Clinical and Translational Science Awards Renewal Activities: A Vital Role for Libraries
3:05 PM - 3:21 PM
Objective: As institutions move through the clinical and translational sciences award (CTSA) renewal process, a new and critical role for the library emerges. This role utilizes the skills, expertise, and resources of the library and places the library as a vital partner in CTSA evaluation and renewal efforts.
Methods: Liaisons from Becker Medical Library to the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences formed a successful partnership with the leadership and members of the institute and collaborated with the institute on a number of initiatives throughout the course of the CTSA funding period. As the institute prepared for the renewal of the CTSA, they engaged the library in a number of directions, ranging from participation in the renewal kickoff and brainstorming activities to network analysis of institute members. The liaisons’ contribution to evaluation proved to be a particularly strong area of collaboration. Reporting metrics for renewal purposes included: citation analysis for individual members as well as groups of faculty, research impact analysis, social network analysis, survey development, and more. The library’s activities related to renewal activities will be covered as well as a discussion of how these valuable connections were established.
Results: A strong collaborative relationship between the library and the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences was forged over the course of the funding period. This relationship produced a number of collaborative efforts, especially in the area of evaluation. Library liaisons joined the tracking and evaluation team and contributed in activities related to the evaluation of the current award as well as renewal activities.
Conclusions: Effective support of evaluative translational informatics activities on campus can be challenging, as it can be difficult to track the efforts of such a large cadre of investigators and understand how these efforts translate to improved health outcomes. By partnering with the library, the institute was able to leverage the resources and expertise of the library in a way that encouraged discovery of a variety of outputs that indicate impact in the translational environment.
Authors: Kristi L. Holmes, Bioinformaticist; Cathy C. Sarli, AHIP, Scholarly Communications Specialist; Bernard Becker Medical Library; School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Perceptions of Data Needs, Data Skills, and Library Roles: A Focus Group of Translational Researchers
3:21 PM - 3:37 PM
Objective: This study examines translational researchers’ educational needs regarding effective curation and management of data in a large academic medical center. Improving data curation and management practices is a need among all types of researchers; funders now mandate that research data are essential to scholarship. Medical librarians must develop appropriate services to support data curation and data management activities.
Methods: Eight translational researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) participated in focus groups facilitated by a librarian moderator using a semi-structured interview guide. Six specific domains of data curation needs were identified from previously published literature. Data needs were explored across domains, including (1) general impressions of managing clinical research data; (2) research data curation including selection, preservation, maintenance, collection, and archiving; (3) data management practices in clinical environment; (4) library roles; (5) data sharing challenges as a result of large networks of collaborating institutions; and (6) challenges working with data in universities. Discussions were videotaped, transcribed verbatim, and later analyzed by three librarians and two master's of library and information science students to determine the commonalities and differences among the seven medical specialties represented in the focus groups. Results: Translational researchers at UCLA recognize that data management is costly and labor-intensive. An infrastructure of dedicated information technology professionals is central to their research efforts. Neurologists, geneticists, oncologists, and pediatricians all expressed the need for resources to improve data workflows; data integration; guidance in effectively handling the data generated, collected, and queried; and instruction on discovering and utilizing available resources. This study identified several education needs, including depositing data into repositories, roles within the process of data curation, ethical issues surrounding data practices, and education of researchers on how to balance the issue of access versus security.
Conclusions: Significant educational needs exist regarding data curation and data management among translational researchers. Specialties surveyed in this study would benefit from specialty-specific education regarding available data resources, software, instruction, and services available for each research area. Further studies are needed to clearly identify and evaluate specialty specific educational needs before libraries can develop strong partnership roles and services.
Authors: Tania P. Bardyn, AHIP, Associate Director, Public Services, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, University of California, Los Angeles, CA; Taryn Resnick, AHIP, Electronic Resources Librarian, Medical Sciences Library, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; Susan Camina, Public Services Assistant, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
For Better or For Worse: Marrying the Library to the Clinical and Translational Science Institute to Provide Molecular Biology Information Support Services
3:37 PM - 3:53 PM
Objective: To determine if an academic health sciences library can successfully partner with the university’s clinical and translational science institute (CTSI) to provide resources, training, and software for researchers and graduate students in the fields of molecular biology and genetics.
Methods: Setting/Participants: The library worked for two years to develop a plan and find funding to provide genomics and proteomics resources and tools, and to hire a full-time PhD information specialist (preferably with an MLS) to offer support and training. Funding was not forthcoming, so the clinical and translational science awards (CTSA) principal investigator, a library champion, proposed an “arranged marriage” with the CTSI’s Navigator Program (which matches researchers with the tools and resources they need to be successful). The CTSI researcher identified for this role is now a part-time information specialist, becoming an expert in the use of molecular biology tools and software.
Program: This courtship and marriage brings together two parties with different approaches. Challenges include different customer service orientations, purposes, and branding. But the library has benefited by gaining access to a researcher/information specialist (at no cost to the library), the navigator’s referral/reporting system and professional evaluator, start-up funding for licensed software, and established connections to researchers.
Results: Using CTSI funds, the library licensed several proprietary molecular biology programs and developed a web-based account registration system. Use of the software is steadily growing, and several workshops have been offered. As a result of outreach by the CTSI specialist, researchers are beginning to realize the library has a role in the provision of genomic and proteomic information tools and resources and librarians have begun building relationships with previously disinterested researchers.
Conclusions: The arranged marriage is young, and challenges and benefits are already apparent. The greatest challenge is the partners’ dissimilar visions of the program: the CTSI Navigator program sees itself as a referral service; the library’s vision is to have an expert on staff with a strong customer service orientation who can answer most questions without referral. This key difference must be reconciled for the arranged marriage to survive the early years and become a stable, long-term relationship.
Authors: Donna Berryman, Assistant Director, Education and Information Services; Michele Shipley, Assistant Director, Digital and Branch Libraries; Julia F. Sollenberger, AHIP, FMLA, Associate Vice President and Director; Medical Center Libraries and Technologies; University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY
Rethinking Our Roles: Genomics and Translational Medicine for Information Professionals
3:53 PM - 4:09 PM
Objective: To provide an overview of a new course in a health informatics program in a college of information and to demonstrate the roles that information professionals can play in genomics and translational medicine.
Methods: A three-credit hour semester course was offered in a five-week summer session in 2010. The course content included concepts and practical s
