Research Questions: What are the predominant views of hospital administrators concerning library services that are provided in their institutions? How do they view the role of the librarian? How do they make decisions about what services to provide and how to fund them? What are the predominant views of health sciences librarians concerning the value that is placed on their libraries?

Methods: In 2008, a study was conducted to determine the value of hospital libraries in the New England region. Solicitations for regional participants occurred during May. Twenty-one participants volunteered, constituting equal distribution, both in location (per state) and size (licensed beds). Participants were mailed packets containing a list of scripted questions to pose to hospital administrators, along with interview tips. From June through August, participants conducted interviews with key hospital administrators from their institutions. In October, participants were invited to one of two focus groups to discuss their interview experience with other librarians who participated in the study. Qualitative analysis of compiled data from the focus groups yielded a list of common themes. Results were shared in a report, and a presentation was delivered at the annual meeting of one of the region’s state health sciences library organizations, in April, 2009.

Results: Both groups of librarians participating in the focus groups saw value participating in the study, although the tone of the two groups was somewhat different. The first focus group could be characterized: positive, upbeat, quick paced, and most of the librarians knew their interviewees. This may also have inserted some bias into the mix. On the other hand, the second focus group could be characterized: disappointed, not very positive, and most of the librarians did not know their interviewees.

Conclusions: Six common themes were identified from the focus groups: (1) what people say about the library does influence the administrators responsible for the funding; (2) administrators saw there was a value in librarians serving on committees; (3) the library has value in terms of education, but not in administrator decision making; (4) administrators have difficulty measuring the value of the library beyond numbers; and (5) statistics do matter.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, May 23, 2010.

In the summer of 2009, the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School applied for and was awarded funding from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, New England Region (NN/LM NER), to begin the construction of an e-science educational web portal specifically for librarians.

The e-science web portal team's first task was to assess the region's health sciences and science and technology librarians and their e-science needs and learner preferences in order to help guide and inform the construction of the portal. The objectives of this assessment were threefold. The first was to establish that there was indeed a need for an e-science portal for librarians. The second was to examine what types of e-science and data services were being undertaken by these librarians and their libraries in New England. The third was to identify the background of the region's health sciences and science and technology librarians as well as their educational needs and Web 2.0 tool preferences in order to develop the scope and transmission mechanism of online educational materials concerning e-science.

Using feedback from librarian interviews from attendees of an e-science symposium and boot-camp, we researched and developed questions to survey learner needs.

The results of the survey clearly show that a small, but significant number of New England libraries serving the health sciences are currently engaged in e-science activities within their institutions or with other institutions and that a larger group of health sciences and science and technology librarians see potential for e-science collaborations in the future. These results, from a sizeable representative sample of respondents, clearly establish that an e-science web portal specifically for librarians is both wanted and needed by New England's library community. These results also show a regional demand for a portal centralizing e-science and data services tools and scientific content tutorials to serve patrons in basic as well as emerging information technology and data-intensive scientific disciplines. Moreover, the results present a community that is comfortable utilizing a variety of educational Web 2.0 tools for its self-guided learning and that is interested in future continuing education and professional development opportunities focusing on e-science.

Objective: With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the University of Massachusetts Medical School Library and Worcester Polytechnic Institute Library collaborated on a plan to expand the scope of science library practices and promote, among medical and graduate/undergraduate science students, the preservation of scientific data in relevant repositories/archives. This poster identifies user requirements and interface design elements for a system that can host student research data; outlines curriculum frameworks and learning needs for research data management instruction that can be delivered through a variety of methods; and presents a communication plan to inform others about the curriculum planning process and results.
 
Methods:  A steering committee and education board with representatives from each campus provided input into the new curriculum. Outside consultants also collected data from students at both schools via interviews, reviewed literature and course materials relevant to existing data management curricula, translated the findings into learning modules, and evaluated the planning process. Faculty with students doing research for capstone projects at both institutions will pilot the new curriculum in the spring of 2011. Student feedback will be recorded through pre- and post-testing and used to revise the curriculum prior to full scale implementation.

Results: The curriculum focuses in nine areas: the data life cycle, data sharing requirements, naming conventions, metadata, storage, data ownership, security, privacy, and long-term access.  Learning objectives were identified for each focus area and modified for the appropriate audience (undergraduate, graduate). Course content has been revised to be delivered in person over fifteen weeks in a classroom setting and also online in short self-paced modules.

