Category Archives: About Resources

Keyword Proximity Searching

Posted on by

Sometimes just combining search terms (keywords) with the standard Boolean ‘AND’ operator is not granular enough to focus results in to retrieve relevant articles. Typically, in addition to Boolean Operators and double quotes for exact phrases, many databases also allow specifying that the keywords searched be within a certain number of words of each other in either direction. This bridge between the narrow exact phrase search and the broad ‘AND’ operator search is called Proximity or Adjacency searching and it uses Proximity, or Adjacency, operators. Proximity searching is not applicable to searching with subject headings, it is applicable to keyword searching only. Proximity operators help increasing specificity of the search. Typically, in complex search strategies, both Proximity and Boolean operators are used.

Proximity searching is available in major proprietary databases, including Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, and databases on OVID platform, such as Medline and PsycINFO. Proximity searching is not available in Pubmed.

Proximity operators and rules for using them vary by database.

An example of Proximity Operators in Embase:

The databases specific Proximity Operators and the rules for their use can be found in the Help pages for each database.

New MSK LibGuide on COVID-19

Posted on by

Over the last year, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt by everyone in all walks of life, across the planet. It is not surprising, therefore, that the amount of COVID-19 related information available, both scholarly and not, has continued to grow exponentially.

With over 5,000 trials registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, over 120,000 openly-available journals article in PubMed Central (PMC), over 110,000 records in PubMed, over 2,000 COVID-19 related systematic reviews or meta-analyses, and even 296 publications by MSK authors (as of 3/11/2021), efforts to organize this information and make it more discoverable couldn’t be more welcome.

Thanks to the savvy information evaluation and organization skills of MSK Library Research Informationist, Kendra Godwin, the MSK community and the public at large can now take advantage of the Library’s new COVID-19 LibGuide to discover the plethora of COVID-19 resources and tools available online.

The MSK Library COVID-19 LibGuide includes resources arranged across nine tabs/sections:

  • Home
  • Local Resources
  • Resource Collections, News, and Trackers
  • Literature
  • Mental Health and Workplace Safety
  • Equity, Ethics, and Communication
  • Guiding Clinical and Cancer Care
  • Research, Data, and Visualizations 
  • Information for Cancer Patients and Caretakers

Included resources come from sources ranging from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to scholarly publishers, professional organizations, public and private institutions, etc., that are both national and international. This finding aid will hopefully help fulfill a variety of information needs, both work-related and personal.

For more information about the COVID-19 LibGuide, please feel free to Ask Us at the MSK Library.

Finding the Right Database

Posted on by

Explore the MSK Library’s redesigned A-Z Databases list!

Last year our old alphabetical database list got a makeover and now it’s easy to search and browse for the perfect database for your specific needs.

Our databases can always be browsed alphabetically, but now they can also be browsed by subject area and found by keyword search!

 

 

Once you identify the database you want to search, the link will take you directly to that database – remember, if you are working remotely be sure to log into Remote Access first – or you can “share” the database by selecting the icon, which allows you to copy the permalink to the database as well as send the URL to yours or someone else’s email.

The Database page is linked to the Help page but you can always contact the Library with questions about this page as well as for assistance with database selection and searching.