Teaching medical information retrieval and application courses in Chinese universities: a case study

An important aspect of Chinese academic health science libraries is their involvement in teaching medical information retrieval courses as part of the medical curriculum. Health science librarians in China have a more formal teaching role than is generally found in Western countries, including many full-time teaching positions. This article provides a case study of Kunming Medical University Library, where courses are provided as credit units at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The teaching practices of Chinese health science libraries are compared with teaching experiences reported in Western countries. It is noted that Chinese government's educational policy is similar to that of the United States in promoting the role of the library in teaching subjects as part of the medical curriculum. In China, this has lead to the development of teaching departments within health science libraries and the appointment of full and part-time teacher librarians.     

Continuing education for medical students: a library model

Purpose

The research assessed a three-year continuing medical education–style program for medical students in a Midwestern academic medical library.

Methods

A mixed methods approach of a survey and two focus groups comparing attendees versus non-attendees assessed the program.

Results

Eleven students participated in the focus groups. Attendance was driven by topic interest and lunch. Barriers included lack of interest, scheduling, location, and convenience.

Conclusions

Although attendance was a challenge, students valued opportunities to learn new skills. This study showcases a reproducible method to engage students outside the curriculum.     

Epilepsy Abstracts Retrieval System (EARS): a new concept for medical literature storage and retrieval

Epilepsy Abstracts, a monthly publication of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, is used as the data base for an on-line full-text search and retrieval system. Every word in the abstract (except common words that possess no retrieval value) becomes a keyword, reducing the mismatch between the user's familiarity with word usage in the desired subject area and the word usage in the documents to be searched.     

Understanding the foundation: the state of generalist search education in library schools as related to the needs of expert searchers in medical libraries.

PURPOSE: The paper explores the current state of generalist search education in library schools and considers that foundation in respect to the Medical Library Association's statement on expert searching. SETTING/SUBJECTS: Syllabi from courses with significant searching components were examined from ten of the top library schools, as determined by the U.S. News & World Report rankings. METHODOLOGY: Mixed methods were used, but primarily quantitative bibliometric methods were used. RESULTS: The educational focus in these searching components was on understanding the generalist searching resources and typical users and on performing a reflective search through application of search strategies, controlled vocabulary, and logic appropriate to the search tool. There is a growing emphasis on Web-based search tools and a movement away from traditional set-based searching and toward free-text search strategies. While a core set of authors is used in these courses, no core set of readings is used. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: While library schools provide a strong foundation, future medical librarians still need to take courses that introduce them to the resources, settings, and users associated with medical libraries. In addition, as more emphasis is placed on Web-based search tools and free-text searching, instructors of the specialist medical informatics courses will need to focus on teaching traditional search methods appropriate for common tools in the medical domain.     

Information literacy in continuing professional development of medical practitioners: a Croatian example

OBJECTIVES: This paper reports on the training of medical practitioners in information literacy. The course is carried out by an academic medical library in collaboration with its parent institution and the local physicians' licensing body. SETTING: The University of Zagreb Medical School (UZMS) developed an extensive continuing education programme for residents and practitioners, in partnership with the Croatian Chamber of Physicians. Within this programme, the Central Medical Library (CML) offers a hands-on course on searching and appraisal of medical information. DESCRIPTION: Continuing professional development (CPD) helps physicians update and develop the skills and knowledge they require in their everyday practice. The ability to locate, critically evaluate, and use medical information is an important component of CPD. The CML has developed a course entitled "Finding and Appraisal of Medical Information" which has been reviewed and accepted by its parent institution and the physicians' chamber. The course has been introduced in 2005 on a half-year base. OUTCOME: The course provides participants with the information on the most important medical information resources and with the basic skills needed for their effective usage. An evaluation questionnaire is used to assess the effectiveness of the course.     

项目驱动和专业整合——基于科研的信息素养教育模式

基于科研的信息素养教育模式是在融合项目驱动与课程整合教育两种模式优点的基础上构建的,它是在高校文检课的教学中,以引导学生探究与自身学科课程或专业相关的科研课题的方式组织教学,通过完整的科研体验,有效地提高和培养学生的创新能力、专业信息素养和科学研究素养.     

