Doing Something Neat with Technology? Submit Your Project to JMLA Virtual Projects
The Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) Virtual Projects Committee is seeking innovative and notable technology projects for the October 2016 JMLA Virtual Projects column. The annual column focuses on library virtual spaces that extend the library “presence” outward to support users in their digital spaces, wherever and whenever needed.
To be considered for this column, please submit a 200-word abstract of your virtual project or a link to your project web page that describes the project and why it is innovative or notable. Technology projects must have been implemented within the past two years. Send you...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - March 15, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: KraftyLibrarian Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
“85% of biomedical research is wasted” and librarians
First to the rather disturbing 85% figure. This originates from a 2009 Lancet article that suggests much research is wasted due to asking the wrong questions, being badly designed, being not published, being poorly reported and more. The paper has been cited some 400 times in Google Scholar which indicates that it is an area of interest and concern.
So where where do librarians fit in? A recent paper (“Impactful librarians : identifying opportunities to increase your impact”) suggests that they can play a very important role in improving research quality in their organisations. At the same time, this will help raise th...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - March 1, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Rob Penfold Tags: Library Profession Research Source Type: blogs
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
At the beginning of last year I was asked to design and teach a new course with one of the nursing instructors that would teach students how to write professionally and value inter-professional communication. As an academic librarian for nursing and health sciences, I do a lot of teaching as part of my day to day role, but I had never taught an eight week course. And, not since before library school had I taught anything that wasn’t directly related to libraries or where I was not in the role of librarian.
My co-instructor and I spent months matching readings, assignments, and assessments to learning objectives and the c...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - February 25, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Rebecca Carlson Tags: Library Profession collaboration instruction Source Type: blogs
InTOCicated by eTOCs
As you might gather from the post title, I love journal alerts (aka eTOCs) and here’s why:
They increase use of our expensive ejournals
They help keep clinicians up to date in their specialty
They repeatedly remind clinicians that the medical library exists; no small thing in these Googlesque days
They can be used to cross promote other library resources, services and news
We are a relatively small hospital library (two staff) which services around 5000 clients. Over the years, our ejournal alert service has grown to around 700 journal alerts, and is probably our most popular service.
The way it works is that all j...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - December 28, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Rob Penfold Tags: Journals and Books Technology etocs Source Type: blogs
Poop is OK!
Written at last week’s Internet Librarian 2015 Conference
A conference’s opening keynote address is kind of like the first day of school. You sit excitedly wondering what the experience is going to bring, anxiously chatting with your neighbor about what sessions you plan to attend. Looking around you size up the crowd: the diehard tweeters in the front, the laid-back cool kids leisurely skimming their conference programs, and the super hip girl in the back row wearing red tights who you hope will be your new best friend. As we settled into our seats in the hotel ballroom, we expected a lot. No pressure, but the ope...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - November 5, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Katie Mulik Dayani Tags: Conferences Library Profession #internetlibrarian Users Source Type: blogs
Yes? Or No? Or HOW? Catching a Predator at Birth (Maybe)
I almost called this post: “Create attention for your article; write a layman’s summary,” which was the subject line from the e-mail we are discussing locally in trying to decide if it is a predatory publisher or not. (Short version of what we did for those who don’t have time to read the whole story: Identity, Authority, Credibility, Language, Editing, Timing, Licensing, Accessibility, Openness, Sources, Resources. Basically, defining a chain of trust.) I’ve blogged here before about the idea of layman’s summaries, a.k.a. plain language abstracts. They have a great tagline. It’s a...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - October 29, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Patricia Anderson Tags: Behind the Scenes Technology accessibility National Medical Librarians Month plain language predatory journals science translation Source Type: blogs
Post schedule test
This is a test post to see if my post scheduler fix worked. (Source: The Krafty Librarian)
Source: The Krafty Librarian - October 28, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: KraftyLibrarian Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
NLM Georgia Biomedical Informatics Course
I recently attended the NLM Georgia Biomedical Informatics Course at the lovely Brasstown Valley Resort in Young Harris, GA. This week-long semiannual course is hosted by the Robert B. Greenblatt, M.D. Library, Georgia Regents University and funded by the National Library of Medicine. If you’ve ever heard library colleagues talk about the Woodshole course, this is the current version of that course. The content changes every session, which is necessary in such a fast moving field.
