Critical librarianship

BACKGROUND: The state of evidence-based transgender healthcare in the United States has been put at risk by the spread of misinformation harmful to transgender people. Health science librarians can alleviate the spread of misinformation by identifying and analyzing its flow through systems that affect access to healthcare. DISCUSSION: The author developed the theory of the Misinformation - Legislation Pipeline by studying the flow of anti-transgender misinformation from online echo chambers through a peer-reviewed article and into policy enacted to ban medical treatments for transgender people in the state of Florida...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to critically appraise and synthesise the existing research literature pertaining to nurses' attitudes toward pressure ulcer (PU) prevention. METHOD: The systematic review presented in our paper serves as an updated version of the definitive review conducted by Avsar et al. in 2019. Using systematic review methodology, we considered published quantitative studies focusing on nurses' attitudes toward PU prevention as measured using psychometric tests...

Librarians at the University of Florida Health Science Center Libraries have begun to intentionally incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles into teaching during design, implementation, and evaluation. This article uses four case studies to provide an overview of the librarians' approaches to inclusive teaching (1) an annual workshop for Physical Therapy students on the intersection between DEI, health literacy, and patient education; (2) a librarian-taught one-credit course for public health students, which was revised to create a more inviting syllabus and integrate elements of universal design; (3) an annual project for first year medical students highlighting health disparities and community resources; and (4) piloting the application of critical librarianship principles in library standalone sessions on database searching and reference management...

A library in higher education plays a primary role in students' learning on campus. In addition to individually-focused studying, students come to a library for various purposes, such as group learning, collaborating, and socializing. To support students' different types of learning, appropriate physical and functional environments of the spaces must be provided. However, the environmental effects of learning spaces have not been explored extensively. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced students to remain and study at home for extended periods, and it is expected that the pandemic experience has affected students' space use patterns...

Health sciences librarianship has historically benefited from avoiding critical conversations around the role of race in the profession, reflected through a select few number of articles on the topic. The purpose of this study was to add to this body of literature and apply a critical librarianship framework on the early scholarly record of health sciences librarianship and the legacy of integration within the Medical Library Association (MLA). Three Southern medical works and the integration views of Mary Louise Marshall, the longest-serving president of MLA from 1941 to 1946, were thematically and textually analyzed to redress the profession's long-standing legacy with Whiteness and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) representation...

The Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) recently issued a call for submissions that recognize and address social injustices; speak to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workforce and among our user populations; and share critical perspectives on health sciences librarianship as well as those on any topic within JMLA 's scope written by authors who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color. We also committed to creating more equitable opportunities for authors, reviewers, and editorial board members from marginalized groups...

Medical devices provide effective therapeutic care for patients. However, medical device-related pressure injuries (MDRPI) are caused by prolonged pressure or shear from a medical device on any location on the body, including mucosal cavities. The primary outcome of this quantitative systematic review was to identify the incidence of MDRPIs in adults within the acute hospital setting. Secondary outcomes include grading, anatomical location and devices that caused such injuries. Electronic databases (CINAHL Plus with Full Text, MEDLINE, EBSCO Host, Health Business Elite Web of Science, PsychINFO, Google Scholar, and Research Gate) were searched for all potential primary studies between November 2019-January 2020...

White papers - reports conveying research or recommendations on a complex issue - arrive in the inboxes of academic librarians, along with an obligation to monitor them if they can help one's library or university. They seem to invariably disappoint, the written equivalent of empty calories. This paper asks: is this true? If so, how so? And why? To answer, a selection method produced a modest subset of current, topical white papers to analyze - hence this article as a fragment on recent, topical white papers...

The Kaiser Permanente health sciences librarians created inter-regional policies to standardize and guide the work of all librarians across regions. In response to the larger organization's emphasis on promoting diversity and equity in healthcare and the workplace, the library policies have evolved over time to include aspects of critical librarianship in the information services that the Kaiser Permanente librarians provide to their organization. The article describes how the inter-regional group of hospital librarians provide information services through a critical librarianship lens and provides examples of how other health sciences librarians can incorporate these principles to expand their services...

INTRODUCTION: Indications on the development of the health library and knowledge workforce (LKS) in England suggest that more staff may need to shift into clinical librarian (CL) roles. Anecdotal evidence suggested that CL roles have changed recently. OBJECTIVES: To examine perceptions of CL tasks and required personal characteristics of CLs, amongst both practising CLs and other LKS staff in England. METHODS: An online survey was followed by descriptive statistical and content analysis to identify any differences in perceptions between the CL and non-CL staff groups...

