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Dear Mount Sinai Community,

The Library team reviews the use of journals, books, databases and knowledge management tools each year to ensure we subscribe to the resources Mount Sinai needs for learning, research and clinical care.  We have a few new and restored journals starting in January as the result of swapping out lesser used resources.  

With the financial challenges facing health care, Mount Sinai's budget for library resources for 2025 could not support all of our subscriptions. Based on usage data, costs and contract limitations, we made the difficult decision to stop subscribing to the journals and databases listed at the end of this post. Many of these will not be available online to you starting January 1, 2025.  For others, the subscription ends later in 2025 on the listed dates.   

We recognize that the loss of immediate online access is an inconvenience, but you can still get the materials you need from the Library by request. Please use our interlibrary loan service (ILL) to request articles you need from any journal at no cost to you. You will typically receive them within 2 business days, rush requesting is available, and we use the data from ILL to make decisions about the need for future subscriptions.  If you do not have an ILL account, please register now so that when you need something, you are ready to request it seamlessly.  

For the databases and tools, below we identify alternatives that you can use or other locations where you can access the resources. If you have any questions, please contact us at library@mssm.edu.  

Hearing from you about how you are impacted by these budget reductions will allow us to prioritize restoring the most needed resources should the budget situation improve.  We welcome partnerships with others that may have funds to support subscriptions to titles that we cannot currently afford.  

Sincerely yours,  

Kris Alpi, Associate Dean of Libraries and Information Sciences

New Resources starting January 1, 2025

Journal additions through swapping:

Platform additions:

  • McGraw-Hill Access Neurology
    Includes titles such as Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology, Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Neurology, and Lange Clinical Neurology
  • McGraw-Hill Access ObGyn
    Includes titles such as Williams Obstetrics, First Aid for the Obstetrics & Gynecology Clerkship, and Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Obstetrics & Gynecology
  • McGraw-Hill Access Pediatrics
    Includes titles such as Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Pediatrics, Rudolph's Pediatrics, First Aid for the Pediatrics Clerkship

Resources stopping / Cancellations as of December 31, 2024

Journals cancelled or swapped:

Databases and ebooks not renewed:

  • Encyclopedia of Reagents (EROS) 
  • McGraw-Hill Primary Care eBook Library - The publisher is discontinuing this collection. The Levy Library catalog provides a number of comparable online books as an alternative.

Resources stopping later in 2025:

Banner with rendering of the Levy Library in 1974

November 22, 2024, marks a momentous occasion: the 50th anniversary of the Gustave L. and Janet W. Levy Library. For half a century, Levy Library has been a cornerstone of learning, discovery, and collaboration at Mount Sinai. From our origins as a library staff stewarding a physical collection of books and journals to our transformation into your partners in a state-of-the-art digital and collaborative learning environment, Levy Library has evolved to meet the needs of all learners in our dynamic academic health center. 

This anniversary is not just about looking back—it’s about moving forward. Over the next year, we invite you to help us celebrate our golden anniversary as we dive into four key themes that reflect the Library’s integral role in advancing Mount Sinai’s mission: 

Learning with the Library 

Levy Library provides a virtual and physical learning environment with current high-quality knowledge resources and expert guidance by library staff. We educate our community, fostering curiosity and critical thinking.  We leverage artificial intelligence and educational technology in collaborative activities that prepare learners to navigate a rapidly evolving world. 

Fueling Discovery & Scholarship 

For five decades, Levy Library has been at the heart of Mount Sinai's journey in discovery and scholarship. As a hub for scholarly activity, our digital library is available whenever inspiration hits.  We provide equitable access to biomedical illustration, publishing tools and workshops, and open access publishing in Levy Library Press journals.  We champion Mount Sinai authors and promote their work through the Scholars Portal. 

Advancing Clinical Care 

The Levy Library seamlessly integrates immediate, evidence-based information critical to patient care within the clinical environment to support the dynamic needs of our healthcare professionals. We partner with Graduate Medical Education, the Center for Nursing Research and Innovation, and a broad network of healthcare teams to ensure access to essential resources, training, and support. We equip every member of our health system with the tools to drive healthcare excellence and advance clinical care. 

