Michele R. Tennant

Bioinformatics librarian: Meeting the information needs of genetics and bioinformatics researchers

Purpose – In the Fall semester of 2001, a new position – Bioinformatics Librarian – was developed jointly by the University of Floridas Health Science Center Libraries (HSCL) and Genetics Institute (UFGI). Aims to give an overview of this post. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes the development of the position and the services provided. Findings – Funded by the Genetics Institute and housed in the library, this position was created to meet the information needs of the universitys faculty, students and staff involved in genetics and bioinformatics research and study. The responsibilities of the position were in part patterned after those performed via the HSCLs existing Liaison Librarian program. Librarians with only an undergraduate degree in the biosciences can still make an important, albeit usually less complete, contribution in this area. Originality/value – The University of Floridas Bioinformatics Librarian position may serve as a model for the Information Specialist in Context (ISIC; Informationist; Bioinformationist) in the research arena.

The presence of academic health sciences libraries on Facebook: the relationship between content and library popularity.

Social networks such as Facebook allow libraries to be proactive in reaching their users. While some libraries have popular Facebook pages, it remains unclear what attracts users to these pages. This study evaluates relationships between libraries’ Facebook page content and popularity. An analysis of 72 academic health sciences libraries’ Facebook pages showed positive correlations between number of library fans and number of tabs, photos, events, and wall posts on Facebook. Libraries posting videos had significantly more fans than libraries without them. This study contributes to an understanding of correlations between content and popularity on Facebook, with implications for library outreach.

Smartphone Use at a University Health Science Center

This article describes the results of a survey of library patrons conducted by librarians and information technology specialists at the Health Science Center Libraries at the University of Florida. The purpose of the survey was to learn if and how library patrons were using smartphones to perform their work-related tasks and how patrons felt the library could support smartphone use at the Health Science Center.

The use of Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) software to create a database of librarian-mediated literature searches.

Expert-mediated literature searching, a keystone service in biomedical librarianship, would benefit significantly from regular methodical review. This article describes the novel use of Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) software to create a database of literature searches conducted at a large academic health sciences library. An archive of paper search requests was entered into REDCap, and librarians now prospectively enter records for current searches. Having search data readily available allows librarians to reuse search strategies and track their workload. In aggregate, this data can help guide practice and determine priorities by identifying users’ needs, tracking librarian effort, and focusing librarians’ continuing education.

Librarians as Part of Cross-Disciplinary, Multi-institutional Team Projects: Experiences from the VIVO Collaboration

Cross-disciplinary, team-based collaboration is essential for addressing todays complex research questions, and librarians are increasingly entering into such collaborations. This study identifies skills needed as librarians integrate into cross-disciplinary teams, based on the experiences of librarians involved in the development and implementation of VIVO, a research discovery and collaboration platform. Participants discussed the challenges, skills gained, and lessons learned throughout the project. Their responses were analyzed in the light of the science of team science literature, and factors affecting collaboration on the VIVO team were identified. Skills in inclusive thinking, communication, perseverance, adaptability, and leadership were found to be essential.

Space Planning: A Renovation Saga Involving Library Users

From 2010 to 2012, librarians at the University of Florida Health Science Center Library (HSCL) used an online survey and focus groups to gather user input on preferences for an ideal library space. User input guided the HSCLs renovation plans and put a clear focus on enhancing technology, improving infrastructure, enabling group collaboration, and creating comfortable spaces. Additional communication with users during renovation was vital in ensuring continued usability of nonconstruction spaces and shared understanding of the construction timeline. While specific user suggestions are particular to the HSCL, overall themes and methods for eliciting input will be useful to other libraries undergoing space planning.

Biochemical and morphological variation in Floridian populations of the bark anole (Anolis distichus)

tiosa: morphology, vocalization and electrophoretic analysis. Copeia 1980:577-584. GOODPASTURE, C., AND S. E. BLOOM. 1975. Visualization of nucleolar organizer regions in mammalian chromosomes using silver staining. Chromosoma (Berl.) 53:37-50. KEZER, J., AND S. K. SESSIONS. 1979. Chromosome variation in the plethodontid salamander, Aneides ferreus. Chromosoma 71:65-80. KURAMOTO, M. 1984. Systematic implications of hybridization experiments with some Eurasian treefrogs (genus Hyla). Copeia 1984:609-616. LEVAN, A., K. FREDGA AND A. A. SANDBERG. 1964. Nomenclature for centromeric position in chromosomes. Hereditas 52:201-220.

Library-based clinical and translational research support.

