Current research

Compiled by Gillian Griffith

Bernstein A. Making the case for health research. *Re$earch Money*. 2006 March 16;20(4).

After 5 years, and as required by its legislation, the Cana-
dian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) recently embarked
on a significant and comprehensive quinquennial evaluation
by a prestigious international review panel. In February, the
panel met with more than 100 young and senior investiga-
tors, university and government leaders, industry partners,
health charities, the provinces, and with CIHR management
and staff. That was preceded by extensive surveys of re-
searchers from across Canada and evaluations of CIHR's
13 institutes. The review's overall purpose is to examine if
CIHR is delivering on its mandate and to assist the organi-
zation in learning from its first 5 years. The final review, to
be presented this June, will represent an authoritative and
objective assessment of CIHR's performance relative to its
mandate and will include recommendations for improve-
ments.

Gruttemeier H. The way to open access: French strategies to move forward. *Library and Information Service (Tushu Qingbao Gongzuo)*. 2006;50(1):27-33.

In France, the movement in favour of open access to sci-
entific research output is getting increasingly coordinated
and supported at the political level. The Centre national de
la recherche scientifique (CNRS), the leading research orga-
nization in Europe and signatory of the Berlin Declaration,
has an evident strategic role to play in this development.
Various initiatives that have emerged in the French academic
world in recent years have led, for example, in early 2005, to
the joint announcement, by four major research institutions,
of a common policy to promote open access to published
material and other types of digital resources, and to set up
institutional archives. The article highlights some key issues
of this policy, gives an overview of current and past CNRS
involvement in Open Access, and describes the principal
functions, as well as the related challenges, of the future in-
stitutional repositories.

McGowan J, Straus SE, Tugwell P. Canada urgently needs a national network of libraries to access evidence. *Healthc Q*. 2006;9(1):72-4, 4. PMID: 16548438.

Canadian health professionals and their patients are de-
prived of important evidence to guide health and health-care
decisions, ensure quality, and avoid unnecessary deaths, be-
cause, unlike other developed countries, Canada does not
have a national medical library as can be found in the US

National Library of Medicine and the UK National Health
Service.

Pearce-Smith N. A journal club is an effective tool for as-
sisting librarians in the practice of evidence-based libriari-
anship: a case study. *Health Info Libr J*. 2006 Mar;23(1):32–
40. PMID: 16466497.

**Objective:** To establish a journal club for librarians, which aimed to develop appraisal skills and assist in the application of research to practice. **Methods:** Fourteen health librarians were invited to attend a journal club. Each month a librarian was responsible for preparing a scenario, choosing a research paper, and selecting a checklist. The paper was appraised by the club, and a critically appraised topic (CAT) prepared. Six months later, a questionnaire was sent to all librarians. **Results:** Six out of 14 librarians attended the journal club and five out of six returned the questionnaire. All five agreed that attending the journal club helped them develop appraisal skills, write a CAT, and be more critical of research. Four agreed they always identified a research paper first, then formulated a question. One librarian agreed that applying results to their own practice was difficult, one disagreed, and three were neutral. **Conclusion:** Journal clubs can be effective at developing appraisal skills and writing a CAT, as well as increasing the reading of library research. Librarians still need assistance in identifying and using questions directly from their own practice. The journal club has helped some librarians to apply evidence to practice, but others find the research is not always directly relevant.

Vincent B, Vincent M, Ferreira CG. Making PubMed searching simple: learning to retrieve medical literature through interactive problem solving. *Oncologist*. 2006;11(3):243-51. PMID: 16549808.

Searching the literature has a direct, beneficial influence
on patient care. The amount of medical scientific informa-
tion has increased to a great extent, while the development
of networking technologies has broadened access to online
databases. Successful searches depend upon understanding
technical librarianship concepts and the skills for mastering
searching interfaces. From a problem-oriented approach,
concepts like MEDLINE coverage, PubMed resources,
Boolean logic, search strategies, and Web sources for full-
text articles are introduced along seven online situations: lo-
cating a specific publication, answering a complex clinical
question, finding information on a general subject, finding
publications by a particular author, finding publications in a
particular language, finding a specific publication type, and
locating the full-text document. Oncologists should face the
challenge of performing their own searches. Specific knowl-
edge is mandatory to avoid frustrating, time-consuming work.

The objective of this work is to present concepts, strategies,
and skills required for medical literature retrieval, easing the
incorporation of new and welcomed practices.