MLA News Selected Articles

January 2000

MLA News Changes Editors

Submitted by Carla J. Funk, Executive Director, and Tomi Gunn, Public Relations Assistant

Jean Demas Completes Six Successful Years as MLA News Editor
This year Jean Demas, AHIP, Alliance of American Insurers, Downers Grove, IL, completed her second three-year term as MLA News editor. Demas has made many significant enhancements to the MLA News during her tenure. Her experience in writing and editing promotional communications, including newsletters enabled her to update the design of the MLA News and make it more readable. She established uniform guidelines for column content responsibility and worked closely with her associate editors to provide timely, informative, and interesting articles, increasing the value of the MLA News to the membership. Demas, working with MLA staff, has made portions of the MLA News available on MLANET and worked with the editor of the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association and staff to develop the MLA Manual of Style, also available on MLANET.

MLA has been fortunate to have Jean Demas as MLA News editor for the past six years. She has more than met the challenges of this position and made a lasting contribution to our publications program. The MLA Board of Directors joins members, the association’s publication committees, and headquarters staff in thanking Demas for her excellent work.

Beverly Murphy Appointed New MLA News Editor
Beverly Murphy, Medical Center Library, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, was appointed by the MLA Board of Directors to take over as editor of the MLA News beginning with the January 2000 issue.

One of the health sciences information profession’s most committed leaders, Murphy has made many contributions to the profession and particularly her chapter, MLA’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC). She has served as editor of MAC Messages, the chapter’s newsletter, and as MAC Treasurer from 1997–99. Murphy recently received the 1999 Marguerite Abel Service Recognition Award, sponsored by MAC, for her tireless efforts on behalf of the chapter during the past year.

Murphy’s contributions on the national level include her work as a member of the MLA Publications Committee and as an MLANET Task Force liaison. A senior member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals, Murphy is very active in the academy, having volunteered as an academy mentor and as an academy counselor for MAC.

Another honor was recently bestowed on Murphy when the National Library of Medicine (NLM) highlighted her accomplishments during its observance of National Medical Librarians Month (NMLM).

MLA congratulates Murphy on her new role and looks forward to working with such a dedicated and talented professional.

Meeting with a View towards the Ocean, the Mountains, and the Future

Submitted by Shona Lam, B.Sc., M.L.I.S., Vancouver Public Library on behalf of the MLA 2000 Local Assistance Committee, Publicity Committee

Attend the library event of the millennium as MLA and CHLA/ABSC host their combined annual meetings, May 5–11, 2000, in one of the world’s top destinations—Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Celebrate the Chinese year of the dragon at the gateway to the Pacific Rim with this year’s theme "Demystifying the Dragon, Strategies for 2000 Plus."

The meeting will be held at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre right by the waterfront. From this scenic and convenient location, you can walk along the cobbled sidewalks of historic 1860s Gastown. Nearby are the fashionable Robson Street boutiques and the Vancouver Art Gallery with its excellent collection of works by Canadian artists, including Emily Carr. Take a short SeaBus ride across the inlet to Vancouver’s North Shore and browse around Lonsdale Quay Market.

Near downtown is the thousand-acre Stanley Park. Visit the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre or hike the park’s trails and see the flowers in bloom. Walk, jog, bike, or inline skate along the park’s famous Seawall and view spectacular English Bay.

Vancouver has a wide range of excellent restaurants such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, French, Italian, and Spanish. Savour fresh seafood from the Pacific! Sample the best sushi outside of Japan! Have an authentic dim sum lunch! Experience West Coast and Fusion cuisine! Enjoy your meals with British Columbian wines or beers from local microbreweries.

Tour North America’s third largest Chinatown and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden, the only authentic Ming Dynasty Garden built outside of China. The Museum of Anthropology, located on the Universityof British Columbia’s impressive campus, contains a superb collection of Northwest Coast First Nations art and artifacts, including sculptures by Haida artist, Bill Reid. Visit Granville Island, a vibrant public market with restaurants, craft, and specialty food shops.

Attend a play or a concert at one of Vancouver’s many theatres, such as the Orpheum or the Ford Centre of Performing Arts. If you have time, visit Victoria for afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel and tour Butchart Gardens, travel to the Gulf Islands for hiking and nature watching, or head to the Whistler resort for golf or biking amongst the mountains.

