MEDLIB’s ‘spooktacular’ round 1.7

Welcome to the ‘spooktacular’ 7th edition of medlib’s round, a blog carnival of “excellent posts in the field of medical librarianship.”  October is not only the month for trick or treats with Halloween, but it is also

National Medical Librarian Month

National Health Literacy Month

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

National Literacy Awareness Month

(The list could go on!)

In addition to these events, it has been a very busy week, as usual, in the medical library field. The long awaited PubMed redesign was previewed this week. Another highly anticipated preview was Google Wave. You could argue both previews have brought to light issues with the new products; however, each holds promise for changing the medical library field.

The question, and theme for this round, is how do you inspire patrons to use these new tools and accept the changes?

Of course change has to start from some where, and so do medical librarians. So just what are the various routes to the library field? Check out some of the stories collected by Woodsiegirl presents The Library Routes Project wiki is now live! posted at Organising Chaos. The wiki has just been started and needs some additional stories posted to it. If you want to tell how you became a librarian then add your route to the field story on the wiki!

Speaking of routes, Alison Aldrich took the routes to library a little further by presenting A Technology Timeline of Maryanne Blake’s Library Career posted at Dragonfly. This would be an excellent story to add to the The Library Routes Project wiki.  The guest post is a testament to the impact of a medical librarian to the field. Maryanne started her career before computers were a common scene in libraries and learned to not only accept the new technology but embraced it’s usefulness in the field. The post is also a great example of how fast technology changes.

Talk about changes in technology it can be very hard to keep up in our fast pace society!

Did you know about these new tips?

A great way to promote the library and utilize NLM’s helpful resources is by creating a library Toolbar. An excellent example of how to build and adjust your library toolbar is presented by Guus van den Brekel; 37 ways To Adjust Your Library Toolbar (or any Conduit Toolbar) posted at DigiCMB.

“From those (toolbars) we derive general search & news widgets for all and tailor-made widgets on request to be distributed through as much (social) networks & platforms as possible. The partnership of Netvibes with Conduit is therefore also interesting from my point of view and was worth another post: http://digicmb.blogspot.com/2009/10/netvibes-powers-conduit-strong.html The user chooses content and platform. We have to make sure we can get it there.”

I suggest you check out the post and look at item #4. It shows the various NLM services you can add to the toolbar. Certainly a time-saver for someone who is constantly looking for patient information or articles!

So the toolbar has changed the way you can easily access information, but how has new technology affected publishing? Well for more information head on over to Heidi Allen Online where Heidi Allen presents How to use Social Media in Scholarly Publishing. The post is actually a presentation that illustrates how social media is affecting publishing. Heidi does an excellent job of reviewing the various tools that have affected publishing. For instance, she discusses how twitter, social bookmarking, Facebook, RSS, and other items have helped publishers advertise and reach new audiences. Publishing is certainly changing, and with the release of Google Wave (discussed later) and Google Sidiwiki we will certainly see more changes very soon.

One program that has already had an affect on publishing is Wikipedia.

@Berci : @diariomedico And as Wikipedians say, Wikipedia is the best source to start with in your research, but should never be the last one. #DM1 9 months ago

Wikipedia is always changing, and is updated by well anyone. By being easily updated constantly by anyone Wikipedia is simultaneously current and questionable. Laika Spoetnik discusses Wikipedia’s Achilles heel in The Trouble with Wikipedia as a Source for Medical Information posted at Laika’s MedLibLog. The post is an excellent explanation of why Wikipedia could be a starting point but should never be an ending point. It describes the use of wikipedia among patients, medical students and doctors and points out why it is not (yet) a trustworthy site. Wikipedia has taken steps to control the blatant false information; however, additional steps still need to be implemented and Laika describes some solutions in her post.

Another area in need of regulation is social media content posted by health professionals. Dr Shock MD PhD presents Unprofessional Online Content By Medical Students | Dr Shock MD PhD posted at Dr Shock MD PhD. An interesting fact in the post is that “60% (47/78) of Med Schools reported incidents of students posting unprofessional online” and only “38% of the respondents reported that they had institutional policies.” While it is important to encourage library patrons to utilize social media tools, it is also important to establish guidelines to maintain professionalism.

