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Use of on-line bibliographic retrieval services in health sciences libraries in the United States and Canada.

This paper reports the major findings of a questionnaire sent to the 708 U. S. and Canadian institutions which were using the National Library of Medicine's search services as of November 1977. Development of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on-line network is traced characterizes type of institution, use of NLM and non-NLM data bases, operational service patterns, staffing levels, fee-for-service policies, and perceived impact.

Bibliographies as Topic↗

Special programs in medical library education, 1957-1971: part III.The trainees.

This report describes the personal characteristics of the former trainees and their opinions about their training program experiences. More of the degree program trainees were under thirty (71%) than was the case with the internship program trainees (45%). The male-female ratio for each of the two groups is approximately 1:4. Approximately 60% of the degree program trainees entered their training with majors in the natural or health sciences, while less than 50% of the total group hold degrees in the natural or health sciences. Slightly less than 60% of the total group of trainees were employed in medical libraries in 1971. However, 68.5% of the internship program trainees as compared to 46.0% of the degree program trainees held positions in medical libraries. The reasons cited most often for leaving medical librarianship were the lack of available positions and student status. The major reasons indicated by the former trainees for entering the medical library education programs were an interest in the biomedical subject fields, the availability of funds, and the desire to gain experience. The reactions of the former trainees to their training program experiences were favorable.

Adult↗

Classification systems used in medical libraries.

The present study identifies the classification systems used in 941 libraries. It explores the reasons behind the choice of the National Library of Medicine Classification by 589 libraries. Reclassification procedures were investigated through a questionnaire sent to twenty-five libraries that have changed to NLM since 1959. Statistics and replies are given on: the classification systems employed prior to reclassification; the use of broad or specific Library of Congress class numbers in the LC schedules outside the scope of the NLM schedules; the number of catalogers in each library doing the reclassification; the use of cut-off dates for retrospective materials; the adoption of MeSH headings; user preference; and cost differences. Chief reasons for the change to NLM proved to be local circumstances, currency, arrangement of subclasses by NLM, its dovetailing with the LC Classification, and reliance upon nationally centralized cataloging services.

Book Classification↗

The current catalog--how current?

NLM's Current Catalog has recently come in for some criticism. To be useful as a tool in acquisition and cataloging, currency in receipt of the Current Catalog is necessary. A survey of 263 titles with 1967 imprints, which were received by the Library of the Medical Sciences, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, was made to determine the correlation between the receipt of these books in the library and their appearance in the Current Catalog.

Catalogs, Library↗

Estimating the satisfaction of information users.

Several factors influence the responses of users of information retrieval systems who are asked to evaluate the service provided by a system. To realistically estimate user satisfaction, different aspects of the search outcome should be explored. This paper analyzes the data obtained in a follow-up questionnaire sent to a sample of MEDLINE users who had requested searches at seven information centers within a two-month period. The questionnaire requested the user's appraisal of the value of the search and of the usefulness of the retrieved references. A comparison of different items of the questionnaire revealed some contradictions between an overall appraisal of the service and more specific responses on the outcome of the search. Caution is advised in inferring the satisfaction of information needs from the users' evaluation of an information retrieval system.

Consumer Behavior↗

Equalizing rural health professionals' information access: lessons from a follow-up outreach project.

A follow-up outreach project was undertaken to extend and reinforce the work of a National Library of Medicine-funded outreach project conducted in west central Illinois in 1991. The participants included five of the eight original sites as well as additional populations. An evolving partnership with the state's Center for Rural Health expanded the project's geographic area statewide. Evaluation showed benefits of varied training formats, reexposure to end-user searching, and the importance of "readiness." Follow-up training and longer trials for practice searching resulted in greater volume of search and document delivery activity. Varied training formats proved successful in reaching specific groups. Loansome Doc activity throughout the eighteen-month project suggested sustained use of Grateful Med beyond the two-month trial periods. The introduction of Grateful Med/Loansome Doc to unaffiliated health professionals is an important component in equalizing information access. Future information service initiatives are suggested to meet the challenge of building a rural information infrastructure and support system for health professionals.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗

Information retrieval patterns and needs among practicing general surgeons: a statewide experience.

Information retrieval has progressed from a reliance on traditional print sources to the modern era of computer databases and online networks. Surgeons, many from remote areas not served by professional medical libraries, must develop and maintain skills in information retrieval and management in both electronic and standard formats. One hundred thirty-three New Mexico general surgeons were surveyed to identify their information-seeking patterns in five areas: retrieval purposes, retrieval sources, barriers to access, techniques used, and continuing education needs. Ninety-nine (74.4%) surgeons responded to the survey. Ninety-five percent utilize professional meetings, the medical literature, and physician colleagues as information sources. Only 17% utilize the outreach services of the state's only medical school library. Common retrieval barriers were practice demands (71%), isolation from medical schools (30%), computer illiteracy (28%), and rural environment (25%). Continuing education topics related to information management would be valuable to 61% of the surgeons. Sixty-nine percent believe their current ability to access biomedical information is adequate, despite most frequently accessing their personal libraries for information related to decision-making or patient management. These data suggest that, despite significant information needs, surgeons have not embraced newer forms of information retrieval. It is imperative that surgeons acquire and maintain modern information retrieval skills as a means of remaining up-to-date in their profession. Professional surgical organizations and medical librarians should collaborate on these continuing education ventures.

