Author: HSLG

Events

ISSG search filter resource webinar with Julie Glanville

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The InterTASC Information Specialists’ Sub-Group (ISSG) search filter resource is a website which identifies and provides access to search filters for finding specific methods. Search filters, to find studies of a specific design, are an essential tool in searching for evidence. Broader, more sensitive search filters are useful in identifying studies for evidence syntheses such as systematic reviews and in guideline development and more precise, specific search filters are useful for answering clinical questions.

The ISSG website has undergone recent development and a webinar, presented by Julie Glanville and hosted by the HSLG on 20 January 2022, gave a tour of the site and described existing and new features.

ISSG PowerPoint presentation by Julie Glanville

ISSG Presentation from Zoom webinar (33 minutes):

Julie Glanville is a qualified librarian who has worked in systematic reviews for more than 25 years and is an independent consultant focusing on information retrieval for systematic reviews. From 2008 to June 2020, Julie was Associate Director of York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) and coordinated its information and review services. Before 2008, Julie was Associate Director and Information Service Manager at the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD), University of York, for fourteen years. Julie is a co-convenor of the Cochrane Information Retrieval Methods Group and a co-author of the Cochrane Handbook chapter on searching for evidence.

HINT

HINT – Winter 2021

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We have a new issue of our newsletter HINT (Health Information News & Thinking)

Download HINT Winter 2021

Contents:

  • A Christmas message from the HSLG by Niamh Lucey, p.2
  • IFLA Congress 2021 by Mary Dunne, p.3
  • Research and information intersection: All research starts with a question by Bernard Barrett, p.9
  • New beginnings for two HSE libraries by Shauna Barrett and Linda Halton, p.10
  • L2L Joint Digital Badge 2021: Experiences of health sciences librarians by Maura Flynn, p.14
  • How to add bookmarks & internal hyperlinks to a Word/PDF document by Niamh O’Sullivan, p.16
  • LITE reading (Library, Information, Technology & Evidence) by Mary Dunne, p.18
  • Book review: Fever Dream by Samantha Schewblin by Elaine Peppard, p.24
  • Feature of frivolity! Tilda as a library: a thread on Twitter by Niamh O’Sullivan, p.25

For past issues go to our HINT archive

 

Events

HSLG AGM 2021

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The HSLG will be holding our AGM online on Thursday 2 December, 11–11.30am. To attend the AGM you need to be a member of the HSLG.

All HSLG members are encouraged to join the meeting by registering for free at the following address: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/hslg-agm-2021-tickets-183163485917

We would also ask you to consider becoming a member of the committee.

Minutes of the last AGM can be read here: HSLG AGM Minutes 2020

Membership of the HSLG is open to all LAI members. It entitles you to attend CPD events and the annual conference at a reduced rate. Members can also apply for funds to cover travel expenses to CPD events.

To become a HSLG member or to join the committee go to https://hslg.ie/about/membership/ and fill in a short online form.

Journal club meetings

HSLG Virtual Journal Club 16 September 2021 – Fake news

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HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 16 September 2021, 11am – 11.45am

Niamh O’Sullivan will be presenting on fake news, guided by the following two open access articles:

The Covid-19 ‘infodemic’: a new front for information professionals
Salman Bin Naeem and Rubina Bhatti (2020) Health Information and Libraries Journal doi:10.1111/hir.12311

Infodemic in a pandemic – critical thinking needed By Trish Patton, Assistant Librarian/Information Office, Irish College of General Practitioners
Feature article in Forum Journal for GPs, December 2020, ICGP.

Additional reading (not for discussion): An exploration of how fake news is taking over social media and putting public health at risk Salman Bin Naeem, Rubina Bhatti, Aqsa Khan (2020) Health Information and Libraries Journal https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12320

At the journal club, Niamh plans to discuss the following topics:

• infodemics, types of mis/dis information and the consequences of all three.
• The role health sciences librarians can play to stem the flow.
• The best tools and resources to combat fake news and mis/dis information.

And ask the following questions:

• How much impact can health sciences librarians realistically have on the spread of fake news?
• What resources and tools do you currently use to help users find authoritative information?
• How can we, in the HSL community, better prepare ourselves for the next infodemic?

Niamh’s presentation – Fake News presentation for HSLG Journal Club 16 Sept 2021

Useful websites and tools for evaluating health information (Source, Trish Patton article):
• Informed Health Choices: https://www.informedhealthchoices.org/
• iHealthFacts: https://ihealthfacts.ie/
• Be Media Smart: https://www.bemediasmart.ie/
• CRAP: https://sites.google.com/site/crapcraaptest/
• SPAT: http://www.spat.pitt.edu/
• DISCERN: http://www.discern.org.uk/

The recordings from this year’s LIR seminar series ‘Shining a light in a post-truth era’ have been added to the LIR website https://lirgroup.heanet.ie/index.php/2021/04/01/shining-a-light-in-a-post-truth-era/. The talks are also available on the LIR You Tube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRxbx2KELUTuV5ot_kv1Frw

HINT · Publications

HINT Summer 2021

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HINT 19(2) Summer 2021

Contents:

