on
Overhead shot of six disabled people of color at a rooftop deck party.
Photo by Chona Kasinger from the Disabled And Here project page.

July 26, 2023, marks the 33rd anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990, the ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against disabled persons and helps ensure that disabled people have the same rights and opportunities as the general public (ADA National Network, 2023). The ADA guarantees equal opportunity for disabled individuals in “public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications” (ADA National Network, 2023). 

To celebrate National Disability Independence Day this year, the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) Reading Club has selected three books that focus on disability health for July 2023. 

References: 

ADA National Network. (July 2023). What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? https://adata.org/learn-about-ada

Published on
Decorative image of a black stethoscope, a blank sheet of white paper, and a black pen over a light blue background.
Photo by Tara Winstead

The newest class of Physician Assistant (PA) students has been hard at work since the end of May. Himmelfarb Library has enjoyed seeing so many PA students in the library this summer! We proudly support the SMHS PA program by providing resources and services to help PA students, faculty, and staff achieve their learning, teaching, clinical care, and research goals. 

Himmelfarb’s Physician Assistants Guide is a great starting point when looking for resources as it provides a comprehensive collection of PA-related resources curated on a single site! Physical examination and diagnosis are separated into individual tabs of the guide. When it’s time to start preparing for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE), the PANCE tab of the guide has study materials and resources to help you get ready to ace the exam! You’ll also find links to professional organizations and resources for writing and citation support.

Here are some of our favorite PA resources:

Research Databases:

  • PubMed: Find health sciences articles on clinical, basic sciences, and public health information in one easy location. Himmelfarb’s PubMed search filters allow you to easily filter results by systematic reviews, practice guidelines, randomized controlled trials, cohort and case controls, and background and review articles.
  • Scopus: This interdisciplinary database provides citations and abstracts to more than 25,000 journals, and includes full-text access to Himmelfarb-subscribed journals.
  • CINAHL Complete: With coverage of nursing, biomedicine, alternative and complementary medicine, consumer health, and allied health disciplines, CINAHL Complete is a great place to find full-text access to scholarly articles.
  • Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: If you’re looking for a systematic review, this database is a must-search resource! Cochrane systematic reviews use Cochrane’s methodology and seek to identify, appraise and synthesize all of the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific topic. 

Point-of-Care Resources:

  • DynaMed: This evidence-based resource includes drug and disease information. DynaMed is updated daily, so you can be sure you are getting the most current information. Disease information is presented in an easy-to-read bulleted format and includes epidemiology, etiology and pathogenesis, history and physical, diagnosis, management, complications and prognosis, prevention and screening, guidelines, and patient information.
  • Epocrates+: This evidence-based resource also provides disease and drug information. Disease information is presented in a step-by-step approach that covers prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.

Journals:

PANCE Prep Resources:

  • PA Exam Prep: Practice questions with answers will help you prepare for PANCE and PANRE. PA Exam Prep has customizable features that allow you to select topic coverage, choose the number of questions, and annotate exam questions and answers. 
  • Exam Master: This resource has question banks to support studying for PANCE and PANRE. Create a free personal account to access the content.

Books:

Published on
Photo of books stacked with spines showing titles displaying.

Are you looking for some summer reading? Himmelfarb Library’s Humanities and Health Collection might have the right book for you! Literary accounts of illness can provide valuable insight to healthcare providers about the lives of sick people. Popular health sciences-related non-fiction titles can help those working in the health sciences understand how far the implications of their work can reach.

Himmelfarb’s Humanities and Health Collection is composed of fiction and popular non-fiction selections that offer a variety of perspectives on being a health provider and a patient. This collection is located in the “nook” to the right as you enter the library, past the service desks, near the first-floor restrooms. If you need a break from textbooks and journal articles, consider trying our Humanities and Health Collection! 

