What's in a name?

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/1pAMUTJ

What's In a Name?
Thursday, March 27, 2014 
9:00 pm Eastern/6:00 pm Pacific time 

Join your host Tara Brigham (@TBrigham) for a discussion on our job titles, our workplaces and ourselves this week. Never participated in a Twitter chat before? Check out this overview and come on in, we're a supportive community!

Q1 What are you called?

Q2 Does it describe what you do?

Q3 Do you wish you could change your job title? Or have you already?

Q4 Do you think our titles mislead people into thinking we only do certain things?

Q5 What about the place you work - has that changed? Was it once called a library and is now called something different?

Open mic chat this Thursday

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/1iKOOB2 

Many thanks to Dan Wilson for rescheduling this Thursday's 'Preparing for Twisters and Other Things that Go Bump in the Night' for Thursday, April 3rd.

Feel free to hang out and chat about what's on your mind this Thursday, March 20th at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific.

NIH Public Access Policy chat

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/1goGjL0 

NIH Public Access Policy
Thursday, March 13, 2014 
9:00 pm Eastern/6:00 pm Pacific time 

Join your host Yingting Zhang (@inforocks) for a discussion on the NIH Public Access Policy this week. Never participated in a Twitter chat before? Check out this overview and come on in, we're a supportive community!

The NIH Public Access Policy requires that all investigators funded by the NIH must submit or have submitted for them to the NLM’s PubMed Central (PMC) an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication. The final published paper must be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication in a manner consistent with copyright law. The final published paper must have a PMCID assigned within 3 months of publication. This policy is mandatory and applied to all NIH grants that were active in Fiscal Year 2008 (October 1, 2007- September 30, 2008) or subsequent fiscal years, and for all contracts awarded after April 7, 2008. Failure to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy could result in discontinuation of funding or no future funding.

For more information on NIH Public Access Policy, please visit its website: http://publicaccess.nih.gov/

Questions to consider:

• What impact does this policy have on your institution’s researchers? 
• As a librarian, what role do you play in assisting your institution’s NIH funded researchers to comply with this policy? 
• How long have you been involved in this role? 
• What approaches did you use to provide service in NIH Public Access Policy compliance? 
• Did you have any resistance from the researchers in terms of consulting, providing workshops, or acting as a delegate? 
• Do you submit manuscripts to PMC for your NIH funded researchers? 
• Do you also assist them by submitting to your institutional repository? 
• If yes, could you share your experience?

Networking and Job Hunting

Edit: Transcript at http://bit.ly/1e7LQkV 

Networking and Un/Underemployed Chat 
Thursday, March 6, 2014 
9:00 pm Eastern/6:00 pm Pacific time  

Are you a library school student or new grad disheartened by nearly every job posting that comes through on MEDLIB-L (one of the major listservs for the medical library field) having 3 years of experience in the field as a qualification?

Do you have those 3 years of experience yet are not finding job opportunities that are a good match?

Stuck on how to even get rolling on the whole job search process? Check out Dean Hendrix & Michelle Zafron's Hire Me! Finding a Library Job resource.

Need some tips on networking or a refresher on general career tips? (you may want to scan an April 2013 #medlibs transcript)

Join your host Nikki Dettmar (@eagledawg) on Twitter at #medlibs on Thursday, March 6th at 9:00pm Eastern/6 Pacific as we welcome Naomi House (@needalibraryjob), librarian and founder of INALJ.com (the I need a library job resource website).

Naomi founded INALJ in 2010 after finding her job on a listserv, wanted a way to share all jobs she and her classmates at Rutgers MLIS program found, and INALJ grew from these grassroots on up! Naomi reports that she has heard of free time but has yet to experience it herself.

To date over 1400 fans have found jobs and the website is going further international this year with jobs in France, Sweden, the Middle East/Arabian Gulf and South Africa. Speaking of international opportunities, keep an eye on the Medical Library Association International Cooperation Section's international job exchange.

Never participated in a Twitter chat before? Check out this overview and come on in, we're a supportive community!

Journal Club: Library and Information Services in Patient Care

Edit: Transcript available at http://t.co/NdceYG3W72 

#medlibs Journal Club Chat 
Thursday, February 27, 2014 
9:00 pm Eastern/6:00 pm Pacific time  

Our inaugural Journal Club chat seemed popular so we're going to try it again. In preparation for Thursday's chat, try to read the following article:

Marshall JG, Sollenberger J, Easterby-Gannett S, Morgan LK, Klem ML, Cavanaugh SK, Oliver KB, Thompson CA, Romanosky N, Hunter S. The value of library and information services in patient care: results of a multisite study. J Med Libr Assoc. 2013 Jan: 101(1):38-46. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.101.1.007. PubMed PMID: 23418404; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3543128. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23418404. Accessed February 21, 2014.

