MEDLINE evaluation study

MEDLINE (MEDLARS-ON-LINE) is the new on-line, interactive bibliographic searching system which was recently developed by the National Library of Medicine. The system provides users with lists of bibliographical citations and other information from a three-year file of over 1,250 biomedical journals. A survey testing user reactions was conducted at the University of Virginia Medical Library. The results of the survey are based on replies by 246 users who requested one or more MEDLINE searches between September 1972 and March 1973. The findings indicate that over 93% believe that MEDLINE is a substantial improvement over the traditional methods of searching through the printed indexes. These respondents also stated that the results of MEDLINE searches had assisted them in their clinical or research work, or both. Asked whether they would continue to use MEDLINE after the imposition of user charges on July 1, 1973, about 75% said that they would. The remaining 25% expressed some reservations and doubts. The survey gives reason to believe that with the imposition of user charges the use of MEDLINE will decline.     

Observations on the AIM-TWX service at the University of Virginia Medical Library

This paper is an analysis of 100 short questionaires which were completed by patrons of the AIM-TWX computerized, on-line bibliographical search service at the Medical Library of the University of Virginia during the period from August 1971 to January 1972. The survey indicates strengths and weaknesses of the new system.     

NERMLS: The first year

The Countway Library, Boston, was the nation's first Regional Medical Library under the Regional Medical Library Program of the NLM. New England Regional Medical Library Service (NERMLS) began in October 1967 and is the outgrowth of traditional extramural services of the Harvard and Boston Medical Libraries (constituents of the Countway). During the first year over 27,000 requests were received of which 84 percent were filled. Some problems of document delivery (and their solution) are recounted. Other activities were: a limited amount of reference work; distribution of a Serials List; and planning for a region-wide medical library service. Proposals call for consultation and education, regional reference service, and improved document delivery service. Emphasis is placed on the role of the Community Hospital as a center for continuing education and the need to strengthen and assist hospital medical libraries. With the Postgraduate Medical Institute, Boston, NERMLS assisted in the compilation of a small physician-selected medical Core Collection which would serve as a minimum standard collection for community hospital libraries.     

Information Needs of Anthropologists

Anthropologists at seven universities were surveyed in order to discover: the ways in which they go about locating information of value to them; the information sources that they use and that are of the greatest significance to them; the adequacy of the library service being currently provided to anthropologists; and any opinions they have on the subject of their information needs. Results show that anthropologists; information requirements differ somewhat from those of other social scientists. Reference lists in journals and books are often used to locate information sources; journals are the most important information source. However, cultural anthropologists report that their own field data is their most significant source. Anthropologists use pictorial sources and maps more frequently than social scientists in general do; they also make great use of interlibrary loan. Most of the information needs of the majority of respondents are met by their university's library. Older scholars tend to use databases less than younger ones do; online abstracts and indexes are most important to anthropologists than their print versions are. Some respondents express a great desire for a database which would include current references, abstracts, and articles in anthropology.     

An experimental cancer information service using AIM-TWX

The Pacific Northwest Regional Health Sciences Library and the Washington/Alaska Regional Medical Program jointly conducted a service to provide photocopies of articles on cancer topics within twenty-four hours after receiving telephone requests for information from Central Washington physicians. AIM-TWX was utilized as the initial source of references whenever possible, and its benefit as such was evaluated. In the three-month experimental period, twenty-seven requesters made fifty-six requests and received photocopies of 185 articles; the estimated total cost was $1,000, less than $18 per request.A sample of requests showed AIM-TWX to have reduced the total work time per search; moreover, when it was used, AIM-TWX retrieved more than 70% of the articles selected to be sent. Physician response indicated that the service was both needed and appreciated. Further investigation by a similar information service is suggested.     

Authors from the periphery countries choose open access more often

This article analyses attitudes of academic authors toward open access (OA) and the frequency of choosing OA publication venues. The research looks particularly at differences between authors based in countries with a gross domestic product per capita less or greater than US$18,000 (called periphery and core countries, respectively). The data were obtained with an online survey sent to 107,296 scholars listed on the mailing lists belonging to De Gruyter Open from December 2015 to January 2016. A total of 1,012 responses were received. Authors from the periphery countries publish their articles in gold OA more often and they also pay OA publication fees equally often as those based in the core countries. The reasons for that are complex, involving both their preference to publish in OA and the composition of the publishing market in the periphery.     

