10 Library Things Every New UCB School of Public Health Student Should Know: Do You Know..?

     See Connecting from Off Campus:

• Use the Library Proxy, which allows remote access to web-based electronic resources licensed by the UC or UCB Libraries, via Calnet logon or a bookmarklet, or
• Use the VPN (Virtual Private Network), which requires a software download, and then establishes a secure library tunnel to the UCB network


• WiFi: When on campus, connect using:
  • eduroam, a network used at UCB and at institutions worldwide, or
    • Here is a Very Quick Guide to UCB WiFi Setup (docx)
    • Here is a 28 second video on setting up eduroam
  • Using CalVisitor (the public wifi) will require you to authenticate with CalNet to access library resources
• TIP: All UCB students have access to Box - with 50G of storage capacity!

     See Public Health Databases:

• PubMed: citations in biomedicine and health; the primary article index for most public health topics
  » PubMed exercise set (docx)
• Global Health: citations on public health topics from journals, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, and more, from more than 150 countries and in over 50 languages translated into English
• Embase: journal article and meeting abstract citations in medicine/health; especially strong in evidence-based medicine and pharmacology/toxicology
• PsycINFO: citations for journal articles, book chapters and dissertations in psychology, behavior, and related disciplines
• Sociological Abstracts: covers demography, education, social psychology, and sociology. Sources include journals, books, conferences, and dissertations
  » Sociological Abstracts exercise (docx)
• Agricultural & Environmental Science Database: indexes journals, conference proceedings, reports, books, and government publications covering all areas of environmental science, agriculture, and more.
• Business Source Complete: citations for articles and more in business, marketing, economics, and finance


• Use Web of Science or Scopus: two large, multidisciplinary databases that are excellent for cited reference searching and analysis
  » Web of Science cited reference searching exercise
• Many more databases are available
• Here is a brief note about  for electronic resources

See Find E-Journal Titles:

• Click the UC-eLinks icon  next to a citation in an article database (see box above) or in Melvyl (see box below) to access items available online
• TIP: Use the UC-eLinks Citation Linker to see if a known, single journal article (or book, book chapter, etc.) is available online
• IMPORTANT: UC-eLinks is being replaced by UC Library Search as of July 27, 2021. This web page will be updated soon after that date.
• Browse or search for online journals using the OskiCat or Melvyl catalogs (see box below) or use the UC-eLinks E-Journals Search.
• Use BrowZine: a free tablet application that lets you browse, read and monitor thousands of scholarly journals available from the UC Berkeley Library

See Guide to Library Catalogs:

• Use OskiCat, the UC Berkeley library catalog, to find online publications
• Click "My OskiCat" to see what you have checked out
• During COVID-19 closure, use OskiXpress to page print books from the library (Oski Xpress will be suspended from July 16-30 as we transition to UC Library Search; see below)
• Take a look at the newest Public Health books and ebooks in the Library!
• Melvyl is the catalog for all the UC libraries (and beyond). When looking at a book, etc., in Melvyl, click the title to see details about its location and availability
  » Melvyl also contains some article citations but we recommend using article databases to find these
• IMPORTANT: On July 27, 2021, OskiCat and Melvyl are being replaced by UC Library Search, a UC-wide library catalog and more.
• The UCB Library licenses several databases to find dissertations online

See Interlibrary Borrowing and Lending:

• Never pay for an article!
• Click the UC-eLinks icon   then Request It or Request this ... to request an article, book chapter, or other item that you find in a database; you should get a PDF delivered to you shortly!
• You can also start at the UC-eLinks Citation Matcher: if the article, chapter, etc. is not available online, you will see an option to request it from the library
• IMPORTANT: UC-eLinks is being replaced by UC Library Search as of July 27, 2021. This web page will be updated soon after that date.
• Delivery of entire books is on hold until libraries reopen

EndNote, RefWorks, Zotero, Mendeley Help:

