Monday, December 10, 2012

Wrapping it up: Directions for 2013

Edit: Our brainstorming document of where we're headed - journal club! woohoo! 

Revisiting the beginning when our chat launched in June this year, the concepts of Sharing, Ideas, Medical & Knowledge are crystal clear as desired outcomes:

Last week in our free range discussion, collaborating across established hashtags was discussed.

This week, on Thursday December 13 (our last organized chat of 2012) at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern come ready to share with your fellow #medlibs on Twitter with descriptive URLs ready to include when applicable:

  1. What other hashtag chats would be good interprofessional opportunities to invite to #medlibs?
  2. What topics should we cover in these interprofessional #medlibs chats? 
  3. How can we encourage other medical librarians to participate in #medlibs chats?
  4. What topics would you like to discuss in 2013 on #medlibs chats?

If you can't make it please comment below with your ideas, and spread the word. Never participated in a Twitter hashtag chat before? Check out this overview and come on in, we're a supportive community.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Free range first Thursday

Edit: Transcript http://bit.ly/11O0WIA 

Over the past month we've served disaster information needs, explored libraries in social media and discussed continuing education in an online era after the last free range was all about Hurricane Sandy. This Thursday (December 6, 2012) at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern join us on Twitter for a #medlibs discussion about these topics or anything else you'd like. How are you putting the knowledge you've gained from our chats to use? Did you register for the April 2013 data management MOOC? (thanks for the link, @ultimatelibrarn) Join the conversation and let's find out!

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

Monday, November 26, 2012

Continuing Education in an Online Era

Edit: Transcript at http://bit.ly/V7R6wy 


What online continuing education (CE) opportunities are you pursuing these days? Are they meeting your/your career's needs? Why or why not? Have things changed for what we need from CE to hit the ground running now compared to the past? Inspired by Nikki's thoughts along these lines that she may or may not be able to pull her act together and write about on Tuesday night, and it sounds like Sally has some thoughts along these lines as well.

Come to the Thursday, November 29, 2012 #medlibs chat at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern as we explore more along these lines.

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

Monday, November 19, 2012

NO chat this week - Happy Thanksgiving!

That should have been obvious with the Thursday overlap, but just in case it wasn't here is the blog post saying it's so. We'll see you next Thursday, November 29th!




Monday, November 12, 2012

Medical Librar* in Social Media

Edit: Transcript available at  
Storify (curated transcript) http://sfy.co/dB9T

Website? Check. Facebook page? Maybe... is it your library's or your public relations department's? What  about Twitter? Are you using Twitter solely for your personal professional development (and fun)? As an automatic electronic news channel? Engaging with your users via their hashtag chats?

Come to the Thursday, November 15, 2012 #medlibs chat at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern as we explore together how things are evolving for medical librarians and libraries in social media, including these chats! 

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

Monday, November 5, 2012

Serving disaster information needs

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/TcBK98 
Curated Storify 

We are all at different kinds of libraries and have different groups we serve. But when disaster strikes, we have one thing in common – we have the skills necessary to meet the information needs of those groups.

Come to the Thursday, November 8, 2012 #medlibs chat at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern to share how you've assisted those you serve. The National Library of Medicine Disaster Information Management Research Center (@NLM_DIMRC) will be joining in on the conversation! You may want to review last week's chat which focused on emergency preparedness for libraries, or our brand new condensed Storify coverage of it, and our thoughts continue to be with libraries affected by Hurricane Sandy.

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

Monday, October 29, 2012

Free range first Thursday

Transcript available at http://bit.ly/YaxqLe 
Curated Storify  sfy.co/fB8w

Now that we've explored new horizons, covered our Chapter meetings and discussed what professional organization membership means to us, this Thursday (November 1, 2012) at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern join us on Twitter for a #medlibs discussion about these topics or anything else you'd like. How are you putting the knowledge you've gained from our chats to use? How did your organization fare during Hurricane Sandy? Join the conversation and let's find out!

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

Monday, October 22, 2012

What does membership mean to you?

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/SlXKzJ 

Wrapping up the celebration of National Medical Librarians Month, join us on Twitter for a #medlibs discussion on Thursday, October 25th at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern about Medical Library Association and/or Chapter and/or State and/or other library associations. Why are you a member and what benefits does it give you in return? What are you giving back? There are an increasing number of students and international participants on #medlibs, let's show them what is so awesome about these organizations and why they should consider joining!

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

Monday, October 15, 2012

Chapter conference chat

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/RG3FwY 

Continuing the celebration of National Medical Librarians Month, join us on Twitter for a #medlibs discussion on Thursday, October 18th at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern about your Chapter conference. Most (all?) of them will have happened by then... what was everyone talking about (besides drinks afterwards)? What ideas are you taking home and trying out? Come share with those who couldn't join in!

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

Monday, October 8, 2012

New horizons for medical librarianship

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/Rk7NCD 

Inspired by Donna Berryman during our brainstorming chat a while back and in celebration of National Medical Librarians Month, join us on Twitter for a #medlibs discussion on Thursday, October 11th at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern about...


