# Current Research

Compiled by Vicky Duncan

Montano BS, Garcia Carretero R, Varela Entrecanales M, Pozuelo PM. Integrating the hospital library with patient care, teaching and research: model and Web 2.0 tools to create a social and collaborative community of clinical research in a hospital setting. *Health Info Libr J*. 2010 Sep;27(3):217-226. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2010.00893.x.

**Background:** Research in hospital settings faces several difficulties. Information technologies and certain Web 2.0 tools may provide new models to tackle these problems, allowing for a collaborative approach and bridging the gap between clinical practice, teaching and research. **Objectives:** We aim to gather a community of researchers involved in the development of a network of learning and investigation resources in a hospital setting. **Methods:** A multi-disciplinary work group analysed the needs of the research community. We studied the opportunities provided by Web 2.0 tools and finally we defined the spaces that would be developed, describing their elements, members and different access levels. **Model description:** WIKINVESTIGACION is a collaborative web space with the aim of integrating the management of all the hospital's teaching and research resources. It is composed of five spaces, with different access privileges. The spaces are: Research Group Space 'wiki' for each individual research group', Learning Resources Centre devoted to the Library, News Space, Forum, and Repositories. **Conclusions:** The Internet, and most notably the Web 2.0 movement, is introducing some overwhelming changes in our society. Research and teaching in the hospital setting will join this current and take advantage of these tools to socialise and improve knowledge management.

Addison J, Glover SW, Thornton C. The impact of information skills training on independent literature searching activity and requests for mediated literature searches. *Health Info Libr J*. 2010 Sep;27(3):191-197 doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00871.x.

**Background:** Most NHS library services routinely offer both mediated searches and information skills training sessions to their users. We analyse the impact of these two services on the amount of literature searching demonstrated by users of hospital-based library services in the north-west of England. **Methods:** Data for (1) mediated literature searches, (2) number of library users attending information skills training sessions, (3) amount of library staff time devoted to information skills training, and (4) number of Athens-authenticated log-ins to databases were

obtained from statistical returns for 2007, and analysed for significant correlations. **Results:** There was evidence of quite strong correlations between the two measures of training activity and the number of mediated literature searches performed by library staff. There was weaker evidence of correlation between training activity and total literature searching activity. **Discussion:** Attending training sessions may make some library users aware of the difficulty of complex literature searches and actually reduce their confidence to perform their own complex searches independently. The relationships between information skills training, mediated literature searches, and independent literature searching activity remain complex.

Boehm K, Raak C, Vollmar HC, Ostermann T. An overview of 45 published database resources for complementary and alternative medicine. *Health Info Libr J*. 2010 Jun;27(2):93-105. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2010.00888.x

**Background:** Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has succeeded to implement itself in the academic context of universities. In order to get information on CAM, clinicians, researchers and healthcare professionals as well as the lay public are increasingly turning to online portals and databases, which disseminate relevant resources. One specific type of online information retrieval systems, namely the database, is being reviewed in this article. **Question:** This overview aims at systematically retrieving and describing all databases covering the field of CAM. One of the requirements for inclusion was that the database would also have to be published in a medical journal. **Data sources:** The databases AMED, CAMBASE, EMBASE, and Medline/PubMed were searched between December 2008 and December 2009 for publications relevant to CAM databases. The authors' specialist library was also searched for grey literature to be included. **Study selection:** All included databases were then visited online and information on the context, structure and volume of the database was extracted. **Main results:** Forty-five databases were included in this overview. Databases covered herbal therapies (n = 11), traditional Chinese medicine (n = 9) and some dealt with a vast number of CAM modalities (n = 9), amongst others. The amount of time the databases had been in existence ranged from 4 to 53 years. Countries of origin included the USA (n = 14), UK (n = 7) and Germany (n = 6), amongst others. The main language in 42 of 45 databases was English. **Conclusions:** Although this overview is quite comprehensive with respect to the field of CAM, certain CAM practices such as chiropractic, massage, reflexology, meditation or
yoga may not have been covered adequately. A more
detailed assessment of the quality of the included databases
might give additional insights into the listed resources. The
creation of a personalised meta-search engine is suggested,
towards which this overview could be seen as a first step.

