scholarly journals Investigating the need for scholarly communications positions in Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries member institutions

2017 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Mears, MLIS ◽  
Sandra L. Bandy, MS, AHIP
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Academic Health ◽  
Discussion List ◽  
Scholarly Communications ◽  
Time Position ◽  
Communications Services

Background: The role of health sciences librarians has expanded in the scholarly communications landscape as a result of the increase in federal public access mandates and the continued expansion of publishing avenues. This has created the need to investigate whether academic health sciences libraries should have scholarly communications positions to provide education and services exclusively related to scholarly communication topics.Methods: A nine-question online survey was distributed through the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) email discussion list to gather preliminary findings from and opinions of directors of health sciences libraries on the need for scholarly communications positions.Results: The survey received a 38% response rate. The authors found that AAHSL members are currently providing scholarly communications services, and 46% of respondents expressed the need to devote a full-time position to this role.Discussion: Our survey reveals a juxtaposition occurring in AAHSL member libraries. While administrators acknowledge the need to provide scholarly communications services, they often experience budget challenges in providing a full-time position for these services.

scholarly journals Collection practices for nontraditional online resources among academic health sciences libraries

2020 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Shultz ◽  
Donna R. Berryman
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Online Resources ◽  
Academic Health ◽  
Small Organizations ◽  
Development Section ◽  
Medical Library ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Collection Practices

Objective: In recent years, individuals and small organizations have developed new online learning and information resources that are often marketed directly to students. In this study, these nontraditional online resources are defined as apps or other online resources that are not available through large and well-known publishers. The purposes of this study are to determine if academic health sciences libraries are licensing nontraditional online resources and to provide a snapshot of current collections practices in this area.Methods: An online survey was designed and distributed to the email lists of the Collection Development Section of the Medical Library Association and Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries directors. Follow-up phone interviews were conducted with survey participants who volunteered to be contacted.Results: Of the 58 survey respondents, 21 (36.2%) reported that their libraries currently licensed at least 1 nontraditional online resource, and 45 (77.6%) reported receiving requests for these types of resources. The resources listed by respondents included 50 unique titles. Of the 37 (63.8%) respondents whose library did not license nontraditional online resources, major barriers that were noted included a lack of Internet protocol (IP) authentication, licenses that charge per user, and affordable institutional pricing.Conclusions: Evaluation criteria for nontraditional online resources should be developed and refined, and these resources should be examined over time to determine their potential and actual use by students. There is a growing demand for many of these resources among students, but the lack of financial and access models that serve libraries’ needs is an obstacle to institutional licensing.

scholarly journals The Scholarly Communications Needs of Faculty: An Evidence-Based Foundation for the Development of Library Services

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
University Library ◽  
Open Access Journals ◽  
Scholarly Communications ◽  
Communications Services ◽  
Article Processing Charges ◽  
The University

Abstract Objectives – This exploratory research seeks to broadly understand the publishing behaviours and attitudes of faculty, across all disciplines, at the University of Saskatchewan in response to the growing significance of open access publishing and archiving. The objective for seeking this understanding is to discover the current and emerging needs of researchers in order to determine if scholarly communications services are in demand here and, if so, to provide an evidence-based foundation for the potential future development of such a program of services at the University Library, University of Saskatchewan. Methods – All faculty members at the University of Saskatchewan were sent personalized email invitations to participate in a short online survey during the month of November 2012. The survey was composed of four parts: Current Research and Publishing Activities/Behaviours; Open Access Behaviours, Awareness, and Attitudes; Needs Assessment; and Demographics. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated. Results – The survey elicited 291 complete responses – a 21.9% response rate. Results suggest that faculty already have a high level of support for the open access movement, and considerable awareness of it. However, there remains a lack of knowledge regarding their rights as authors, a low familiarity with tools available to support them in their scholarly communications activities, and substantial resistance to paying the article processing charges of some open access journals. Survey respondents also provided a considerable number of comments – perhaps an indication of their engagement with these issues and desire for a forum in which to discuss them. It is reasonable to speculate that those who chose not to respond to this survey likely have less interest in, and support of, open access. Hence, the scholarly communications needs of this larger group of non-respondents are conceivably even greater. Conclusion – Faculty at the University of Saskatchewan are in considerable need of scholarly communications services. Areas of most need include: advice and guidance on authors’ rights issues such as retention of copyright; more education and support with resources such as subject repositories; and additional assistance with article processing charges. The University Library could play a valuable role in increasing the research productivity and impact of faculty by aiding them in these areas.

scholarly journals Exploring PubMed as a reliable resource for scholarly communications services

2019 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peace Ossom Williamson ◽  
Christian I. J. Minter
Keyword(s):  
Reading Program ◽  
Biomedical Literature ◽  
Public Access ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Medical Library ◽  
Scholarly Communications ◽  
Communications Services ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Access Policies

