librarynews | February/March 2007 • Number 34 • HTML Version

Challenges and Opportunities for Medical Libraries in the 21st Century

Interview with Betsy Anagnostelis – Librarian, Royal Free Hospital Medical Library / Joint Biomedical Team Leader, UCL Library Services, London, UK

Betsy Anagnostelis has over fifteen years experience of working in medical libraries and has contributed to many projects, such as acting as an assurance officer for OMNI (Organising Medical Networked Information), as well as training organizations, including as search tutor for the London-based Systematic Reviews Training Unit. Betsy is also a member of the editorial board of the newsletter He@lth Information on the Internet and the journal, Health Information and Libraries Journal. Alex Lankester, Medical Marketing Director at Blackwell Publishing met with Betsy and asked about her views on the challenges.

• What percentage of your library budget is spent on electronic resources versus print?
• An increasing proportion overall is spent on electronic resources. NHS users still need to come to the library to access most electronic resources, due to most publishers’ licence restrictions that do not allow for simultaneous academic and NHS user access.

• How do you measure the value of your electronic resources and what are the key criteria for your subscription renewals?
• We have to see a balance between demonstrably high use and affordability and the latter is becoming more important as budgets come under increasing and inevitable pressure.

• Have you started purchasing e-books and, if so, what is the response from your library patrons?
• We have been subscribing to e-books for the past few years and demand is increasing but we haven’t experienced significant takeup. We have access to e-books via suppliers such as Ovid and netLibrary but at the same time, the print issue stats are still on the increase. Likewise, I am not seeing a high use of e-books in study behaviour to date.

• How important is the journal backfile to your medical library?
• Recent backfiles are still in use and immediacy of access encourages use of information that may be inaccessible online. Older backfile runs are not as essential – especially given the demand for fully current resources in medicine, providing fast and affordable document delivery options are available. However, as electronic backfiles are increasingly replacing older print backfile runs,we are able to use space more creatively: for example, we are reconfiguring library space previously used for storage to develop an e-learning environment.

• Are you seeing more medical personnel access clinical information at the point of care and via PDA?
• Several recent developments are allowing this to happen such as the National Library for Health and the Map of Medicine – but we don’t yet see a huge demand for access to information via PDA. There are a large number of patient oriented enquiries that are in the context of care but content is not usually accessed in real time during the patient encounter. However, as the infrastructure improves, PDAs may well become more popular.

• What online clinical resources or publications do your users consult most often? What are the top 3 resources, excluding Medline?
• A recent survey of training grade doctors and senior colleagues confirmed that sources such as the BNF (British National Formulary) were most commonly used, followed by evidence based clinical guidelines and systematic reviews of the literature.

• How are the developments within the National Library for Health impacting your library?
• We see the National Library for Health as a major knowledge resource that is beginning to bring content closer to the point of care. It is still in its early stages but already we are seeing its impact. Our job is to ensure people are aware of the NLH and the resources that it provides. We are also involved in its development: staff at our library are working alongside a clinical team based in the hospital to provide information specialist input to the NLH Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases Specialist Library – one of several NLH Specialist Libraries.

• Within clinical practice, there is an increasing emphasis on Evidence Based Medicine – do you see this replacing the role of the traditional medical journal?
• Resources to support evidence based practice are becoming increasingly more widely used. However, there is still a significant demand for journals to support education and training and research and our library’s surveys of journals use and recommendations demonstrate this very clearly.

• Google is increasingly the first point of call for most end-users needing information. Do you see this as a concern? If so, what steps as a librarian are you taking to counteract this?
• This is only a concern if people are restricting their searches to Google. Google might be fine for easily accessible evidence, but will not always reach the best or most relevant content which is why I would be concerned if it was the only port of call. All we can do is provide training in context for all users to help them identify optimal ways of finding the best evidence, whether as part of the undergraduate curriculum or in support of clinical practice.

• What do you find is the most effective way to communicate with your faculty and NHS staff regarding library resources?
• For significant changes we might send all-staff emails – though only occasionally. Otherwise we might post information on the intranet, which can be fairly effective. Colourful postcards also work. For our clinical effectiveness enquiry service we walked the wards with the postcards and this really had an impact. It is also important to make sure the champions and gatekeepers locally are aware of new developments.

