An introduction to QR Codes: linking libraries and mobile patrons

QR codes, or "Quick Response" codes, are two-dimensional barcodes that can be scanned by mobile smartphone cameras. These codes can be used to provide fast access to URLs, telephone numbers, and short passages of text. With the rapid adoption of smartphones, librarians are able to use QR codes to promote services and help library users find materials quickly and independently. This article will explain what QR codes are, discuss how they can be used in the library, and describe issues surrounding their use. A list of resources for generating and scanning QR codes is also provided.     

A Review of: “Training Paraprofessionals for Reference Service: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians. 2nd ed. Morgan,Pamela J.”

QR codes, or “Quick Response” codes, are two-dimensional barcodes that can be scanned by mobile smartphone cameras. These codes can be used to provide fast access to URLs, telephone numbers, and short passages of text. With the rapid adoption of smartphones, librarians are able to use QR codes to promote services and help library users find materials quickly and independently. This article will explain what QR codes are, discuss how they can be used in the library, and describe issues surrounding their use. A list of resources for generating and scanning QR codes is also provided.     

Consequences of Vertical Separation and Monopoly: Evidence From the Telecom Privatizations

Policy variation across countries on the use of mandatory vertical separation and statutory monopoly allows the assessment of their impact on basic telephone services (local, long distance, and international service). Panel data analysis from 56 countries during the 7-year period following the privatization of the main telephone provider indicates that vertical separation and monopoly harm the consumers that were supposed to benefit: the downstream users of international telephony and the upstream users of residential local telephony. Mandatory vertical separation reduces the usage of international telephone service and the number of fixed lines in service, whereas statutory monopoly reduces the amount of fixed lines in service and increases the price of local residential telephony.     

论文献资源的保障与使用

“保障”与“使用”是图书馆直接服务于用户的两大基本的具体功能。文章通过对这两个概念的分析、比较,认为它们是基于现代文献资源建设以“用”为主的理念,既存在某些不同的侧重,甚至对立,然而又统一于使得图书馆能够更加合理、经济地配置文献资源,满足用户对文献资源整体或个性化的需求。正确认识和运用“保障”与“使用”对图书馆文献资源建设具有一定参考作用。     

图书馆资源的系统配置及其优化路径研究——一个新的解析框架

图书馆资源的科学建构是推进图书馆治理能力提升的根本前提。从系统科学的角度看,图书馆资源应是一个由理论资源、历史资源、文化资源、权力资源、物质资源、制度资源、组织资源和人力资源等基本要素构成的有机整体,并可划分为基础性、运作性和保障性资源三大架构。文章认为,在图书馆治理和发展的实践进程中,其资源主要通过政府主导型、图书馆内生型、社会参与型以及"政府—图书馆—社会"的协作型四大模式进行系统配置,并提出应基于图书馆治理体系的"入口"环节、"内部"环节和"出口"环节对图书馆资源做出系统性的结构优化,以期为我国图书馆治理能力提升提供有益借鉴。     

The value of library and information services in patient care: results of a multisite study

Objective:

The research conducted a large-scale, multisite study on the value and impact of library and information services on patient care.

Methods:

The study used: (1) 2 initial focus groups of librarians; (2) a web-based survey of physicians, residents, and nurses at 56 library sites serving 118 hospitals; and (3) 24 follow-up telephone interviews. Survey respondents were asked to base their responses on a recent incident in which they had sought information for patient care.

Results:

Of the 16,122 survey respondents, 3/4 said that they had definitely or probably handled aspects of the patient care situation differently as a result of the information. Among the reported changes were advice given to the patient (48%), diagnosis (25%), and choice of drugs (33%), other treatment (31%), and tests (23%). Almost all of the respondents (95%) said the information resulted in a better informed clinical decision. Respondents reported that the information allowed them to avoid the following adverse events: patient misunderstanding of the disease (23%), additional tests (19%), misdiagnosis (13%), adverse drug reactions (13%), medication errors (12%), and patient mortality (6%).