Conclusion: The need for research data management curricula was confirmed by students, literature review and external experts we spoke to.   Collaboration pointed to a need for differing strategies as to how this curriculum and repository might be implemented successfully at the partner schools. Collaborative planning process can be strengthened via formative evaluation techniques.

Presented also at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting, May 17, 2011, Minneapolis, MN.

Objective: With the closing of the reference desk and implementation of a single service point, librarians have more time to engage in outreach. However, questions remain. What does management mean by outreach? What skills are needed to conduct outreach? The objectives of this study are to: (1) reach a common definition of outreach; (2) identify skills needed to perform outreach.

Methods: Focus groups were conducted with librarians from three departments (clinical services, research, and technology initiatives) to gain an understanding of initial perceptions of the outreach function and work currently perceived as outreach. Findings from a cross-group analysis were validated with participants and used to inform a definition of outreach and a continuum of outreach activities requiring increasing skill levels. The skills and tools needed to perform outreach activities at each stage of the continuum were identified and cross-group collaboration will be used to develop tools and acquire needed skills.

Results: Using a working definition of outreach detailed in the continuum (basic, relationship building, and partnering), librarians tracked outreach activities and mapped them to the continuum for three months. Through discussion, it became clear to librarians where current activities fell, where they needed to concentrate future efforts, and what strategies to use to move from basic interactions to relationship building and then to partnering. The continuum and tracking logs served as a data source for strategic planning and to assist staff with individual goal setting. Librarians found the tracking log to be cumbersome, but the benefits to management were evident.

Conclusion: Tracking and categorizing the defined outreach activities is useful to raise awareness of the different types of outreach activity and identify areas for skill development. In the future tracking logs will be streamlined and automated.

Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting on May 23, 2010, in Washington, DC.

Objective:

To identify specific data curation and management competencies that would aid in the continued development of a data management curriculum and professional development supporting New England health sciences and science and technology librarians, and to gather data on the nature and progress of data services being provided by these librarians and those being demanded by their patrons.

Methodology:

Based on a content analysis of data services and e-science librarian job postings, selected library and information science schools¹ programs and curricula, and published case studies and related best practices, the team researched and developed questions for the survey. An assessment was created using SurveyMonkey. A small group of medical librarians tested the survey and offered feedback.  The survey was revised and then disseminated to New England health sciences and science and technology librarians.  After three weeks, the team collected and analyzed the results.

Results and Conclusion:

A quarter of respondents surveyed stated that they are already managing and curating data sets. This number has nearly doubled since the team's 2009 assessment of New England health sciences and science and technology librarians engaged in e-science.  Almost half of respondents will be providing these services in the future; almost three quarters of respondents stated their library has or is in the process of creating a data management policy. Their responses to the competencies suggest that the portal curriculum focus on technical resources that would develop librarians¹ competencies in data literacy, curation and management by teaching skills such as scripting and programming languages and metadata and interoperability standards, as well as skills necessary to administer an institutional data repository. The data also suggest that a curriculum provide resources that address the non-technical competencies necessary to develop a data management policy, understand intellectual property and scholarly communication related to data.  This research is helping the University of Massachusetts Medical School Lamar Soutter Library and National Network of National Libraries of Medicine New England Region (NN/LM NER) to develop its E-Science Portal data management curriculum and in-person professional development programming for its regional librarians engaged in e-science activities. In addition, this assessment illuminates the many challenges that health sciences libraries in New England are facing trying to engage in e-science. Thus, an area for future investigation is the strategies that libraries are using to deal with these challenges and overcome these obstacles.

Purpose:  This poster focuses on the collaboration among science and medical librarians from multiple diverse New England research institutions in designing and aggregating content for an e-Science portal.

Brief Description:  This project is funded through a subcontract with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine New England Region. It is based on a collaborative framework consisting of a project advisory board, an editorial board of content editors, and a web development technical team. This comprehensive portal, aimed at librarians, provides news, links to annotated e-Science resources, and a discussion forum. Members of the portal editorial board include science and medical subject librarians identifying and aggregating content on e-science news/events, tutorials, and current practice accessible through the portal. Editorial librarians are developing a virtual community using social tools to foster discussion and collaboration among New England librarians interested in e-Science. This poster describes the planning process and the roles of the editorial team, project coordinator, and portal design team.

Results/Outcome:  The collaboration of biomedical and science subject and technology librarians is crucial to developing an e-Science portal that will provide the essential tools and knowledge for librarians to effectively engage in networked science.

