This is the third in a series of blog posts showcasing how WHSLA members and their libraries responded to serving our users in creative ways during COVID-19. Thank you to Barb Ruggeri, Health Sciences Librarian at Carroll University, for sharing her story.
In case any of you missed this important bit of news by other sources.
With Erin Latta moving on, it lists a new route to get support for Docline.
Dear DOCLINE Users,
Please join me in congratulating Erin Latta as she prepares for the next phase of her career. She has accepted a new position working for ICF, a consulting company, to work as an Information Specialist/Systems Librarian and provide support to the NLM DOCLINE Team. As the NNLM DOCLINE Coordinator, she served as the sole coordinator in the office responding to thousands of user support requests related to utilizing a Google Account sign-in, launch of DOCLINE 6.0, retirement of Loansome Doc, and the transition of EFTS to MLA. While I’m incredibly happy for her new opportunity and continued support with DOCLINE, I believe that she will be sorely missed throughout all of NNLM.
With her new opportunity, the NDCO office will close ahead of schedule due to the upcoming changes to the NNLM in the 2021-2026 cooperative agreement. Customer support from the NDCO will transition to the National Library of Medicine effective immediately.
For DOCLINE support, please submit a NLM Support Center Help Desk Ticket.
We would like to thank you for contacting the NDCO over the past 5 years. It was truly a pleasure supporting your library and responding to your DOCLINE customer service needs.
Best wishes,
Tony Nguyen, MLIS, AHIP
Executive Director
Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM)
Health Sciences and Human Services Library
University of Maryland, Baltimore
As if the Librarian War on QAnon article wasn't enough, I found this essay in The NYT as a follow-up:
Let's continue the conversation: What do you think?
Fister, B., 2021. The Librarian War Against QAnon As “Do the research” becomes a rallying cry for conspiracy theorists, classical information literacy is not enough. [online] The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2021/02/how-librarians-can-fight-qanon/618047/ [Accessed 19 February 2021].
I'm putting this article up in the hopes that it will generate some good discussion around info literacy and how it could be re-vamped for our current information ecosystems.
We've probably all had family members, friends, and patrons yell at us to "Do the research." But clearly their definition of that task is very different from ours as professional Librarians and Searchers. [Frankly, hearing someone say "Do the research" is like fingernails down a blackboard for me.] How do you answer them? Is it even possible? Is classical info literacy due for an upgrade?
What are your thoughts?
This infographic was created by Virologist Ian Mackay to help clarify that in order to best limit personal risk and community risk from being infected by, or passing on, SARS-CoV-2, we need to think of using a range of risk reduction measures. Each have their own failings and these can be affected by circumstances so layering them up helps avoid any single measure's (layer) problems (holes).
Think about this layered approach originally outlined in 1990 by Prof James Reason. Based on Prof James Reason's analyses (e.g. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.1990.0090). Layout inspired by a graphic from @sketchplanator (https://sketchplanations.com/the-swiss-cheese-model)
Mackay, Ian M. (2020): The Swiss Cheese Respiratory Virus Defence. figshare. Figure. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13082618.v21. The image appears here under a CC BY 4.0.
Dr. Joan Donovan, Research Director on Media at Harvard's Shorenstein Center at The Kennedy School of Government, recently gave a webinar for the NNML on "Concrete Recommendations for Cutting through Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic."
She cited her parallel article in the special Health Misinformation issue of AJPH that discusses possible methods for mitigating misinformation about public health amid the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on social media resources such as Facebook and Twitter, and other Internet outlets such as YouTube and Google.
Donovan J. Concrete Recommendations for Cutting Through Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic. American Journal of Public Health. 2020;110:S286-S287. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2020.305922. Link to article on Academic Search Premier via Badgerlink.
Dr. Donovan cited their Media Manipulation Casebook, which is a "digital research platform linking together theory, methods, and practice for mapping media manipulation and disinformation campaigns. This resource is intended for researchers, journalists, technologists, policymakers, educators, and civil society organizers, who want to learn about detecting, documenting, describing, and debunking misinformation." The Casebook acknowledges that misinformation is an entire industry.
In the webinar, Dr Donovan described the Media Manipulation Life Cycle:
1) Manipulation Campaign Planning - Where did it begin?
2) Seeding campaign across social platforms and web - Where does it start? Who authors it?
3) Responses by industry activists, politicians, and journalists who are often targeted.
4) Mitigation - where social media platforms may start blocking content about it, or marking it. Journalists may debunk it. Organizers/Activists may publish white papers debunking it.5) Manipulators make adjustments to the new environment, especially if it's profitable. They will create entire ecosystems to allow people to "Do your research." They may use techniques such as
On February 10th, 2021, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) launched a new MEDLINE website that provides a consolidated location for information regarding MEDLINE policies, history, statistics, and the MEDLINE journal selection and review processes. The website was developed in alignment with the NLM Strategic Plan 2017-2027: A Platform for Biomedical Discovery and Data-Powered Health goal of reaching more people in more ways through enhanced dissemination and engagement. Currently indexed MEDLINE journals and publishers, as well as MEDLINE applicants, are strongly encouraged to review the website.
Under the Journal Selection Tab, you can read more about:
Questions or Comments?
Journals with questions or comments about these changes are encouraged to write to the NLM Support Center with the subject line: "MEDLINE Website." We also encourage journals and publishers to periodically visit the pages, as they may be updated over time.
We will answer a few questions from our mail bag on these changes. If you would like to submit a question in advance, please send an Email to at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
with the subject line “Changes to my NCBI Log In” by February 24th.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about attending the webinar. A few days after the live presentation, you can view the recording on the NLM YouTube channel.
You can learn about future webinars on the Webinars and Courses page.
* This article appeared on The NCBI Insights blog on Feb 9, 2021. We are helping them get the word out about these important changes.
The American Journal of Public Health featured a special supplement last fall focused on Health Misinformation on Social Media. I know this is a topic of particular interest to Health Science Librarians and didn't want any of you miss miss it.
Not only do they talk about this post-modern scourge, but they also discuss some of the opportunities to combat misinformation on these same platforms. A reason for hope!
This special supplement issue features research and perspectives on the dangers—and opportunities—posed by a shift in how modern populations consume health information via social media. Just as the spread of misinformation by malicious and unwitting parties poses a threat to public health and the credibility of institutional knowledge, so too do these platforms offer new approaches to counteract rumors and intentional deception in real time and with targeted strategies.
Here in Wisconsin, we have "free" online access via Badgerlink through Academic Search Premier.
In Milwaukee, local health professionals, researchers, and artists have come together to form the Creative Health Collective. This public health project is reaching out through art to promote health precautions and reduce COVID-19 related deaths and health disparities in under-served communities. Murals and prints are publicly displayed in and around the Milwaukee area.
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| "McGov (series 1 of 3)" collage by artist Tay Butler, Creative Health Collective |
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| I made this in MS Paint. -Annie |
Save time on your calendar for The 2021 WHSLA Web Conference
June 16 - 17, 2021
The conference planning team is arranging for speakers and firming up the schedule.
Since it's a web conference, over the 2 days, there will be plenty of breaks to allow you to each lunch and check your email, etc.
Sneak peaks:
