Print straight to PaperCut from Vet library workstations

Life just got a little easier – Penn Vet students and staff can now print directly to the PaperCut Hill Vending printers from the workstations in the center of Atwood Library. No need to upload documents to PaperCut Web. Log on to the workstation using vet\ and your vet password, e.g. vet\jdoe.

Arcane working dog duty in rare manuscript exhibit at Penn’s Special Collections Center

Conditions for working dogs have greatly improved, although their duties have changed over the ages, as illustrated by an image displayed in the new exhibit A Legacy Inscribed.

As the exhibit describes, the image, part of a 16th century book on herbal medicine, depicts a mandrake…

…the roots of which can resemble the human form. The mandrake was associated with a number of superstitious beliefs, and this artist captures one of the more colorful legends surrounding its use. When the root is dug up, according to legend, it not only screams but also kills all who hear it.

To harvest it, as we are told by the 1st-century Roman-Jewish historian Josephus, “A furrow must be dug around the root until its lower part is exposed, then a dog is tied to it, after which the person tying the dog must get away. The dog then endeavors to follow him, and so easily pulls up the root, but dies suddenly instead of his master. After this, the root can be handled without fear.”

Depiction of dog pulling mandrake root

Presumably this outcome rarely if ever manifested.

From the site: http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/legacy.html
On exhibit March 11 – August 16, 2013
The Schoenberg Collection contains several herbals, descriptions of plants to be used primarily for medicinal purposes. Often beautifully (if not always accurately) illustrated, herbals were the primary source of pharmaceutical and botanical knowledge in the Middle Ages. They supplied information on the identification, nomenclature, cultivation, and use of plants that had been passed down through centuries of observation and legend.

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection of Manuscripts, donated to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries by Penn Libraries Board members Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Schoenberg (C53, WG56), brings together many of the great scientific and philosophical traditions of the ancient and medieval worlds. Documenting the extraordinary achievements of scholars, philosophers, and scientists in Europe, Africa, and Asia, the collection illuminates the foundations of Penn’s academic traditions. Often illustrated with complex diagrams and stunning imagery, these manuscripts bring to the present the intellectual legacy of the medieval past.

Penn Annual Conference – Penn Vet alumni with creative literary talents

At this year’s Penn Annual Conference several Penn Vet alums showcased their literary skills.  Dr. Lisa Handy (V’84), has recently published Just for Kicks, a humorous coffee table book that portrays the lighter side of equine practice.  The book is illustrated by renowned editorial cartoonist Kate Selley Palmer.  Dr. Handy kindly donated a signed copy to the Vet Library.

Dr. Lisa Handy (V’84) with a copy of her book Just for Kicks, a humorous look at the lighter side of equine practice.

Also at the conference were the authors of An Animal Life: The Beginning, a novel by four Penn Vet grads (V’92), who signed many copies of their popular book.  Copies are available at Atwood and New Bolton Center libraries.

Meet the authors! From left: Drs. Howard Krum, Roy Yanong, and Scott Moore. Missing from picture: Illustrator Dr. Patty Hogan. All are graduates of V’92.

To order:

• An Animal Life: The Beginning
• Just for Kicks

A Memoir, A Celebration

Artist Gayle Joseph and author Dr. Adrian Morrison pause in front of  illustrations for “Brandywine Boy”.

A cheerful crowd attended a February 21st book reading and reception for Penn Vet Professor Emeritus Dr. Adrian Morrison’s recently published memoir Brandywine Boy.  The event was co-sponsored by the Penn Libraries and the book’s illustrator Gayle Joseph, Executive Assistant in Penn Vet’s Office of the Associate Dean for Research.

In his memoir, Dr. Morrison recounts stories from his boyhood growing up in nearby Chadd’s Ford, PA.  Interspersed in the tales of his Tom Sawyer-like adventures are lessons on science and animals, drawn from Dr. Morrison’s extensive career as a veterinarian and researcher.   Brandywine Boy is available for purchase on Amazon.com.

Gayle Joseph is an oil and watercolor painter whose original illustrations appear on Penn Vet research newsletters and announcements.  For more information on her artwork, visit http://gaylevialeart.com/GV/Home.html

Illustration by Gayle Joseph.

Library Interprofessional Student Advisory Group Meeting – February 12

The Penn Health Sciences Libraries Interprofessional Student Advisory Group will be meeting this coming Tuesday, February 12th, at 5:15pm.

A special guest, Paul Stadter, will join us for this meeting.  This is an opportunity to offer feedback regarding the Ucentral products licensed by the library (Clinical Evidence, Essential Evidence+ POEM, Johns Hopkins ABX Guide). Paul, as well as librarians, will be interested to hear your thoughts on the content as well as the downloadable app format offered by Ucentral.

Meetings are open to any interested student from the schools of Dental Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, Nursing, and Veterinary Medicine.

Feel free to drop in at 5pm for a bite to eat. We will meet in the Conference Room located on the main floor of the Biomedical Library on Hamilton Walk (near HUP).  Map - http://www.library.upenn.edu/locations/biomedmap.html

Canine Flashcard App – Supplement to Glass Dog

A few weeks ago, we blogged about our new anatomy software program The Glass Dog.  Since then we’ve learned that, as the saying goes, there’s an app for that, too.  Canine Flashcards is designed for learning and self-testing about the anatomy of the dog’s thorax and abdomen.  It includes 3-D anatomical illustrations and descriptions in a flashcard format. This app complements The Glass Dog software program available on the Vet library workstations.  Available now at the App Store for $4.99. Optimized for use on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad platforms.   *Note:  Library staff have not tested this application.

Introducing VIVO!!

We are very excited to announce that the initial rollout of VIVO has successfully occurred and is currently available for on campus access at: http://vivo.upenn.edu. For those of you asking, “What is VIVO?”

VIVO is an open source semantic web platform that reveals research and scholarship through linked profiles of people and other research-related information. VIVO is populated with data from authoritative, trusted sources to create researcher profiles, highlighting faculty expertise, publications, grants, teaching, service and social networks. VIVO also provides a powerful search functionality for locating people and information within the institution and enables the discovery of scholarship across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. For more information about VIVO: vivoweb.org.

–from the VIVO “About” pages at http://www.library.upenn.edu/vivo/faq.html

Sample Co-Author Network Web

At Penn, our VIVO instance is a result of a close partnership between the Penn Libraries and the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) and its Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT). VIVO@Penn is currently populated with data on over 3,000 PSOM faculty and their more than 200,000 publications, but the ultimate goal is to expand the system to include people, scholarship, and research resources from all schools at Penn. For more information about VIVO, VIVO@Penn, and collaborative research networks, check out the latest issue of Ivy Leaves (Penn Libraries newsletter) which was just released this week and is devoted to VIVO.