With all of these new technologies, where do libraries fit into the picture and how can librarians encourage users to embrace these changes?

Where does the library fit into this picture?

Patricia F Anderson presents Future Librarians and Immediate Challenges posted at Emerging Technologies Librarian. It is interesting to note that Patricia’s current position, ETechLib, derived from her finding online tools useful and them sharing them with her patrons. I agree with her post that librarians have done what they’ve always done, just in a new media. One thing is for certain, social media is here to stay and “resistance is futile.”

Change is certainly part of the library. We’ve seen it this week with the new releases. Instead of resisting the changes, it is imperative that we add to these changes as they will shape the future of the library.

Nikki Dettmar discusses the importance of embracing change and shaping change instead of trying to resist in her presentation PubMed: All in the Attitude posted at Eagle Dawg Blog. Nikki reminds everyone to provide their feedback to NLM and be part of the solution.

The PubMed preview has certainly generated a wealth of chatter on the MEDLIB-Listserv, twitter, blogs, and other library groups. Several blogs have posted about the recent changes, and are really too many to list. Here are two blogs with a librarian’s opinion and a physician’s opinion on the new changes:

Laika Spoetnik presents PubMed® Redesign is here… to try. « Laika’s MedLibLog, posted at Laika’s MedLibLog, and discusses some of the changes to PubMed from a librarian’s perspective. Just like @EagleDawg, Nikki Dettmar, Laika stresses the importance of providing feedback. Changes have already been implemented in the PubMed preview based on feedback from librarians. Remember we still have Single Citation Matcher thanks to feedback from librarians!

Librarians have certainly voiced their ‘opinions’ about the new PubMed but what about other people who frequently use PubMed? Dr Shock MD PhD presents PubMed Redesign, A Physician’s Opinion posted at Dr Shock MD PhD. Dr. Shock provides a different perspective and reminds librarians we are not the only users of PubMed. The post points out it will take time to adjust to the new changes. Despite some of the changes like the loss of the Details Tabs causing frantic issues among librarians, Dr. Shock says the new PubMed Redesign is easier for busy clinicians. I really appreciate how Dr. Shock always reminds readers to utilize their medical librarians: “. Using PubMed for systematic reviews and guidelines as a physician is not advised, ask your medical librarian.” Thank you!

Another trend on Twitter is H1N1. With so much information posted online it is difficult to sort fact from fiction. So for information on the H1N1 Vaccine head on over to the Highlight HEALTH blog to find out the latest information. Walter, who is also the next host for MEDLIB Rounds, presents What You Need to Know About the H1N1 Vaccine posted at Highlight HEALTH. The post helps patrons find reliable information on the H1N1 vaccine and also contains a list of questions & answers about the new vaccine.

Providing quality information and links to quality sources is the best way to promote your library services. Once people know you are the source for information then they are bound to return time and time again!

In addition to providing quality resources, spice it up a little. You could have guitar hero at the library like another library is doing for National Medical Librarian month.

What about creative ways to get information to your users? Check out the H1N1 rap by Dr. Clarke that won the flu.gov contest.

Another jamming doctor with a message can be found at: HLOL #24: Dr. Mache Seibel (“Doc Rock”) Sings 2 Health Literacy Month Songs from Health Literacy Out Loud Podcast by Helen Osborne.

If you know of other creative ways to get information to your patrons then please post them in the comments! I want to know how you reach people. What is your creative way for getting out the information? After all, “Creativity found to be result of shared factors in all of us leading to a desired end.”

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That concludes the official edition of this round.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of medlib’s round using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

The next host will be Highlight HEALTH: http://www.highlighthealth.com

Would you like to host the Medlibs round in 2010? It is never to early! Please dm Laika at twitter, comment on this post or write an email to laika dot spoetnik at gmail.com.

Don’t forget, Medlib’s Round has subscription options: you can follow by email or RSS feed. An aggregated feed of credible, rotating health and medicine blog carnivals is also available. The Health and Medicine Blog Carnival Mashup is also available on Twitter @BioMedCarnivals and on FriendFeed (BioMedical Carnivals).

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Bonus

Here are some other posts I also found worth while to read. Please note these are post I pulled. They were not submitted. If you do not want your post listed below then please let me know and I will remove it. Thank you!

