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Objective:
The purpose of this paper is to examine the contributions of Estelle Brodman, PhD, to the early application of computing technologies in health sciences libraries.Methods:
A review of the literature, oral histories, and materials contained in the archives of the Bernard Becker Medical Library at the Washington University School of Medicine was conducted.Results:
While the early computing technologies were not well suited to library applications, their exciting potential was recognized by visionaries like Dr. Brodman. The effective use of these technologies was made possible by creative and innovative projects and programs. The impact of these early efforts continues to resonate through library services and operations.Conclusions:
Computing technologies have transformed libraries. Dr. Brodman''s leadership in the early development and application of these technologies provided significant benefits to the health sciences library community.Highlights
- From the earliest days of computing, libraries have explored the application of computing technologies to library operations. The career of Estelle Brodman, PhD, follows the development of these technologies where her contributions have had a major impact across health sciences libraries.
- At the beginning of the computing era, it was assumed that only the very largest libraries would be able to take advantage of these technologies. Dr. Brodman demonstrated that not only could a medium-sized medical library benefit from the technologies but could provide national leadership in their development and application.
- In one of the earliest examples of collaborative computing, predating data networking, Dr. Brodman demonstrated the power of collaboration with projects that included one of the first integrated library systems and an interlibrary loan network that provided the foundation for DOCLINE.
Implications
- Computing and networking technologies have clearly advanced; however, many of the challenges for libraries identified in the earliest work with these technologies remain. The collaborative strategies developed by Dr. Brodman continue to offer significant opportunities for success.
- Research and development in libraries is exciting and rewarding, contributing to the advancement of the profession and securing the position of the library in an academic or clinical care institution.
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Mark E. Funk 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2013,101(1):12-20
Purpose:
This lecture explores changes in the medical library profession over the last fifty years, as revealed by individual word usage in a body of literature.Methods:
I downloaded articles published in the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association and Journal of the Medical Library Association between 1961 and 2000 to create an electronic corpus and tracked annual frequency of individual word usage. I used frequency sparklines of words, matching one of four archetypal shapes (level, rise, fall, and rise-and-fall) to identify significant words.Results:
Most significant words fell into the categories of environment, management, technology, and research. Based on word usage changes, the following trends are revealed: Compared to 1961, today''s medical librarians are more concerned with digital information, not physical packages. We prefer information to be evidence-based. We focus more on health than medicine. We are reaching out to new constituents, sometimes leaving our building to do so. Teaching has become important for us. We run our libraries more like businesses, using constantly changing technology. We are publishing more research articles.Conclusions:
Although these words were chosen by individual authors to tell their particular stories, in the aggregate, our words reveal our story of change in our profession.The Janet Doe Lecture on the history or philosophy of medical librarianship: I will warn you right now that you will get very little philosophy out of me today, for two reasons. First, my predecessor T. Scott Plutchak, AHIP, was a philosophy major, and I knew that a zoology major like myself could not compete with that. Second, “philosophy” in many Janet Doe lectures is actually a strong personal viewpoint of medical librarianship—what it is or what it should be. I do collection development, where things change so much and so rapidly that I have not had time to develop a strong viewpoint like many of my Doe predecessors. Like most of my collection development colleagues, I''m just trying to survive day to day. That tends to create a very pragmatic attitude. If I believe in anything strongly, it is that I believe I''ll have another cookie.Without philosophy, I am left with history. And here I will echo the complaint of many Doe lecturers by stating that I have a severe lack of historical research skills. I became painfully aware of this lack as I read previous Doe Lectures, such as David Kronick''s 1980 lecture 1. Kronick was a true scholar, with a doctorate in librarianship. We honor him to this day with the Medical Library Association''s (MLA''s) David A. Kronick Traveling Fellowship. In his Doe Lecture, Kronick quoted H. Curtis Wright''s “The Oral Antecedents of Greek Librarianship,” Francis Bacon, and the fifteenth-century Abbot Johannes Trimethius. In contrast, later in this speech, I will quote the Talking Heads.While I am totally unqualified for traditional historical research, that still leaves informal, or personal, history. Although I am old enough to be in my anecdotage, I just do not have many interesting stories to tell. And as Thomas Basler, FMLA, told us in his 2008 Doe Lecture, there are no more giants. While I met some of those giants, I did not know them, and I certainly do not have any stories to tell about them. I suppose I could tell stories about some of the taller than average individuals I have met in my career, but that does not sound very exciting. 相似文献5.