Chi-Square Distribution↗

Use of a community-based touch-screen public-access health information system.

Meeting the demands of patients and the public for health information is now a recognised aim. Healthpoint is a community-based touch-screen public-access health information system which aims to make health information easily accessible by the public and to provide feedback information on this demand. We have assessed Healthpoint in an experiment in three parts. Part one was a survey of 13 Healthpoints for several weeks in various community sites in Glasgow, such as a shopping centre, supermarket, library, and pub, as well as health service sites such as out-patient department and general practice. The number of users and the topics chosen were recorded by the systems. Part two was a survey of ten Healthpoints in one town (Clydebank) over five months, which examined routine information recorded by the system, and interviews with an opportunistic sample of 300 weekday shoppers in the street and a random sample of 271 by telephone. Part three was a survey of one Healthpoint in a general practice for 36 weeks using routine recording by the system and a postal survey of a systematic sample of 250 attenders. Seventy five (25%) out of 300 in the street survey and 45 (22%) of the telephone sample who had visited a site where there was a Healthpoint had used it. Overall, 17% of the telephone sample had used it. Seventy three (27%) out of 200 general practice attenders had used Healthpoint.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

The human side of design: creating a new film library.

The use of continuous quality improvement may keep your film library processes running smoothly, but your staff may still struggle daily with its inadequate design. As the experts who work and live within the design, staff members deserve to play an active role in its improvement. When plans for a construction project that would include a larger film storage area were approved at Tampa General Healthcare, the administrative manager of the film library studied the first generation of blueprints. Encouraged to speak to the designer about her ideas, she presented sketches she had traced over blueprints to relocate the office entrance. Her design suggestions were welcomed. With the film library supervisors now wanting to involve staff members, the administrative manager created a wish list survey asking staff about positive and negative aspects of their work space, and for their suggestions on improving it, if given the chance. They responded with ideas for more soundproofing, better lighting and better storage space. Others recommended better ergonomic design for keyboard height, drawers and even the height of the sliding-glass window in the reception area. These suggestions did not account for the process delays the library experienced, however. Spending time in each of four work areas, the administrative manager found wasted movement, crowding of staff, film and equipment, and inadequate storage. This was the right time for change, she felt, an opportunity that shouldn't slip by. Various plans were created, not only to isolate office workers from noise and traffic, but to include items from the wish list. When it was time for the specifications, staff feedback became critical. The administrative manager consulted with staff members on various shifts and worked with staff ideas and sketches. The time the designer spent visiting the many work areas was critical to finalizing plans. The construction phase came next, after careful planning for carrying out work during the interim, a difficult period. A year later, the administrative manager recommends employee involvement in such projects.

Ergonomics↗

Factors encouraging and discouraging the use of nursing research findings.

A sample of 543 members of Midwest Alliance in Nursing and Midwest Nursing Research Society were surveyed to identify factors encouraging and discouraging research utilization. Lack of time was the factor that most discouraged research utilization. A library containing research journals was available to most service (82 percent) and educator nurses (86 percent). Computer services were more available to educators (85 percent) than service nurses (68 percent). A research newsletter was ranked as more helpful than continuing education or computer networks for keeping abreast of research findings.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

A community-based participatory health information needs assessment to help eliminate diabetes information disparities.

This article describes the participatory research process, results, action plan, and implications of the community health information needs assessment conducted within the African American community in two South Carolina counties. The REACH 2010: Charleston and Georgetown Diabetes Coalition library program is a partnership among community organizations, public and health sciences libraries, and lay community health advisors. A planning committee studied digital divide issues related to health information, designed and implemented a survey, held focus groups, analyzed data, identified needs and assets, and formulated an action plan to increase the dissemination of diabetes information. Key survey findings show that older (older than 60) and less educated (fewer than 12 years of education) African Americans in Charleston and Georgetown counties lack skills to access Internet and library services and suffer disparities in health information. Based on assessment evidence, the community plans to increase Internet access points and provide a train-the-trainer program to teach people skills for using Internet and library resources to get high-quality information about diabetes and its complications. This process taps community resources, builds local capacities and technical skills, educates about health, and empowers participants as active partners in their own health and their community's health.

Adult↗

Basic journal list for small hospital libraries.

This Basic Journal List of forty-eight journal titles is intended as a selection guide for the librarian of the small hospital. It is based on a survey of physicians in Virginia who were asked to review journal titles contained in the 1967 edition of a list compiled by Mr. Alfred N. Brandon. The List is designed for the library in a hospital of from 100 to 300 beds and for the active clinician.

Libraries, Hospital↗

A survey of the computer literacy of undergraduate dental students at a University Dental School in Ireland during the academic year 1997-98.

