Keeping Up with Trends in Your Library: Simple and Speedy Ways to Assess Users’ Needs

Objective: To find simple, fast, and easy ways to assess library users’ needs and to get real-time responses in order to shorten the interval between deploying surveys, gathering responses and implementation of solutions. In the past the library employed email surveys to assess user needs but the process was inefficient and ineffective due to low response rates and time spent creating online surveys. Methods: The library team began using paper “micro-assessments” to understand users’ needs. Short paper surveys of no more than five questions, were deployed at three different times throughout the academic year: (1) Medical students were handed surveys during one of the library’s weekly events about their use of library-issued iPads; (2) Surveys were left on each study space in the library quiet room over the course of one week asking about students’ opinions on food being allowed in the library quiet room; (3) Faculty were handed surveys during departmental meetings to assess their interest in scholarly publishing topics. Completed surveys were collected and results were tabulated the same day. Results: Results of the student iPad micro-assessment helped librarians understand students’ use of library-issued iPads. Feedback from the second student survey informed policy decisions in regards to allowing food in the library quiet room. Finally, results of the faculty micro-assessments led to the development of short presentations on scholarly communication topics, delivered by librarians during faculty departmental meetings, as well as one-on-one EndNote training sessions and a Getting Published Workshop

Themes in Health Sciences Librarianship Literature, 2016-2020: A Keyword and Subject Analysis

Previous investigations into trends in Library and Information Science (LIS) literature have revealed changes in the topics librarians publish on over time, with older studies highlighting classification and indexing, and information retrieval and more recent studies highlighting keywords such as internet, information technology, digital libraries, and again, information retrieval. No similar investigation has been conducted on current publication trends by health sciences librarians. This study analyzes the top themes on which health sciences librarians published from 2016 to 2020 by examining the frequency of keywords. Keywords and subject headings were analyzed from The Journal of the Medical Library Association, Medical References Services Quarterly, The Journal of Hospital Librarianship, and The Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries. A total of 8,806 keywords were downloaded for analysis and organized into 292 categories during taxonomy creation. The ten most frequent themes were: libraries, information, education, humans, demography, librarian, geographical locations, research, electronic resources, and technology. The study also found that data, psychiatry and psychology, informatics, and publishing were other key themes, indicating that health sciences librarians are publishing on a wide range of topics. Some keywords that appeared only once, such as telecommuting and flexible staffing, suggest emerging areas of research for librarians

Review of Pediatric Care Online

This guide to scholarly activities provides early- and mid-career health sciences librarians with a path to immersing in scholarly activities. The four levels walk librarians through increasing stages of scholarship. Early-career librarians will begin at the first level, navigating from discovering mentors and areas of research interest to level two, publishing a resource or book review and finding their first public speaking opportunity. More experienced librarians will find where they are on the path and continue to build their scholarship all the way to conducting and publishing original research and becoming leaders in their field

Finding and Evaluating Journals

Presentation for the UCF Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning (FCTL) Teaching and Learning Days in Spring 2020. How do you decide which journals are the best fit for your research? This workshop will discuss a variety of topics to help you navigate the publishing process including publishing goals and criteria to consider when planning where to submit your work for publication. It will explore how to evaluate a journal to ensure that the journal you are considering is one of quality and rigor within your discipline. We will also discuss open access publishing and how to avoid predatory publishers

Data Set: Themes in Health Sciences Librarianship Literature, 2016-2020: A Keyword and Subject Analysis

Data set for Themes in Health Sciences Librarianship Literature, 2016-2020: A Keyword and Subject Analysis