GREAT ARTICLES FOR HOSPITAL LIBRARIANS

I’m looking at the latest two issues of the Journal of Hospital Librarianship™. There are some wonderful articles here. Sorry, they aren’t online as full-text, but you can see article abstracts at http://www.haworthpress.com/store/TOC.asp?sku=J186

Vol. 5, No. 3, 2005

Zipperer, Lorri, Mary Gillaspy and Roxanne Goeltz, Facilitating Patient Centeredness Through Information Work: Seeing Librarians as Guests in the Lives of Patients, pp. 1-15. The article provides a new and fascinating approach to working with patients.

Beales, Donna, Health Literacy: The Medical Librarian’s Role, pp. 17-27. You may not have time for this much involvement in making sure that patient literature is readable by the majority of your customers, but you should at least read this article.

Eberle, Michelle, Librarians’ Perceptions of the Reference Interview, pp. 29-41. A quick refresher on one of the basics of customer service.

Schott, Michael and Shelda Martin, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Adventures in Quacky and Alternative Medicine, pp. 43-54. How to tell the difference, how to explain it to patients, and some websites for more information.

McGraw, Kathleen and Angelique Jenks-Brown, Creating an Online Tutorial for Consumer Health Information Center Volunteers, pp. 55-63. The right attitude is important, as is asking the right questions. A poorly trained volunteer can do more harm than good.

Christopher, Kerri Ann, et al., A Partnership for Morning Report, pp. 75-82. A good case study.

Estabrook, Alexia, Leveraging Real Simple Syndication for Current Awareness, pp. 83-92. A good example of push technology.

Prottsman, Mary Fran, Current Awareness Tools, pp. 99-107. A list of websites to keep you up-to-date.

(This is nearly the whole issue—great job Carole—Carole Gilbert [Providence Hospital and Medical Centers, Southfield, Michigan] is the editor.)

Vol. 5, No. 4, 2005

Schneider, Janet, Information Therapy and Librarians: Quality Prescriptions for Health, pp. 73-80. A great idea to promote both the library and quality aftercare for patients.

Rosen, Marilyn and Angela Dixon, The Library Survivor Tour: “Having and Information Problem? We’ll Help You Lick It!” pp. 91-96. Another good library promotion idea—this time for an open house scavenger hunt.

(This wasn’t quite as good an issue. They even let in an article by yours truly.)

Siess, Judith, Strategic Planning for Hospital Libraries, pp. 37-49.