Services - Training

The Eskind Biomedical Library offers training on a number of specialized citation and data resources. Contact an information specialist to schedule an appointment. Resource instruction is available to individuals, small groups, and classes for the following resources and software (alone or in combination).

You may call the contact listed below for specific trainings, or submit a request through our online form. You may also wish to review this list of online tutorials for many resources.

Training sessions are generally free to Vanderbilt personnel; training is also available on campus and off-site to non-Vanderbilt groups for a fee.

To provide feedback on a completed training session, please complete our evaluation form.

Vanderbilt Resources/Catalogs

Eskind Digital Library
Become an expert at using our digital library tool to find useful online resources selected by EBL staff to meet the information needs of the VUMC community.
Contact: Marcia Epelbaum

Acorn
Learn to get the most out of Acorn, the Vanderbilt University library catalog of print and online materials.
Contact: Marcia Epelbaum

Literature/Citation Databases

PubMed
Learn tips and tricks for more efficient and thorough use of PubMed, along with MyNCBI tools for saving and sharing searches and citations.
Contact: Marcia Epelbaum

CINAHL
Learn to effectively search this nursing citation database and save and manipulate results.
Contact: Megan Clancy

Citation Management

EndNote
Learn basics of using EndNote for citation management, including importing references from multiple databases and automatically formatting manuscripts.
Contact: Megan Clancy

ReferenceManager
Learn basics of using ReferenceManager for citation management, including importing references from multiple databases and automatically formatting manuscripts.
Contact: Megan Clancy

Zotero
Learn basics of using Zotero for web-based citation management, including importing references from multiple databases and automatically formatting manuscripts.
Contact: Megan Clancy

Cited References and Impact Factors

Journal Citation Reports
Learn to look up impact factors for biomedical and scientific journals.
Contact: Marcia Epelbaum

Web of Science Cited Reference Search
Learn to use this Web of Science tool to find out who has cited a published article and the number of times the article has been cited.
Contact: Marcia Epelbaum

H index
Find out more about the strengths and limitations of the H index and other measures of scientific productivity.
Contact: Taneya Koonce

Clinical Trials

ClinicalTrials.gov
For patients or providers, learn to locate relevant and recruiting clinical trials in this database of U.S. trials.
Contact: Marcia Epelbaum

Drug Information

AHFS Drug Information
Learn to navigate the American Hospital Formulary Service drug information resource.
Contact: Patricia Lee

eFacts: Drug Facts and Comparisons
Learn to search MeFacts for drug information, interactions, comparisons, identification, warnings, calculators, dosing and more.
Contact: Patricia Lee

Lexi-Comp
Learn to search Lexi-Comp for drug information, interactions, identification, IV compatibility, geriatric and pediatric information, and more.
Contact: Patricia Lee

Micromedex
Learn to search Micromedex for drug information, interactions, comparisons, toxicology, identification, IV compatibility, and more.
Contact: Patricia Lee

Genetics/Molecular Biology

Introduction to Genetics Databases
Get a quick introduction to the wide variety of bioinformatics databases and resources with a particular focus on the NCBI's search interface, and using the Nucleic Acids Research database issue to locate appropriate resources.
Contact: Helen Naylor

Human Genome Resources
Learn about online resources for accessing, searching, viewing, and manipulating the human genome. Multiple types of genome mapping will be introduced as well as a variety of genome-related tools for exploring sequence annotation (biological feature) data. Focuses on genome browsers such as the UCSC Genome Browser.
Contact: Helen Naylor

Genetic Variation
Learn to search genetic variation resources including the Database of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (dbSNP), the ALlele FREquency Database (ALFRED), and the Database of Genomic Variatns (DGV).
Contact: Helen Naylor

Clinical Genetics and Pharmacogenetics
Get an introduction to genetics and gene-focused resources of use in clinical medicine. These include Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), GeneReviews, GeneTests, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Catalog of Published Genome-Wide Association Studies, and the Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base (PharmGKB). Also learn about NCBI BioSystems, which groups, genes, proteins, and small molecules by biological system and provides links to other databases.
Contact: Helen Naylor

Structure
Learn how to use the international Protein Data Bank (PDB) and the NCBI's Structure and Molecular Modeling Database (MMDB) and to display structures using various structure viewers.
Contact: Helen Naylor

Searching for Sequence Similarity or Transcription Factors
Learn how to do nucleotide and protein sequence similarity searching using the NCBI's BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) programs. Also learn how to use TRANSFAC to find transcription factors.
Contact: Helen Naylor

Other Gene-Focused Resources
Lean how to use OMIM, which provides phenotype-genotype information for human genes and genetic diseases. Also covered is the NCBI's Gene, a database that connects a variety of information sources on individual genes into one detailed summary.
Contact: Helen Naylor

Grants and Funding

NIH Public Access Compliance
Learn about NIH public access issues and explore our Compliance Database to find out whether specific journals comply with the NIH policy.
Contact: Marcia Epelbaum

NIH Public Access Manuscript Submission
Learn how to submit your journal manuscripts in compliance with the NIH policy.
Contact: Marcia Epelbaum

NIH & Federal Grant Sources
Learn about online sources for finding federal grant/funding opportunities and data on funded research, including use of grants.gov and the NIH RePORT tools.
Contact: Helen Naylor

Patient Health

Consumer Health Resources
Find out about reliable online sources of general and condition-specific health information for patients.
Contact: Marcia Epelbaum

Other EBL Tools and Resources

Learning Framework
Learn to use the Learning Framework tool to create and share online learning modules, including quiz creation and multimedia. Also learn to use the Learning Framework tool to track staff development, including skills development and progress tracking.
Contact: John Clark

To request a training session, contact the individual listed above for specific trainings, or submit a request through our online form. To provide feedback on a completed training session, please complete our evaluation form.