The Twenty-first Century Health Information Professional: What Skills and Knowledge Are Required by Employers?
4:35 PM - 4:51 PM
Objective: To use analyzed professional health information vacancy details advertised on specific websites and discussion lists for six months from March 1, 2010, to August 31, 2010, to determine the competencies and skills required by health information professionals in the twenty-first century.
Methods: The person specifications of relevant job postings were downloaded from two US-based and two UK-based websites. The websites in the United States were: MLA Career Development Jobs (www.mlanet.org/jobs/) and lis-jobs.com (www.lisjobs.com/jobseekers/job-ads.asp); and in the United Kingdom: National Health Service (NHS) Jobs in England and Wales (www.jobs.nhs.uk) and jobs.ac.uk (www.jobs.ac.uk). The medical librarian discussion mailing lists, MEDLIB-L in the United States and Lis-Medical in the United Kingdom, were also monitored for job advertisements. The online advertisements provided sufficient information to enable the analysis of the job descriptions and person specifications. This enabled the core skills and knowledge required for these posts to be identified. Content analysis was utilized to analyze this information to determine patterns in the data and determine the skills required by the future librarians in the health information field. Findings from the US advertisements were compared to those from the United Kingdom.
Results: Providing instruction on information resources was the most frequently mentioned US job description requirement (78%). The ability to communicate and build effective working relationships was second (73%), and liaising with others was tied for third with answering reference questions (67%). In the United Kingdom, actively building working relationships was first (92%), followed by liaising with others (88%). The most important person specification in both countries was communicating effectively verbally and in writing (US 72% and UK 96%).
Conclusions: In the United States, an important skill was the ability to instruct or teach. This was followed by the ability to develop working relationships and then referencing (answering reference questions/expert literature searching). People skills are important with customer service orientation and team working, especially in interdisciplinary teams a frequently required person specification. This is also important in the United Kingdom, along with an emphasis placed on information technology and electronic resource knowledge.
Author: Karen Davies, Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
Applying the Knowledge Commons Concept to Health Sciences Libraries
4:51 PM - 5:07 PM
Objective: The purpose of the project is to provide a detailed description of knowledge commons and how health sciences libraries can embrace the concept to redesign their programs and physical spaces to meet the needs of their current and future clientele.
Methods: A literature review of academic information/learning/knowledge commons illuminated specific areas and programs that can be incorporated into health sciences libraries. Five major aspects of Knowledge commons were identified: history, current locations, cost, assessment, and the future. The concept of knowledge commons evolved over a period of approximately two decades. While numerous commons exist in academic institutions, only a few health sciences libraries use this model. Cost considerations play an important part in the design of knowledge commons and encompass the planning, development, and implementation phases. Assessment is essential to determining the value of any program to the institutional mission and is directly related to the utilization of new technology and the creation of future programs. The knowledge commons is an innovative model that can revitalize health sciences libraries by giving them key roles in the strategic planning, education, and research components of their organizations.
Results and Conclusions: My results and conclusions are not complete yet.
Authors: Valerie A. Lynn, AHIP, Head Librarian, Library, Penn State University, Hazleton, PA; Nancy I. Henry, AHIP, Health Sciences Librarian, Paterno Library, Penn State University, University Park, PA
Going the Distance: Leveraging Social Media Tools to Engage Library Users
5:07 PM - 5:23 PM
Objective: To develop a well-defined and easily maintained online presence via social media tools such as blogs, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter.
Methods: Our library has promoted itself using a news blog, Flickr, and Facebook with little documented success. An effort was made to review and revamp our use of online social media tools. Several factors were investigated. We reviewed currently available social media tools, investigated how these tools are being used in other libraries, and investigated the potential uses for our library. As we investigated various tools, we explored the practicality of each tool for promoting library services and methods for making the content relevant and visible to users. Based on our research, evaluation, and findings, we developed a streamlined process for managing our library's social media presence. To provide a holistic view of the library’s activities, library staff with knowledge of each department’s activities were involved in this project. In addition, plans were developed for evaluating and assessing the effectiveness of each tool. A scorecard, based on the project goals, was developed and used to track a variety of user interactions.
Results and Conclusions: My results and conclusions are not complete yet.
Authors: Emily Mazure, AHIP, Biomedical Research Liaison Librarian, Medical Center Library and Archives, Duke University, Durham, NC; Shannon D. Jones, AHIP, Associate Director, Research and Education; Jennifer McDaniel, AHIP, Education and Research Librarian; Andrew Bain, Library Specialist I; Thelma Mack, Research and Education Coordinator; Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences; Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
The Next Generation of Auto Alerts
5:23 PM - 5:39 PM
Objective: With so many choices, what is the best way to stay current with the literature? Which method delivers the information soonest and most easily? Individual databases allow the user to create saved searches and auto alerts. Some use really simple syndication (RSS) feeds to send current information. Journal websites allow email alerts to be created. What role do Twitter and MyYahoo play?
Methods: This study will compare different methods of obtaining the most recent information being published. Various disciplines--such as nursing, medicine, molecular biology, and allied health--will be studied through tables of contents, author, and subject searches. Journal Citation Reports will be used to help determine which journals to follow. Top and mid-range journals will be selected and examined for authors and topics to use in the alerts. The alerts will be created and monitored in the various formats. Data recorded will be the date the alert is received, the citations received, and retrieval method (e.g., database alert, journal website alert, RSS feed). Outcome measures will take into account which citations appeared, when they appeared, and by what source.
Results and Conclusions: My results and conclusions are not complete yet.
Authors: Linda M. Hartman, AHIP, Reference Librarian; Andrea Ketchum, AHIP, Reference Librarian; Health Sciences Library System; University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Rethinking Information Delivery: Using a Natural Language Processing Application for Point-of-care Data Discovery
5:39 PM - 5:55 PM
Introduction: Clinicians can benefit from MEDLINE data in caring for patients; however, the limits of traditional information retrieval present difficulties in using sources such as PubMed to timely identify relevant information at the point of care. Natural language processing (NLP) applications attempt to identify and summarize such information. Could an NLP application potentially assist clinicians?
Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Semantic MEDLINE, with a statistical algorithm called Combo, in identifying decision support information for disease prevention.
Methods: The investigators downloaded citations from PubMed. Semantic MEDLINE, with the Combo algorithm, processed the citations. Results were compared to those of an alternative baseline method and evaluated using an evidence-based reference standard to measure recall, precision, and f-score.
Results: Semantic MEDLINE with the Combo algorithm produced an average recall score of 79% in primary and secondary analyses, while the baseline method achieved an average recall of 30%. Semantic MEDLINE with the Combo algorithm achieved an average precision score of 45%, in part because it provided other potential evidence-based medicine therapies in addition to the reference standard interventions it located. The baseline method produced an average precision score of 29%. The NLP application achieved an f-score of 0.57, while the baseline achieved an f
