Journal of the Medical Library Association

Thank you to the Journal of the Medical Library Association reviewers in 2023

Jill T. Boruff, AHIP, Michelle Kraft, AHIP, FMLA, Alexander J. Carroll, AHIP — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

We sincerely thank the peer reviewers in 2023 who helped evaluate and improve the quality of work published in the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA).

Introducing the Journal of the Medical Library Association’s manuscript resubmission deadlines: creating accountability structures for our authors

Jill T. Boruff, AHIP, Michelle Kraft, AHIP, FMLA, Alexander J. Carroll, AHIP — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

The Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) has made the decision to change our “revise-at-will” policy to instead adopt firmer deadlines for manuscript resubmissions. Beginning with this issue, manuscripts returned to authors with a “revise and resubmit” decision must be resubmitted within two months of the editorial decision. Likewise, manuscripts returned to authors with a “revisions required” decision must be resubmitted within one month of the editorial decision. This editorial discusses JMLA’s experience using a “revise-at-will” policy and outlines some anticipated benefits of the new resubmission deadlines.

Research networking and the role of the medical librarian

Robyn Reed, AHIP, Matthew J. Eyer, Megan M. Young, Sarah K. Bronson — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Medical librarians work collaboratively across all units and missions of academic medical centers. One area where librarians can provide key expertise is in the building and maintenance of Research Information Management Systems (RIMS). At Penn State, the RIMS implementation team has included a medical librarian, research administrators and marketing staff from the College of Medicine (CoM) since its inception in 2016. As our peer institutions implemented or expanded their own RIMS systems, the CoM team has responded to their questions regarding details about the Penn State RIMS instance. The goal of this commentary is to describe how the CoM team has worked collaboratively within Penn State to address questions related to research output, with special emphasis on details pertaining to questions from other institutions.

123rd Annual Meeting, Medical Library Association, Inc., Detroit, MI, May 16-19, 2023

Ellen Aaronson, AHIP, JJ Pionke — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

The Medical Library Association (MLA) held its 123rd annual meeting May 16-19, 2023, in Detroit, Michigan. This was also a joint meeting with the Special Libraries Association (SLA). The meeting was entitled “MLA | SLA ’23: Looking Back, Forging Ahead” and utilized a hybrid model with some events in person, and some virtually.

Generalized overview infographic: a customizable library instructional material on the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy

Katy Smith — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

The Generalized Overview of the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy Effective 2023.01.15 (Generalized Overview) is an instructional material that provides a basic, clear, and linear understanding of the NIH policy and its requirements. While not developing or utilizing new technology, the Generalized Overview is innovative and notable for creatively using a freely available graphic design tool to translate government policy language into an accessible and understandable infographic that can disseminate important information about the NIH DMS Policy needed by researchers and by those who support them. Shared via a Creative Commons license, others may fully adapt the infographic or may simply add their own institutional contact information. The Generalized Overview can be used by any who find themselves responsible for publicizing and/or teaching the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy at their respective libraries and institutions. It is intended for educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for official guidance from the NIH.

The DMPTool NIH DMSP Templates Project

Nina Exner, Seonyoung Kim, Katy Smith — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

The DMPTool NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan (DMSP) Templates Project was launched in response to the 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy. This new policy introduced a more structured framework for DMS Plans, featuring six key elements, a departure from the 2003 NIH DMS policy. The project aimed to simplify the process for data librarians, research administrators, and researchers by providing a template with curated guidance, eliminating the need to navigate various policies and guidelines. The template breaks out each Plan section and subsection and provides related guidance and examples at the point of need.

This effort has resulted in two NIH DMSP Templates. The first is a generic template (NIH-Default) for all ICs, complying with NOT-OD-21-013 and NOT-OD-22-198. More recently, an NIMH-specific template (NIH-NIMH) was added based on NOT-MH-23-100. As of October 2023, over 5,000 DMS Plans have been written using the main NIH-Default template and the NIH-NIMH alternative template.

