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Category: Electronic Resource Access

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Welcome sign on wooden background.
Photo by Katherine Hood on Unsplash

Himmelfarb Library would like to extend the warmest of welcomes to all of our new users! Regardless of whether you are a new resident, fellow, physician assistant, or a new student, we are excited that you are here and are looking forward to serving you during this next chapter of your medical or health sciences training! In an effort to help get you started on the right foot, we’d like to share some ways Himmelfarb can help make your experience a positive one.

Resources for Residents & Fellows:

If you are a new resident or fellow, Himmelfarb has resources to help you navigate this new role. Check out our Residents and Fellows Guide for information about accessing Himmelfarb resources from the GW Hospital and other off-campus locations. This guide also provides links to popular clinical resources such as DynaMed, ClinicalKey, Lexicomp, and PubMed. You’ll also find a link to our App Shelf where you can download apps to selected resources on your smartphone or tablet. Links to specific program resources, and MFA training resources are also available. For additional information about GW University and GW Hospital wireless access, accessing your GW email, and GW Hospital clinical systems, visit the Wireless Access and Clinical Systems Guide.

Himmelfarb also provides access to NEJM Resident 360. Create your free personal account using your @gwu.edu email address. Once you’ve created your account, access the resource via the library or go directly to NEJM Resident 360 to access interactive cases, videos, rotation prep, clinical pearls, morning reports, and more! 

Research Help Made Easy!

We’d like all of our new users to know that getting research help is easy! Our reference librarians are available to answer your questions in-person or remotely. Use our Ask a Librarian service right from your computer and you’ll be connected to our real reference and research staff. For more information about getting reference and research help, check out Our New Normal page.

Himmelfarb’s Resources are Available from Anywhere!

Himmelfarb’s 100+ databases, 4,800+ journals, and 6,400+ ebooks are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere! Install the LibKey Nomad Google Chrome browser extension for seamless access to full-text articles available through Himmelfarb. After installing the extension, choose ‘George Washington University - Himmelfarb Library’ as your institution, and you’ll be ready to quickly download full-text articles! When accessing our resources remotely, we recommend using the GW VPN. For directions on how to install the GW VPN, visit Himmelfarb’s off-campus access page.

Get to Know Us:

Learn more about Himmelfarb and our resources by visiting our tutorials page. You can also check out our research guides on a wide variety of topics. We are also active on social media, so be sure to connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to get the most updated information about all things Himmelfarb! 

We’re looking forward to serving you! Welcome to the GW community!

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The American Library Association has declared April 4-10, 2021 National Library Week. This year’s theme is “Welcome to Your Library”.

The pandemic has challenged all kinds of libraries to adapt and find creative ways to reach and serve their users. Here at Himmelfarb we’ve made changes for both the small cohorts of students and staff who can still visit the physical library and those now using our services virtually only. We encourage you to continue to take advantage of these new adaptations!

Ross Hall Courtyard Pickup and Returns - You can schedule an appointment to both pick up and drop off Himmelfarb Library collection items and items borrowed through the Consortium Loan Service (CLS) via the Ross Hall Courtyard. This service is available to users who currently don’t have physical access to Himmelfarb. Learn the details here.

Shipping Service - For those who can’t come to Himmelfarb Library or the courtyard, there is limited shipping service to have items delivered or to return Himmelfarb collection or interlibrary loan items. Requesters are responsible for shipping costs and the service is not available to students out of town for a rotation or clerkship. Learn more here.

Extended Reserves Loans - All reserve books are currently available for a one week check out period. Find reserves supporting the MD program here and reserves supporting Public Health programs here.

Ask a Librarian - Got a question or a research need? Get help immediately through our chat services. When you chat Ask a Librarian you are always “speaking” with a member of Himmelfarb Library’s reference and instruction team!

