Library.prn is Moving

The hosting site for Library.prn has been moved to http://libraries.mercer.edu/blogs/libraryprn/. This current Blogger site will no longer be updated, however new content and archived information will be available at the new Mercer University address. Please bookmark the new address.

NLM's Drug Information Portal

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) recently released a mobile-optimized version of its Drug Information Portal. If you access the portal via a mobile phone or other mobile device, you will automatically view the mobile-optimized version of the Web site. The Drug Information Portal is a free resource offering current easy-to-use information on more than 32,000 drugs. The resource includes links to sources of additional information provided by the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies. The topics covered include: consumer health, clinical trials, pharmacological action, physical properties and structure, as well as links to relevant biomedical literature. For more information, please click on the link below to read the release notes from NLM.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj12/brief/mj12_drug_info_portal.html

PubMed Filters Sidebar Replaces the Limits Page

PubMed has replaced its Limits option with a sidebar that allows you to filter your results. This change is an attempt to make the PubMed database more user friendly and easier to manipulate. For more information, please read the technical bulletin from the National Library of Medicine linked below.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj12/mj12_pm_sidebar.html

Get to Know...IDIS

WHAT IS IT?
The Iowa Drug Information Service (IDIS) is a powerful drug information database that indexes more than 200 peer-reviewed English-language journals from medical and pharmaceutical journals. Only articles that cover drug use in humans are included and indexed articles are available online as full text PDF documents from 1988 to the present.

  

WHAT’S IT GOT?
IDIS was established in 1965 as part of the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, and continues to provide access to primary literature and other information supporting drug therapy decision making including: drug studies, practice guidelines, FDA drug approval packages, FDA advisory committee meetings, and FDA black box warnings. IDIS indexes more than 200 journals in a variety of drug-related disciplines including all aspects of medicine, pharmacy, pharmacology and regulatory actions. Entries into the IDIS database are indexed by pharmacists who assign terms that identify the main drugs and diseases from a group of controlled vocabularies and thesauri. The drug vocabulary is based on the United States Adopted Names (USAN) system and organized according to a modified version of the American Hospital Formulary Service (AFHS) pharmacologic classification. Disease vocabulary and thesaurus terms are structured around the International Classification of Diseases, 9^th revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM).  IDIS indexers also assigns descriptors that describe the content by study type, side effects, route of administration, pharmacokinetics, pharmacoeconomics, toxicology, and other important, clinically relevant concepts. While the full text of content is available online from 1988 to the present, older articles are accessible on microfiche in Swilley Library.

All of the fields in the IDIS record are searchable: drugs, diseases, descriptors, title, author, abstract, journal title, article number and sequence number. (Article number and sequence number are unique identifiers tied to the PDF document and the article entry respectively.) Appropriate fields include a “Look Up” feature to ensure that the correct terms are entered. The IDIS thesaurus is also accessible during a search to determine the preferred term for drug, disease or condition. IDIS allows the user to save search queries to execute at a future date and to export results as a text file.

NB: When searching IDIS, be sure to click on Login by IP rather than entering a user name and password.

BOTTOM LINE
Because IDIS covers only drug information from high quality sources and uses a menu of controlled vocabulary terms, the database quickly delivers targeted, relevant results.

WANT MORE HELP?
IDIS has extensive tutorials available online at http://itsnt14.its.uiowa.edu/help/toc.htm

You may also contact me for assistance with this resource and any other research inquiry.
Hannah Rogers -- Librarian Liaison to the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
678 547 6272
rogers_hk@mercer.edu

Get to Know… New and Improved Lexicomp Online

WHAT IS IT? 

Lexicomp Online is an Internet-based collection of clinical databases and clinical decision support tools that provides users with a wealth of drug information. In November of 2011, Lexicomp Online  launched a comprehensive redesign which will become the default interface in Spring 2012.    

WHAT’S IT GOT?