• How important do you think end user training is to ensure the full utilisation of your library resources?
• There is plenty of research to demonstrate that simply making resources available does not mean they will be used. Promotion and training is essential and does have a demonstrable impact. There is evidence of demand for training from our own users – for example, 34% of training grade doctors told us in a recent survey that they were not very confident or not at all confident in searching for the best evidence. Published reports of surveys confirm that this is the case with other staff groups, too – e.g. a recent report from the RCN on the information needs of nurses said that 44% of respondents felt they would gain from training in basic information searching skills, while 74.2% felt they would gain from training in advanced information skills (http://www.rcn.org.uk/news/display.php?ID=1494). However, it is difficult to get large groups together and much training is delivered in one-to-one sessions.

• How do you balance your role of working as both an NHS and academic librarian and is there any conflict here in serving both the hospital and academic users?
• As we work in a teaching hospital and medical school setting, the library serves the entire continuum from student to consultant and I find this a natural combination. We take into account the needs of both groups of users and it is usually possible to achieve economies of scale. The most significant challenge is that we have to provide access to content for both sectors and this is something that publishers do not always fully understand or take into account in their licenses.

• What can medical journal publishers do to best support the medical library in the 21st century?
• For a medical library serving both a higher education and hospital community, affordability and appropriate licensing of electronic content is important, such that responds to the range of needs of 21st century users.

Journal Editors Receive New Publication Ethics Guidelines

Comprehensive Guide on Publication Ethics Now Available

Journals are often in the line of fire when there are questions about ethics in science. To address this, Blackwell has launched Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics: A Publisher's Perspective, becoming the first publisher to offer such a comprehensive resource to its journal editors and society partners.

The guidelines were created to provide practical advice to editors on the major ethical principles of academic publishing and to help inform the editorial policies of their journals. A broad range of topics are addressed including transparency, disclosure, research integrity, peer review, conflicts of interest and plagiarism. The guidelines also include an extensive Best Practice resource to help editors develop their own approaches to publication ethics as well as detailed flowcharts about how to handle ethical situations provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics.

To ensure the accuracy and relevance of the guidelines, 25 editors, society heads and authors were asked to review the work and provide feedback. The initial review of the guide by the publishing community yielded positive feedback. Panos Vostanis, Editor of Child and Adolescent Mental Health noted, “This is an excellent document. It addresses both broad ethical issues and practical points that we have all come against throughout editorial work.”

The guidelines were written to provide practical guidance rather than a prescriptive set of rules so that editors can develop and implement their own ethical policies and processes. Easy-to-read flowcharts from the Committee on Publication Ethics were included to help guide editors through ethical decisions (e.g. ‘What to do if you suspect scientific misconduct’).

Blackwell’s Best Practice Guidelines on Publication Ethics: A Publisher's Perspective is published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, and is also available at www.blackwellpublishing.com/publicationethics

New Medical Journals Available Free in 2007

We believe in making long term investments to support new research areas with new journals which will explore and develop the discipline and which will meet the unique needs of the communities they serve.

For 2007 we are launching the following important medicine and healthcare journals. Each of these titles are free to everyone until 31st December 2007. Please highlight these titles to clinicians and researchers working in your institution.

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Early Intervention in Psychiatry
Endorsed by the International Early Psychosis Association

Early Intervention in Psychiatry publishes original research articles and reviews dealing with the early recognition, diagnosis and treatment across the full range of mental and substance use disorders, as well as the underlying epidemiological, biological, psychological and social mechanisms that influence the onset and early course of these disorders. The journal provides comprehensive coverage of early intervention for the full range of psychiatric disorders and mental health problems, including schizophrenia and other psychoses, mood and anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, eating disorders and personality disorders.

Edited by: Patrick McGorry   Print ISSN: 1751-7885   Online ISSN: 1751-7893   Frequency: Quarterly   Current Volume: 1 / 2007

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Leading Medical Reference Titles

New to Blackwell’s books list comes the third edition of the popular Textbook of Hepatology: From Basic Science to Clinical Practice, edited by Juan Rodés et al. Previously the Oxford Textbook of Clinical Hepatology published by Oxford University Press, this two-volume textbook is the encyclopedic guide to hepatology, covering basic, clinical and translational science. It is accompanied by a fully searchable CD ROM of the entire content.