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Katalin Kaproncszay László András Magyar Constance E Putnam 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2011,99(1):31-39
Objectives:
The 170-year history of the library of the Royal Society of Medicine in Budapest illustrates both that political and cultural context matter and that “medical” libraries, if they survive, in due course become primarily “medical history” libraries.Methods:
Two of the authors are on the staff of the Semmelweis Medical History Library; the third is a US scholar who makes frequent use of the library. Together, they avail themselves of archival and published materials—and personal experience with the collection—to establish the context that produced the original library, trace its evolution, and describe its present-day incarnation.Results:
A tale of transformation emerges that reflects how collections are likely to change. The authors present events and individuals in the life of the Royal Society''s library and paint a picture of the value of today''s Semmelweis Medical History Library. Unique treasures in the collection are described.Conclusion:
The story told here is of how a particular nineteenth-century library became a twenty-first–century institution. The authors establish its peculiarly Hungarian context and potential value to librarians and historians from outside Hungary. The overall message is that general medical libraries everywhere are perforce likely to become medical historical libraries over time.Highlights
- Context matters. The historical background of a library helps determine its functions and its future; shifts in modes of publishing affect and monetary concerns shape the development and preservation of an historical collection.
- Libraries evolve. Medical libraries undergo a normal and profoundly useful transformation over time into repositories of medical history.
- Books alone do not a library make: Libraries can and should be settings for continuing education, cultural affirmation, and assistance to scholars by preserving and making available for use a variety of sometimes rare archival and published materials.
Implications
- Knowing the political and cultural background of a library is essential to understanding its history as well as its present-day status.
- Preserving and expanding historical collections demands vigilance and creative management, especially under difficult fiscal and political circumstances. The loyal and diligent work of Hungarians and others who helped build and preserve this library can serve as a model for other threatened collections.
- Sharing the story of a relatively unknown library''s development brings its general assets and unique resources to the attention of a wider audience of librarians and scholars. Few outside Hungary have previously had any way of knowing about the Semmelweis Medical History Library''s rich holdings.
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Objective:
The research sought to establish a rubric for evaluating evidence-based medicine (EBM) point-of-care tools in a health sciences library.Methods:
The authors searched the literature for EBM tool evaluations and found that most previous reviews were designed to evaluate the ability of an EBM tool to answer a clinical question. The researchers'' goal was to develop and complete rubrics for assessing these tools based on criteria for a general evaluation of tools (reviewing content, search options, quality control, and grading) and criteria for an evaluation of clinical summaries (searching tools for treatments of common diagnoses and evaluating summaries for quality control).Results:
Differences between EBM tools'' options, content coverage, and usability were minimal. However, the products'' methods for locating and grading evidence varied widely in transparency and process.Conclusions:
As EBM tools are constantly updating and evolving, evaluation of these tools needs to be conducted frequently. Standards for evaluating EBM tools need to be established, with one method being the use of objective rubrics. In addition, EBM tools need to provide more information about authorship, reviewers, methods for evidence collection, and grading system employed.Highlights
- Eleven of the fourteen previous evidence-based medicine (EBM) tool evaluations were based on clinicians evaluating tools based on their perception of the products'' ability to answer a clinical question.
- EBM tools'' evidence summaries are not updated as often as products claim.
- Although many EBM tools claim to be evidence based, only 74% of the 70 evaluated treatment summaries included graded evidence.
Implications
- To offer the best tools for users, medical libraries should evaluate EBM resources regularly, including the quality of the evidence provided.
- Medical librarians have a role to play in evaluating the quality of EBM products and can develop assessment tools to aid in this evaluation.
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Julie G. Kosteniuk Debra G. Morgan Carl K. D'Arcy 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2013,101(1):32-37
Objectives:
The research determined (1) the information sources that family physicians (FPs) most commonly use to update their general medical knowledge and to make specific clinical decisions, and (2) the information sources FPs found to be most physically accessible, intellectually accessible (easy to understand), reliable (trustworthy), and relevant to their needs.Methods:
A cross-sectional postal survey of 792 FPs and locum tenens, in full-time or part-time medical practice, currently practicing or on leave of absence in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan was conducted during the period of January to April 2008.Results:
Of 666 eligible physicians, 331 completed and returned surveys, resulting in a response rate of 49.7% (331/666). Medical textbooks and colleagues in the main patient care setting were the top 2 sources for the purpose of making specific clinical decisions. Medical textbooks were most frequently considered by FPs to be reliable (trustworthy), and colleagues in the main patient care setting were most physically accessible (easy to access).Conclusions:
When making specific clinical decisions, FPs were most likely to use information from sources that they considered to be reliable and generally physically accessible, suggesting that FPs can best be supported by facilitating easy and convenient access to high-quality information.Highlights
- Medical textbooks were the most popular information source for family physicians'' (FPs'') clinical decision-making purposes, and medical journals were the most popular information source for the purpose of updating FPs'' general medical knowledge.