Learning on the job: using Artificial Intelligence to support rapid review methods

Kristin Rogers, Leah Hagerman, Sarah Neil-Sztramko, Maureen Dobbins — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

The National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools’ (NCCMT) Rapid Evidence Service conducts rapid reviews on priority questions to respond to the needs of public health decision-makers. Given the vast quantity of literature available, a key challenge of conducting rapid evidence syntheses is the time and effort required to manually screen large search results sets to identify and include all studies relevant to the research question within an accelerated timeline. To overcome this challenge, the NCCMT investigated the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into the title and abstract screening stage of the rapid review process to expedite the identification of studies relevant to the research question.

The NCCMT is funded by the Public Health Agenda of Canada and affiliated with McMaster University.

Data Policy Finder: an easily integratable tool connecting data librarians with researchers to navigate publication requirements

Anthony J. Dellureficio, Eric Willoughby, Donna S. Gibson — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

The Data Policy Finder is a searchable database containing librarian-curated information, links, direct quotes from relevant policy sections, and notes to help the researcher search, verify, and plan for their publication data requirements. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Library launched this new resource to help researchers navigate the ever-growing, and widely varying body of publisher policies regarding data, code, and other supplemental materials. The project team designed this resource to encourage growth and collaboration with other librarians and information professionals facing similar challenges supporting their research communities. This resource creates another access point for researchers to connect with data management services and, as an open-source tool, it can be integrated into the workflows and support services of other libraries.

Librarians' Electronic Resource Reviews Network (LERRN): a free citation database for resource reviews

Louisa Verma — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Electronic resource reviews written by librarians are a valuable way to identify potential content platforms and stay current on new resources. Resource-focused articles can also assist with learning about useful features, training others, and marketing to potential user groups. However, articles evaluating or highlighting innovative uses of resources may be published in disparate journals or online platforms and are not collocated. Small or solo-staffed libraries may not subscribe to library and information sciences databases or journals that contain reviews of electronic resources. And many of these reviews or other useful articles are open access. With this in mind, the main aim of the LERRN citation database was to create a freely available citation database that brings together electronic resource reviews and other content that can assist librarians in appraising and using electronic resources.

One leg at a time: medical librarians and fake news

Michelle Kraft, AHIP, FMLA — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0500

While there has been recent media attention to the issue of “fake news,” misinformation and disinformation has been a lasting part of human history. This Janet Doe Lecture presents the history of fake news, how it is spread and accepted, its impact on medical and health information, and medical librarian roles in limiting its spread and promoting correct health information.

Erratum to “Rigor and reproducibility instruction in academic medical libraries,” 2022;110(3):281-93.

Katelyn Arnold — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400

The PDF version of this article contained incorrect pagination from pages 281-290. The PDF has been updated to the correct pagination. The original article can be found via the DOI https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2022.1443.

Mobilizing health equity through Computable Biomedical Knowledge (CBK): a call to action to the library, information sciences, and health informatics communities

Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

The twin pandemics of COVID-19 and structural racism brought into focus health disparities and disproportionate impacts of disease on communities of color. Health equity has subsequently emerged as a priority. Recognizing that the future of health care will be informed by advanced information technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and algorithmic applications, the authors argue that to advance towards states of improved health equity, health information professionals need to engage in and encourage the conduct of research at the intersections of health equity, health disparities, and computational biomedical knowledge (CBK) applications. Recommendations are provided with a means to engage in this mobilization effort.

Introducing the Journal of the Medical Library Association’s policy on the use of generative artificial intelligence in submissions

Jill T. Boruff, AHIP, Michelle Kraft, AHIP, FMLA, Alexander J. Carrol, AHIP — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400

With the arrival of ChatGPT, the academic community has expressed concerns about how generative artificial intelligence will be used by students and researchers alike. After consulting policies from other journals and discussing among the editorial team, we have created a policy on the use of AI on submissions to JMLA. This editorial provides a brief background on these concerns and introduces our policy.

Continuing to evolve: opportunities to share technology enhancements with health sciences library peers through the Virtual Projects Section

Emily Hurst, AHIP — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Beginning in 2012, the Virtual Projects section of the Journal of the Medical Library Association has provided an opportunity for library leaders and technology experts to share with others how new technologies are being adopted by health sciences libraries. From educational purposes to online tools that enhance library services or access to resources, the Virtual Projects section brings technology use examples to the forefront. Virtual Projects highlighted in this year’s section include new ways to use virtual reality for library instruction, podcasting to share important health care messages with the Latino Community, enhancing findability by using options in a library management system, and developing a research profiling system. After a hiatus due to publishing changes in 2022, 2023 will bring some major changes for the section. The new publication issue for future Virtual Projects sections will be January and the call for submissions and Virtual Projects deadline will now take place in June and July.

