MONEY - Undergraduate research awards

Not library news, but very good news that I've been asked to share...

The Office of Undergraduate Research is proud to offer the following
funding opportunities to encourage involvement of UNCG undergraduate
students in research and creative activities and to support the
faculty who actively work with the students.

OUR Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Award
It provides up to $3000 award to a student. Deadline January 25, 2013.
Formerly known as URA but application and review process is now a bit
different.
See http://our.uncg.edu/funding/URCA.php for details.


OUR Faculty Minigrants
A pilot program that provides a small amount of funding (up to $2000)
to faculty to work on a research project with undergraduate
student(s). Deadline January 25, 2013.
See http://our.uncg.edu/funding/faculty_minigrants.php for details.


OUR Research Courses Minigrants
A pilot program that provides a small amount of funding (up to $2000)
to the teachers of research intensive courses to enhance the students’
experience. Deadline January 25, 2013.
See http://our.uncg.edu/funding/research_courses_minigrants.php for details.


OUR Travel Fund
A revised program that provides support (up to $500) for UNCG
undergraduate students to present results of their research at
conference. Deadline is rolling. See
http://our.uncg.edu/funding/travel.php for details.

PubMed-based search tools for biomedical research

"PubMed Derivatives," a nice overview of free online search engines based on PubMed. From Lu's 2011 article 

PubMed and beyond: a survey of web tools for searching biomedical literature. Database : the Journal of Biological Databases and Curation

Medical librarian essay - Lactivate your library!

Essays for the NN/LM SeA "Share Your Success" essay contest have been posted!

Directions were to "write about your success in a non-traditional librarian role OR about success in demonstrating library value."

Check out my essay here:

Share Your Success: Lactivate your library! Experiences and outcomes of a non-traditional service

Library workshops - Pinterest, Ebook Basics

Check the the calendar and register for upcoming University Libraries workshops!

Coming up in November:

Pinterest in 30 minutes - Tues 11/6/2012, noon-1 pm, online

Pinterest, one of the newer social media tools, has been gaining in popularity and can be used as a powerful tool in visual learning. It allows you to create visual book, movie and resource lists that can engage students more fully then simple words. This workshop will give you the basics for using pinterst as a planning and teaching tool.

Ebook basics at UNCG - Thurs 11/15/2012, noon-1 pm, online

Join this online session to learn basics of ebooks available at UNCG. This session will show you our guide and demo how to find the hundreds of thousands of e-books at the University Libraries and give you tips on their use.

LibQual - please take the library survey!

For UNCG faculty, students and staff - please take the LibQual survey!

Here's the message from library administration:

As we plan for future of the University Libraries, it is important that we understand the perceptions and expectations of our campus community so that we can provide the services and resources you need.   Recently you received a survey from the Libraries, LibQual+™.    LibQual+™ is a survey developed by the Association of Research Libraries to measure library service quality and identify best practices.  To date, it has been taken by more than one million users at over 1,200 libraries throughout the world.

UNCG participated in LibQual+™ in 2003 and 2008, and the survey results spurred us to make several changes within the libraries.  We extended our hours and increased the number of computers within the libraries.  We have improved our outreach to students, staff, and faculty about our resources and services and more clearly delineated which floors in the Tower are reserved for quiet study.  Your voice was heard and we want to listen again!

By responding to the survey, you will provide essential information for us.  It should take about 10 minutes to complete.  We greatly appreciate your help and thank-you for your participation.

http://www.libqual.org/survey/RWSVDZ62LUL53VCY

When you complete the survey you may choose to submit your name for drawings for:

·         A grand prize of a Kindle Paperwhite
·         One of five $25 Spartan Cards.

librarian-eyes only

Or for anyone who wants to find out what medical librarians get up to when they travel... Snippets from the  MAC MLA Quad Chapter Meeting 10/2012

ECU librarians are a musical bunch. There was a great rendition of "Here Comes the Sun" before the keynote.

Souzan Hawaly-Druy on cultural competence

keynote touched on generational, ethnic, geographic cultural differences

stop asking "what's wrong with this person who..." (talks too loud, stands too close, etc.) ask "what part of my culture has a problem w/this?"

use sandwich communication technique to honestly communicate something that needs resolution not just add'l understanding

"the difficulty is not in new ideas but in escaping from the old ones" - John Maynard

Big Data plus some ideas that Google would like to promote 

Presentation by Jon Orwant, Research Manager for Google. Awful pic but fun presentation. They always send great speakers to conferences.