This joins the broad and top quality collection of medical reference titles available from Blackwell Publishing, including:

• ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine
• Rook's Textbook of Dermatology (7e)
• Textbook of Pediatric Dermatology (2e)
• Textbook of Diabetes (3e)
• Brook's Clinical Pediatric Endocrinology (5e)
• Essential Haematology (5e)
• Handbook of Epilepsy Treatment (2e)
• Dewhurst's Textbook of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (7e)
• Lishman's Organic Psychiatry (4e)

You can find out more about all Blackwell’s Medical Reference Titles at: www.blackwellmedicine.com

Medical and Healthcare Titles New to Blackwell Publishing in 2007

Journal Title	Print ISSN	Online ISSN	Blackwell Code	Vol.	No. of issues per year	First Month of Publication	Previous Publisher
Acta Paediatrica	0803-5253	1651-2227	APA	96	12	January	T & F
The American Heart Hospital Journal	1541-9215	1751-7168	AHH	5	4	January	Le Jacq
The American Journal of Geriatric Cardiology	1076-7460	1751-715X	AGC	16	6	January	Le Jacq
Barnläkaren	1651-0534		BKN	107	6	January	T & F
Biological Reviews	1464-7931	1469-185X	BRV	82	4	February	CUP
Congestive Heart Failure	1527-5299	1751-7133	CHF	13	6	January	Le Jacq
Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine	1582-1838	1582-4934	JCMM	11	6	February	Self Published
Journal of the CardioMetabolic Syndrome	1559-4564	1559-4572	CMS	2	4	February	Le Jacq
The Journal of Clinical Hypertension	1524-6175	1751-7176	JCH	9	12	January	Le Jacq
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health	1538-6341	1931-2393	PSRH	39	4	March	Guttmacher Institute (self-published)
Preventive Cardiology	1520-037X	1751-7141	PRC	10	4	March	Le Jacq
Progress in Cardiovascular Nursing	0889-7204	1751-7117	PCV	22	4	February	Le Jacq
SKINmed	1540-9740	1451-7125	SKM	6	6	February	Le Jacq

Medical and Healthcare Titles No Longer Published by Blackwell Publishing in 2007

Journal Title	Code	Last Issue	Reason for Cessation or Change
Australasian Psychiatry	APY	14:4	Transferring to Taylor and Francis
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry	AHH	40:12	Transferring to Taylor and Francis
Headache Currents	HEC	3:6	Inorporated into the Journal of Head and Face Pain
*Immunology and Cell Biology	ICB	85:6	Transferring to Nature Publishing Group
Journal of General Internal Medicine	JGI	21:12	Transferring to Springer
Somnologie	SOM	10:4	Transferring to Springer

*Notice about Immunology and Cell Biology. Please note that from January 2007 this journal is only accessible through Nature Publishing Group’s website: www.nature.com/icb/index.html. To access this journal, including backfiles, please contact NPG directly at: subscriptions@nature.com

Free Access to Medical and Scientific Content on Blackwell Synergy

The OnlineOpen pay-to-publish trial from Blackwell now includes 116 journals, the majority of which publish in medicine and the life sciences. OnlineOpen is a service available to authors and their funding bodies to enable them to ensure their article is made free for everybody on payment of a fee. Articles are treated as normal through the peer-review process and are published in the print journal as well as free online. To see the list of journals now offering OnlineOpen please visit: www.blackwellpublishing.com/static/onlineopen.asp

There are now 46 journals on Blackwell Synergy which offer backfiles for free after a certain period, including the Health Information & Libraries Journal which is free to Free Access to Medical and Scientific Content on Blackwell Synergy all after three years. Of the journals with free backfiles, the majority are medical and healthcare titles and many are free after a one year embargo period. Two scientific titles, Traffic and Genes to Cells, make their content accessible after just 6 months. Many other journals offer select journal content for free, such as reviews, commentaries, editorials and case studies. All free content is identified by the ‘FREE’ logo on Blackwell Synergy. For the full list of journals with free backfiles, visit: www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/Digitized_Backfiles.xls

In addition to the free backfiles and pay-topublish free articles, Blackwell is a strong supporter of the HINARI initiative for providing free access to all content from medical and healthcare journals in the developing world. There are now more than 2500 institutions in Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia which can gain access to more than 3000 scholarly and professional journals. For more information on HINARI, visit: www.who.int/hinari