The Region 4 collaborative virtual reference project

In May 2002, the Denison Memorial Library at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and the J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library at the University of Missouri-Columbia, with funding from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine-Midcontinental Region, embarked on a collaborative, real-time reference project using the 24/7 Reference, Inc., software package. This paper describes how the project was conceived, and includes details on the service hours, staffing, training, marketing, lessons learned, and future plans for the service.     

Historical research as a foundation for teaching applied issues in publishing

Historical research benefits students of publishing in three ways. First, it provides an accurate account of what happened in the past. Second, by setting contemporary issues in a historical context, it helps identify trends. Finally, it encourages curiosity and learning about one’s cultural and intellectual heritage. Parker provides examples of research that serve these purposes. George L. Parker is professor and head of the Department of English and Philosophy at the Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario. He teaches Canadian and American literature, has coedited an anthology,The Evolution of Canadian Literature in English: Beginnings to 1970, has contributed to theDictionary of Canadian Biography, and has publishedThe Beginnings of The Book Trade in Canada (1985).     

Use of machine-readable databases to support a large SDI service

The current awareness [or selective dissemination of information (SDI)] services of AT&T Bell Laboratories are described. Several bulletins announcing over 80,000 externally published items/year are issued at regular intervals and sent to about 6100 subscribers. Production is done by the BELLPAR (Bell Laboratories Publication, Alerting, and Retrieval) system, which processes four commercial machine-readable databases and prepares camera-ready bulletin copy. A photocopy service processing some 10,000 requests/month provides document delivery for items announced in the bulletins. Subscribers may order photocopies electronically if they wish. A “captive” journal collection supports the copying operation; non-journal articles, such as conference proceedings and technical reports, are ordered from external suppliers. Improvements in the SDI service include electronic bulletins, more focused bulletins and additional databases as input.     

Curricular innovation in an undergraduate medical program: What is “appropriate” assessment?

In post-secondary education, there is a widely-held belief in a “gold standard” for evaluative studies of curricular innovations. In this context, “appropriate” assessment is understood to refer to experimental designs and statistically significant differences in group outcomes. Yet in our evaluative study of a medical undergraduate program, we did not find these concepts to be particularly applicable. Based on our experience, we now feel that it is appropriate to assemble an eclectic mix of scientific findings, show how they have been used for program improvement, and articulate the program’s theoretical rationale and social significance. In the absence of statistically significant differences, this comprehensive argument can be used to justify the deployment of curricular innovations. The same may be true of other educational programs that target hard-to-measure changes in affective domains.     

Enabling integrated knowledge acquisition and management in health care teams

Basing treatment, policy and planning decisions on the best available research knowledge remains a central principle in modern health care around the world, yet many health professionals find acquiring and managing published research knowledge challenging. In this paper, we report on a Soft Systems Methodology-based collaborative action research initiative with a specialist mental health service from the United Kingdom's National Health Service. Our objective was to design and implement improvements to their knowledge acquisition and management activities in order to facilitate sustained and effective evidence-based practices. We report on both the factors found to impede effective research knowledge acquisition and management and the development of more integrated knowledge management processes designed to improve the situation.