Big data = trendoid term for "so much data, it needs special handling due to the size."  obviously this changes over time.

example: mobile phone app that would use gyrometer to detect a bump when driving over a pothole. imagine consolidated data based on thousands of phones in a community running this app

Artificial intelligence definition "whatever hasn't been done yet"

Google translate - free app for iphone and android. looking forward to playing w/this one :)

Google books
-OCR challenges
-Orwant programs help determine copyright status. life + x is a rule of thumb, actuarial table data used.
- the authors guild lawsuit - "i was the only person who was a defendant and a plaintiff" LOL, recent authors guild lawsuit against the Hathi Trust
-Google for content analysis, ie use of United States as a plural noun declined after Civil War and Reconstruction

Google suggestions, reminders for medical librarians
-Google: "please tell people about the "site" operator" = warm fuzzy for me! got props from recent public health class on this one :)
-Google: yes there is a proximity operator:AROUND. it must be capitalized
-Google: symptom search - descriptons from Google and from searchengineland
-Google: pharmaceutical info - a little info is provided about the source of drug info) and much info is pulled from the NIH

-eulerian magnification interesting potential applications: amplification of video images that show pulse, use video rather than more invasive techniques for measuring vitals?

-Personalized medicine - get part of your genome analyzed
-the measured man

-CDC Public Health Grand rounds
-TED talk by Thomas Goetz: it's time to redesign medical data, "better health is not a science problem, it's an information problem"

Some interesting papers and posters

Determining Allied Health Core Journals: A Preliminary Study - provided by Robert Britton, Judy Burnham, and Jie Li of the Biomedical Library at University of South Alabama.

SO USEFUL!  A much more thorough review than I usually have time to perform.  Audiology and SLP, Dietician and Nutritionist, Occupational Therapy, PT, and other fields. Nice methodology.  It sounds like they're planning to expand each review and make them publicly available in future.  Yes, please!

Taneya Koonce of Vanderbilt Univ Medical Center presented on a cool research project Engaging patients through health literacy

• Gave emergency dept patients health information on hypertension
• experiment one took health literacy assessments completed S-TOFHLA - got health info tailored to their health literacy level
• experiment two took VARK learning style inventory and brief version of S-TOFHLA - got health info tailored to their health lit level AND learning style - visual handout or audio recording + 1-800 number or cue cards to rearrange (w/magnets to be put on fridge)
• control groups got standard health info
• at follow up, experiment two intervention group answered twice as many questions correctly as the control group

Health literacy also considered in presentation of genetic screening results to patients through the My Health at Vanderbilt portal.

Feili Tu-Keefner, USC on Twitter, scholarly communication, and evidence-based health information access: How major medical journals have been using social media for information dissemination.

Counted, categorized tweets by several major medical journals from May-Aug 2012 (ow her poor R.A. probably has info overload!): @bmj_latest, @jama_current, @TheLancet, and @NEJM

publisher policies not publicly posted but they're actively using Twitter for SDI and PR

NEJM provided highest percentage of tweets w/links to original research articles (vs. announcements and other content)

many tweets by all pubrs led to unavailable/protected content that would have been available via IP authentication on campus of the researcher - libraries need to figure out how to bridge this gap

Fritz Dement lovely job of presenting a group project at NYU: Crowdsourcing as a tool for rapid library data cleanup

As RML resource library, supposed to maintain current list of print and online journal holdings with DOCLINE

Heavy weeding and other projects in brief timeframe killed this goal; mess for ILL lending librarians

Library IT put together a framed web page that included: SERHOLD interface for updating holdings in DOCLINE, also widget with serials linking system, and widget to db of serials needing updates

22 people  mostly access services depts across three libraries were asked to have at it; try to update at least 20 records per day, if it's problematic escalate

Over 5.000 serials records updated in a few weeks during late summer.

Ask-A-Nurse service - In the library, same hour each week, for students. How cool is that?

Rick Wallace,  Nakia Woodward, and Katherine Wolf presented the poster Tennessee Health Sciences Library Association: Connections and disconnections over time - a content analysis.