- FPs considered medical textbooks to be the most reliable (trustworthy) source, colleagues the most physically accessible, and continuing medical education the most relevant and intellectually accessible.
- The lowest ranked information sources across all four attributes were personal digital assistants, mental health professionals, pharmaceutical sales representatives, and other decision aids.
Implications
- The most popular information sources for clinical decision-making purposes among FPs were sources characterized as reliable and generally physically accessible.
- This study suggests the need for further research into interventions that target information access barriers in FPs'' practice settings and the promotion of reliable evidence for FPs'' clinical decision-making purposes.
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Suzanne F Grefsheim Susan C Whitmore Barbara A Rapp Jocelyn A Rankin Rex R Robison Candace C Canto 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2010,98(2):147-156
Background:
To encourage evidence-based practice, an Annals of Internal Medicine editorial called for a new professional on clinical teams: an informationist trained in science or medicine as well as information science.Objectives:
The study explored the effects of informationists on information behaviors of clinical research teams, specifically, frequency of seeking information for clinical or research decisions, range of resources consulted, perceptions about access to information, confidence in adequacy of literature searches, and effects on decision making and practice. It also explored perceptions about training and experience needed for successful informationists.Methods:
Exploratory focus groups and key interviews were followed by baseline and follow-up surveys conducted with researchers and clinicians receiving the service. Survey data were analyzed with Pearson''s chi-square or Fisher''s exact test.Results:
Comparing 2006 to 2004 survey responses, the researchers found that study participants reported: seeking answers to questions more frequently, spending more time seeking or using information, believing time was less of an obstacle to finding or using information, using more information resources, and feeling greater satisfaction with their ability to find answers. Participants'' opinions on informationists'' qualifications evolved to include both subject knowledge and information searching expertise.Conclusion:
Over time, clinical research teams with informationists demonstrated changes in their information behaviors, and they valued an informationist''s subject matter expertise more.Highlights
- Informationist involvement in traditional team activities—going on rounds and searching and critically evaluating the literature—increased over time.
- As the relationship between a clinical team and informationist developed, activities expanded to include projects such as development of wikis, databases, and websites.
- Clinical teams came to view subject knowledge as key to an informationist''s preparation; however, their expertise as information scientists was valued most highly.
- “Initiative,” approaching research staff in their workplace, was the one personal trait focus group participants agreed on as most desirable for an informationist.
- When first introduced to the concept, researchers cited customization of services to team needs as a major benefit.
Implications
- To assure a successful informationist program, libraries must be prepared to commit time and money.
- Whether informationists or not, librarians should be prepared to support users'' increased need for genetics and molecular biology information.
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Objectives:
This study sought to ascertain the publication rate of abstracts presented at the annual meetings of the Medical Library Association (MLA) for the years of 2002 and 2003. The secondary objectives were to examine possible reasons for non-publication and factors influencing publication.Methods:
A total of 442 abstracts from both meeting years, consisting of presented papers and posters, were examined. The 2 methods used to obtain a publication rate were literature searches and an online questionnaire sent to first authors. The questionnaire also asked abstract authors about reasons for non-publication and other factors that might have influenced their decisions about whether or not to submit the project for publication.Results:
The overall publication rate from the survey was 26.5%, and the publication rate found via literature searching was 27.6%. The most common reason given for non-publication was time restrictions. Also notable was the large proportion of abstracts written by librarians working at universities and those having 25 or more years in the library profession.Discussion:
Publication rates for abstracts presented at the Medical Library Association meetings for the years studied rank at the low end in comparison with other medical professional associations. Further research into factors affecting publication may reveal ways to increase this rate.Highlights
- Publication rates from posters and presentations at the Medical Library Association''s 2002 and 2003 annual meetings were estimated at less than 28.0% using data from an author survey and literature search. In contrast, a Cochrane systematic review of 79 similar biomedical research studies found a mean publication rate of 44.5%.