Objective: PubMed’s provision of MEDLINE and other National Library of Medicine (NLM) resources has made it one of the most widely accessible biomedical resources globally. The growth of PubMed Central (PMC) and public access mandates have affected PubMed’s composition. The authors tested recent claims that content in PMC is of low quality and affects PubMed’s reliability, while exploring PubMed’s role in the current scholarly communications landscape.Methods: The percentage of MEDLINE-indexed records was assessed in PubMed and various subsets of records from PMC. Data were retrieved via the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) interface, and follow-up interviews with a PMC external reviewer and staff at NLM were conducted.Results: Almost all PubMed content (91%) is indexed in MEDLINE; however, since the launch of PMC, the percentage of PubMed records indexed in MEDLINE has slowly decreased. This trend is the result of an increase in PMC content from journals that are not indexed in MEDLINE and not a result of author manuscripts submitted to PMC in compliance with public access policies. Author manuscripts in PMC continue to be published in MEDLINE-indexed journals at a high rate (85%). The interviewees clarified the difference between the sources, with MEDLINE serving as a highly selective index of journals in biomedical literature and PMC serving as an open archive of quality biomedical and life sciences literature and a repository of funded research.Conclusion: The differing scopes of PMC and MEDLINE will likely continue to affect their overlap; however, quality control exists in the maintenance and facilitation of both resources, and funding from major grantors is a major component of quality assurance in PMC. This article has been approved for the Medical Library Association’s Independent Reading Program.

scholarly journals Parental Perceptions About the Importance of Play in the First Three Years

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Suzanne Kate Holland
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Parent Education ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Parental Perceptions ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
School Qualification ◽  
Unstructured Play ◽  
Structured Play

<p>Play is a universal and innate disposition that is believed to be one of the most significant components to holistic wellbeing and development during the foundational years of childhood. Research and literature examining the topic of play in early childhood suggests that while unstructured and child directed play is valued, its existence is under threat. Instead, it is being replaced by structured, educational, and adult directed activities which aim to accelerate young children’s learning. Due to these conflicting paradigms, and a lack of research exploring parental values in this area, this quantitative study examined parental perceptions towards structured and unstructured play for children under the age of three years. In order to investigate this topic, 255 New Zealand parents, with children not in full-time childcare and under the age of three years, participated in an anonymous online survey. The survey was designed specifically for this study due to a lack of pre-existing measures. The main finding was that parental perception influenced the way in which infants and toddlers spent their time. The majority of parents perceived unstructured play to best support early development and, consequently, offered children a large amount of daily time to become involved in freely chosen unstructured play. The study also identified that: the more weekly activities a child engaged in, the higher structured play was valued by parents; older parents did not value structured play as highly as younger parents; parents with a tertiary level qualification valued unstructured play more than those parents with a school qualification or less; screen time was perceived to be more appropriate the older the child. These findings were discussed in relation to the implications they raise for the role of the parent, early childhood education, parent education, and child development and wellbeing.</p>

scholarly journals Parental Perceptions About the Importance of Play in the First Three Years

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Suzanne Kate Holland
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Parent Education ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Parental Perceptions ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Older Parents ◽  
School Qualification ◽  
Unstructured Play ◽  
Structured Play

<p>Play is a universal and innate disposition that is believed to be one of the most significant components to holistic wellbeing and development during the foundational years of childhood. Research and literature examining the topic of play in early childhood suggests that while unstructured and child directed play is valued, its existence is under threat. Instead, it is being replaced by structured, educational, and adult directed activities which aim to accelerate young children’s learning. Due to these conflicting paradigms, and a lack of research exploring parental values in this area, this quantitative study examined parental perceptions towards structured and unstructured play for children under the age of three years. In order to investigate this topic, 255 New Zealand parents, with children not in full-time childcare and under the age of three years, participated in an anonymous online survey. The survey was designed specifically for this study due to a lack of pre-existing measures. The main finding was that parental perception influenced the way in which infants and toddlers spent their time. The majority of parents perceived unstructured play to best support early development and, consequently, offered children a large amount of daily time to become involved in freely chosen unstructured play. The study also identified that: the more weekly activities a child engaged in, the higher structured play was valued by parents; older parents did not value structured play as highly as younger parents; parents with a tertiary level qualification valued unstructured play more than those parents with a school qualification or less; screen time was perceived to be more appropriate the older the child. These findings were discussed in relation to the implications they raise for the role of the parent, early childhood education, parent education, and child development and wellbeing.</p>

scholarly journals Who Graduates From Irish Distance University Education?

