Yes sometimes I procrastinate. I think most people have procrastinated at some point. Yet, then again somrtimes I just call it prioritizing items to the last possible minute.

As I said in my 2011 year end review sometimes you just need to have some time to reflect

As Dean said, taking time to reflect and being quiet can result in some of our most important work. 

The reflection time helps me to make sure I have everything together and have thought through the entire process. It is a necessary step many skip.

So why am I mentioning this besides it includes funny cats?

I have heard many librarians lamenting lately that they do not blog enough or are not doing this it didn’t respond soon enough to a request. I know I have been guilty of this several times recently.

Also many librarians are the kind of people who want to help and do not know how to say no. Even when it means they are procrastinating prioritizing everything to the last minute. When I first started my career I did this too. I signed up for every project at work I could to get my name and the library’s out there. I joined committees, started projects, worked consumer health fairs, etc. trying to find my niche.

Well I found it. I enjoy technology and its applications to healthcare, which includes medical informatics and social media. I also enjoy developing order sets, evidence bases medicine research, and knowledge management as my boss calls it (organizing information and honing processes. Now I am honing these skills and passions at work and with my other professional activities.

I have even accepted the fact that I will probably not post to this blog everyday and that’s ok. When I do post though it will be quality posts with new information. This all took me reflecting and evaluating my priorities and aligning these with my institution’s priorities. Something I have been saying all libraries need to do continuously.

Why? Well you either over book yourself requiring you to prioritize everything, which is mot good, or you do the opposite and reject great opportunities. Yes I have heard of libraries rejecting opportunities to get involved in a big project at their institution due to other commitments that aren’t as important to their institution. I have been drafting this discussion for a while and will post about it soon when I address the ‘sad state of a hospital library’ discussion.

I am sure many of you have seems the Medlib-l discussion along with Jerry Perry’s post and Michelle Kraft’s follow-up. No I didn’t miss it. If you did then please take time to read the posts above. I haven’t posted about it yet because I am still reflecting. I will post about this soon from a front lines solo hospital librarian’s prospective who has been proactive at her institution and eagerly ready to help others jump in too.

Everyday I’m shuffling.

Ditch the retro– nows the time to be proactive.

Now for some Friday fun check out these procratinator’s online!

I said in my tweets I would blog later about the issue, and it has been two months. Why the delay? I was holding out hope that Google would listen to the weblash and make some changes. Google Reader was not one of the apps shut down by Google but for many it might as well been.

If Google wanted to ‘fix’ a broken app then it should have started with Google Bookmarks, at least no one is using it so it wouldn’t have mattered if they screwed it up.

I just don’t understand why Google had to change Google Reader. After ignoring it for years, they decide to ‘shake things up.’ Yes I know Google Reader is a free tool, but the ramifications of these changes have financial impact for Google. For instance, not viewing items in Google Reader as often means I view & click on less Google ads. Not to mention the fact that after the change I was ready to ditch Google Reader, Chrome, and even my beloved Android phone.

So what got this librarian so irate?

Timing. I was planning on submitting this wonderful (ok maybe not earth shattering but good) paper proposal for the Medical Librarian Association’s Meeting this year… then came Larry Page’s, who was just prematurely named CEO of the year, changes ruining a great tool. I don’t know if it was actually Larry Page who initiated the Google Reader changes but whoever is trying to make Google into Apple and/or Facebook needs to be reminded that Google is NOT Apple or Facebook. Google is trying to sell not just a mobile phone platform and browser but email, reader, documents, applications, programs… it is different than selling an iPhone.

Steve Jobs said “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Well Google has shown me the new Reader and I know for sure I do not want it. Stop looking at the facts and figures Page and listen to your users.

Google Reader is a curator of news and NOT a news source. Flipboard offers a much nicer experience for reading news. Even with Google Reader Play, I would rather use Flipboard or Zite or another third party app to view my Google Reader feeds.

What Google Reader offered was the ability to easily share items with notes, add notes to view later, follow other curators, create RSS feeds of items you tagged so you could port them into a newsletter, feed items in a controlled fashion to Twitter using dlvr.it, etc. Now Google is forcing us to share items through Google+. I am sorry Google but taking away Google Reader features will not get me to use Google+ any faster, in fact it will and has done the opposite.

Even Google Reader doesn’t want to share items using Google+

Yes you can find the Google Reader team on Twitter, get the RSS feed (you know RSS… what feeds Google Reader, but Google shut down the RSS feeds for folders and tags), but wait… something’s missing here. Oh yeah, where’s Google Reader on Google+? Don’t squint too hard, it’s not there.