- Respondents listed time restrictions as their primary reason for not submitting their presentations for publication.
Implications
- Compared to biomedical conferences, relatively little of the information presented at Medical Library Association annual meetings is available as peer-reviewed evidence in the published literature.
- Each profession has different norms for the nature and style of information in presentations at meetings. The further presenters get from basic research, the more difficult it may be for them to conceptualize a presentation as a formal paper. Diverse publication rates between professions are likely to remain.
- Additional study could be aimed at further clarifying the reasons for non-publication and possible means to ameliorate them.
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Objectives:
The study updates Schloman''s 1997 study, “Mapping the Literature of Health Education.” The authors identify an updated list of core health education journals and determine the coverage of these journals by electronic indexes.Methods:
Citations from four source journals for the years 2006 to 2008 were analyzed using the established methodology of the “Mapping the Literature of Allied Health Project.” The cited journals were divided into three zones of productivity by using Bradford''s Law of Scattering.Results:
There were 19,907 citations in 602 source articles. Journal articles were the most commonly cited format type. Of the 1,896 journal titles cited, 20 (1.1%) made up the core journals. Together, the fields of medicine, health education, and psychology accounted for 85.0% of the journals in the core. Self-citation was found to be a common practice in the source journals. Scopus had the broadest journal coverage of the indexes examined.Conclusions:
The results of this study provide a new picture of the health education literature: The volume has grown significantly, cites older materials, and relies less on sexual health journals and more on psychology journals.Highlights
- Three of the four health education journals in this study showed a statistically significant increase in the number of journal articles published since 1993.
- The majority of core journals in the field are from medicine (35.0%), health education (30.0%), and psychology (20.0%), with the largest change in core journal make-up being an increase in psychology journals.
- Scopus provided the most thorough coverage of the cited journals, followed by MEDLINE, Social Sciences Citation Index, and CINAHL Plus with Full Text.
Implications
- Reference librarians should instruct users on more sophisticated ways to manage the growing volume of the health education literature.
- Collection development librarians may need to purchase and retain older materials to support health education research.
- Librarians should purchase and direct patrons to a variety of databases to completely cover the literature of medicine, health education, and psychology.
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Ryan S. Rafferty 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2013,101(3):213-217
Objectives:
The research sought to determine if first-year medical students consulted and cited resources specifically highlighted during library instructional sessions.Methods:
Students attended a library resources instructional session. Resources that pertained to the students'' assignment were demonstrated and discussed. The students created a report including citations from relevant literature. The citations were analyzed and categorized as: a resource discussed at the instructional session, a resource found on the course LibGuide, a library resource, course material, or some other resource. All citations were subcategorized as print or electronic.Results:
Three years (2008–2011) of data analyzing 2,983 citations showed that 49.55% of all citations were from resources discussed during library instructional sessions; 21.86% came from resources with links on the course LibGuide; 77.51% were from library resources; and 90.68% came from electronic resources.Conclusion:
Students cited resources specifically highlighted during library instructional sessions for their assignments. The percentage of all citations coming from resources highlighted during the instructional sessions or found on the course LibGuide indicates that library instruction had an impact on the students'' work.Highlights
- Review of the literature shows that instruction about library resources accompanied by clear guidelines on scholarly research methods and resources provided by course instructors have the biggest impact on the quality of cited materials in student bibliographies.
- Graduate medical students cited library resources more frequently than nonlibrary resources for their assigned coursework.
- Graduate medical students cited materials and resources specifically highlighted during library instructional sessions for their assigned coursework.
Implications
- Instruction about library resources tailored to medical students'' assignments impacts the resources that the students consult and cite for their assignments.
- Using the information gathered from citation analysis to modify teaching plans can impact the effectiveness of library instructional sessions.
