The Librarian Reserve Corps: An Emergency Response.

The Librarian Reserve Corps (LRC) is a volunteer network of medical, health sciences, and public health librarians who have responded to the urgent need for public health information during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis. The LRC was first formed to assist with the indexing of daily publication lists distributed within the World Health Organization's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). With the explosion of information related to COVID-19 beginning in December 2019, librarians have brought critical skills and experience to the response, providing comprehensive literature searching and indexing to COVID-19 research publications. The evolution of this effort follows the trajectory of scientific publication trends and developments related to COVID-19.

A Novel Partnership Between Physicians and Medical Librarians During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

An ongoing collaboration between physicians and librarians provided critical information during the COVID-19 pandemic. A development team, which consisted of the hospital and medical school disaster preparedness medical director, the medical library director, professional librarians, and the Departments of IT and Marketing in a multi-state healthcare system worked together to develop a shared website to distribute and curate timely resources during COVID-19. The initial impacts of this collaboration and the website show the benefits of this novel partnership.

Librarian Contributions to a Regional Response in the COVID-19 Pandemic in Western North Carolina.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mountain Area Health Education Center formed a response team with the goal of building capacity across Western North Carolina health systems to collectively identify needs, coordinate resources to fill gaps, and strategically manage the regional threats of the pandemic. The library team collaborated on interprofessional projects by gathering information and using LibGuides to quickly and easily organize and share resources. The team met challenges, including moving to telecommuting, balancing a growing workload, and navigating a changing information landscape, and in doing so, strengthened relationships across the organization and the region.

Mind like Water: Flexibly Adapting to Serve Patrons in the Era of COVID-19.

The ability to be flexible and adapt quickly to changing circumstances is a crucial skill for librarians to develop in a world increasingly characterized by rapid change. It can take a crisis to learn how effective librarians have become in developing the needed adaptive behaviors, including a willingness to change workstyles, experiment with new technologies and readily move on from failed experiments. In this paper, librarians from the Preston Medical Library at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, prompted by the crisis of COVID-19, present their response. Beginning with a description of how services were provided prior to the pandemic, librarians detail their response in several key areas and show how they implemented new approaches to teaching, collaboration, and mutual support, working together to handle patron issues and pursue scholarly activities.

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.

'Moving Forward': how health librarians can continue supporting the legacy of Shane Godbolt.

Over the course of her life, Shane influenced the careers of many people working in health library and knowledge services. This article brings together three personal perspectives exploring aspects of this influence. By considering the activities prompted by contact with Shane, we look to how librarians might build on the example she provided of living a full professional life.

Shaping a librarian; the impact of Shane Godbolt as manager, mentor and more.

A personal appreciation of Shane Godbolt as a colleague and friend.

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.

A workplace well-being game intervention for health sciences librarians to address burnout.

OBJECTIVE: The authors measured burnout among health sciences librarians at their institution and determined whether a serious game intervention could improve personal and workplace well-being. METHODS: A modified American Medical Association Mini-Z burnout survey was administered to library faculty in 2016 and both library faculty and staff in 2017. A three-month team-based game was implemented and assessed as an intervention to improve well-being among library employees. After the game, the burnout survey was re-administered to employees in 2018. RESULTS: Library faculty scored poorly on burnout indicators, with 38%-73% of faculty reporting emotional exhaustion and 54%-91% reporting job-related stress over the years. In 2017, 62% of library staff members reported experiencing burnout and 38% indicated they felt a great deal of stress because of their jobs. Regarding the game intervention, 70% of post-game survey respondents reported that the game encouraged them to socialize with colleagues. Qualitative coding of survey responses resulted in 4 themes describing the most enjoyable aspects of the game: sociability, motivation, game play, and fun. Employees found that the game was a useful strategy for encouraging a more social culture with fun activities. CONCLUSIONS: Similar to previous studies of librarians and health professionals, health sciences librarians at our institution experienced burnout. Although the game intervention did not significantly reduce burnout or increase job satisfaction, it improved collegiality and recognition. Therefore, a workplace well-being game can encourage team building but may not sufficiently address the root causes of health sciences librarian burnout.

Exploring interprofessional collaboration and attitudes of health sciences librarians.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed health sciences librarians' attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration using the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) and gathered information on their involvement with interprofessional activities. METHODS: The authors sent a survey to librarians in the Medical Library Association's (MLA's) Interprofessional Education Special Interest Group and Research Section consisting of the IEPS and questions about their prior and current experiences with interprofessional practice and education (IPE). We compared mean IEPS scores between each MLA group and several other demographic factors to assess differences in attitudes. We also compared librarians' IEPS scores with those of previously published health professional students' IEPS scores and thematically analyzed two open-ended questions. RESULTS: Health sciences librarians' scores on the IEPS indicated positive attitudes toward IPE. There were no statistically significant differences between any group. Health sciences librarians' mean IEPS score was similar to the mean score of health professions students from a prior study. The most commonly reported interprofessional activity was teaching or facilitating learning activities for health professions students; fewer served on committees or engaged in non-curricular activities such as grand rounds and book clubs. CONCLUSION: Health sciences librarians in this study reported positive attitudes toward IPE, in line with the majority of other previously studied health professionals. Years of experience, previous health professional careers, and experience supporting IPE as a librarian had little bearing on the responses to the survey. This suggests that health sciences librarians have positive attitudes toward IPE, regardless of whether they directly support IPE programs or participate in interprofessional activities.