As dental practice management becomes more computer-based, the efficient functioning of the dentist will become dependent on adequate computer literacy. A survey has been carried out into the computer literacy of a cohort of 140 undergraduate dental students at a University Dental School in Ireland (years 1-5), in the academic year 1997-98. Aspects investigated by anonymous questionnaire were: (1) keyboard skills; (2) computer skills; (3) access to computer facilities; (4) software competencies and (5) use of medical library computer facilities. The students are relatively unfamiliar with basic computer hardware and software: 51.1% considered their expertise with computers as "poor"; 34.3% had taken a formal typewriting or computer keyboarding course; 7.9% had taken a formal computer course at university level and 67.2% were without access to computer facilities at their term-time residences. A majority of students had never used either word-processing, spreadsheet, or graphics programs. Programs relating to "informatics" were more popular, such as literature searching, accessing the Internet and the use of e-mail which represent the major use of the computers in the medical library. The lack of experience with computers may be addressed by including suitable computing courses at the secondary level (age 13-18 years) and/or tertiary level (FE/HE) education programmes. Such training may promote greater use of generic softwares, particularly in the library, with a more electronic-based approach to data handling.

Chi-Square Distribution↗

Teaching of formal courses by medical librarians.

Medical education should include formal course work on the use of the medical library. The formal teaching effort of medical librarians at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences is described. Three courses on the use of the library are offered to graduate students in basic medical sciences, dentistry, and pharmacy and to undergraduate students in medical records administration. A review of the literature covering teaching by medical librarians and the results of a questionnaire survey also are reported. A 95 percent response to a questionnaire sent to 105 health-science-related school libraries was received. Of the 100 libraries responding, only 18 offered formal course work. An additional 19 reported plans for offering formal courses on the use of the library.

Curriculum↗

Drug information resources in the Veterans Affairs healthcare system.

Results of a survey characterizing drug information services and resources from a defined practice area are presented. At the end of 1992, a questionnaire was mailed to 167 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and Outpatient Clinics. One hundred fifty-one of the surveys (> 90%) were completed and analyzed. The knowledge obtained from this survey may provide a basis for future development of an essential clinical service within the Veterans Affairs health care system.

Databases, Bibliographic↗

Intelligent medical information filtering.

This paper describes an intelligent information filtering system to assist users to be notified of updates to new and relevant medical information. Among the major problems users face is the large volume of medical information that is generated each day, and the need to filter and retrieve relevant information. The Internet has dramatically increased the amount of electronically accessible medical information and reduced the cost and time needed to publish. The opportunity of the Internet for the medical profession and consumers is to have more information to make decisions and this could potentially lead to better medical decisions and outcomes. However, without the assistance from professional medical librarians, retrieving new and relevant information from databases and the Internet remains a challenge. Many physicians do not have access to the services of a medical librarian. Most physicians indicate on surveys that they do not prefer to retrieve the literature themselves, or visit libraries because of the lack of recent materials, poor organisation and indexing of materials, lack of appropriate and available material, and lack of time. The information filtering system described in this paper records the online web browsing behaviour of each user and creates a user profile of the index terms found on the web pages visited by the user. A relevance-ranking algorithm then matches the user profiles to the index terms of new health care web pages that are added each day. The system creates customised summaries of new information for each user. A user can then connect to the web site to read the new information. Relevance feedback buttons on each page ask the user to rate the usefulness of the page to their immediate information needs. Errors in relevance ranking are reduced in this system by having both the user profile and medical information represented in the same representation language using a controlled vocabulary. This system also updates the user profiles, automatically relieving this burden from the user, but also allowing the user to explicitly state preferences. An initial evaluation of this system was done with health consumers using a web site on consumer health. It was found that users often modified their criteria for what they considered relevant not only between browsing sessions but also during a session. A user's criteria for what is relevant is constantly changing as they interact with the information. New revised metrics of recall and precision are needed to account for the partially relevant judgements and the dynamically changing criteria of users. Future research, development, and evaluation of interactive information retrieval systems will need to take into account the users' dynamically changing criteria of relevance.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Behavioral and social consequences related to the consumption of different beverage types.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to review the literature on the effects of beer, wine and spirits on the behavioral consequences of alcohol consumption. METHOD: The methods involve library research and analysis of the various published articles relating to experimental and survey studies of different effects RESULTS: The major results indicate that (1) after spirits consumption blood alcohol concentrations rise more quickly than after beer; (2) for most behavioral tasks beer creates less impairment than brandy at the same dose levels; (3) brandy also leads to more emotional and aggressive responses; (4) those who drink beer or beer and spirits have more alcohol-related problems than others; and (5) beer drinkers are more likely than others to drink and drive, to be arrested for drinking-driving and to be in alcohol-related accidents. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that beer and spirits lead to greater problems than does wine consumption. However, there is a need for more studies of women and confirmed drinkers of various beverages. There is also a need to study the effects of wine consumption on behavioral impairment. Lastly, there is a need to determine if there is a beer-drinking culture which supports heavy drinking and driving after drinking.

Accidents, Traffic↗