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Objective:
A discourse analysis was conducted of peer-written blogs about the chronic illness endometriosis to understand how bloggers present information sources and make cases for and against the authority of those sources.Methods:
Eleven blogs that were authored by endometriosis patients and focused exclusively or primarily on the authors'' experiences with endometriosis were selected. After selecting segments in which the bloggers invoked forms of knowledge and sources of evidence, the text was discursively analyzed to reveal how bloggers establish and dispute the authority of the sources they invoke.Results:
When discussing and refuting authority, the bloggers invoked many sources of evidence, including experiential, peer-provided, biomedical, and intuitive ones. Additionally, they made and disputed claims of cognitive authority via two interpretive repertoires: a concern about the role and interests of the pharmaceutical industry and an understanding of endometriosis as extremely idiosyncratic. Affective authority of information sources was also identified, which presented as social context, situational similarity, or aesthetic or spiritual factors.Conclusions:
Endometriosis patients may find informational value in blogs, especially for affective support and epistemic experience. Traditional notions of authority might need to be revised for the online environment. Guidelines for evaluating the authority of consumer health information, informed by established readers'' advisory practices, are suggested.Highlights
- Endometriosis patients who blog about the illness may determine authority of information sources through both cognitive and affective methods.
Implications
- Because patients with chronic illnesses might have different authority criteria than medical librarians do, it could be useful to carefully incorporate electronic patient discussion forums, medical blogs written by laypeople, and other nontraditionally authoritative resources into consumer health information selection policies. Standard biomedical resources are certainly important to recommend to consumers, but they do not convey the complete picture of a chronic illness and its related experience.
- Patients with chronic illnesses and caregivers can benefit from sources such as blogs and online discussion lists that provide social and emotional support as well as accounts of “lived experience.”
- An understanding of the patient''s potential epistemological community can make the librarian''s recommendations more appropriate for the individual user.
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C. Trenton Boyd 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2011,99(1):8-14
Objective:
The objective of this study was to survey holdings of ephemeral veterinary literature.Methods:
WorldCat OCLC catalog, the Library of Congress online catalog, the US National Agricultural Library online catalog, and the Dictionary Catalog of the National Agricultural Library, 1862–1965, were used to determine current library holdings of materials published by veterinary schools that are no longer in existence and veterinary associations that are defunct, veterinary supply catalogs, veterinary house organs, patent medicine publications, and veterinary advertisements. Individual library catalogs were also consulted. In addition, the practice of removing advertisements from bound volumes was examined.Results:
There are many gaps in the cataloged library holdings of primary source materials relating to the history of the education of veterinarians in the United States.Conclusions:
A proactive action plan needs to be designed and activated to locate, catalog, and preserve this primary source material of veterinary medicine for posterity.Highlights
- Veterinary libraries have failed to catalog or retain important primary veterinary source materials.
- Several types of veterinary gray literature, with individual pieces scattered across multiple kinds of libraries, are at high risk for loss from the historical record.
Implications
- Academic, veterinary, medical, and special librarians should be involved in efforts to preserve their institutional, local, and state materials; to identify and locate hidden collections of materials, both in uncataloged collections and in the hands of private collectors; and to mentor new librarians about their role in preserving the history of medicine.
- The results of this survey of primary source materials documenting US veterinary medical education suggest the need for a parallel study of medical education and other health professions education.
- The time is now, not only to digitize important scarce veterinary materials for both preservation and improved access, but also to archive present day institutional output (paper and electronic).
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Ruth Holst Carla J. Funk Heidi Sue Adams Margaret Bandy Catherine Mary Boss Beth Hill Claire B. Joseph Rosalind K. Lett 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2009,97(4):285-292
Objectives:
The research objectives were to (1) describe the current and future roles of hospital librarians and the challenges they face and (2) find evidence supporting the hypothesis that librarians are essential to hospitals in achieving the organizations'' mission-critical goals.Method:
The authors used results from a previous research study that identified the five organizational mission-critical goals important to hospital administrators and then searched the literature and solicited examples from hospital librarians to describe the librarian''s role in helping hospitals achieve these goals.Results:
The literature supports the hypothesis that hospital librarians play important roles in the success of the hospital. Librarians support quality clinical care, efficient and effective hospital operations, continuing education for staff, research and innovation, and patient, family, and community health information needs.Conclusion:
Hospital librarians fulfill many mission-critical roles in today''s hospital, providing the right information at the right time in a variety of ways to enhance hospital and medical staff effectiveness, optimize patient care, improve patient outcomes, and increase patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services. Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian.Highlights
- A review of the literature supports the hypothesis that services of the professional librarian result in:
- enhanced staff effectiveness,
- optimized patient care,
- improved patient outcomes, and
- increased patient and family satisfaction with the hospital and its services.
Implications
- Because hospital librarians and their services provide an excellent return on investment for the hospital and help the hospital keep its competitive edge, hospital staff should have access to the services of a professional librarian.