COVID-19, a novel respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, was first recognized in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Health science librarians continue to navigate the global health crisis while providing critical information services to their institutions. An informal survey was conducted to obtain some general information on the types of responses by health science librarians to this event. Among the findings is an opportunity for librarians to strengthen interdepartmental relationships and disaster response plans in preparation for future pandemics and disaster events...

The Medical Library Association (MLA) appointed a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force (DITF) in 2017. Sandra G. Franklin, AHIP, FMLA, chaired the task force and guided initiatives. From 2017 to 2020, the task force completed a review of MLA defining documents-including the mission, vision, values, and code of ethics-resulting in language updates to these documents. As MLA transitioned through the communities process, the DITF contributed to the transition. Other recommended essential changes to MLA profiles to promote awareness included updating pronouns to promote gender inclusivity and suggestions for the Annual Meeting Innovation Task Force...

BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation is a mandatory component of stroke management, aiming to recover functional capacity and independence. To that end, physical therapy sessions must involve adequate intensity in terms of cardiopulmonary stress to meet the physiological demands of independent living. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to determine the current level of cardiopulmonary strain during rehabilitation sessions in stroke patients. METHODS: Three electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL and Embase...

As the premier journal in health sciences librarianship, the Journal of the Medical Library Association ( JMLA ) continuously strives to publish high-quality work that advances research and practice and to provide irreplaceable value for readers, authors, and reviewers. This editorial reflects on the state of JMLA in 2020 by describing our editorial team and volume of submissions, highlighting recent initiatives that strengthen the journal's position in the profession, and sharing future plans to enrich JMLA 's content and promote open science...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to examine the associations and relationship between commonly cited risk factors and the pathology of pressure ulcer (PU) development. METHOD: Using systematic review methodology, original research studies, prospective design and human studies written in English were included. The search was conducted in March 2018, using Ovid, Ovid EMBASE and CINAHL databases. Data were extracted using a pre-designed extraction tool and all included studies were quality appraised using the evidence-based librarianship critical appraisal...

The primary bottleneck in understanding and modeling biological systems is shifting from data collection to data analysis and integration. This process critically depends on data being available in an organized form, so that they can be accessed, understood and reused by a broad community of scientists. A proven solution for organizing data is literature curation which extracts, aggregates and distributes findings from publications. Here, I describe the benefits of extending curation practices to datasets, especially those that are not deposited in centralized databases...

OBJECTIVE: The main aim of this systematic review was to establish the prevalence of pressure ulcers (PU) within published studies from Europe. METHOD: Using systematic review methodology, quantitative design studies which explored prevalence data and/or the epidemiology of PUs in Europe were considered. The primary outcome was PU prevalence. The search, conducted in April 2019, using Cochrane, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases, returned 3065 records, of which 79 met the inclusion criteria...

In recent years, librarians in various sectors have been moving forward a conversation on the distinct information needs and information-seeking behavior of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) patrons and how well the profession recognizes and meets those needs. Health sciences librarianship has been slower than other areas of the profession in creating an evidence base covering the needs of its LGBTQ patrons, with, until recently, only very limited literature on this subject. LGBTQ health sciences librarianship is now starting to attract new interest, with librarians working together to bring this emerging specialization to the attention of the broader professional community...

BACKGROUND: Health librarians should keep up-to-date in a dynamic environment and accept the importance of continuing personal development (CPD) and growth in their critical reflection and creative thinking skills. They also need to acknowledge the potential value of research activity and the challenges of ongoing improvement and development. Conference programmes may prove a useful source of stimulation, especially if supplemented by creativity techniques, action research and the ideal of 'finding flow'...

OBJECTIVE: The 2009 Janet Doe Lecture reflects on the continuing value and increasing return on investment of librarian-mediated services in the constantly evolving digital ecology and complex knowledge environment of the health sciences. SETTING: The interrelationship of knowledge, decision making based on knowledge, technology used to access and retrieve knowledge, and the important linkage roles of expert librarian intermediaries is examined. METHODOLOGY: Professional experiences from 1969 to 2009, occurring during a time of unprecedented changes in the digital ecology of librarianship, are the base on which the evolving role and value of librarians as knowledge coaches and expert intermediaries are examined...