The Colorado Council of Medical Librarians will meet October 31, 2001 in the Bradley Room of the Penrose/St. Francis Health Services in Colorado Springs. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. with refreshments and networking. The program will begin at 9:30 a.m.
The speaker this month is Edward J. Ryan, III, MS, ATC. Ryan is the director of the US Olympic Committee's Sports Medicine Division. He has been with the USOC since 1985, starting as the head athletic trainer at the former Olympic Training Center in Marquette, Michigan. Through his tenure with the US Olympic Committee, Ryan has managed and provided health care services for the US team at dozens of major sporting events including the Olympic Games, the US Olympic Festival, the World University Games, and the Pan American Games. He has coordinated preventive and rehabilitative care for hundreds of Olympians and Olympic hopefuls. For CCML members, Ryan will provide some insight into the professional and administrative efforts needed to provide health care to the US Olympic Team.
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In my last column I summarized the findings of the 1991 Rochester Study, anticipating the objection, "But that was before the Internet. Isn't everything free on the Internet?"
What is on the Internet is whatever somebody is willing to give you for free or for a licensing fee. Licensing fees I've encountered range from $15-20 for a single full-text article, to $199.95 per year for an individual subscription to MD Consult, to $6000 per year for our system-wide MD Consult subscription, to $20,000 for our MicroMedex subscription. Some of our print journal subscriptions include licenses (without restriction) to the online versions.
Much of the free material is good. Examples include:
However, much of what's on the 'Net is misguided. Some is downright snake oil. Anybody with the right training and software can publish anything on the 'Net - and they do. Even the "good" information can be held suspect. A local attorney once told me he had won a malpractice case, simply by convincing the judge that his opponent's online copy of a medical journal article wasn't as authoritative as the original printed version.
Also, electronic journals themselves are preschoolers - most titles have full text only since 1995 or later.
The number of titles available online is also limited. Of the 284 journals we hold (102 of them current) in the library, only 28 are available to us online because of print subscriptions, and 27 are available through MD Consult. Looking more broadly, MEDLINE indexes over 4300 peer-reviewed biomedical journals. My monthly compilation of free online medical journals - tracked by five different websites - has only 623 entries, many of which aren't among MEDLINE's 4300, because they aren't peer-reviewed. Many are just newsletters.
To put all this into a practical example: In a sample of 229 requests for journal articles which the library handled in July, August, and September:
I don't think the day of the print journal is over.
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Distant member Cheryl Capitani, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania published an article in the July 2001 MLA News titled, "Librarians become trustees for technology". Her article discusses the effectiveness of hospital librarian alliances with chief information officers in health care organizations. Thanks, Cheryl, for sharing your ideas!
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The Journal Locator will be printed in 2002, but the JL Committee will explore other options for 2003. Please update your holdings in preparation for the next edition.
The database problems have been fixed, and testing of the database is in progress. Amanda Enyeart will be the new chair of the membership committee, as Sue McGuinness is taking a position at the University of California, San Diego. Sue will remain as the database coordinator, since she plans to continue her CCML membership.
The final tally of the vote on whether to retain the printed directory or switch to an electronic directory is:
Internet Chair Lynne Fox will work with Sue McGuinness to create a test version of this year's directory in electronic format.
The morning October 31 meeting at Colorado Springs will not include a roundtable discussion of MCMLA. Many members will not be able to be away from their libraries for that long, following their absence at MCMLA. MCMLA attendees should submit their impressions or information from the meeting to Council Quotes.
Connie Baker of Porter is our new Marketing Council representative.
In light of the events of Tuesday, September 11, perhaps members would like a bibliography and list of web sites on Disaster Planning. The list could be published in CQ and on the CCML web site. Unfortunately don't yet have people to do the actual searching and compilation. Please contact Jerry if you're interested.
Treasurer Daphne Norsworthy will be missing some meetings in the coming months due to maternity. Paul Blomquist will step in for the 6-8 weeks of Daphne's absence.
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Prepare for National Medical Librarians Month by visiting the NMLM month site on MLANET! See your colleagues' good ideas and examples, or download an electronic copy of the NMLM poster by visiting http://www.mlanet.org/press/nml-month/
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One hundred and ten years is a healthy lifespan, even for an organization. That will be the age of the Colorado Library Association as it ends one era and begins another.