Fusing different information retrieval systems according to query-topics: a study based on correlation in information retrieval systems and TREC topics

To evaluate Information Retrieval Systems on their effectiveness, evaluation programs such as TREC offer a rigorous methodology as well as benchmark collections. Whatever the evaluation collection used, effectiveness is generally considered globally, averaging the results over a set of information needs. As a result, the variability of system performance is hidden as the similarities and differences from one system to another are averaged. Moreover, the topics on which a given system succeeds or fails are left unknown. In this paper we propose an approach based on data analysis methods (correspondence analysis and clustering) to discover correlations between systems and to find trends in topic/system correlations. We show that it is possible to cluster topics and systems according to system performance on these topics, some system clusters being better on some topics. Finally, we propose a new method to consider complementary systems as based on their performances which can be applied for example in the case of repeated queries. We consider the system profile based on the similarity of the set of TREC topics on which systems achieve similar levels of performance. We show that this method is effective when using the TREC ad hoc collection.     

Marketing China after Tiananmen: Marketing mix as applied to the promotion of international tourism

This study makes an innovative application of the marketing mix as the promotion of international tourism, moving one step beyond the previous literature on tourism as a mode of international and intercultural communication. It examines, in the marketing mix framework, the communications activities in the marketing of China as an international tourism product, between the Tiananmen incident (4 June 1989) and the 11th Asian Games in October 1990 in Beijing. The intervening period witnessed how the Chinese government and the American tour operators attempted to restore China's ‘marketability’. The Asian Games, a planned international event, failed to offset the disruptive impact that the unplanned Tiananmen incident had on China's international image.

The paper argues that the international scope and significance of the case offers a strong opportunity for elucidating innovative, generalizable conceptual applications of the four elements in the marketing mix. The study explores the interplay between the four components of the marketing mix by dissecting into ‘parts’ the ‘whole’ international tourism product—a nation (with its government, people, and other perceptible features).     

Information Asymmetry and Investor Reaction to Corporate Crisis: Media Reputation as a Stock Market Signal

Information asymmetry between corporate management and investors creates a context in which corporate reputation conveyed in the media may serve as a valid signal of firm quality to investors in times of corporate crisis. Results confirmed our hypothesis that corporate media reputation was positively correlated with postcrisis stock return. Furthermore, the positive effect of media reputation of a firm on stock market response to the crisis was enhanced by media visibility. Our findings supported a previously unexplored view of the media as information intermediaries in signaling and suggested that a favorable media reputation as an important signal of firm quality leads to high abnormal returns in times of corporate crisis.     

An index to medical book reviews: a computer experiment

The experimental production of an index to book reviews of medical publications is described. Details of compilation and preparation of data for processing by an IBM 1440 computer are outlined. Results of a survey testing the response to the index in its present form by medical libraries are presented.     

Facilitating access to consumer health information: a collaborative approach employing applied research

Responsibility for the provision of consumer health information typically lies within the public library domain or the health sciences library arena. In many communities, both types of libraries provide support for consumer health information services, often with varying levels of expertise. Public library employees may or may not be trained in the use of health and biomedical information resources. Conversely, health sciences library staff may or may not be familiar with information needs of the lay public within their community. To offset these potential differences, a model was developed to assess the health information needs of community members and to provide training for public library staff regarding use of relevant electronic consumer health information resources.     

发表评论--提高医学期刊质量的另一种方式

国外部分医学期刊发表专家或用户对论文的评论,受到读者的欢迎。国内这方面的尝试不多。发表评论可间接培训作者群、吸引和挖掘优秀稿件、增强期刊的可读性,从而提高期刊质量。建议医学期刊积极探索这一方式。     

Building a gold standard to construct search filters: a case study with biomarkers for oral cancer

Objective:

To support clinical researchers, librarians and informationists may need search filters for particular tasks. Development of filters typically depends on a “gold standard” dataset. This paper describes generalizable methods for creating a gold standard to support future filter development and evaluation using oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) as a case study. OSCC is the most common malignancy affecting the oral cavity. Investigation of biomarkers with potential prognostic utility is an active area of research in OSCC. The methods discussed here should be useful for designing quality search filters in similar domains.