  • A Message to the Future: Rotunda’s Time Capsule (Elaine Peppard)
  • The Library Becomes a Place to ‘Spark’ and Make Ideas a Reality (Natasha Smith & Miriam Williams)
  • HSLG Virtual Journal Club Report: Reflective Practice in Health Sciences Librarianship (Breeda Herlihy)
  • Review of YHEC Zoom Training: Advanced Search Strategy Design for Complex Topics:
  • Strategy Development, Text Analytics and Text Mining (Anne Madden)  
  • Research and Information Intersection (3): Creating a Research and Information Needs Analysis (Bernard Barrett)
  • Tips for Writing in Plain English  (Niamh O’Sullivan)
  • Book Review: “The Adventures of China Iron” by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (Elaine Peppard)
  • LITE Reading (Library, Information, Technology & Evidence) (MaryDunne)
Conference

Call for speakers: HSLG conference – November 2021

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The HSLG are planning an in-person* conference on Thursday 25 November 2021 in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin.

The theme of the conference is ‘Open to change’

Now that you have saved the date, we would like you to take an active part by giving a presentation of 10 or 20 minutes.

We have so much to learn from each other, and this is the perfect opportunity to share.

Please send a short description of your presentation to contacthslg@gmail.com by Friday 3 September 2021.

* Please note: if the event cannot be held in-person, we will have a virtual conference.

HSLG conference 2021 word cloud

Journal club meetings

HSLG Virtual Journal Club 24 June 2021 – reflective practice

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HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 24 June 2021, 11am – 11.45am

Main article:  Miller JM, Ford SF, Yang A. Elevation through reflection: closing the circle to improve librarianship. J Med Libr Assoc. 2020;108(3):353-363. doi:10.5195/jmla.2020.938 http://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/938/

Secondary article: Miller JM. Reflective practice and health sciences librarians: engagement, benefits, and barriers. J Med Libr Assoc. 2020;108(1):17-28. doi:10.5195/jmla.2020.777 http://jmla.pitt.edu/ojs/jmla/article/view/777

Breeda Herlihy’s suggested questions:

  1. Reflective practice is practiced by many medical and health services professionals. Have you applied reflective practice in your work or if not, do you think there is value in applying reflective practice to health librarianship?
  2. Is reflective practice something best applied to a project e.g. collaboration on a systematic review rather than repetitive tasks e.g. sourcing journal articles?
  3. Three models are outlined in the article as useful frameworks for those new to reflective practice. Does anyone have experience with these or any others suggested in the supplemental appendix?
  4. The authors suggest that “talking with a colleague or mentor” or “talking with a group of people” are possible formats for reflective practice. Are these formats feasible in health libraries where librarians are often working on their own or leading up a unit unlike any others in the organisation? Could we explore establishing a reflective practice group or is the HSLG the manifestation of talking your practice through with a ‘group of people’?
  5. The article outlines four ways in which reflective practice can be used in health libraries. Can you envisage other scenarios where it might be useful?
Journal club meetings

HSLG Virtual Journal Club 21 April 2021 – Wikipedia Q&A

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HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 21 April 2021, 11am – 11.45am

Wikipedia Q&A

Wikipedia version of “Librarian”, available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librarian

Suggested questions by Anne Madden:

  1. Does this Wikipedia entry feel like it was written by a librarian? See also the “Talk” tab – any comments? Does it feel neutral or do pro or con librarian views come across?  If you were considering librarianship as a career, would this piece encourage or deter you?
  2. Are librarians still “custodians” or keepers of knowledge or has this role now passed to publishers? If so, where does that leave librarians?
  3. Looking at the ownership or sponsorship of the earliest libraries, how much credence should we give any surviving texts from this era? What may have been the driving force for creating these libraries?
  4. In the 1870’s, librarian tasks were considered to be “”Eminently Suited to Girls and Women.” Do you think this was based on convenience or related to the position of women in society at the time? Or for some other reason?
  5. “The CDC had earlier named librarians as key public health staff to support COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing.” What librarian skills would have led them to that conclusion? What image does it seem to portray of librarians?  Is it an image we should promote?
  6. Copyright isn’t mentioned either. In fact, in the 17th Century, a librarian was seen as a “scribe, one who copies books”.  Do librarians need more legal skills to address copyright and publisher licencing issues, and should they be the first port of call for these issues?
  7. If you were to add a section on Health Librarians, what additional roles or skills would you include? What non-typical skills are you called on to provide in your service?
  8. Looking at the list of “additional responsibilities”, are the core roles of librarians still intact? What does this list suggest about assumptions on librarian values?
  9. When it comes to librarian education, there is very little consensus across the globe. Steve McKinzie argues that an academic qualification is required for e.g. reference interview and doesn’t rate “special training”.  In our own experience, what has been the role of any academic qualification and of CPD/special training?
  10. Technology: “librarians must continually adapt to new formats”. Instead of adapting, should we be leading or collaborating in developments in this field?
  11. Librarian stereotypes – help! Is this seriously still true?  Anyone have any personal experiences of any of this?  Do we inspire fear – timidly??