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.

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.

Burnout among medical and health sciences information professionals who support systematic reviews: an exploratory study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this exploratory study was to assess personal, work-related, and client-related burnout among information professionals who support systematic review (SR) work. METHODS: The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, a validated tool for assessing burnout, was administered to information professionals who support SR work. A broad range of health sciences or medical librarians and information professionals were targeted via professional email discussion lists and news outlets. Questionnaire responses were captured electronically using Qualtrics Survey Software and quantitatively analyzed. RESULTS: Respondents experienced an average personal burnout score of 48.6, work-related score of 46.4, and client-related score of 32.5 out of 100. Respondents who reported spending >80% of their job duties on SR work had significantly lower personal burnout scores than those who reported spending <10% of their job duties on SR work (average, 31.5 versus 50.9, respectively). Also, respondents who reported using an SR support tool had significantly lower personal burnout scores than those who reported sometimes using a tool (average, 43.7 versus 54.7, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that information professionals who dedicate more time to SR work or who consistently use an SR support tool experience less burnout. This study provides groundwork for further investigation with the aim of developing approaches to prevent or combat SR-related burnout among information professionals.

Democratic librarianship: the role of the medical library in promoting democracy and social justice.

Evidence suggests that Erich Meyerhoff was one of the first practitioners of democratic librarianship throughout his long and productive life. This essay defines democratic librarianship in the context of democratic ideals and social justice and posits actions that the profession should be taking to thrive and lead in a multicultural environment, including being a place for active engagement, crucial conversations, and debate. Democratic librarianship is broader than social justice but incorporates social justice ideals in promoting a socially just and democratic society. Libraries…are essential to the functioning of a democratic society;…and libraries are the great tools of scholarship, the great repositories of culture, and the great symbols of the freedom of the mind. [1]-Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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 information seeking behaviour: the librarian's role in supporting digital and health literacy.

This paper is based on Rachel Butler's dissertation carried out at the University of Sheffield as part of the MA Library and Information Services Management. The study examines people's online health information seeking skills, with the specific aim to identify how libraries and health services can work together in supporting digital and health literacy. A survey approach is used to explore online searching habits as well as librarian and health professionals' views on health literacy. The key findings indicate that whilst the majority of respondents consider themselves to be health literate, there was an overall agreement that effective education and support could be achieved through the collaboration between libraries and health services, and specifically to signpost information and to provide targeted education. The limitations of the research for dissertation are recognised leading to recommendations that further study focuses on the impact of signposting and education on health literacy.F.J.

Ontology, Epistemology, Methodology, and Methods: Information for Librarian Researchers.

This article will help librarians understand how different philosophical stances influence the process of developing a research question and the different methodologies and methods available to help answer that question. Understanding this will help librarian researchers make appropriate choices regarding methods and methodology for the research questions they are seeking to answer. Also included is a table showing the two main types of inquiry (qualitative and quantitative) with their associated methodologies and methods, the basic assumptions underlying each, and the pros and cons of each methodology.

Social justice and the medical librarian.

This lecture discusses social justice and the role that medical librarians can play in a democratic society. Social justice needs to be central to the mission of medical librarianship and a core value of the profession. Medical librarians must develop a new professional orientation: one that focuses on cultural awareness or cultural consciousness that goes beyond ourselves and our collections to that which focuses on the users of our libraries. We must develop a commitment to addressing the issues of societal, relevant health information. Using examples from medical education, this lecture makes the case for social justice librarianship. This lecture also presents a pathway for social justice medical librarianship, identifies fundamental roles and activities in these areas, and offers strategies for individual librarians, the Medical Library Association, and library schools for developing social justice education and outcomes. The lecture advocates for an understanding of and connection to social justice responsibilities for the medical library profession and ends with a call to go beyond understanding to action. The lecture emphasizes the lack of diversity in our profession and the importance of diversity and inclusion for achieving social justice. The lecture presents specific examples from some medical libraries to extend the social justice mindset and to direct outreach, collections, archives, and special collection services to expose previously hidden voices. If medical librarians are to remain relevant in the future, we must act to address the lack of diversity in our profession and use our information resources, spaces, and expertise to solve the relevant societal issues of today.