1. Keeping Up to Date
Allison Bell
Gerstein Science Library
April 7, 2011
2. Practical methods for LLL
Good current awareness programs are:
• Efficient, preferably AUTOMATED “Set it
and forget it”
• Focused on your highest priorities
• Manageable (you can make time to read
what arrives)
3. Develop a
Current Awareness Program
1. Set Goals
2. Choose Activities
3. Evaluate Success
4. Re-tool if necessary
4. First: Set Goals
• What news do I need to hear to do my job
properly?
• What news do I need to hear to keep up to date
with my professional development?
• Identify knowledge gaps
• Passionate interests
5. Think of some current
awareness goals for
yourself.
What are they?
6. Consider Type of Info.
• Guidelines, best
More Synthesized practices
• Systematic
reviews
• Synopses
Less Synthesized • Articles
8. Turn Each Goal into Activity
Example:
• GOAL: Read everything new that comes out
about the Gardasil vaccine
• ACTIVITY: Set up an automated search or
RSS feed in Pubmed for any new articles on the
Gardasil/HPV vaccine
13. Why set up RSS readers?
Email RSS
Clogs your inbox Leave your email for real
people
They have your email Maintain anonymity
address!
Unsubscribe requests Unsubscribe in one click
may be ignored/delayed
Have to delete 1-click “mark as read” =
unwanted emails never see them again
19. Email Alerts: Pubmed
Your email address here…
Change the:
•frequency,
•day of the week
•format of delivery
to suit your preferences.
20. TOC alerts
“Each feed lists the contents of the
latest issue, with article summaries”
• Can be via email or RSS depending on the journal.
• You do not need to subscribe to the journal
22. Keeping Current: Where to Start?
• Canadian Journal of
Public Health • Health Affairs
• American Journal of
Epidemiology • Environmental Health
Perspectives (EHP)
• American Journal of
Public Health
More titles in the Public Health Research Guide:
http://guides.library.utoronto.ca/publichealth
23. Be Picky when Picking Sources
Pick professional sources for….
• Reliability (both content AND schedule)
• Can it deliver in a set-and-forget mode?
• Relevance to your learning GOALS
24. What about your clients?
Some considerations:
• Pick patient information sources for…
– Quality (reflect latest/best knowledge)
– Readability (consider levels, language)
– Usability/learning styles (Interactive? Print?)
25. Critical Evaluation of Web Sources
• More advertising= be more wary!
– Pop ups? ‘Scam’ Ads?
• Statements of responsibility, credentials
• Quality of content, interface
• How current?
• Personal information collected/used?
26. Free Consumer Health Sources
• http://medlineplus.gov/
• Toronto Public Library Health Information:
http://chis.wikidot.com/
28. Contact Info
Allison.bell@utoronto.ca
Ask.gerstein@utoronto.ca
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/gerstein
Notes de l'éditeur
LLL= life long learning
-gaps “ you don’t know what you don’t know ”, but could come across questions or read in the lit something you are unfamiliar with. ‘managing IP team’ PUSH yourself, don’t just gravitate to what you are comfortable with -Goal ‘maintain current awareness in my field’ is WAY too broad, needs some parameters. -Could be something concrete like “read everything by my supervisor” or something like “stay current with three top journals in the field”
Write them down! Couple of minutes
There are sources to find these types of info in the Public Health research guide
Activities to match your goals. Pull vs. Push You go to them vs. them coming to you. Favourites = find out while at U of T, talk to colleagues/professors RSS= News updates, key blogs, automated searches Automated Searches: RSS or email alerts RSS= News updates, key blogs, automated searches Automated Searches: RSS or email alerts Familiarize yourself with key journals/sources Podcasts – WHO and Harvard School of Public Health
Turn Goals into activity Another Example: Stay current with the American Journal of Public Health, set up TOC email alerts
Can be once per day, once per week, in the morning when you get to work, or Sunday evening with a glass of wine. Don’t just skim and delete Daily emails is temporary, you will fall behind ID your knowledge gaps and focus on them when time is short
At any time or After 1 month critically evaluate success of goals and activities. Are you actively checking your feed reader or do you need email to come to you? Are your emails being deleted without being red due to volume?
Easy to use or you won’t use it! -Show Google Reader
Look for Symbol or text Will give you a feed URL or a link to click on Can also search from within Google Reader or Bloglines
In databases like Pubmed or Pubget. Or U of T subscribed databases. No RSS feeds in Google Scholar, Bing, or Scirus
Many other ways for keeping current using Pubmed
Use Clinical Queries for Evidence-based searching. Use reg. Pubmed for everything.
Demo - Show them how RSS feed: add to your feed reader, Saved Search, sign up for my NCBI. Email alerts. Pros and cons of both.
NCBI email alerts feature for saved searches…
If we do not subscribe to the journal you can read the abstracts and order through ILL, or search Google Scholar to see if the article is freely available online.
Example of what it looks like
Big FIVE medicine journals as well
If it’s a top journal, this does not apply. If it is a website, it does. Relevance: one goal might be management of an IP team, may not be covered by a PH journal. Find a management journal instead.
Scam ads– if a source you perceive as reliable has shady advertising or pop-ups, don’t hesitate to contact them. May be willing to remove offending ads.
Patients also face problems around critical evaluation of sources My favorite site: medline plus. From the states BUT there isn’t a great canadian alternative, unfortunately -Check with your local public library for recommendations. Upon starting in a community, one of the first things you should do. -Can use ILL for articles from Public Libraries.