Conclusions:

Library and information resources were perceived as valuable, and the information obtained was seen as having an impact on patient care.

Highlights

• Library and information resources were perceived as valuable, and the information obtained was seen as having an impact on patient care.
• Electronic access to information resources from multiple locations has increased the ability of health professionals to use these resources for improved patient care.
• The roles of librarians are diversifying to include management of electronic resources, user instruction and support, specialized research and clinical information search services, and involvement in institution-level quality improvement.
• It is possible to conduct a large-scale, multisite study on the value and impact of library services on patient care.

Implications

• Ongoing studies of the value and impact of library and information resources will be important for advocacy and quality improvement.
• Community-Based Participative Research methods hold promise as a way of ensuring the relevance of future research.

     

我国省级科技文献共享服务平台建设比较研究

利用电话、网络对省级科技文献共享服务平台进行调查,结果显示:国内29个省、市、自治区独立或联合其他机构建立了平台,为用户提供文献提供、定题跟踪、参考咨询服务;网站一级栏目设置内容集中于信息服务,数量多于8个,不利于文献传播;资源建设集中在中文领域,外文资源以利用NSTL为主;PR值较小,平台影响力不大。认为可通过强化合作机制、规范名称和服务术语、加强网站维护、规范栏目设置和建设特色资源,提升省级科技文献共享服务平台的建设水平。     

目标馆藏及其在馆藏期刊评价中的应用

针对馆藏评价中评价标准的构造问题,提出目标馆藏的概念。它是指在适用性、适应性以及经济性上满足一定要求的文献资源集合,由本地子集和全球子集构成。然后以期刊为例,说明某一学科用户群体的目标馆藏的构造方法及其在馆藏期刊质量评价中的应用。最后进一步讨论本地子集与全球子集的本质及其构造方法。     

Making the Connection:

In recent years, reference librarians have properly accorded online and CD-ROM services much attention. But the first, simplest, and often most effective telecommunications tool available to reference librarians is the familiar telephone. Unfortunately, many reference librarians do not fully utilize the great potential of the telephone as an information-gathering tool either because they lack long-distance calling capability or are reluctant to use it. Reference librarians lacking the long-distance connection are urged to work toward making it available. Examples of how the telephone can be used to expand the reference librarian's reach are provided.     

PHONE HOME? AN ANALYSIS OF HOUSEHOLD TELEPHONE OWNERSHIP

A multivariate, theoretical model is developed and tested topredict household telephone ownership. Factors theorized topredict telephone ownership are 1) socio-economic status/resources,2) household composition, 3) cultural background, 4) attachments,including—a) community/mobility ties, b) civic/politicalties, c) group ties, d) personal ties, e) social and institutionalalienation, and of misanthropy, 5) counter-normative behavior,6) psychological well-being, and 7) physical well-being. Theanalysis, indicates that the socio-economic factor in generaland income in particular has the largest impact. All other factorsalso have significant, independent effects with the exceptionthat some, but not all, of the attachment factors and psychologicaland physical well-being are not related to telephone ownership.Overall, non-telephone households can be characterized as marginaloutsiders.     

Instructor Use of Educational Streaming Video Resources

Although a substantial majority of academic libraries now provide streaming video, the literature contains few studies which focus on how such resources are used. This article presents the results of a qualitative research study consisting of in-depth interviews with 18 instructors who use of one category of streaming video resources, educational videos, which are important because they are sold a higher price than most individuals can afford, and thus are typically only available to instructors through the library. The study's main findings are that instructors think educational streaming video resources compare favorably to commercial and non-streaming alternatives in most respects and use them whenever possible, that the primary benefit of these resources is to facilitate better use of limited class time by enabling instructors to assign videos as outside-of-class viewing, and that the library is not the primary means instructors use to discover new educational streaming video resources. Additional insights are provided into factors that academic libraries should consider when deciding which resources to invest in, which acquisition models to pursue, and what marketing strategies to employ to ensure maximum usage.     

