Time for another Director’s Reflection.  This month I want to spend a few moments (that would be 10 moments), sharing why I think it is important to monitor the literature for topics that impact or can inform your day-to-day workflows and projects.

I did compile this list of my top ten reasons why staying current matters many years ago and I believe it is still applicable to today’s environment!  I hope you agree.

• Impress Your Manager – inform them before they ask!
• Be a Trailblazer – leverage current awareness or reviewing new published literature to generate innovation and spark new ideas!
• Keep an Eye on Research and Medical Trends – see the whole picture, not just a piece
• Seize Opportunity for Self-development – expand your horizons
• Be Proactive, Not Reactive – stay ahead with information that impacts your work
• Avoid Surprises – don’t be the last one to know
• Make Informed Decisions – this one speaks for itself!
• Be an Effective Team Contributor – establish yourself as a valued team player
• Don’t Get Scooped – know what others are saying in your field of interest
• Be in the “Know” – stay on top of cutting edge information

If you want to learn more about how you can stay on top of the literature, a few tips and tricks, or setting up customized search alerts, please don’t hesitate to ASK US.  Our Research Informationist team can show you how!

Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services

In March 2016, the MSK Library staff launched ORCID@MSK.

Well before launching this service, the Library joined the ORCID community as an institutional member in support of connecting research and researchers. Along with other research organizations, publishers, funders, professional associations, medical and research libraries, and various stakeholders in the research environment, we all agreed that an ORCID identifier (16-digit number expressed as a URL) could help to eliminate author name ambiguity and improve the discoverability to authors’ research and scholarly works. Continue reading →

Happy New Year to our User Community and our Library Blog Readers.  As 2018 fades into the background, I do want to spend a few moments recapping what I know was a great year for the library staff and share a few of our goals for this year.

At the end of January 2018, we launched a new discovery layer on our Website with the goal of improving the library user experience when accessing paid and vetted resources. The content management team, with support from other library staff, marketed this research tool that we named ONESEARCH.  Mid-year, we sent out a client satisfaction survey to determine what our users liked and/or didn’t like about ONESEARCH, and in Fall 2018, we conducted usability testing to further explore our clients’ satisfaction with this tool.  Feedback from testing formed the basis for one of our 2019 goals — to work with the vendor to implement suggested staff and client changes, wherever possible.  We also published a series of blog posts to explain ONESEARCH functionality. Continue reading →