The historical development and current landscape of health library standards: A critical review.

BACKGROUND: Since the emergence of the first health library standards, a large body of literature has been published in this field, most often focusing on a particular standard, or set of standards. In the case of literature reviews, they have been usually partial and integrated into a broader study. OBJECTIVE: Identify and analyse national health library standards developed in different countries worldwide over the past 70 years, tracing their historical development and current status. METHOD: A comprehensive search of published literature was conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, Medline, LISA, and Google Scholar up to May 2023. The reference lists and citations of retrieved papers were reviewed. After screening and eligibility, a total of 112 papers were included in the final selection. RESULTS: More than 40 national hospital library standards published by a group of Anglo-Saxon and European countries were identified. In a chronological approach, the standards have been arranged by decades, from the 1950s to the present day, and the context of their appearance, their main contributions, and the relationships between them have been analysed. The major trends that have marked their evolution and development over time have also been established. CONCLUSION: Standards have a key role to play in the important challenge facing health libraries today to demonstrate the high impact and value of their services in the functioning of their organisations and in improving patient care.

Words matter: interpretations and implications of "para" in paraprofessional.

OBJECTIVE: While studies from the early 1990s show that library staff in nonlibrarian roles interpret the term "paraprofessional" as being demeaning to their roles, no recent research has been conducted on this topic. This study aims to investigate if health sciences library staff continue to have similar negative associations with the term "paraprofessional" and to determine if another term is preferred. METHODS: The authors conducted a literature review to identify terms used to categorize library staff in nonlibrarian roles. Using these terms, we created an online Qualtrics survey asking participants to rank terms by preference. We distributed the survey via thirty-six professional email discussion lists, including MEDLIB-L, thirty-three MLA chapter and caucus email discussion lists, DOCLINE-L, and ACRL-HSIG-L. Survey participants included full-time and part-time health sciences library staff in any nonlibrarian position. Responses from librarians were not accepted. RESULTS: Based on 178 completed surveys, "library staff" was the top choice of 49% of participants, over "other" (19%), "paraprofessional" (13%), "library support staff" (11%), "paralibrarian" (7%), and "nonprofessional" (1%). Although "library staff" was the top choice of participants across all ages, older participants (aged 45-75) preferred "library support staff" and "paraprofessional" to a greater degree than younger participants (aged 18-44), while younger participants preferred "other" to a greater degree. Out of 36 participants who specifically mentioned the terms "paraprofessional" or "paralibrarian," 32 (89%) of those comments were negative, indicating that the "para" in "paraprofessional" and "paralibrarian" is either insulting, inapplicable, or unfamiliar. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that although the term "paraprofessional" may not intentionally be used to demean library staff, many library staff interpret the term to be demeaning to their roles. Instead, "library staff," a more inclusive and less divisive term, was preferred by survey participants. In accordance with our results, we believe the term "paraprofessional" should no longer be used in library and information scholarly literature or professional discourse.

Health sciences librarian competency perceptions: a survey of national community college librarians.

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study was to determine how community college health sciences librarians perceive their proficiencies in the essential skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary for the practice of a health information professional as defined by the Medical Library Association (MLA) Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success. A secondary objective was to determine their current level of engagement with the professional community and identify barriers to further professional development. METHODS: A survey was posted to various email discussion lists, and volunteer follow-up interviews were conducted. RESULTS: The survey was completed by seventy-five community college health sciences librarians, and seven follow-up interviews were performed. Survey results indicated that community college health sciences librarians perceived themselves as having intermediate or advanced intermediate proficiency in the six MLA competencies. Survey and interview results indicated that community college health sciences librarians were engaged with the profession and faced the same barriers to continued professional development and continued education as other academic librarians. CONCLUSION: The results affirm that community college librarians who are responsible for collections and services in the health sciences meet the MLA competencies, which fills a gap in the literature regarding how these librarians develop professional competencies and are involved in professional associations. The results suggest that community college librarians can improve their skill levels by continuing their education and following trends in the literature.

Facilitating research amongst radiographers through information literacy workshops.