The changes to Google Reader went far deeper than the simple interface change many users were complaining about. I am fine with Google adding white space, it’s what’s behind the white space that is causing issues. Fences. Many features no longer work or are just broken. Outcry has erupted across the globe with good reason. Google not only took away features but it did so without giving users the chance to save shared items or the list of followers/followed by. Data you curate is no longer your’s to do with as you please, Google dictates you use Google+– and data is no longer safe with Google since it can be deleted at anytime. This goes against Google’s big push for user’s ability to liberate their data. Heck, it goes against what any good company should do… ever.

Even the previous project manager for Google Reader agrees:

Google Reader Product Manager Brian Shih noted that the new Reader app is a “disaster.” ”it’s as if whoever made the update did so without ever actually using the product to, you know, read something.”

I agree. The additions were not vetted by people who actually use Google Reader… geeks. It is not something everyone uses. I have tried to get physicians to use Google Reader with no luck. Why? It takes time, and an understanding of RSS feeds. It is not difficult, but it is another task for busy physicians who do not want to take the time.

Since my physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals were not ready to devote time to RSS feeds I set-up another way to send them information. I would review items in Google Reader and tag items for different groups. So if I saw a good article on Statins affecting Diabetics then I would tag it to share with Family Practice and the Diabetes Educators. The tags then became their own RSS feeds that I could then load into a newsletter that was emailed to subscribers. I click a button in Google Reader and BAM, a weekly newsletter is automatically generated and emailed to lists of subscribers.

Well not anymore!

All of the work I did setting up literature alerts is gone. As a solo librarian I do not have time to create customized literature alerts by hand. I’ve spent hours looking for an alternative to Google Reader even exploring using a new browser, or even… gasp… moving to a MAC all because of the recent ‘updates’ or ‘downgrades’ to Google Reader.

I had not blogged about this since I was waiting to present it at MLA and then try to publish it soon… that ship sailed when Google broke the Feed URL’s of tags in Google Reader.

This is how Google Reader looked before:

And this is Google Reader now:

Notice the difference? Besides the addition of white space there are missing features.

A simple click of the button in the old Google Reader changes items from private to public. That click assigned tags and folders public pages which had public RSS feeds. This meant I had a public page for Diabetes news information that I could direct physician’s to, or load to the library website. I could even take the RSS feeds and create a newsletter.

Yes you can still grab the Feed URL of tags and folders by right clicking on the tag and then selecting “view details and statistics”:

Example 1:

Example 2:

Again, just a slight difference in the Feed URL makes all the difference in the world to this solo librarian who is trying to curate over 600 feeds a month and create multiple custom literature alerts without exerting too much effort.

In example #1 the word “public” is missing from the Feed URL. Why? Because before Google made the change I had not clicked to make “libraryshare” “public” on the settings page. This means the feed is still private and there is nothing I can do about it.

This is where people need to dig deeper to see how Google has created a fence of white space. By forcing users to share in Google+ and breaking the Feed URL’s of tags Google Reader no longer works with many third party apps and it is difficult to share items. Google is walling itself off and forcing users to use only Google products and to control the data even the data curated by its users.

Feeling a sense of loss of control? I know I am.

The picture above is what one wall in my office currently looks like. I know you are jealous of the 1970′s wallpaper and asking why I would obstruct its beauty with notes. Have I gone ‘postal?’ Not yet.

This is actually my way of working through a lean process to make changes to our current order set development process. I have been working on how to incorporate the new electronic system we have to create order sets into the current process of building order sets on paper.

But let me take a step back and explain how I, a medical librarian, got involved. I have been involved with clinical informatics, EMR training, order set development, EBM research, etc. I am very fortunate as a medical librarian to have such an active role but I also think it is a perfect fit for many medical librarians and more could be involved with these processes.

Think about it. Many medical librarians are organized, detailed oriented (think of complex searches & cataloging), understand how to structure systems (librarians code websites and work with meta data), ability to use or make the tools available work, etc. I have also noticed some librarians have a keen eye for seeing the big picture.

You have no time you say? I completely understand. I am a solo hospital librarian who supports 3 hospitals, multiple residency programs, coordinates CME, and currently I have no volunteers. I am not trying to brag or say look at me. I am just trying to show that I understand the time issue. I have had to completely re-evaluate the library and what the top priorities are for the library and my institution. Yes I still do all the normal library stuff: licensing negotiations, ordering & checking in journals, 10+ research requests a week, article request, Docline, etc. What I don’t do is check the mail everyday. Research request take longer to complete than I would like but it is a juggling act. It also means I sometimes work late, come in early and once or twice have worked on Saturday (which is one reason this blog has suffered and I apologize to my readers). It is all sacrifices I am willing to make for the time being because I know how important this is to my institution.

