Students benefited from the unique and active learning experiences offered by the escape rooms presented in this paper.
Escape room development for health sciences libraries requires thoughtful consideration of team or individual configurations, the calculation of time and monetary expenditures, the selection of formats such as in-person, hybrid, or online delivery, and the decision about integrating graded components. Escape rooms, effectively employed as an instructional strategy in health sciences libraries, introduce game-based learning in multiple formats for diverse health professions students.
When planning escape rooms within the health sciences library, critical factors include determining team-based versus individual player structures, assessing the financial and time commitment, deciding upon the teaching format (in-person, hybrid, or remote), and the issue of assigning grades to participants. In health sciences library instruction, escape rooms, a versatile teaching format, can implement engaging game-based learning for students across many health professions.
Despite the obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic to the established procedures and operations of libraries, many librarians innovated and launched new services that catered to the unprecedented demands of the pandemic era. The report describes how two electronic resource librarians at regional hospitals within a healthcare corporation leveraged online exhibition platforms to augment their in-person resident research programs by presenting resident research in an online format.
The pandemic saw the rollout of two different exhibition platform types, with a one-year interval separating their launches. This report elucidates the development procedure for each platform. A virtual exhibition platform was utilized for the first online event, aiming to minimize direct contact. LGH447 In the succeeding year, the second online event blended live elements with virtual components, with the online exhibit platform supporting the virtual presentation. In order to achieve task completion, project management strategies were employed during the entirety of the event planning process.
Hospitals leveraged the pandemic period to transition meeting formats, progressing from primarily live, on-site sessions to a hybrid model, incorporating full virtual participation. Though many corporate hospitals are reverting to largely in-person instruction, online tools such as online judging platforms and the automation of CME tasks are expected to endure. With the diverse and uneven lifting of in-person constraints within healthcare facilities, businesses could explore the pros and cons of live meetings in contrast to video-conferencing.
The pandemic provided hospitals with the chance to modernize their meeting operations, transforming them from being primarily live and on-site to include hybrid and fully virtual components. Corporate hospitals, in their transition back to in-person instruction, are likely to retain the recently implemented online components, such as online judging systems and automated continuing medical education tools. With the lifting of restrictions on in-person activities in healthcare, organizations will continue to weigh the benefits of face-to-face meetings against the conveniences of virtual conferencing for the same interactions.
Engagement in scholarly publication is a typical aspect of the role of a health sciences librarian, involving both internal, intradisciplinary collaborations and external, interdisciplinary research efforts. Analyzing the emotional and institutional landscape of authorship among health sciences librarians involved examining emotional experiences during authorship negotiation, the rate of authorship denial, and the connection between perceived institutional and community support and the number of publications produced.
342 medical and health sciences librarians responded to an online survey encompassing 47 questions focused on the emotional responses to authorship requests, denials, unsolicited offers, and the sense of research support they perceived in their current roles.
Librarians face a spectrum of intricate and diverse emotions tied to the negotiations surrounding authorship. Differences in reported emotional responses were observed in negotiations regarding authorship credit, particularly when librarians were involved as compared to those in distinct professional spheres. Negative feelings arose when seeking authorship from colleagues, irrespective of their type. Their supervisors, research communities, and workplaces, as reported by respondents, instilled a strong sense of support and encouragement. Of the respondents, almost one-quarter (244%) reported being denied authorship by colleagues in other departments. Publications and articles authored by librarians are in proportion to the degree to which they perceive appreciation and support from the broader research community.
Complex and frequently negative emotions are commonly a part of the authorship negotiation process for health sciences librarians. Authorship denial is a frequently reported phenomenon. The ability of health sciences librarians to publish effectively appears profoundly dependent on the quality of institutional and professional support they receive.
Intricate and frequently negative emotions are woven into the fabric of authorship negotiations among health sciences librarians. Authorship denials are frequently reported incidents. To achieve publication, health sciences librarians frequently require a strong foundation of institutional and professional support systems.
For the past two decades, commencing in 2003, the MLA Membership Committee has overseen a live mentoring initiative, Colleague Connection, at the yearly convention. Meeting attendance was a cornerstone of the program; consequently, members who were unable to attend were not considered part of the program. A chance to reframe the Colleague Connection experience materialized during the 2020 virtual meeting. Three Membership Committee members initiated a new, virtual, and improved mentoring program structure.
Colleague Connection benefited from a comprehensive promotional strategy encompassing the MLA '20 vConference Welcome Event, MLAConnect, and email lists. Careful consideration was given to the chapter preferences, library type, practice area interests, and years of experience of the 134 participants in the matching process. Through their selection of pairings, either peer-to-peer or mentor-mentee, mentees determined four peer pairings and sixty-five mentor-mentee pairings. Pairs were strongly encouraged to meet on a monthly schedule, and conversation prompts were supplied to guide their interactions. Participants were invited to a Wrap-Up Event to discuss their experiences and establish new contacts. To assess the program and solicit improvements, a survey was conducted.
Participation increased substantially thanks to the online format, and the revised format was appreciated by the attendees. Formally structured orientation meetings and well-defined communication strategies will contribute to clear initial connections among pairs and offer clarity regarding program particulars, expectations, timelines, and contact information in the future. Crucial to the success and continued operation of a virtual mentorship program are the kinds of pairings involved and the scope of the program.
The online format proved instrumental in increasing participation, and the alteration in format was met with positive feedback. In the future, a formal orientation meeting and a communication plan should ensure that initial connections are made between pairs and that program details, expectations, timelines, and contact information are clearly established. Careful consideration of both the program's size and the nature of the mentoring relationships is essential for ensuring the virtual mentoring program's viability and long-term success.
This phenomenological study explores how academic health sciences libraries navigated the challenges of the pandemic.
This multi-site, mixed-methods study focused on acquiring the direct experiences of academic health sciences libraries during the period of transformation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first phase of the study entailed the use of a qualitative survey to record the current developments in the design and implementation of programs and services. Participants in phases two (August 2020) and three (February 2021) were required to share details of their development and experiences, answering eight survey questions.
Using open coding techniques, qualitative data were analyzed to enable the surfacing of emergent themes. Subsequent sentiment analysis quantified the proportion of positive and negative words found in each data collection. LGH447 Forty-five of the possible 193 AAHSL libraries responded to the April 2020 survey. Subsequently, 26 responded to the August 2020 survey, and lastly, 16 replied to the February 2021 survey. Representing the interests of 23 states and the District of Columbia were the libraries. Throughout March 2020, the lion's share of libraries closed their doors. The degree of difficulty in relocating library services to a remote setting differed depending on the nature of the library service. Quantitative analysis was conducted on ten differentiated sectors, the “Staff” code used to decipher the connections embedded within the categorized data points.
Libraries' pioneering efforts during the initial pandemic period are profoundly influencing the future of library culture and service provision. Despite the return of in-person library services, the use of telework, online conferencing, safety protocols, and staff well-being monitoring continued.
Library practices during the early pandemic era, characterized by innovation, are now impacting the enduring characteristics of library culture and the ways services are offered. LGH447 With libraries resuming in-person services, elements of remote work, such as using online conferencing software, safety precautions, and staff well-being monitoring, remained.
A multifaceted investigation, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative approaches, was carried out at a health sciences library to evaluate users' perspectives on the library's digital and physical environments in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).