Library Announcements

ALEPH - A New Integrated System for the Library

Library staff in all FSU libraries are puzzling over their computers trying to accomplish tasks they have been performing for years. The reason for the stress is Aleph, a new library management system from Ex Libris. The system is used to coordinate all aspects of library service: ordering, cataloging, serials management, circulation & overdues, reporting statistics.

Starting on Monday, May 2, after a weekend of downtime for the transition, all library functions will be accomplished using Aleph. The system is being implemented over three years by the Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA) for libraries in the eleven state universities in Florida. FSU is in the second of three phases of transition. Last summer UF, UNF, and UWF migrated; later this summer FAMU, USF, FGCU join in; and next summer the FAU, FIU, UCF, and New College finish the initial transition.

During the time the eleven universities are making the transition, the Aleph software is being updated. Therefore, we have still more migration ahead of us, when we start moving to newer versions. Stay tuned. We will let you know more as the situation develops. For starters, this newsletter contains a brief introduction to the new online library catalog.

Featured Online Resource - A New Online Catalog - Aleph

A keyword is any word that appears in a catalog record. You may select the entire record, or you may limit your search to author, title, or subject fields exclusively.

An organized list can be compared to the old card file catalogs that were alphabetized by the text on the top line of the card. A search in this box takes you to a place in the card file where the text starts as you have specified. There are many options for narrowing an organized list search; the most often used are at the top: title, author, subject.
Note: The subject search does not include MEDICAL SUBJECTS, that is, the subjects specified in MeSH from the National Library of Medicine, used by most medical libraries and also for indexing articles for MEDLINE.
A search for MeSH subjects is an option in the second group of choices in the drop-down box.

Word order matters in the organized list search; it does not matter in the keyword search.

Help is available in several places:

• Click on the "i" icons in the catalog.
• Click on "Search Help" near the upper right of the catalog window.
• A College of Medicine Handout contains a brief description of the Basic Search screen.
• Look to those with more experience: University of Florida, University of North Florida, and University of West Florida migrated to this system a year ago. They have developed help materials for their library users that apply to our system in most situations.

It's a good idea to take a few minutes to get oriented to this new view of the library.

Featured PDA Resources - USPSTF Interactive Tool

The USPSTF Interactive Preventive Services Selector identifies clinical preventive services for screening, counseling, and preventive medication based on the patient's age, sex, and pregnancy status. It reflects current recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and can be used as a clinical tool for delivering appropriate services.
Download it from http://pda.ahrq.gov.

Begin by entering the patient's age and gender.
Then select the type of recommendation.
Screening
Counseling
Preventive Medications
Grades are:
A = Recommended Strongly
B = Recommended
D = Not Recommended
Tap search.

Off Campus Access to the Virtual Medical Library

From off campus to use the Library resources you must do the following:

1. Click on Off-Campus Access (EZProxy) at the top of Library page:   www.med.fsu.edu/library.
2. Click Login to COM EZProxy button.
   1. Type your FSU COM UserID and Password in the blanks provided (firstname.lastname).
      If you do not know your FSU COM UserID and Password, contact the regional campus ET staff:
      • Orlando: Claudin Pierre-Louis (407) 835-4103
      • Pensacola: Chris Clark (850) 494-5939 x125
      • Tallahassee: Shane Marshall (850) 645-1257
      • Sarasota: the IT helpdesk on main campus (644-3664) for help.
      • or on campus, the IT helpdesk (644-3664) for help.
   2. Click Login to COM EZProxy button.
3. Click on Start EZProxy and Return to the College of Medicine Library (click here)
4. This takes you back to the Library Homepage. Notice that all URLs now contain the phrase:
   ". . . ezproxy.med.fsu.edu/."
5. You must follow links from the Library page to get to resources and make sure this phrase stays in the URL. If it links you out, and that phrase vanishes, you are no longer connected to EZProxy. You will know you are kicked out of the proxy if a site asks you for a UserID and Password. If you think this should not the Medical Library immediately. We have discovered some sites that the Medical Library immediately. We have discovered some sites that do this and have fixed them as they are brought to our attention.