As always, our electronic resources are available to you 24x7 via the library website. Frequently used resources are in the Popular Resources box at top left, including links to PubMed, DynaMed, and top journals. Use our Research Guides to find trusted resources on topics including citation style, predatory journals, boards preparation, cultural competency, and researcher services.

We look forward to welcoming many of you back to our physical facility as soon as we can safely re-open to all our users!

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Starting fall of 2020, GW staff, faculty, and students have free digital access to the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. This new access is available in response to the GW Student Association’s request for better access to legitimate and reliable news sources. 

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For the New York Times, users must create a NYT account with their GW email address. Create a password for the account that is different from your NetID password. You will get access to digital content via the website and the New York Times app. All content is available except for NYT Cooking and Crosswords which require separate subscriptions.

For the Washington Post , access is only available via the website, not the app. There is no need to set up a separate account.  As long as you are signed in with your NetID on the device and browser you’re currently using you should get passed through to Post content.  

For the Wall Street Journal , users must create an account with their GWmail address and identify whether they are a student or staff/faculty. Students will need to provide a graduation date. Again, do not use your NetID password for this account. Use a different password when setting it up. The account provides access to both website and app content for the Journal.

There is a GW Libraries page with more information, including what to do if you already have a subscription to one of these publications that’s linked to your GWmail address, and contacts for technical assistance.

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Ever try to access an ebook in the Himmelfarb Library collection and get the message “Sorry, this ebook is in use”? Ever wonder why we can’t just scan entire books in our collection to create an electronic copy? Ever get frustrated by a broken article link in Blackboard and wonder why they couldn’t just upload a PDF? While these seem like questions about different systems, they all come down to the same thing - copyright.

eBook is in use error message

When a library acquires an ebook, they don’t actually own the ebook - they license a copy from the publisher. The same thing happens when you “purchase” an ebook from Amazon. And much like Amazon ebooks come with publisher restrictions in place to prevent piracy, library ebooks have their own limits established by the publishers. These include everything from limits to how many pages you can save or print to how many people can access the ebook at once. If you’re trying to access one of our eBooks and get a message that someone else is using the book, usually if you wait 15-20 minutes and try again you’ll be able to get in.

As for scanning entire physical books to create our own electronic copies, that would violate copyright laws. However, when working with copyrighted materials in academia we are allowed a little more flexibility thanks to the fair use doctrine. Essentially, fair use allows us to use copyrighted material without explicit permission from the copyright holder. The fair use doctrine even explicitly mentions educational purposes as one of the main reasons it exists. When it comes to scanning physical books, generally the fair use guidelines state that you can scan one chapter or less than 10% of the book. This allows us to take advantage of our InterLibrary Loan system to the fullest, so you can access chapters from books not in our collection.

Fair use is also why we provide durable links to articles in Blackboard rather than full PDFs. Reproducing the full PDF would require your professor to obtain permission from the copyright holder. Linking to the article in Himmelfarb’s collection doesn’t. If you ever run into a broken link in Blackboard, get in touch with your professor and let us know at himmelfarb@gwu.edu so we can update the link.

Taken from our Copyright Research Guide.

Have additional questions about copyright? Take a look at our Copyright Research Guide. Questions about electronic access? Email us at himmelfarb@gwu.edu.

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PDF downloadWe recently noticed an issue with displaying some journal article PDFs and contacted the vendor.
We learned that the issue was not vendor-related, but was caused by the browser.  If you experience issues in accessing PDFs via Chrome, please try an alternate browser (e.g. Firefox, Edge, Safari, etc.).
As always if you run into issues with any resources in our collection, please let us know as soon as possible.

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Crumpled paper and a paper airplane on a dark blue background
Photo by Matt Ridley on Unsplash

As Himmelfarb Library begins the transition into Our New Normal, you may have questions about where to access certain services and resources we provide. Here’s a guide on what you’ll find available online and in-person.

Online

All of our e-journals, e-databases, and e-books remain available online. We also provide our Documents2Go service entirely online, where you can request articles unavailable in our collection.

