All classes offered by Hardin Staff are listed below. If a class is not currently scheduled, please contact us to request a group or one-on-one session. Email: lib-hardin@uiowa.edu.
CINAHL
This hands-on session will demonstrate how to use CINAHL effectively to find high quality nursing and allied health literature. An explanation and demonstration of how to select the most appropriate search terms will be provided. Search practice will be conducted at the end of the session to reinforce what was demonstrated.
Comparison of Citation Management Software
Learn about the basic features of common citation management tools and discover which one is most appropriate for your needs. Class will include brief demonstrations of 4 tools: RefWorks, Endnote, Mendeley, and Zotero. The focus of the class is to compare and contrast these products, as well as provide resources for assisting with decision making in choosing a suitable tool. Advice on getting started with using a citation manager will be offered.
EndNote
EndNote is a reference management tool that helps you to easily gather together your references in one place, organize them, and then insert them into papers and format them in a style of your choosing. This session will walk you through the basics of using EndNote to collect and format your citations. The class will be hands-on.
Evidence-Based Resources
This class will focus on creating a clinical question using PICO, the difference between publication types, and the different resources where one can find evidence based information. The class will also discuss the difference between searching Cochrane, PubMed, National Guideline Clearinghouse and UpToDate.
Get Organized
Are PDFs scattered all over your computer with names that you cannot pronounce? Want to create an organized, clearly named, and internet-accessible personal library? This hands-on session will show you how using free tools such as Mendeley and Dropbox as well as commercial tools such as EndNote and Refworks. Attendees are encouraged to bring a selection of PDFs with them.
Get Started Publishing
This class will focus on different issues related to publishing including: impact factors, H indices, Eigenfactors, cited reference searching and locating journals based on subjects covered. Different options for managing citations will also be discussed.
Google Docs
This class will introduce you to the suite of free office productivity tools (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and more) offered by Google. Topics will include a basic overview, security and implications of Google accounts, comparison to Microsoft Office, an overview of some cool competitors, and as much hands-on tinkering as time will allow!
Health Sciences Mobile Resources
Take a tour of some new (and some well-established) apps for your mobile device or smart phone! At this informal brown bag technology meeting, you’ll not only be shown a variety of tools for both academic and clinical use but also invited to share your own examples and experiences. If you don’t have a mobile device, don’t worry: The only necessary smart device is you!
How to Determine Your Scholarly Impact
This class will teach participants how to use tools such as Ulrich’s, Journal Citation Reports, Web of Sciences, and Scopus to determine the impact that journals, articles, and authors have had on a particular field. Topics such as impact factors, Eigenfactors, and H-indices will also be discussed.
Keep Current
Want to know as soon as an exciting new article is published? Tired of skimming the websites or paper copies of multiple journals to see what is in the new issue? This hands-on session will show you how to create a single destination for information from your favorite journals, databases, websites and blogs using RSS feeds and auto-alerts.
Library Tours
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences is a 55,000 square foot facility housing over 100,000 books and offering access to nearly 5400 journals. We have 3 computer labs, 2 computer classrooms, a 24 hour study area and over 500 study seats. Library tours are available to individuals or groups. Tours include an overview of the Hardin Library facility focusing on where to find materials and the location of various service points.
Lit Searching for a Systematic Review
This class will focus on tips and techniques for carrying out a successful literature search in support of a systematic review. Topics will include techniques for developing search strategies, deciding which databases to search and how to seek out grey literature for a given topic. There will also be discussion on selecting journals for hand searching, documenting search strategies, and saving and organizing references.
Mendeley
Mendeley is a popular citation management tool with a social networking twist, allowing researchers to share, compare, and discuss materials. This introductory session will cover the strengths and weaknesses of the Mendeley tool, as well as provide an in-depth demonstration of its functionality.
NIH Public Access, Open Access, Authors’ Rights, and Other Trends in Publishing
The NIH Public Access Policy, which assures that all articles arising from NIH-sponsored research are freely available within a year after publication, is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changes in the scholarly publishing. Participants will learn more about these trends and to discuss experiences with publishing.
Orientation to Hardin Library Resources
This course will go over the electronic resources and databases that Hardin Library offers. Students in this session will be introduced to our major databases as well as our electronic journals, ebooks, and services offered by the library. This course can be tailored to meet the needs of a particular group.
Patents
The purpose of this hands-on class is to introduce several resources found on the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office website that may be used to locate information on patents, trademarks and patent applications. Google’s patent searching feature will be also be highlighted as a source for finding information on patents.
Population Statistics
Are you intimidated by the idea of having to look up population statistics? If so, then this session is for you! We’ll introduce you to the key types of statistical measurements that are used with U.S. census data, teach you how to find demographic and social data and show you where to locate comparison and historical tables that you can use to find the specific information that you are looking for.
PubMed
PubMed is the National Library of Medicine’s index to the medical literature and includes over 17 million bibliographic citations in life sciences. This one hour session will introduce you to the basics of searching PubMed and will also cover: using subject headings (MeSH headings), combining searches, choosing limits, and saving, printing and emailing search results.
RefWorks
Want some help writing your next paper? Come to Hardin Library’s class on RefWorks and learn about this web-based bibliographic management tool. In this class, you’ll learn how to import citations from PubMed, how to enter references, how to create a quick bibliography, and how to add end and foot notes to your papers (Write-n-Cite). RefWorks is available for free to anyone affiliated wtih UI and can also be accessed remotely.
Scopus
Scopus is a multidisciplinary database with substantial international coverage. All citations that are in EMBASE are also in Scopus. Scopus also allows you to measure an author’s scholarly impact and to track an article’s cited and citing references. Come to this hands-on session and learn more!
Tips for searching for Gene, Nucleotide Sequences & Protein Information
Overwhelmed by the number of databases that the National Center for Biotechnology Information has to offer on nucleotide sequences, genes and proteins? Wondering which database you should always start with? Would you like to learn how to set up an NCBI account to link articles in PubMed to records in other databases? Do you know about PubMed’s Gene Sensor? Are you familiar with the concept of linear navigation? Learn all of these tips and more in this session that is designed for anyone who needs to search the NCBI databases for genetic information.
Toxicology Resources
The purpose of this session is to introduce you to various environmental health and toxicology resources found on the National Library of Medicine’s website. Learn about important resources such as the Household Products Database, TOXMAP and TOXNET. The resources discussed in this session will be of interest to the researcher/scientist, health professional and the general public.
Twitter is more than just a social media tool. It has developed into a vibrant real-time information network used by health care providers, scholars, and scientists. Come to this hands-on session to learn the basics of twitter, advanced techniques such as searching, and examples of its use in the Health Sciences.
Web of Science
Web of Science is a citation database which covers over 10,000 journals. Web of Science specializes in citation tracking so this hands-on session will concentrate on how to do cited reference searches to find articles that cite your work. The session also demonstrates how to use the Journal Citation Index and find Impact Factors for journals in your discipline.
Zotero
Collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources with Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh], a free, easy-to-use web browser tool. Learn more at our hands on session and start gathering your materials in Zotero right away.