Connectedness 

Our strength lies in the connections we build with our users, the physical and virtual places we provide for learners to connect, and the partnerships we foster across Mount Sinai. Levy Library serves as vital connective tissue, seamlessly linking our users with biomedical literature, collaborations, and partnerships. Committed to equity and accessibility, we ensure that every member of our diverse community can connect, learn, and grow. 

 

Join the Celebration Today! 

As part of our 50th-anniversary kickoff, we’re inviting everyone to explore the rich history and lasting impact of Levy Library. Here’s how you can participate: 

  • Read More About Our History: Discover the Library’s journey and its influence on Mount Sinai’s hospital and school community over at Mount Sinai Daily. 

  • Visit Our Archival Visual Display: Stop by the Levy Library to view an engaging display showcasing archival images from the past 50 years. Can’t make it to campus? Explore our image showcase online and visit the Mount Sinai Archives online collection at archives.mssm.edu

This is just the beginning of a year-long celebration filled with events, stories, and opportunities to connect. As we celebrate this milestone year, we invite you to join us in honoring our history, exploring our present, and imagining our future. Let’s celebrate Levy Moments, share stories, and define what the next 50 years of the Levy Library will look like—together. 

Here’s to 50 years of knowledge and community—and many more to come! 

Welcome to the Mount Sinai Community!

July was an amazing month to meet many wonderful new learners and we are excited you chose Mount Sinai as the place to continue your education. From the MD-PhD students and the Graduate Medical Education trainees who started at the beginning of the month, to the incoming medical student class of 2028 who toured the Library as part of Basecamp on July 29, to our new graduate students who will start in August--we welcome you to partner with the Library in your learning journey. 

I joined Mount Sinai two years ago on July 1, and here are the first two things I did to transition to my scholarly life at Mount Sinai:

  1. Start using the Mount Sinai specific PubMed URL so you are linked to the full-text articles licensed by the Library -- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?holding=mssmlib&otool=mssmlib
  2. Sign up for a free interlibrary loan account so that you can request free of charge any articles to which we don't have a subscription. 

In the coming weeks, we will have posts for student resources and service recommendations as well as a post focused on trainee resources and services. 

I hope to see you at future Library and ISMMS events, especially those with the Academy for Medicine & the Humanities.  I am always happy to hear from you if you have questions or suggestions. 

Kris

Kris Alpi, MLS, MPH, PhD, Associate Dean of Libraries & Information Sciences

 

 

 

Dear Mount Sinai community, 

We are excited to announce to Mount Sinai students and your faculty and academic programs that there are new options to preserve and share your scholarly work with readers outside of academic institutions.

When you are ready to submit your student thesis, dissertation or culminating work/capstone, there are new options in the Thesis and Dissertation Submission workflow for your consideration.   Mount Sinai now offers you the option to also make your work available through its digital collections hosted by the Arthur H. Aufses, Jr., MD Archives.  Having your work preserved in the Archives will generate a unique URL that allows you to share a link to your work with people outside of Mount Sinai who do not subscribe to the ProQuest Theses and Dissertation database. If you are requesting delayed sharing of your work due to publication or patent embargoes, you can indicate that you would like to share and then set the time periods delays, just as you do for the ProQuest database. 

If you are planning to submit your Graduate School thesis or dissertation soon, please review the instructions at https://libguides.mssm.edu/dissertations/ETDsubmission and let us know if you have any questions. Have a great summer!  

Kris Alpi, Associate Dean of Libraries & Information Sciences

New Website Banner - image of a laptop on a table with coffee and a pile of books

The ISMMS Levy Library is delighted to announce our website is being refreshed with new design!

What's New?

  • Aligned Look and Feel: The Library homepage now mirrors the style of the school's main website. This cohesive design supports our institutional identity and provides a seamless experience moving between the school and library sites.
  • Improved Navigation: We've put the search box at the top and restructured the layout to ensure you find what you need quickly and easily.
  • Enhanced Accessibility: The new design is more accessible and fully optimized for mobile devices, ensuring all community members can use it effectively.
  • More Direct Links: We added a few more key items to the Popular Tools, Collections, and Services menus.

What Remains the Same?

  • Your Essential Links: While the website has undergone a visual transformation, all links to your vital resources and services on pages within the library website, such as research guides, workshops, and interlibrary loans, remain the same.
  • The Best Starting Point for Access to Articles, Books and Databases: The Library homepage offers the quickest connection to resources and the Mount Sinai instance of PubMed. For more about login and access methods which transitioned In December to Open Athens, visit https://libguides.mssm.edu/login.

