THREE INTERESTING RESOURCES: One for law librarians, two for medical librarians

Real Lawyers Have Blogs: Law Blogs, Blawgs, Law Firm Marketing is produced by Kevin O’Keefe, founder of Lexblog, Inc. and former trial lawyer. His goals in blogging are: “to get people the legal help they need, to connect people in need of a lawyer with the most appropriate lawyer, to help lawyers, and to improve the image of the legal profession.” It’s a very professional looking blog, with legal news, links to “in-depth information on blogs and their marketing potential,” and links to other law and lawyer blogs. Although it isn’t aimed at law librarians, it’s one you should at least add to your RSS feed.
URL: http://kevin.lexblog.com/

The MLA Essential Guide to Becoming an Expert Searcher, by Terry Ann Jankowski, Neal-Schuman, 2008, ISBN 978-1-55570522-7, US$65.00. I haven’t seen a copy yet, but it looks like it would be a good resource for almost anyone. It includes a self-evaluation tool to “find out where you are on the novice-to-expert continuum,” an interview checklist, examples of librarian-user interactions, “practical guidelines for deciding what resource to start with,” tips and tricks, reviews of health-related databases, and exercises.
URL: http://www.neal-schuman.com/bdetail.php?isbn=9781555706227

Also new from Neal-Schuman and MLA is Answering Consumer Health Questions by Michele Spatz (2008, ISBN 978-1-55570532-6, US$65.00). “Spatz outlines the most common inquiries and behaviors of health information searchers and the most useful go-to resources.” There are “templates and forms and tips on everything from setting up the reference desk to encourage confidential inquiries to using body language to signal your availability….” Spatz also includes sections on ethics; legal issues; email, virtual, and telephone reference; marketing, and even job stress. Again, I haven’t seen the book, but it looks really great.
URL: http://www.neal-schuman.com/bdetail.php?isbn=9781555706326

WHO BLOGS?

eMarketer has release a report on the demographics of US bloggers.

Nearly 70 percent are white, 20 percent Hispanic, 12 percent African-American, and just under 4 percent Asia. They average 37.6 years of age, 14.3 years of education (that is, 2 years of college), and income above US$55,800. (Based on a survey of people 18 years of age or older "who regularly or occasionally write in a blog."

They predict the following:
2008: 25.2 million bloggers, 94.1 million blog readers (50 percent of Internet users)
2009: 28 million bloggers, 104.7 million readers (54 percent)
2010: 30.9 million bloggers, 116.1 million readers (58 percent)
2011: 32.8 million bloggers, 135.6 million readers (64 percent)
2012: 34.7 million bloggers, 145.3 million readers (67 percent)

I wonder what the comparable numbers for librarians would be? Does anyone know of any research in this area?

URL: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006293

GOOD TRAINING RESOURCES FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE, REFERENCE, AND MARKETING

I just found the Houston Area Library System's training site. They have three great training "courses," one on customer service, one on reference, and one on marketing. They are easy to use and understand. Not too in-depth, but worth a look.

URL: http://www.hals.lib.tx.us/

ANOTHER GREAT ISSUE OF COMPUTERS IN LIBRARIES

Even without Kathy Dempsey at the helm, Computers in Libraries is still pub]lishing great stuff--way to go, Dick (Kaser, new editor).

The first goodie is an article on redesigning your web site, The Secret to Patron-Centered Web Design: Cheap, Easy, and Powerful Usability Techniques by Erica Reynolds of Johnson County (Kansas) Library. The emphasis is teamwork and listening--to both customers and staff.

Cassi Pretlow [Denver (Colorado) Public Library] lists 10 Web Tools to Create User-Friendly Sites. She includes old favorites and some neat new ones like Browsershots, to check how your site looks on various browsers (http://www.browsershots.org).

Finally, read Fast and Easy Website Tuneups by Jeff Wisniewski [University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania] to get some great ideas. You can read this one online for free at http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jun08/Wisniewski.shtml.