We offer instructions on downloading and installing our mobile apps to your device.

There is a host of information available on our Research Guides, everything from question banks to anatomy images, and much more!

Himmelfarb’s Reference team is also available online. Our chat service is monitored by reference staff 8:30AM-8PM EST Monday through Thursday and 8:30AM-5PM EST Friday. Have a question a little too involved for chat? We can also schedule individual meetings with a reference librarian via WebEx. Email us at himmelfarb@gwu.edu to start the process!

In-Person

In addition to our print collection available in our book stacks, you can also find our multimedia collection, audiovisual collection, and software resources on the third floor, in the Bloedorn Technology Center.

Our special collections, the Humanities & Health collection, Historical collection, and Healthy Living collection, are all accessible in-person.

Some of our older journals are kept in on-site storage as bound volumes. You can request a specific volume for perusal by following the instructions on our Borrowing and Requesting page.

Anatomy models are available in various places throughout the library. Our skeletal models and bone boxes are up on the third floor. Heart and brain models can be checked out at the Circulation desk.

If you have any questions about access as we move forward with Our New Normal, reach out to us at himmelfarb@gwu.edu or call the Circulation Desk at 202-994-2962.

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Welcome
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Himmelfarb Library would like to welcome all of our new users! Whether you are a new resident, fellow, physician assistant or public health student, we welcome you to the GW community! Himmelfarb is ready to serve you and help make your experience here a positive one. You may be curious about what Himmelfarb has to offer and how you can make the most of our resources and services. Here are the top five things we’d like you to know about Himmelfarb:

1) Getting Research Help is Easy!

Our reference librarians are available to answer your questions and provide research support when and where you need help. Get your research and library-related questions answered right from your computer by using the Ask a Librarian service! Reference librarians are available to answer your texts and instant message questions Monday-Thursday from 8:30am-8:00pm, and Friday from 8:30am-5:00pm. 

2) Himmelfarb Resources are Available Anytime, Anywhere.

Himmelfarb’s 100 databases, 4,100 journals, and 4,500 e-books are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our e-book collection includes most major textbooks from most fields. Install the LibKey Nomad Google Chrome browser extension for seamless and speedy access to full-text articles available through Himmelfarb. After installing the extension, choose ‘George Washington University - Himmelfarb Library’ as your institution, and you’ll be all set. For more information about accessing Himmelfarb’s online resources including tips for navigating articles, check out our E-Resources FAQs page.

To access our electronic resources from off-campus, we recommend connecting to the GW VPN. The Himmelfarb off-campus access page provides additional information about installing the VPN and accessing electronic resources with your GW NetID. Many of our resources are also available as mobile apps for download on your mobile devices. 

3) 3D Printing is Available!

Himmelfarb has a 3D printer available for use by faculty, staff and students in SMHS, SON, GWSPH, the GW Hospital and the MFA. 3D printing will be available once the library opens its doors again. For more information about 3D printing at Himmelfarb, check out our 3D Printing Guide.

4) If We Don’t Have It, We’ll Do Our Best To Get It For You.

While we attempt to make our collection as robust as possible, we don’t have access to everything. In the event that we don’t have access to a resource that you need, you can place a request through our Interlibrary Loan/Documents2Go service. Through this service, we are able to work with a nationwide network of libraries to obtain a copy of a needed resource on your behalf. Articles are normally delivered within 24-72 hours. Interested in learning more about this service? Check our in-depth Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery guide.

5) The Health Sciences Research Commons Can Expand the Reach of Your Research!

Health Sciences Research Commons (HSRC) is Himmelfarb’s institutional repository, and is a perfect place for you to share your research output during your time at GW. All faculty, researchers, students (with the sponsorship of a faculty member), and staff affiliated with SMHS, SON, GWSPH at GW are eligible to submit their scholarly works to HSRC. By placing your work in HSRC, your work will be easily shareable and discoverable via Google Scholar and other search engines. If you have questions about the HSRC, take a look at the FAQ page or contact Sara Hoover (shoover@gwu.edu), Metadata and Scholarly Publishing Librarian, for more information.

