Learn more about Native Americans During November

The Robert R. Muntz Library has a book display in observance of National Native American Heritage Month. In the course of putting together that display, I found various links to website and free online resources that may be of interest. Here is the list:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• The Indian Health Service, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has a page honoring National Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. Some of the posters I used on the display come from this page. They have various resources of interest and links to other agencies with relevant information.
• Want some more posters? The U.S. Air Force has a few here.
• This is the federal website for Native American Heritage Month. It is an information portal created by various federal agencies.
• President Obama hosted a Tribal Nations Conference this month. President Obama delivered remarks, and you can view them via the White House blog here. You can view more of the conference and get some transcripts via C-SPAN here.
• Federal agencies often have their own proclamations and statements to go along with a federal observance. For example, from the Administration on Aging, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,  here is the statement from Kathy Greenlee, Assistant Secretary for Aging, for National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.
• Jefferson Keel, President of the National Congress of American Indians, has released a statement for the month. The NCAI is a tribal governments association.
• U.S. embassies around the world often highlight federal observances like this as part of their mission to showcase the U.S. around the world. For example, here is page on American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month created at the U.S. Embassy in Japan. These pages are meant for local people, but they make a good way for us here in the U.S. to see how the U.S. presents itself around the world.
• You may want to visit the website for the National Museum of the American Indian, part of the Smithsonian. From the website, “The National Museum of the American Indian is the sixteenth museum of the Smithsonian Institution. It is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans. Established by an act of Congress in 1989, the museum works in collaboration with the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere to protect and foster their cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs, encouraging contemporary artistic expression, and empowering the Indian voice.”
  
• The National Park Service has a feature for National American Indian Heritage Month. One of the things the NPS does is highlight places in the National Park System listed for American Indian Heritage.
  
• The U.S. Census Bureau has published a Facts for Features article with facts and figures about Native Americans. I particularly like the Facts for Features series because it compiles in a convenient place all sorts of statistics on any given topic. For example, did you know that there are 160,471 American Indian and Alaska Native veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces in the U.S.?
• The Centers for Disease Control have a page for health issues related to American Indian and Native Alaskans. You can find demographic data, leading causes of death, various informative brochures, and a many other resources.
• Another organization with medical interest for Native Americans is the Association of American Indian Physicians. Here is some of the work they do, from their website: “A major goal of AAIP is to motivate American Indian and Alaskan Native students to remain in the academic pipeline and to pursue a career in the health professions and/or biomedical research, thereby increasing the number of American Indian and Alaskan Native medical professionals in the workforce.”
• This is the official website of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Here is a bit of what they do, from the BIA website: “The United States has a unique legal and political relationship with Indian tribes and Alaska Native entities as provided by the Constitution of the United States, treaties, court decisions and Federal statutes. Within the government-to-government relationship, Indian Affairs provides services directly or through contracts, grants, or compacts to 564 Federally recognized tribes with a service population of about 1.9 million American Indian and Alaska Natives.”
• The Office for Victims of Crime, part of the U.S. Department of Justice, has a listing with resources of interest here. The list is not too prominent, but if you search the website, you can find more information.
• The U.S. Geological Survey has been creating some very nice posters for the observance. You can view and download them here. If you visit the link, you can also learn about the work of the USGS Native American Tribal Liaison Team.
• Various libraries around the nation create websites and resource lists for these observances. For example, the Madison (WI) Public Library has a page with reading lists and links to other resources of interest. If you are looking for some reading ideas, you can look over their lists. You can then check our library’s catalog via our website to see if we have the title or not. This is in addition to the books we have placed on our display case this month. As always, if you wish to find books on this or other topics, you can stop by or contact our Reference Desk.
• The Programming Librarian, a resource from the American Library Association Public Programs Office, offers a post on “Native American Heritage Month” with links to reading lists, other resources, and examples of how other libraries are celebrating.
• Want more reading ideas? Want to learn about perspectives of indigenous peoples in children’s books? There is a blog for that. You can visit American Indians in Children’s Literature, a blog maintained by Debbie Reese, former teacher and now professor in the American Indian Studies Program at UIUC. She has an extensive list of books, but she also writes on other topics related to indigenous peoples.
• And finally, find more resources for teachers and librarians related to native theme from YA author Cynthia Leitich Smith.