Interesting history of the profession.  And a great group of librarians :)







Secure online repository for curricula and other mateials for public health/librarian outreach projects: http://guides.nnlm.gov/chollaboration - needs content, librarians contact Terri Ottosen tottosen@hshsl.umaryland or Nancy Patterson npatters@hshsl.umaryland.edu

Conference trip! Back Weds 10/17

I"m heading out to catch up on health science library developments at the MLA Quad Chapter Meeting in Baltimore.

I'll be back in the office Weds 10/17, mid-morning since I'm giving a lecture that night.

My out of office messages have these details but just fyi - if you need immediate assistance while I'm out, contact Ask Us online or by phone (336-334-5419).

PubMed links to UNCG e-journal subscriptions

PubMed can now link to full text articles at UNCG. Yes, even off-campus. Three cheers for the new e-journal linking system!

Here's a preview of what you need to do:

1. In your free MyNCBI account (PubMed), set your Outside Tool to UNCG
2. When you search PubMed, sign into your MyNCBI account.
3. In PubMed results, near the abstract, follow the UNCG symbol into the A to Z e-journals list

Here is more detail:

Set Up

1. Sign into your My NCBI account (or create your account if you have not done so). This is your own account with NCBI, not related to the library (yet!).

2. Go to the Site Preferences area.

3. Go to "Outside Tools" set UNCG as your library and save this setting.

Search

1. Start your search from a PubMed link from the UNCG library site.

2. Type a search

3. UNCG links are located near the abstracts of results.  To see the UNCG symbol in your list of results, set the Display Settings link to Abstract.

4. Click on the UNCG symbol to go into the UNCG A to Z e-journals list.

5. If there is a "full text" link in the A to Z e-journals list, follow it directly into the online article OR into the entire journal (where you might need to click a few times to navigate to your article).

6. If there is a message "online resource not found," you can use the Interlibrary Loan link to ask ILL staff to find the pdf from another library.  Log in with your UNCG computer account info (same as blackboard).  The publication info in the request will already be filled in.

More robust help documentation on this will be forthcoming when library instruction, consults, and other immediate beginning and middle of semester library business allows.

Digital Media Commons Open House Tues Sept 18 4-5.30 pm

The University Libraries are excited to announce that on August 20, the Digital Media Commons (DMC) opens in the lower level of Jackson Library. This is a great new resource for your students as they take on multimedia projects.

What is the DMC?
The DMC supports the use and creation of multimedia in education, scholarship, and creative expression. We provide hands-on assistance, consult with patrons on digital projects, and offer access to the essential tools for creating digital resources such as web pages, digital images, digital video, digital audio, PowerPoint presentations, and more.

Who staffs the DMC?
The DMC will provide expert staff from the University Libraries, digital literacy consultants from the Undergraduate Studies' Multilteracy Centers Program, and graduate assistants from the Media Studies and Library and Information Sciences departments.

To learn more about the DMC and the tools and services we offer, please visit our website. We also invite you to a special Open House on Tuesday, September 18, from 4-5:30 pm, to meet our staff and see our space. 

Who should come to the Digital Media Commons Open House? 
UNCG faculty and students looking for hardware, software, spaces, or assistance in creating media projects.

Library workshops - e-book basics, streaming films, etc.

Check out the roster of upcoming online workshops from the library: streaming films from the library, pinterest, Google for research, Pinterest, and e-book basics.

Also, librarians teach in person EndNote Web workshops that are usually listed with other Graduate School workshops.

buh-bye Medline (Ebsco), hello Medline (PubMed)

Most of you who have had the library talk on Medline have been shown Medline/PubMed through the free site provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

For a few years, we've ALSO had access to Medline through the Ebscohost search engine.  It was a freebie that came with a subscription that has recently been canceled (EDS, the search system that USED to be under the red search box on the library home page, before we started moving to the new catalog search).

Our access to Medline through Ebscohost has now expired.  Alternatives?

If you're addicted to searching medical and health science content using the Ebsco search engine, try the health articles quick search from Ebsco.  It still searches through CINAHL, PsycInfo, PsycArticles, and Health Source.  The first results screen is limited to results with full text, but that option can be unchecked to see more results.

If you're hard-core Medline and want to stick to that source, keep using Medline with PubMed from the NLM.

New catalog and new ejournals system

The new catalog is here!

It's linked under the red search box on the library home page.

