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:
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?
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?
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?
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’?
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?
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?
Are librarians still “custodians” or keepers of knowledge or has this role now passed to publishers? If so, where does that leave librarians?
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?
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?
“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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
Technology: “librarians must continually adapt to new formats”. Instead of adapting, should we be leading or collaborating in developments in this field?
Librarian stereotypes – help! Is this seriously still true? Anyone have any personal experiences of any of this? Do we inspire fear – timidly??
Nominations for new committee members takes place at every AGM (but may also be approved during the year). Download our nomination form here: HSLG_committee_membership_nomination_form
Cochrane and Evidence Synthesis Ireland are providing training from Wiley on the Cochrane Library on 29 September (Introduction) and 20 October (advanced) at 2pm, online: https://evidencesynthesisireland.ie/training/
Introduction course (29 Sept)
What’s in the Cochrane Library?
What’s new in the Cochrane Library?
How to run searches and browse content
How to set up alerts
Where to find help
Advanced course (20 Oct)
How to run advance searches
How to use the Search Manager
New PICO search
How to use MeSH
Also, from Evidence synthesis Ireland – Webinar, 12,00, 24 September 2020
In this webinar, the speakers will describe their approach to conducting mixed methods evidence reviews using two case studies. They will focus on how they design mixed methods search strategies, their use of machine learning via text mining for screening, and how they analyse and integrate qualitative and quantitative findings.
Speakers include:
– Louise Farragher, Senior Information Specialist, HRB Evidence Centre:
Louise Farragher is an information specialist in the Health Research Board’s Evidence Centre.
In the Evidence Centre, she leads a team of information specialists who work with researchers to design and implement appropriate search strategies to find published and grey literature evidence for evidence reviews of complex policy questions.
– Joan Quigley, Research Officer, HRB Evidence Centre:
Joan Quigley is a Research Officer in the Health Research Board’s Evidence Centre.
In the Evidence Centre she leads systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Previously, she worked as a health technology assessment consultant for UK and global pharmaceutical companies.
– Camille Coyle, Research Officer, HRB Evidence Centre:
Dr. Camille Coyle is a Research Officer in the Health Research Board’s Evidence Centre and an Adjunct Associate Professor in Trinity College Dublin’s Centre for Global Health.
In the Evidence Centre, she leads systematic reviews, and in the Centre for Global Health she teaches qualitative research methods and supervises dissertations. Previously, she worked as a health research consultant for various UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.
The HSLG committee would like to thank all who attended and presented at HSLG 2020. It was a great opportunity to share ideas and network with library colleagues. Here are some of the presentations.
To enable as many health librarians as possible to attend CPD events including virtual or in-person courses and conferences, the HSLG is offering bursaries to cover early-bird registration fees for members.
To apply, please complete the bursary form on our website and email it to us at contacthslg@gmail.com.
Note: Funds are restricted so early application is advisable.
The Health and Biosciences Libraries with Evidence for Global and Disaster Health (E4GDH) were to hold a one day pre-congress meeting on 14 August 2020.
Due to the cancellation of the IFLA congress in Dublin 2020. The satellite meeting has been postponed. The IFLA congress will now take place in Dublin in 2022.
Theme: “Health literacy: libraries and communities working together for health & wellbeing”
HBS and E4GDH are delighted to be collaborating with local partner The Health Sciences Libraries Group of the Library Association of Ireland on this event.
The theme of our combined satellite meeting is health literacy. We are interested in submissions that explore the issues surrounding health literacy, including equity of access to good quality health information; access to health information in multi-languages; issues relating to deliberate or unintentional misinformation; and solutions to prevent digital health inequalities.
Submissions considering how librarians contribute to increasing health information literacy, i.e. providing the skills to find, appraise and apply health information – will also be very welcome.
We invite presentations from a broad range of library sectors, as well as those from other health professionals, and those highlighting partnership working
The Satellite meeting theme ties in with our two recent IFLA publications:
Our forthcoming IFLA book – Growing community health literacy through libraries: sharing global perspectives – will be launched during the IFLA 2020 WLIC Congress.
[Pre-launch promotional flyer] [PDF].
Authors from both publications will be guest speakers at the Satellite Meeting.
Possible topics could cover but are not limited to:
Digital Literacy and equity of access to good quality health information through a variety of channels. “As information about health and illness is increasingly (and often exclusively) available in digital form, we face a new public health challenge – digital health inequality.” Gann B (2019) “Transforming lives: Combating digital health inequality” IFLA Journal 45(3)
Health information awareness challenges. These may include fake news, deliberate disinformation and unintentional misinformation or misrepresentation.
Multilingual health information access and health literacy. According to the WHO most of the world’s population has little or no access to relevant and high-quality resources to inform their health and well-being because it is in English. Adams P & Fleck F (2015) “Bridging the language divide in health” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 93(6)
Collaborations between library and information professionals and other stakeholders/partners to address challenges such as those listed above.
