Donna R. Berryman

Objective: In recent years, individuals and small organizations have developed new online learning and information resources that are often marketed directly to students. In this study, these nontraditional online resources are defined as apps or other online resources that are not available through large and well-known publishers. The purposes of this study are to determine if academic health sciences libraries are licensing nontraditional online resources and to provide a snapshot of current collections practices in this area.Methods: An online survey was designed and distributed to the email lists of the Collection Development Section of the Medical Library Association and Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries directors. Follow-up phone interviews were conducted with survey participants who volunteered to be contacted.Results: Of the 58 survey respondents, 21 (36.2%) reported that their libraries currently licensed at least 1 nontraditional online resource, and 45 (77.6%) reported receiving requests for these types of resources. The resources listed by respondents included 50 unique titles. Of the 37 (63.8%) respondents whose library did not license nontraditional online resources, major barriers that were noted included a lack of Internet protocol (IP) authentication, licenses that charge per user, and affordable institutional pricing.Conclusions: Evaluation criteria for nontraditional online resources should be developed and refined, and these resources should be examined over time to determine their potential and actual use by students. There is a growing demand for many of these resources among students, but the lack of financial and access models that serve libraries’ needs is an obstacle to institutional licensing.

This article will help librarians understand how different philosophical stances influence the process of developing a research question and the different methodologies and methods available to help answer that question. Understanding this will help librarian researchers make appropriate choices regarding methods and methodology for the research questions they are seeking to answer. Also included is a table showing the two main types of inquiry (qualitative and quantitative) with their associated methodologies and methods, the basic assumptions underlying each, and the pros and cons of each methodology.

In 2012 the National Library of Medicine awarded several academic medical libraries informationist grants to become embedded with a research team for the purposes of data management. The University of Rochester Medical Center was among those recipients. This article will give background on the research project and team that won the grant, discuss the process of applying for the grant, identify the data management role that the informationist librarians have agreed to work on, how they embedded into the research team, and relay lessons learned thus far in the project.

Librarians may benefit from understanding research theory more fully, looking at the services they offer as a program, and using program evaluation to understand the program value more completely. The process of program evaluation is research, and, as such, it should be situated within theory. This article reviews two of the basic theoretical concepts of research: ontology and epistemology. These concepts work together to help craft the research questions, and the questions drive the selection of methodology. The article also provides a list of web resources useful for understanding research theory in evaluation.

The medical education literature is growing, and the result is not only greater knowledge, but an increasing complexity in locating quality evidence-based information. In 2008, eight librarians partnered with the Association of American Medical Colleges to research, conceptualize, and build an online module to develop medical educators’ search skills. Developing an online instructional module is a time-consuming, multi-stage process requiring the expertise of content, technical, and design specialists working in concert. Many lessons were learned, including the power of collaborative tools; the benefits of including specialists, such as graphic designers; the benefit of thoroughly surveying existing resources; and the importance of choosing technology wisely.

Augmented reality is a technology that overlays digital information on objects or places in the real world for the purpose of enhancing the user experience. It is not virtual reality, that is, the technology that creates a totally digital or computer created environment. Augmented reality, with its ability to combine reality and digital information, is being studied and implemented in medicine, marketing, museums, fashion, and numerous other areas. This article presents an overview of augmented reality, discussing what it is, how it works, its current implementations, and its potential impact on libraries.

In the past, librarians taught reference management by training library users to use established software programs such as RefWorks or EndNote. In today's environment, there is a proliferation of Web-based programs that are being used by library clientele that offer a new twist on the well-known reference management programs. Basically, these new programs are PDF-manager software (e.g., Mendeley or Papers). Librarians are faced with new questions, issues, and concerns, given the new workflows and pathways that these PDF-manager programs present. This article takes a look at some of those.

Technology is constantly driving forward, and information professionals need to be informed about developments in order to work more effectively, provide new services, understand what users need and want, and to develop professionally. Learning how to monitor these developments in technology is a skill, just like learning to drive. This article provides information about developing a workable awareness plan and provides some suggested sites to monitor and tools to use.

The Navigate the Net column will be under new joint editorship beginning with volume 29, issue number 1, 2010. In this column, the new editors look back at the past 15 years and discuss the purpose of the column and changes that have taken place in the way medical librarians use and relate to the Internet. The contributions of the previous editors are recognized and the purpose and future direction of the column are discussed. Brief biographies of the new editors are also included.

Like medical and health sciences libraries throughout the country, the Lamar Soutter Library (LSL) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School is dealing with ever-increasing outreach needs in times of diminishing funding. With the goal of reshaping the library's outreach program to better serve our patron groups, the Outreach Study Group was formed to investigate existing models of outreach. The group initially examined the current literature and subsequently conducted a nationwide survey of medical and health sciences libraries to identify trends in outreach. This article details the methods used for the survey, including establishing criteria for selecting participants, determining the focus, and developing and conducting the survey. Of the 40 libraries invited to participate, 63% completed the survey. An analysis of the data revealed successes, problems, and trends. The group's conclusions led to recommendations for the LSL's future outreach efforts. Analysis of the data revealed key findings in the areas of strategic planning, funding, and evaluation. A thoughtful definition of outreach ensures that outreach activities are expressions of the library's mission. Funding shifts require flexible programs. Evaluation provides data necessary to create new programs, sustain successful ones, and avoid repeating mistakes.