• It shows books, e-books, and DVDs at our library and at 70,000 other libraries
• It searches some of the articles available from the library (from the All tab or the Articles tab)
• It has an "A to Z"  ejournals list - the equivalent of Journal Finder except that print journals are not yet available there

This Tips page has more introduction.

On the library home page, you can still choose "library catalog" then "old search" to use the old catalog.  And you can still choose "Journal Finder" to use Journal Finder.  We'll have the old catalog and Journal Finder until 2013.

More lactation room(s!!) on campus in fall 2012

This fall, a number of nursing mothers rooms (lactation rooms) are being added on the main UNCG campus.

Summary of lactation spaces that will be available starting this fall:

• McIver Nursing Mother's Room, Room 341 - Private permanent room.  No reservation system, unmediated access (show up, lock the door behind you). Contact Maggie Chrismon at 334-3502 or email at mgchrism@uncg.edu
• Bryan Nursing Mother's Room, Room 344G - Private permanent room. No reservation system, unmediated access (show up, lock the door behind you). Contact Paige Hall Smith atphsmith@uncg.edu
• Jackson Library Nursing Mother's Room, Jackson Tower 570 - Private permanent room, available on first-come first served basis during library operating hours. See Check Out Desk for room key. Contact Ann Perdue at ahperdue@uncg.edu or Lea Leininger at laleinin@uncg.edu.
• Health and Human Performance Nursing Mother's Room, Room 126 Center for Women's Health and Wellness - Flex space (a private, safe, and clean space can be provided upon request). Contact Paige Hall Smith at phsmith@uncg.edu
• Gove Building Nursing Mother's Room-  Flex space (a private, safe, and clean space can be provided upon request). Contact Jeanne Irwin-Olson at jrirwino@uncg.edu.

Digital Media Commons coming to Jackson Library

Need to create a brochure, a PowerPoint presentation, a podcast, brief video, or other digital media?  Looking for help, hardware, software, or a recording space?

The Digital Media Commons will be answering that call starting on August 20, 2012!

It will be located in Jackson Library basement.  Primarily for UNCG students but also open to UNCG faculty and staff.

Want to learn more? There will be an open house on Tuesday September 18, 2012, from 4-5:30 p.m.

Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time

Again not library news, but a very timely article.

If you feel like you've already been practicing classic time management techniques (prioritizing, to-do lists, etc) and are looking for something beyond that...give this article a try:

Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time. Tony Schwartz, Harvard Business Review 85 (10), Jan 1, 2007.

Premise = time is very limited

But energy can be intentionally and systematically renewed

Adopt practices and develop rituals in several domains

• physical energy - encourage sleep (set earlier bedtime, etc.), regular breaks from desk to accomodate "ultradian rhythm"
• emotional energy - deep breathing to derail fight/flight, increase positivity through regularly scheduled appreciation, shift self talk away from victim role by using new lenses to interpret situations (in which ways is the other person correct?)
• mental energy-multitasking reduces productivity due to time spent switching back and forth between tasks, while finishing work for the day identify the most challenging task for the following day then the next morning start with that task
• spiritual energy - schedule time regularly for "sweet spot" activities (=feelings of "effectiveness, effortless absorption"), live your core values (treat others as you'd like to be treated)

Making a quick start on my own energy management, I'd like to send a big thanks to the UL Staff Development Committee, especially Sean who has been rocking the devpt activities, for this brown bag session!

Evaluating (health) information and engaging students

This morning I met with Jane Harris, an instructional technology consultant with the School of HHP who is beyond cool. We started planning a workshop about evaluating online health information.

Before our meeting, Jane sent me a link to a Digital Literacy session (non-health related) that she presented for the Sloan-C Blended Learning Conference.  Wow. Just wow.  I sent Jane a link to Evaluating Internet Health Information from the National Library of Medicine. It's a very helpful tutorial and my main go-to source for this topic.

The meeting opened with the suggestion that we provide a session with minimal lecture and keep the students "doing and sharing out" because "lectures are so 19th and 20th century." 

Jane had great ideas for providing information to students beforehand, leading and recording discussion, etc. 

I am getting really pumped about meeting new students next week at orientations, then during in-class visits.  But I gotta say, I'm especially excited about this session.

Digital Media Commons coming in August!