USING GOVERNMENT MONEY TO RECRUIT NEW LIBRARIANS--WORTH THE MONEY?

There’s a very interesting article in the most recent issue of the MLA newsletter about the US Government’s funding of various projects to recruit more people into librarianship. As part of the Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarians Program, the Institute of Museum and Library Services has handed out over seven million dollars in grants to various library schools. I can’t help but wonder if this will help.

The University of Illinois, Syracuse University, and University of Pittsburgh have received nearly a million dollars “to increase the diversity of and access to LIS course offerings.” The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was awarded over a million dollars; first “to study the career patterns of LIS graduates” (only in North Carolina) and then “to recruit 2 cohorts of medical students into a new dual-degree master’s program” (LIS at UNC and a medical degree from Duke University). Johns Hopkins University and seven other academic medical libraries are collaborating “to increase the number of underrepresented minorities entering the health information professions.” The University of Arizona recruited “48 Native American and Hispanic students to a master’s LIS program as part of its Knowledge River Initiative” and “to help [24 Native American and Hispanic high school students] develop valuable abilities such as leadership, professional contribution and community service…[and] opportunities to interact with library leaders.” Simmons College has received money “to establish a unique doctoral program in management leadership…to prepare 15 full-time posts for LIS students working to move into senior leadership.” The American Library Association’s Office for Diversity was given money “to double the number of underrepresented master’s in library science students from 105 to 210 in its Spectrum Initiative program.” Vanderbilt University had 15 students in a “model internship program.” Texas A&M University received money “to pilot a recruitment and teaching model to recruit 10 diverse undergraduate students into health sciences librarianship.”

So, there’s money for minorities, for studying the careers of librarians, a new doctoral program, and even for high schoolers. But, does any of this actually add to the profession? Are we creating new librarian for positions that don’t exist (because the boomers aren’t retiring because of the poor economy)? Will these new librarians make a difference? Will the pre-librarians actually enter the profession—and find jobs—and make a difference?

What are we getting for our money? Is this the right way to go about adding to and improving the profession? What do you think?

Citation: Shoevel, Evelyn, Recruitment of Librarians for the 21^st Century: An Institute of Museum and Library Services Initiative, MLA News (405):15-16, May 2008.

Minority Health Archive

The Minority Health Archive, created in collaboration with the Center for Minority Health and the University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh, is an online archive of print and electronic media related to the health of the four nationally recognized minority groups: Blacks/African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders.” It includes materials on general health, current research, or health disparities among these groups. Information may appear as journal articles, journal articles, web-based materials, government documents, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, conference papers, course outlines, events/presentations, images, pre-prints, or theses and dissertations. The archive is free, but you must register to add to it.

URL: http://minority-health.pitt.edu/

PALLIATIVE CARE WEBSITE, AUSTRALIAN STYLE

"CareSearch is an online resource of palliative care information and evidence. All materials included in this website are reviewed for quality and relevance." It is sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and in cooperation with Flinders University, Adelaide.

The site is divided into: what is palliative care? for patients and families, finding services, clinical practice, finding evidence, education, research resources, and professional groups. There are quick links for those working with indigenous populations and for general practitioners.

I'm not a medical librarian, so I can't judge the content, but it looks good and useful--even for those outside Australia.

URL: http://www.caresearch.com.au/

GREAT NEW SEARCH ENGINE--MIDDLESPOT

Middlespot is a really neat new search engine. You enter a term (or terms) and you get both a list of hits and a mosaic of screen shots. If you click on the screen shot it takes you to the cite/site (unintentional pun). That in itself is nice, but what I like is that I found links that I'd never seen before. I searched on my name (of course) and on "one person library" and "solo librarian" and was amazed at the results.

There are other nice features, such as being able to store individual results on your personal workpad and share that workpad with others. It is sponsored, but the ads are very inconspicuous. That makes Middlespot free, which we all like. There's a tutorial slide show to help you get started but you don't really need it. The only negative I could find is that there's a limit of 75 citations per search, but if you don't find something in the first 75 hits, you're probably not going to find it anyway.

