3D or Not 3D? Is that a Question?

Abstract: Stereoscopic 3D images, although going back to the mid‐nineteenth century, are becoming pervasive in cinema, the Web, electronic games, television, graphic simulations, personal photography, and the entertainment and education ecologies. The use of stereo 3D goes beyond a technology vogue to the creation of effective experiences that are more naturally engaging for audiences by conveying real physical depth perception and the illusions of tangibility and tactility. This paper claims that because museums are all about compelling, memorable, and visceral experiences, 3D will become an increasingly important tool for exhibitions, education, and interpretation; the challenge will be to know when, how, and why to use it. Stereo 3D is described and a trajectory of examples of past and current museum use is presented. The paper also provides a rationale for why, when many technologies are vying for priority and resources, stereoscopic 3D technology should be near the top of the list.     

Reading the Body on House,M.D.: Medical Surveillance as a Model of the Social

This article focuses on the representation of the body in House, M.D. and suggests its usefulness as a metaphor for the view of the social body on which the series relies. The body in House, M.D. is the central occupation of the narrative, and it is around the body that the paired oppositions certainty/doubt and body/speech occur. In House, confessional speech is a regime of false knowledge while the body is privileged as the foundation of true knowledge—the province of the expert interpreter of the body. Through an exploration of these paired oppositions in the show's representation of medical practice, the author explores the series' model of the social in which the visual mediation of bodies is privileged as social hermeneutic and the intensification of mutual surveillance is the means of authentic interaction.     

Characteristics of project management at institutions sponsoring National Library of Medicine MedlinePlus Go Local

Objectives:

Through interviews with the National Library of Medicine''s MedlinePlus Go Local collaborators, an evaluation team sought to identify process characteristics that are critical for long-term sustainability of Go Local projects and to describe the impact that Go Local projects have on sponsoring institutions.

Methods:

Go Local project coordinators (n = 44) at 31 sponsor institutions participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences developing and maintaining Go Local sites. Interviews were summarized, checked for accuracy by the participating librarians, and analyzed using a general inductive methodology.

Results:

Institutional factors that support Go Local projects were identified through the interviews, as well as strategies for staffing and partnerships with external organizations. Positive outcomes for sponsoring institutions also were identified.

Conclusions:

The findings may influence the National Library of Medicine team''s decisions about improvements to its Go Local system and the support it provides to sponsoring institutions. The findings may benefit current sponsoring institutions as well as those considering or planning a Go Local project.

Highlights

• Many project coordinators said they underestimated the level of work their National Library of Medicine (NLM) MedlinePlus Go Local projects would require, but most expressed dedication to the project and optimism about project sustainability.
• An institutional record of community service or outreach and a director who was supportive of the project were important factors in the progress and sustainability of Go Local projects.
• Go Local projects brought recognition to some sponsoring institutions from their parent institutions or their communities and provided opportunities to establish better relations with other libraries and institutions.
• Go Local projects ran more smoothly when a person, even a temporary hire, with dedicated time for the project was in charge during the initial building phase. Volunteer assistance has been difficult to motivate and sustain.

Implications

• NLM''s Go Local proposal guidelines accurately identify the factors that institutions should pay close attention to when planning a Go Local project.
• NLM should emphasize continuity plans to address project coordinator turnover.
• NLM should develop a more formal orientation plan for new project coordinators to assist program continuity at the sponsoring institutions.

     

Estelle Brodman and the First Generation of Library Automation

Objective:

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contributions of Estelle Brodman, PhD, to the early application of computing technologies in health sciences libraries.

Methods:

A review of the literature, oral histories, and materials contained in the archives of the Bernard Becker Medical Library at the Washington University School of Medicine was conducted.

Results:

While the early computing technologies were not well suited to library applications, their exciting potential was recognized by visionaries like Dr. Brodman. The effective use of these technologies was made possible by creative and innovative projects and programs. The impact of these early efforts continues to resonate through library services and operations.

Conclusions:

Computing technologies have transformed libraries. Dr. Brodman''s leadership in the early development and application of these technologies provided significant benefits to the health sciences library community.

Highlights

• From the earliest days of computing, libraries have explored the application of computing technologies to library operations. The career of Estelle Brodman, PhD, follows the development of these technologies where her contributions have had a major impact across health sciences libraries.
• At the beginning of the computing era, it was assumed that only the very largest libraries would be able to take advantage of these technologies. Dr. Brodman demonstrated that not only could a medium-sized medical library benefit from the technologies but could provide national leadership in their development and application.
• In one of the earliest examples of collaborative computing, predating data networking, Dr. Brodman demonstrated the power of collaboration with projects that included one of the first integrated library systems and an interlibrary loan network that provided the foundation for DOCLINE.