A new Digital Media Commons is scheduled to open in the Jackson Library basement on Monday August 20th.

It's intended to provide UNCG students with a technology-rich work space for designing, editing, and producing multimedia, from posters and PowerPoint to podcasts and video shorts. Consultations and assistance will be available in addition to presentation practice rooms and individual recording rooms both reservable online. Equipment will include touch screen flat-bed scanners, Windows workstations, and Adobe Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Firewords, Flash, and InDesign.  Faculty and staff will also be welcome to use the services and facilities.


The website should have more details soon.

Texas, here I come!

I'll be on vacation from Thurs 7/12 - Mon 7/23.

 

Down the blue road by jmtimages, April 15, 2007. Creative Commons License.

I expect to see lots of Texas highway in the  next week and a half. No bluebonnets this time of year, but plenty of skyline!

By the way, if anyone needs library help while I'm out of the office, use the AskUs help desk, phone, and chat service.

New Interface for ProQuest Congressional

ProQuest Congressional (used to be LexisNexis Congressional) recently got a facelift.

I've watched a couple of the introductory videos. Very nice!  But they don't answer some of my basic questions.  For instance "Where's the 'search bill full text by topic' been put?"  This is one of the main needs among NUR 620 students, of which there are several sections each semester.

Since there are other improvements that might help these folks, I'm going to attend a webinar.  Oh, yay.

Worst case scenario?  I point my folks to free bill searching at the Library of Congress Thomas site and leave our fancy-pants PQC subscription to the political science librarian, faculty, and students.

PubMed difficulties-use Ebsco alternatives

PubMed and other NLM databases are running slowly and/or giving error messages.  Apparently a derecho storm hit the National Library of Medicine data center.

No estimate on when PubMed will be back up to speed.  In the meantime, here are some alternatives:

• The health care article quick search - Ebsco widget that searches through Medline (the biggest part of PubMed), CINAHL, Health Source, PsycInfo, and PsycArticles. Linked on welcome page for nursing libguide and other libguides.
• Medline from Ebscohost, if you really want to stick as close as possible to PubMed content and subject headings. Linked in the databases list.

Here's the message that came through a medical librarian listserv:

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Data Center is experiencing
difficulties due to the intense storm that hit the Washington, DC and
other local areas Friday night and may be temporarily unable to provide
full access to NLM databases and Web sites.  NLM staff are working to
resolve the issue as quickly as possible and appreciate your patience.

The storm, called a derecho, knocked out power to most of Montgomery
County, MD, where NLM is located.

For more information on derechos, see
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/derechofacts.htm.

Thanks,
Lea

Help page for the new catalog

Our doughty IT and tech services folk are still configuring the full WorldCat Local catalog.

But it's important to have some help documentation on hand. If nothing else it's prep for training workshops!

So a couple of us are looking at existing help guides and working on things for our own library. Our working group includes the DE librarian (aka tutorial maker extraordinaire), a director of marketing and outreach (sounds exalted but she's nice and very approachable), and the systems librarian (our catalog guy).  We've got access to a librarian who has been working reference at High Point University Libraries.  Would be nice to pull her into the working group, too.

Here are the WorldCat Local help pages that I liked best from other institutions:

• Tips, Tools, and Tutorials, Pepperdine University Libraries - so brief, so pithy. LOVE! IT!
• About WorldCat Local, University of Arizona Libraries - very descriptive, more detail, but still very readable.
• WorldCat Local Features, OCLC - this is a sales pitch written to librarians, but I like the mix of text and screenshots.

Speaking of training...we've got our  first year instruction coordinator planning some workshops. Yay!! I think that she's the most prolific presenter in our library (one year she taught 173 library instruction workshops).  I think we're going to start with sandbox sessions for library personnel before the rollout, then move out to other groups on campus.

Benchmarking for DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice)

I recently received a request to report on library support for a potential new Doctor of Nursing Practice program with nurse anesthesia and adult/gerontology nurse practitioner tracks. 

Apparently there are a number of NC schools seeking to offer a DNP program (see News & Record story).  That makes sense, given the AACN position on moving the terminal degree for advance nursing practice from master's level up to a doctorate.

Of course, we're interested in comparing our library stuff to the stuff at libraries already supporting this kind of program.  I started with the established DNP programs suggested by the faculty member - Duke University, University of Maryland, etc.