With so many places to sightsee in Vancouver, there’s always a coffee-bar around to provide rejuvenating espresso! To top it off, Americans have the benefit of the great exchange rate and are eligible to receive a sales tax rebate.

Come and discover why Vancouver is spectacular by nature!

Medical Informatics Librarians: Dual Roles as Teacher and Student

Edited by Virginia A. Lingle, AHIP

Submitted by Kristine M. Alpi, Professional Development Liaison, Medical Informatics Section

In our automated work world, the scopes of information management, bibliographic instruction, and medical informatics (MI) increasingly overlap. Librarians who are involved in teaching in a medical informatics curriculum may often consider themselves students at the same time. In one particular case, the relationship of medical informatics to education and training has been fully recognized by the merging of these respective columns in the journal Medical Reference Services Quarterly into a single "Informatics Education" column [1].

As befits such a computer-oriented discipline, education in MI is best enabled by technology. Classes and resources can be delivered to the desktop of virtual students who rarely have to visit the physical campus. Certificate programs and stand-alone online courses are available through distance education from universities such as Oregon Health Sciences University, Stanford University, and the University of Arizona. Organizations such as the American Medical Informatics Association’s (AMIA) Education Working Group are developing individual Web-based teaching modules. In-person opportunities for instruction abound such as NLM-sponsored courses and fellowships [2], tutorials at AMIA meetings, or onsite classes at an individual’s own institution. A wide range of opportunity exists—from reading an article to spending a week at Woods Hole—to educate oneself about the constantly changing and growing field of medical informatics.

Training opportunities are often multidisciplinary and intended for audiences from many different backgrounds. Information professionals can benefit from courses designed for medical students or computer majors. Medical informatics workshops geared for the hospital administrator or faculty from other disciplines can also be beneficial. The teaching roles that librarians assume may vary across curricula, but, most often, information management and literature searching are librarians’ areas of expertise. These skills can be enhanced by interaction with a variety of people and through the possibilities for collaboration that medical informatics affords.

In May of 1999, the Medical Informatics Section membership completed a continuing education needs assessment that revealed areas of informatics in which more training was desired. A need for distance learning and self-education materials became evident, which led the section to begin the development of a Web page of informatics self-education resources ranging from bioinformatics applications to issues with vocabularies such as the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). The site is designed to be useful to librarians who are learning new skills and librarians who are teaching in medical informatics. The Continuing Education Needs Assessment results, in addition to the Self-Education Resources Project, are available on the section Website (www.medinfo.mlanet.org).

References

1. Hannigan GG, Seago BL. Medical Informatics and Education and Training columns will merge. Med Ref Serv Q 1999 Spring;18(1):73–4.

2. NLM opportunities for training and education: medical informatics. [Web document]. Bethesda, MD: National Library of Medicine, 1998. [rev 27 Jul 1998]. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/trainedu.html#informatics>.

Bookmarklets

Edited by Melissa L. Just

Submitted by Matthew Eberle, M.L.S., The Forsyth Institute, Boston, MA

Bookmarklets are powerful little programs disguised as bookmarks or shortcuts in the latest Web browsers. Technically, they are compact javascripts that the browser treats as part of the current page. Distribution and installation are quick and easy. Libraries can use them to test new Web-based services and make other services more useful and accessible. Two specific examples that you can adapt for use in your own library are described below. Both examples are compatible with the latest version of either Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer.

A common function for bookmarklets is searching, such as the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed system. A bookmarklet can be set to read text the user has highlighted on a Web page and use the text as the search string for any number of search engines. Because of the way that PubMed is designed, searchers can use a simple search bookmarklet to extend the search capabilities. One useful feature of PubMed is the ability to use a MeSH heading or other term from one record as the basis for a new search. Currently, this action requires multiple steps, but with a PubMed bookmarklet, only two steps are required: highlight the relevant text and select the bookmarklet. A PubMed bookmarklet also makes it easy to use PubMed in conjunction with another resource, such as Gale’s Health Reference Center database, which is more consumer-oriented. Text from a Health Reference Center search can be highlighted and run in PubMed. By using the Gale database first, general information can be quickly provided on the topic, because the Gale database includes some general reference works. Then selecting the text and activating the bookmarklet runs the search in PubMed. Bookmarklets can be developed for specialized MEDLINE search filters, such as evidence-based medicine (EBM) filters, to make searching easier for the users.