Evolving from public health libraries as a place to focus on public health librarian expertise

Kristine M. Alpi, AHIP, FMLA, Kayla M. Del Biondo, Melissa L. Rethlefsen, AHIP — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Objective: This article describes the evolution of academic public health library services from standalone academic public health libraries in 2004 to centralized services by 2021.

Methods: Five public health libraries serving public health graduate programs (SPH) at public and private institutions were visited in 2006-07. Visits comprised tours, semi-structured interviews with librarians and local health department staff, and collecting of contemporary print documents. We compiled and compared visit notes across libraries. In 2022, we reviewed online materials announcing library closure or transition for timing and how services were to be subsequently provided.

Results: Libraries and SPH were co-located and most librarians maintained public health expertise though they did not have faculty appointments in their SPHs. Specialized statistical and geographic information systems (GIS) software and data were provided in partnership, often with other system libraries. Only two libraries had strong connections to health departments–one with direct service agreements and another engaged in public health training.

Conclusion: Academic public health libraries’ relationships with SPH and health departments did not ensure their existence as standalone entities. Following a national trend for branch libraries, public health information services were centralized into larger health or science libraries. The scope and specialization of librarian expertise continues to be valued with several institutions having librarians dedicated to public health.

Resource Review: EndNote 21 desktop version

Terri Gotschall — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400

How to modernize without compromising history: a case study of the Franzello Aeromedical Library’s journey in updating collections, capabilities, and facilities

Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Background: Academic libraries play a significant role in the student learning process. However, student needs and preferences as well as new paradigms of learning are driving libraries to transition from quiet book repositories to places of collaboration and open information. This descriptive, mixed methods case presentation explores the transition of one library, the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine Franzello Aeromedical Library, in three key areas: collection, capability, and facility. Due to the niche subject matter and audience the library serves, this case also describes how the Franzello Aeromedical Library’s distinct collection and capability remained intact throughout modernization.

Case Presentation: The Franzello Aeromedical Library’s modernization project aimed to augment the library as a cutting-edge resource supporting USAFSAM's education, consultation, and research mission to equip Aerospace Medicine Airmen with the skills and knowledge for healthcare delivery in austere environments. This project was approached using five phases: 1) best practices baseline, 2) baseline evaluation of library visitor needs, 3) collection weeding, 4) capability, and 5) space design and construction.

Conclusion: As a result of this complex two-year project, several recommendations were gleaned. Use the effort as an opportunity to market library services to new audiences. Ensure all stakeholders are at the table from day one and in perpetuity to save time, and consider using purposeful decision-making models, such as Courses of Action, to make tough calls. Be prepared for delays by padding your timeline and compromise where necessary to keep the project alive. Finally, the authors recommend using in-project discovery and findings to plan for future need justification.

Searches as data: archiving and sharing search strategies using an institutional data repository

Alisa B. Rod, Jill T. Boruff, AHIP — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Background: By defining search strategies and related database exports as code/scripts and data, librarians and information professionals can expand the mandate of research data management (RDM) infrastructure to include this work. This new initiative aimed to create a space in McGill University’s institutional data repository for our librarians to deposit and share their search strategies for knowledge syntheses (KS).

Case Presentation: The authors, a health sciences librarian and an RDM specialist, created a repository collection of librarian-authored knowledge synthesis (KS) searches in McGill University’s Borealis Dataverse collection. We developed and hosted a half-day “Dataverse-a-thon” where we worked with a team of health sciences librarians to develop a standardized KS data management plan (DMP), search reporting documentation, Dataverse software training, and how-to guidance for the repository.

Conclusion: In addition to better documentation and tracking of KS searches at our institution, the KS Dataverse collection enables sharing of searches among colleagues with discoverable metadata fields for searching within deposited searches. While the initial creation of the DMP and documentation took about six hours, the subsequent deposit of search strategies into the institutional data repository requires minimal effort (e.g., 5-10 minutes on average per deposit). The Dataverse collection also empowers librarians to retain intellectual ownership over search strategies as valuable stand-alone research outputs and raise the visibility of their labor. Overall, institutional data repositories provide specific benefits in facilitating compliance both with PRISMA-S guidance and with RDM best practices.