Now, I know that our library resources are great.  And value for dollars spent on databases, journals, etc.? A-MAZING.  (One of our administrators is currently organizing a cost/use analysis requested by UNC General Administration for our library PLUS other libraries in one of our consortia.  b/c he kicks a** at that stuff).

But I'm getting a serious case of library envy when comparing our collection and human resources to schools that charge upwards of $43,000/year.

Since I have some time, I'd rather start at the other end - benchmark nursing resources at libraries similar to ours.  Get that kick-a** feeling back before checking out the heavy hitters.

Library closed, campus computing + phones DOWN on Sat 6/23

On Saturday 6/23/12, ITS is shutting down ALL computing services

From 5 am "until the  evening."   Phones will be down, too.

Creative Commons licensed photo by chrisfreeland2002 (2008)

This is in order to "upgrade campus network switches."

This means

• Blackboard, AD/GCN computer access, wireless computing network, virtual computing lab, or etc.
• no online library resources available that day

The library will be closed Sat June 23d

Jackson Library will be open again for usual Sunday hours 1 - 10 pm on the next day. 

Official email from ITS:

All campus services hosted in the UNCG Data Center, including the major services below, will be unavailable on Saturday, June 23, 6 AM to 12 Noon, due to a network center upgrade.

Impacted services: = DON'T EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO USE THESE ON SAT 6/23

• UNCG-provided telephone services
• Blackboard
• Banner/Genie
• UNCG websites (e.g., www.uncg.edu and web.uncg.edu)
• Virtual.uncg.edu virtual desktop service
• Campus wireless network
• Internet web browsing (from on campus)
• UNCG account authentication - THIS BULLET OR THE PREVIOUS ONE ARE REQUIRED FOR ACCESSING LIBRARY SUBSCRIPTIONS
• Access to General Computing Network services including network file space and network printing
• Ability to run network software managed by UNCG license servers

Notes:

• You will still be able to log in and access iSpartan Email (powered by Google) during this planned downtime. 
• The Superlab and Jackson Library will be closed on June 23rd. 
• Non-ITS server administrators should verify that any system(s) hosted in the Data Center are tested after the upgrade is complete. 

If you have questions or need more information, please contact 6-TECH at (336) 256-TECH (8324) or 6tech@uncg.edu.

New library catalog coming soon!

We're getting a new catalog this upcoming academic year.  It will be in the cloud. So not at all like this:

Creative Commons licensed photo from dfulmer (2010)

Moving towards the cloud...
You might already be familiar with the new catalog. Right now, when you click on our catalog, you see something called "UNC Library Express"

This is a version of OCLC's WorldCat Local, called quick start. We're currently transitioning to the more robust version. The new version should be ready this July (2012). You'll still be able to use our old catalog for awhile. I've been told it'll be still be available at least through fall 2012 and likely into spring 2013.

But starting this summer, the WorldCat search will be much more prominent on our library pages than the old catalog search.

Here's what a WorldCat Local search looks like:

I'm sure the roll out will come with official messages since a new catalog is a big deal in libraryland.


Public-facing improvements with WorldCat Local

• Search books, e-books, and videos in our library AND in other OCLC libraries.  Greensboro, TALA (academic libraries in the Triad), other libraries in the UNC system, and the world  - already active!
• Links into e-books and online articles - coming soon!
• Easier InterLibrary Loan - "Request item" links fill in the request for you - already active!
• Share - post records to Facebook and other social media sites - already active!
• Lists - create your own book lists to share (or not) - already active!

To name just a few. 

There are some cool new features. But every catalog is different. I'm one of the old-school types who will miss call number searching.  So I'm glad that a) OCLC is constantly developing WorldCat and b) we'll have our old catalog for awhile.


Big changes on the back end...
WorldCat Local is an online search hosted by OCLC. It relies on catalog records stored by libraries locally on their own servers.

WorldShare Management uses the same search interface as WorldCat Local, but it really goes into the cloud.  Libraries no longer store catalog records on their own servers (or do lots of other behind the scenes ILS work locally).  It's web-based. This is the goal we're aiming for by the end of academic year 2012-2013.

Want more info?

• WorldCat Local Features
• Support for WorldCat Local
• Discovery through WorldCat Local: An in-depth demonstration - webinar recording, requires a name and email to view

FYI, these are librarian and library staff resources.