Implications

• Computing and networking technologies have clearly advanced; however, many of the challenges for libraries identified in the earliest work with these technologies remain. The collaborative strategies developed by Dr. Brodman continue to offer significant opportunities for success.
• Research and development in libraries is exciting and rewarding, contributing to the advancement of the profession and securing the position of the library in an academic or clinical care institution.

In an undated curriculum vitae from late in the career of Estelle Brodman, PhD, she listed her present interests, with the first one being “Impacts of new technologies on methods by which scientists gather information and inspiration for research and teaching, and the relationship of the library as a communication center for this” [1]. The manual typewriter, with carbon paper for copies, the rotary-dial analog telephone, and elegant handwriting constituted state-of-the-art desktop information technology for the first two decades of Dr. Brodman''s career. As the computing era began to take shape, however, Dr. Brodman was quick to recognize its transformational potential for library operations. This paper will chronicle Dr. Brodman''s leadership in the earliest days of computing, building a foundation for automation at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and extending the technology model through the development of library applications and networks that would benefit libraries of all sizes. A comprehensive review of Dr. Brodman''s information technology efforts is beyond the reach of a single article. Selected projects are provided to illustrate the challenges, accomplishments, and impact of her distinguished career.     

Strategically aligning a mandala of competencies to advance a transformative vision

Objective:

This paper offers insight into the processes that have shaped the Eskind Biomedical Library''s (EBL''s) strategic direction and its alignment to the institution''s transformative vision.

Setting:

The academic biomedical library has a notable track record for developing and pioneering roles for information professionals focused on a sophisticated level of information provision that draws from and fuels practice evolutions.

Strategy:

The medical center''s overall transformative vision informs the creation of a fully aligned library strategic plan designed to effectively contribute to the execution of key organizational goals. Annual goals reflect organizational priorities and contain quantifiable and measurable deliverables. Two strategic themes, facilitating genetic literacy and preserving community history, are described in detail to illustrate the concept of goal setting.

Conclusion:

The strategic planning model reflects EBL''s adaptation to the ever-changing needs of its organization. The paper provides a characterization of a workable model that can be replicated by other institutions.     

RYT

Abstract

From pilot project to mainstream reference service, this article chronicles the HELIN consortium's history with commercial virtual reference (VR) software and details its decision to switch from a centralized service to individually supported instant messaging (IM) reference services across its institutions. The authors discuss the development and implementation of their virtual reference service with emphasis on assessing its success using both commercial VR software and freeware IM applications at its different member institutions. Lessons learned, the pros and cons of offering collaborative virtual reference, and the challenges of integrating emerging technologies into library services are addressed as librarians seek to develop best practices for offering reference service in an increasingly virtual world.     

A research impact indicator for institutions

This paper introduces a new impact indicator for the research effort of a university, ⁿh₃. The number of documents or the number of citations obtained by an institution are used frequently in international ranking of institutions. However, these are very dependent on the size and this is inducing mergers with the apparent sole goal of improving the research ranking. The alternative is to use the ratio of the two measures, the mean citation rate, that is size independent but it has been shown to fluctuate along the time as a consequence of its dependence on a very small number of documents with an extremely good citation performance. In the last few years, the popularity of the Hirsch index as an indicator of the research performance of individual researchers led to its application to journals and institutions. However, the original aim of this h index of giving a mixed measure of the number of documents published and their impact as measured by the citations collected along the time is totally undesirable for institutions as the overall size may be considered irrelevant for the impact evaluation of research. Furthermore, the h index when applied to institutions tends to retain a very small number of documents making all other research production irrelevant for this indicator. The ⁿh₃ index proposed here is designed to measure solely the impact of research in a way that is independent of the size of the institution and is made relatively stable by making a 20-year estimate of the citations of the documents produced in a single year.     

Introduction

ABSTRACT

Makerspaces and related concepts and technologies are currently the subject of much discussion in the library community, particularly among public libraries. One prominent technology often featured in makerspaces is three-dimensional (3D) printing. In this article the author describes a 3D printing service launched at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Lovejoy Library; the justification for providing the service in an academic library, equipment selection, procedures and workflow, and evaluation of the success of the service to date.     