Assessment of Customer Service in Academic Health Care Libraries (ACSAHL): an instrument for measuring customer service

OBJECTIVES: In a pilot study, the library had good results using SERVQUAL, a respected and often-used instrument for measuring customer satisfaction. The SERVQUAL instrument itself, however, received some serious and well-founded criticism from the respondents to our survey. The purpose of this study was to test the comparability of the results of SERVQUAL with a revised and shortened instrument modeled on SERVQUAL. The revised instrument, the Assessment of Customer Service in Academic Health Care Libraries (ACSAHL), was designed to better assess customer service in academic health care libraries. METHODS: Surveys were sent to clients who had used the document delivery services at three academic medical libraries in Texas over the previous twelve to eighteen months. ACSAHL surveys were sent exclusively to clients at University of Texas (UT) Southwestern, while the client pools at the two other institutions were randomly divided and provided either SERVQUAL or ACSAHL surveys. RESULTS: Results indicated that more respondents preferred the shorter ACSAHL instrument to the longer and more complex SERVQUAL instrument. Also, comparing the scores from both surveys indicated that ACSAHL elicited comparable results. CONCLUSIONS: ACSAHL appears to measure the same type of data in similar settings, but additional testing is recommended both to confirm the survey's results through data replication and to investigate whether the instrument applies to different service areas.     

End-user programs in medical school libraries: a survey

A questionnaire was sent to all medical school libraries listed in the Annual Statistics of Medical School Libraries in the United States and Canada (1983-1984) asking librarians to describe their end-user programs. Of the 113 responding libraries, 78 had an end-user program. All provided some kind of formal instruction, 39 made equipment available to end users, and 22 provided and administered passwords. The reasons most cited for starting a program were staff interest and patron requests. The two most frequently taught systems were NLM/MEDLINE and BRS/Colleague. In general, respondents felt positive about the programs and planned to continue them. The most frequently mentioned problem was need for more equipment.     

Journals in the Core Collection

ABSTRACT

This overview of the core concept applied to journals defines the relevant terminology and cites specific examples of core lists. Ten approaches for determining core journals (subjective judgment, use, indexing coverage, overlapping library holdings, citation data, citation network/co-citation analysis, production of articles, Bradford's Law, faculty publication data, and multiple criteria methods) are reviewed and the practical applications of core journals lists are explained. Theoretical and practical problems associated with the core concept and core journal lists are discussed and a taxonomy for classifying core journal lists is outlined.     

Psychology applied to librarianship

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the perception of faculty members at King Abdulaziz University (KAAU) towards online search service in the Jeddah main campus. Survey methods were used to determine the demands of the faculty members from different faculties and to find out the subject areas for which more search requests are made. The data for this study were collected by administering a specially designed questionnaire to all the chairmen of departments within each faculty. Personal interviews were conducted with the library staff responsible for the online search service at the KAAU Central Library. Analysis of relevant data indicates that out of 73 questionnaires delivered to chairmen, 51 completed questionnaires were received, a 70% response rate. Further analysis revealed that 139 requests were made by 11 faculties and institutions during 1989 and 1990. Forty-five percent of respondents used online search service to conduct personal research.     

How prevalent are plagiarized submissions? Global survey of editors

Most analyses of plagiarism focus on published content and do not report on the prevalence of plagiarism in submitted articles. Fears over large‐scale plagiarism, particularly in articles submitted by authors for whom English is a second language, have only been investigated in small publishing communities or using duplication‐checking analysis, which does not separate legitimate from unacceptable duplication. This research surveyed journal editors from around the world to ascertain recent (past year) experiences of plagiarized and/or duplicated submissions. We then compared their experiences to their assumptions about global levels of plagiarism. The survey received 372 responses, including 119 from Asian editors, 112 from European editors, and 57 from editors in North America. The respondents estimated that c.15% of all submissions contained plagiarized or duplicated content, although their own experiences were in the range of 2–5% of submissions. Of the respondents, 42% reported no incidence of plagiarized or duplicated submissions in the past year. Asian editors experienced the highest levels of plagiarized/duplicated content, although most of the problem articles were resolved, indicating that most of the identified duplication constituted relatively minor problems, rather than fraudulent plagiarism.     

Open Access Journals in College Library Collections

Students and scholars can take full advantage of Open Access journals only if libraries make them available through mechanisms that are familiar to patrons. This study examines the extent to which American liberal arts colleges have provided access to Open Access journals through their journal title lists (Serials Solutions, Ex Libris, etc.) and their online public access catalogs (OPACs). While 57 percent of the colleges provide access to at least 90 percent of the journals in our sample, 20 percent of the colleges provide access to fewer than 20 percent of the journals. Large and high-impact journals are especially likely to appear in libraries' catalogs and journal lists. There is no systematic trend by publication fee status or country of publication, however. The study concludes with a discussion of the strategies libraries can use to select Open Access journals and add them to their collections.     

中国大陆图书馆文献保护灾难预案调查

为了解中国大陆图书馆文献保护灾难预案制定与实施的情况,采用问卷调查方法对中国大陆50家图书馆进行了文献保护灾难预案调查,有31家图书馆返回问卷.调查结果显示:受访图书馆全部没有设置专门的文献保护部门,其文献保护工作大部分局限于馆藏古籍的保护;图书馆的文献保护灾难应对能力较薄弱,其馆藏全部没有保险,疏于防范造成的突发灾难发生率较高,灾后恢复缺乏行业指导及社会协作;图书馆对文献保护灾难预案的认知度较低,没有符合规范要求的成文灾难预案.     