Attendees were a nice mix of librarians, clinicians, researchers and others involved in medical information technology. Instructors who are in...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - October 28, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tobin Magle Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Evidence Based Practice Workshop: Two (Very Different) Perspectives
Summer is a busy time for medical librarians but it can also be a time to hone skills that have been lying dormant. This summer, as I continued to transition into a new position I realized that my evidence based practice (EBP) skills were a little rusty. What’s more, I realized that clinicians wanted more from librarians in the area of qualitative analysis than I had training in.
My library supported my attendance in the Supporting Clinical Care: An Institute in Evidence-Based Practice for Medical Librarians workshop held at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Library in Aurora, Colorado. The intensive thr...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - October 27, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Emily Hurst Tags: Educational Opportunities ebp evidence based practice Source Type: blogs
Join an MLA Committee….NOW!
These last few weeks I have been traveling to the chapter meetings (and participating in the virtual chapter meeting) and during my MLA Update I remind people that engagement within MLA is important to members building their own value within the organization. One of the best ways to be engaged is to join an MLA Committee.
Time is running out, you must submit an application to join a committee by October 31, 2015.
Over the years I’ve written several posts about joining an MLA Committee, here is a “Behind the Scenes” post which gives a detailed account of the process.
Primary things to remember when join...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - October 23, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: KraftyLibrarian Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
First ever all-virtual conference
I love conferences: meeting other librarians, learning about new products and services, and getting great ideas from others’ innovative projects. However, it is always hard to get away to go to conferences. Both the time and funds can be hard to find. This is why I was so excited for the first-ever virtual conference by the Midcontinental Chapter of the Medical Library Association (MCMLA). This was also the first ever all-virtual meeting of any MLA chapter in the history of the organization. I did not have to find money in my budget or time in my schedule, but still was able to attend many informative conference sessions...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - October 12, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Rebecca Carlson Tags: MLA Events/News Technology Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Going down the one person library rabbit hole
My only other co-worker is transferring to another hospital at the end of the month so I will soon becoming a truly one person library, hopefully only temporary but it could be permanent. In any case, at least for a few months I’ll be on my own.
Now I need to figure out how to organize my workday to cover two set of job duties. I have so many questions. Do I sit at the reference desk every day, or do I split my day between the reference desk and my office? I’m not full time. Do I work 4 8 hours days and one 4 hour day, or do I spread my hours evenly over 5 days?
Then comes the fun stuff – prioritizi...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - October 5, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Alexia Eastabrook-Isely Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Exporting multiple Google Scholar citations to reference managers like Endnote
Google Scholar (GS) is a very useful addition to the searchers arsenal; following a “cited by” trail nicely complements results retrieved by keyword/subject heading searches in databases such as Embase and Medline.
One area where GS is less useful is exporting records to reference management software. Using the settings, you can set up an export to BibTex, Endnote, RefMan and RefWorks. However, there are two limitation:
You can only export a single record at a time
You don’t get the abstract included
GS, after a little fiddling about, does allow you to save citations to a list (My library) but citatio...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - October 3, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Rob Penfold Tags: Other Medical Library Stuff Technology Source Type: blogs
Brief Intro: Emily Hurst
Hello all! Another guest librarian blogger, happy to be joining in to post while Michelle is engaged with MLA Presidential duties. Update: Apparently my scheduled post of this did not go out as expected over an month ago.
My name is Emily Hurst and just as Irene, I too work at the Virginia Commonwealth University Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences. I currently serve as the Head of Research and Education. While I only joined VCU Libraries in December I have been a medical librarian for several years. I previously worked with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, South Central Region.
I am currently acti...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - September 23, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Emily Hurst Tags: New Blogger Introduction Source Type: blogs
Preparing for National Medical Librarians Month
Several years ago, the Medical Library Association declared October National Medical Librarians Month. The theme for this year is “Are you a Risk Taker? When you need to be right, ask your medical librarian.” Check out the free available materials at http://www.mlanet.org/p/cm/ld/fid=320.
Will you use those materials or design your own using your library logo and colors? Will the library logo show up on your giveaway pencils, pens, totes, flashlights, caps, magnet, or drinking bottles? Will there be a contest to guess the number of gummy worms in a jar or a contest to guess the number of your institution’...
Source: The Krafty Librarian - September 20, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Helen-Ann Brown Epstein Tags: National Medical Librarians Month Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