Why was this article chosen?

1. Anyone can read it FREE on PubMed Central. Who doesn't love free?
2. This article is pre-approved by the MLA for 1 MLA CE contact hour in the MLA Independent Reading Program (IRP).
3. Medical and Health Sciences Libraries should strongly think about the value of their library and information services in patient care. Aside from resources, what other services should we think about?

More information about the MLA IRP can be found here: http://www.mlanet.org/education/irp/. After our discussion, you can fill out he IRP Article Analysis Application: http://www.mlanet.org/education/irp/analysis.html and submit payment for CE credit. Please note that 3 MLA CE Contact Hours a year can be obtained with IRP.

Here's the framework I'd like to try out for Journal Club. As you read the article, consider the following in 131 characters. (The #medlibs tag does take some space and we need it to see what's discussed.)

• xx:05 or xx:10 - Facts: While we have to discuss Facts, it's rather boring to do so in the #medlibs discussion. However, let's consider the following - Were there any facts that stand out and interested you? What strengths/weaknesses did the authors identify that you picked up on? What implications did the authors find?
• xx:25 - Interpretation: This will be the bulk of our discussion. Did you agree with the Methods used in the research project? Did the interviews help or hinder the survey results? What did you find as strengths and weaknesses of the article yourself? Is there anything missing that the survey could have asked?
• xx:40 - Implications: After reading this article, can you apply these findings to your own work? Are there things that you can take away from this article and implement in your own setting? What would you like to do to enhance patient care in your setting?

Have a good 'read' and get ready to critique and discuss this article and how this may impact your work. I know from any and all previous Twitter chats we may diverge from the topic at hand and that's perfectly fine. I look forward to seeing you on Thursday's #medlibs chat!

Never participated in a Twitter #medlibs chat before? Check out this overview and join us, we're a supportive community. See you Thursday, February 27th 9pm EST/6pm PST.

Beyond the Happy Surveys: Library Instruction Assessment

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/1h31UIt

Evaluation of Library Instruction and Information Management Competencies

Thursday, February 20, 2014

9:00 pm Eastern/6:00 pm Pacific time

#medlibs Twitter chat

Join Marie Ascher (@mascher) for a discussion on evaluation and assessment of instruction and competencies.

We’re teaching but are they learning? Let’s talk about the different ways we are assessing our clientele’s ability to find, assess, use, and manage information. Are we still using “happy surveys” for evaluation or are we looking at outcomes? What works? Are any of us employing strategies at our institutions that might benefit our colleagues elsewhere? Anyone developed local instruments and tools? Are you using standardized instruments? And how do these work in the health sciences library setting? What’s working for you and do you have buy-in from your administration? How do you use the information you get from assessment to influence future sessions? Does assessment data help make the case for more information literacy in the curriculum?

Here are some basic resources worth looking at for this discussion.

ACRL Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic Librarians http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/objectivesinformation

ACRL Research Agenda for Library Instruction and Information Literacy
http://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/is/iswebsite/projpubs/researchagendalibrary

Blevens, C.L. Catching up with information literacy assessment: Resources for program evaluation. College & Research Libraries News 2012; 73(4): 202-206. http://crln.acrl.org/content/73/4/202.full

Love & Hate in Medical Libraries

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/1g3aKUz 

Love & Hate in Medical Libraries
Thursday, February 13, 2014
9:00 pm Eastern/6:00 pm Pacific time
#medlibs Twitter chat

One day you are Katrina and the Waves and you are "Walkin' on Sunshine" everything is good and falling into place.  Your searches are matching up just perfectly with MeSH, patrons are writing thank you emails, the CEO just praised you, and a new project is going like gang busters.  Life in the library is perfect.

BUUUT the next day (or week) you are Joan Jett growling, "I Hate Myself for Loving You" as nothing you do seems to be working.  PubMed keeps crashing, patrons are upset because you can't get the article from the  Journal of Big Toe Science written in Hindi rushed the same day and translated into English, your budget was cut more than expected, and administration or IT (take your pick) throws cold water all over your pet project.  Life in the library is like a bad relationship, where "I Love To Hate You" from Erasure can be the norm sometimes.

Like any career, medical librarianship has its ups and downs.  Friday is Valentine's Day and to get in the spirit the #medlibs Twitter chat group will be having fun discussing our love/hate relationships with medical librarianship. 

So grab some wine and chocolate, after all it is the day before Valentine's Day and curl up with your laptop and chat with us this Thursday 9pm eastern.  Don't forget to follow the word #medlibs to watch and participate in the discussion.  Lurkers and late arrivals are welcome.  Nikki Dettmar and I will be moderating and we look forward to seeing you online.

For more information or questions tweet @eagledawg or @krafty or drop us an email.
(post duplicated on http://kraftylibrarian.com/?p=2595)