Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Journal de l'Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada
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Demonstrating library value: the development of a customizable Library Value Planner
No full textBackground: Library professionals in the health sciences sector need to strategically plan and map out library services. Each library and their parent organization have unique needs and service offerings.
Objective: To develop an adaptable Library Value Planner (LVP) tool based on the Levels of Library Service benchmarking document developed by the Health Science Information Consortium (HSIC) that can be used for (i) strategic and operational planning and (ii) mapping out needs for implementing new library services in individual contexts.
Methods: This project involved: (i) searching the literature; (ii) analyzing current trends and best practices in Canadian health libraries; (iii) updating and renaming of the Levels of Library Service document; (iv) drafting and disseminating a French and English survey; (v) leading French and English focus groups; (vi) analyzing the feedback received from the surveys and focus groups, and (vii) revising the tool based on this feedback.
Results: The results from the surveys and the focus groups showed that participants were satisfied with the versatile nature of the LVP. Some respondents expressed concerns about the formatting of the LVP and others were not sure how and when the LVP ought to be used. This feedback highlighted the need to develop and disseminate education for library professionals about the tool.
Conclusion: The CHLA/ABSC Standards Standing Committee developed a flexible and robust tool that, when paired with education, can be used to advocate and demonstrate the value of library services in the health sciences
Mapping the bioinformatics resource landscape: an analysis of LibGuides across Canadian universities
No full textIntroduction: The initial introduction of LibGuides created a seismic shift in bioinformatic information dissemination. This study reviewed bioinformatics LibGuides from Canadian universities to establish a consistent overlap of frequently recommended materials that would spell out a canon of bioinformatics resources.
Methods: We undertook a manual review of the 11 bioinformatics-specific LibGuides created by Canadian university libraries.
Results: We found four (n=4) LibGuides focused solely on bioinformatics and seven (n=7) guides with subsections dedicated to bioinformatics. Overall, there were 566 resources distributed across 11 LibGuides, with little overlap across guides. Most (n=440) were distinct resources. The most common resource type was database and the most frequently appearing resources (n=5) were BLAST Database, Protein Data Bank, and PubMed.
Discussion: We identified clear variations in the intended audience for these subject guides, as well as commonalities across all 11. The diversity of listed resources reflects the diversity and interdisciplinary nature of bioinformatics. Despite this variety of resources, we observed a uniformity in those resources’ funding or hosting, as they are often American in origin. This now represents a concern for librarians and other information professionals when it comes to using and teaching bioinformatics resources
Undermind.ai (product review)
No full textUndermind.ai is a worthy, niche competitor in the AI search space, and researchers will benefit from using it. For health sciences librarians, it offers an AI powered way to start a literature review in biomedicine, and to find highly relevant (seed) papers in support of knowledge syntheses. The system’s slow response time limits its utility in some contexts, despite helpful summaries, match scores, and a final report. Similar to Elicit.com, Undermind is a sophisticated option for researchers, and represents the future direction of AI search tools. Users should weigh buying a subscription and the platform’s shortcomings against the time savings offered by the final report
