Librarian

Brenna Bierman

she/her

Email Me

Contact:

Central Library - 800FH

615-343-2718

Subjects: Communication Studies, Economics, Gender and Sexuality Studies

As a Vanderbilt student you can connect with the library wherever you are!

Access books, journals, databases, films, and more using your VUnetID
Work with a librarian - don't spend more than 20 minutes aimlessly searching!
- Email me with a question
- Schedule a meeting virtually or in-person for in-depth research assistance

Central Library spends ~2 million dollars every year to purchase books, ebooks, articles, and other materials that are behind paywalls.
Vanderbilt Library subscribes to over 700 databases.
These resources make up a majority of the Deep Web.
Google, Bing, and other familiar tools capture less than 1% of information on the internet.

Infographic Credit: CNN Money

Using Reference Sources

Background sources can help you

get an overview of a topic
narrow or expand a topic
find authoritative information
find out the names of key authors and scholars in a specific field or subject area
collect important keywords or terminology to use in your research
locate a bibliography of sources for further research

Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Literary guide to significant sources on a variety of subjects. Works as an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia.
Oxford Research Encyclopedias This link opens in a new window
Long-form overview articles written, peer-reviewed, and edited by leading scholars. Both foundational and cutting-edge topics are covered in order to develop, over time, an anchoring knowledge base for major areas of research.
Access to selected content only. Some articles may not be available.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Journals, books, reference works, laboratory protocols and databases covering life, health and physical sciences, social science, and the humanities.
New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online This link opens in a new window
Essays covering a broad range of topics, methodologies, and theories within the field of economics. Many articles contributed by "eminent economists" writing about their area of expertise.

As generative AI tools become more prevalent, you may want to try using some of these tools and services to help you complete your coursework. According to the Syllabus AI Policies for the College of Arts & Science, "...the policy of Vanderbilt University to leave it up to individual faculty to decide whether and how AI tools are used in their courses..." Therefore you should always check the course syllabus and speak with the professor before using any AI Tool. If allowed by the professor, whether or not you choose to use AI is ultimately your decision, however there are a few things to keep in mind:

Why should I use AI tools?	Why shouldn't I use AI tools?
AI tools can complete some of your repetitive tasks more easily - AI is good at completing tedious, repetitive tasks that would normally take time away from your ability to think critically about your research question and ideas. Using AI can give you the ability to invest your time more heavily in creating a quality, well-thought out analysis or argument. AI can be good for brainstorming ideas & helping you kick off your project/assignment - it isn't always easy to come up with a research question or topic for a paper. AI tools can help you brainstorm a topic for you to explore.	The professor is not allowing their use - if you use AI tools when the professor explicitly states it is not allowed, you could be risking your grade if discovered. AI tools aren't always correct - AI can generate answers that sound authoritative and look reasonable to the untrained eye, but are revealed to be incorrect or poor quality to subject experts. If you don't already have experience with the topic you are studying and you can't catch mistakes, you may be risking your grade. AI can't access all of the scholarly information that is available to you - as mentioned in the "Why not Google?" tab, Vanderbilt Libraries spend a large sum to ensure we have access to scholarly materials that are behind publisher paywalls. Your research could stall if you aren't accessing all of the materials that are available to you.

Why should I use AI tools?

Why shouldn't I use AI tools?

AI tools can complete some of your repetitive tasks more easily - AI is good at completing tedious, repetitive tasks that would normally take time away from your ability to think critically about your research question and ideas. Using AI can give you the ability to invest your time more heavily in creating a quality, well-thought out analysis or argument.
AI can be good for brainstorming ideas & helping you kick off your project/assignment - it isn't always easy to come up with a research question or topic for a paper. AI tools can help you brainstorm a topic for you to explore.

The professor is not allowing their use - if you use AI tools when the professor explicitly states it is not allowed, you could be risking your grade if discovered.
AI tools aren't always correct - AI can generate answers that sound authoritative and look reasonable to the untrained eye, but are revealed to be incorrect or poor quality to subject experts. If you don't already have experience with the topic you are studying and you can't catch mistakes, you may be risking your grade.
AI can't access all of the scholarly information that is available to you - as mentioned in the "Why not Google?" tab, Vanderbilt Libraries spend a large sum to ensure we have access to scholarly materials that are behind publisher paywalls. Your research could stall if you aren't accessing all of the materials that are available to you.

Background Texts

The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics

The articles stress the direct impact of health economics reasoning on policy and practice, offering readers an introduction to the potential reach of the discipline. Contributions come from leaders in health economics and reflect the worldwide reach of the discipline. The articles place emphasis on the connections between theory and policy-making, and develop the contributions of health economics to problems arising in a variety of institutional contexts, from primary care to the operations of health insurers. The volume addresses policy concerns relevant to health systems in both developed and developing countries. The book takes a broad perspective, with relevance to systems with single or multi-payer health insurance arrangements, and to those relying predominantly on user charges; contributions are also included that focus both on medical care and on non-medical factors that affect health.

Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance

Designated a Doody's Core Title . Medical economics and finance is an integral component of the health care industrial complex. Its language is a diverse and broad-based concept covering many other industries: accounting, insurance, mathematics and statistics, public health, provider recruitment and retention, Medicare, health policy, forecasting, aging and long-term care, are all commingled arenas....The Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance will be an essential tool for doctors, nurses and clinicians, benefits managers, executives and health care administrators, as well as graduate students and patients With more than 5,000 definitions, 3,000 abbreviations and acronyms, and a 2,000 item oeuvre of resources, readings, and nomenclature derivatives it covers the financial and economics language of every health care industry sector.. - From the Preface by David Edward Marcinko

Dictionary of Health Economics

Comprehensive, concise and easily accessible, this is the first health economics dictionary of its kind and is an essential reference tool for everyone involved, or interested in, healthcare. The modern terminology of health economics and relevant terms used by economists working in the fields of epidemiology, public health, decision management and policy studies are all clearly explained. Combined with hundreds of key terms, the skillful use of examples, figures, tables and a simple cross-referencing system between definitions, allows the often complex language of health economics to be demystified.

ECON 3350: Economics of Health