Librarians in the Lab: Toward Radically Re-Engineering Data Curation Services at the Research Coalface

This article presents a case study where students aspiring to professional library roles who need to understand diverse disciplinary research data practices are placed in a laboratory with domain researchers during an immersive module within graduate MLIS programs at the School of Information Sciences (iSchool), University of Pittsburgh. A qualitative analysis of evaluation commentary from faculty researchers and MLIS students demonstrates their positive bilateral learning experiences. The potential extension of the immersive model for the delivery of research data services directly to researchers at their point of need is explored and a connection made with the established concept of an informationist, as a medical library specialist working in a clinical setting. The re-engineering challenges for academic libraries in operationalizing the immersive model for research data services are articulated, together with the challenges for iSchools in building workforce capacity and capability for immersive team science.     

Drawing Pedagogies in Higher Education: the Learning Impact of a Collaborative Cross‐disciplinary Drawing Course

Drawing is taught in higher education across art and design but also, increasingly, in medical education, with a variety of aims and approaches. It is argued that there is a need, in both these disciplinary domains, to make more explicit the underpinning pedagogical approach to drawing and the impact that different approaches have on learning. The research described in this article focuses on an optional drawing course for undergraduate craft students and medical students. The course is run by the College of Arts and Humanities at a UK university and has a thematic focus on the human body. This qualitative case study sets out, in the context of selected theory about the teaching and learning of drawing, to explore what the learning impact of a particular collaborative model of teaching drawing was on a cross‐disciplinary student group. Findings included, with reference to Riley's framework of drawing pedagogies, that a range of philosophical and pedagogical ideas about drawing were blended from the teaching perspective in a way that enabled students from distinct disciplinary backgrounds to engage and learn. A shift was observed in students’ perceptions of drawing, with both sets of students questioning previously held assumptions about the use and value of drawing within their learning. Life drawing and anatomy laboratory drawing, in particular, provoked deep and challenging reflections about different cultural conceptions of the human body and the practice of collaborative drawing, with dialogic reflection, enabling insights to be developed into different disciplinary epistemologies.     

Beyond the literature: bioinformatics training for medical librarians

As genetics and molecular biology progressively impact on society and the practice of medicine, medical librarians must prepare themselves to deal with this new arena of information. The Eskind Biomedical Library at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has developed a bioinformatics training program for its librarians involving subject knowledge, literature evaluation, and database searching techniques. This program can serve as a model for other libraries.     

Consultation in school psychology: Changes from 1981 to 1984

In order to assess changes in consultation activities by practicing school psychologists, questionnaires were sent to a nationwide sample of practitioners engaging in consultation on a regular basis. Responses were received from 225 school psychologists, for a return rate of 58%. These responses were compared to their previous responses in 181-82 and revealed a significant increase in both the actual amount of time spent in consultation and the amount of time desired for consultation. School psychologist to student ratio was significantly lower, as was overall satisfaction with the profession, compared to the 1981-82 results. Sex differences were found for perceived competency in teacher consultation. The results and their implications for the field of school psychology are discussed.