H1N1:

• H1N1 Resources For Children from Eagle Dawg Blog by Nicole S. Dettmar. With all of the talk about H1N1 children may be confused. They are told to wash their hands several times a day to not get the pig flu? Some children may ask… will I become a pig like Miss Piggy? Check out Nikki’s post for some wonderful resources to help explain H1N1 to children.
• HHS Unveils New Features on Flu.gov from Blogadillo by Cheryl Rowan. Check out this post to see some of the new features on flu.gov
• H1N1 or Mexican Flu Rap from Dr Shock MD PhD by Dr Shock

Library Routes:

• Library Routes from CILIP members blog landscape by Joeyanne Libraryanne
• My library roots/routes from CILIP members blog landscape by Multi-faceted. Any interesting story with a surprise on who inspired this librarian!
• Celebrating National Medical Librarians Month! from Dragonfly by Catherine Burroughs. Lists some great examples of projects for National Medical Librarians Month.

MidWest Medical Library Conference:

Another big event last week for medical librarians in the MidWest was the annual ConnectMidwest Conference. I followed the conference blog and saw some very helpful and useful posts.

• Cliff Stoll: The Value of Understanding from ConnectMidwest by Stephanie Schulte: “Answers have something to do with, but is not the same as understanding.”
• Recording Poster Sessions on Video from The Krafty Librarian by KraftyLibrarian. This post describes a recent project utilizing technology to promote the presentations at meetings. I think Michelle had an excellent idea and I really enjoyed how she not only documented her idea but the challenges as well.
• Libraries Leveraging Facebook, Twitter, and Other Social Mediafrom The Krafty Librarian by KraftyLibrarian. Some great real examples of how libraries are using social media. While I think these are great examples of good tools, I am reminded of hospital firewalls. Unfortunately not everyone can leverage twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites to promote or organize the library.
• Preliminary speaker: Clifford Stoll from ConnectMidwest by Jean Gudenas. The opening line says it all: ‘”Why is it that drug addicts and computer aficionados are called users?”
• Panel – “What Administrators Want from Libraries” from ConnectMidwest by Amy Donahue. Excellent post for those of us trying to reach our administrators and stay afloat in these difficult economic times.
• Evidence Based Nursing Practice: Hospital and Academic Librarian Roles from ConnectMidwest by Ximena Chrisagis

PubMed & NLM posts:

As I said, the new PubMed preview has been posted on by several blogs. It definitely has sparked comments from many people.

• Brand New Pubmed from ScienceRoll by @berci discusses how it is easier to find RSS in the new PubMed.
• PubMed® Redesign is here… to try. from Laika’s MedLibLog by laikaspoetnik
• Try the Newly Redesigned PubMed from Dragonfly by Alison Aldrich
• Pubmed’s new look from (the) health informaticist by Hanna
• Updated PubMed Trifolds from The Cornflower by Holly Burt. PubMed changes are not final, and I am not sure if these new brochures will change again or not, but I am so glad these came out quick. It will make it easier to educate patrons.
• PubMed Redesign Recording Available from MidContinental Region News by liaison
• LinkOut Tidbits from Dragonfly by Patricia Devine. This post is actually about a class on 10/14/09; however, I am posting it here because it links to some great tutorials for LinkOut.
• MyMedication List from MidContinental Region News by liaison. This is a new tool that I need to try. It reminds me of Google Health.
• New Pill Identification Tool from NLM from Blogadillo by Karen Vargas. This tool is just well… AWESOME! I really like the pictures. Please note this tool is still in BETA and should not be used for patient care just yet. This is a work in progress and I must add a great project! Thank you NLM for this new tool!
• NLM’s PillBox, a new pill identification system from Laika’s MedLibLog by laikaspoetnik. Great discussion about the new tool available from NLM for identifying pills. Remember it is still in BETA!
• Medical Literature, Data Architecture & Organization: Idioms, Lexicons and Acronyms of Medicine? NIH, NCBI, MeSH, PubMed and Entrez from EBM and Clinical Support Librarians@UCHC by creaky. The title alone has me scratching my head. Huh? Creaky does an excellent job of untangling the web and explaining the information resources from NLM.