Perceptions and practices regarding M.A. capstone options and PH.D. admission decisions: A survey of communication M.A. and PH.D. program representatives

In terms of positioning a student for Ph.D. admission, the decision to complete a thesis or comprehensive exams as one's M.A. capstone is based on much speculation, but little systematic study. This study surveyed M.A. and Ph.D. Communication program representatives about doctoral programs' admission preferences and practices regarding applicants holding M.A.s from other institutions, as well as perceptions of their institution's students' actual capstone choices. In nearly half the cases, doctoral program representatives were unaware of whether students admitted with M.A.s had elected the thesis, comprehensive exams, or some other capstone option. Additionally, the results show that Ph.D. programs prioritize students' writing samples, statements of reasons, and GRE scores when deciding admission. There were discrepancies between M.A. program representatives' perceptions of what information weighed most heavily with doctoral admissions committees and the priorities reported by Ph.D. program representatives.     

Let's Get Cozy: Evolving Collaborations in the 21st Century

ABSTRACT

As new digital technologies make the storage of redundant print copies less important, as strained budgets can support fewer subject specialists, and as demands for new services such as data stewardship rise, it is clearer now than ever that libraries’ traditional consortia and their places and roles within academic institutions must be rethought and changed expeditiously if academic libraries are to be vitally important. This article, a companion piece to Joan Giescke's article in this issue, explores this concept and offers some possible models for collaboration.     

A pilot study of the effects of faculty status for medical librarians in the United States

Objectives:Within many institutions, there are debates over whether medical librarians should be classified as faculty or professional staff, a distinction that may have considerable effect on the perception of librarians within their local institutions. This study is a pilot exploration of how faculty status may affect the professional experiences of academic medical librarians within their local institutions.Methods:Surveys were sent to 209 medical librarians listed as having some instructional function at Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredited medical institutions in the United States. Survey responses were captured using Qualtrics survey tool and analyzed for frequencies and associations using SPSS version 27.Results:Sixty-four medical librarians at academic medical institutions completed the survey developed for this study. Of the respondents, 60.9% indicated that librarians at their institution have faculty status, while 71.9% believe that librarians at their institution should have faculty status. Ninety percent of librarians with faculty status reported that they are expected to generate scholarly materials, compared to 28% of those without faculty status.Conclusions:Many medical libraries offer faculty status to librarians. While many medical librarians are active in instruction, research, and other activities normally associated with faculty status, it is not clear if faculty status impacts how librarians are perceived by other health care workers within their institutions.     

Profiles in Resource Sharing: Tom Bruno

Abstract

Health sciences libraries are expanding services that use online technologies to support teaching, research, and clinical care needs. Saint Louis University's Health Sciences Center (SLU HSC) Library has developed strong, user-centered, online services in interlibrary loan, bibliographic instruction, and electronic reserves. The authors present their successful experiences in using electronic technologies to improve library services.

Journal articles are provided, often the same day as requested through interlibrary loan, and delivered in electronic format using OCLC's ILLiad program. First-year SLU medical students now complete a self-paced, all online, Health Information Resources course that targets the most relevant biomedical resources, reduces student study time, and is viewed as a model for the entire curriculum. ERes, the electronic reserves program, allows faculty to provide course materials that are accessible at the convenience of students 24 hours a day. These online programs are examples of using electronic technologies to better support user needs for excellent library services.     

From the science of science to Scientometrics visualizing the history of science with HistCite software

While ISSI was founded in 1993, Scientometrics and Bibliometrics are now at least half a century old. Indeed, the field can be traced to early quantitative studies in the early 20th century. In the 1930s, it evolved to the “science of science.” The publication of J.D. Bernal's Social Function of Science in 1939 was a key transition point but the field lay dormant until after World War II, when D.J.D. Price's books Science Since Babylon and Little Science, Big Science were published in 1961 and 1963. His role as the “Father of Scientometrics” is clearly evident by using the HistCite software to visualize his impact as well as the subsequent impact of the journal Scientometrics on the growth of the field. Scientometrics owes its name to V.V. Nalimov, the author of Naukometriya, and to Tibor Braun who adapted the neologism for the journal. The primordial paper on citation indexing by Garfield which appeared in Science 1955 became a bridge between Bernal and Price. The timeline for the evolution of Scientometrics is demonstrated by a HistCite tabulation of the ranked citation index of the 100,000 references cited in the 3000 papers citing Price.     