All types of libraries and library staff are invited to attend as CLA holds its final conference. Next year will witness a rebirth, as CLA and the Colorado Educational Media Association federate.
Among the programs of interest to medical library personnel: Creative Community Partnership for Better Health Information, Be SWIFT: The New Statewide Electronic ILL System, Internet Access to Colorado Government Information, Technical Services: Changing Roles in the Digital Age, Library Law Revision, and Chasing a Moving Target: Keeping Up with Evolving Technological Demands.
Among the speakers scheduled are Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover, who will speak on her response to legal challenges over customer records; historian-author Tom Noel with a biblioholic history of the state; and author Sandra Dallas.
This historic conference will be held at the Antlers Adam's Mark Hotel in Colorado Springs. The hotel was established in 1883 and rebuilt several times. Room rates are: single $99, double $99, triple $115 and quad $130. Contact the hotel directly at (719) 473-5600, or Central Reservations System at 1-800-444-ADAM. Information on the hotel can be reviewed at http://www.antlers.com
Registration for CLA members is $90, non-members $125 for the entire conference. Visit the CLA web site for continuing updates and registration, http://www.cla-web.org
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The United States Air Force Academy Medical Library, run by member Jeanne Entze, suffered some water damage from bursting pipes the week of September 10, with the result that they lost a third of their bound journal collection. If you have duplicates journals, please offer them to Jean. I plan to spend some time there after the October 31 meeting at Penrose to help her update SERHOLD to reflect the changes. Jeanne can be reached at 719-333-5107 or elma.entze@usafa.af.mil
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IGM has retired. IGM recently remarked that she will be taking a long vacation to a tropical island, then moving to her new home at Battlement Mesa, Colorado and reading all of those novels she's never had time for over the years. She hopes that PubMed will be able to meet all internet MEDLINE users' needs from now on. For more information: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/jf01/jf01_igm_phaseout.html
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Are you subscribed to the CCMLnet discussion list? It has come to light that only 87 of our 104 members are subscribed to the list. What's up? Two things. One: some members got lost in the shuffle of twice moving to new list management systems and Two: some members still rely on the old sni/csn email account. I am pleased to report that the sni/csn account has finally been closed. If you have NOT received a message from CCML since September 19th, then there may be a problem. If you are unsure of your list status, please contact Mary Walsh directly rather than trying to re-subscribe. List subscriptions are available to current members only. Please visit the CCMLnet website for list instructions. http://www.ccmlnet.org/
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Make plans to join colleagues from the Midcontinental and Southern Chapters for the first ever Triple Chapter Meeting in New Orleans. Registration forms, continuing education listings, and other important information is now available from the meeting website: http://www.sccmla.org/mtg.html
The Triple Chapter meeting promises to be second only to the MLA annual meeting in size. The Health Sciences OCLC Users Group will also meet in conjunction with the three chapters. All meeting activities will be held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, steps away from the Vieux Carre, New Orleans' famous French Quarter.
With over forty contributed papers, fifty posters and a dozen vendor demos, the conference is planned to be a highly enriching professional experience. There are forty exhibitors scheduled for the meeting, as well as the usual chapter committee and business meetings. Twenty continuing education courses are available before and after the conference. Continuing education course descriptions and the preliminary conference program are both available from the meeting website.
In addition to a general update session presented by NLM and MLA representatives, an exciting slate of speakers is scheduled for the conference, including John M. Barry, author of Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America; Joanne Marshall, Dean of the School of Information & Library Science at UNC Chapel Hill; and James O'Donnell, author of Avatars of the Word: From Papyrus to Cyberspace.
The meeting location of New Orleans means that there will be plenty of opportunities for fun outside of the meeting rooms as well. The Hilton New Orleans Riverside sits at the edge of the Warehouse District, walking distance to many fine restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues. The neighborhood is also the city's arts district, with many galleries and museums, including the new D-Day museum. A few steps away is the world-famous Vieux Carre, where more restaurants, historic architecture and music await conference attendees. Because New Orleans is a compact city, the attractions available Uptown, including the Garden District, Magazine Street's five miles of stores, and the Audubon Park and Zoo are only a short cab ride or streetcar ride away. In addition, the New Orleans Museum of Art and the attractions of City Park are also close by and can be reached by taxi or public transportation.
