It’s May and time for another Director’s Reflection post.  Lately, many of my projects have involved research publications and the value that they deliver to researchers, clinicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.  In April 2011, I compiled and shared my list of top reasons why staying current matters. These reasons are still applicable to today’s environment and worth re-posting!  I hope you agree.

• Impress Your Manager – inform them before they ask!
• Be a Trailblazer – leverage current awareness 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 is looking forward to hearing from you!

Lately I have been thinking about the value of preprints and their potential role in the journal manuscript submission process. With this in mind, I was delighted when an email popped into my inbox alerting me to a post from The Scholarly Kitchen entitled “The Stars Are Aligning for Preprints” (Apr 18, 2017). In her post, author Judy Luther, provides an overview of the preprint landscape and discusses the significance that these research papers could play in the scholarly communication arena. Continue reading →

Fake news has hit mainstream media which translates to readers sometimes being presented with false and misleading information. Scholarly Communication is also facing similar challenges as bad research, fraud/plagiarism, and the inability to reproduce a published experiment (often referred to in the literature as the “reproducibility crisis”) are seeping into the growing body of scientific literature.

Obtaining and providing accurate information has always been a mindset of librarians and a major component of their commitment to their user communities.

Towards the end of January, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) published a blog post about fake news and alternative facts. Within their post, they also shared a thought provoking infographic about “How to Spot Fake News.”  This infographic was picked up by CNN International, further spreading their message. I would like to continue this trend by sharing with our blog readers these tips on detecting fake news.

To learn more about media and information literacy, don’t hesitate to ASK US.

Donna Gibson
Director of Library Services