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Background: As the centenary of Sir William Osler's death approaches on 29 December 2019, it is worth pausing to reflect on the relationship between the Osler Library of the History of Medicine at McGill University and the image of William Osler, for the two are arguably inextricable. When Osler died he had not yet completed his library, yet his donation to McGill included nearly 8000 volumes that represented the foundations of western medicine. The Osler Library now boasts over 100 000 titles and is recognised globally as a centre for the study of medical history., Methods: The approach taken here was to examine inscriptions in the books that William Osler bequeathed to the McGill Medical Facultyin order to learn more about William Osler, the man., Results: By examining inscriptions William Osler and others made in his books, it was possible to learn more about how Osler interacted with his friends, his patients, and also his books., Conclusion: It is argued that these inscriptions are as instructive as they are enriching. They reveal information about Osler's priorities and his personal and professional relationships; future scholars will likely find it useful to examine inscriptions more broadly, to gain insight into such topics as the book trade and world events., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

This note is based on hitherto untapped visual resources (photographs, presentation albums, and scrapbook) on post-World War I Russian refugees in Istanbul that belong to the Anna Mitchell Papers, which were gifted to the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University in 1967. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the history of the relationship of papermaking and paper to libraries over time. Paper was first made in China and is traditionally considered one of that nation's four greatest inventions, along with gun powder, printing, and the compass. Papermaking was often associated with archives in its early development in China, as well as when it was introduced to Japan, where it came to be a part of some Shinto and Buddhist temples, and later governmental agencies. Under Islam, the availability of paper was linked to increased literacy and growth of libraries. In early modern Europe, before the widespread use of wood in the papermaking process, libraries and archives were part of an "economy of paper" with paper at times being in short supply. In the modern era, the world of papermaking did not intersect much with the world of the library, which made progress with the problem of brittle books, one of its greatest challenges, slow, though recent efforts of government, industry, scientists, and representatives of the library have produced positive results. The damage caused by wood-based paper in libraries was mirrored by the environmental damage caused by wood-based papermaking in communities. The history of papermaking and libraries demonstrates the importance of understanding the technologies which support the library, while also advocating effectively to the representatives of all its sources of support in ways which promote the values of the library and its associated community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Visual analogue scales (VASs) are used in a variety of patient-, observer- and clinician-reported outcome measures. While typically included in measures originally developed for pen-and-paper completion, a greater number of clinical trials currently use electronic approaches to their collection. This leads researchers to question whether the measurement properties of the scale have been conserved during the migration to an electronic format, particularly because electronic formats often use a different scale length than the 100 mm paper standard. Methods: We performed a review of published studies investigating the measurement comparability of paper and electronic formats of the VAS. Results: Our literature search yielded 26 studies published between 1997 and 2018 that reported comparison of paper and electronic formats using the VAS. After excluding 2 publications, 23 of the remaining 24 studies included in this review reported electronic formats of the VAS (eVAS) and paper formats (pVAS) to be equivalent. A further study concluded that eVAS and pVAS were both acceptable but should not be interchanged. eVAS length varied from 21 to 200 mm, indicating that 100 mm length is not a requirement. Conclusions: The literature supports the hypothesis that eVAS and pVAS provide comparable results regardless of the VAS length. When implementing a VAS on a screen-based electronic mode, we recommend following industry best practices for faithful migration to minimise the likelihood of non-comparability with pVAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies reading in the digital age and grounds characteristic reading features on paper and the screen. We studied various scientific points on the uniqueness of reading activities in various formats, effectiveness, and perception of readers about printed and electronic texts. The study concludes that screen-reading practices keep evolving. Digital reading dynamically changes the communication environment, speeding up and simplifying access to information. The new reading format has many opportunities and advantages, and it transforms the reading skills and habits of society. Although it revives social reading, it intensifies the digital divide, leading to a secondary mental cognitive digital divide, and modifies the personal reading experience of contemporaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical and physical properties of 19th and 20th century Chinese papers were investigated using a variety of material characterisation methods. A reference collection of 178 Chinese papers, dating from 1799 to 1990 was used, and properties such as pH, degree of polymerisation (DP), lignin content, and tensile strength (zero-span) were determined. Most of the papers were of approximately neutral pH, had a low lignin content and DP similar to pre-19th century European rag paper. It was found that the high inhomogeneity and the typical paper thinness affected tensile testing and as a result, a modified method for zero-span tensile strength test was developed. Using near infrared spectroscopy (NIR), proof-of-concept partial least squares (PLS) applications were developed for determination of tensile strength, pH, DP and for dating of the samples. For the latter, using post-1900 papers, the error of cross validation was 13 years. The presence of lignin was modelled using linear discriminant analysis (LDA), where the model could distinguish between high and low lignin content with 88% accuracy. Using one or multiple sheets for transmission NIR spectroscopy led to PLS results of similar quality, which was attributed to material inhomogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open Educational Resources (OER) have continued to gain traction in higher education, assisting with ever-rising costs of publisher textbooks and supporting pedagogical innovation. Starting in 2017, NY state legislature has allocated funds annually to be split between its two public university systems to support and incentivize the adoption of OER. The author's institution, an included public college, has secured portions of this funding each year. This paper will focus on the initial five years of the state-funded OER initiative at the City University of New York (CUNY) College of Staten Island, with reflections on the successes of the program, the overall process of the annual grant cycle on campus, challenges that arose in the burgeoning OER program, and suggestions for future considerations. The main aim of this paper is to highlight the impact of state funding on the establishment of a library-facilitated OER initiative, to serve as a example for other institutions who are seeking to build an OER program.