Biology's Impact on Counting Words

For your viewing pleasure ...

WHSLA Member, Diane Giebink-Skoglind at ThedaCare Libraries in Appleton, found this video on The Scholarly Kitchen:

Dec 20, 2019  by  David Crotty Biology’s Impact on Counting Words A short video about the words we use for counting and how biology influences both language and math. READ MORE

British humour for the holidays

While not having homework is my favorite thing about this time of year, The British Medical Journal's December issue is a close second.

The NIH Library Bibliometrics Training Series: FREE

If you've ever wanted to learn more about citation analysis, data science, research impact, or data visualization, this could be your big chance to get some free training from the NIH.  


Via the Medlib-L Listserv, Christopher Belter writes:

     We are pleased to announce the launch of the NIH Library's bibliometrics training series. 

     The series is a collection of thirteen free online videos that introduce viewers to the theories 

     and practices of bibliometric analysis, as implemented by the NIH Library's bibliometric service program. 

     The goal of the series is to teach others how we do bibliometrics and why we do things the way that we do.

     The entire training series is now available from the NIH Library website.


Chris Belter, MLS
Bibliometrics Informationist
National Institutes of Health Library
Division of Library Services
Office of Research Services
Bethesda, MD 20892 USA
Email: Christopher.Belter@nih.gov

End of the semester

Many of you WHSLA members know that I'm a library assistant, and just started working towards my MLIS in September.  It was rough.  Honestly, around midterms, I questioned every decision I've ever made and wanted to give up.  But I'm happy to report that I survived my first semester!  Here are just some of the exciting things I learned:

• Three classes plus working full time is insanity.  I won't try that again.
• "Biblioblogosphere" is a legit term, despite what spellcheck is telling me.  And we're part of it!
• Perfect scores are rare.  Learn to embrace "good enough."
• Have you heard of the Mundaneum?  It was an ambitious attempt to catalog ALL the world's knowledge long before the Internet existed.
• Prepping your meals ahead of time (or having an awesome loved one who will feed you) helps immensely.
• I joined a librarian meme group on facebook because humor helps me cope with stress (and it's nice to be around so many people who share my weird sense of humor).  A librarian whose name I recognized from a paper I'd just cited for my term paper posted something, and I turned into a fangirl.  Luckily, she was flattered that I enjoyed her article.  Hopefully I get to tackle this topic again (how libraries can help fight the spread of misinformation) because she's an amazing resource!
• I'm taking online classes, so I worked with students from all over the country and got to hear perspectives from all kinds of libraries.
• Melville Dewey, despite his many library accomplishments, was a creeper.
• There is SO MUCH READING.
• Organizing a research paper, particularly one requiring 15+ citations, is really difficult.  I suspect I'll be more practice in this area.  Any suggestions to make it less painful would be more than welcome.
• In fact, any advice and suggestions you have about how to survive and thrive in grad school would be greatly appreciated.  Leave them in the comments, or send them to me at annie dot lipski at aurora dot org (not today, bots!  I know you can't identify email addresses if I write them out like that!).

Last day of the semester

First day of the semester!

Check out ECRI Guidelines Trust Newly Designed Website on their first Anniversary

We are happy to announce that the ECRI Guidelines Trust® just celebrated its one year anniversary!

Since launching in November 2018, the ECRI Guidelines Trust® has made tremendous progress with an inventory of more than 1,400 clinical guidelines from 131 guideline developers, including 568 Guideline Briefs and TRUST Scorecards. The resource serves THOUSANDS of physicians, nurses, students, medical librarians, and other healthcare professionals from more than 85 countries and territories worldwide.

In celebration of our 1st anniversary, we have launched a NEW, redesigned website which showcases our growing content and provides an enhanced user experience. We invite you to check out the newly redesigned site today.

Thank you for your continued support! The ECRI Guidelines Trust® team

The Infantorium - The Secret History of Infant Incubators

For your listening pleasure over the holidays ...

This Infantorium podcast from 99% Invisible shares the unusual history of infant incubators.  It's not what you might think ... 

Who knew that caring for premature babies began as a sideshow at Wonderland Amusement Park?    It took an unusually long time for the evidence to seep up to the medical establishment of the day.

If you want to know more, give it a listen.  The transcript is also available.

Ebsco's Infographic on Information Literacy in Medical Research

Ebsco is offering an Infographic Download: Information Literacy in Medical Research The information behavior of your medical library users was shaped during their academic years. But the skills they graduated with are not necessarily the skills they need to successfully conduct research in the workplace. Learn more in the free infographic.

Need a little "space" in your life? NIH-NASA collaborations

Unless you've been living under a rock in 2019, you probably already know it was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing this summer. NASA is set to keep moon exploration going with the Artemis program slated to land two women on the moon in 2024. 

Recently I listed to a fascinating webinar from NNLM about astronaut health. If you're interested in astronaut health, outer space, or just like sciencey things, check out the recording. It includes links to many other free resources on space and STEM activities libraries can hijack and use. 

If you're interested in getting deeper into the health science piece, NIH and NASA have a website that provides links to other government agency partnerships with more resources such as data calls and webinars. 

Growing up in the 1980's (like me) you might have heard of Space Camp in Huntsville, AL. I just learned they have one for grown-ups...okay, librarians, who's coming with me! 

Why are we the only humans left?

Why are we the only humans left?

Just 50,000-100,000 years ago, Earth was home to three or four separate human species, including our most famous cousins: the Neanderthals. New research has shown that Neanderthals ... Read more

New Benchmarking Study of Hospital Libraries Published

This brand new Hospital Libraries Benchmark study just came out, written by our HSL colleagues Angela Spencer, Elizabeth Mamo, and Brooke Billman.  

Spencer, A., Mamo, E., & Billman, B. (2019). Benchmarking study of hospital libraries. Hypothesis, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.18060/23805     Available at:

http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/hypothesis/article/view/23805/22944  Accessed 5 December 2019. 

Many of the Hospital Libraries in Wisconsin (some of them WHSLA Members) participated in this study.  

Now we can see how we stack up with 180 other hospital libraries who responded to the 2017 survey.  The 19-page report contains multiple graphs and charts in a visual display of the survey data, along with a narrative explanation of the current state of Hospital Libraries.  

Take a look!