Find a variety of drug and disease information by searching Lexicomp Online’s clinical databases focusing on drug information, natural products, infectious diseases and laboratory procedures, or use the clinical tools: Interactions, Drug Identification, Calculations, I.V. Compatibility, and Toxicology, for clinical decision-making. A patient information module is also included on the clinical decision toolbar. Drug monographs may include brand names, dosing, clinical practice guidelines, warnings and precautions, adverse reactions and interactions, pharmacology, mechanism of action, pharmacodynamics/kinetics, preparations, and pricing information.

Select Enhancements of the new Lexicomp Online

·         An Explore by General Category listing is now available on the home page that allows users to browse by content category without searching by a specific search term.

·         New Drug Approvals and Special Alerts are now displayed on the Home screen so that you may view the newest medications available along with timely safety warnings.

·         All Clinical Databases are now searchable from the main search box integrating content within a single search function.

·         The Search Box is prominent and accessible at all times throughout the application enabling powerful search capabilities and proving direct access to all content.

·         All Clinical Tools are available within the blue tool bar throughout the entire application offering seamless access to a comprehensive range of drug and clinical content.

·         Within the Patient Education module, all topics can be browsed alphabetically or by body system.

BOTTOM LINE

The Lexicomp you know and love has been re-engineered with increased speed and ease of use. The redesign will allow you more searching flexibility and navigation functionality. But…if you prefer the old Lexicomp Online, it will remain accessible by clicking on Classic Online at the top of the screen.

WANT MORE HELP?

Visit the LexicompTraining Resources Page to read more about enhancements, to watch a series of short training videos on the different Lexicomp Online modules, or to sign up for live one-hour Webex training sessions offered by Lexicomp.

You may also contact me for assistance with this resource and any other research inquiry.

Hannah Rogers -- Librarian Liaison to the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
678 547 6272
rogers_hk@mercer.edu

Get to Know… Journal Citation Reports (via Web of Knowledge)

WHAT IS IT?

Journal Citation Reports is a journal evaluation resource published by Thomson Reuters that is now available to Mercer University through the Web of Knowledge database portal. Journal Citation Reports makes available Impact Factors and other metrics allowing researchers to view the rank of more than 8000 science and technology journals in a variety of disciplines.To access Journal Citation Reports, go to the Swilley Library Web page  and click on Databases.  Click on W and select Web of Science from the list. Click on Additional Resources and select Journal Citation Reports. To find a journal, select Search for a specific journal and click on SUBMIT. From there you can type in the name of the journal and click on SEARCH. The complete Journal Citation Report for the named journal will be displayed. You can also search for journals by subject and compare titles within a field.

WHAT’S IT GOT?

Journal Citation Reports provides a variety of tools to weigh the importance of journals including Impact Factor, Immediacy Index, Eigenfactor score, and Article Influence score. The Impact Factor refers to the frequency in which the average article in a journal has been cited within a specific time period. The Immediacy Index indicates how quickly articles in a journal are cited. The Eigenfactor Score is another ranking method that assesses the total importance of a journal to the scientific community. Eigenfactor scores are scaled so that the sum of the Eigenfactor scores of all journals assessed in Journal Citation Reports is 100. The Article Influence score, which is also calculated by Eigenfactor, measures the average influence, per article of journal publications.

BOTTOM LINE

You can use this powerful tool to evaluate and rank thousands of journals with quantifiable statistical information gathered from citation data, however, Journal Citations Reports data should not be the sole criteria by which a publication is judged. Many factors can affect article citation including, country and language of publication, frequency of publication and subject specialization.

WANT MORE HELP?

Read more about Journal Citation Reports on the Web of Knowledge Analytical Resources page. Read more about the Eigenfactor algorithms at Eigenfactor.org.

You may also contact me for assistance with this resource and any other research inquiry.
Hannah Rogers -- Librarian Liaison to the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
678 547 6272
rogers_hk@mercer.edu

Galileo Password

The Galileo password has changed. In order to access the new password, go here: http://library.mercer.edu/patroninfo and type in your name and MUID. The new password will appear on the screen.