Category Archives: About the Library

Trial the Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database and Let Us Know What You Think!

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The MSK Library is delighted to announce a trial of the Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database with evidence-based medicine tools. The trial will run from September 26 – December 24, 2018.

Please take advantage of the JBI trial and be sure to share your feedback about your experience. Your feedback matters!

Resource Description: Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database is published by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). The Institute is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading providers of evidence-based information, as well as the tools that assists healthcare providers to implement an effective evidence–based practice program and provide the best possible quality patient care.  To learn more about this resource, contact us.

The Dangers of Using Sci-Hub

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For those of you who haven’t heard of Sci-Hub, this website was founded by Alexandra Elbakyan and her intent for developing this site was to remove barriers that would hinder progress in science. The reality is that Sci-Hub does much more than allow visitors to illegally access published journal articles and download scientific papers. What researchers should understand is how Sci-Hub uses an individual’s personal login credentials. While a small number of credentials are donated to Sci-Hub, the majority are taken, often without the knowledge of the individual.

In a recent post from the Scholarly Kitchen (09/18/2018), guest author, Andrew Pitts provides collected evidence and real examples of how Sci-Hub is using personal credentials to get into academic institutions  — “While illegal access to published content is the most obvious target, this is just the tip of an iceberg concealing underlying efforts to steal multiple streams of personal and research data from the world’s academic institutions.”

In June 2016, I published a post entitled, “Sci-Hub: Serving Up Scholarly “Pirated” Journal Articles”, which provides additional information. For those still curious about Sci-Hub, this 2016 bibliography from Stephen Reid McLaughlin might also be of interest.

For now, we hope that our researchers will resist the urge to use Sci-Hub or any other third-party aggregator of this nature, and instead choose our Document Delivery Service for articles not found in the MSK eJournal collection.

Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services

Three Questions for our Librarians – Johanna

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This month I asked three questions to Johanna Goldberg, Research Informationist.

What areas can you help MSK users with?
If you have an information need, I am happy to help you with it. I perform literature searches to inform patient care, publications, presentations, and grant proposals for our patrons. I can also work with you on learning database search techniques, using citation managers, identifying journals for publication, and setting up search alerts on your topics of interest. I also develop and run searches as a part of systematic review teams. In addition, I’m the Clinical Medical Librarian for the Breast Imaging Service.

What projects have you been working on recently?
I just started working at the MSK Library in June, so I’ve been learning the ins and outs of my new workplace. I was at an academic medical library prior to MSK, and I’m adjusting to the somewhat different needs of a hospital library setting. In particular, I’m getting to know my colleagues in the Library, the research needs of our patrons, and the team at the Breast Imaging Service.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I’ve been thinking about domestic travel lately. I’ve visited 25 states and would love to fill in the gaps on my map, which includes most of the Southeast and the West. Road trip, anyone?