This Wednesday, September 14, the education librarians are offering a Zoom tutorial for students in the School of Public Health from 1:00-1:50 pm. You may think you don’t need their help (you know how use Google or PubMed well enough to always find something when you are looking). Or you may feel shy, like you should be able to do your research on your own. I have worked at BUSPH since 2005, and I can tell you from 17 years of personal experience and student testimonials, that the BUMC librarians are among the most important people you will meet during your MPH, MS, DrPH, or PhD program.
Here are some reasons why you should attend the tutorial, keep the link to the recording handy, and reach out to them for one-on-one assistance.
First, the BUMC librarians are kind and generous with their time.
Send them an email at refquest@bu.edu and you will likely hear back from them within a few hours. When you write to them, tell them a bit about the topic you want to research and some specifics about the project you are working on. You might even send them a copy of the assignment instructions.
Students always tell the same story, and I’ve experienced it myself. Send them some details about the project you are working on and ask for a meeting. If they know what your topic is, the odds are very strong that they will do some research before you show up for the meeting. Then they will sit with you and patiently show you where and how they found the best sources. And when you forget what they showed you, they will patiently walk you through the search process again.
Second, the librarians honestly enjoy working with public health students.
Public health topics are complicated puzzles. We are never looking for research on one thing, say lung carcinomas. We want to understand health conditions in particular populations in very specific contexts. A general interest on cancer incidence, screening, prevention, and treatment in Tanzania quickly turns into an exploration of the social and economic conditions that shape peoples’ daily lives.
And we rarely stop there, next we are looking at the health system and availability of specialized care or (too often) barriers to care. Looking at the health system turns into an exploration of history, colonialism, and the structural adjustment policies put in place by the World Bank in the 1980s that gutted public investment in health and education. Then we are on to specific populations. Who is at risk? Why are they at risk? What is happening at the local, government, and international level to change the situation? What evidence exists showing that a particular intervention works or is likely to work?
The puzzle is endless, and our librarians are endlessly curious and always willing to help.
Third, they are always up-to-date on how to navigate the complexities of search engines and search terms
Pubmed and other search engines are always changing in small and large ways. And Google is notoriously secretive about their search algorithms. They know what’s new and they have many tricks for cutting through the inundation of information. Ask them about MeSH terms. They can open new worlds for you.
Fourth, they will help you learn how to use Zotero, Mendeley, and other citation management systems.
They can talk you through the pros and cons of each, help you set up citation watches, walk you through difficulties with Word plug-ins, and more. If you are still doing your citations manually, because Zotero seems to complicated, they won’t laugh at you. Instead they will show you how to save yourself from hours of aggravation.
Just do it. Sign up for the September 14 tutorial and write to them at refquest@bu.edu today.