Long Night Against Procrastination: A Collaborative Take On An International Event

The Long Night Against Procrastination is an international tutoring event created by the writing center at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany in 2010 (“Lange Nacht Der Aufgeschobenen Hausarbeiten”). The inaugural event was established by writing center staff in response to student requests for all-night tutoring support. Where lesser individuals would have chuckled in response to such a request, the writing center at European University Viadrina decided to give it a try. Writing center staff dubbed this event the Long Night Against Procrastination, or rather the Lange Nacht Der Aufgeschobenen Hausarbeiten, in German. This annual event has gained recognition and grown, spreading to writing centers at institutions such as DePaul University, University of Manitoba, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Naturally, the name of the event has been adjusted in response; the event is now Weltweit (or International) Long Night Against Procrastination.University Writing Cente

Assessment of Service Desk Quality at an Academic Health Sciences Library

Due to an identified need for formal assessment, a small team of librarians designed and administered a survey to gauge the quality of customer service at their academic health sciences library. Though results did not drive major changes to services, several important improvements were implemented and a process was established to serve as a foundation for future use. This article details the assessment process used and lessons learned during the project

Courting Apocalypse: Creating a Zombie-Themed Evidence-Based Medicine Game

In 2015, two librarians at the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences at the University of Iowa turned their dreams into a reality and secured funding to build a zombie-themed evidence-based medicine game. The game features a “choose your own adventure” style that takes students through a scenario where a disease outbreak is taking place and a resident is asked to use evidence-based medicine skills to select a screening and diagnostic tool to use on potentially infected patients. Feedback on the game has been positive, and future plans include building additional modules on therapy, harm, and prognosis

Developing an Online Consumer Health Course for Public Library Staff

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Greater Midwest Region (NNLM GMR) received funding to support the evaluation and development of an asynchronous consumer health information course. Requirements of this project included: incorporating recommendations from NNLM instructors, National Library of Medicine staff and public library staff; piloting the revised course with a nationwide cohort; incorporating feedback from the pilot; and delivering a second instance of the revised course. The revised course meets existing requirements for public library certification and for Level 1 certification of the Medical Library Association’s Consumer Health Information Specialization

Creating a Current Awareness Service Using Yahoo! Pipes and LibGuides

Migration from print to electronic journals brought an end to traditional current awareness services, which primarily utilized print routing. The emergence of Real Simple Syndication, or RSS feeds, and email alerting systems provided users with alternative services. To assist users with adopting these technologies, a service utilizing aggregate feeds to the library’s electronic journal content was created and made available through LibGuides. Libraries can resurrect current awareness services using current technologies to increase awareness and usage of library-provided electronic journal content. The current awareness service presented is an example of how libraries can build simple current awareness services utilizing freely accessible technologies

Lightning Presentation: Flex Those Pipes: Create a Current Awareness Service Using Yahoo! Pipes and LibGuides

Web-based tools make the implementation of dynamic current awareness services in our libraries simple and economical. Learn how the Luise V. Hanson Library developed a current awareness service, dubbed Info SOS, that utilizes Yahoo! Pipes and LibGuides to provide aggregate subject-specific feeds to patrons