I have learned a great deal over the last 18 months or so. Besides it has also drastically increased library usage across the board. I haven’t really promoted the library in a year due to the workload yet I am constantly getting calls for research or being asked to present. I have become part of the team and others see I am a team player. Without making some sacrifices and stepping outside the library this would not have been possible. I want to show other librarians, especially solos, that it is possible. And I want to learn about how others are involved.

Before I posted this I actually asked other librarians if any are involved with their institutions EMR, CPOE, or order set development. Sadly I could not find anyone else. If you are involved please post a comment below.

Back to the picture above. What am I doing besides trying to replace the beautiful wallpaper? It involves incorporating new technology, EBM practices, automation, and other things into our order set development process. Most institutions have a process in place to review and develop order sets, ours just needs a little tweaking to account for some new technology.

Since I have been the primary person researching and building the order sets in the new system, I was assigned the task of reviewing the development process. Of course this is being reviewed by clinical informatics … yes even in the state it is now on my wall.

Posting this on the wall was actually part of the plan. I needed a way to easily see the entire process without squinting to see it on a computer, and a way to easily move pieces. I had to see the big picture to know how it all works together. Putting it on the wall has also allowed me to easily work on it between other tasks and not forget about it. I have even had people in my office walking through the process together.

So doing this ‘old school’ has been very beneficial to me even though I really wanted to just start developing the process on the computer. Taking time to reflect has really helped. Today it will move from the wall to the computer. I admit I will miss it.

Are there projects that you have worked like this? Do you think there are benefits to this type of process? Are you involved with order sets, EBM, COPE, or EMR? Are you a Lean Librarian?

Work, as it usually does, has increased this year. I have been heavily involved with our EMR implementation, order set development and organization, and evidence research. I plan on posting about some of these projects in the near future. I am also curious to see, as Nikki previously posted, if other librarian’s are involved in similar projects involving informatics.

As I said the library has been very busy, which is always a great thing. So this past week I actually had some time to reflect on a few projects. As Dean said, taking time to reflect and being quiet can result in some of our most important work. Last week, which was a quiet week in the office, I had time to reflect and really focus on a project I had been delaying. I was working on the order set development process which included the creative process of putting sticky notes with color coded pens on the wall. Yes I am an over organized geek.

Why sticky notes on the wall? It’s easier to move them around as you work through the process, makes changes, and still see the big picture. The point here is I had time to reflect and really work on a project I had been putting off. Dean is right that we often do not take enough time for quiet reflection and to really step back to see the big picture.

Taking a look at the big picture for this blog during 2011 there were several good posts, but there were many posts left in the draft folder including:

1. Google Reader Updates: A post detailing the latest changes to Google Reader and the conundrum it has created for me.
2. The List Update: Update to the list of medical librarians online including the new MeLOW from Guus van den Brekel. While there has not been an official post about the list in a while, there has been work on the list and other lists/tools for medical librarian’s.
3. Inkling+ : Post about Inkling and how it might affect medical libraries. Bonus inclusion of another new product and the possibilities of these two merging.
4. EMR training update: Post update on an upcoming training session on our hospital’s latest EMR release. As with previous posts this will include information pertinent to medical librarian’s including how to get involved.

These are just some of the posts that have been sitting in the draft box for a while. Hopefully, I will be able to post these soon depending on a few projects due within the next week at work.

For some interesting stats about this blog the WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,000 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 50 trips to carry that many people.

Attractions in 2011

These are the posts that got the most views in 2011. You can see all of the year’s most-viewed posts in your Site Stats.

• 1 PubMed Health has a face but does it have a place? 5 comments March 2011
• 2 PubMed Impact Factor 4 comments June 2009
• 3 Really? Only 1% of US hospitals have full EMR? 0 comments May 2011
• 4 NIH sleek new website 0 comments April 2011
• 5 Micromedex finally available in the Android Market 0 comments August 2011

Some of your most popular posts were written before 2011. Your writing has staying power! Consider writing about those topics again.

Click here to see the complete report.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

I am not arguing whether there are more iPad in use than other tablets. Although I am an android fan even I have to admit it is probably very true. Physicians love their iPad like they love UpToDate and there is almost no way of convincing many of them to use something else.

My issue here is that the cult of Apple is so great we take their word for something without finding out the truth. Sure we may point out the questionable data but that’s it. It reminds me of the episode of the Simpsons.

Why should we care? Let’s think about this for a minute. If Apple says 80% of hospitals are using iPad and your hospital isn’t then there is a HUGE chance this will influence your future purchase and may even convince many hospitals to go ahead and buy iPads– even if they do not integrate with their systems. It might also convince individual physicians who actually don’t need much convincing, to buy an iPad. The one good thing that might come from individuals purchasing the iPad is the possibility they could influence their institution to use tablets, which will probably turn out to be iPad.