Several social events are also planned for conference attendees. A Wednesday "early bird" gathering for CE attendees and early arrivals will take place at one of the Hilton's bars. A Welcome Reception featuring several librarian-musician performers will happen on Thursday evening. Finally, a Saturday farewell gala: "Halloween on the Bayou" is planned for Michaul's Cajun Dining and Dance Hall. This will be a costume party and masks are encouraged.
More information, including a useful New Orleans bibliography and lists of things to do and see, is available from the meeting website, http://www.sccmla.org/mtg.html
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[NOTE: For complete information see printed Council Quotes.]
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If you missed librarian Jennifer Lucas' appearance on Inside Edition as a Las Vegas showgirl, you can read about her experience:
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"Chocolate in the treatment of the common cold" as the title of an article in a medical journal might spark at least a little interest in a few readers. "Snickers cures colds!!" on the other hand, would cause a near riot as people arm-wrestled for a look. The first is an example of what is called an indicative title...a Joe Friday, just-the-facts-ma'am statement of what the article deals with. The second is an informative title, letting us in on its conclusions right up front.
In a recent issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), Neville W. Goodman reports some serious research into this sort of thing and takes modern authors and journals to task for increasing the use of informative titles. One reason he's upset, he says, is that "there is evidence that doctors sometimes make clinical decisions from the titles of journal articles." Hmmm. This would seem to bring unexpected glory on a title such as "Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus L.) use a magnetic compass for navigation," from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNASU) which simply tells us what was studied, not whether the Monarchs can read the compass accurately and find their way to Niagra Falls, or how in the world they manage to carry it.
Goodman is emphatic about the negative impact of the trend, saying that the use of such informative titles is "indeed 'improper and imprudent,' and too often plain wrong." BMJ editors carefully titled his essay "Survey of active verbs in the titles of clinical trial reports," although they must have been tempted to go with the more informative "Massive leap in science paper active verbs linked to Satan!"
In fact, there is an editorial reply from Richard Smith, who says that, while BMJ currently avoids declarative (informative) titles in original research, it has used them for years in its news section, and can't rule out the possibility of using them in the future for original research. It's a new world, he says, in which newspapers are becoming more tabloid, and journals more like newspapers. "It's about readability and trying to grab people's attention in an ever more crowded world."
The future would appear to be bright, then, for those who long for more headlines that really seize the brain and force a purchase ("Maggie Thatcher pregnant with Paul McCartney's love child!!!"), and now find them only at the supermarket checkout stand.
It's not just the verbs that need to be changed to spice up the journal offerings, of course. Nothing does a better job than some well-placed adverbs and adjectives at breathing life into stale old studies. For example, in the April 2000 Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, we find "Predicting adverse postoperative outcomes in patients aged 80 years or older." Would you read it? A more attractive variation might be "Psychics see popping stitches for Gramp and Gram in 2001!!"
The April 11, 2000 issue of Circulation tells us about "Genetic manipulation of rabbit heart via transgenesis." Well who really cares? On the other hand, few could resist "Scientists juggle bunny heart genes: might transplant to humans!!" Of course they might not, but if you want that kind of detail, read the article.
Too many of these titles just leave the reader totally dissatisfied. An example would be "Kinematics of a total arthroscopy of the ankle: comparison to normal ankle motion." This is from Foot & Ankle International, whose headline writers obviously have a lot to learn about moving merchandise. If they were truly skilled, they would have gone for something more along the lines of "Bionic ankle could mean quantum leap in world high jump record: bar at 20 feet likely!!"
The Medical Journal of Australia is burdened by the fact that Australians simply don't speak the sort of English that is readily understandable by those of us in North America, leading to titles such as "Evidence for evidence-based medicine at the coalface." (March 20, 2000) Sadly, the only possible way for most of us to glean the meaning of that one would be to spend precious minutes reading, but the title isn't likely to inspire much of that. It might, however, if a few small changes were made, transforming it to "Proof!! Bituminous Man lives!!!"
