Duke Medical Center Library & Archives News

Spring has officially sprung, and what better way to celebrate than by sprouting new beginnings with the Medical Center Library & Archives' new Seed Library! Inspired by our Medical Garden, our goal is to help our community cultivate gardens filled with medicinal and native plants.

Located at the Service Desk on Level 2R, the Seed Library offers a variety of seeds that are completely free and ready to plant! Most of these seeds fall within the medicinal and native plant categories, making them perfect for those interested in growing a garden with health benefits and ecological value.

Seeds currently available:

• Eastern Columbine
• Cardinal Flower
• Hoary Skullcap 
…

Recent federal efforts have aimed to reduce spending and costs associated with research. 

Access to high-quality published research – including results from clinical trials, laboratory studies, and detailed descriptions of research methodologies – is an essential foundation for all research programs, as well as for patient care and biomedical education.

As a central administrative service, the Medical Center Library helps cut costs for researchers and Duke as a whole. Rather than researchers purchasing individual articles for as much as $40 - $60 each, our curated collections of journals are available for the whole institution at no additional individual cost.

In 2023, our top journals were used more than 1.5 million times. If these articles were purchased…

At the beginning of every new year, there are often changes in journals which may include additions, platform changes and cancellations. Though there are no cancellations this year, below are some changes for 2025.
Additions  
The following title is being added to our subscriptions because it meets our criteria for inclusion based on cost, usage, journal quality, and relevance.

• NEJM AI 
• ACI – Applied Clinical Informatics
• Digestive Disease Interventions
• Drug Research Drug Discovery, Development, Evaluation, Translational Medicine
• Methods of Information in Medicine

New Platforms   
The following journal titles will now be available on…

Categories: Resource Outages, Resource Updates

With numerous databases and thousands of journals, locating the full-text article can sometimes be a challenge! In this post, we will offer several tips and strategies for connecting you to full-text articles. 

First things first: Always access resources through the Library Website 
An important step is to make sure that you access our databases (e.g., PubMed, CINAHL) and our journals via our library website so that these resources recognize your connection to and affiliation with Duke. 

How do I access full-text articles when searching databases? 
When you connect to a database like PubMed, CINAHL, and Web of Science (and others!) and conduct a search to locate literature, each…

Are you looking for a full-text article or a physical book that the Medical Center Library does not own?? We have a service that will help! 

To order resources that the library does not own, you can utilize our InterLibrary Loan Service. Here are a few highlights of this service: 

• You can submit requests for full-text PDFs online
• There is no charge to Duke students, faculty, or staff 
• Includes journal articles and book chapters delivered to you as emailed PDF links
• 1 to 4 day turn-around for most requests (larger requests may take longer than 4 days to fill)

Tips for using this service…

March is Women’s History Month! Learn more about Duke history by checking out our online exhibit: Women in Duke Health.

This exhibit highlights women in multiple fields at Duke, many of which were pioneers or firsts in their disciplines. It looks at their stories and the context in which those stories took place through oral histories. We encourage you to listen to the recordings or read the transcripts of these women talking about their experiences.   
Further historical perspective is presented through individual profiles and interviews, a general timeline of events, and background interviews conducted with people who have a longtime view of Duke Medicine.

View the online exhibit…

Categories: Exhibits

Tags: women, archives, duke history

Graduation is an important and exciting time of change for many students. Sadly, one of these changes may involve losing access to many Duke resources such as library subscriptions to journals and databases.

Before You Lose Access

• Go through your saved citations and PDFs and decide which ones you want to keep. If there are any articles that you would like to get PDFs for, do this before you leave while you still have access to free full text.
• Evaluate your citation manager needs before you leave. If you are using Endnote, double-check that you have the most current version on a personal device. This access will last you for a couple years, but you will have to repurchase it at some…

Categories: Databases

Tags: citation management, reference management, open access

Thursday, March 13, 2025  |  Noon - 1:00pm  |  Online

Enhance your research capabilities by learning the most effective ways to use AI with a focus on literature searches and research queries. This hour long session will delve into the ethical considerations of using AI in research, provide guidance on creating effective prompts, and demonstrate the practical applications of two advanced AI tools, Copilot and Elicit. Don't miss this opportunity to expand your research toolkit with cutting-edge AI technology. 

