Medical Dictionaries

Medical Dictionaries

Medical terminology can be hard enough for medical students to learn, let alone anyone else. Say your doctor has told you that you should begin taking a particular drug. You want to know more information about what the drug is for, how to take it, and whether there are any side effects that you should know about. Maybe you weren't expecting to need a new medication, and you forget to ask your doctor some of the questions you have. When you call his office, he's unavailable. Is there a way to find out what you need to know?

"The Physician's Desk Reference" is one resource that we keep to help with questions like this. It is kept behind the reference desk so that the librarian there can pull it out quickly for people who have questions about prescription medicines. Maybe you are curious about Eliquis which you are supposed to begin taking to prevent you from having a stroke. You come to the library, ask for "The Physician's Desk Reference," and look up your new medication. You glance over the recommended dosage, and you read the side effects. One is "bleeding," which seems straightforward. But the first side effect is "Increased risk of thrombotic events after premature discontinuation." You stop and stare--and stare some more.

What should your first step be? You can look up medical terms on the internet, of course, but having an authoritative source of information is important--this medicine is going down your throat, after all. If you want a source that you know you can trust, your safest bet might be a medical dictionary.

Medical dictionaries only include words that are related to medical and health topics. Many medical dictionaries include illustrations to help you understand what a condition (warts, anyone?) looks like. They include common medical terms like "arthritis," offering specific definitions of different varieties of the condition. And then there are the extremely unfamiliar terms. "Under "A," you can find words like "apraxia," "arcus senilis," and "avulsion." Under "Z," you can find "zeolite," "zonulitis,"

and "zygoma."

 

Some of our medical dictionaries are available in the reference section, but others can be checked out. For a reference book with some good illustrations, try "Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary." Or, if you would like to take a medical dictionary home, a copy of "Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary" is available for checkout in out nonfiction section.

Baseball--100 years at Martinsburg High School

Baseball--100 years at Martinsburg High School

This year marked the 100^th anniversary of baseball at the Martinsburg High School.   An exhibit of items related to the commemoration of that accomplishment will be on display in one of the front foyer cases at the Martinsburg Public Library during the month of August. 

Martinsburg High School formed their first baseball team in 1915 so to document the 100 years, there is a special commemorative edition booklet that was created and includes all available Bulldog baseball team photos throughout the years as well as the Alumni game participants.  Pre-sales are being taken by Larry and Anita Cooper at a cost of $5.00 and checks are to be made payable to MHS Baseball Boosters.   A pre-order list (but no payments) is also being taken at the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Library through the end of September 2015. Those persons will be contacted by the Coopers to obtain their copy of the book.   Mini-helmets and commemorative baseballs like those in the display case are also available from the anniversary committee.

 

Please stop to look at this interesting exhibit which celebrates one of America’s favorite sports and baseball at Martinsburg High School in particular!!

submitted by Keith Hammersla

HISTORICAL TREASURES IN THE LIBRARY:  ANTIQUE BOOK CAROUSEL

The antique Arts and Crafts-style revolving oak bookcase on the top floor of the Martinsburg Public Library was once located in another building which previously stood on the same spot as the library over 100 years ago.

The revolving bookcase, or book carousel, belonged to the Martinsburg Public Library Association, founded by Newton D. Baker in 1897 and housed in two rooms on the second floor of the Flick Building (later known as the Wiltshire Building) on the southwest corner of the public square, which became the site of the present Martinsburg Public Library in 1967.  (The fireplace mantel in the central area on the top floor of the library was also a fixture from the Wiltshire Building.)

The carousel, over 6 feet tall and shaped like an oriental pagoda with a peaked shake “roof,” is carved with heraldic shields and subject categories (history, politics, poetry, art, science, travel, religion, fiction, biography, mechanics, commerce, sociology).   The name of the Tabard Inn, carved on one side of the bookcase, is a reference to the famous inn which was located in Southwark near London, the traditional starting place of the pilgrims in the prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.  An inscription going around all four sides along the top reads as follows:  “The Best Reading Rooms in the United States are the Homes of the American People.”

The Tabard Inn Library was a membership library founded by Seymour Eaton in 1902.  Revolving bookcases were placed in drugstores, hotels, public libraries, and other commercial establishments throughout the United States. After paying an initial life membership of $3, members could exchange books on any revolving bookcase for an additional 5 cents which was deposited into a compartment in the bookcase. However, the library scheme was short-lived, ending when Eaton was declared bankrupt in March 1905.

The bookcase was moved with the library when the early Martinsburg library changed its location to the corner of West King Street and College Streets around 1905 and then again in 1910 when the library was moved into the John Street School.  Afterwards, due to the lack of support and funding, the library was closed in less than a year after that final move.  A public library did not exist again in Martinsburg until 1926.

The book carousel remained in the attic of the John Street School for over 50 years until the current public library was opened on the town square in 1968. Through the efforts of Mrs. Madeline Miller Griffith, a teacher at the John Street School, it was returned in 1969 to the new public library building where it has found its permanent home.