I am not saying iPad are bad. I actually like mine even though I love my Android phone. I just don’t think a company should be allowed to make blanket statements without facts.  When pharmaceutical or food companies do this the FDA makes them remove the statement/ad and issue a ‘correction.’ When will this be done for other industries including the tech industry?

What do you think? Are Apple statements taken as fact? Should we even care?

Why the two month delay in posting thisyou ask? I had hoped to see someone corroborate the statement with facts and details but I have not. If there was something posted please let me know in the comments.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The post on IFTTT was also delayed as I figured out how it worked or if it worked for me. I have been using it on a trial basis for several weeks and I do not think I have even thought of all of the possibilities. This is the best part about IFTTT– the infinite possibilities.

So what is IFTTT?

Sounds great but what does this mean? How do you put the internet to work for you?

IFTTT is just like it sounds, If this then that. So if this happens then do that. It is a very basic tool that is extremely easy to understand, at least the basics are easy.

What have I used it for? Well as I said previously I have not explored all of the features. I have used it mostly for weather alerts so I am not stuck out in the rain when I am biking. IFTTT is reliable… the weather man on the other hand is iffy at best. **Note: tomorrow’s forecast for Columbus, Georgia, is snow. What?!?!**

I have also used it to automatically send tweets to new followers. It is a nice way to say Thank you to new followers without exerting too much effort.

I am trying to work out a way to send a auto thank you to new followers on my blog. If anyone has done this please let me know.

I have also been trying to find a way to autopost to Google+. @ericschnell shared this tweet with me:

@ericschnell: @alisha764 See http://t.co/ZC7aDdcz and http://t.co/Oipq3spl Odd solution using G-Voice / Gmail / IFTT, but works

I am not sure if I like this solution. I do not like the idea of using SMS or email to update Google+. I am hoping Hoot Suit makes this possible soon as I heard a rumor it might. I thought with the release of the API Google would release an RSS feed but it seems Google is walling things off instead of opening them up (more on this soon in a Google Reader update).

Another item I am looking at trying is when I star items in Google Reader to sens it over to WordPress as a draft post. My only issues here is I do not know of you can post a draft or if you can use multiple Google Reader accounts.

I have heard many people say they use IFTTT to send items to Facebook or Twitter but I do not and will not. Why?

I really still like using dlvr.it

IFTTT has channels but Dlvr.it let’s you take RSS feeds and send them to different routes. It is a little more work to set up. The great thing is you can customize each ‘route’ with filters, add additional text, and my favorite is scheduling.

See how I have set up different routes compared to IFTTT channels:

IFTTT offers channels that are not available in dlvr.it. dlvr.it is more for pushing updates or timing updates (you can also schedule future posts). The reason I will continue to use dlvr.it is for the statistics and scheduling.

IFTTT does not have these kinds of statistics. I really enjoy being able to see how effective my shared items are on the various channels. If I see there are not many clicks on a particular item then I can adjust my sharing. The statistics have really helped me improve what I share and how often. It is helping me to reduce the shared items that are just adding ‘noise.’

Speaking of noise IFTTT can create a lot! Think about using the recipe ‘If I star an item in Google Reader then post it to Facebook and Twitter.’ Now picture your typical day. If you are like me then you use Google Reader in spurts. Basically I am reviewing items between search request and other stuff. So if I had IFTTT sending my stared items then there could be 20 posts in 1 hour. Talk about a quick way to overload your followers and for people to ignore your posts.

Yes I said ignore your post. Why? Because I know if I see 5 posts from the same person back-to-back I am less likely to read all of the items. I also like seeing posts from people throughout the day not just all at once during lunch.

Dlvr.it allows you to schedule the posts and use a ‘trickle off’ feature that will keep posting new items throughout the day even if you starred all of the items during lunch or at 1am. Ok I admit it, I often stay up late blogging, reviewing Google Reader or even… sigh… doing work. But I have yet to join my fellow medlib in watching Billy the Exterminator while finishing search requests and coding late at night:

So while IFTTT is neat for some things, I think I will stick with dlvr.it for pushing updates to social media so my updates go out when most people are online and not 1am.

On the other hand, IFTTT is great for those looking for a quick fix. I have demonstrated IFTTT to several students, residents, physicians and other Healthcare providers.

If you are a student you could have SMS alerts for assignments. Or what about a teacher setting up an scheduled email alert to send out study notes or tips when it gets close to an exam. I could see physicians using it for alerting them about new results for searches, perhaps an alert for free CME, or an SMS so they won’t forget an anniversary. I set it so I will never forget boss’ day… again. (Oops!)

What have you used IFTTT for? Or do you have other suggestions? Would you use dlvr.it instead of IFTTT and why?