I just returned from the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference in Vancouver, Canada. While my return flight was uneventful, getting to the conference was quite the opposite. In short, I arrived and my bag didn’t.

From the moment I disembarked until the moment my bag finally arrived at the hotel (that would be 2:00 am, local time and two days later!) I soon discovered that my dealings with this airline were more about “reactive” customer service – I reacted, they countered with a template response. At no point during the multiple conversations I had, both in person and on the phone, did they mention possible options or provide any kind of support – I even had to ask for a tooth brush when I submitted my initial claim form! Only when I finally asked what they suggest I do since I had nothing to wear for a session I was moderating, did they share that I could purchase something to wear and submit the bill. Continue reading →

Calculating and measuring a researcher’s scientific impact is certainly not an easy task. Currently, one of the most common measures is the H-index, developed in 2005 by Professor Jorge Eduardo Hirsch to determine both the quantity and quality of an individual’s research performance/output.  The index is a measure of the number of publications (productivity) a scientist has published and how often these papers are cited (impact). For example, if a scientist has an H-index of 15 this means that 15 papers have been cited at least 15 times. Continue reading →

I read with interest a recent letter published in Science (4 April 2014) where young scientists were asked to send their ideas about what they would do in support of Science Advocacy.  A host of answers was shared, most revolving around children and young adults. Ideas included volunteering at high schools to provide presentations, using social media to blog or post about science, writing informative articles, becoming a science mentor and my personal favorite – becoming a magician in order to fascinate children and teach them about science.

While I found this NextGenVoices survey to be a great way to generate ideas and share suggestions, I started to think how librarians, informationists, or information professionals could also partner with our researchers as science advocates – we could help research and locate science literature geared to specific age levels, we could retweet our researchers’ blog posts, we could establish current awareness alerts to support our researchers’ writing attention-grabbing articles for high school students, and perhaps we could even locate magician’s tricks worth sharing!

What a perfect collaboration — and for an excellent cause!

Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services