Here are some recently published books that are part of this great collection:

Published on
Close up image of a rainbow Pride flag.
Photo by Cecilie Johnsen on Unsplash

Last week’s Ways to Celebrate This Year’s Pride Month post highlighted a variety of books, documentaries, local events, and volunteer opportunities available to celebrate Pride Month this year. In today’s post, we’ll focus on LGBTQ+ healthcare-focused resources available through Himmelfarb Library that can deepen your understanding of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Selected Books

This selection of LBGTQ+ focused books is available 

Selected Journals

  • Journal of Health Disparities Research & Practice: This journal explores the problems and challenges created by health disparities among diverse populations including the LBGTQ+ community.
  • Health Affairs: This journal covers a wide range of topics related to health care policy and managed care and often addresses LGBTQ+ related issues.
  • International Journal of Transgender Health: This journal covers gender dysphoria, medical and psychological treatment of transgender individuals, social and legal acceptance of hormonal and surgical sex reassignment, and transgenderism.
  • Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health: This multidisciplinary professional forum covers issues related to psychotherapy for gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals.
  • Journal of LGBT Youth: This journal contains information on current developments in educational policy, curriculum development, professional practice, and pedagogy involving gay and lesbian studies.
  • Journal of LBGT Issues in Counseling: This journal provides a professional forum for research, best practices, and emerging trends and issues related to counseling the LGBT community.

Streaming Videos

  • Born to Be: This documentary provides an intimate look at the work of Dr. Jess Ting (he/him) and the impact of gender-affirming care on patients and has transformed his own life.
  • Cured: This documentary explores the campaign that led to the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental illnesses in 1973.

Are you interested in learning more about influential members of the LGBTQ+ community? Check out Himmelfarb’s profile of Dr. Rachel Levine, the first openly trans woman to be confirmed to a federal position by Congress. Or learn more about one of GW’s own in our profile of Dr. Lawrence “Bopper” Deyton, Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Public Health at GW’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS). Dr. Deyton played a crucial role in HIV/AIDS research during the early 1990s.

Are you interested in more general resources available at GW? GW’s LGBTQIA+ Resource Center provides comprehensive educational, support, and advocacy services including workshops, special events, and mentoring opportunities. GW Out for Health is a GW SMHS student-led organization that serves as an advocacy group and as a place to build relationships and a sense of community within the LGBTQ+ community within SMHS. Learn more about Out for Health by emailing gwofh@gwu.edu. You can also learn more by exploring the resources available on GW’s Gender and Sexuality Resources page.

Published on

We’d like to welcome everyone joining the SMHS, GW Nursing and GWSPH communities this month! Himmelfarb Library has a wealth of resources and services to meet your patient care, education, and research needs and you don’t need to visit the building to take advantage of most of what we offer. Our electronic collections are available 24/7 from anywhere, on campus or off campus when using VPN or web authentication services.  

Himmelfarb Resources and Collections

Himmelfarb has 125 databases to search, including PubMed, Scopus, and our library discovery service Health Information @ Himmelfarb. Health Information @ Himmelfarb enables users to search physical and electronic books, journals, articles, dissertations, and more from one search box.

To browse and access our collection of e-journals we recommend using BrowZine. BrowZine can be accessed on a browser or you can download the app to your IOS or Android device. You can assemble a personalized bookshelf of journal titles, follow your favorite journals, and be alerted to new issues with a table of contents.

We also recommend installing LibKey Nomad on your favorite browser for easy access to full-text when searching PubMed, Scopus, EBSCO databases, Google Scholar, Amazon, publisher sites, and more. Nomad will alert you to the full-text availability of articles and e-books from Himmelfarb and in many cases deliver a PDF with one click.

Himmelfarb provides a wide range of electronic book titles from Access Medicine, ClinicalKey, EBSCOhost, and R2 Digital Library. You can browse our e-book collections or view our special collections in Health Information @ Himmelfarb. We also have many print books! Our main book collection is on the basement level and most books can be borrowed for 3 weeks with up to 2 renewals.

If we don’t have what you need, we can get it for you through the Consortium Loan Service or Documents2Go. Consortium Loan Service provides free loans of materials from most of the academic libraries in the DC metro area. Documents2Go provides scanned article and chapter copies or physical book loans with up to 30 free requests for Himmelfarb users a year.

Clinical Tools and Applications

For those providing patient care, Himmelfarb has specialized apps and information services to support you. DynaMed, Lexicomp, and others are available to be downloaded as apps for easy access from your device. Check our App Shelf to browse for tools.

For residents specifically, we offer NEJM Resident 360. This resource contains interactive cases, videos, rotation prep materials, clinical pearls, morning reports, and more! To learn more about NEJM Resident 360 and our many resources for residents, check out our Residents and Fellows Research Guide.

