Digital transformation in college libraries: The effect of digital reading on reader service satisfaction.

In the pursuit of digital transformation, college libraries have increasingly embraced the promotion of digital reading as a critical initiative. While numerous studies have delved into the strategies employed by college libraries in their digital transformation endeavors, there remains a lack of research elucidating the direct influence of digital reading on reader service satisfaction within these institutions. Drawing upon the service quality model, this paper aims to address this gap by examining the multifaceted influence of digital reading on reader service satisfaction in college libraries. By examining the various dimensions of digital reading services, this study employs the fsQCA approach to uncover specific combinations that contribute to heightened levels of reader service satisfaction. The results reveal three distinct configurations that can explain the high level of reader service satisfaction. By elucidating these critical relationships, this research not only provides a contribution to the research regarding the evolving role of college libraries but also provides practical insights for college libraries aspiring to realize digital transformation by promoting digital reading.

Evolving from public health libraries as a place to focus on public health librarian expertise.

Objective: This article describes the evolution of academic public health library services from standalone academic public health libraries in 2004 to centralized services by 2021. Methods: Five public health libraries serving public health graduate programs (SPH) at public and private institutions were visited in 2006-07. Visits comprised tours, semi-structured interviews with librarians and local health department staff, and collecting of contemporary print documents. We compiled and compared visit notes across libraries. In 2022, we reviewed online materials announcing library closure or transition for timing and how services were to be subsequently provided. Results: Libraries and SPH were co-located and most librarians maintained public health expertise though they did not have faculty appointments in their SPHs. Specialized statistical and geographic information systems (GIS) software and data were provided in partnership, often with other system libraries. Only two libraries had strong connections to health departments-one with direct service agreements and another engaged in public health training. Conclusion: Academic public health libraries' relationships with SPHs and health departments did not ensure their existence as standalone entities. Following a national trend for branch libraries, public health information services were centralized into larger health or science libraries. The scope and specialization of librarian expertise continues to be valued with several institutions having librarians dedicated to public health.

Chapitre 6. Adopting BlockChain Technologies in Libraries Services.

Blockchain technology has proven to be a plausible, even miraculous foundation for selling, transferring, and tracking large integers. This article investigates the adoption of blockchain technologies in library services among students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Libraries need to become adept with blockchain technology to survive and ensure timely and adequate provision of information services to their patrons. The paper therefore concludes by recommending Nigerian library professionals to create a blockchain website, blogs and webinars to engage researchers, students and information professionals to harness their contributions to the development of a white paper. (policy) and promoting emerging technologies for better service delivery in libraries adding value to libraries and the community they serve.

The impact of libraries and informationists on patient and population care: a mixed-methods study.

Objective: While several studies have examined the effectiveness of librarian interactions with clinicians and impact of librarians on patient care, no studies have explored a library's effects on population care. The goal of this study was to investigate the library's impact on both patient and population care. Methods: Using a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design, we first interviewed a small set of clinicians and researchers active in patient and population care. Based on the themes that we discovered through coding the interviews, we created a survey that was sent to faculty in the health sciences and the health system. Results: We collected data from a representative sample of our population. We discovered that all respondents value the library and informationists, using our services most for teaching, publishing, presenting, and professional development. Conclusion: We now have data to support our value to our population and to show where we can do more work to improve the use of our services. Our study shows the value of doing a mixed-methods sequential exploration in which themes that are important to our user community were identified prior to launching a large-scale survey.

The effect of librarian involvement on the quality of systematic reviews in dental medicine.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether librarian or information specialist authorship is associated with better reproducibility of the search, at least three databases searched, and better reporting quality in dental systematic reviews (SRs). METHODS: SRs from the top ten dental research journals (as determined by Journal Citation Reports and Scimago) were reviewed for search quality and reproducibility by independent reviewers using two Qualtrics survey instruments. Data was reviewed for all SRs based on reproducibility and librarian participation and further reviewed for search quality of reproducible searches. RESULTS: Librarians were co-authors in only 2.5% of the 913 included SRs and librarians were mentioned or acknowledged in only 9% of included SRs. Librarian coauthors were associated with more reproducible searches, higher search quality, and at least three databases searched. Although the results indicate librarians are associated with improved SR quality, due to the small number of SRs that included a librarian, results were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Despite guidance from organizations that produce SR guidelines recommending the inclusion of a librarian or information specialist on the review team, and despite evidence showing that librarians improve the reproducibility of searches and the reporting of methodology in SRs, librarians are not being included in SRs in the field of dental medicine. The authors of this review recommend the inclusion of a librarian on SR teams in dental medicine and other fields.