Because of the status of bookmarklets as browser bookmarks or favorites, they may be especially useful where widespread distribution is not desirable. For example, a bookmarklet that provides a form for requesting services from the library can be built. Many libraries remain wary of placing a "Got a Question?" banner at the top of their Web pages, for fear of being overwhelmed with questions. A bookmarklet can be distributed to a selected subset of patrons enabling the library to control and track access to the service.

More information about bookmarklets can be obtained by visiting the Websites listed below. To obtain the code for the specific bookmarklets mentioned above or for more information, contact the author.

Resources

1. Kangas S. Bookmarklets home page. [Web document]. 1998 [cited 1 Dec 1999]. <http://www.bookmarklets.com>.

2. Shiran Y, Shiran T. Bookmarklets. [Web document.] webreference.com, 1999 [cited 1 Dec 1999]. <http://www.webreference.com/js/column35/>.

Influenza

Edited by Melissa L. Just

Submitted by Candice Benjes, M.L.I.S., Norris Medical Library, University of Southern California–Los Angeles

Internet Resources

Research Spotlight

Edited by Virginia A. Lingle, AHIP

Submitted by Kristin Stoklosa, National Institutes of Health Library, Bethesda, MD, and Research Resources Committee, MLA Research Section

Editor's Note: This series features MLA members’ research projects published outside the library literature in scientific and biomedical publications. The Research Resources Committee of the MLA Research Section shares this series to promote awareness of information research, to encourage research in library practice, to stimulate interest in a variety of publications, and to inspire further MLA research.

"Toward a Framework for Computer-Mediated Collaborative Design in Medical Informatics"

MLA Member and Project Leader
Robert A. Greenes, M.D., Ph.D., Decision Systems Group, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, MA

Source
Patel VL, Kaufman DR, Allen VG, Shortliffe EH, Cimino JJ, Greenes RA. Toward a framework for computer-mediated collaborative design in medical informatics. Methods Inf Med 1999 Sep;38(3):158–76.

Project Description
The purpose of this descriptive study is to explore how electronic communication can support multi-institutional collaboration on project design. Specifically, the authors use as their subject the InterMed Collaboratory, an Internet-based medical informatics project among groups at four participating universities. The research is especially suited to one of the InterMed Collaboratory’s main objectives: the development of tools and resources for disseminating clinical guidelines across medical disciplines and settings. To study how various communication modes facilitate collaborative design, the researchers collected and analyzed observational data from the InterMed Collaboratory over eighteen-month and ten-month time periods. Their conclusions emphasize the importance of matching modality with purpose: face-to-face meetings can coalesce shared group goals; email is advantageous for clarifying technical details but limited for conflict resolution and negotiation; and conference calls facilitate the clarification of executive activities. The product of this research is a theoretical and methodological framework to characterize effective collaborative communication practices in the context of medical informatics.

"Hierarchical Concept Indexing of Full-Text Documents in the Unified Medical Language System Information Sources Map"

MLA Member and Project Leader
Holly K. Grossetta Nardini, John Hopkins University, SAIS Bologna Center, Bologna, Italy

Source
Wright LW, Nardini HKG, Aronson AR, Rindflesch TC. Hierarchical concept indexing of full-text documents in the Unified Medical Language System Information Sources Map. J Am Soc Inf Sci 1999;50(6):514–23.

Project Description
Focusing on information source identification and full-text document retrieval, this study observed the manner in which automatic hierarchical indexing could improve the quality of source and document selection. Using the Health Services/Technology Assessment Text (HSTAT) database in the context of NLM’s Information Sources Map, the researchers sectioned and indexed sixty-six HSTAT documents. SGML-Extractor was used to produce document fragments based on structure, and natural language processing was used in a program called MetaMap Indexing (MMI) to map medical text to concepts in the UMLS Metathesaurus. Applying the indexing terms to the document sections created a hierarchical index in which 60% of MMI-generated MeSH term assignments were not covered by current HSTAT indexing. To test document selection, they provided the hierarchically indexed document fragments to the Inquery retrieval system. Comparing Inquery and HSTAT search results revealed that the Inquery database retrieved both small sections and entire documents, whereas HSTAT posted only the lowest level passages. From these findings, the researchers postulated that hierarchical concept indexing and document sectioning could improve selection quality.