Cataloging Telephone Directories

Telephone directories often cover many geographic entities. Small geographic entities commonly are included in directories of larger entities, thereby limiting access to the location of the smaller unit. Finding telephone directories for some geographic areas can be very difficult at times. Cataloging all telephone directories in a library's collection is one way to help the patron and reference librarian. This article discusses how to catalog telephone directories in order to provide maximum access to this information.     

Learning from Our Mistakes: Reflections on Customer Service and How to Improve It at the Reference Desk

Libraries have to compete with a barrage of online resources for patrons’ attention and with other campus departments for scarce funding and resources. In this competitive environment, customer service is one of the best strategies librarians can employ. Satisfied patrons will continue to use our services, thereby providing support for libraries’ budget requests. Even though librarians understand the importance of customer service, we do not always succeed in putting it into practice. Drawing on experiences from teaching a reference course, the author reviews examples of poor service and offers some ideas and guidelines for improving service on the front lines.     

藏书租赁式及其数字化续存--图书馆馆藏资源优化管理的策略创新

将买断式藏书转变为租赁式藏书,动态地提供高效、优质的读者服务,并在此基础上有选择地将一些文献进行数字化长期续存,可以使图书馆有限的资源实现最优化的配置与利用,有效的解决图书馆“藏”与“用”之间的矛盾。参考文献7。     

借鉴手机报创办高校短信图书馆

在传统图书馆生存受到威胁的大环境下,手机报给高校图书馆的延伸服务以启示。高校图书馆可以利用馆内的馆藏资源和具有各专业背景的人力资源编辑短信,依托通讯运营商,使用SMS技术,通过单向、双向、多向等发送方式发送具有高校特色的专题短信给校园内的手机用户,让学术进驻校园手机。短信图书馆既提升了校园文化建设的品位,又为高校图书馆发展提供了一条崭新的技术思路。     

Rural providers' access to online resources: a randomized controlled trial

Objective

The research determined the usage and satisfaction levels with one of two point-of-care (PoC) resources among health care providers in a rural state.

Methods

In this randomized controlled trial, twenty-eight health care providers in rural areas were stratified by occupation and region, then randomized into either the DynaMed or the AccessMedicine study arm. Study participants were physicians, physician assistants, and nurses. A pre- and post-study survey measured participants'' attitudes toward different information resources and their information-seeking activities. Medical student investigators provided training and technical support for participants. Data analyses consisted of analysis of variance (ANOVA), paired t tests, and Cohen''s d statistic to compare pre- and post-study effects sizes.

Results

Participants in both the DynaMed and the AccessMedicine arms of the study reported increased satisfaction with their respective PoC resource, as expected. Participants in both arms also reported that they saved time in finding needed information. At baseline, both arms reported too little information available, which increased to “about right amounts of information” at the completion of the study. DynaMed users reported a Cohen''s d increase of +1.50 compared to AccessMedicine users'' reported use of 0.82. DynaMed users reported d2 satisfaction increases of 9.48 versus AccessMedicine satisfaction increases of 0.59 using a Cohen''s d.

Conclusion

Participants in the DynaMed arm of the study used this clinically oriented PoC more heavily than the users of the textbook-based AccessMedicine. In terms of user satisfaction, DynaMed users reported higher levels of satisfaction than the users of AccessMedicine.Keywords and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) Clinical Decision Support Systems, Computer-Assisted Decision Making, Decision Making, Evidence-Based Library and Information Practice, Evidence-Based Practice, Health Status Disparities, Health Care Disparities, Information Divide, Information-Seeking Behavior, Medically Underserved Area, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses, Physician Assistants, Physicians, Public Health Nurses, Randomized Controlled Trial as Topic, Service Learning, Vulnerable PopulationsHealth care practitioners regularly seek to incorporate valid information into their evidence-based decisions. Electronic information resources now provide easy access to current health information and summarized forms of evidence to support clinical decision making.

