Michelle Kraft

Integrating and Promoting Medical Podcasts into the Library Collection

ABSTRACT Podcasts offer a way for medical professionals to listen to current information in medicine from an iPod, MP3 player, handheld device, or computer. As podcasts become more popular, libraries may be interested in integrating programs into the library collection. South Pointe Medical Library evaluated medical podcasts relevant to the scope of the library collection and explored methods for finding and organizing such programs in ways that are efficient for both the librarian and the patron.

The Use of Blogs in Medical Libraries

ABSTRACT Weblogs, or blogs are a relatively new and rapidly growing method of dynamic online communication. Librarians are using blogs to deliver information services to their users as well as to collaborate and communicate with other library professionals. Research reveals little information has been published on the use of blogs within medical libraries, despite the fact that some medical libraries already have integrated blogs into their Web sites. This paper explores how other medical libraries are using Weblogs for current awareness services and staff communication and how they can be utilized in medical student education.

Embedded & Clinical Librarianship: Administrative Support for Vital New Roles

ABSTRACT Medical libraries continue to face the challenge of demonstrating relevance and value in hard economic times. Job titles such as “embedded librarians,” “clinical medical librarian,” and “informationist” have become more common as medical libraries strive to meet patrons at the point of need within a natural workflow. This article provides an overview of such positions, including necessary skills and expertise, added value, administrative challenges, and a discussion of evaluation.

Use of QR Codes to Promote E-Books in Medical Libraries

As collections of e-books grow, librarians face the challenge of making patrons aware of the titles included in these collections and how to access them. To promote e-book usage, quick response (QR) codes were posted throughout the print book collections at two medical libraries. Once scanned, the QR codes led users to a subject page, listing e-book titles with links for access. The codes were created using URL shorteners, allowing scan data to be recorded. The codes were scanned infrequently at both institutions, however because of minimal cost for creation and maintenance their use is still viewed as beneficial.

Getting Wiki With It: Using a Wiki as a Web site for Regional Health System Libraries

Patrons are comfortable accessing library information and resources online; however, hospital libraries often have difficulties creating and maintaining internal and external library Web sites that are easily accessible by library patrons. Librarians examined the use of a wiki to serve as an appropriate and effective means for providing the library patrons, employees of a large regional health system, access to library resources both on and off campus. This article will briefly discuss the methods the librarians used to choose a wiki client and create the site. Also included will be training tips used and handouts given to the other hospital system librarians to help familiarize themselves with the wiki site and empower them to assume responsibility for the maintenance of their librarys page within the wiki. Finally, the article will discuss the overall utilization of the wiki site as well as the barriers encountered and possible reasons why the wiki was not as successful as hoped.

Facing reality: the growth of virtual reality and health sciences libraries

Virtual reality (VR) is an increasingly hot tech topic. Because VR may be the ultimate virtual project as defined by this column, replacing the real world with a simulated one, it is worthwhile to pause and reflect on its potential and practicality for health sciences libraries.

A Review of: “Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data. Engard, Nicole C.”

‘‘promoting the progress of science and the useful arts’’ (1). He then outlines the intricacies of copyright law, particularly as they relate to new technologies, reflecting the title of the book. He offers the rationale behind fair use and includes a useful bulleted list that details what is and what is not permitted under fair use (57–8). The copyright chapter also includes sections on the Conference on Fair Use and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The chapters on patents, copyright, and trademarks conclude with a useful question-and-answer section that reinforces the key points in those chapters. The first appendix contains intellectual property in verse, which at first seems whimsical but in fact acts as a useful index to the different codes (which are not indexed). The second appendix lists the state Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries’ contact details. This normally could be an extremely dry and uninteresting book to read. However, Wherry has an excellent writing style that makes the book flow easily and is easily understood. As a result, the book provides information in a nonpatronizing and informative manner. The text is also fairly short at just over 140 pages with a reasonably sized font. This is a real boon as the content is focused and targeted at efficiently providing information to the reader, rather than the author expounding at length and overwhelming the reader with the depth of his technical knowledge. The liberal use of practical examples and court cases clarifies the legislation and places these concepts in the real world. As a general introductory resource to the three main elements of intellectual property, I would recommend this text as it is ‘‘fit for purpose.’’ That is to say, the book will help update most readers with major changes related to intellectual property.