BACKGROUND: Despite a strong research presence in Lancashire Teaching Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust (LTHTR), allied health professionals from the organization are underrepresented in developing and publicizing research that is inspired by day-to-day clinical practice and staff experiences. Two LTHTR departments, Library and Knowledge Services (LKS) and Research and Innovation (R&I), came together to enable a group of staff to develop the knowledge and skills that they needed to access information and create new "home grown" research. CASE PRESENTATION: A clinical librarian and an academic research nurse created a research engagement program in the diagnostic radiography department at LTHTR, which included the development, delivery, and evaluation of 6 workshops. Sixteen individuals took part in these workshops, and data were collected on library usage, self-efficacy in information literacy, and research output before and after their delivery. Library membership increased by 50% among diagnostic radiography staff, literature search requests from this department increased by 133%, and all participants who attended at least 1 workshop reported an increased Information Literacy Self Efficacy Scale (ILSES) score. An increase in research activity and outputs was also attributed to the program. CONCLUSIONS: This project has resulted in a set of freely available workshop plans and support resources that can be customized for other health care professionals and has won several awards for its innovative use of departmental collaboration. Through the evaluation of the program from workshop attendees and non-attenders, we have identified impacts, outputs, and barriers to engagement in order to continue to deliver this content to other departments and embed a home grown research culture at LTHTR.

The library's role in countering infodemics.

Internet and communication technologies enable the creation of tremendous amounts of textual, graphic, and pictorial information. User-generated content published through personal web pages, blogs, and social media platforms has not only increased the amount of information available, but also expanded its reach. However, this ubiquity of information and empowerment of its creators leads to potentially controversial, futile, and inaccurate content circulating throughout the world. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, this can create false hope, fear, anxiety, harm, and confusion amongst information stakeholders. The World Health Organization recently applied the term "infodemic" to the COVID-19 pandemic. This commentary briefly discusses the current infodemic, its potential consequences, and the role of libraries-specifically health sciences, biomedical, and medical libraries-to help counter the COVID-19 infodemic. The discussion also has relevance for infodemics relating to other health and non-health affairs.

The Medical Library Association Data Services Competency: a framework for data science and open science skills development.

Increasingly, users of health and biomedical libraries need assistance with challenges they face in working with their own and others' data. Librarians have a unique opportunity to provide valuable support and assistance in data science and open science but may need to add to their expertise and skill set to have the most impact. This article describes the rationale for and development of the Medical Library Association Data Services Competency, which outlines a set of five key skills for data services and provides a course of study for gaining these skills.

Sharing your work by self-archiving: encouragement from the Journal of the Medical Library Association.

Self-archiving offers opportunities for authors to more broadly disseminate their work-both in pre-print form before its submission to a journal and in post-print form after its acceptance and publication in a journal. This editorial provides authors with guidance in navigating the rapidly changing options for self-archiving and affirms that the Journal of the Medical Library Association encourages authors to self-archive their work to boost its reach and impact.

The activist health sciences librarian.

At the remove of 2019, it is hard for many to imagine the sense of apocalypse that was palpable throughout the gay community during the 1980s and much of the 1990s. My professional career was launched at the height of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic, and at the time, saving lives through librarianship was my mission. This Janet Doe Lecture presents my personal story of activism and advocacy as a lens through which to consider the larger story of activism around social justice issues for the Medical Library Association, by groups such as the Relevant Issues Section, now the Social Justice Section, and by the work of past Doe Lecturers Rachael K. Anderson, AHIP, FMLA, and Gerald Oppenheimer. It is also the story of an association that has at times been deeply conflicted about the role of such activism in our niche of librarianship. With anchors in poetry and prose, this is a story of hope through justice, conveying a message of the essentialness of our work as librarians and health information professionals to the mission of saving lives.

Reflective practice and health sciences librarians: engagement, benefits, and barriers.

OBJECTIVE: Reflective practice is common in nursing and other professions. In the published literature, there is very little about librarians' use of reflective practice and no studies of health librarians' use of reflective practice. This study examined the use of reflective practice among health sciences librarians, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers to use. METHODS: This cross-sectional study replicated the 2014 study by Greenall and Sen, using a version of their questionnaire. The research population in this study was health sciences librarians who were members of the MEDLIB-L email discussion list, Medical Library Association (MLA) chapter email discussion lists, and/or MLA section email discussion lists. RESULTS: There were 106 librarians who completed the questionnaire, ranging from those new to the profession through midcareer to longtime librarians. While a high percentage of respondents considered themselves to be reflective practitioners (77%), a larger percentage (87%) reported that they consciously spent time reflecting. Respondents selected a wide variety of benefits of reflective practice, while barriers tended to center on lack of time, knowledge, skills, or experience. CONCLUSION: The diversity of benefits that respondents selected suggests that reflective practice can play an important positive role in librarians' professional development. Reported barriers to reflective practice suggest that there is a need for educational opportunities to develop skills.