Necesidades y comportamiento informativo de mujeres que pertenecen a los grupos de familia Al-anon, Chiapas, México / Information needs and behavior of women belonging to the Alanon family groups, Chiapas, Mexico

Resumen Este artículo aborda las necesidades y el comportamiento informativo de una comunidad no estudiada, se trata de los Grupos de Familia Al-anon, en donde asiste la familia de las personas que presentan problemas con el consumo de alcohol. Este estudio es exploratorio con un enfoque mixto, la muestra es no probabilística y participaron seis mujeres. Se empleó el instrumento de la entrevista y la encuesta. Se encontró que las principales necesidades informativas son el duelo (66 %) y la felicidad (50 %); y los temas: entretenimiento, superación personal, aceptación, tolerancia y primer paso; todas las anteriores con un porcentaje de 33 %. Los comportamientos informativos de estas mujeres son: el libro (83 %), el internet (66 %) y la televisión (50 %).

Abstract This article deals with the needs and informational behavior of a community not studied, the Al-anon Family Group for the family of people addicted to alcohol. This study is exploratory with a mixed approach, the sample is not probabilistic and six women participated. The interview and survey instrument were used. It was found that the main informational needs are: grief (66 %), happiness (50 %); and the subject of: entertainment, personal improvement, acceptance, tolerance and first step, all of the above with a percentage of 33 %. The informative behaviors of these women are: the book (83 %), the internet (66 %) and tv (50 %).

Assessing the roles and challenges of librarians in dental systematic and scoping reviews.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the scope of experience, roles, and challenges that librarians face in participating in dental and oral health systematic and scoping reviews to inform outreach efforts to researchers and identify areas for librarian professional development. METHODS: The authors developed a twenty-three-item survey based on the findings of two recent articles about health sciences librarians' roles and challenges in conducting systematic and scoping reviews. The survey was distributed via electronic mailing lists to librarians who were likely to have participated in conducting dental systematic and scoping reviews. RESULTS: While survey respondents reported participating in many dental reviews, they participated more commonly in systematic reviews than in scoping reviews. Also, they worked less commonly on dental and oral health reviews than on non-dental reviews. Librarian roles in dental reviews tended to follow traditional librarian roles: all respondents had participated in planning and information retrieval stages, whereas fewer respondents had participated in screening and assessing articles. The most frequently reported challenges involved the lead reviewer or review team rather than the librarians themselves, with time- and methodology-related challenges being most common. CONCLUSIONS: Although librarians might not be highly involved in dental and oral health systematic and scoping reviews, more librarian participation in these reviews, either as methodologists or information experts, may improve their reviews' overall quality.

Why are they not accessing it? User barriers to clinical information access.

The Medical Library Association's InSight Initiative provides an open and collaborative environment for library and industry partners to discuss vexing problems and find solutions to better serve their users. The initiative's fifth summit, continuing work from the previous summit, focused on understanding how users discover and access information in the clinical environment. During the summit, participants were divided into working groups and encouraged to create a tangible product as a result of their discussions. At the end of the summit, participants established a framework for understanding users' pain points, discussed possible solutions to those points, and received feedback on their work from an End User Advisory Board comprising physicians, clinical researchers, and clinical faculty in biomedicine. In addition to the pain point framework, participants are developing MLA InSight Initiative Learning content with modules to educate librarians and publishers about critical aspects of user behavior. The 2020 Insight Initiative Fall Forum will serve as a virtual home for constructive dialogue between health sciences librarians and publishers on improving discovery and access to information.

Popping up in Unexpected Places: Posing a Pop-Up Library to Healthcare Staff.

Pop-up libraries have been a trending form of outreach by public and academic libraries during recent years but they are still a novel concept in clinical and hospital settings. Engaging with healthcare staff in common spaces with an inviting temporary display provides an opportunity to proactively raise awareness of library resources and services to non-library users while also piquing interest in a timely topic or special theme. Mayo Clinic librarians describe how a pop-up library was implemented as a unique form of outreach at the Rochester, Minnesota campus in early 2020.

Compassionate Computing in the Time of COVID-19: Interview with Laurie N. Taylor.

When COVID-19 was recognized as a global pandemic and offices, clinics, and academic centers closed in the spring of 2020, many librarians found themselves answering reference questions, teaching, meeting, facilitating access to information resources, and organizing resources remotely. In the transition from traditional offices and workspaces to work from home, librarians and their administrations faced many challenges and adapted to a variety of new technologies. Video-conferencing and phone-forwarding tools were being used in new ways or for the first time. Instead of addressing technology that librarians adopted or adapted in greater numbers during the global pandemic, this column will examine an attitude of care and approach to technology called "compassionate computing" that helped ease the transition to work from home during an unprecedented time.