• Zotero, a free, open-source program you can use with Firefox, Chrome or Safari.
• RefWorks – licensed by the UC Berkeley Library and free to use for UCB students, staff, and faculty
• Purchase EndNote and install it on your computer. A free 30 day trial is available.
• Mendeley, another free product, to organize and share references
• Note: Neither RefWorks nor Mendeley will work with the free version of Microsoft Word that is available for students


• See also our Citation Guides/Submitting Manuscripts to Journals guide
  » TIP: The UC Berkeley Library will help pay author fees so you can publish in an open access journal!
• The UC Berkeley Student Learning Center Writing Program has lots of information on the writing process, topic development, revision, and much more
• UCB's Graduate Division sponsors workshops on dissertation writing, academic grant proposal writing, and more
• Working on a systematic review? Sign up for UC Berkeley's Covidence account!

See Guides to Public Health Subjects:

• Curated web guides of the "grey literature" on Public Health topics
• Topics include Statistics/Data, AIDS/HIV, Cancer, Environmental Health, Food/Nutrition, International Health, Maternal/Child Health, Legislation/Regulations, and many more
• These research guides provide access to curated resources not generally available via article databases or library catalogs, each with a descriptive annotation
• Also included are public health resources in multiple formats, including: data, dissertations, podcasts/video/webcasts, images/videos, and more, including news sources:
  • UCB subscribes to major dailies like the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc. from issue 1 to today's paper
  • UCB students can get free access to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (details)

The Library can help with your free time too:

Want free art to hang in your home or office? Once campus reopens, check out the Graphic Arts Loan Program. You can reserve a print online, but you must pick it up and return it in person. Includes works by Hiroshige Ando; Claudia Bernardi; Marc Chagall; Shiro Ikegawa; Yolanda M. Lopez; Roberto Matta; Gino Scarpa; and many more.

Tired of watching Star Trek reruns? The Library subscribes to Kanopy Streaming - an on-demand streaming video service which provides access to more than 26,000 films, including titles from PBS, BBC, Criterion Collection, Media Education Foundation and more!
Another video service to check out is Docuseek2, featuring social issue and documentary films from several independent distributors.
Academic Video Online has almost 70,000 videos in most subject areas and also includes archival newsreels, animation, performances, and more.

And for your ears, the library provides you with several music databases, such as:
Database of Recorded American Music: Audio files of compositions of classical music, folk music, opera, jazz, country music, early rhythm and blues, musical theater, experimental music, electronic music, early rock and Native American music from the United States. Complete original liner notes and essays from independent record labels and sound archives, and
Naxos Music Library: A collection of Western classical music including classical music, jazz, world, folk and Chinese music - perhaps a cello version of Bowie's Ziggy Stardust suits your fancy. Includes notes and biographical information on composers and artists.

You also have access to UC Berkeley OverDrive, a platform for user-friendly access to digital audiobooks and popular ebooks.

For your reading pleasure, the Library offers an enormous fiction collection, as well as many popular magazines; one recent acquisition is online access to Rolling Stone. We also have thousands of cookbooks of every cuisine.

See Reference:

• The Marian Koshland Bioscience, Natural Resources & Public Health Library is operating online during campus closure.
• Contact a librarian for help with researching a topic or finding books, articles, statistics, etc.; we strive to provide you with respectful, thorough assistance!
• Online office hours (sponsored by the SPH DREAM Office): Thursday 1-3; no appointment necessary. (Once campus reopens, these will become in person office hours)
• Email the Public Health Librarian directly to schedule a research appointment (online or in person); you can also contact one of the many subject specialist librarians at UCB
• 24/7 IM chat reference and email reference are available for help at other times.
• Check out the Searching Literature Effectively Guide
• Online library instruction sessions (PubMed, finding data, using Zotero, even sewing!) are sometimes offered. Here's a calendar
• TIP: All UCB students are eligible for free software including Microsoft Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud, as well as LastPass Premium, a secure password management tool
• GradPro (from the UCB Graduate Division) has information on a huge number of professional development opportunities: workshops, consultations, working groups, and more. Check out their calendar
• Help with urgent student needs (mental health, food, cash, housing, and more) is also available at UC Berkeley