Health Sciences Research Resources

SFU librarians and library staff have been creating in-house “summer picks” lists for several years and want to share the fun.  This year the Library is extending an invitation to the entire SFU community to submit summer reading suggestions.

A number of other universities have summer reading programs but they are often targeted programs such as assigned readings for incoming students, or recommended readings from faculty for alumni.  “We wanted this to be lighthearted and really inclusive,” says Elaine Fairey, Director of the Student Learning Commons.  “We know people are reading academic materials, but this is about celebrating reading for pure enjoyment.”

To share your favourite ‘beach read,’ visit the Great Reads — Summertime Reading blog.

On June 21st, Statistics Canada announced the release of the updated version of the Health Trends Internet application –exciting news for researchers, students, and health service providers.

Health Trends presents comparable time-series data (from 2003 to 2009 where available/applicable) for a range of health indicators from a number of sources including the Canadian Community Health Survey, Vital Statistics, and Canadian Cancer Registry.  It’s designed to give quick access to recent trends that can be customized by indicator or by geography [from StatCan website].

Please feel free to contact me with your questions about Health Trends and other health-related resources.

Since April, the SFU Library has had access to Sage Research Methods Online (SRMO).  (We know how much everyone loves research methods –please forgive us for holding out on you until now!)

If you haven’t stumbled across this great resource on your own, SRMO is a tool designed to help create research projects and understand the methods behind them.   Since SRMO focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and more [from publisher's website].

SRMO’s new taxonomy of over 1,400 unique methods terms links to authoritative content, including:

• Over 600 books
• Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks
• The entire “Little Green Book” and “Little Blue Book” series
• Two major works collating a selection of journal articles
• Newly commissioned videos

The folks at Sage have also created some short, informative YouTube videos that tell you more about SMRO.  Further questions? Please feel free to contact me.