Methods:

The authors searched MEDLINE for prognostic studies of OSCC, developed annotation guidelines for screeners, ran three calibration trials before annotating the remaining body of citations, and measured inter-annotator agreement (IAA).

Results:

We retrieved 1,818 citations. After calibration, we screened the remaining citations (n = 1,767; 97.2%); IAA was substantial (kappa = 0.76). The dataset has 497 (27.3%) citations representing OSCC studies of potential prognostic biomarkers.

Conclusions:

The gold standard dataset is likely to be high quality and useful for future development and evaluation of filters for OSCC studies of potential prognostic biomarkers.

Implications:

The methodology we used is generalizable to other domains requiring a reference standard to evaluate the performance of search filters. A gold standard is essential because the labels regarding relevance enable computation of diagnostic metrics, such as sensitivity and specificity. Librarians and informationists with data analysis skills could contribute to developing gold standard datasets and subsequent filters tuned for their patrons'' domains of interest.     

Conferences as Information Grounds: Web Site Evaluation with a Mobile Usability Laboratory

ABSTRACT

This article describes an “on-the-road” usability study and explains the study's methodological challenges, solutions, and recommendations. The study concerned a library-consortium website, which is a communication and educational tool for librarians who are physically dispersed throughout the state, and an intranet for remote users. Rather than traveling to numerous locations or attempting a remote usability evaluation of the website, the lab took a mobile laboratory to a professional conference where a large number of website users were gathered. Four doctoral students used the talk-aloud protocol to interview 14 conference participants. The interviews were recorded with Morae software on laptop computers, and participants were asked to complete 13 tasks. Although there proved to be difficulties in mobile usability testing, the conference provided a space to describe the project and recruit participants. While the optimal place to conduct usability testing is in either the lab or the participant's natural environment, advantages in taking it to a conference include access to a diverse range of users and the ability to generate interest in the project among users.     

Mediated computer search services relative to instruction services: a survey of one health sciences library

To assess the quality and usefulness of one health sciences library's mediated computer search service, a survey was undertaken to determine satisfaction rates, why users do or do not use the service, and how useful the service is perceived to be in comparison to instructional service. Satisfaction rates were high, with users indicating librarian expertise and time/cost savings as the main reasons for using the service. Non-users indicated that they preferred to do their own searching, and many were unaware of the service. Though a majority of respondents do not currently use the service, surprisingly a majority of respondents placed significant value on the mediated search service in relation to instruction.     

实现信息资源共享的数字图书馆联盟案例分析:以"加拿大数字图书馆倡议-全国联盟(CIDL)"为例

文章在简要介绍图书馆联盟等相关概念的基础上,以"加拿大数字图书馆倡议--全国联盟(CIDL)"为例,介绍了CIDL成立背景、组织结构、具体活动等内容,以期较全面认识加拿大数字图书馆联盟事业的发展,并从中总结出对我国图书馆联盟建设的借鉴作用.     

Librarians as Research Partners: Their Contribution to the Scholarly Endeavour Beyond Library and Information Science

Academic libraries are increasingly called upon to demonstrate their value to their home institutions. Research collaboration with faculty resulting in the co-authorship of scholarly output is one possible way to demonstrate the alignment of the library with the institutional mission. Involvement in research also improves librarians' skills in offering research support services. This study explores the contribution of librarians to scholarly journals in fields other than Library and Information Science (LIS) as well as their collaboration practices with researchers in those fields. Results show an increasing number of papers published by library-affiliated authors in non-LIS journals between 2006 and 2015. The papers fall broadly into four areas: articles on topics related to LIS published in non-LIS journals; higher education and information literacy; systematic reviews and meta-analysis; and research collaboration in the faculty's areas of expertise. The study is limited by the difficulty in properly retrieving the scholarly output of librarians from bibliographic databases and the difficulty in ascertaining their contributions to published articles.