URL: http://www.middlespot.com/

TOOLS FOR MENTORS AND MENTEES

The Central New York Library Resources Council (Syracuse, New York, USA) has put up a wonderful Mentoring Toolkit. Included is a definition of mentoring, common questions from mentors or mentees, a memo of understanding form between a mentor and a mentee, additional activities that mentors and mentees can do together, and a link to other resources from the Council. Thanks to CLRC and the Federal Institute of Museums and Library Services who provided the money to develop this resource.

URL: http://www.clrc.org/mentoring

CANADIAN CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATION WIKI

The Toronto Public Library Consumer Health Information Service has put together a wiki “to help you find reliable, understandable health information for you and your family.” The site includes information on locating reliable health information, links to various resources, a browsable list of over 500 current information files held by the library, several health FAQs, and toll-free number for various Ontario health services and organizations. Some of the site is also available in French. Looks to be pretty useful.

URL: http://chis.wikidot.com/

FREE DOWNLOADABLE POSTERS

The State Library of Iowa has several downloadable posters with “fantastic photos and quotes [that] can be used by any library—no need to customize.” Most were developed with a grant by the Illinois State Library using funds provided by the federal Library Services and Technology Act.

Some of the ones available are Can't judge a book by its cover! (teen with orange hair) Who would have thought there's actually cool stuff here? (for teens) Books are good for young children...and not just for teething. (for preschoolers) For people who like to read the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (nonfiction) You mean it...we're really going to the Library? (toddler) Today's Library. Think More. Summertime...and the reading is easy (for adults) He is Into Needlepoint (tattooed man) Tutor doesn't have to be a scary word Young Latino man (in Spanish) Family Destination (in Spanish) Hot days. Cool books. Great prizes. Young girl in star-shaped sunglasses. We think your question deserves more than, "Uh, I think that might be, like in aisle four?" (to highlight helpful staff) It's okay if you don't know what URL stands for. Really. My Library is the Greatest Because... (download and print, let customers write their comments on why they value their libraries, great information for annual reports, budget presentations, etc.)

URL: http://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/tell-library-story/Props/posters

TRAVEL DIARY TOOL

I just happened on TravelPod Community, a neat tool to let you create a travel blog, complete with photos, that you can share with others. You can add to it while you’re on a trip and notify friends and family that there’s something new. It also makes a map of your trip and keeps track of all the places you’ve blogged on your own personal world map. And of course you can look at other people’s trips for ideas and recommendations. I’ve one trip so far, to Africa in 2005, but I plan to use it for creating trip reports in the future.

URL: http://www.travelpod.com

SPEECHMAKER’S AID

CuePrompter.com is a free utility that can turn your computer into a teleprompter, so you can be just like all the politicians and celebrities. I got it to work with Firefox, but it is best with Internet Explorer. You can change the size of the type and the scrolling speed. What a neat idea!

URL: http://www.cueprompter.com

MS. OPL IS MOVING

My husband and I are moving back to Champaign, Illinois. I grew up there and got my library degree at the University of Illinois and my husband got his B.S. there. We leave Cleveland on 7 May 2008. My email will remain the same, but my new address and phone are 830 Sedgegrass Drive, Champaign, IL 61822-2024, 1-217-355-9071.

Go Illini!

HAVE YOU TWINED YET?

I’ve just started using a new social network called twine. Yes, another one. But this one seems a bit easier to use—there’s an applet you can put on your browser bar that let’s you add a page to your list immediately. You can even share it with others (either individuals or twines—interest-based sub-networks). I’ve added a link to this blog to my twine stuff.
There are a few library-related twines already: social networking, Web 2.0, ready reference, medical libraries, and information commons (a place to share information, not about the physical space). It would be nice if we had more librarians on the network. You need an invitation to join—it’s still in beta (but very full-functioned already). Check the home page for instructions.