Often, a few carefully inserted additions to the first dull title that occurs to the author or editor would be all that is necessary to turn it into a best seller. In the April 2000 issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, someone's hard work is presented to the public in this form: "The effect of ammonia on omeprazole-induced reduction of gastric acidity in subjects with Helicobacter pylori infection." Hold back the crowds. This deserves a little more oomph, as Shakespeare used to say. How about: "The stunning effect of ammonia on omeprazole-induced, near-magical reduction of flaming gastric acidity on long-suffering but courageous subjects with Helicobacter pylori infection." You wouldn't be able to find any ammonia within a week.
Some are already incredibly close to being hot titles, merely on the strength of their subject matter, such as this from PNASU: "Cost-benefit analysis potential in feeding behavior of a predatory snail by integration of hunger, taste, and pain." "Predatory snail" unquestionably is a winning-even chilling--phrase, but its power tends to be dulled down significantly by "cost-benefit analysis." As a final exam, quickly come up with a more effective and informative title....time's up. The correct answer: "Wounded, starving, mutant snail stalks Midwest!! Potential damage in millions!!"
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Apparently, those planning skills you've been developing as a librarian could be transferable to other tasks. Check out the story at the NewsRoom: http://www.newsroom.co.nz/story/56276-99999.html
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October
Child Health Month
The American Academy of Pediatrics
141 Northwest Point Boulevard
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1098
(847) 434-4000; (847)434-8000/Fax
http://www.aap.org
Health Literacy Month
Health Literacy Counseling
31 Highland Street
Natick, MA 01760
(508) 653-1199; (508) 650-9492/Fax
http://www.healthliteracy.com; helen@healthliteracy.com
October 15-21
National Radon Action Week
Indoor Environmental Division (6604-J)
Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
(800) SOS-RADON; (202) 564-9370
http://www.epa.gov; public-access@epamail.epa.gov
October 16-22
National Infection Control Week
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
1275 K Street NW., Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 789-1890
http://www.apic.org; apicinfo@apic.org
October 19
National Mammography Day
American Cancer Society
1599 Clifton Road, NE.
Atlanta, GA 30329
(800) ACS-2345
http://www.cancer.org
October 23-31
National Red Ribbon Celebration (Campaign to keep kids off drugs)
National Family Partnership
Informed Family Education Center
2490 Coral Way
Miami, FL 33145
(800) 705-8997
http://www.nfp.org
November
American Diabetes Month
American Diabetes Association
1701 North Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
(800) 232-3472
http://www.diabetes.org
National Epilepsy Month
Epilepsy Foundation of America
4351 Garden City Drive
Landover, MD 20785
(800) EFA-1000; (800) 213-5821/Publications
http://www.efa.org
National Hospice Month
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
1700 Diagonal Road, Suite 300
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 837-1500
http://www.nhpco.org; info@nhpco.org
November 15
Great American Smokeout
American Cancer Society, National Headquarters
1599 Clifton Road NE.
Atlanta, GA 30329-4251
(800) ACS-2345
http://www.cancer.org
For further listings, please see the 2001 National Health Observances Calendar http://www.healthfinder.gov/library/nho/nhosearch.asp
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"Veni, Vidi, Tasty" (Loosely translated, "I came, I saw, I tasted")
ABSTRACT
Question: Is there a difference in taste and texture of doughnuts from LaMar's, Krispy Kreme, and a grocery store bakery (for this test, King Soopers)?
Data sources: Doughnuts were purchased between 7:00am and 8:30 am on the same day by two of the researchers. The bakeries were not informed of the purpose of the doughnut purchase.
Design: Blinded, controlled trial.
Setting: An academic medical library in the western United States.
Study Participants: 23 library and drug information center faculty and staff who self-selected for the study. There were 5 males and 17 females, although gender was not important to the outcome or design of this study. Some participants (one person), declined to take part in the study, however, this does not effect the statistical significance of the results. There were no exclusion criteria, although some participants declined to express a verbal result due to their previous exposure to some of the doughnuts used in the trial. All participants who took part in the study were evaluated.
Intervention: A blinded, controlled trial was held on Wednesday, July 11 from 9:30am - 10:30am in the Library Board Room, Denison Memorial Library, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado. Doughnuts were divided into four fairly equal parts and impaled upon a toothpick. Each brand of doughnut was impaled upon a different colored toothpick. In this way, the participants were blinded to the doughnut brands. The study had 3 parts: consumption of a piece of each brand of doughnuts, a designation of which doughnut was which brand by placing the toothpicks in an appropriately marked container, and a verbal discussion of which doughnut was preferred by the participant. The principal investigator observed the test and maintaining confidentiality of results until the end of the testing period.