Research Support

Himmelfarb can support you in your research from helping with literature searches or systematic reviews to organizing sources with RefWorks or Covidence. We can even assist with your data management and sharing plan if you are applying for NIH funding. See our Resources for Early Career Research Guide if you’re just getting started with research. Our Scholarly Publishing tutorials are a great way to learn about all aspects of the scholarly publishing lifecycle at your own pace. For more seasoned researchers, we offer a Research Profile Audit Service to get the most out of the various profile services, like ORCiD and SciENcv.

24/7 Access

For most of the academic year, the Himmelfarb Library facility is open 24/7. We will be observing shorter hours during the month of July - but will still be open nightly until midnight. Note that from June 12 to July 26, 2023 entry to both Himmelfarb Library and Ross Hall will be through the Himmelfarb courtyard entrance doors from 7pm to 7am Monday through Friday and on weekends. You need your GWorld badge to enter the library. There is space for quiet conversation and group work on the first floor and quieter spaces for study on the second floor. Reserve our study rooms in advance. 

Can’t come to the library? Our librarians can assist you via chat or phone (202-994-2850) during business hours or email us anytime at himmelfarb@gwu.edu. We look forward to seeing you in the library or assisting you remotely!

Published on
You make a difference. Nurses Month. American Nurses Association. May 2023.
Photo from https://www.nursingworld.org/ana-enterprise/nurses-month/resources/toolkit/

May is National Nurses Month! Himmelfarb Library is proud to serve GW Nursing, which was recently ranked the 19th top Master of Science in Nursing Program in the country by U.S. News & World Report! To celebrate, this post will highlight some of the nursing resources available at Himmelfarb!

When it comes to nursing databases, CINAHL Complete is one of our most highly used nursing resources! CINAHL Complete includes nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. With full-text access to 600 titles, topic coverage includes nursing, biomedicine, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health, and 17 allied health disciplines. 

ClinicalKey for Nursing is another top nursing database available at Himmelfarb. This full-text database includes evidence-based nursing monographs, clinical trial modules, books, journals, practice guidelines, as well as core measures with nursing recommendations. Drug information, patient education materials, multimedia resources, nursing scales, lab references, and measurement considerations are included in this key nursing resource.

TelemedInsights was developed by the GW School of Nursing and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. TelemedInsights provides telehealth modules that support interactive self-paced learning that supports high-quality, culturally competent patient care through telehealth technology. To access this resource, click the login button. No login or password is required. However, to access this resource from off-campus, you must use the GW VPN.

Himmelfarb has more than 200 nursing journals available! Our five most highly used titles are:

  1. International Journal of Nursing Studies (IJNS): With nearly 2,800 article views and downloads by GW users during 2021, this title is our most highly-used nursing journal! IJNS publishes original research related to a wide range of nursing topics including healthcare delivery, organization, management, policy, and research methods. 
  2. Journal of Professional Nursing: As the official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, this journal publishes articles focusing on nursing education, educational research, educational policy, and education and practice partnerships. 
  3. Nursing Outlook: The official journal of the American Academy of Nursing and the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science, this bimonthly journal publishes articles that examine current issues and trends in nursing practice, education, and research.
  4. AORN Journal: This journal is focused on perioperative nursing standards of practice and the nurse’s role in patient care before, during, and after operative and other invasive and interventional procedures in ambulatory and inpatient settings. 
  5. Journal of Advanced Nursing (JAN): This journal publishes articles that further the advancement of evidence-based nursing, midwifery, and healthcare and covers a wide range of nursing-related topics including cancer nursing, community nursing, geriatric nursing, home care, mental health nursing, nursing research, and much more!

Rounding out our top ten most highly used nursing journals are the Journal of Nursing Administration, the American Journal of Nursing, the Journal of Clinical Nursing, the Journal of Nursing Management, and the Journal for Nurse Practitioners.

We also have some great e-books available! Some notable titles include: 

To learn more about Himmelfarb’s nursing resources, visit our Nursing Guide. This guide provides information about nursing textbooks, NCLEX resources, and tips on searching the literature. This in-depth guide includes information for BSN, MSN, Nurse Practitioners, DNP, and Ph.D. nursing students! Our Nurse Practitioners Guide is another resource that includes information on physical examination, diagnosis, drug information, links to professional organizations, and evidence-based medicine. 

Viewing Message: 1 of 1.
 Notice

This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. Visit GW’s Website Privacy Notice to learn more about how GW uses cookies.