Library Use Policy

The Graff Library’s primary focus is to support the information needs of the City of Hope community. We provide materials and services that support the institution’s clinical, scientific, and educational objectives. We recently developed a policy that defines the use of the library by staff, visitors, and children. The policy is available for download and the highlights are listed below.

Library Use Highlights

• The library is open & staffed from 8 am - 6 pm, Monday - Friday
• City of Hope employees are permitted to use the library after-hours and on weekends; use your badge in the reader located on the door nearest the Hilton building to gain access
• Visitors must have official business on campus; visitors’ use of the library should be directly or indirectly related to patient care or support
• Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times
• When the library closes at 6 pm, only those displaying their City of Hope badge will be allowed to stay in the library

This policy was developed by the library director and approved by the Library Advisory Committee. Contact Melissa Just, x68614, if you have any questions.

Carcinogenic Potency Database (CPDB)

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has just added the Carcinogenic Potency Database to TOXNET, a collection of databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health, and toxic releases. To access TOXNET, visit the Library home page from the City of Hope intranet and select Biomedical Databases. TOXNET is listed in the Miscellaneous category.

From the NLM announcement:

CPDB, the Carcinogenic Potency Database, developed by the Carcinogenic Potency Project at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is now searchable via the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET): http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/.

CPDB includes analyses of animal cancer tests on 1547 chemicals, and also 6540 chronic, long-term animal cancer tests (both positive and negative for carcinogenicity) from the general published literature, as well as from the National Cancer Institute and the National Toxicology Program. Such tests are used in support of cancer risk assessments for humans.

Users can search for results on each chemical in TOXNET via chemical name or name fragment, or by Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number (RN). Results include a summary for each sex-species tested, including carcinogenicity, target organs, and carcinogenic potency values. Detailed results from each experiment on the particular chemical are presented in a format suitable for screen viewing.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Journal Impact Factors

Journal Impact Factors (IF), published in Thompson Scientific’s Journal Citation Report (JCR) database, are often used to help researchers determine the “best” journal in which to publish, and to measure a researcher’s success, hiring, or promotion. These practices have been called into question due in part to the proprietary nature of the data, and the unknown reliability and validity of the measurement. Two recent interesting articles highlight some of the issues.

The editorial “Deep impact?” from Nature Cell Biology mentions some of the caveats to consider when looking at a journal’s IF. “Show me the data” from the Journal of Cell Biology summarizes an unsuccessful attempt to recreate the published impact factors using the formula and data supplied by Thompson Scientific.

If you are interested in learning more about the impact factor controversy, the following PubMed search will retrieve many relevant citations: Impact Factor articles

Community of Science (COS) Funding Opportunities Database Added

The Graff Library now subscribes to COS Funding Opportunities - a comprehensive database of available grants, fellowships, awards, prizes, and other types of funding. The COS Funding Opportunities database contains over 22,000 records representing more than $33 billion of available monies. Funds are offered by governments, corporations, societies, private foundations, and associations.

You can search COS Funding Opportunities by keyword and limit the results by sponsor type, funding type, or citizenship. The “Alert Me” function allows you to set up an automatic notification service - you’ll get an email every time a record that matches your search criteria is added to the database.

Accessing COS Funding Opportunities
Visit the library’s home page, then click on Biomedical Databases. COS Funding Opportunities is listed in the Miscellaneous category and is available to any City of Hope network connected computer (onsite or VPN).

Using “Alert Me”
After you run your search, click the Alert Me link (located on the results page after the number of records found) which will take you to the log in page. Choose “New Users Register Here” to create a new account or login if you have already registered. Save your search. Each time the database is updated you will receive an email or RSS feed alerting you of new funding opportunities in your area of interest.

Faculty of 1000 Databases Now Available

The Graff Library now subscribes to Faculty of 1000 Biology and Faculty of 1000 Medicine. Both databases are designed to help researchers and clinicians keep up with the most influential and interesting literature in their fields of interest. F1000 reviewers (or Faculty Members) select articles and publish reviews that include an explanation of why the article is important. Each review includes a rating, narrative summary, list of subject areas, and classifications (e.g., Hypothesis, Refutation, Confirmation, Technological Advance, New Finding, Controversial Finding, Novel Drug Target, and Changes Clinical Practice). Each review links to the corresponding PubMed record and contains a link to FIND IT @ City of Hope, which allows you to access the library’s online journal collection. You can print, save, or email your search results, or download your selected citations directly into EndNote. View a sample record.