Main outcome measures: The main measurement outcome was the number of different colored toothpicks in the appropriately marked plastic containers. A secondary outcome was the verbal expression of preference recorded from each participant.
Main results: LaMar's Donuts and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts were overwhelmingly preferred over the King Soopers baker doughnuts by the study participants. In the verbal reports, most participants believed that the LaMar's Donuts were actually produced by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. The researchers attribute this result to the high level of press received by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in the community. ( See Tables).
Table 1. Participant vote by toothpick designation on which doughnut was made by which bakery.
|
|
Yellow |
Blue or Green |
Plain |
total |
|
King Soopers |
15 |
2 |
2 |
19 |
|
Krispy Kreme |
1 |
11 |
11 |
23 |
|
LaMar's |
3 |
11 |
8 |
22 |
|
total |
19 |
24 |
21 |
|
Table 2. Which doughnut was actually made by which bakery.
|
Bakery |
Toothpick Color |
|
King Soopers |
Yellow |
|
Krispy Kreme |
Plain |
|
LaMar's |
Blue or Green |
Conclusions: There is a difference. In academic medical library and drug information center employees with a liking for doughnuts, LaMar's doughnuts are preferred for both taste and texture. However, the difference in preference was very close. In this population, staff and faculty would be equally served by consumption of doughnuts from either LaMar's or Krispy Kreme. The grocery store brand did not have the desired effect and would not be recommend for satisfying doughnut-centric needs in this population. None of the interventions showed immediate harm. It should be noted that any test on human subjects should study long-term effects.
Recommendations: Further study is recommended. The choice of doughnut brands was made at the convenience and preference of the researchers. If true qualitative studies are to be done, all known brands of doughnuts should be tested. Such a study will require better funding from an objective source.
Lisa Traditi, MLS, AHIP, Denison Memorial Library, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado, USA
COMMENTS:
To the editor:
Dr. Traditi and her team have done a nice job of research on a topic of universal concern with a limited budget, and we should laud her efforts. But may I point out to the research community at large a couple of weaknesses in her study? A double-blind study might have been under-taken with inexpensive handkerchiefs applied to the eyeballs of the study participants. And perhaps she should adjust for confounding factors, e.g. by self-selecting, were the participants perhaps veterans of the Krispy Kreme donut craze, and, therefore, a more sophisticated doughnut-eating population? I ask you...
Signed,
An undeniably more important and intelligent researcher [SANDI PARKER]
To the editor:
Perhaps a study involving Professionals (i.e. the local police precinct) as opposed to dedicated amateurs (i.e. library staff) would be interesting.
Signed,
Roy Robinson
To the editor:
"Dr. Traditi and her team have done a nice job of research on a topic of universal concern with a limited budget, and we should laud her efforts. But may I point out to the research community at large a couple of weaknesses in her study? A double-blind study might have been under-taken with inexpensive handkerchiefs applied to the eyeballs of the study participants."
Very logical. Maybe even with expensive handkerchiefs.
"And perhaps she should adjust for confounding factors, e.g. by self-selecting, were the participants perhaps veterans of the Krispy Kreme donut craze, and, therefore, a more sophisticated doughnut-eating population? I ask you..."
Or how about the troubling observation that using library staff, with blood glucose levels far above average per other occupations in society, may not be the best test subjects for making critical judgements in subtleties in sugary tastes, textures, etc.
It strikes me a little bit like Southern Baptists judging a fried chicken contest; heck, after two pieces it all tastes great. What kind of scientific test is that?
Signed,
Jim " LeMars is king" Storey
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| Council Quotes is a bimonthly publication of the Colorado Council of Medical Librarians (CCML). CCML / P.O. Box 101058 / Denver, CO 80210-1058. Subscription is a benefit of membership. Editor, Lynne Fox; Assistant Editor, Jeff Kuntzman; Contributors, CCML members. |
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This page was last updated on 5 October 2001.
Direct questions about this page to Lynne Fox.
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