Postage--boon or bane: an evaluation of one library's MLA exchange transactions

An analysis of MLA Exchange material shipped as well as received is presented. It was found that, of 10,382 items shipped during a twelve-month period to 588 libraries, 332 of these mailings, or 56 percent, were sent for ten cents or less, at a total of $24.80 for postage, an average of $6.20 per exchange list. Similarly, a six-month log of items received by the library shows that 55 percent of these mailings was sent to the library for ten cents or less. The results of this study suggest that the waiving of small fees could eliminate more than half of the donor library's record keeping on postal reimbursements and that it could cut the receiving library's actual reimbursement cost, which is shown to reach 250 percent.     

North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

Since 1958, the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NCLBPH) has served patrons throughout the State of North Carolina who have no vision, low vision, or who are unable to physically hold a printed book. The collection includes approximately 128,000 titles in accessible formats; and on average, 2,000 titles are sent out to patrons via USPS Mail each day. As with most public libraries, NCLBPH currently obtains a certain number of copies of each new title. For popular titles, this can produce long waiting lists for patrons who are not able to use NLS’s Braille and Audio Recording Download (BARD) service, available on computers and mobile devices. To solve this problem, NCLBPH is embarking on two pilot projects, one for Digital Talking Books (NLS’s proprietary audiobook format) and one for Braille books. These two pilot projects will eliminate the waiting lists for popular titles by instituting a Books on Demand (BOD) system.     

The Maine electronic document delivery project: a cooperative project of Maine hospital libraries and the NN/LM New England Region

The article discusses an Ariel document delivery project with seven Maine hospital libraries, the University of Massachusetts Medical School Library (UMass), and the New England Regional office of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Funding was awarded to six network members to purchase equipment or Ariel software. UMass served as a document provider. During the test, libraries received documents from UMass via Ariel or via the Web as a PDF document. This form of document delivery was faster than standard service with better quality of delivered articles. The column describes the project and outlines possible future steps.     

AIM-TWX service at the University of Virginia: a review and evaluation

The paper reviews the highlights of a four-week trial period (November 19-December 18, 1970) during which the Medical Library of the University of Virginia experimented with a new remote-access bibliographical control and retrieval system via its TWX machine. The system, called AIM-TWX, was sponsored by the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications and utilizes a timeshared IBM 360/67 computer in Santa Monica, California. Citations from 109 clinically-oriented journals from 1966 to date, including those currently included in the Abridged Index Medicus, may be retrieved either on- or off-line.Various aspects of this service are described, including problems of staffing, training, and record keeping, as well as the role of the MeSH vocabulary which is the principle "language" of the man-computer dialog.The statistical results indicated that the system was used for approximately 200 minutes on nineteen days and that an average of sixteen searches were run on any given day, or about 4.6 searches per hour of use. In spite of an inexperienced staff who had little knowledge of the MeSH vocabulary and whose training schedule was limited to one four-hour session, the experiment was highly successful in terms of searches and citations.At the end of the period, 298 searches had been run for 114 requestors, and 5,343 citations had been produced. Only fifty-five searches yielded no citations. The experiment generated a great deal of excitement and interest among the staff of the Library and of the Medical Center. Moreover, a large number of medical practitioners in large and small communities of Virginia participated in this experiment, indicating that there exists a great demand for this type of literature searching which AIM-TWX is able to provide with great rapidity.     

Evaluating the influence of a medical journal using Google Scholar

This study shows how a journal's influence can be calculated by using citations obtained from Google Scholar and other methods even though the journal is not covered by any citation databases. Influence is measured in terms of foreign contributions, ‘equivalent’ immediacy scores of recent articles, and the calculation of citations and ‘equivalent’ impact factor. A total of 580 articles published in the Medical Journal of Malaysia (MJM) between 2004 and 2008 served as the sample. Very few foreign authors contributed to MJM (12.5%), implying its low regional acceptance as a channel for research communication. Immediacy scores for each year indicate citations were received by recently published articles. A total of 1,164 citations were received by 446 of the 580 articles and the main citing sources were journals (1,083) with reasonable h index and impact factor. Yearly impact scores ranged between 0.367 and 0.616. Higher impact factor scores were obtained by older articles.     

The use of personal digital assistants in the health sciences: results of a survey.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to determine how personal digital assistants (PDAs) are used on an academic health sciences campus to define the level of training and support the library can provide to the students and faculty. METHOD: A Web-based questionnaire was developed. A total of 1,538 health sciences faculty and residents were sent an email message requesting participation. Data from the returned surveys were analyzed with SPSS. RESULTS: Sixty-one percent of survey respondents used PDAs. The address book, date book, and calculator were the most common uses reported for PDAs. Residents also reported a high use of drug databases on their PDAs. Most survey respondents indicated they would like to learn more about clinical resources for PDAs. CONCLUSIONS: Many opportunities exist for librarians to provide training and support for PDAs, in addition to evaluation and promotion of clinical software for PDAs.