This presentation summarizes results of a qualitative study of perceptions of hospital libraries by New England hospital administrators conducted in fall 2008.  The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) to investigate the views of hospital administrators about librarians and library services in their institutions and how they make decisions around what services are provided and funded in their hospital; and 2) to explore the views of health sciences librarians, informed by interviews with hospital administrators on the value of the hospital library.

Presented at the Massachusetts Health Sciences Library Network (MAHSLIN) Annual Meeting, Waltham, MA, April 24, 2009.

Purpose of program/study/research: To accelerate the advancement of women professionals at an academic medical center through creative collaboration.

Methodology (including study design, analysis, and evaluation): The UMass Medical School Women’s Faculty Committee (WFC) initiated a partnership with the medical library to compete successfully to host the traveling exhibition “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians.” Concurrent with the 6-week exhibition, fifteen events brought local and nationally prominent women together for mentoring activities, an original dramatic production, and an awards luncheon for women faculty. Women featured in the exhibit as well as its Visiting Curator spoke at UMMS about their research and career challenges, read from their published works, and were featured at graduation and a regional medical society event.

Results: Application-writing and event planning sessions forged robust working relationships among top-ranking administrators, senior and junior faculty, and staff. The exhibition increased opportunities for administration, faculty, and students to understand the impact of women in medicine, their leadership potential, and historical contributions. It also generated new mentor/mentee relationships and grant-writing collaborations. The exhibition’s national recognition helped draw a larger, more diverse and gender-balanced audience (575+ people) to the events enhancing the visibility of the WFC, as evidenced by institutional funding for women faculty to attend the AAMC WIM professional development workshops and ELAM for the first time.

Conclusion(s): Creative partnerships, motivated by the opportunity to host “Changing the Face of Medicine,” produced greater than expected gains for women faculty, generating new awareness and understanding of women’s accomplishments and leadership potential. This partnership allowed for a wide range of multi-disciplinary efforts, strengthening networking across silos, and advancing the goals of women in an academic medical center.

Presented October 29, 2006 at AAMC 2006 Annaul Meeting, Seattle, WA.

Objective: To determine biomedical and science librarians' need for an e-science web portal and to gather data on their user needs and Web 2.0 preferences in order to design a e-science web portal and support the development and strengthening of libraries’ e-science initiatives and collaborations.

Methods: Using feedback from librarian interviews from attendees of an e-science symposium and boot-camp, we researched and developed questions to survey learner needs. We created the survey using SurveyMonkey. A small group of medical librarians then tested the survey. Based on the feedback of the testing, the survey was revised. The survey was administered to 178 health sciences librarians. After 3 weeks, 73 data sets and responses were collected and analyzed.

Results and Conclusions: Preliminary results reveal a small yet significant number of diverse biomedical and science libraries actively engaged or actively pursuing e-science collaborations. These results indicate librarians have urgent needs for online scientific content and data tool tutorials to support and facilitate the exchange of e-science knowledge and experience among colleagues. In addition and important to note, the results indicate a significant need for and lack of awareness of online e-science resources. Thus, to support the e-science initiatives, biomedical and science librarians need an interactive e-science web portal designed by librarians that integrates e-science web resources and scientific content development. Additional areas for future research include identifying and examining the specific types of e-science collaborations and endeavors among biomedical and scientific institutions and their libraries and librarians and studying the future effectiveness and/or impact of the web portal and its resources and Web 2.0 tools on these collaborations and endeavors.

Presented April 7, 2010, at the Second Annual University of Massachusetts and New England Area Librarian E-Science Symposium, Shrewsbury, MA.

With half of its directors planning to retire as part of the demographic transformation of the profession, the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) undertook a leadership development program to encourage and prepare its future library directors. This article describes the association's multipart program in which each component can stand alone or as a sequence in preparation for a director position. It examines in detail one of the components, a successful mentoring program developed with support from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program. The authors describe the methodology and findings of a comprehensive qualitative evaluation study of the Leadership Fellows Program.

Comment on: J Med Libr Assoc. 2009 Jul;97(3):159-61.

This article describes a unique career ladder model for library support staff. Major components include a promotion in place opportunity based on specified achievement levels, competencies, cross training, and measurable evaluation. The authors discuss the background, development, and program description of the career ladder model.