 

New Research Guide for the national health care debate

Check out the Muntz Library’s new Research Guide on Health Care Reform & Management. With links to statistics, surveys, policies, books, databases, news, etc., it is a great place to start as a point of reference for a research assignment, or to satisfy your personal curiosity about the national debate.

The library offers 51 Research Guides on all subjects—all created by librarians. If you have an assignment for class but are unsure where to start, use one of these guides. Each guide also has a chat widget on the right side of the screen, in which you can ask for help from a librarian. Don’t be shy about asking chatting with us; we like to help and answer questions.

To view all guides, click “Research Guides” from the library’s homepage (http://library.uttyler.edu). Browse by subject with the links on the left of the page, or click “Browse All 51 Guides (A-Z).” Here’s a direct link to the full list of Research Guides.

Also of note, especially for end-of-semester projects and papers, our Citation Guide contains helpful links and information on how to cite sources in APA, MLA, Chicago, and other styles. If you ever have a question about how to cite something, just ask a librarian (email: library@uttyler.edu; phone: 903-566-7343; chat with a librarian from the UT System; or use the Research Guides to access the librarians’ Meebo chat widgets).

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Some Resources

The month of October has a few observances. For instance, October  is American Archives Month (see our note on the excellent program our Archivist put together here) and National Hispanic Month overlaps into October (September 15 to October 15; see notes on our programs on that here and here). October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month (link to President Obama’s proclamation for the observance). On October 13 (last Tuesday), there was a campus vigil in rememberance of domestic violence victims and those who work with them. The event took place here in the library.

Here is a small list of resources on the topic freely available on the World Wide Web:

• Here on campus, C.A.R.E. (Campus Assault Response Effort) is an excellent resource.
• For Smith County and East Texas, you can find help at the East Texas Crisis Center.
• Also in Texas, the Texas Council on Family Violence has put together a very good resource kit. You can find statistics, a media kit, sample op-ed letters in case you wish to write to your local newspapers (or maybe you need a little inspiration if you have a blog), and other items. They also provided the image I am using for this post (see below).
• Nationally there is a National Domestic Violence Hotline if you need help. The number is 1−800−799−SAFE (7233) or TTY 1−800−787−3224. The website has some additional resources. I will emphasize that if you are in imminent and present danger to dial 911.
• The U.S. Department of Justice has an Office on Violence Against Women. If you need information, facts, statistics, so on, this is a good resource on the issue.
• The Domestic Violence Awareness Project. These are the folks who promote and maintain activities for the observance. On their site, you can learn about campaigns, find educational materials, and get links, and phone numbers if you need help.

This is not a comprehensive list, but these links should give readers a place to get started if they are researching the topic as well as provide folks who may need help more information and places to get help.

In addition, you can visit the library where a reference librarian will be happy to help you find books, articles, and other materials related to the domestic violence or other topics in our holdings.

If you are at home, and you are affiliated with the university (currently enrolled student, currently employed faculty, currently employed staff), you can use our databases to do research on this and other topics. Just remember you will need your Patriots log-in and password to access our databases from home. You can also find other resources on our website.

Some information sources on the H1N1 Flu

The Influenza A H1N1, commonly known as “the swine flu,” has been all over the news in recent weeks. We would like to take a moment to give our readers some links to good sources of information so they can have some facts separated from the hype.