There has been a shift in the workflow at academic biomedical research and clinical care centers to promote more efficient clinical and community implementation of bench discoveries. Strong financial support for this effort is provided by the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded to about sixty biomedical research institutions constituting the CTSA Consortium [1]. CTSAs offer an opportunity to speed the translation of bench discoveries to improved human health by transforming the

Using NLM exhibits and events to engage library users and reach the community.

In an effort to reach out to library users and make the library a more relevant, welcoming place, the University of Floridas Health Science Center Library hosted exhibits from the National Library of Medicines (NLM) Traveling Exhibition Program. From 2010 through 2012, the library hosted four NLM exhibits and created event series for each. Through reflection and use of a participant survey, lessons were learned concerning creating relevant programs, marketing events, and forming new partnerships. Each successive exhibit added events and activities to address different audiences. A survey of libraries that have hosted NLM exhibits highlights lessons learned at those institutions.

The role of the medical librarian in the basic biological sciences: a case study in virology and evolution.

This current installment of the case study column concerns the role of the medical librarian in basic biological research. In the modern life sciences, the boundaries between the health professions and general biology are becoming increasingly blurred, as both disciplines rely to a greater extent on interdisciplinary, integrative, and comparative approaches for the resolution of major questions (Figure 1). Correspondingly, the university medical or health center library is rapidly becoming a primary resource for both basic and applied scientists from across virtually all fields of modern biology (e.g., from molecular and cellular biology to physiology to ecology and evolution). In response, the importance of the medical librarian as an information specialist continues to grow at these institutions. This case study documents this expanding role of the medical librarian by focusing on a basic research question that originated from a recent publication on viral evolution. The authors and editors invite your commentary on this case online at http://www.jmlacasestudies.blogspot.com. Figure 1 Evolutionary biologist (Miyamoto) commentary The Case JC virus (JCV) is a common virus in humans, its natural host* [1]. (Terms asterisked upon first appearance are defined in Table 1.) This virus was first isolated in 1971 from an immunocompromised* patient with the initials “J. C.” [2]. It is estimated that by age 20, nearly 90% of humans worldwide are infected with this virus based on the presence of JCV-specific antibodies [3]. Normally, JCV is not associated with any health problems, except in immunocompromised patients. In such patients, JCV infection can lead to progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML*), a fatal neurological disease [4]. Table 1 Key concepts for this case study A virus depends on its host for its survival and reproduction [5,6]. Conversely, to the host, a virus represents a foreign element, which may lower its fitness*. Thus, viral evolution should mirror host evolution (and vice versa), because the survival and reproduction of the two are intertwined. In more formal terms, the expectation is for the virus and host to coevolve over time. Working from this premise of coevolution*, Kitchen et al. [7] recently used DNA sequence data to compare the evolution and history of JCV to those of its human host. In contrast to almost all previous studies of the virus, these authors concluded that JCV was rapidly evolving on a timescale of decades to centuries, rather than tens of thousands of years [8–10]. Thus, their study indicated that the contemporary regional patterns of JCV diversity were due to a recent, rather than ancient, coevolutionary history with humans. The second author of Kitchen et al. [7] is also the second author of this current case study (Miyamoto). One reviewer of the original manuscript [7] questioned whether JCV integrates into the chromosomes of its human host during its normal life cycle. Specifically, this reviewer wrote: “from what I have read, some fraction of the time virus integrates and then replicates like a cellular gene …. On this basis, is it possible that there are two mutation rates, one reflecting cellular replication and one reflecting viral replication? Presumably, the former rate would be slower.” In some types of viruses, viral DNA is integrated into the hosts chromosome, and as such, the viral DNA becomes physically connected to the hosts DNA. As recognized by this reviewer, the question of viral integration* is an important one, because an integrated JCV would be expected to evolve at the same (slow) rate as that for its host chromosome DNA, to which it would be physically linked. Thus, evidence of viral integration would oppose Kitchen et al.s conclusion of a fast JCV rate [7]. In response to this reviewer, Kitchen et al. conducted a literature search to assess whether JCV integration is part of its normal life cycle. Based on this search, these authors reported in their final publication that “JCV replicates in the host cell nucleus, but does not integrate into the latters chromosomes” [11]. Importantly, Khalili et al. [11] did not provide a definitive “yes or no” answer to the question of JCV integration. Nor did their article review the primary experimental evidence or citations in favor of or against this possibility. Instead, their article presented a basic introduction to the life cycle of JCV, which made no reference to viral integration. In the absence of a statement by them to the contrary, Kitchen et al. [7] cited their paper as at least implicit support for the absence of JCV integration during its normal life cycle. However, as scientists, the three authors in general and one biologist in particular (Miyamoto) remain interested in whether hard experimental evidence exists in the primary literature for an explicit resolution of this problem. The biologist approaches you as an information specialist and asks for your aid in thoroughly searching this literature.