Methodist becomes the library's first "clinical partner," – a new level of library membership. As a "clinical partner," staff, physicians and residents throughout The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and the hospital system's four hospitals can access the library's resources, which include more than 8,000 electronic journals, over 150 databases, reference materials, the print book collections, online support, instructional learning and other educational opportunities.

"This new affiliation is going to support our clinical, educational and research missions and is a key factor in providing better access to the materials needed by a comprehensive academic institution like ours," said Dirk Sostman, M.D. chief academic officer of The Methodist Hospital System.

Also under this new agreement employees and physicians can easily access the library's materials from any computer in Methodist's four hospitals as well as remotely, using the library's remote access account service.

"This new affiliation is the first in our expanding outreach project to provide critical information resources to the Texas Medical Center's clinical institutions, as we have traditionally done for the educational institutions," said Elizabeth Eaton, Ph.D., the library's executive director. "The digital information arena is a very exciting place to be and we are pleased to be able to include Methodist in our growing community of users."

DynaMed is available to the Library's educational level users and to all hospitals physically located within the Texas Medical Center. It can also be accessed via remote access accounts for educational and institutional level members.

More New Resources

Clin-eguide is a clinical decision support system that distills disease management, drug therapy and laboratory results knowledge into a single resource. Clin-eguide includes evidence-based guidelines, books, Facts & Comparison drug information, national guidelines, and patient handouts.

Clin-eguide also provides patient- and disease-specific recommendations, taking into account patient status and concomitant conditions prompts the clinician to consider issues that may influence the patient outcome is extensively and systematically researched and constantly updated Clin-eguide is an OVID product, available to the Library's educational level users.

RefWorks is a web-based bibliographic management tool that enables users to organize and create a personal database online, format bibliographies and manuscripts, and import references from a variety of databases using the already created Import Filters. RefWorks has incorporated a RSS feed reader so users can establish links to RSS feeds and import data from those feeds directly.

RefWorks automatically creates author, descriptor and periodical indexes when importing. RefWorks is a web-based tool; authorized users may access the program from anywhere at any time. It can also be used across multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, Unix, etc.

RefWorks is available to the Library's educational level users.

CINAHL Plus with Full Text is a comprehensive source of full text for nursing and allied health journals, providing full text for more than 560 journals indexed in CINAHL. Of those, nearly 400 have cover-to-cover indexing in CINAHL. This database contains full text for many of the most used journals in the CINAHL index – with no embargo – and provides more than 600,000 full-text articles dating back to 1937.

CINAHL Plus with Full Text is an EBSCO product, available to the Library's educational level users.

Liliana Rodriguez is currently a doctoral candidate in Community Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health. In 2002, she received a Hispanic Excellence Award from KTMD-TV Channel 48 Telemundo and was appointed to the advisory board of the Houston Garden Center. She is a member of the Institute of Spanish Culture and the Speakers Committee of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. A combination of health care focus and Mexican folk medicine encourages her interest in the prickly pear cactus as a source of food, especially for diabetics.

John Paul Liang is currently the President of the American College of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine. He is completing a Ph.D. in Education with a Specialization in Leadership in Higher Education from Capella University, holds a Master of Science in Education, Master of Science in Oriental Medicine, and a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research from Cornell University. He has served as a lecturer at Rice University and as a researcher in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine. A faculty member at the American College of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine he is currently a practitioner at the Methodist Hospital Medical Center outreach site.

These presentations are part of the Books on the Bayou program, sponsored by the Houston Public Library, the Houston Chronicle and the City of Houston. Houstonians are encouraged to read one particular book and participate in discussions throughout the city. This year, the book highlighted is Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya about a curandera or healer in northern New Mexico during World War II. Bless Me Ultima is considered a foundation work of Mexican-American Literature.

This program was sponsored by the Hilton Houston Plaza/Medical Center, the Hispanic Health Coalition, Majors Scientific Books and the Hilton Hotel @ the Texas Medical Center. Copies of Bless Me Ultima, along with other books on folk medicine, were on sale after the presentation. Lunch and refreshments were provided by the Hilton Hotel. and the Hispanic Health Coalition.

November 1               10:00 A.M. – noon

November 19             4:00 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.

November 29             2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.

November 7               9:00 A.M. – 10:30 A.M.

November 20             6:30 P.M. – 7:30 P.M.