Health Information and Libraries Journal

Community health workers are responsible for finding, processing, and transferring health information to communities with limited access to health-related resources, including farmworkers. This paper is the culmination of an undergraduate student research project to explore the learning processes and preferences of farmworker-serving community health workers in the USA. The project was designed for students from farmworker or agricultural backgrounds at two North Carolina universities and was supported by a North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services workforce development grant...

This article presents an analysis of seven articles published within the International Perspectives and Initiatives regular feature series on the impact of technology on the provision of health information. The articles provide a road map of how technology is facilitating new and enhanced services for library users in seven countries: Australia, Bangladesh, China, England, Germany, Sweden and the United States. Although there are differences in how countries are implementing technological solutions, only one describes problems in leveraging technology to improve library services...

BACKGROUND: Infographics facilitate rapid information dissemination with enriched eye-catching content on social media, but it is unclear what factors affect the adoption of information presented in this way. OBJECTIVES: We tested whether the Information Acceptance Model applies to infographics on healthy lifestyle and fitness topics. METHODS: Two hundred and four university students were invited to participate in an online survey on their acceptance after reading some healthy lifestyle and fitness topics infographics shared on social media...

Medical and health sciences librarians who are involved in evidence synthesis projects will know that systematic reviews are intensely rigorous, requiring research teams to devote significant resources to the methodological process. As expert searchers, librarians are often identified as personnel to conduct the database searching portion and/or are approached as experts in the methodology to guide research teams through the lifecycle of the project. This research method has surged in popularity at our campus and demand for librarian participation is unsustainable...

BACKGROUND: The Library and Knowledge Services at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has been at its current location since 1975 and, in September 2020, it was deemed necessary to examine the library environment and assess the signage. OBJECTIVES: The main objective was to conduct a methodical assessment of all the current library signage in order to improve the library environment, wayfinding, and clarity. METHODS: A methodical signage audit was conducted by library staff, photographing signs, assigning them to categories, and creating a signage map...

BACKGROUND: Stakeholders working on the COVID-19 pandemic response needed access to evidence, requiring a systematic approach to identify and disseminate relevant research. OBJECTIVES: Outline the stages of development of a COVID-19 Literature Digest; demonstrate the impact the Digest had on decision-making and knowledge gain; identify the lessons learned. METHODS: A standardised process was developed to identify and select papers. The main sources for content were PubMed, bioRxiv and medRxiv...

BACKGROUND: Although knowledge sharing online has been recognised as an important strategy for health professionals to apply research findings to their practice, limited research exists on how to develop and implement these platforms to help facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing. OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated an online knowledge sharing platform and community of practice developed in the North East of England and Yorkshire during COVID-19 to support UK health and care professionals to reduce the impact of the wider consequences of COVID-19...

This study highlights the present status of medical libraries in Bangladesh. It mainly focuses on the four key areas of medical libraries: Medical Library Services, Research4Life from Bangladesh perspective, Institutional Repository (IR), and Library Automation status. The research study also explores the various key challenges faced by the medical libraries in Bangladesh and finally provides necessary recommendations like a sufficient library budget, implementation of  an Integrated Library System (ILS), skilled manpower, more participation in information networking and resource sharing, sound ICT environment, online collection development for the overall development of medical libraries in Bangladesh...

In this editorial, Anthea Sutton and Veronica Parisi reflect on ChatGPT, how it may contribute to systematic searching, and provide their overview of some recent training they attended on ChatGPT, AI and systematic literature reviews.

Reflections on the recent increase in the number of cross-sectional surveys received by the editorial team of the journal indicated that potential contributors might consider other research techniques, in addition to, or instead of a survey. In this article, Christine Urquhart discusses some different research designs, and different research methods that may help students and practitioners find useful answers to questions about professional practice beyond the standard survey. Researchers could consider research designs such as quasi-experimental techniques, controlled before-after studies, and interrupted time series...

BACKGROUND: The emergence of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022 has garnered substantial attention across diverse disciplines. Despite widespread adoption in various sectors, the exploration of its application in libraries, especially within the medical domain, remains limited. AIMS/OBJECTIVES: Many areas of interest remain unexplored like ChatGPT in medical libraries and this review aims to synthesise what is currently known about it to identify gaps and stimulate further research...

In this second special collection of COVID-19-related manuscripts, our focus moves from health information within academia to health librarianship in the wider context. Although COVID-19 manuscripts may still occasionally appear in the Health Information and Libraries Journal, the World Health Organisation's declaration earlier this year of an end to the global health emergency marks an intentional editorial shift to adopting a broader perspective in publishing this type of work, a focus on public health information challenges and emergency preparedness, and a return to publishing a more familiar range of health library and information contexts and practice...

BACKGROUND: Medication discontinuation studies explore the outcomes of stopping a medication compared to continuing it. Comprehensively identifying medication discontinuation articles in bibliographic databases remains challenging due to variability in terminology. OBJECTIVES: To develop and validate search filters to retrieve medication discontinuation articles in Medline and Embase. METHODS: We identified medication discontinuation articles in a convenience sample of systematic reviews...

BACKGROUND: Continual evidence surveillance is an integral feature of living guidelines. The Australian Stroke Guidelines include recommendations on 100 clinical topics and have been 'living' since 2018. OBJECTIVES: To describe the approach for establishing and evaluating an evidence surveillance system for the living Australian Stroke Guidelines. METHODS: We developed a pragmatic surveillance system based on an analysis of the searches for the 2017 Stroke Guidelines and evaluated its reliability by assessing the potential impact on guideline recommendations...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a significant increase in academic research in the realm of social sciences. As such, there is an increasing need for the scientific community to adopt effective and efficient methods to examine the potential role and contribution of social sciences in the fight against COVID-19. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to identify the key topics and explore publishing trends in social science research pertaining to COVID-19 via automated literature analysis...

Germany has a long tradition of health libraries. From their origin in monasteries, they became centres of knowledge and education. In modern times, this tradition has been continued by the Central Library of Medicine. In addition, as a specialty in Germany, special collection areas and special libraries that focus on one topic were established. Those services were transformed to specialized information services and portals as part of the digital transformation process. One of such projects is OPEN-CAM, which provides literature on integrative medicine in a specialist library and hosts the literature database CAMbase...

This project was designed to support people to find information, resources, and evidence independently within Health Education England (now NHS England Workforce Training and Education) and allow the Knowledge Management team more time to focus on other services offered. This project aimed to pull together a number of resources in to one simple 'Quick links' page, with relevant information, resources and further training, providing people with opportunities to build on their own knowledge and skills.

The artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT, which is based on a large language model (LLM), is gaining popularity in academic institutions, notably in the medical field. This article provides a brief overview of the capabilities of ChatGPT for medical writing and its implications for academic integrity. It provides a list of AI generative tools, common use of AI generative tools for medical writing, and provides a list of AI generative text detection tools. It also provides recommendations for policymakers, information professionals, and medical faculty for the constructive use of AI generative tools and related technology...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

In the first of two special collections of COVID-19-related manuscripts, this issue focuses on how colleges and universities libraries and their users responded to the need for health information during the pandemic.