Catalogue Complexities

Depending on how you search for Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties (CPS) in the UBC Library catalogue--either by selecting the radio button 'Title,' as if it were a book, or selecting the 'JOURNAL/Ejournal title' radio button--you can be led astray.

In my original search for this item, I chose the latter, clicked 'Go' and was taken to the 'Electronic Journals at UBC' page within two links. There, next to CPS, a link is provided to 'Title details for ulrichsweb.com.' However, clicking this link leads to an error message, no data found. I was a bit confused by this and contacted the UBC Library ehelp and asked whether UBC had access to the online version of CPS. It was determined UBC did not have access. The ulrichsweb link, that is not working with this particular ejournal, is to Ulrich's Periodical Directory. By randomly selecting other ejournals in which the urlichsweb link was provided, I found some did indeed link to that directory while others resulted in the same error message.

However (and this is a big however as it would have saved me a lot of time and frustration), if I had searched under 'Title' it would have resulted in two records, one for the print verson, one for the online version. So, in fact, UBC does have electronic access to CPS. I discovered this last night in class when I searched CPS again, choosing 'Title.' At that time there was message saying that access to E-CPS, as it is called, was temporarily unavailable; today that has been remedied.

My concern is for other people searching the catalogue, such as med or pharmaceutical students searching off-campus, considering the CPS a journal/serial (it has a ISSN number) and quickly giving up when encountering the broken link. Is it any wonder that some people find OPACs intimidating, without even mentioning the sometimes complex interfaces and required search strategies of databases?

Additionally, while the UBC Catalogue--as do the OPACs of McGill University Libraries and the Toronto Public Library--list the publisher as the Canadian Pharmaceutical Association (CPhA), the 2006 print version and the Association website have it as the Canadian Pharmacists Association. Perhaps there has been a name change that is not refected in the catalogue. Significant? Maybe not. Just one of those minute details that some librarians and budding librarians like to obsess over.

http://www.pharmacists.ca/content/about_cpha/
who_we_are/publications_products/inside_publications.cfm#cps

The MEDLINE Database

Playing around in MEDLINE. Searching ascorbic acid using the shortcodes (*ascorbic acid/) produces 12865 results, while manually checking the Explode and Focus boxes results in 12963 citiations. One would think that these two entry strategies would produce the same results.

Is vitamin C effective in treating a common cold? Well, that all depends on whose randominzed control trial (rct) you chose to believe. Setting the limit on my search of ascorbic acid and the common cold to rcts produced 16 results. The 3 abstracts I read (UI 16118560, UI 12201356, UI 338079) reached different conclusions on the efficacy of vitamin C in shortening the duration of or preventing the common cold. Maybe chicken soup is the answer after all.

On another topic, for Consumer Health, the MedLinePlus website is amazing (http://medlineplus.gov/). Check out the Interactive Tutorials (upper right corner of the homepage). Finally, I now know the difference between good cholestorol (HDL) and bad cholestorol (LDL). The Canada Health Portal seems to be the Canadian equivalent (http://chp-pcs.gc.ca/CHP/index_e.jsp). It doesn't seem as intuitive or as well laid out as MedLinePlus, though I've only given it a casual glance.

Introduction

The creation of this blog is a requirement for LIBR 534 Health Information Sources and Services, a SLAIS course at UBC.

I am new both to blogging and health librarianship and have thus chosen to use the handle 'abecedarian' as I am just beginning to learn the ABCs.

As for the specific focus of the blog, that will unfold as the course rolls out and I begin to discover where my interests lie and what excites me in this field.