UNLV Health Sciences Library's Initial Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: How a Versatile Environment, Online Technologies, and Liaison Expertise Prepared Library Faculty in Supporting Its User Communities.

In this case study, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Health Sciences Library describes how a flexible and technology-focused service model, liaison relationships, and individual expertise all contributed towards rapid mobilization of online instruction, virtual library services, and new resources to keep pace with the sudden needs of their user communities in the School of Medicine, School of Dental Medicine and local Las Vegas community prior to and during stay-at-home mandates related to the COVID-19 global pandemic of 2020.

Effects of accreditation on United States and Canadian veterinary college libraries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

OBJECTIVE: The authors' objective was to document the effects of evolving veterinary accreditation standards on the development of currently existing accredited US and Canadian veterinary school libraries in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. METHODS: We gathered historical standards that major veterinary accreditation agencies developed with respect to libraries and library services. Historical background on college libraries, their facilities, services, and personnel via surveys, literature searches, and archival documents was also collected. We then correlated the evolving standards with each library's development. RESULTS: There was a marked correlation between the prevailing accreditation standards and library development, particularly during the post-World War II era and through the mid-1980s. These impacts-which included new and separate facilities, hiring of professional librarians, and additional open hours-affected not only the twenty new developing veterinary schools, but also the libraries of the preexisting colleges. CONCLUSIONS: Professional veterinary accrediting standards were an important influence on the evolution of veterinary school libraries, particularly during the years of major growth in the number of new veterinary colleges in the United States and Canada. In the 1990s and beyond, both libraries and accreditation standards continue to evolve in response to changes in technology, economics, publishing methods, and more. This latter is a story yet to be told.

Mixed-methods library evaluation integrating the patron, library, and external perspectives: The case of Namibia regional libraries.

The article presents a mixed-methods evaluation of regional libraries in Namibia, which incorporates three perspectives: the patron perspective (library users), the library perspective (library staff, management, and related officials), and the external perspective (including evaluators and monitoring data). Seven data collection methods were used: patron surveys, patron panel studies, focus group discussions, key informant and staff interviews, secondary data analysis, media analysis, and observations. The goal of the evaluation was to assess library performance for both formative and summative purposes by addressing evaluation questions on areas such as library services, use, and operations. Building upon the literature review of how mixed-methods approaches can contribute to library evaluation, the aim of this article is to show how a mixed-methods evaluation can be designed to examine multi-faceted library performance and to illustrate how the evaluation design allows information complementarity and can be utilized to present diverse viewpoints of the above three perspectives. The evaluation design, analysis process, and lessons learned from this study may be useful to evaluators engaged in evaluation of public services or programs (including public libraries) that examine multiple aspects of service performance and involve a variety of stakeholders.

Why do biomedical researchers learn to program? An exploratory investigation.

OBJECTIVE: As computer programming becomes increasingly important in the biomedical sciences and more libraries offer programming classes, it is crucial for librarians to understand how researchers use programming in their work. The goal of this study was to understand why biomedical researchers who enrolled in a library-sponsored workshop wanted to learn to program in R and Python. METHODS: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were performed with fourteen researchers registered for beginning R and Python programming workshops at the University of California, San Francisco Library. A thematic analysis approach was used to extract the top reasons that researchers learned to program. RESULTS: Four major themes emerged from the interviews. Researchers wanted to learn R and Python programming in order to perform their data analysis independently, to be an informed collaborator, to engage with new forms of big data research, and to have more flexibility in the tools that they used for their research. CONCLUSIONS: Librarians designing programming workshops should remember that most researchers are hoping to apply their new skills to a specific research task such as data cleaning, data analysis, and statistics and that language preferences can vary based on research community as well as personal preferences. Understanding the programming goals of researchers will make it easier for librarians to partner effectively and offer services that are critically needed in the biomedical community.

Excel for data visualization in academic health sciences libraries: a qualitative case study.

BACKGROUND: Data visualization is a growing topic of discussion and area of educational programming in health sciences libraries. This paper synthesizes information on eight institutions' experiences in offering Excel-focused data visualization workshops with the goal of providing an overview of the current state of educational offerings in this area. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted by phone and email with librarians at institutions that offer Excel-focused workshops, which were identified by reviewing the websites of Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries members and the 2019 Medical Library Association annual meeting program. RESULTS: Librarians from six institutions were interviewed, online class materials from one institution were reviewed, and information from the author's institution was included, resulting in a total of eight institutions. Educational offerings in Excel-focused data visualization ranged from one workshop to five workshops in a series, which typically first presented information for beginners and then progressed to more advanced data visualization skills. Regarding motivations for offering these workshops, librarians stated that they were committed to providing instruction in software programs that were already familiar to users. Workshop evaluations, when available, were generally positive. DISCUSSION: Because of its widespread availability and usage, Excel offers a compelling opportunity for providing hands-on data visualization instruction in health sciences libraries.