Social Media:

• Google Wave: Early Prototype Not So Useful from Clinical Cases and Images – Blog by noreply@blogger.com (Ves Dimov, M.D.). I have to agree here. Maybe I have not experimented with the new Google Wave enough, but so far I am not impressed with Google Wave as it is currently. I have found many issues and I have not been able to fully utilize the features since only a small number of people were given invites (Sorry, I do not have any invites to give out). I think, like the new PubMed, it will be a great change once some of the issues are resolved.
• Social Media and Organ Donor Participation from ScienceRoll by berci.mesko@gmail.com (Bertalan Meskó) is an excellent example of how utilizing social media can help market your project
• 8 Ways Physicians Can Use Evernote Posted by DrV at 33Charts provides some excellent practical examples for using Evernote.  While I think Evernote is a great tool, I am still cautious about the copyright issues. If it is very personal use then there is no problem, but when you make a folder public then you could be granting access to an article to everyone. Wouldn’t this violate Fair Use?
• Interesting Idea: Using Twitter To Answer Simple Healthcare Questions from Better Health by Berci. Here @Berci reviews askCH, which is a new way to get information on Healthcare Cost and Definitions. Just like with Laika’s post on Wikipedia, you must use caution here. Who is giving this information? Is it accurate? As Berci found askCH does not have all of the answers.
• Information Literacy Teaching- Sabotage! from Wishful thinking in medical education by Anne Marie An interesting twist to Laika’s post on Wikipedia. While the students were very sly with this lesson, I still use caution with Wikipedia and do not recommend it as a reliable source. Until there is some reform it is an excellent jumping off point but should be used with caution.
  
• Twitter for Librarians course from Phil Bradley’s weblog by philipbradley. The post discusses Phil’s recent class on Twitter for Librarians. I really liked how Phil acknowledge “We’re not all the same when it comes to teaching/learning.” The same goes for using Social Media. Yes “resistance is futile” but we must acknowledge everyone will not use every tool. We each pick and choose different tools depending on our needs. Just like with research, it is the librarian’s job to find the information, provide it to the patron, and then let the patron choose what information they find valuable. So find different tools you find useful, share them, and then let your patrons choose which tool they want.
• Silly Sunday [5]: Best use of Twitter so far! from Laika’s MedLibLog by laikaspoetnik. Librarians could use twitter  this way, but I’m not sure I would recommend it!
• How Google Sidewiki will impact drug company websites from KevinMD.com – Medical Weblog by Kevin. This looks like a very promising tool that I want to try very soon! It could make leaving feedback on drug company websites, journal articles, etc. easier for everyone. Please note I have not tried this new tool yet.
• Why Blog? from Dr Shock MD PhD by vdbroekw. Good question! It certainly can take up a lot of time if you don’t watch it (BTW, how long is this post now & how many hours did it take?). Check out Dr. Shock’s discussion about a recent article on why some people blog.
• Nursing Student Expelled For Blogging from Better Health by CodeBlog. To go along with Dr. Shock’s post on medical students etiquette online, check out this post about a nursing student who was expelled for blogging. Remember everyone can see what you post on-line or on certain List-servs!
• FDA ready to address social media from Health Business Blog by David E. Williams of the Health business blog. The post discusses how the FDA is going to regulate pharmacy and other businesses use of social media. It is good to see some rules/guidelines put in place for companies using social media.
• WebJunction Presentation on Digital Reference from Digital Reference: A deeper explanation of Reference Extract by Stephen Francoeur
• MedSphere.org New medical community with a new preservative ! from Goomedic.com by Hamza Mousa. From the post: “But its rare to find a community that involves Developers along with their projects ( especially open source projects ) in the same page.” I have not reviewed this medical community yet. I would be interested to hear any comments about this new social networking site.
• Communicating scientific knowledge from CILIP members blog landscape by Sintoblog. An excellent summary of the Research Information network report on Communicating knowledge: how and why UK researchers publish and disseminate their findings. It is always good to see what other countries are doing in terms of scientific communication and the use of social media.
  