Disclaimer
Info is based on notes from an OCLC site visit, multiple webinars and in-person meetings, a fair amount of online searching, and of course the expertise of our systems librarian and many others who work hard providing the resources that I rely upon as a public services librarian.

This post reflects my own PoV only.

Dates mentioned here are based on the info currently available to me and they are subject to change.

Digital Media help coming to Jackson Library Fall 2012

Hi all, please enjoy this announcement on digital media services...

This Fall, the Digital Media Commons will open its doors in the lower level [=basement] of Jackson Library. As you know, UNCG students are increasingly required to create and use digital media to complete their assignments. Twenty-first century graduates must now possess media literacy skills in order to critically analyze media, and to create and convey their own ideas and messages in today's emerging mediums.  The Digital Media Commons (DMC) will be a new space on campus where UNCG students, faculty, and staff can get help with all aspects of creating and refining their multimedia projects.

The DMC will be jointly operated by staff and students from the Libraries, UNCG Writing Center, and UNCG Speaking Center, and with assistance from Graduate Assistants from the Media Studies Program and School of Library and Information Science.

The Commons will contain lots of group work areas, workstations, media editing rooms, scanners, consultation spaces, a presentation practice room, and staff offices. Patrons will come to the Commons to get assistance with selecting, using, and citing media resources, as well as consult experts on the rhetorical, aesthetic, and technical aspects of developing and communicating their ideas through media.

The Digital Media Commons site is currently under construction in the lower level of Jackson Library, with plans to begin providing services when the Fall 2012 semester begins in mid-August. News of the construction and services will be updated periodically on the DMC webpage, http://library.uncg.edu/spaces/DMC/.

The Digital Media Commons page has this additional information: Please send your questions, comments, and suggestions to: Joe Williams, Head of Access Services, University Libraries

Pitfalls of interpreting diagnostic codes (ICD-9-CM)

In his podcast Diagnostic Codes & Misleading Clinical Assumptions, the director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine summarizes a recent JAMA article and editorial on the pitfalls of interpreting hospital data such as ICD-9-CM codes.

Good brief intro to diagnostic codes and implications for health care research.  Especially for those of us who don't deal with this kind data on a regular basis!
 
Read the transcript. Or check out the other NLM Director's Comment podcasts.

Student lockers and grad study carrels going fast!

Yes, Jackson Library offers student lockers and grad student/faculty carrels (those partitioned desks).

No charge!  You check them out just like a book when you visit the Check Out desk, for a semester. If you're around this summer, come by asap.  Not many lockers left for the fall!

More details: http://library.uncg.edu/spaces/carrels_and_lockers.aspx

Questions? Ask Access Services (the Check Out Desk folks): 336.334.5304

Who Ordered That? The Economics of Treatment Choices in Medical Care

Came across this interesting chapter while prepping for one of my workshops next week -

In the United States, two patients with the same medical condition can receive drastically different treatments. In addition, the same patient can walk into two physicians’ offices and receive equally disparate treatments. This chapter attempts to understand why. It focuses on three areas: the patient, the physician, and the clinical situation. Specifically, the chapter surveys patient or demand-side factors such as price, income, and preferences; physician or supply-side factors such as specialization, financial incentives, and professionalism; and situational factors including behavioral influences and systems-level factors that play a role in clinical decision making. This chapter reviews theory and evidence, borrowing heavily from the clinical literature.

From Chandra, Song & Cutler, 2011, Handbook of Health Economics, Vol. 2, pp. 397-432. From Science Direct  (=no concurrent user limit at our institution!).

Road Trip!

On Tuesday 5/22 I'm headed to Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory.  To introduce nursing students to searching for court cases and articles.

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Time to update the NUR 620 library guide and handout!

The session on Thursday 5/24 won't take me out of the office quite as much.  Mid-afternoon I'm headed to the Triad Center here in Greensboro to introduce nursing students to some sources for cultural information, esp. health and health care related.

No participant computers at either location, which is a bummer.  So I need to think about ways to translate hands-on sessions to lecture + discussion.

Reviews, reviews, reviews. And goals.

This is peer review time in our unit so I've been reading annual reports and submitting reviews. Plus of course there are tenure reviews and post-tenure reviews for the PE&T committee. Those are high stakes.

It is nice to read about the good work that folks have been doing.