Athens Access Management

Many academic medical libraries have the ability to authenticate their patrons using Internet protocol (IP) ranges or proxy servers. However, many hospital libraries are unable to use IP verification or establish proxy servers. The only way for these librarians and their patrons to access online resources is through user names and passwords. Usually, this means distributing multiple different passwords for many resources to patrons, often leading to more confusion. Athens Classic Access Management System gives these hospital libraries the ability to provide off-site access to resources without the need to manage and distribute multiple user names and passwords for multiple resources. Athens Access Management System is a service of Eduserv Technologies and was developed in 1994. The UK higher education community has used it since 1996, the UK National Health Services has used it since 2000, and its use in the United States began to emerge 2006. Athens Classic service operates similar to other access management programs, like Shibboleth, in the sense that both serve as a way to provide authenticated access to protected online resources. However, Athens Classic is a managed service providing a directory and comprehensive management tools for the librarian to administer users and resources. It also offers single sign-on and a simple access portal called MyAthens. Unlike with proxy server access and Shibboleth, no installation or additional hardware is required for libraries to use Athens. All the librarian has to maintain are the patron and resource databases. Once a library subscribes to Athens, it is given an Athens ID number that the librarian then gives to the online database and journal providers. Many online content providers are Athens enabled, including Ovid, EBSCO, Gale, Elsevier, American Medical Association, and BMJ Publishing. A full list can be found at http://www.athensams.net/dsp/. While the list is large, not all vendors are Athens accessible. Librarians must contact each subscribed online resource and ask that they activate Athens authentication for off-site access. While this is done only once during set up, it can be a rather time-consuming task, depending on the number of online resources a library subscribes to. While it is a simple process for most databases, the task seems to be more cumbersome with online journal publishers and providers. This is because libraries usually own more journals than databases and because the appropriate and knowledgeable contact person is often difficult to reach. Unfortunately at the present time, there is not an easier more streamlined method for establishing Athens access to library resources. Librarians must also set up and maintain their patron database in Athens. Librarians can populate the patron database in several ways: local authentication system, bulk upload, manually, or patron self-registration. All patrons in the database are given their own unique username and password, which is used to log into the librarys online resources. Libraries serving multiple unaffiliated populations will be interested in creating permission sets. A permission set defines the set of resources that specific users have permission to access using their Athens account. For example, a library serving two hospitals would be able to create user subgroups, allowing employees access only to their own hospitals online resources. Once library patrons are added to the database, they are able to view their account and accessible online library resources using the MyAthens portal as well as the MyAthens toolbar application, which can be downloaded and installed on Internet Explorer or Firefox browsers. These help patrons use Athens single sign-on feature, enabling them to conduct research without the need to constantly log in to each resource. The MyAthens portal can be customized by both the patron and the librarian. The librarian controls naming of the resource and its description, while patrons can customize it by moving panels and grouping favorite resources. Cross-searching online resources is not yet available to patrons on MyAthens, but Athens is investigating it for possible future use. However, librarians might find that the library website is still the best location for listing online resources for patrons. Patrons can also go directly to a resource and log in using their Athens username and password. However, they should be reminded to always click on the Athens login link on the resources page. Often patrons forget to click on this link and try to log in directly to the resources, not to Athens, often causing the resource to deny access. This is often a source of frustration among patrons who erroneously think the resource login page is the correct page to input their username password, instead of using the Athens login page. Even if they remember to click on the Athens login, that link can be anywhere on the resources page as there is no standardized location for it. Despite some of these drawbacks, Athens is ideal for hospital libraries to provide their patrons the privilege of using the online resources from campus. Patrons already inundated with multiple usernames and passwords in their daily lives will be happy to have only their own personal Athens log in and password for using the librarys online products. Using the Athens Access Management System, librarians can now reach patrons regardless of where they access the Internet.