This is the authors' version of the work. The definitive version was published in The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 35, Issue 5, September 2009, Pages 475-481. Link to article on publisher's website

In 1995, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Public Health Service (PHS) recommended that special attention be given to the information needs of unaffiliated public health professionals. In response, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Greater Midwest Region initiated a collaborative outreach program for public health professionals working in rural east and central Iowa. Five public health agencies were provided equipment, training, and support for accessing the Internet. Key factors in the success of this project were: (1) the role of collaborating agencies in the implementation and ongoing success of information access outreach projects; (2) knowledge of the socio-cultural factors that influence the information-seeking habits of project participants (public health professionals); and (3) management of changing or varying technological infrastructures. Working with their funding, personnel from federal, state, and local governments enhanced the information-seeking skills of public health professionals in rural eastern and central Iowa communities.

The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) provides the campus community, including the main campus and three regional sites, with a local MEDLINE option through a GRATEFUL MED fixed-fee licensing agreement with the National Library of Medicine. Searching is available via the Internet. A password server and customized GRATEFUL MED clients were built in order to adapt this off-the-shelf product to match the look and feel of other UIC campus-wide Internet resources. Installation, documentation, and training issues affecting the success of the project are discussed.

Teams are prevalent in many academic libraries, including those associated with medical schools. The objective of this study is to apply J. Richard Hackman's framework on team effectiveness to academic medical library settings. Study findings inform academic medical library managers regarding the adoption of teams about the necessary conditions to put in place and to strengthen the effectiveness of preexisting teams. Team effectiveness is also linked to team leadership.

Introducing teams into an organization is not a trivial matter. Effective teams require time, patience, commitment on the part of the library director, and leadership from everyone.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Information Center has funded a medical library project to develop an electronic resource of current, evidence-based public health best practices identified in the journal literature. This resource will assist university faculty and federal, state and local public health department personnel in identifying evidence-based best practices in maternal and child health. The results to date include a project website; lists of public health journals and bibliographic databases; a chart of public health sources, knowledge domains, and sub-domains; current evidence-based best practices identified in maternal and child health; and a table of public health journals matched with each knowledge domain and sub-domain. This methodology for developing resources related to a specific knowledge domain such as maternal and child health can also be used in other areas of public health. The description of the criteria presently used for defining evidence-based best practices can be used in reviews of the public health literature.

Presented at the 131st Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to apply J. Richard Hackman's framework on team effectiveness to academic medical library settings.

Methods: The study uses a qualitative, multiple case study design, employing interviews and focus groups to examine team effectiveness in three academic medical libraries. Another site was selected as a pilot to validate the research design, field procedures, and methods to be used with the cases. In all, three interviews and twelve focus groups, with approximately seventy-five participants, were conducted at the case study libraries.

Findings: Hackman identified five conditions leading to team effectiveness and three outcomes dimensions that defined effectiveness. The participants in this study identified additional characteristics of effectiveness that focused on enhanced communication, leadership personality and behavior, and relationship building. The study also revealed an additional outcome dimension related to the evolution of teams.

Conclusions: Introducing teams into an organization is not a trivial matter. Hackman's model of effectiveness has implications for designing successful library teams.

Background

Movement towards evidence-based practices in many fields suggests that public health (PH) challenges may be better addressed if credible information about health risks and effective PH practices is readily available. However, research has shown that many PH information needs are unmet. In addition to reviewing relevant literature, this study performed a comprehensive review of existing information resources and collected data from two representative PH groups, focusing on identifying current practices, expressed information needs, and ideal systems for information access.

Methods

Nineteen individual interviews were conducted among employees of two domains in a state health department – communicable disease control and community health promotion. Subsequent focus groups gathered additional data on preferences for methods of information access and delivery as well as information format and content. Qualitative methods were used to identify themes in the interview and focus group transcripts.

Results

Informants expressed similar needs for improved information access including single portal access with a good search engine; automatic notification regarding newly available information; access to best practice information in many areas of interest that extend beyond biomedical subject matter; improved access to grey literature as well as to more systematic reviews, summaries, and full-text articles; better methods for indexing, filtering, and searching for information; and effective ways to archive information accessed. Informants expressed a preference for improving systems with which they were already familiar such as PubMed and listservs rather than introducing new systems of information organization and delivery. A hypothetical ideal model for information organization and delivery was developed based on informants' stated information needs and preferred means of delivery. Features of the model were endorsed by the subjects who reviewed it.

Conclusion

Many critical information needs of PH practitioners are not being met efficiently or at all. We propose a dual strategy of: 1) promoting incremental improvements in existing information delivery systems based on the expressed preferences of the PH users of the systems and 2) the concurrent development and rigorous evaluation of new models of information organization and delivery that draw on successful resources already operating to deliver information to clinical medical practitioners.