Checking in with Your Document Delivery User Base: Creating, Implementing, and Learning from Client Satisfaction Surveys.

In 2017, Document Delivery Services (DDS) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Medical Library launched a customer satisfaction survey. The last time a survey of this nature was implemented was in 2009, before switching to ILLiad for the management of resource sharing requests. Due to the changing nature of content accessibility and online research methods, the DDS team felt that the time was right to survey their users again to seek feedback in support of service improvements. Questions were created to evaluate users' satisfaction and knowledge of the service and related resources. New survey results were compared where possible to those received in 2009 to determine if survey results had changed over time. Enhancements were made to the service based on responses received in the 2017 survey.

Assessing return on investment in health libraries requires lateral thinking.

This study considers the status of trends in value and impact research in health libraries and discusses how return on investment approaches such as social value analysis could be used. It uses an example, based on the Health Education England evaluation framework for health library and knowledge services, to outline how a theory of change can be developed. Health libraries now work more closely with health care staff and researchers in co-creating value and impact for improving patient care. Therefore, collection of data to assess social value should be drawn not only from performance data already collected by libraries, but also data collection by and for the health care organisation on evaluation of care quality and professional competence.

Extending medical librarians' competencies to enhance collection organisation.

BACKGROUND: Like many health library associations, the Medical Library Association (MLA) developed competencies guiding lifelong learning and competence for medical librarians. Medical librarians should be able to develop skills in identified areas. One MLA indicator of organising resources defines expert skill as the ability to develop classification and metadata schemes for unique collections. OBJECTIVES: This manuscript reviews available curricula for selected library programmes in the United States and Canada, along with professional development and informal opportunities for skill development to identify how medical librarians, who are not experts in cataloging or metadata and not employed as cataloging or metadata librarians, can progress in competency. METHODS: The authors reviewed library school and continuing education programming around metadata, along with answers from a pre-existing informal poll regarding cataloging and metadata roles in health sciences libraries. Data were collected and examined using descriptive statistics. DISCUSSION: Gaps and opportunities for education around organising resources are discussed, including library school courses, formal continuing education opportunities and informal learning (e.g. peer support networks, on-the-job learning). CONCLUSION: Education in organising resources should be created throughout the educational journey of librarianship. Continuing educational opportunities in organising resources should be created by professional organisations that expect competency in this area.

Health sciences libraries in Germany: new directions.

This feature is part of a series about medical library services in various countries. It gives an overview of the state of and selected current developments of medical library services to support research, education and clinical practice in Germany. Findings from an online survey and issues of access to health information are discussed in relation to the German health care system.J.M.

Perspectives From Authors and Editors in the Biomedical Disciplines on Predatory Journals: Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: Predatory journals fail to fulfill the tenets of biomedical publication: peer review, circulation, and access in perpetuity. Despite increasing attention in the lay and scientific press, no studies have directly assessed the perceptions of the authors or editors involved. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to understand the motivation of authors in sending their work to potentially predatory journals. Moreover, we aimed to understand the perspective of journal editors at journals cited as potentially predatory. METHODS: Potential online predatory journals were randomly selected among 350 publishers and their 2204 biomedical journals. Author and editor email information was valid for 2227 total potential participants. A survey for authors and editors was created in an iterative fashion and distributed. Surveys assessed attitudes and knowledge about predatory publishing. Narrative comments were invited. RESULTS: A total of 249 complete survey responses were analyzed. A total of 40% of editors (17/43) surveyed were not aware that they were listed as an editor for the particular journal in question. A total of 21.8% of authors (45/206) confirmed a lack of peer review. Whereas 77% (33/43) of all surveyed editors were at least somewhat familiar with predatory journals, only 33.0% of authors (68/206) were somewhat familiar with them (P<.001). Only 26.2% of authors (54/206) were aware of Beall's list of predatory journals versus 49% (21/43) of editors (P<.001). A total of 30.1% of authors (62/206) believed their publication was published in a predatory journal. After defining predatory publishing, 87.9% of authors (181/206) surveyed would not publish in the same journal in the future. CONCLUSIONS: Authors publishing in suspected predatory journals are alarmingly uninformed in terms of predatory journal quality and practices. Editors' increased familiarity with predatory publishing did little to prevent their unwitting listing as editors. Some suspected predatory journals did provide services akin to open access publication. Education, research mentorship, and a realignment of research incentives may decrease the impact of predatory publishing.

