Lunch with the Librarian Series for Public Health Students

Please note: Sana Siddiqui is now the public health librarian. If you have public health related questions, please contact them at siddi019@umn.edu. 

Only UMN affiliates have access to these sessions. Each session is on-demand and includes a recording of the presentation and any accompanying materials. If you encounter any accessibility barriers, please reach out. The recordings are "organic" and sometimes reflect what's happening in my home (i.e., dog barking, cat jumping onto the laptop). Apologies in advance.

Please note: Sana Siddiqui is now the public health librarian. If you have public health related questions, please contact them at siddi019@umn.edu. 

There are high expectations for your ability to locate research-based public health evidence for assignments and research papers in graduate school. This workshop will teach you how to search Ovid MEDLINE, a sophisticated and powerful health database. Techniques to maximize efficiency, such as using the PICO framework and scanning abstracts, will also be shared. (2021) (You have the ability to turn on closed captioning as needed.)

Audience: First year graduate students and anyone who has not been formally trained in searching health/medical databases.

Slides: Slides to accompany "Searching for literature in health databases" 

Recording: Recording of the Zoom presentation "Searching for literature in health databases" (55:54)

Please note: Sana Siddiqui is now the public health librarian. If you have public health related questions, please contact them at siddi019@umn.edu. 

A citation manager is critical to staying organized as a graduate student, and it will save you hours - even weeks - of time spent hand typing citations. This workshop will teach you how to use Zotero, a free, cloud-based citation manager. (2021) (You have the ability to turn on closed captioning as needed.)

Audience: First year graduate students and anyone who has never used a citation manager.

Slides: Slides to accompany "Using a citation manager: Zotero" 

Recording: Recording of the Zoom presentation "Using a citation manager: Zotero" (1:01:02)

Please note: Sana Siddiqui is now the public health librarian. If you have public health related questions, please contact them at siddi019@umn.edu. 

Public health is inherently interdisciplinary. Sometimes your research question can be best answered with literature published in journals outside the health field. For this, you need to turn to unfamiliar databases. This workshop will teach you how to locate an appropriate database, best practices for searching non-health databases, and how to use an interdisciplinary database. (2021) (You have the ability to turn on closed captioning as needed.)

Audience: Graduate students whose academic interests are inter-disciplinary in nature (e.g., policy, agriculture, etc.).

Slides: Slides to accompany "Searching for literature in non-health databases"

Recording: Recording of the Zoom presentation "Searching for literature in non-health databases" (24:46)

Please note: Sana Siddiqui is now the public health librarian. If you have public health related questions, please contact them at siddi019@umn.edu. 

Now that you’ve practiced searching for literature in Ovid MEDLINE, you’re ready to learn advanced searching techniques such as wild cards, adjacency searching, and MeSH hierarchy. This new depth of skill will allow you to quickly and effectively reach literature needed to support your work. (2022) (You have the ability to turn on closed captioning as needed.)

Audience: Graduate students who have already attended the Searching for Literature in Health Databases presentation.

Handout: Handout to accompany "Advanced searching in Ovid MEDLINE" 

Recording: Recording of the Zoom presentation "Advanced searching in Ovid MEDLINE" (39:55)

Please note: Sana Siddiqui is now the public health librarian. If you have public health related questions, please contact them at siddi019@umn.edu. 

Sometimes the Internet is the best source of information, especially when looking for statistics, data, and program evaluations. This workshop will lead you to curated lists of trustworthy websites, teach you how to systematically search for information on the Internet, and how to evaluate the information you find. (2022) (You have the ability to turn on closed captioning as needed.)

Audience: Graduate students who want to learn more about using information from the Internet as academic sources (good for citing data, statistics, programmatic summaries, evaluations).

Slides: Slides to accompany "Searching for evidence not found in literature databases" 

Recording: Recording of the Zoom presentation "Searching for evidence not found in literature databases" (39:23)

If you have questions about data management and sharing, you can contact Shanda (hunt0081@umn.edu) or Research Data Services (data@umn.edu).

Think of data as any information you collect in your research efforts - this could be PDFs, spreadsheets, project documentation, interviews, etc. This workshop will teach you data management strategies including file inventory, file naming, folder organization, storage & back up, documentation, project close-out and long-term preservation. The second half of the presentation addresses data management as it related to publicly sharing data in a repository. (2022) (You have the ability to turn on closed captioning as needed.)

Audience: All graduate students, especially if you plan for a career in research.

Slides: Slides to accompany "Research data management" 

Recording: Recording of the Zoom presentation "Research data management" (1:09:30)

Please note: Sana Siddiqui is now the public health librarian. If you have public health related questions, please contact them at siddi019@umn.edu. 

You’ll quickly learn in your careers that you don’t have access to the vast number of databases that you do when you’re affiliated with the University of Minnesota, but you do not have to rely on Google alone. This workshop will point you to free databases that lead to evidence-based literature and other types of open-source materials. (2022) (You have the ability to turn on closed captioning as needed.)

Audience: All graduate students, especially if you plan for a career outside academia.

Slides: Slides to accompany "Finding research-based evidence after you graduate"

Recording: Recording of the Zoom presentation "Finding research-based evidence after you graduate" (50:56)

Please note: Sana Siddiqui is now the public health librarian. If you have public health related questions, please contact them at siddi019@umn.edu. 

You may be conducting a scoping or systematic review as part of a research assistant position or for your dissertation. This session will also be helpful to all students who plan to write a comprehensive literature review as their master’s project. This workshop will teach you the expected methodology, point you toward guides and checklists, and help you think through how to treat a literature review as a research study. (2022) (You have the ability to turn on closed captioning as needed.)

Audience: Second year graduate students who are conducting a literature review as a master's/capstone project and students working with faculty on literature searching projects.

Slides: Slides to accompany "Conducting systematic & scoping reviews" 

Recording: Recording of "Conducting systematic & scoping reviews" (55:01)