Using research to justify your service: cause and effect

Expert searching in health librarianship: a literature review to identify international issues and Australian concerns

BACKGROUND

The traditional role of health librarians as expert searchers is under challenge.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this review is to establish health librarians' views, practices and educational processes on expert searching.

METHODS

The search strategy was developed in LISTA and then customised for ten other databases: ALISA, PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. The search terms were (expert search* OR expert retriev* OR mediated search* OR information retriev*) AND librar*. The searches, completed in December 2010 and repeated in May 2011, were limited to English language publications from 2000 to 2011 (unless seminal works).

RESULTS

Expert searching remains a key role for health librarians, especially for those supporting systematic reviews or employed as clinical librarians answering clinical questions.

CONCLUSIONS

Although clients tend to be satisfied with searches carried out for them, improvements are required to effectively position the profession. Evidence-based guidelines, adherence to transparent standards, review of entry-level education requirements and a commitment to accredited, rigorous, ongoing professional development will ensure best practice.

Collection policy management for the Kuopio University and Kuopio University Hospital, Finland: detecting the needs of users and developing high-quality collections

BACKGROUND

This article discusses the collection policies of a university library in a modern digital environment. A brief description of national collection policy decisions in Finland is provided. The rapid evolution and growth of scientific publication places new demands on building a collection in a health and bioscience orientated university, and it requires an evidence-based approach to support effective service processes.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study was to identify the needs of the university's students and staff.

METHODS

Usage statistics were surveyed and analysed.

RESULTS

Both usage statistics and user surveys indicate that the library use is divided half-and-half between the traditional use of printed material and library premises and the modern use of digital materials via the Web. The former is mainly the way that the students and hospital staff use the library, and the latter can be viewed as the researchers' way of using the library. Librarians and information specialists act in this as service providers and/or guides and tutors to the end-users. These results, however, must be validated with a longer timescale data collation and analysis, both of which are an ongoing process within the library.

CONCLUSIONS

It is important that requirements and needs of the library's users are monitored regularly and acquisition policies are updated frequently. It also seems that the needs have changed quite dramatically in response to modern ways of disseminating publications, but this supposition will require further study.