New to Health Science Librarianship?

Topics on this page:
Getting Started Medical Terminology and Dictionaries Tutorials Web Design Current Awareness Health Care Provider Locators Library Associations Regional Library Systems and State Libraries

Getting Started
Basic Medical Library Management Overview
This NN/LM site is for both professional and non-professional librarians new to health or hospital libraries it seeks to provide instant access to quality resources which will help the librarian meet the needs of the patron.

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Medical Terminology and Dictionaries
Understanding how medical terminology is "built" helps librarians communicate effectively with medical personnel and patients. Below are some links that will help you familiarize yourself with the lingo.

Medical Words: A Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine
A nice introduction to basic medical terminology.
Medical Terminology Links
Ohio University
Links to MLA, Medical Abbreviations Dictionary, and Vivisimo.
MedlinePlus Medical Dictionary
MedlinePlus features an outstanding Medical Dictionary by Merriam Webster.
Who Named it?
Eponym: something named after someone. In medical librarianship, it is most commonly a disease, condition, or drug named after the person who first described or recognized it.
Biographical dictionary of medical eponyms.

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Tutorials

PubMed: From NLM Tutorial and Quick Tours
Learn more about PubMed with the online tutorial and quick tours. The quick tours are brief animated tutorials with audio for using PubMed. Topics include searching PubMed, My NCBI and searching PubMed's MeSH Database.
Environmental Health and Toxicology Tutorials
From the National Library of Medicine's Specialized Information Services, these tutorials provide a basic understanding of toxicology as an aide for users of toxicology literature in the National Library of Medicine's toxicology and environmental health databases.
NCBI Online Education
What is the National Center for Biotechnology Information? How can you use it for your research. Here is your starting point to learn more about resources offered by NCBI.

Bibliographic Management Software

From NIH Library: Endnote, Managing Your Search Results
Lists classes at NIH as well as links to users guides and guided tours from Endnote
From Endnote
Technical Support and Services, includes guides, tip sheets and information pages
From the Public Health Library at Berkeley
Compares and contrasts Endnote, Refworks, QUOSA and Zotero

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Web Design
If you're charged with putting up a website for your library, here are some sites that might be helpful:

Web Design: Hospital Libraries Section of MLA
Provides resources on style, html, graphics and accessibility.
Hardin MD Medical/Health Sciences Libraries on the Web
Links to many HSL sites including medical schools.

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Current Awareness
Stay up to date on the latest news and trends in medical librarianship!

NN/LM Blogs NN/LM staff provides a variety of information through blogs. Check out the New England Region's NER'eastah Blog!
NLM Email Lists
Be alerted to the latest changes to National Library of Medicine resources and services. The National Library of Medicine also offers RSS Feeds for News, Podcasts and Webcasts.
NLM Technical Bulletin
Subscribe via email or RSS.
NAHSL -L listserv
Connect with your North Atlantic Health Science Libraries colleagues. All major NN/LM announcements are forwarded to this list as well as our blog.
MEDLIB-L
An email discussion list for Medical Library Association members and other health science librarians to share important information about administrating their libraries and furthering the profession.

Health Care Provider Locators

MedlinePlus Directories page
Doctors, dentists, donating cord blood, dog guide schools. You name is you will find it here. MedlinePlus is a great starting point for locating physicians, care providers, hospitals and other health care support resources. For information on a local level, check out MedlinePlus Go Local.

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Library Associations
Many of these professional associations provide opportunities to learn from colleagues through meetings, discussion lists, etc.

National

MLA: Medical Library Association
The Medlib-l discussion list can be a major asset to a new health science librarian. Post questions to the list. Monitor the list to learn.
Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries
Supports academic health sciences libraries and directors in advancing the patient care, research, education and community service missions of academic health centers.
SLA: Special Library Association
SLA has a Biomedical & Life Sciences Division and a Medical Section

Regional