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine Delaney
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Large Percentage ◽  
University Education ◽  
Distance Learners ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Time Distance ◽  
First Time

Abstract This paper outlines results from an online survey of recent distance graduates. The study, based in Dublin City University (DCU) addresses a gap in the research on this cohort of graduates. Findings indicate that distance graduates are primarily from lower socio economic backgrounds, a group largely under-represented in full-time university education. Significantly, 30% of survey respondents came from a skilled manual background. A large percentage (39% N = 61) of graduates had never accessed any form of higher education before. An equally large percentage (N = 62) had accessed full-time higher education previously, but at a lower level than the honours primary degree they obtained through distance learning. Implications regarding the role of distance education in improving access to university education and social mobility are discussed. Finally, this paper seeks to establish relevance between knowledge of distance graduates and doing things better for first time distance learners.

scholarly journals Services and staffing practices in academic health sciences libraries serving college of osteopathic medicine programs: a mixed methods study

2020 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne M. Muellenbach ◽  
Wendy C. Duncan ◽  
Cheryl Vanier ◽  
Lisa A. Ennis ◽  
Anna Yang
Keyword(s):  
School Administrators ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Osteopathic Medicine ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Library Directors ◽  
Full Time Equivalent ◽  
Academic Health ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
College Of Osteopathic Medicine

Objective: This study describes and assesses services, staffing practices, and trends in academic health sciences libraries that serve accredited college of osteopathic medicine (COM) programs in the United States.Methods: The study was conducted in three phases. In phase one, the investigators collected data on library services and staffing through the publicly facing websites of the COM libraries. In phase two, thirty-five COM library directors were invited to complete a survey regarding their services, staffing, supported programs, and students served. In phase three, seven COM library directors participated in phone interviews regarding services that increased their visibility, their motivation to offer expanded services, adequacy of staffing, and competencies required for new librarian roles. The investigators incorporated the Medical Library Association (MLA) competencies as a framework to structure the results.Results: Phase one identified 35 COM libraries serving between 162 and 8,281 students. In phase two, 30 out of a possible 35 survey respondents indicated that the top services offered or considered by COM libraries were in the MLA competency areas of “Instruction & Instructional Design” and “Evidence-Based Practice & Research.” In addition, we discovered that COM libraries had a median of 10 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff per 1,000 students. Phase three data revealed that library directors attributed their libraries’ success to the skills and talents of their staff, the wide range of resources and services they offered, and the desirability of their physical spaces. Library directors identified skills in the same MLA competency areas as phase two, as well as in the MLA competency areas of “Information Management” and “Leadership & Management,” as being desirable for new staff.Conclusion: The study results provide information for medical school administrators and library directors to help identify trends across US osteopathic medical schools in order to justify the need for additional services and staffing. These results can assist medical and library leadership in COM schools in planning for their future academic health sciences libraries. Finally, the findings could assist programs in library and information sciences in redesigning their curriculums based on the MLA competencies for students who seek future careers in academic health sciences libraries.

scholarly journals The role of subject knowledge in academic health sciences libraries: an online survey of librarians working in the United States

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Professional Organizations ◽  
Academic Health ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Subject Knowledge ◽  
The Us

Introduction - Previous research suggests that Canadian academic health sciences librarians value knowledge of the health sciences and spend a considerable amount of time gaining and maintaining it. The current study replicates the earlier Canadian survey but employs a larger American sample to address three questions: Do academic health sciences librarians working in the United States find knowledge of the health sciences to be important, and if so, how do they acquire it? Do the attitudes of Canadian and American academic health sciences librarians differ with respect to subject knowledge? Methods - An invitation to participate in a Web-based survey was sent to 711 academic health sciences librarians working in the US; 154 participated. Results - Academic health sciences librarians in the US felt that keeping up with the scientific and medical literature was important to doing their jobs, although only 50% of respondents felt that a degree in the health sciences was somewhat or very useful. Discussion - Participating in professional organizations, visiting Web sites, and reading or browsing journals or magazines were rated by respondents as the best ways to become informed about the health sciences. Findings were similar to those of an earlier survey of Canadian academic health sciences librarians.

scholarly journals The tenth Janet Doe Lecture, a forty-year perspective: still relevant after all these years

2020 ◽  
Vol 108 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne J. Peay ◽  
Helen-Ann Brown Epstein
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
The State ◽  
Academic Health ◽  
Current Health ◽  
Medical Library ◽  
The Future ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
Distinguished Member

Erich Meyerhoff was an academic health sciences librarian and a distinguished member of the Medical Library Association when he was invited to present the Janet Doe Lecture in 1977. His lecture on the state of the association is considered one of the finest Doe lectures and is still relevant more than forty years later, not only from an historical perspective, but also for his projections for the future and his prescient comments about the future of hospital librarianship and the important role of women in the association. Key 1977 Doe lecture topics are reviewed and updated in the context of the current health sciences library environment.

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