Category Archives: About the Library

Three Questions: Jeanine McSweeney, Associate Librarian, Scholarly Communications

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For our next Three Questions interview, we spoke with Jeanine McSweeney, Associate Librarian, Scholarly Communications.

What areas can you help MSK users with?

I manage Synapse, the authoritative database of MSK authors and their publications. The Synapse Team tracks and adds new publications by MSK authors and organizes them under author profiles. Within Synapse you will find links to the full-text of a work, Altmetrics and citation counts, and integration with ORCID iD. I work with various departments at MSK to create customized groups of authors, helping them to track, showcase, and report on the publication output of their departments. Basically, if you have questions about managing your own or your department’s publications, or finding ways to demonstrate your research impact, I am here to help.

What projects have you been working on recently?

My fish tank, a recent trip to Watkins Glen, and me.

Over the summer we released our annual Synapse Publications Report, which highlights the publication output of our MSK researchers. Right now my team is working on restructuring the Synapse “journal articles” category so that our users can better pull out just the peer-reviewed research articles for their grant and reporting needs. Currently Synapse includes non-peer reviewed formats in the “journal article” category like editorials, letters, reviews etc., and we have learned from our users that breaking this down would be more helpful. We aim to have our workflow in place by the end of the year so that moving forward, pulling out needed data from Synapse is even more convenient for our users.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

When able, my first trip will be to Germany so I can visit with my partner’s family that I have not seen now in over a year. Aside from that, I read a lot of Agatha Christie when I was young and have romanticized notions of the English countryside that I would love to spend time exploring. So one of my bucket list trips is to spend a few weeks touring around England and the rest of the UK.

 

MSK Library Reopening With Limited Hours

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The MSK Library’s physical space has reopened with partial hours. Our user community can enter the Library on Mondays and Thursdays, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM. Please note, the Library will be closed on Mondays and Thursdays between 12:30 PM and 1:00 PM for additional cleaning of user workstations.

All MSK staff must register for a user workstation in advance. No walk ins or casual seating is permitted at this time. 

Before making a reservation, please review our reopening guide. 

All Library visitors must adhere to the following guidelines: 

  • Entry by reservation only: All visitors must reserve a seat to use the library. Reservations can be made on the calendar below. 
  • MSK universal masking policy: Universal masking is required at all times in all MSK facilities. A procedure mask will be available from security on entry or within the Library. Please wear the MSK-issued mask while in the Library. Masks must be worn so that the mouth and nose are completely covered at all times. 
  • Physical distancing: Maintain a distance of at least six feet from others. 
  • Hand hygiene: Wash hands with soap and water frequently (for at least 20 seconds) or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer in areas without easy access to soap and water. Avoid touching your face. Sneeze and cough into an elbow or a tissue, even when wearing a mask. Staff are advised to clean hands immediately after sneezing or coughing and after cleaning and disinfecting their work areas. 
  • Alcohol wipes: Wipes have been placed in high traffic areas in the Library for our users who wish to wipe down their workstations before using.  Please note that scheduled cleaning will also be done by MSK housekeeping.
  • Employee HealthCheck Tool: All Library visitors are required to complete the MSK COVID-19 HealthCheck Tool for Employees before they begin work on the day that they will be visiting the Library. 
  • Eating/Drinking: No food/beverages are permitted in the Library at this time, with the exception of bottled water.  

Please note, the following activities within the physical Library space are currently unavailable: 

Making a Reservation

  • You may register for a morning (8:30 AM – 12:30 PM, 4 hours total) reservation or an afternoon reservation (1:00 PM – 5:00 PM, 4 hours total).  
  • You must bring a mobile device to communicate with Library staff members. No house phones or office phones will be available for Library visitors.  
  • You may only register for either a morning reservation or an afternoon reservation. No back-to-back reservations are permitted at this time.  
  • Reservations are only available to MSK/SKI staff. Visitors must wear their employee ID.  
  • Only sit in your assigned seat number while in the Library. Your seat will be numbered and clearly labeled. 
  • The Library will be closed between 12:30 PM – 1:00 PM every day to allow for cleaning. All visitors must exit the Library during this time. 

The MSK user community can access the majority of the Library’s services and collections remotely. Visit our Virtual Library Services page to learn more. 

Looking for information on COVID-19? Visit our post on the MSK Library Blog to browse vetted resources and sites. 

Our ILLiad Webpages Have a New Look!

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MSK Library users know and love our ILLiad Document Delivery service. It allows anyone with an MSK email address to access a world of information beyond MSK Library’s highly specialized cancer-related collections. This is a service that is used by researchers throughout MSK to get articles on topics ranging from angioplasty to zebrafish.

Today we’re launching new ILLiad webpages. These pages serve the same functions as before with an updated look. There are a few changes you should know about.

The new pages are mobile friendly, accessible, responsive, and generally updated in their look and feel. We hope the new pages will be intuitive to navigate for users, but if you’re having trouble, please reach out to the Document Delivery Services team.

Now, let’s get down to some specifics. Your login for ILLiad has not changed. It is your MSK network username and your employee ID number – not your MSK password. Once you log in, you may be prompted to update or confirm some information for your user profile. This information will not be shared outside the library and is only used by our staff to contact you about your requests and for some statistics within the library as to who is using our service. Complete the form and click “This information is correct” at the bottom of the page to submit your answers. You will not be able to move on to the request pages without submitting this information.

Once you confirm your contact information, you’ll reach your ILLiad dashboard. The menu items are now along the top and the left-side menu is gone. This includes a new Search field. You can search by request number, author name, article title, and more.

Some of the language has been updated to remove library jargon. The image below shows requests with new, plain language statuses.

ILLiad is still the portal for MSK library users to request scholarly material, retrieve PDF files of articles and book chapters when those requests are complete, and check on interlibrary book loans coming in from libraries across the country. We hope that these new web pages will make your experience using ILLiad even better. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Document Delivery Services team at ill@mskcc.org.