Dear Students,
ONLINE LIBRARY SERVICES: the Library & Archives Service continues to provide all online library services & access to our online collections as normal. Plus, we have enhanced and added to our online support in areas such as:
- Literature Searching guidance & training.
- Accessing online readings and online research material.
- More ‘1 to 1’ sessions (via Zoom/Skype) to discuss your literature search with a Librarian.
- New COVID-19 resources and repositories of shared COVID-19 literature searches.
The support we provide ranges from beginner level to advanced level literature searching for MSc Projects based on Systematic Review principles.
Full details of our Literature Searching services and support are listed below. If you want to dive straight in and book a one to one session to discuss your literature search or get started using our online training material (mini-courses, videos, presentation, readings, etc.), then please visit the Library Moodle page here:
https://ble.lshtm.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=88
Best wishes,
Kate & Russell,
Kate Perris and Russell Burke.
Assistant Librarians, Information Services.
Library and Archives Service.
1. Online 1 to 1 support – bookable Zoom / Skype help sessions with a Librarian.
The Library provides bookable 30 minute ‘1 to 1’ sessions for students to discuss their search / search questions with a librarian. Students should have attended a literature searching training session or worked through the online self-teach mini-module first (see section ‘3’ below). Please email your search topic & draft search to us before the session so we can provide as much benefit and advice as possible.
There is a link to the online Student Booking form for Library 1 to 1 sessions on the Library Moodle page.
MSc Project students can book one 30 minute session per student. We have to limit it to one session to ensure fairness and access for all students.
These bookable sessions are added to each week / month, so please do keep checking, or email us at: library@lshtm.ac.uk if you have any questions about these sessions.
2. Other Literature Searching support for students.
The Library provides direct support for the Literature Search component of projects, from framing your topic as a research question and identifying search concepts through building the search and using different databases, to managing your search results, de-duplication and finding full-text.
NB – we do not cover the screening processes, data extraction & synthesis and the tools used for these. The Assistant Librarians are not involved in these elements of the research process – literature searching is our area of expertise.
Training materials from teaching sessions earlier in the year:
If you have previously attended the Library’s ‘Effective Literature Searching’ training, you should be able to find the teaching materials and handbooks for these sessions on your MSc programme’s / course’s Moodle pages.
3. Online support and self-learn tools provided by the Library:
If you have not attended previous Library training, then don’t worry! We have an online mini-module that covers all aspects of the literature searching process and can be found on our Library Moodle page. Just scroll down to the “InfoSkills & Literature Searching Training” section.
There you will find a link to our Intermediate Level Literature Searching online training module. It takes about 2-3 hours to work through (similar to the face to face training sessions). The mini-module is not assessed, and you can dip into it as an when you like, you do not need to complete it in one go. It is used very successfully with our distance learning MSc Project modules.
If you have attended the Library delivered Literature Searching sessions for the MSc Project Modules, then you might want to have a look at the online module as a refresher.
Also on our Library Moodle page, you will find links to presentations, videos demonstrating the various stages of the searching process, details about searching different databases, finding grey literature etc.
4. Finding full-text material and accessing material not available at LSHTM.
There are sections on our Library Moodle page that provide help and instructions on both of these issues. If in doubt – please email us at: library@lshtm.ac.uk with any literature support or any other library related query/request and we will get back to you asap!
5. NEW – links to new COVID-19 and other resources.
We have added links to a range of new COVID-19 research resources on our Library Moodle page (a new section towards the end of the Moodle page).
6. Using Endnote & Mendeley – support from IT Services.
The Library training mentions using EndNote / Mendeley in relation to managing your search results and de-duplication. Instructions on using these tools are provided by IT Services. You can find out more about these tools and the support on offer by IT Services on the IT Services Moodle page or via ServiceDesk.
7. Contacting us.
If you have any questions about your research or using / accessing resources, that are not answered by the above information, please email us at: library@lshtm.ac.uk or via ServiceDesk.