This top five list is just a glimpse into all that Himmelfarb has to offer! In addition to the resources mentioned above, we have numerous research guides on a wide variety of topics. Tutorials are also available on a variety of topics. Himmelfarb welcomes you to the GW community! 

 

 

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Someone filling in multiple choice test question bubbles.
Image by Alberto G. on flickr.

In Wednesday’s blog post we shared Himmelfarb Library’s electronic clinical case study resources to incorporate in your online instruction. Today we’d like to share some of the electronic question banks Himmelfarb provides access to. While Himmelfarb provides access, in order to unlock all features you must create a personal account. Instructions for doing so are provided.

Exam Master Medical Subject Review provides over 9,000 questions and explanations to prepare for the USMLE Steps 1, 2, and 3. Exam Master tries to emulate the board exams, helping students build confidence by identifying strengths and improving on weaknesses. In order to use Himmelfarb’s Exam Master, you must make a free Exam Master account, then access Exam Master while on campus or when logged in to the VPN.

USMLEasy offers questions and answers to prepare for Steps 1, 2 CK, and 3. Their customization feature allows you to select topic coverage and the number of questions. You’re also able to annotate exam questions and answers. In order to access USMLEasy, access the webpage through the provided link and create a personal profile.

BoardVitals provides test banks for NBME Shelf Exams in seven different medical subjects. Features include timed test conditions, study tips, and individualized study recommendations based on practice test performance. In order to register, connect via the VPN and create an account at the link provided. After you’ve logged in once while connected to the VPN, you’ll be able to access your account from anywhere.

PA Exam Prep offers practice questions for PANCE and PANRE, as well as customizable features like topic coverage, number of questions, and annotation. In order to unlock these customizations, create a free account at the provided link.

For additional online instruction resources, check out Himmelfarb’s Online Instruction Research Guide. Our librarians are happy to assist with any questions you might have as well. Email us at himmelfarb@gwu.edu, or connect via our Ask Us chat.

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After Himmelfarb Library closed its physical space, we made changes to Health Information @ Himmelfarb to make searching for electronic content easier.  The default search mode was switched from Articles + Himmelfarb Catalog to Online Access.  The online access search limits items retrieved to those available full-text online. This includes article, book chapter, and e-book content, as well as some streaming media.

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Searchers can still search physical content by switching the search mode to any of the “catalog” options:

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Requesting holds on books and Consortium Loan request options are turned off until Himmelfarb and other Washington Research Library Consortium libraries reopen. Library users can continue to request items that can be sent digitally through our Documents2Go service.

Have you ever wanted to keep filters you applied in a search active throughout a search session, or easily remove all of them? Now you can! A new enhancement allows setting and keeping multiple filters active with “Remember all filters” or removing all with “Reset filters”. These options become available at the top of the left column menu whenever filters are applied.

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If you have questions about Health Information @ Himmelfarb or need assistance with searching, contact Himmelfarb’s Information Desk staff!

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Published on 1 Comment on Try new resources @ Himmelfarb
Database and book trialsHimmelfarb Library has temporary access to a number of resources and welcomes your feedback on these resources.  The set of resources is diverse and includes a video anatomy atlas, an infectious disease database, and multiple discipline-specific databases including AccessEmergencyMedicine,  LWW Health Library: Advanced Practice Nursing, and   LWW Health Library: PA Rotations/Specialties - plus many more!
 
You can see the full-list of trial resources including access details and trial dates on the Trials: Temporary Access to Selected Resources Research Guide.
 

Please explore these trial resources and provide your feedback.  Email feedback and questions to Laura Abate (leabate@gwu.edu).

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