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

Monday, October 1, 2012

First Thursday Free Range

Edit: About writing, indexing and more! http://bit.ly/OGxd1b 

Now that we're all about alternative reference models, embedded ourselves in librarianship and become expert searchers, this Thursday (October 4, 2012) at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern join us on Twitter for a #medlibs discussion about these topics or anything else you'd like. How are you putting the knowledge you've gained from our chats to use? Join the conversation and let's find out!

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

Monday, September 24, 2012

Expert searching

Edit: Transcript available at  

Now that we've embedded ourselves in librarianship, this Thursday (September 20, 2012) at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern join us on Twitter for a #medlibs discussion about expert searching! How do you liven up PICO or do you use a different strategy altogether? What teaching methods do you use for what audiences? Is it time for another database showdown like we had in July? Join the conversation and let's find out!

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

Monday, September 17, 2012

Embedded librarianship

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/VkPakX 

Building on last week's discussion of alternative reference models, this Thursday (September 20, 2012) at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern join us on Twitter for a #medlibs discussion about embedded librarianship. How have things evolved since the 2009 Embedded librarians: one library's model for decentralized service JMLA article? What resources are needed to support this service model? Join in the discussion!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Alternative Reference: What Works?

Edit: Transcript available at  

Join us this Thursday, September 13th at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern for a #medlibs Twitter chat with a discussion of alternative reference models inspired by
Are you still on the reference desk? All QuestionPoint all the time? Some mixture of both and more? Let's connect and share what is and isn't working, and see you there!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Free range first Thursday

Edit: Transcript available 

This week is the Twitter #medlibs chat free range discussion during the first Thursday of the month from 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern for an hour. What's on your mind? Some ideas from our neighbor to the north include

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

eBooks: Findability, Usability, and Everything Else

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/O7yrh4 


Welcome, this Thursday Michelle Kraft will act as moderator for our discussion about eBooks.  The chat will be August 30th at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern for approximately 1 hour.  Don't forget to use the hashtag #medlibs to follow the discussion.

We will be discussing anything have to do with the promises and problems of ebooks such as:
  • Findability -What are the best ways for patrons to find stuff? The catalog, A-Z lists, other?
  • Usability - How easy are they for patrons to use?
  • Usage - Are they getting used?  What is appropriate usage stats?
  • Portability and Devices - Where are people using them and on what devices?
  • Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) - Who is doing this and what are your results?
  • Anything else that might be interesting

New to Twitter and the #medlibs chat? Welcome! A refresher on how to participate in a chat using the Twitter hashtag is right here! and we look forward to welcoming you there.

Monday, August 20, 2012

2 months of #medlibs chats

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/Oa38kO  

This Thursday, August 23rd at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern, let's reflect on the 10 Twitter #medlibs chats we've had and discuss the future:
  1. Should we keep the chat going?
  2. Is Thursday at 6pm Pacific working for most folks who want to participate?
  3. Should we keep the chat weekly, twice monthly, other?
  4. What topics do we want to revisit or add this Fall?
  5. How can we encourage others to give the chat a try?



Monday, August 13, 2012

Classes & workshops vs LibGuides & online training this Thursday

Edit: Transcript available http://bit.ly/OlNuEK 
 
Towards the end of last week's chat about emerging roles for medical librarians, discussion went towards what from our already busy workloads we could change to welcome these new roles.

This Thursday, August 16, 2012 at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern join in the Twitter discussion on #medlibs to further explore the question: Are library workshops and classes the most effective use of our time? What are medical librarians doing with LibGuides and other online training and education resources? Come share your experience and network with your colleagues!

Need a refresher on how to participate on a Twitter hashtag chat? Help is right here, and we look forward to welcoming you there.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Emerging roles: Informationist and beyond

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/P09hkv 

This Thursday, August 9 2012 at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern join us for the #medlibs Twitter chat about emerging roles for medical librarians.

Are you one of the recipients of the new NLM Informationist Supplement Grants? We especially want to hear from you! How were you involved in the project design and application process? How will this fit into your existing workflow or will things be changing for your job? What continuing education and/or other training beyond your MLS/MLIS/MSIS are you bringing to the table? What advice do you have for other medical librarians who are interested in pursuing similar opportunities at their institutions?

What other emerging roles are we participating in out there? Let's network and learn from each other, see you Thursday night online!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Free Range First Thursday time!

Edit: We mostly continued the conversation from last time about EHRs and added UpToDate, posters, iPads and Olympics coverage at http://bit.ly/RfnzSv 

Tonight is the Twitter #medlibs chat free range discussion during the first Thursday of the month from 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern for an hour. What's on your mind - do you now have 9 MLA 2013 poster & paper presentations with 6 simultaneous conflicts? Did you catch Connie Schardt's reply on MEDLIB-L beginning with Wouldn't it be cool if MLA...built a professional issues web portal that brought together content, mentors and live chat to support librarians during their working day? 