This redesign represents our commitment to enhance your library experience and ensure that our resources are accessible and user-friendly. We encourage you to explore the new homepage and familiarize yourself with the new look and feel.  We would like to thank our colleagues in Mount Sinai’s Marketing and Communication department for supporting these efforts.

You can check out the new website design at: library.mssm.edu 

If you have any questions, please contact us at refdesk@mssm.edu. Enjoy!

Kerry McKee, Director of Access Services
Kris Alpi, Associate Dean of Libraries & Information Sciences

2024 Subscription Changes Banner

Dear Mount Sinai Community,

The Library team carefully reviews the use of journals, books, databases and knowledge management tools each year to ensure we have the resources Mount Sinai needs for learning, research and clinical care.  There will be a few new or restored resources starting in January as the result of swapping out or cancellation of lesser used resources.  

With the financial challenges facing health care, Mount Sinai has reduced the budget to support library resources for 2024. Based on usage data, costs and contract limitations, we made the difficult decision to stop subscribing to the journals and databases listed at the end of this post. This is the initial list of resources that will not be available online to you starting January 1, 2024.  During 2024, there will be other resources impacted and we will add those to the list as decisions are made.   

We recognize that the loss of immediate online access is an inconvenience, but you can still get the materials you need from the Library by request. Please use our interlibrary loan service (ILL) to request articles you need from any journal at no cost to you. You will typically receive them within 2 business days, rush requesting is available, and we use the data from ILL to make decisions about the need for future subscriptions.  If you do not have an ILL account, please register now so that when you need something, you are ready to request it seamlessly.  

For the databases and tools, below we identify alternatives that you can use or other locations where you can access the resources. If you have any questions, please contact us at library@mssm.edu.  

Hearing from you about how you are impacted by these budget reductions will allow us to prioritize restoring the most needed resources should the budget situation improve.  We welcome partnerships with others that may have funds to support subscriptions to titles that we cannot currently afford.  

If you are having access issues with resources not on this list, please check the blog post Access to Library Resources Evolves in 2024 to see if your issue is a known problem. 

We appreciate your understanding during this challenging time.   

Sincerely yours,  

Kris Alpi, Associate Dean of Libraries and Information Sciences

New Resources starting January 1, 2024

Scriver’s OMMBID:Metabolic and Molecular Bases of Inherited Disease

Journal additions through swapping

  • Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  • Arthroscopy
  • Clinics in Chest Medicine
  • Gastroenterology
  • Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery
  • Journal of Hand Surgery
  • Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology
  • Journal of Nuclear Cardiology
  • Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • Ophthalmology Glaucoma

Resources stopping / Cancellations as of December 31, 2023

Journals cancelled or swapped

  • Chem Catalysis (swapped)
  • Edizioni Minerva Medica 
  • Emergency Medicine Practice 
  • International Angiology 
  • International Journal of Neural Systems 
  • Joule (swapped)
  • Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 
  • Journal of Medical Robotics Research 
  • Journal of Personality Disorders 
  • Journal of Wound Care 
  • One Earth (swapped)
  • Optics Letters 
  • Physical Review Letters 
  • Psychodynamic Psychiatry 
  • Trends in Chemistry (swapped)

Publishers where we no longer subscribe to all the journals, but renewed the journals you use the most:

  • DeGruyters (we renewed access to four journals:  Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, Journal of Perinatal Medicine, and Reviews in the Neurosciences)
  • IOP Press (we renewed access to Physics in Medicine & Biology)
  • Karger (we renewed access to eight journals: American Journal of Nephrology, International Archives of Allergy and Immunology, Nephron. Neuroendocrinology, Respiration, Dermatology, Cardiology, Complex Psychiatry
  • Royal Society of Chemistry (we renewed access to seven journals:  Biomaterials Science, Chemical Society Reviews, Chemical Communications, Nanoscale, Lab on a Chip, Journal of Materials Chemistry B, Food & Function

Databases and Tools Not Renewed 

(updated 5/31/24)

