Ahh, it's summertime and you are finally on your much-awaited vacation that you have been saving up for all year. You are strolling on a beautiful island beach, breathing in that fresh salty air, the warm soft sand between your toes, and doing what everyone wants to do while on vacation: relaxing! Suddenly, you see something far off in the distance. Shiver me timbers, it's a huge pirate ship! You may think:
Oh no, are they coming for treasure?
Let me hide my treasure chest!
Wait, I don't even own a treasure chest!
Is this all just a weird dream?
Ultimately, panic settles in; all you are trying to do is relax. It's your vacation!
Now, I don't know about you, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be bummed about an interruption during my vacation, especially one such as pirates.
Stories of pirates, treasure, and seafarers have spanned thousands of years and among many cultures (like we learned in Carla's blog post, Sailing the High Seas). Who doesn't love a good story about a group of heroes on a grand trek across the ocean in search of treasure, dodging rival pirate ships in search of pirate booty? These odysseys might include explosive ship duels, roasting freshly caught fish over a bonfire on the beach, and walking the plank.
In the last few years, there has been a huge surge in the popularity of anime shows. Its traction heightened around the start of the pandemic in 2020 and has been taking off since then. People began rewatching some of their favorite television shows or picked up some new ones along the way. So, what does this have to do with pirates? If you ask any anime enthusiast to recommend an anime show about pirates, adventure, and grand voyages across the ocean with a twist, it's guaranteed they'll tell you One Piece. (Note: A live-action version of the show One Piece was recently created; if you are a fan of live-action versus animated shows, that may be for you. However, I am talking about the anime that was created in the 90s). It's at least one of the first thoughts that come to my mind when I think about pirates, and to prove that we librarians don't just read in our downtime, I wanted to provide a brief plug on the pirate-based characters of this show, also known as the Straw Hat Pirates crew.
The storyline in One Piece does not include the typical search for a treasure chest full of jewels and gold, but rather for a treasure called the one piece. Treasure can take on varied forms in the series, and you might wonder whether past and present-day pirates thought this way, too. All in all, what we do know about pirates is that the treasures that they seek are valuable and worth traveling across the oceans for.
Aside from the superbly displayed artwork and Japanese culture that One Piece portrays, a random fact about this show is that it is a really long series (if you are a pirate out at sea trying to make the time pass, then this show is for you). It would take 393.09 hours, or 16.38 days without any breaks, pauses, or sleep to finish it!
Now, back to our vacation scene. Let's say it's just the Straw Hat Pirate crew aboard that pirate ship. The panic subdues since they are not your stereotypical pirates, but rather a bunch of diverse characters each with good morals, a huge appetite for adventure, and likely know some catchy sea shanties. Each character has a backstory that shapes who they are, yet much like the average pirate, the search for treasure can be strenuous as well.
Seafarers and pirates are not exempt from experiencing or developing health conditions while drifting out in the ocean; the long days and nights out at sea cause them mental, emotional, and physical distress. Unfortunately, a few of the common ones that can develop are depression and heart disease. We in the library are proud to say that performing research on these sorts of topics can easily be done through our newly updated database, CINAHL Ultimate. The features within CINAHL Ultimate allow you to search Quick Lessons (take a look at this quick lesson overview on depression), evidence-based care sheets such as for a heat stroke, and perhaps one of the most notable features is the PICO(T) search.
The PICO(T) search in CINAHL Ultimate follows the PICO(T) framework and technique of developing literature search strategies and answering a health or clinical care question. PICO(T) is a mnemonic for Patient/Problem/Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, and Time. In other words, you can plug in keywords for each PICO(T) element. You can locate the PICO(T) search right underneath the search box on the CINAHL Ultimate homepage.
Now, as you venture out on your own adventures this summer, if you just so happen to encounter a pirate ship, let us hope to the highest seas that they're a good-natured crew like the straw hat pirates. Farewell and fair winds this summer, mateys!
Lyanne Garcia is one of the library's research librarians and focuses on research and content development. In her spare time, you're likely to find her walking her dog and enjoying the outdoors.