URLs: http://www.twine.com/

SOME REALLY GREAT TAG LINES FOR MEDICAL LIBRARIES

When I was working as a corporate librarian, my boss accidentally created my tag line, or slogan—“The Bailey Library—it’s more than you thought!” If you don’t have a creative boss and/or haven’t come up with a tag line yourself, here are some to think about from Amy Frey [Hospital for Special Care, New Britain, Connecticut, USA], editor of National Network, the newsletter of the Hospital Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association (v. 32, no. 3, p. 3, April 2008). They come from some of the HLS members; I’d suggest locating the “owner” (by Googling the phrase) before adopting one of these.

Information today…for smart health care decisions tomorrow
The information you trust
A resource and a refuge
Your link to health information and more
Supporting education and research to foster clinical excellence
Quality information for quality health care
Solving your problems; saving your time
Check it out
Got a question? Step right up, open wide and say ahhhh…
Navigating the maze: health information for the busy consumer

One slogan I just found (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,17689-page,1/article.html; but it’s other places on the Web, too) is Stop searching; start finding; ask a librarian!

A GUIDE TO THE MEDICAL LITERATURE FOR STUDENTS—AND EVERYONE ELSE

A Student’s Guide to the Medical Literature “has been designed especially for medical students, but it can be used by anyone who wants a guide to the medical literature.” It has almost everything you might need, including: a tutorial on a 4-step approach to reading medical literature; search strategies and links to “best” Web sites; “a guide to critical appraisal of journal articles;” an interactive glossary with statistical terms hotlinked; calculators for outcome measures; and a list of useful references. There’s even a version to use on a Palm or pocket PC. This was a fourth-year medical school project of Katherine McLucas [University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, USA], and is being kept up by the librarians there.

URL: http://grinch.uchsc.edu/sg/

SCHOOL LIBRARY WIKI

WebTools4u2use is a new wiki for school library media specialists. It was created by two Ph.Ds from the University of Central Florida, Tampa. “Much of the information is the result of a survey conducted in 2008 of over 600 school library media specialists about their knowledge and use of Web-based tools….” There are sections on audio and podcasting, blogs, calendars and to-do lists, drawing/charting/mapping tools, photo tools, portals and Web pages, presentation, quiz and polling, RSS feeds and aggregators, social bookmarking, social networking, video and video sharing, wikis, word processing, and more. It looks like could be a useful resource.

URL: http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/

HOW TO CONVINCE YOUR BOSS TO SEND YOU TO A CONFERENCE

Just in time for conference season, here is a post from PubCon (sponsor of a major IT conference) on Top Tips to Get Your Boss to Send You to a Conference. Although it is written for IT-types (geeks), it has some good tips for anyone.

For reasons that escape me, but probably make sense to an IT person, it starts at the end with "post conference deal sealers," then covers your presentation to the boss or staff after the conference, what you do when you get back, how to get the most out of the conference, and selling your boss before you go. It's worth a read.

URL: http://www.pubcon.com/blog/index.cgi?mode=viewone&blog=1188320040

INNOVATIVE (PATIENT) CARE WEBSITE

If your hospital administrators are looking for ideas for better health care delivery systems—and who isn’t?—then this website may be of some help. Innovative Care Models “provides detailed profiles of 24 successful care delivery models…developed as part of a research project conducted by Health Workforce Solutions LLC and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.”

The models are divided into acute care, bridge continuum, and comprehensive care. The ten acute care models range from ones for a small (12-bed) hospital to ones for medical/surgical nursing teams and patient-centered care [shouldn’t all care be patient centered??]. The ten bridge continuum models include “hospital at home,” chronic care, and “the little clinic.” There are only four models under comprehensive care: one for rural care, the Evercare system, independently living for the elderly, and the values-driven system.

Each model is carefully chosen and is “intended to serve as a starting point in the development and propagation of innovative care delivery models” and includes an overview, background, key elements, implementation and replications, results, lessons learned, a leader profile, discussion board, and links to relevant resources. Organizations are encouraged to submit their own best practices.

URL: http://www.innovativecaremodels.com/