Li J, Burnham JF, Lemley T, Britton RM. Citation ana-
lysis: comparison of Web of Science, Scopus, SciFinder,
and Google Scholar. *J Electronic Resourc Med Lib.* 2010
Jul;7(3):196-217. doi:10.1080/15424065.2010.505518.

In recent years, numerous articles have compared the
coverage, features, and citation analysis capabilities of Sco-
pus and Google Scholar with Web of Science, a Web-based
version of Science Citation Index. This article goes a step
further and compares the citation analysis potential of four
databases: Web of Science, Scopus, SciFinder, and Google
Scholar. Each database presents its own strengths and
weaknesses, including methods of analysis, differences in
coverage, and means of linking references. As an illustra-
tion, Web of Science provides coverage back to 1900. In
contrast, Scopus only has completed citation information
from 1996 onward, yet Scopus provides better coverage of
clinical medicine and nursing than Web of Science. SciFin-
der has the strongest coverage of chemistry and the natural
sciences, while Google Scholar has the capability to link
citation information to individual references. Although
Scopus and Web of Science provide comprehensive citation
reports, all databases miss linking to some references
included in other databases.

Connor E. PubMed® search interface alternatives: a de-
scriptive comparison. *J Electronic Resourc Med Lib.* 2010
Apr;7(2):126-134. doi: 10.1080/15424065.2010.482905.

The Entrez interface developed by the National Center
for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) includes basic and
advanced features that benefit novice and expert searchers
alike. After NCBI made its content available as an applica-
tion programming interface (API), external database devel-
opers started creating alternative interfaces to search Entrez
databases. This article reviews the features and functionality
of several of these alternatives (ClusterMed™, eTBlast 3.0,
HubMed, and SLIM v.2) and compares search results for
two PubMed® strategies executed in each of the four com-
parison interfaces. The similarities and differences of these
interfaces have implications for achieving comprehensive
and relevant search results, understanding and teaching
end users, and designing effective interfaces.

Marton C. How women with mental health conditions evaluate the quality of information on mental health web sites: a qualitative approach. *J Hosp Librarian.* 2010 Jul; 10(3):235-250.

One of the primary purposes of using the Web is to find
health information for personal health conditions and for
the health conditions of care recipients. Women use the
Web to find health information more so than men. Informa-
tion on many health topics is available online. However,

many studies have shown that the quality of content on
health information Web sites is poor. The narrow focus of
quality rating instruments that assess the content quality of
health Web sites solely on the basis of adherence to clinical
treatment guidelines is called into question. Web user-
defined quality criteria obtained from observational studies
offer a more realistic perspective. Semistructured interviews
on health information seeking on the Web conducted with
five women who have chronic mental health conditions dem-
onstrate that several criteria to assess the reliability of online
health information are utilized during online searching. The
key criteria for quality assessment are the comprehensive-
ness, authoritativeness, trustworthiness, and currency of
health information on mental health Web sites. Hospital
librarians can play a key role to ensure that mental health
patients have access to consumer health information that
meets these criteria for reliability, both through the pro-
vision of instruction on the selection high-quality informa-
tion resources to mental health patients and their caregivers
and through the development of a comprehensive list of
high-quality mental health information resources hosted
on the hospital's Web site and available as a handout in
the hospital library. Furthermore, hospital librarians should
be actively involved in conducting studies of online infor-
mation use by patients.

Dixie A, Jones D, Poletti E, Stephenson P. Demonstrating the value of library services in south central VA health care network medical centers. *J Hosp Librarian*. 2010 Jul; 10(3):211-223. doi: 10.1080/15323269.2010.491416.

**Abstract:** A regional network initiated a collaborative project to demonstrate value of library services to management by focusing on (1) value provided by literature searches through questionnaires; (2) interlibrary loan cost savings through statistics and comparisons of commercial costs; and 3) efficiency of electronic resources through cost per usage. Results showed searches' impact on health care decision making as well as hospital cost savings, interlibrary loans' cost benefits, and low cost per use of regional, virtual library resources. This project demonstrates the value of library services and the role they play in provision of quality health information for quality health care.