Access effects on health care

Health care providers who are affiliated with well-funded institutions benefit from access to a variety of high-quality information resources to support their evidence-based practices. Practitioners who are not affiliated with academic health sciences centers rarely have access to these same resources due to prohibitively high licensing costs. Ely et al. report that not having access to easy-to-use, high-quality, current information can negatively affect sound clinical decision making. [1].Patients in Isaac et al.''s study who were admitted to hospitals that had access to an electronic evidence-based resource experienced reduced length of stay and lower risk-adjusted mortality rates for prespecified conditions [2]. That study was validated on a broader scale by a multicenter investigation on the utilization of information resources by practitioners [3].Primary health care practitioners who are not affiliated with academic health sciences centers, particularly those who practice in rural or remote areas, often articulate the need for increased access to health information resources. The authors'' literature search and review of 114 of the most relevant research articles about the information needs and information-seeking behavior of health care practitioners suggested that these professionals most value speed and accuracy. For example, they likely would prefer to use point-of-care (PoC) resources for quickly and accurately answering their clinical questions.

Desirability of point of care

PoC resources quickly guide physicians through the diagnosis, treatment, and management of commonly encountered clinical conditions. PoC resources can present compilations of highly authoritative, often evidence-based, information. Physicians can answer more questions and revise clinical decisions more often using these PoC resources [4]. Meanwhile, many health care practitioners still rely on textbooks familiar to them from their professional training programs, despite their potentially dated contents [5–14].

Limited access in rural New Mexico

A randomized controlled trial involving public health practitioners across the rural state of New Mexico reported many barriers in accessing valued information resources [15, 16]. In another study, researchers in New Mexico set out to determine and analyze information needs of health care practitioners who were not affiliated with an academic center. Fifty-one interviews of rural physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners showed both a need and desire for access to information resources [17].

Goals and hypothesis

This study sought to determine which rural health care providers found more useful in answering everyday clinical questions: electronic PoC DynaMed, which is more clinically oriented, or electronic PoC AccessMedicine, which consists primarily of a health sciences textbook collection. We hypothesized that free access to the explicitly clinical format of the PoC resource DynaMed would result in more extensive use than a baseline of zero over a six-month period than the electronic PoC textbook collection AccessMedicine. We felt this would be due to greater utility of DynaMed in clinical practice. We also predicted that clinicians using the clinically oriented PoC would express higher levels of satisfaction than those using the textbook-based PoC and that clinicians using these PoC resources would prefer using them over other information resources.     

研究生兼职参与学科服务的实践探索与分析

[目的/意义] 针对当前高校图书馆学科馆员人力资源缺乏,难以在院系广泛开展“嵌入科研,深入课题”的学科服务困境,探索利用研究生（博士、硕士）兼职参与学科服务,协助或替代学科馆员到院系开展学科服务的新模式。[方法/过程] 以华南农业大学图书馆学科服务实践为例,介绍针对兼职学科馆员的队伍建设、管理模式,探讨其在院系进行学科服务的实践效果。[结果/结论] 结果表明,研究生兼职参与学科服务,可实现图书馆资源宣传和信息专题培训的大范围“入院（学院）、进室（实验室）、到组（课题组）”,针对院系科研人员的信息服务实现了研究生对导师（或课题组）个性化的贴身服务。基于兼职学科馆员的学科服务新模式改变了单靠图书馆力量开展学科服务的现状,缓解了图书馆有限的人力资源在院系广泛开展深度学科服务举步维艰的困境,为同类图书馆进一步开展广泛、深入的学科服务提供了一个高素质人力资源利用的新思路。     

Online use statistics

Online use statistics can provide libraries with a tool to be used when developing an online collection of resources. Statistics can provide information on overall use of a collection, individual print and electronic journal use, and collection use by specific user populations. They can also be used to determine the number of user licenses to purchase. This paper focuses on the issue of use statistics made available for one collection of online resources.     

The MINITEX Reference Service:

MINITEX is a publicly supported resource sharing network of academic, state agency, and public libraries in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. One of its five programs is a backup reference service for staff of participating libraries. Questions which cannot be answered using local resources are usually referred by telephone along with the sources that have been checked