And timely since I need to set my own goals for the upcoming year.  I know about some of the projects coming my way. That helps. In general I try to structure my goals around the general expectations for my job -

1. General/interdisciplinary reference and information service
2. Liaison (subject) librarian and collection development - 6 schools, depts, and programs plus interdisciplinary
3. Library instruction - mostly in my liaison areas but starting this year I'll be one of the folks officially taking a turn helping out with freshman/first year instruction, yay!
4. Scholarly, research, creative activities
5. Service
6. Professional development and continuing education

I aim for S.M.A.R.T. goals from as many of these categories as possible.

Farmer's Market Coming to UNCG in July!

The good folks at HealthyUNCG are organizing a Farmer's Market on campus. This isn't library news, but...yay!!

When? starting July 12, Thursdays 11 am-1 pm
Where? Weatherspoon parking lot

View Larger Map

And yes, they're talking to Carl the Tomato Man to include him :)

UNCG/WFU Liaison Brainstorming

What's the deal?

There's been a lot of talk about services and priorities at my library in the past few years.  When the academic programs were reviewed, library services and resources were reviewed too.  Some activities were discontinued and some personnel were reassigned.

Right now there's a group looking at liaison librarian roles. I'm pretty interested in the outcome, since much of what I do is liaison work.

Who are the liaisons?

Most of our liaisons are reference librarians. Their primary jobs have something to do with instruction, research assistance, and collection development.  But we have liaisons from other library departments (IT, Administration). Also at several administrative levels (department head to associate dean). 

Liaisons used to be assigned to academic departments. These assignments have been growing with the addition of new academic programs and the expansion of liaison assignments to living and learning communities, student groups, research centers, etc.  Meanwhile liaisons have also been picking up additional responsibilities within their subject areas - a few of the librarians co-teach for credit courses or embed themselves (play an ongoing, active role) into courses, other librarians are heavy into library guide and tutorial creation, etc.


So let's talk
Steve Cramer, Business Librarian Extraordinaire, called together liaisons from Z. Smith Reynolds Library (Wake Forest University) and from UNCG. We discussed roles, strengths and weaknesses of our liaison systems, plus ways to improve them.

Roles
What are some of the things that we're doing at both institutions?

Strengths and weaknesses
What's working well?  What could be improved?

Strengths of a liaison system drawing from various library depts and administrative levels, with assignments across campus departments and other groups

• Wide coverage of campus for library matters
• Library goodwill - people like learning that you are "their" librarian!
• More viewpoints and strengths from each library area/level available directly to patrons
• Self-agency - flexibility in allowing personnel to focus on subject areas or job functions in which they excel

Weaknesses

• Increased difficulty for administration, training, reporting, assessment of liaison activities
• Growing demand - not sustainable to keep expanding services and activities indefinitely
• Difficulty in finding or keeping a good match between assignments and librarians

Solutions
Ideas for stretching finite resources to meet growing demand.

1. Hire additional liaisons - that one got a big laugh
2. Review and reallocate liaison assignments based on academic department size and need.  
3. Spread liaison work around. Perhaps share liaison tasks with library personnel who have a strong academic background in a subject area? Or let library science student workers loose on tech type stuff?
4. Specialization vs. generalization of liaison work - Perhaps allowing librarians to specialize in job function might save time, effort, duplication? Teaching liaisons (all in reference/outreach dept?) vs. collection liaisons.
5. Reduce time-intensive work:
• Increase approval plan and support additional demand driven/patron driven book selections.
• Rely more on tutorials in library instruction, e.g. assign basic skills tutorials as priming before library talks.

PubMed filters to replace limits page

PubMed will replace the Limits page with sidebar filters.  "Coming soon." Preview available from  the NLM Technical Bulletin.

PubMed citation manager update

The Send to command now has a "citation manager" option, so one less click is involved in saving results to a ctation manager.  Most of the process is still the same for EndNote Web.

1. Open a web page to PubMed and start a search
2. Next to each citation of interest, check the box
3. Click “Send to Citation Manager” then "Create File"
4. A file called citations.nbib will be created for you to save onto your computer.

1. Log into your own EndNote Web account
2. “Collect tab” then “Import References"
3. “Browse” to select your file, then set the filter to “PubMed (NLM)” then send your references to the “Unfiled” Group (folder)