Health sciences faculty publication patterns and related information-seeking behavior

Sandy De Groote, AHIP, Jung Mi Scoulas — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Objectives: This study aims to explore how health science faculty publication patterns at a large public research university have changed over time and examine how productivity relates to their information-seeking behavior and perception of the academic library.

Methods: Two datasets were utilized: one consisted of publication records of health sciences faculty spanning a 15-year period, while the other was from a faculty survey exploring faculty's perception of and satisfaction with library resources and services related to their research.

Results: Health sciences faculty publication patterns have changed over time, characterized by greater productivity, collaboration, and use of literature in their publications. Faculty's literature use correlates with productivity, as evidenced by both datasets. The survey revealed that faculty with more publications tend to rely more on online journals and Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Similarly, the publication data indicated that less productive faculty tended to use fewer references in their publications.

Discussion: The publication data and survey results offer valuable insights into the health sciences faculty's information-seeking behavior and productivity. Online access to information has been effective in facilitating use of information, as indicated by the greater incorporation of references in publications.

Conclusion: The study highlights the changing publication patterns and productivity of health sciences faculty, as well as the role academic libraries play in supporting their research and publishing activities. Although multiple variables influence faculty access to and use of information, faculty attitudes towards the library and use of the library are related to faculty research and productivity.

Alexander Fleming: a second look

Danielle Gerberi — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0500

In 1928, Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) identified penicillin, the world's first antibiotic. It was a chance discovery that could have easily been missed had Fleming not taken a second look at a contaminated Petri dish. The discovery of penicillin marked a profound turning point in history as it was the first time deadly infections such as bacterial pneumonia, sepsis, diphtheria, meningitis, and puerperal fever after childbirth could be cured, and it paved the way for the development of additional antibiotics. The Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum, one of several London Museums of Health and Medicine, is a reconstruction of Fleming’s laboratory in its original location at St. Mary’s Hospital. As if stepping back in time, visitors gain a glimpse into the man, his bacteriology work, and the events surrounding this important finding. For those unable to travel to London, this article provides a brief narrative of the fascinating story.

Impacts of educational interventions of librarian instruction on health information seeking attitudes and behaviors in an employee wellness program

Colleen Marie Foy — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Objective: Health literacy and its potential impacts on the wellbeing of patrons remain a highly regarded objective among health science and medical librarians when considering learning outcomes of patron communities. Librarians are positioned to champion literacy instruction activities. This study aimed to examine health information seeking attitudes and behaviors in an academic-based employee wellness program before and after health literacy workshops were developed and facilitated by an academic health sciences librarian.

Methods: The intervention included instruction informed by Don Nutbeam’s Health Literacy Framework and the Research Triangle Institute’s Health Literacy Conceptual Framework. Sixty-five participants obtained through convenience sampling attended workshops and were invited to respond to pre- and post-session surveys. Using a quantitative quasi-experimental methodology, surveys collected health literacy indicators including preferred sources and handling practices of in-person and online health information.

Results: Findings indicated workshops influenced information seeking behaviors as participants documented a decrease in social media use for health and wellness information (-36%) and medical information (-13%). An increase in the usage of consumer health databases (like Medline Plus) was also indicated post-workshop for health and wellness information (18%) and medical information (31%).

Conclusions: Favorable impacts are evident in this small-scale study; however, more research is needed to confirm the influence of these methods on larger and more diverse populations. Librarians should continue to develop and disseminate theory informed tools and methods aimed at engaging various communities in constructive health information seeking practices.

Attitudes on data reuse among internal medicine residents

Fred Willie Zametkin LaPolla, Genevieve Milliken, Colleen Gillespie — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Background: NYU Langone Health offers a collaborative research block for PGY3 Primary Care residents that employs a secondary data analysis methodology. As discussions of data reuse and secondary data analysis have grown in the data library literature, we sought to understand what attitudes internal medicine residents at a large urban academic medical center had around secondary data analysis. This case report describes a novel survey on resident attitudes around data sharing.

