Journal club meetings

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, Thursday 7 September 2023 – Defining artificial intelligence for librarians

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 7 September 2023, 11:00 – 11:45am

Hosted by Noeleen Murtagh, Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Article: Cox, A. M., & Mazumdar, S. (2022). Defining artificial intelligence for librarians. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006221142029

Noeleen’s questions for discussion:

  1. Does your organisation have an Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy?
  2. The authors suggest 5 different types of use of AI in libraries, do you agree with these, or can you think of others?
  3. Do you see a role for your library with AI?
  4. Should librarians feel threatened by AI?
  5. Do you see an impact of AI on equality and diversity in the library profession?

To view a PDF of Noeleen’s presentation please click this link: Journal Club Presentation 07/09/2023

Below are some additional resources mentioned in the discussion:

What is artificial intelligence and how is it used? | News | European Parliament (europa.eu)

CILIP AI hub – CILIP: the library and information association

Journal club meetings

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, Thursday 4 May 2023 – Searching Errors in Systematic Reviews

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 4 May 2023, 11:00 – 11:45am

Hosted by Fiona Lawler, Our Lady’s Hospice and Care Services.

Article: Briscoe S. (2023). Errors to avoid when searching for studies for systematic reviews: A guide for nurse researchers. International journal of older people nursing, e12533. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/opn.12533

Fiona Lawler’s Suggested Questions:

  1. What are your overall thoughts of the paper and can you identify with the list of common search errors covered in the commentary?
  2. Do you have much involvement supporting researchers in the development of search strategies for systematic reviews or any other types of literature reviews? What are the main issues/challenges that you face?
  3. Do you have personal experience of reviewing search strategies for peer review? e.g. using the PRESS checklist
  4. What further steps can we, in the HSLG community, take to support researchers in avoiding search errors?
  5. Any other thoughts, ideas?

To view a PDF of Fiona’s presentation please click this link: HSLG Journal club presentation 04/05/2023

Journal club meetings

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, Thursday 1 December 2022 – Data privacy in our libraries

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 1 December 2022, 11:00 – 11:45am

Data tracking in research: aggregation and use or sale of usage data by academic publishers (DFG, German Research Foundation) 28 October 2021: Click to access detentracking papier PDF

Hosted by Caitriona Lee, Health Research Board

For a PDF of Caitriona’s presentation, including some very useful references and sources for further information please click the following link: HSLG_Journal_Club-Data_Privacy_in_our_libraries

Questions to ponder

  • What level of awareness do we individually and collectively as a profession have of the issues of data privacy described in this report?
  • What level of awareness do we need to have, and how much IT knowledge do we need to understand what is in question?
  • What choice can health librarians realistically have on this issue given that 1) we usually have little control over many IT-related questions, and 2) we have to supply e-journals and e-books to our readership.
  • We probably trust our vendors with our data, but do we know what they do with it?
  • There has been quite a lot of coverage of this topic in the literature from public and academic librarians but not much from health – are there reasons that health librarians might not write about this?
  • Is there an expectation that privacy is in practice a thing of the past – that to use any online resources, a person must accept being tracked not just by the library and the vendor but by third parties who purchase the data. Is the philosophy of privacy as a right a fading idea – that as long as purchasers of user data do not leak the data or harm the user directly, they are entitled to track users around the net?
  • We typically give library users information about data protection and use of cookies on our library websites – do we think the users read the notices, understand what is implied and perhaps change their cookie settings, or do we all just click OK to all and go straight to what we want?
  • This paper is from Germany but a lot of the work on this topic has been published by American librarians – are we less at risk in Europe with our data protection laws, or do we assume we are?
  • If this is the current state of play, what data will the publishers/vendors/conglomerates look for next?
Journal club meetings · News

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, Thursday 23 June 2022 – Bibliotherapy & Health Libraries

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 23 June 2022, 11:00 – 11:45am

Article: Tukhareli, N (2017) Bibliotherapy-based wellness program for healthcare providers: using books and reading to create a healthy workplace, Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association. 38(2) Available at: DOI: https://doi.org/10.5596/c17-010

Bibliotherapy presentation_HSLG_VJC_June_2022 by Michael (in slideshow mode – click images for links to useful resources (or right-click image and ‘open link’))

Michael Doheny’s suggested questions:

  1. What is your overall reaction to the article and the idea of a “Healthy Reading” section in a medical (or other) library?
  2. What are your thoughts on the extension of such a section into staff and patient support and collaboration with other mental health support staff?
  3. Should all medical libraries have a “Self-Help” section for patients and staff? Do you feel it could work for your library?
  4. What steps would be needed to develop a healthy reading (and /or bibliotherapy club) at your library?
  5. What resources can librarians employ to develop such a collection, national book lists, local counsellors / doctors / own expertise based on library stats and book reviews?
  6. Could a Library Bibliotherapy service/ club, compliment a Healthy reading book section?
  7. Any other thoughts, ideas, discussion…
Journal club meetings · News

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 3rd March 2022 – The Lean Librarian

HSLG Virtual Journal Club, 3rd March 2022, 11am – 11.45am

Article: Nyberg, R. (2017). Lean Knowledge Management at Vantaa City Library. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/1653/1/230-nyberg-en.pdf

Liis Cotter’s suggested questions:

  1. Library as a competitor – are we competing for each and every customer?
  2. Consider culture change – how open are we to introduction of improvements?
  3. Notice waste – is there any “waste” in your library? How do you recognise it and what do you plan to do about it?
  4. Can you think of an aspect of your service you would like to change?
Journal club meetings

HSLG Virtual Journal Club 16 September 2021 – Fake news

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

Journal club meetings

HSLG Virtual Journal Club 24 June 2021 – reflective practice

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

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??