• MedlinePlus is always a good place to start online when looking for medical information. “MedlinePlus brings together authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations” (from the site’s About page). The NLM is the National Library of Medicine. Personally, MedlinePlus is a site I recommend to anyone looking for medical information. You can get some medical journal articles, good overview entries on a variety of topics, and even drug and medicine information. MedlinePlus has a page dedicated to the H1N1 here.
• By the way, the National Library of Medicine’s Specialized Information Service has some information too on H1N1 here. This page has many links indicating the federal response as well as international response and information.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also has a page of information on the H1N1 here. The FDA’s page includes warnings against fraudulent treatments. It is very easy for the less than scrupulous to take advantage, so be informed.
• The Centers For Disease Control (CDC) have some information on H1N1 here. They include a map where cases in the U.S. have been found and other resources updated regularly. There are also instructions on how to protect yourself and other precautions here.
• In addition, you can get some free access to H1N1 information from Dynamed, an EBSCO database product. They are providing free access to a summary of information here. More about Dynamed: “DynaMed is a point-of-care reference resource designed to provide clinicians with the best available evidence to support clinical decision-making. DynaMed is part of the suite of medical products owned and provided by EBSCO Publishing and is updated daily by monitoring medical literature sources.”
• In terms of international coverage, the source to go is the World Health Organization (WHO). You can find their page on the H1N1 here. A little more about the WHO: “WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.”
• Locally, the Texas Department of State and Health Services has a page on the H1N1.  They have a very easy to read section on what to do if you do get sick and are staying home. It is called “How to stay home safely.”

Many of these sites feature options for RSS feeds as well as tracking via online tools like Twitter. Just look for the appropriate links on the sites. If you already use a feed reader like Google Reader or Bloglines, you can add updated information to your accounts from these agencies. If you would like to learn more about RSS, you can find a nice introduction here (from the How Stuff Works website). Also, many of the sites provide the information in English and in Spanish.

You can also stop by the library, call us, or e-mail with your questions. However, do remember that your friendly librarian cannot take the place of your professional medical practitioner. We can provide information, but we do not diagnose or dispense medical advice.  If you are feeling symptoms, do take necessary steps including a visit to your physician or local clinic.

Introducing…Health and Psychosocial Instruments

Need a survey or questionnaire for your research?  Why reinvent the wheel?  The Robert R. Muntz Library is pleased to announce a new subscription to Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HaPI).

Health and Psychosocial Instruments provides ready access to information on measurement instruments (i.e., questionnaires, interview schedules, checklists, index measures, coding schemes/ manuals, rating scales, projective techniques, vignettes/scenarios, tests) in the health fields, psychosocial sciences, organizational behavior, and library and information science.

HaPI does not contain the actual instrument but gives you information on how to obtain the article.  The information in HaPI is maintained by Behavioral Measurement Database Services (BMDS).  BMDS provides copies of selected instruments cited in the HaPI database for a small fee.  If you are having trouble finding an instrument, BMDS also provides free Assistance and Consulting.  For more information about BMDS please see their brochure.

The University of Washington Health Science Libraries has created a really useful Searching HaPI guide which goes through some of the database’s advanced search techniques.  Ovid has created a Field Guide which also provides details for taking advantage of HaPI’s advanced search capabilities.

Health and Psychosocial Instruments can be accessed through the alphabetical list on the Find an Article (Databases) page and through related Research/Subject Guides.  Please note that our subscription to HaPI is limited to 5 concurrent users.  For help using Health and Psychosocial Instruments, please take a look at one of the resources above, or contact a librarian.

Reference Book of the Week: Statistical Sources

Welcome to another edition of the Reference Book of the Week here at The Patriot Spot. When I used to work as an instruction librarian, and I taught a lot more classes, one of the things I often told students writing research papers was that a good number or statistic was a pretty good way to impress their audience. I would say that with a smirk, but I also showed students where to find good statistical sources to help support their research. The U.S. Census Bureau website is a great resource, and it is a very popular one. But what happens when you need international sources? I need to know the consumer price indexes for Azerbaijan, where can I find that? Can you get me data on use of pesticides in Chad? How about statistics on airlines in Spain? Well, if you have a need for answers to these and other questions, our pick this week will help with that and more.