Methods: We surveyed internal medicine residents in three tracks: Primary Care (PC), Categorical, and Clinician-Investigator (CI) tracks as part of a larger pilot study on implementation of a research block. All three tracks are in our institution’s internal medicine program. In discussions with residency directors and the chief resident, the term “secondary data analysis” was chosen over “data reuse” due to this being more familiar to clinicians, but examples were given to define the concept.

Results: We surveyed a population of 162 residents, and 67 residents responded, representing a 41.36% response rate. Strong majorities of residents exhibited positive views of secondary data analysis. Moreover, in our sample, those with exposure to secondary data analysis research opined that secondary data analysis takes less time and is less difficult to conduct compared to the other residents without curricular exposure to secondary analysis.

Discussion: The survey reflects that residents believe secondary data analysis is worthwhile and this highlights opportunities for data librarians. As current residents matriculate into professional roles as clinicians, educators, and researchers, libraries have an opportunity to bolster support for data curation and education.

Fostering change, empowering faculty: comments on the NURSLITT study and the five-year rule

Eleanor Shanklin Truex, Jean Hillyer, AHIP, Emily N. Spinner — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

The five-year rule must die. Despite an extensive literature search, the origins of the five-year rule remain unknown. In an era when the nursing profession is so focused on evidence-based practice, any approach that arbitrarily limits literature searches to articles published in the previous five years lacks scientific basis. We explore some reasons for the pervasiveness of the practice and suggest that librarians need to engage with nursing faculty, who are well-positioned to be change agents in this practice.

Initial efforts to improve medical student information-seeking behavior with embedded library instruction

Angela Barr — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Background: Medical students must develop self-directed information-seeking skills while they are learning vast amounts of foundational and clinical skills. Students will use different resources for different phases of their training. Information literacy training provided to students will be more impactful when it is embedded into courses or assignments that mimic real-world scenarios. The retention of these skills is also improved by early and frequent instruction sessions, paired with formative feedback from librarian-educators.

Case Presentation: Librarians received student responses to an information literacy question during two cycles of a Grand Rounds activity. Data were analyzed as follows: sources were grouped according to resource type and assessed for quality, and search terms were aggregated and analyzed to determine frequency of use. A librarian-educator presented the compiled data, making suggestions for improving searching and clarifying expectations for how to improve their resource choices for a second Grand Rounds session. Comparing the M2 Grand Rounds case to the M1 case of the same cohort, the frequency of evidence summary and diagnostic tool use increased and the frequency of search engine, textbook/lecture material, and journal article/database use decreased.

Discussion: In the real-world application of back-to-back Georgetown University’s Medical Center Grand Rounds exercises, librarian-led instruction on clinical-specific resources appears to be correlated with an improvement in medical students’ searching behavior. This trend supports the argument that introducing students early to librarian-led education on clinical-specific resources, and providing feedback on their searches, improves students’ information-seeking behavior.

Straight to the point: evaluation of a Point of Care Information (POCI) resource in answering disease-related questions

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Objective: To evaluate the ability of DynaMedex, an evidence-based drug and disease Point of Care Information (POCI) resource, in answering clinical queries using keyword searches.

Methods: Real-world disease-related questions compiled from clinicians at an academic medical center, DynaMedex search query data, and medical board review resources were categorized into five clinical categories (complications & prognosis, diagnosis & clinical presentation, epidemiology, prevention & screening/monitoring, and treatment) and six specialties (cardiology, endocrinology, hematology-oncology, infectious disease, internal medicine, and neurology). A total of 265 disease-related questions were evaluated by pharmacist reviewers based on if an answer was found (yes, no), whether the answer was relevant (yes, no), difficulty in finding the answer (easy, not easy), cited best evidence available (yes, no), clinical practice guidelines included (yes, no), and level of detail provided (detailed, limited details).

Results: An answer was found for 259/265 questions (98%). Both reviewers found an answer for 241 questions (91%), neither found the answer for 6 questions (2%), and only one reviewer found an answer for 18 questions (7%). Both reviewers found a relevant answer 97% of the time when an answer was found. Of all relevant answers found, 68% were easy to find, 97% cited best quality of evidence available, 72% included clinical guidelines, and 95% were detailed. Recommendations for areas of resource improvement were identified.

Conclusions: The resource enabled reviewers to answer most questions easily with the best quality of evidence available, providing detailed answers and clinical guidelines, with a high level of replication of results across users.