Monday, July 23, 2012

Week six: Electronic health records

Edit: Transcript now available at http://bit.ly/MNGQbc , along with Alisha's first and second blog posts, also EHRs and Patient Safety - a reply to a #medlibs chat 
 
For Thursday, July 26th we are back to our regularly scheduled 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern. The topic is Electronic Health Records (EHRs), led by Alisha Miles (@alisha764)

To always know when #medlibs is and what we're talking about, please go to Schedule and add the handy new #medlibs calendar to your Google calendar now.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Week five: Trying a new time!

Edit: Transcript available at http://t.co/KVHk1fjr 

For Thursday, July 19 there will be a new time tried out at 2pm Eastern/11am Pacific! To always know when #medlibs is and what we're talking about, please go to Schedule and add the handy new #medlibs calendar to your Google calendar now. You don't want @eagledawg nudging you to join in again when she sees you tweeting off-hashtag during chat time, do you? :)

The topic is Disasters and Medical Libraries, led by Patricia Anderson (@pfanderson) -  Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires ... They seem to be everywhere these days, and they can happen anywhere. What if your library is effected by a disaster? What are the responsibilities of medical libraries during community crises? How can libraries prepare? How can medical librarians as individuals prepare?

Monday, July 9, 2012

Week four Thursday chat: Teaching with technology

Edit: Transcript available at 

Building on our First free range discussion last week, let's focus on teaching with technology on Thursday, July 12th at 6pm Pacific/9 Eastern!

Join us to learn from others who are exploring these resources and have URLs ready to share as they'll be pulled from discussion to include in Transcripts (see for last week's.) What have you replaced Meebo with for IM? Mobile optimized or apps for your online resources? What are the healthcare apps your new residents are asking for and you are scrambling to teach about?  Join in anytime by tweeting an introduction (doesn't have to be just at the top of the hour) and see you then!

Monday, July 2, 2012

First Thursday Freerange

Edit: I couldn't say it any better than this for the transcript of what our first 1st Thursday Free Range #medlibs chat was!


Due to a damaging weekend East coast derecho with continuing heat wave/no electricity for many and 4th of July holiday on Wednesday, it seems like now is as good a time as any to call for a Twitter #medlibs chat freerange discussion during the first Thursday of the month from 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern for an hour. What's on your mind? The Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act last week and what impact that has for healthcare and our roles in it? The role of Facebook in emergency communication and crowdsourcing to figure out who has electricity? Puzzlement over planking? Booze? Something else? Bring it all on!

Monday, June 25, 2012

Week two chat on Thursday: eScience

Edit: Transcript available at http://bit.ly/N9uVQk Storify emerging at bit.ly/NUhkAW

We had a great turnout for the inaugural Twitter chat last week and are going to stick with the same time of Thursday nights from here on out.

The topic for Thursday, June 28 2012 at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern is eScience thanks to a combination of survey interest and emerging conversation during the inaugural chat. Sally Gore (@mandosally), Head of Research and Scholarly Communication Services, Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, will be on hand to help us get from nebulous to knowledgeable about it! Edit: check out  the e-Science Portal for New England Librarians ahead of time. It won't kick you out for being from a different region!

We are sorry about that chat being around 3am for our European colleagues though. Unfortunately the poll results were very clear that a chat during North American business/European evening hours can't work out for the majority of respondents. Why not start up a #medlibs European time chat? It's very easy to add another author to this chat blog, run transcripts from #medlibs on Symplur and set an additional time in the calendar. Just let Nikki (@eagledawg) know!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Week one chat on Thursday

Edit: Transcript at http://bit.ly/KoFgHM, or a focused story arranged by topics covered is on Storify

The results are in!

When: Thursday, June 21st at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern (what time is that for me?)

Where: Wherever you happen to be on Twitter!

Who's on first? Herded Moderated by Nikki Dettmar @eagledawg

What's on second? The Abbott & Costello baseball sketch wasn't enough of a clue?

Let's warm up by discussing our top takeaways from the Medical Library Association meeting last month - What's sticking with you a month later?  What changes have you started exploring as a result of who you networked with or what you learned? What's next? 

I don't know who's on third, how does a Twitter hashtag chat work? 
  1. Watch #medlibs using your favorite third party platform, such as TweetChat, or go to search.twitter.com and enter #medlibs
  2. Participate by including #medlibs in your tweets. If you have a public account, others will see your tweets even if they don't follow you thanks to using the hashtag. 
  3. Relax! This isn't A Presentation and more like chatting over drinks after a meeting (one of you recommended some wine & I think that's a fabulous idea). Just dive in, we're all in this together! 
  4. If you're concerned about adding a lot of 'noise' to your Twitter account, feel free to start your tweets @medlibs (that's a group tweet account) but be sure to also include #medlibs
  5. Need more help? TweetChat is covered in this video

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

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