• 7 Ways to keep journalism alive (without paywalls) from 10,000 Words :: where journalism and technology meet :: by Mark S. Luckie. Some excellent ideas on keeping journalism alive. I think Google Wave could also spark a change in publishing altogether.
• Journalism is certainly in trouble if it continues down this track: Medical ghost-writing influences doctors to prescribe more drugs from KevinMD.com – Medical Weblog by Kevin
• “Health Promotion” Videos from Clinical Cases and Images – Blog by noreply@blogger.com (Ves Dimov, M.D.). Another great way to get the message across is through videos posted on YouTube!
• With all of the social media floating around many people go into information overload. Are these tools a blessing or just something else that has to be done? Check out Dr. Shock’s comments about e-mail: E-Mail A Blessing Or A Burden?Dr Shock MD PhD by vdbroekw.
• Confused about all of these social tools? Then you might want to attend one of the web2.0 conferences. Check out Conferences about Web 2.0 and Medicine: The Big Three from ScienceRoll by berci.mesko@gmail.com (Bertalan Meskó) for a list of the big web2.0 and medicine conferences.

Other:

• Hand Written Letter or Email in Health Care from Dr Shock MD PhD by Dr Shock. With all of this talk about Social Media, it is great to see someone remind us that personal hand written letters are effective! I know I appreciate a hand written thank you note. For some reason, I feel like the person has gone an extra step to say thank you. What do you think?
• In addition to hand written notes, it is also important to remember “real-life” contacts are important! The importance of real-life relationshipsfrom 10,000 Words :: where journalism and technology meet :: by Mark S. Luckie
• Friday You Have GOT To Be Fooling Me #55: Jackpot from Eagle Dawg Blog by Nicole S. Dettmar. From a medical librarian with a lot of moxie, this was great news and a funny post!
• This week I will blog from….. from Laika’s MedLibLog by laikaspoetnik. Laika has some great post about the Cochrane Conference. Check them out!
• Ask a Librarian!—October 2009 from Latest articles from JAAPA: Official Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants Ask a Librarian! (Online only). This column is an excellent way to promote medical library services. Congratulations to Susan Klawansky, MLS, AHIP for writing this column!
• Is Getting the Answer Quickly the Most Important Thing? from The Krafty Librarian by KraftyLibrarian. This post reminds librarians that while it is important to be fast in this society that is so connected, it is also important to remember quality!
• October is Health Literacy Month from Blogadillo by Cheryl Rowan. For more information about Health Literacy check out HLOL # 23: Why Health Literacy Matters: A Podcast with Many Voicesfrom Health Literacy Out Loud Podcast by Helen Osborne AND Health Literacy Month Resources from Bringing Health Information to the Community (BHIC) by siobhan
• Librarians and Physician Assistants: Natural Partners from Dragonfly by Patricia Devine. An excellent post describing how librarians and physician assistants to work together. Patricia points out: “The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) and the National Library of Medicine have begun a new collaboration to use InfoRX, an “information prescription” pad designed to resemble medication prescription pads.” I have some of the MedLine Plus subscription pads and really like handing these out.
• The Horror of Google Scholar from The Krafty Librarian by KraftyLibrarian. Ah yes, the librarian’s love/hate relationship with Google Scholar. There seem to be several references to Star Trek (note “Resistance is Futile” reference above). I think Michelle says it best: “WE may have a complicated relationship with Google Scholar and we will still be using it to find things, it is up to us, the Trekkies of the database searching world, to inform our patrons of the pitfalls as well as the promises of Google Scholar and to alert them to alternative resources and databases to use instead of Scholar.”
  
• Yes sometimes it seems medical librarians or librarians in general do speak another language. What do Medical Librarians Do? check out Michelle’s other post from The Krafty Librarian by KraftyLibrarian.
  
• For another view-point of what medical librarians do check out: Ask-A-Librarian Column: What Exactly Do You Do? A Clinician’s Guide to the Medical Librarian from Clinical Correlations by Clinical Correlations
• Leading In MLA from The Krafty Librarian by KraftyLibrarian. This post was ironic to me. Just the week before I was looking for information about classes in library leadership and could not find anything. Thank you to the MLA group for creating this website and starting the conversation! Anyway there could be some free online classes offered on leadership?!?
• The message that kept me going with this blog post and kept me from getting overwhelmed by all of the information: “Being defeated is often temporary, Giving up is what makes it permanent” from Friday Foolery #54: Zen and the Art of Spray Paintfrom Eagle Dawg Blog by Nicole S. Dettmar

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