AI and Medical Librarianship webinar recording

I tuned into a fascinating webinar from NNLM Region 6 earlier this week: AI, Higher Education, and Medical Librarianship: Opportunities and Risks presented by Michael Flierl from Ohio State. What I especially liked about it was the discussion throughout and examples of how AI and ChatGPT are being used in educational settings to teach things like critical thinking and analysis. It definitely sparked ideas for me on how I might weave those themes into my thinking of and teaching about AI and ChatGPT more specifically. 

The recording is now available on NNLM's Region 6 YouTube channel. 

An updated look for ClinicalTrials.gov

Have you seen the updated ClinicalTrials.gov? In July 2023 NLM launched an updated version of the well-known site. 

Two things jumped out at me right away: a clear description of the purpose of the site and disclaimer about safety/science. Both of those additions will help users better understand what they will find here. 

If you prefer the classic version, no need to panic. According to the "Top Questions and Answers about the Transition to the Modernized ClinicalTrials.gov and Modernized IRS" the classic version is still available but will be retired eventually. 

NNLM Webinar: The New Clinically Useful Journals List for PubMed Searching: Where to Find it and How to Use it

The New Clinically Useful Journals List for PubMed Searching: Where to Find it and How to Use it [Video]

Kudos: WHSLA Member Michele Matucheski, MLIS, AHIP, crafted the PubMed search strategy that helped make this research easy to implement.

The 50-year-old PubMed Core Clinical Journals list has been redesigned using real-world data. Starting with what subjects to cover, the list has been updated to include contemporary topics and highly used clinically relevant journals. The process for this, the list itself and search string to save have been published recently in our recent JMLA article, PubMed's Core Clinical Journals Filter: Redesigned for Contemporary Clinical Impact and Utility. Librarians can use the data-driven list to create customized searches in PubMed.gov for their institutional clinicians to apply, plus it's a tool for journal collection development. This talk will explain ways to save and deploy the list, the clinicians who might use it, and potential uses in healthcare professional education.

Michele Klein-Fedyshin, M.S.L.S., BSN, RN, AHIP, FMLA, is a liaison librarian to the School of Pharmacy at the Health Sciences Library System of the University of Pittsburgh. She works with the Transitional Year Residency program and teaches Infectious Disease residents and Clinical Research students. With the title of Research and Clinical Instruction Librarian, she is faculty at the University of Pittsburgh.

Objectives:

The NNLM Region 6 Spotlight Speaker Series features presentations from guests on topics of interest to those interested in health information, outreach, programming, and more. Topics provide information to help attendees:

• Know their communities
• Better understand health consumers
• Evaluate health information
• Increase knowledge of resources and subjects
• Improve health-related communication, reference, instruction, and programming 
• Increase health literacy
• Understand and explore the relationship between technology and health
• Explore ethical and legal issues.

This presentation meets the NNLM goal of supporting a highly trained workforce for biomedical and health information resources and data by increasing PubMed knowledge.

MLA's Censorship & Library Practices Tool Kit

Guest Post by Margaret Ansell, AHIP

The Medical Library Association (MLA) just released a Censorship & Library Practices Toolkit. 

A core value of librarianship is to provide accessible and trustworthy health information. However, institutional policies and regional and national laws often place limits on what information can be shared with library users. Navigating this conflict between our professional values and external rules can be a complex and difficult endeavor.  

The Censorship and Library Practices Toolkit provides resources that can assist health sciences librarians in establishing policies, procedures, and information resources that can help to minimize these potential conflicts and provide a solid basis for dealing with them when they arise. It includes:

• Tools to Track Legislation & Upcoming Issues
• Issue-Specific Resources
• Privacy
• Intellectual Freedom/Censorship
• Reproductive Health
• Sexual Health
• Sexual Health Information for Minors
• LGBTQ Health Information
• Social Determinants of Health
• State-Specific Resources
• Designing & Enacting Library Policies
• Recommended Policy Elements & Practices
• Example Policies
• Tips & Tricks for Enforcing Policies
• Note About Currency & Contribution

This brief article first appeared on the MLA Connect Newsletter on July 28, 2023.

Reprinted with Ms. Ansell's permission.

Mom & Dads Nipple Factory

Were any of you able to see Mom & Dad's Nipple Factory  when the Milwaukee Film Society showed it back in April?    

WHSLA member Kellee Selden recommends this film if you have a chance to see it.  It has tremendous implications for breast cancer survivors, with Wisconsin roots.

Director Justinsuperstar tells the love story of his parents in his feature documentary Mom & Dad's Nipple Factory

When Randi is diagnosed with breast cancer, her husband Brian, an introverted serial entrepreneur and tinkerer, embarks on a journey to restore her that is anything but ordinary. Following her successful mastectomy of one breast and later, an innovative breast reconstruction process, Brian realizes the love of his life is still feeling incomplete. Learning from everyone he can inside their small Wisconsin town and beyond, starting with the local dentist, he launches a project to build her the perfect matching nipple - a project that neither of them realizes has the power to change thousands of lives ...

Mom & Dad's Nipple Factory is a quirky and heartwarming look at how a conservative Christian couple deals with starting a nipple prosthetic business, all while staying under the radar from their friends, church and five children.

Henrietta Lacks' descendants reach a settlement over the use of her 'stolen' cells [from NPR]

You've undoubtedly heard of Henrietta Lacks or read the book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", but did you hear the latest? Check out this August 1, 2023 NPR story and podcast to get up to speed. 

As an aside, at the NPR website, I couldn't help but notice the beautiful portrait of her painted by Kehinde Wiley. If you're ever visiting the Milwaukee Art Museum, they also have a painting from Kehinde Wiley that is worth a look in-person.