Are you a budding academic writer?

Academic writing can seem a daunting prospect although with the right support and information it can be more achievable than you think. In this first set of editorial comments of 2016, editors from all sections of the Health Information and Libraries Journal outline the origins of the individual section of the journal which they oversee and highlight some of the things you might want to consider when thinking of submitting your writing for publication.     

International trends in health science librarianship: part 1 - the English speaking world

This is the second in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship in the first decade of the 21st century. The invited authors were asked to reflect on developments in their country - viz. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Future issues will track trends in Northern Europe, the Nordic countries, Southern Europe and Latin America. JM.     

Automatische und interaktive Stundenplanung

Zusammenfassung. Das System fur die interaktive, automatische Stundenplanung ist im Rahmen der Forschungsarbeiten des Bereichs Planungstechnik und Deklarative Programmierung in Fraunhofer FIRST zur Erweiterung der Constraint-basierten Programmierung entwickelt worden. Mit dem System wird die Stundenplanung der Medizinischen Fakultat Charité seit dem Sommersemester 1998 vorgenommen. Seitdem wurde das System kontinuierlich weiterentwickelt. Der erfolgreiche Einsatz des Systems zeigte, dass die gewahlten Methoden und Verfahren sehr geeignet fur die Behandlung derartiger Probleme sind. Die Vorteile einer kombinierten interaktiven und automatischen Stundenplanerzeugung konnten eindeutig nachgewiesen werden.CR Subject Classification: I.2.8, I.2.3, J.1, K.3.2, D.3.3, D.1.6Eingegangen am 15. März 2003 / Angenommen am 9. März 2004, Online publiziert: 1. Juli 2004     

‘Am I safe here and do you like me?’ Understanding complex trauma and attachment disruption in the classroom

Elementary and special education teachers and school counsellors currently provide support to children presenting learning disabilities and behavioural problems symptomatic of the more hidden diagnosis of complex trauma resulting from abuse or severe attachment disruption. Specific disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) may be diagnosed in such children, but not the aetiology of complex trauma, resulting in missing information in the development of remedial and behavioural interventions. The evolving field of trauma counselling provides important information to special education teachers and school counsellors who work with children who have experienced trauma. In this review article authors Linda O'Neill of the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), Francis Guenette who is a doctoral student at the University of Victoria and Andrew Kitchenham of the University of Northern British Columbia summarise attachment, neurobiological, and complex trauma research that can be used in school settings to understand better the needs of these children. They conclude by suggesting that teachers and school counsellors would benefit from training on the consequences of childhood trauma and attachment disruption to develop interventions that will be effective and to identify what types of behaviours children can control and those they cannot.     

A study of color in dissertations and theses

This study examined the occurrence of color in dissertations and theses produced at the Pennsylvania State University over a nine year period. Since the most common preservation method for dissertations and theses is monochromatic microfilming, traditional treatment may result in a loss of information encoded in color in these resources. Results indicate a significant increase in the use of color over the time period studied. Variations in the amount of color use by discipline were also observed. Implications related to monochromatic microfilming and recommendations for long term preservation are discussed.     

"Ask A Librarian": the experiences of four hospital libraries

The librarians at four hospital libraries describe the electronic reference service, "Ask A Librarian," offered at their institutions. The hospitals are vastly different in size and in number of library staff, and offer the "Ask A Librarian" service to different clientele. The article illustrates that both large hospitals with a large library staff and small hospitals with a solo librarian and some volunteers can offer this type of service.