Join our wonderful librarian instructors online as they help you to understand the ethical challenges associated with the use of AI tools for research, create effective prompts, and learn how to utilize two different AI tools for your research.

…

Categories: Classes

A lactation room is now available in the Medical Center Library! This dedicated space provides a clean, secure, and user-friendly environment for nursing parents who need to pump or nurse during their time on campus. The room is equipped with comfortable seating, electrical outlets, and privacy features; users must bring their own pumps. This initiative aligns with the library’s commitment to supporting the health and well-being of the Duke community.

The lactation room is 104B Seeley Mudd building. This is Level 1 of the library, located near the computer classroom. 

To register for lactation room use, follow these steps:

1. Set up your DukeCard ID for access: Submit the access form at least 10 days in advance to have your DukeCard ID programmed…

Categories: Alerts

Tags: space

“There are now, people of color all over Duke Hospital and no one thinks anything of it. That would be his legacy... He said to me that when the Black medical students began to come to do, and no longer sought him out, he understood that the institution had changed. For a very long time, they always would look around the faculty and probably take a wild guess that the one African-American physician or one of a couple, probably had some say in their being there. Right, so they will go and introduce themselves. But there came a time where that changed. And that was not probably not as early as you would think. I'm sure that was well into the 80s. And, you know, a few more of them, and fewer will come by to, you know, to get advice or counsel, and that kind of thing. But to me, his legacy…

Tags: black history month

Museum of Durham History Presents E is for ESP   
On Display  
February 18th- March 18th   
Duke University Medical Center Library, Level 3

The Medical Center Library & Archives is happy to host another traveling exhibit from the Museum of Durham History (MoDH). As part of continuing programming for their current exhibit, 100 Year of Duke: Names to Remember, the MoDH developed a traveling version of E is for ESP. Originally part of the Durham A-Z series, this exhibit explores the legacy of JB and Louisa Rhine, and the Duke Parapsychology Department in the 20th century. Keep an eye out for the next location! 

Categories: Exhibits

Tags: space

“It was interesting. It was 1969 when I first got here, and the hospital had sort of desegregated. And I say “sort of.” It's not a very exact term. On paper, it was, but in point of fact, it was not because there were private diagnostic clinic patients, and there were “staff patients.” In order to be a private patient, you would have to have money or insurance. Most of the African Americans and some poor whites did not have [those things]. So, they were in staff clinics, and you’ve probably seen some pictures of the clinics. They typically had two appointment times: 8 and 1. People would come very early hoping to get in line first. Some people would obviously sit there for hours waiting to be seen. There was a way of getting care and specialty care, but it was also really, really…

Tags: black history month

Happy Valentine's Day from the Medical Center Library and Archives! Check out these heart related resources available through the library.

Print books available for checkout: 

The curious history of the heart : a cultural and scientific journey   
Vincent M. Figueredo   
For much of recorded history, people considered the heart to be the most important organ in the body. In cultures around the world, the heart-not the brain-was believed to be the location of intelligence, memory, emotion, and the soul. Over time, views on the purpose of the heart have transformed as people sought to understand the life forces it contains. 

…

BRIDGING THE GAP:  Advancing Health equity together

Join the Duke Fuqua School of Business Health Care Club for their annual Duke MBA Health Care Conference featuring industry-leading speakers on improving equitable access to health care. This full-day, in-person conference will take place on March 26th, 2025, and welcomes attendees from Fuqua, Duke University, nearby academic and healthcare institutions, as well as health care minded individuals nationwide. Registration is limited, so register early to secure your place!

Health equity is one of the most pressing challenges in the healthcare industry, requiring innovative frameworks, inclusive approaches, and bold strategies to address systemic disparities. Whether enhancing healthcare delivery through DEI…

Categories: Events

“As I said before, we only had maybe three or four faculty at Duke at the time, who were black. Dr. Moore was the only black attending an OB-GYN. There was Dr. Johnson who was in internal medicine, Dr. Jacquelyne Jackson, who was there in sociology, and one other black physician in psychiatry. So once he saw me and some of the other black medical students, he invited us over to his home to meet his family. And just to kind of give us some semblance of being with someone that we could understand where we were, and kind of what we're trying to do. And he certainly gave us a lot of encouragement, in terms of being able to survive in any kind of environment. And, you know, he would constantly tell us that excellence will always prevail. So it didn't matter whether you're black, white,…

Tags: black history month