Announcing the Journal of the Medical Library Association's data sharing policy.

As librarians are generally advocates of open access and data sharing, it is a bit surprising that peer-reviewed journals in the field of librarianship have been slow to adopt data sharing policies. Starting October 1, 2019, the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) is taking a step forward and implementing a firm data sharing policy to increase the rigor and reproducibility of published research, enable data reuse, and promote open science. This editorial explains the data sharing policy, describes how compliance with the policy will fit into the journal's workflow, and provides further guidance for preparing for data sharing.

Using Subject Guides to Support Curriculum and Patient Care: A Multipronged Approach.

Even though the library subscribes to numerous valuable health science resources, many e-books are not being used by clinicians, researchers, and students. Because these resources are bundled in various packages that often do not show up in federated searches, making them more discoverable is important. At the same time, the cost of textbooks is increasingly burdensome for students. Using authoritative lists and metrics to evaluate these resources while also seeking faculty input to include the best resources in subject guides may not only benefit the faculty and students but also aid in promoting library resources.

An Introduction to RA21: Taking Authentication Beyond IP Addresses.

Providing access to electronic resources is a core service for most libraries, and for more than two decades librarians have used Internet Protocol (IP) addresses as a way to authenticate users and prove they should have access to their institution's licensed materials. But in recent years, IP addresses have become a less accurate method of determining whether a user is affiliated with a particular library. Key players in the publishing industry and academia are working together on a new set of protocols to replace IP authentication called Resource Access for the 21st Century, or RA21. This column will briefly explore what RA21 is, what problems it purports to solve, and what problems it may create. A list of resources for further reading on RA21 is provided.

Developing a Cancer-Focused Library Survey - Assessing the Current Environment and Planning for the Future.

The primary goal of this project is to understand how each National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center library, and all libraries that support cancer research, function within their institutions. Through an in-depth survey focused on three major areas (staff, content and tools procurement, and user services), the research team hopes to determine how a cancer-centric library can be successful in supporting quality patient care, research excellence, and education. Additionally, the survey will examine the necessary minimum staffing levels for librarians and information professionals based on organizational size and degree of research focus. The survey will seek out the new skills librarians will need to deliver optimal services. The survey will also explore how content libraries purchase reflects and maps to constituents' current medical and research activities. Libraries within a research intense environment have a responsibility to align with researchers and health care professionals to provide resources and services that support their workflows. Cancer libraries need to be attuned to their institutions' missions, whether that includes excellent patient care, research endeavors, or cutting-edge educational programs. The information gathered from the survey will provide data for this research team to define the vision and standards of excellence for a cancer specialized research library.

Ugandan health libraries in the 21st century: key initiatives and challenges.

This article is part of a series in this regular feature which looks at new directions in health science libraries. This paper highlights new initiatives aimed at ensuring health libraries can contribute to the development of Uganda in the 21st century and the challenges facing libraries. It stresses that for libraries to be successful they need to form networks and collaborations for resource sharing; take advantage of the benefits of information technology; computerise their library systems; as well as invest in the development of staff. The paper highlights the main challenge facing the library service as inadequate funding both from government for public-funded health libraries and the private sector (for privately funded health libraries). The paper concludes that, despite the bottlenecks brought about by inadequate funding, Ugandan health libraries have taken positive steps to support health research and education, as well as patient care, not just for Uganda, but for the whole of the East African region. J.M.

Collaboration between health sciences librarians and faculty as reflected by articles published in the Journal of the Medical Library Association.

A recent study by Higgins and colleagues reports that the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) had the highest percentage of articles with both librarian and faculty coauthors out of 13 peer-reviewed journals in science, technology, engineering, and medicine librarianship and education between 2005 and 2014. A deeper and updated analysis of JMLA research articles and case studies published between 2008 and 2017 revealed that 29% of articles had both librarian and faculty coauthors. The main topics of librarian-faculty collaboration, as described in these articles, were related to patient and consumer health information and clinical information-seeking and decision-making by health care providers. Most faculty coauthors came from the disciplines of biomedical or health informatics and biostatistics and library and information science. The publication of these articles in the JMLA provides evidence of health sciences librarians' and information specialists' ability to collaborate with faculty members to advance the knowledgebase and practice of librarianship and the health sciences.