Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/93354
His previous positions include head of reference and liaison services in the State University of New York Upstate Medical University's Health Sciences Library, serials and electronic collections librarian at Thomas Jefferson University's Scott Memorial Library, and medical librarian at Pittsburgh's St. Francis Medical Center's Health Sciences Library. Is there a librarian in the house? Launching a medical school library that is part of CMU's existing University Libraries is one of the features that drew Long to CMU and its new College of Medicine. He also was attracted to the medical school's mission focused on training medical doctors to serve in rural communities, explaining that his family in rural Pennsylvania lived 25 miles from the nearest doctor and 100 miles from the nearest major medical center. Immediate access to the medical library's collection is important for the students completing their clinical work at affiliated hospitals and medical centers in communities across the region as well as at the CMU College of Medicine's east campus in Saginaw. This is why Long says there are no bookshelves in the medical library room – called the "Learning Commons" – of the College of Medicine Building on CMU's main Mount Pleasant campus. The entire collection of books, journals and various databases will be available online. "Having access to all this information is very critical, " says Long adding that there are nearly 8,000 journals, 2,000 books and various databases available electronically. "When I started in the profession, students had to swipe a card to get into the medical library at three in the morning. Now they have remote access 24/7." The CMU College of Medicine will train generations of physicians to serve the communities of mid- and northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula with a focus on primary care and general specialties. To date, the college has received more than 2,300 applications. • Online journal documents experiments via video A new tool for CMU students studying science and medicine is the Journal of Visualized Experiments. This peer-reviewed online journal posts research content and recorded experiments. As a valued resource noted for presenting visually captivating experiments, the Journal of Visualized Experiments facilitates understanding a variety of experimental techniques. "This journal is a great resource that shows people how to do different kinds of experiments, " " says Matthew Ismail the library's director of collection development. "Students can benefit from watching the videos over and over, rather than just watching it once in a classroom setting. Ismail hopes that students will utilize this resource and benefit from the experiments and in-depth descriptions provided. The videos in the Journal of Visualized Experiments vary according to complexity and are designed to be viewed in a 10-minute timeframe. Steps and content of every experiment are listed to the right of each video, giving students a step-by-step breakdown of procedures as experiments unfold. Students can access more than 1,000 experiments from the Journal of Visualized Experiments any time by using the libraries' catalog. Videos can be stopped, restarted and shared, allowing students to view the information at their convenience. "The Journal of Visualized Experiments is an important tool in the library due to the significance and growth of the health professions, neuroscience and medical programs at CMU, " " says Ismail. "When supporting these programs, an online journal such as this one is a very useful resource. CMU subscribed to the Journal of Visualized Experiments in the spring of 2012. Since then it has received positive feedback from many faculty members. • 5