From LJ’s Annoyed Librarian–Shiny Toys and Glossy Gimmicks

November 2, 2009

It was pretty obvious by the response to my last post that there are at least two sorts of librarians – those who value trite, vulgar, attention-seeking gimmicks that supposedly benefit the profession, and those who don’t.

I really shouldn’t be so hard on those librarians who value the trite and vulgar. They really can’t help themselves. They live in a world awash with vulgarity and self-obsession, and they don’t have the proper moral compass to steer clear of them. Execrable rock videos, balloon boys, they’re both part of the bizarre society we have developed in which the only value that matters is to get noticed, not to have anything worthwhile to say.

One has to hand it to some librarians: they definitely know how to get noticed. They dress up trite gimmicks with glossy trappings and wave them in front of audiences of librarians, most of whom are good-hearted and desire to promote their profession – traits which blind them to the lack of substance behind these attention-seeking gimmicks. These librarians are “jazzed” about being librarians, one commenter noted, as if that’s at all important. Being “jazzed” is for some librarians apparently enough to excuse vulgarity and superficiality….Read entire post here:  http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/580000658/post/370050237.html?nid=4697

What are medical libraries to do? From the Countway at Harvard…

From JDD:  My last post had to do with the future of hospital libraries and librarians and Connie Schardt outlined what the MLA is doing.  This, from Harvard, addresses what libraries in medical schools need to prepare themselves to do. (If we/they are not already!)

Posted by Isaac (“Zak”) Kohane August 26, 2009 HERE in Countway’s blog…

This is not an abstract question about the future of libraries, although that is also an interesting question. It is a question about what the medical school accrediting organizations have determined. “The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to the M.D. degree in U.S. and Canadian medical schools. The LCME is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association.” and this is what they had to say (the bold face is mine for emphasis):

D.        Information Resources and Library Services

ER-11 The medical school must have access to well-maintained library and information facilities, sufficient in size, breadth of holdings, and information technology to support its education and other missions.

There should be physical or electronic access to leading biomedical, clinical, and other relevant periodicals, the current numbers of which should be readily available. The library and other learning resource centers must be equipped to allow students to access information electronically, as well as to use self-instructional materials.

ER-12 The library and information services staff must be responsive to the needs of the faculty, residents and students of the medical school.

A professional staff should supervise the library and information services, and provide training in information management skills. The library and information services staff should be familiar with current regional and national information resources and data systems, and with contemporary information technology.

[Revised annotation approved by the LCME in October 2007 and effective immediately.]

Both school officials and library/information services staff should facilitate access of faculty, residents, and medical students to information resources, addressing their needs for information during extended hours and at dispersed sites.

(This is taken from: http://www.lcme.org/functions2008jun.pdf found at:http://www.lcme.org/standard.htm
Hat tip David Osterbur.)

These are important recommendations and ones which foreshadow trends from the very near future. We have embraced this educational mission from access of electronic resources to teaching biomedical researchers how to perform bioinformatics-enabled research (see the bioinformatics nanocourses offered to all by Reddy Galli— details here ). The central question is whether librarian training will embrace the information technology that will be required to keep libraries current and relevant to their patrons. The answer to that question will determine where the future librarians are trained and that will in turn determine how central libraries remain to the academic mission.

MY question about all of us is will we librarians (and students and recent grads) embrace the idea of acquiring and advancing these new skills, and is the answer related to where we are in our career development?  Are we willing to take the time to learn this new stuff, and are we willing to wait for salaries to catch up that reflect a new breed of librarian??  Will acquiring new skills make us more employable or help protect our jobs and our libraries? I used to think YES, but am not so sure these days…

Read the blog at http://hmscountway.blogspot.com/

Confererence Report: Technology in Libraries: Providing Access, Linking Communities

by April Frost

Last Friday, I enjoyed the MLGSCA’s Technology in Libraries Symposium in Cerritos, CA. Here are some of the highlights:

Keynote: “The Evolving Library,” by Michelle Kraft, Senior Medical Librarian, Cleveland Clinic Alumni Library & author of The Krafty Librarian blog. Michelle spoke about the library as an ecosystem and discussed the two main types of library user groups, their diverse types of learning and information retrieval, and how they both use the same library. The GenX-ers and younger make up the Net Generation, who require technology, are comfortable with peer learning and learn by experimentation. This group includes students and is starting to include doctors (don’t mind noise). The Baby Boomers and older make up the Net Learners, who are comfortable with linear learning, following directions (or handouts), and do not need technology to achieve desired results. This group includes seasoned doctors, who are used to the traditional (quiet) library setting, in which they can read paper journals and articles. Accommodating these two groups, who have vastly different learning objectives, in one library, is possible because both groups are driven by food and prizes, even if different types of food and prizes are required for each group. By luring all users into the library, the librarian can then demonstrate and direct both groups of users to the information that suits them best. Michelle provided us with great examples and realistic approaches to reaching, and providing for, both groups.

Papers: The contributed papers were divided into two rooms. I chose the room with topics of: Using GoogleDocs to streamline collaboration, E-resources available on mini screens and mobile devices, and Using online instruction to teach evaluation skills. All papers were very well presented and provided a sampling of what is working in today’s medical libraries.

Posters: The posters were displayed in the atrium area outside of our meeting rooms. They were very impressive, and included many similar topics to the papers, including collaboration and training tools, as well as creating customized web pages that are based on each group’s needs.

Afternoon Speakers: There were two simultaneous afternoon speakers. I chose, “Online Health Communities in Social Media and Virtual Worlds,” by Patricia F. Anderson. Her presentation focused on how social networking can be used to reach homebound and caregiver groups, who may not normally be able to attend a traditional support group. She gave examples of how Flickr and SecondLife are being used to allow homebound users to participate in consumer healthcare groups, such as Autism and Cancer support, and applications for medical librarians within similar communities.

All presentation materials from the symposium will be posted on this site: http://www.mlgsca.mlanet.org/events.htm

Cerritos Public Library: After the symposium, I took a tour of the beautiful Cerritos Public Library. It opened in 2002, and has a theme for everyone! This Wikipedia article describes the library very well. There are photos available on the Library’s web site; you have to use the “Back” button to go through them. Other than almost being hit by a police car (I was in the crosswalk in front of the library, on foot!), I had a wonderful time.