Dixie A, Jones D, Poletti E, Stephenson P. Demonstrating the value of library services in south central VA health care network medical centers. *J Hosp Librarian*. 2010 Jul; 10(3):211-223. doi: 10.1080/15323269.2010.491416.

**Abstract:** A regional network initiated a collaborative project to demonstrate value of library services to management by focusing on (1) value provided by literature searches through questionnaires; (2) interlibrary loan cost savings through statistics and comparisons of commercial costs; and 3) efficiency of electronic resources through cost per usage. Results showed searches' impact on health care decision making as well as hospital cost savings, interlibrary loans' cost benefits, and low cost per use of regional, virtual library resources. This project demonstrates the value of library services and the role they play in provision of quality health information for quality health care.
Harvey SA, Wandersee JR. Publication rate of abstracts of papers and posters presented at Medical Library Association annual meetings. *J Med Libr Assoc*. 2010 Jul;98(3):250–255. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2901010/?tool=pubmed. PMC: PMC2901010. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.98.3.014.

**Objectives:** This study sought to ascertain the publication rate of abstracts presented at the annual meetings of the Medical Library Association (MLA) for the years of 2002 and 2003. The secondary objectives were to examine possible reasons for non-publication and factors influencing publication. **Methods:** A total of 442 abstracts from both meeting years, consisting of presented papers and posters, were examined. The 2 methods used to obtain a publication rate were literature searches and an online questionnaire sent to first authors. The questionnaire also asked abstract authors about reasons for non-publication and other factors that might have influenced their decisions about whether or not to submit the project for publication. **Results:** The overall publication rate from the survey was 26.5%, and the publication rate found via literature searching was 27.6%. The most common reason given for non-publication was time restrictions. Also notable was the large proportion of abstracts written by librarians working at universities and those having 25 or more years in the library profession. **Discussion:** Publication rates for abstracts presented at the Medical Library Association meetings for the years studied rank at the low end in comparison with other medical professional associations. Further research in into factors affecting publication may reveal ways to increase this rate.

Potter J. Mapping the literature of occupational therapy: an update. *J Med Libr Assoc*. 2010 Jul;98(3):235–242. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2901014/?tool=pubmed. PMC: PMC2901014. doi: 10.3163/1536-5050.98.3.012.

**Objectives:** This study updated Reed's 1999 "Mapping the Literature of Occupational Therapy." An analysis of

citation patterns and indexing coverage was undertaken to identify the core literature of occupational therapy and to determine access to that literature. **Methods:** Citations from three source journals for the years 2006 through 2008 were studied following the common methodology of the "Mapping the Literature of Allied Health Project." Bradford's Law of Scattering was applied to analyze the productivity of cited journals. A comparative analysis of indexing was conducted across three bibliographic databases. **Results:** A total of 364 articles cited 10,425 references. Journals were the most frequently cited format, accounting for 65.3% of the references, an increase of 4.1% over the 1999 study. Approximately one-third of the journal references cited a cluster of 9 journals, with the *American Journal of Occupational Therapy* dominating the field. An additional 120 journals were identified as moderately important based on times cited. CINAHL provided the most comprehensive indexing of core journals, while MEDLINE provided the best overall coverage. **Conclusions:** Occupational therapy is a multidisciplinary field with a strong core identity and an increasingly diverse literature. Indexing has improved overall since 1999, but gaps in the coverage are still evident.

Lubker IM, Henderson ME, Canevari CS, Wright BA. Refocusing reference services outside the library building: one library's experience. *Med Ref Serv Q*. 2010 Jul; 29(3):218–228. doi: 10.1080/02763869.2010.494478.

**Abstract:** In response to changing user needs, the library sought ways to meet new challenges and engage users outside of the building. Librarians were removed from the service desk in order to offer support at locations around campus. The service desk in the library was staffed primarily by paraprofessionals with librarians providing support as needed. Targeted staff training was offered, and different scheduling models were used over a period of time. Restructuring the service desk was a complicated endeavor but provided a number of benefits including expansion of services. Along the way, challenges were met and recognized as learning opportunities.