This week we are featuring Statistical Sources, a two-volume set published by Thompson Gale that provides a listing of statistical sources. In essence, when you need to know where you can get statistics on a particular topic, this is a good place to find out. This set of books does not provide the statistics; the books tell you what source (print, database, website) will have the statistics. This is how the publishers describe the book:

“The work continues to be an easy-to-use alphabetically-arranged dictionary and guide to current sources of factual qualitative information on well over 20,000 specific subjects, incorporating more than 140,000 citations and more than 1,600 sources, readily leading users to the widest possible range of print and non-print, published and unpublished, and electronic and other forms of U.S. and international statistical sources for economic, business, financial, industrial, cultural, educational, and other topics” (from the Preface, vii).

The set is arranged alphabetically by topic. In the case where an agency or organization does not publish their statistics, contact information is provided so researchers can contact that entity directly to make an inquiry. Before the main part of the book, there is a Selected Bibliography of Key Statistical Sources. This is a small annotated guide of basic general statistical resources. The book set also features appendixes of specific publication titles for the sources mentioned in the books as well as listing of agencies and organizations. The library currently has the 2008 (31st) edition in the ready reference shelves behind the reference desk. You can find this resource under the call number Z 7551 .S84 2008.

Reference Book of the Week: Physicians’ Desk Reference

Welcome to another edition of Reference Book of the Week. This time we are featuring the Physicians’ Desk Reference, more commonly known as the PDR. If you have been to a doctor’s office, odds are good they may have a copy of this book on their desk. However, this is not just for doctors. The book is basically a large reference resource for pharmaceutical information. In other words, it provides drug information and prescription guidance. From the books foreword:

“The PDR contains Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved labeling for drugs as well as prescription information provided by manufacturers for drugs historically marketed without FDA approval. Some dietary supplements and other products are also included. Each full-length entry provides you with an exact copy of the product’s FDA-approved or other manufacturer supplied labeling.”

The book is divided into six sections:

• a manufacturer’s index: list of manufacturers that participate in PDR with contact information and product list.
• a brand and generic name index. It gives the page number for each product by brand and generic name. For example, let’s say you want to find information for”bismuth subsalicylate.” This section tells you that you can go to page 2651 of the volume to get it.
• a product category index. It is a list of the products by prescribing category. For example, are you looking for “laxatives.” The book in this section tells you that for “laxatives,” you actually need to look under “gastrointestinal agents.” You will then find a listing of “laxatives” under the larger category of “gastrointestinal agents.”
• a product identification guide. This is a color guide. It contains photos of tablets and capsules as well as a few other pictures of packages and doses. When it comes to doses, what it means is that you get a picture of a cup with the medicine on it to show what a dose would look like.
• product identification guide. This is the main part of the guide. In other words, this is what most people using the PDR want. It covers 3,800 pharmaceuticals. The entries are alphabetical by manufacturer. So going back to our example above of “bismuth subsalicylate,” this is where you go to page 2651. By the way, the brand and generic index told you also it is made by Procter & Gamble. If you still have not guessed, the brand name is Pepto-Bismol.
• a diagnostic product information. This provides use guidelines for diagnostic tools.

The PDR is published by Thomson, and it is updated annually.

There is a website that serves as a companion to the PDR, www.pdr.net. However, use of the site requires registration, which is restricted. It “is available free of charge to U.S.-based MDs, DOs, Dentists, Optometrists, NPs and PAs in full-time patient practice, and to U.S. medical students, residents and other select prescribing allied health professionals” (from the website). Non-medical users would have to purchase access.

The PDR is kept in the ready reference shelves (behind the reference desk) under the call number Ref. RS 75 .P5 2008. The book is also a pretty common selection in public libraries.