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Dean Hendrix 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2008,96(4):324-334
Objective:
The objective of this study was to analyze bibliometric data from ISI, National Institutes of Health (NIH)–funding data, and faculty size information for Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) member schools during 1997 to 2007 to assess research productivity and impact.Methods:
This study gathered and synthesized 10 metrics for almost all AAMC medical schools (n = 123): (1) total number of published articles per medical school, (2) total number of citations to published articles per medical school, (3) average number of citations per article, (4) institutional impact indices, (5) institutional percentages of articles with zero citations, (6) annual average number of faculty per medical school, (7) total amount of NIH funding per medical school, (8) average amount of NIH grant money awarded per faculty member, (9) average number of articles per faculty member, and (10) average number of citations per faculty member. Using principal components analysis, the author calculated the relationships between measures, if they existed.Results:
Principal components analysis revealed 3 major clusters of variables that accounted for 91% of the total variance: (1) institutional research productivity, (2) research influence or impact, and (3) individual faculty research productivity. Depending on the variables in each cluster, medical school research may be appropriately evaluated in a more nuanced way. Significant correlations exist between extracted factors, indicating an interrelatedness of all variables. Total NIH funding may relate more strongly to the quality of the research than the quantity of the research. The elimination of medical schools with outliers in 1 or more indicators (n = 20) altered the analysis considerably.Conclusions:
Though popular, ordinal rankings cannot adequately describe the multidimensional nature of a medical school''s research productivity and impact. This study provides statistics that can be used in conjunction with other sound methodologies to provide a more authentic view of a medical school''s research. The large variance of the collected data suggests that refining bibliometric data by discipline, peer groups, or journal information may provide a more precise assessment.Highlights
- Principal components analysis discovered three clusters of variables: (1) institutional research productivity, (2) research influence or impact, and (3) individual faculty research productivity.
- The associations between size-independent measures (e.g., average number of citations/article) were more significant than associations between size-independent bibliometric measures and size-dependent (e.g., number of faculty) bibliometric measures and vice versa, except in the case of total National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding.
- The factor coefficients, or loadings, for total NIH funding may associate more with the quality of research rather than the quantity of research.
- The removal of twenty outliers, fourteen highly productive or influential medical schools and six medical schools with relatively low research profiles, changed the results of the analysis significantly.
- This study''s broad institutional bibliometric data sets cannot be extrapolated to specific departments at the studied medical schools.
Implications
- Librarians, administrators, and faculty should use several methodologies in tandem with bibliometric data when evaluating institutions'' research impact and productivity.
- Health sciences librarians should not make use of university rankings materials lacking strong methodological foundations.
- This study''s bibliometric data may provide a starting point or point of comparison for future assessments.
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Valerie A. Lynn Arpita Bose Susan J. Boehmer 《Journal of the Medical Library Association》2010,98(1):57-64
Objectives:
Attending professional continuing education (CE) is an important component of librarianship. This research study identified librarians'' preferences in delivery modalities of instruction for professional CE. The study also identified influential factors associated with attending CE classes.Methods:
Five instruction-delivery modalities and six influential factors were identified for inclusion in an online survey. The survey completed by members of the American Library Association (ALA), Special Libraries Association (SLA), and Medical Library Association (MLA) provided the data for analysis of librarian preferences and influential factors.Results:
The majority of respondents were MLA members, followed by ALA and SLA members. Librarians from all three library associations preferred the face-to-face instructional modality. The most influential factor associated with the decision to attend a professional CE class was cost.Conclusions:
All five instruction-delivery modalities present useful structures for imparting professional CE. As librarians'' experience with different modalities increases and as technology improves, preferences in instruction delivery may shift. But at present, face-to-face remains the most preferred modality. Based on the results of this study, cost was the most influential factor associated with attending a CE class. This may change as additional influential factors are identified and analyzed in future studies.Highlights
- Despite the many technological advances in the education arena, librarians prefer face-to-face instruction (direct interaction with instructors and other participants, hands-on experience, focused learning). This creates a dilemma as increased budgetary constraints are a barrier to attending face-to-face professional continuing education (CE) classes.
- Librarians in all age groups preferred the traditional classroom style of face-to-face instruction to web-based methods.
Implications
- Instructors and course designers face a challenge in incorporating the perceived advantages of face-to-face instruction into the more affordable modalities of online instruction.
- As cost becomes more of a factor for attending professional CE classes, web-based asynchronous and synchronous modalities offer important, less expensive, alternatives.