Alternative Resources or Access Mechanisms
Alt-Health Watch Search AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine Database) on the Ovid platform. AMED indexes journals on complementary medicine.  Dietary supplement and natural medicine databases are described on our Nutrition and Dietetic Resources guide

Cochrane Interactive Learning 

Systematic review resources and learning opportunities are described on our guide - https://libguides.mssm.edu/sysrev/sysrev

ExamMaster Access ends July 31, 2024. Other library-provided exam preparation resources are linked on the Interactive Question Banks tab of the USMLE and Board Review Guide. Medical students have additional resources provided by the Department of Medical Education.
GIDEON   CDC Website ; Red Book (pediatric infectious disease diagnosis and treatment) ; or contact us with the specific information you seek.
Health Policy Reference Center Many free online health policy resources are described on our Public Health Resources guide or contact us with the specific information you seek.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses We will continue to use ProQuest for graduate students to submit their theses and dissertations and provide online access to Mount Sinai dissertations and theses. What was not renewed was the multi-institutional ProQuest database of theses and dissertations (PQDT).  PQDT can be searched onsite at New York Public Library branches.  Many dissertations and theses are available online via the degree-granting institution. Visit Open Access Theses and Dissertations or your school of interest.  You can also search WorldCat and limit your advanced search to the format "Thesis, Dissertation" and then request to borrow dissertations or theses via interlibrary loan
Reference USA This database, also known as Reference Solutions, is available online from the New York Public Library with your library barcode and PIN.  All Mount Sinai community members are eligible for a New York Public Library card. Contact us if you have questions. 
STAT+ News

Access to premium content ended 5/23/2024. A limited selection of STAT News content remains freely available. Mount Sinai providers other news resources described at https://libguides.mssm.edu/newsresources. To maintain access to STAT+ premium content, the company offers individual subscriptions and discounted group plans.

For access issues, please check the list at Access to Library Resources Evolves in 2024.

 

Greetings Mount Sinai Community!

It's my favorite time of year -- time to welcome our new students to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai!   We enjoyed meeting many of you on during your tours of the Levy Library and at the Student Mixer.  If you did not stop by the Levy Library table and meet Library team members Gloria and Carrie, please consider stopping by the circulation desk of the Levy Library on the 11th floor of Annenberg,  While supplies last, pick up a Levy Library bag and a notebook featuring the Journal of Scientific Innovation in Medicine, one of the open access journals published by Levy Library Press that welcomes student authors and reviewers.

Levy Library Librarians Gloria and Carrie standing in front of the library display table

While you only need your Mount Sinai ID for the Levy Library, if you don't yet have a New York Public Library card so you can enjoy online movies, music, and popular reading materials in a wide variety of languages, we encourage you to sign up.  All who attend school in New York are eligible so don't worry if you are still a resident of another state.  Get started at https://www.nypl.org/library-card/new.  We also have more information and printed applications at the circulation desk. Your closest NYPL branch library is 96th St between Lexington and Park on the south side of the street.

We are glad that you are here and looking forward to being part of your learning community.  Have a wonderful first semester and please stay in touch!

Kris Alpi

Associate Dean of Libraries & Information Sciences

 

 

 

 

Dear Mount Sinai Community, 

Since becoming your Associate Dean of Libraries & Information Sciences in July, I have heard from many of you about online resources critical to your learning and work.  The Library team receives many more requests for new resources than we have the budget to fulfill. Combined with price increases from many publishers, this leaves us in the position of making tough choices to cancel resources with low usage or where more affordable alternatives are available.  The timing of these price increases for subscription renewals at the very end of 2022 limited our ability to engage you all about these decisions.  In the future, we will communicate broadly and early about resources being considered for cancellation. If you have questions about any of these resources and their possible substitutes, or would like to offer financial support or use cases to enable their reinstatement, please be in touch.  

We made difficult decisions to cancel the following resources:

Effective December 17:

Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD) Professional from Qiagen will no longer be available through the Library. There is a less extensive public version of HGMD available with free registration at www.hgmd.cf.ac.uk/. Here at Mount Sinai, there is a group of researchers considering licensing this data--if you are interested in connecting with that group, please let me know. 

Effective December 31:

Scriver's OMMBID - digital version of the four-volume text Metabolic and Molecular Bases of Inherited Diseases. Levy Library subscribes to many other medical genetics books such as these through Clinical Key.. The free resources OMIM (Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man) and MedlinePlus Genetics (formerly Genetics Home Reference) may also be useful. 