Blockchain for research: Review

Key points

• Digital Science's paper is one of the first looking at the application of blockchain technology in scholarly publishing.
• Wholesale use of blockchain technologies is suggested as a possible replacement for scholarly publishers.
• There remain questions around the adoption of blockchain technologies, including privacy, researcher support, and fraudulent use.
• Blockchain technologies may provide a new means of understanding problems and customers' evolving expectations, but careful consideration is required of whether blockchain is the best solution.

     

HIV/AIDS research in India: A bibliometric study

This article looks at the growth over time of Indian AIDS research output based on bibliographic data from PubMed and Web of Science. Authorship distribution was examined using Lotka's law. Bradford's law of scattering was used to identify core journals. The study identifies active institutions and statewide distributions of Indian AIDS research output. The yearly analysis of data shows that there is a rapid growth of literature from 1992 onwards. Still, in an international sense, relative productivity of India is low and requires more focused research and development.     

Library as the Technology Hub for the Health Sciences

Abstract

Academic health sciences libraries have an important role in facilitating the use of technology in health sciences curricula. Serving as a technology hub, the library supports, advocates, and provides access to new technologies. The library introduces many faculty and students to new technology tools, techniques, and equipment for new multimedia creation. As the technology hub grows and expands, library personnel can provide expertise, which demonstrates the library's value in leading the exploration of new technology, including Do-It-Yourself multimedia tools, virtual reality, virtual anatomy, and 3D printing.     

Metropolis revisited: the evolving role of librarians in informatics education for the health professions

Objective:

The authors'' goal was to assess changes in the role of librarians in informatics education from 2004 to 2013. This is a follow-up to “Metropolis Redux: The Unique Importance of Library Skills in Informatics,” a 2004 survey of informatics programs.

Methods:

An electronic survey was conducted in January 2013 and sent to librarians via the MEDLIB-L email discussion list, the library section of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Medical Informatics Section of the Medical Library Association, the Information Technology Interest Group of the Association of College and Research Libraries/New England Region, and various library directors across the country.

Results:

Librarians from fifty-five institutions responded to the survey. Of these respondents, thirty-four included librarians in nonlibrary aspects of informatics training. Fifteen institutions have librarians participating in leadership positions in their informatics programs. Compared to the earlier survey, the role of librarians has evolved.

Conclusions:

Librarians possess skills that enable them to participate in informatics programs beyond a narrow library focus. Librarians currently perform significant leadership roles in informatics education. There are opportunities for librarian interdisciplinary collaboration in informatics programs.

Implications:

Informatics is much more than the study of technology. The information skills that librarians bring to the table enrich and broaden the study of informatics in addition to adding value to the library profession itself.     

Information-seeking behavior of basic science researchers: implications for library services

Objectives:

This study examined the information-seeking behaviors of basic science researchers to inform the development of customized library services.

Methods:

A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was conducted on a sample of basic science researchers employed at a university medical school.

Results:

The basic science researchers used a variety of information resources ranging from popular Internet search engines to highly technical databases. They generally relied on basic keyword searching, using the simplest interface of a database or search engine. They were highly collegial, interacting primarily with coworkers in their laboratories and colleagues employed at other institutions. They made little use of traditional library services and instead performed many traditional library functions internally.

Conclusions:

Although the basic science researchers expressed a positive attitude toward the library, they did not view its resources or services as integral to their work. To maximize their use by researchers, library resources must be accessible via departmental websites. Use of library services may be increased by cultivating relationships with key departmental administrative personnel. Despite their self-sufficiency, subjects expressed a desire for centralized information about ongoing research on campus and shared resources, suggesting a role for the library in creating and managing an institutional repository.

Highlights

• Basic science researchers rely on a small network of individuals in their institution and at other institutions to satisfy their information needs.
• Basic science researchers tend to ignore institutional boundaries when searching for information and do not necessarily view the library as the primary source of scholarly information.
• Basic science researchers use the interlibrary loan service regularly but otherwise rarely use traditional library services such as mediated literature searching and instruction.

Implications

• The library must establish a presence in researchers'' work environments, rather than expect them to seek out library resources and services.
• The increased emphasis by funding agencies on clinical translational science may impact the information needs of basic science researchers in the future.
• Libraries have an opportunity to capitalize on their positive reputation and basic scientists'' desire for more centralized information to create new information resources and services such as institutional repositories.