The Challenge - Stanford University Libraries & Academic ...

The Initiative on Human Health
The study of global human health has myriad connections at Stanford, ranging from the
clinical disciplines, through the basic sciences, to cultural, political and policy matters.
The Libraries support all these connections, of course, most obviously through the science
branches. However, many of our collections and subject specialists have a significant
hand in this initiative, as these examples attest.
Global Tobacco-Free Research Initiative The Global Tobacco-Free
Research Initiative is an ambitious project at Stanford to help
nations move into a tobacco-free world. Cigarettes remain the
world’s leading preventable cause of death. A billion people
could die from tobacco-induced diseases in the 21st century,
with the majority of these deaths in middle- to lower-income
countries and a higher concentration in Asia. The problem
is global even though the tobacco industry is based in just a
few countries, including the United States. Researchers are
studying how to reduce government reliance on taxes, overcome
deceptive advertising, and address the medical issue
of addiction. To support the project, the East Asia Library is
assembling a broad, multi-lingual range of research materials
in many formats, such as microfilms, e-books and serials.
Dongfang Shao
Head, East Asia Library
Medical Discovery Resources: A Joint Effort Swain Chemistry and
Chemical Engineering Library’s collecting scope includes resources
on medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, part of an
ongoing collaboration with Lane Medical Library and Falconer
Biology Library. The Libraries work closely together to make
sure that core materials are available to campus researchers,
online whenever possible. Online resources originating in
many fields are critical to effectively and efficiently locating
information needed by both clinical and laboratory investigators
and students across campus. Stanford students and
researchers have access to databases on the Web that address
complex, interdependent fields ranging from the highly
applied, such as pharmacological technology, to the most
advanced basic sciences, such as molecular and chemical biology.
Collaboration and coordination is not limited to library
resources: services such as reference help and database search
assistance – to target these many resources effectively – are
supported jointly by staff in Lane, Swain, and Falconer.
Grace Baysinger
Head, Swain Chemistry and
Chemical Engineering Library
Historical Literature of the Life Sciences The Falconer Biology
Library coordinated purchase of the BIOSIS and Zoological
Record Archives. These purchases greatly expanded access at
Stanford to the historical literature of the life sciences from
1864 to the present. Together, they cover taxonomy, population
biology, biodiversity, veterinary biology, cell biology,
biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, basic biomedical
sciences, neurobiology, plant and animal biology, ecology,
evolutionary biology, population biology, and related subjects
providing in-depth indexes to students and researchers from
numerous scientific disciplines.
Michael L. Newman
Head, Falconer Biology Library
Electronic Journal Publishing HighWire Press, a division of the
Stanford University Libraries, was created to ensure the continuing
success of independent, scholarly publishers in their
efforts to disseminate the latest, high-quality content worldwide.
HighWire is the online host to five of the top six medical
journals in the world, as well as the definitive editions
of over 1,000 other journals, in the life sciences and other
important fields of research. One of HighWire’s major goals of
putting scholarly research online is to expand research to the
far reaches of the world, places where traditional brick-andmortar
paper libraries cannot keep pace with the needs
of basic health care and human services. Many of the publishers
supported by HighWire are part of such initiatives that
include free access to poor countries: through projects of the
World Health Organization, HINARI and AGORA, through a
free access to developing nations program created by High-
Wire, through cooperation with PatientInform, a layman’s
Web site, and by offering free access to back content without
restriction. HighWire is host to nearly two million free fulltext
articles.
John R. Sack
Director and Associate Publisher,
HighWire Press
Opposite Top
Heavily used materials
in the Swain Chemistry
and Chemical
Engineering Library
stacks.
Opposite Bottom
HighWire Press
citation map shows a
“genealogy” of article
links.
Left
“A Way Out of the
Smoking Jungle.” A
California Department
of Health Services
image used to promote
the Global Tobacco-Free
Research
Initiative.
Right
Detail of print serial
subscriptions card file
in Falconer Biology
Library.
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