The Research Role of the Librarian at a Community Health Hackathon - A Technical Report.

A hackathon is a social event that is focused on building small and innovative technology projects. The 2018 Hackathon hosted by the Washington State University (WSU) Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine aimed to solve rural health problems in Washington state. One major modification to the regular format of a healthcare hackathon was the inclusion of research librarians. Librarians with health sciences and business expertise provided research and library services at a designated Research Station, which included literature, patent, and internet searches. Participant and hackathon librarian observations, verbal feedback, and librarian survey results demonstrate the positive value/outcome of library services to the health hackathon winners. The winning hackathon teams used the services by the Research Station extensively. Areas of strength for this event included collaboration between librarians, promotion of library services, and efficient information retrieval. Areas for improvement included making regular contact with hackathon teams during the event and clearer signage and marketing.

Benchmarking veterinary librarians' participation in systematic reviews and scoping reviews.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to benchmark roles that veterinary librarians at universities and colleges play in systematic reviews (SRs) and scoping reviews that are conducted by faculty and students at their institutions, to benchmark the level of training that veterinary librarians have in conducting SRs, to identify barriers to their participation in SRs, and to identify other types of literature reviews that veterinary librarians participate in. METHODS: Sixty veterinary librarians in universities and colleges in Canada, the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand were surveyed online about their roles and training in conducting SRs, barriers to participation in SRs, and participation in other types of literature reviews. RESULTS: Veterinary librarians' highest participation was at an advising level in traditional librarian roles as question formulator, database selector, search strategy developer, and reference manager. Most respondents reported pretty good to extensive training in traditional roles and no or some training in less traditional roles. Sixty percent of respondents received few or no requests to participate in SRs, and only half of respondents had participated in SRs as a review team member. Sixty percent of respondents stated that their libraries had no policies regarding librarian roles and participation in SRs. CONCLUSIONS: The surveyed veterinary librarians participated in SRs to a lesser degree than human health sciences librarians, experienced low demand from veterinary faculty and students to participate in SRs, and participated as review team members at significantly lower rates than human health sciences librarians. The main barriers to participation in SRs were lack of library policies, insufficient training, and lack of time.

"Game on!" Teaching gamification principles for library instruction to health sciences information professionals using interactive, low-tech activities and design-thinking modalities.

BACKGROUND: Gamification is correlated with increased motivation and engagement of learners and is increasingly being incorporated into library instruction. Opportunities for librarians to learn and practice principles of gamification can be helpful for those desiring to incorporate gamification into instruction. This report describes the development and delivery of an interactive special content session at MLA '18, the 2018 Medical Library Association annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, focusing on principles of low-tech game design for health sciences library classroom instruction. CASE PRESENTATION: The special content session, titled "Design, Play, Learn: A Special Content Session to Design a Game for Database Instruction," was designed and delivered using multimodal instruction (e.g., flipped classroom, didactic component, active learning) that also incorporated principles of design thinking. A pre- and post-survey was given to all participants at the beginning and end of the session to measure confidence and desire to incorporate gamification into instruction and as a formative feedback indicator for instructors. Participants reported increased confidence and desire to use games for library instruction after participating in the session. A selection of games was uploaded to a shared content folder designed for course participants as an ongoing repository for ideas and communication. CONCLUSIONS: For librarians who are interested in incorporating principles of gamification into library instruction, attending a relatively short hands-on workshop can facilitate learning and confidence around prototyping and creating games for use in library instruction. We intend to improve upon the workshop and offer it again in additional contexts, based on direct observations of the session and participant feedback.

Multisite collaboration using REDCap to capture library data.

In January 2018, library services at Providence St. Joseph Health merged to form a single, unified system, incorporating nine libraries and sixteen full-time staff. As a small, nonclinical team of librarians, we needed to make sure our work and value were visible to clinicians, administrators, and other nonlibrary stakeholders. Using REDCap, we developed a form to seamlessly collect statistics about our services.

Data-driven space planning: using Suma to collect data.

Library users frequently make individual requests to staff about how they would like us to improve the services and resources, but it can be difficult to prioritize such requests. To proactively understand how we can improve our library, library staff undertook a comprehensive assessment of spaces and resources using Suma.