JAMA Evidence (aka JAMAevidence) - The Library still provides Users’ Guides to the Medical Literature: A Manual for Evidence-based Clinical Practice. Articles comprising The Rational Clinical Examination are all linked papers in our subscription to JAMA . Other resources that may substitute include BMJ Best Practice (Evidence and Calculators) and the open source Critical Appraisal Tools provided by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.

USMLE Easy - The Library subscribes to several other USMLE study resources. Medical students have additional USMLE Preparation Resources through the Office for Medical Student Affairs.

Thank you for reading and please connect with me if you have questions or concerns. 

Kris Alpi, MLS, MPH, PhD

Grid of photos representing the arts and humanities, including painting, dancing, theater, crafting, music, and a library. Also shown is the National Arts & Humanities Month logo.

Image courtesy of Americans for the Arts

Happy Arts and Humanities Month!  

We are proud the Levy Library is a destination for the Mount Sinai community as you create new knowledge and new ways of envisioning health.  We are very pleased to collaborate with the Academy for Medicine & the Humanities here at Mount Sinai to promote engagement with the arts and humanities in all aspects of our lives. 

This is the first in what will be an ongoing series of messages sharing resources and opportunities to inspire and activate your creativity. We will highlight the resources and tools available to everyone through the Levy Library and Academic & Research Informatics.  Upcoming topics include:

  • Beautiful physical books about artists presenting as part of the Alexander Richman Commemorative Lecture in Humanism and Ethics in Medicine series
  • Art supplies and portable easels to use inside or outside the Library
  • The Levy Library's Graphic Medicine book collection
  • The podcasting studio 

For now, we invite you to learn more about Arts & Humanities Month at https://www.americansforthearts.org/events/national-arts-and-humanities-month

We look forward to hearing from you! Your ideas on how we can support your creative efforts are welcome--please connect with us if you have suggestions, questions or comments.

Kris Alpi, Associate Dean of Libraries & Information Sciences

Library resources and tools should be easily accessible and available to all members of the Mount Sinai community. The Levy Library is proud to share that we have eliminated all late fines for books and technology equipment and cleared all existing fines for overdue materials in library user accounts. Learn more about this change and how everyone in the Mount Sinai community can benefit from using shared library resources available at your Levy Library.

Details

  • The Library has cleared all existing fees in all library user accounts. The Library will no longer charge late fines for materials returned after the due date.
  • Replacement fees for lost and damaged material will still apply; items will be considered lost if not returned in a timely manner when we request you to return them for others to use.

Why Eliminate Fines?

We implemented this no-fine model to provide more equitable and inclusive access to Library knowledge resources and tools. We hope this encourages users who may have been previously discouraged from borrowing materials by the risk of financial consequences.

*

We welcome your feedback on Library policies and services--connect with Kris Alpi, Associate Dean of Libraries & Information Sciences to share your views.

 

Kristine Alpi standing next to computer at the Levy Library entranceGreetings!  I'm very excited to be here at Mount Sinai as your Associate Dean of Libraries & Information Sciences.  After my fellowship year at NIH, I started my career next door to Mount Sinai at the New York Academy of Medicine. It is very nice to be back in New York City after my most recent position leading the library at Oregon Health & Science University. 

Here at Mount Sinai, I strive to ensure that our community leverages knowledge resources, tools and library expertise in learning, discovery, clinical care and service.  I welcome conversations about how we can best do that working in partnership with many areas of the Icahn School of Medicine and the Mount Sinai Health System.  You can reach me via email at kris.alpi@mssm.edu and my office is in The Levy Library on Annenberg 11.

I am happy to bring my 20+ years of experience with human health and veterinary literature to supporting you in your learning and scholarly activities. My education is in library science, community health and I completed my PhD in Educational Research & Policy Analysis in 2018, so I know what it is like to be a student and working full time.  A few areas of my particular expertise are animal health, educational research, mixed-method or qualitative research projects, public health, health informatics, and materials in languages other than English--see Google Scholar for my scholarly contributions. You can schedule a conversation with me or one of our other amazing librarians by contacting refdesk@mssm.edu.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to meeting you.  

Kris (she/her/ella)

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