Medlibs Miscellany

A collection of musings from a medical librarian perspective.
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We are medical librarians talking about medical library things. We can be silly or serious, but always curious. medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

  1. 03/07/2024

    MM.14: Research Rampage

    NOTE: Apologies for the repost. We discovered a problem with our RSS feed. Hopefully this will fix things. -Tracy In this episode, Carrie and Tracy are joined by Zahra Premji, otherwise known as @ZapTheLibrarian if you are a part of the #medlibs community X, The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter. Hear about Zahra’s path to medical librarianship and supporting evidence synthesis. She loved research so much, she just didn’t know when to stop — and as it turned out, she is really good at it! She’s now leading the Canadian Evidence Synthesis Institute, which is based on the Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded Evidence Synthesis Institute at the University of Minnesota. Zahra notes that she really enjoys the process of searching and the thrill of the chase of finding relevant articles. She’s also not remotely shy about her preference for the Ovid platform. (EBSCO, if you’re reading, we’re sorry!) What else? Oh yeah, “searching is addictive,” she says. Still, there are challenges to supporting evidence synthesis. Don’t look at our searches from three years (or three weeks) ago, because we’re constantly learning and trying to stay current. Also, we need time. It’s important to sit with a topic to come up with a good search, and having to rush means there are going to be mistakes. Zahra and Tracy discuss different methods of doing a seed paper analysis. Zahra (and her co-contributor, Alix Hayden) developed a template, a version of which is posted on OSF. Carrie, on the other hand, is a PubReminer fan. And don’t discount some of the featured tools in the SR Accelerator suite. She won’t toot her horn, so Carrie does it for her: Zahra’s a co-author on this recent paper published in Research Synthesis Methods. Are those search strategies really “available upon request”? Apparently, not always. Take a look at the amazing and crabby poster that preceded the published article. Neilson, C. J., & Premji, Z. (2023). A study of search strategy availability statements and sharing practices for systematic reviews: Ask and you might receive. Research Synthesis Methods, 10.1002/jrsm.1696. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/jrsm.1696 Zahra remembered that Carrie recently collaborated with Melissa Rethlefsen on a paper about reproducibility (Melissa recently offered a webinar on it here). Rethlefsen, M. L., Brigham, T. J., Price, C., Moher, D., Bouter, L. M., Kirkham, J. J., Schroter, S., & Zeegers, M. P. (2023). Systematic review search strategies are poorly reported and not reproducible: a cross-sectional metaresearch study. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.111229 We wrap up with a shout-out to the Canadian Health Libraries Association and its sometimes-overlap with MLA. We want to thank Zahra for being a wonderfully engaging guest, and thank all of our listeners for your continued listening support of Medlibs Miscellany. Thanks for reading Medlibs Miscellany! Subscribe for free to receive new posts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

    1h 2m

  2. 12/20/2023

    MM.13: 2024 MeSH

    Happy holidays, medlibs! It’s time to stuff your stockings (not to be confused with "Stockings, Compression"[Mesh]) with new "Medical Subject Headings"[Mesh]! There’s a lot to cover here, and we don’t even really get into MeSH changes (like updates to scope notes, added entry terms, combined or merged terms, etc.), just the new terms. Take a look at NLM’s What’s New in MeSH page to see the current documentation and to see what is planned for 2025. Also FYI: NLM and NNLM will be holding 2 classes in January 2024 that will discuss 2024 MeSH highlights and changes that will impact PubMed searching. Links: * 2024 MeSH reports * MeSH terms new for 2024 * MeSH terms changed for 2024 * how indexing happens (NLM faqs) * Exploring the impact of automated indexing on completeness of MeSH terms (CHLA-ABSC 2023 presentation) * JMLA: Reflective practice and health sciences librarians by Jolene M. Miller * Matthew Noe (@NoetheMatt on X and elsewhere) can explain #GraphicMedicine things like Comic Book versus Graphic Novel MeSH better than we can Be safe out there this holiday season, medlibs. Don’t let the "Stress, Psychological"[Mesh] get you down. Stay alert if you search "christmas"[ti] — you never know what unexpected literature you might see (and not be able to unsee) — and don’t get humbugged by the BMJ Christmas issue articles. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

    1h 11m

  3. 11/15/2023

    MM.12: You Had Questions. We Have Answers.

    In this episode, Carrie and Tracy answer some questions (and sometimes go a bit off track, but hey, if this isn’t your first listen to the pod, you should expect that). From our favorite question framework to GenX cereals to how to deal with misspelled words in searches to what’s the best eats in St. Mary’s County, Maryland (spoiler: *shrug*). Because we are over the place, here’s a hodgepodge of links and comments: * We like PICO, CoCoPop, SPIDER, and BeHEMoTh (This is a really nice libguide on frameworks!) * Grant and Booth’s Typology of Reviews (2009) * Count Chocula cereal does still exist - you can even buy it on Amazon. There’s also Boo-Berry, Franken Berry, Frute Brute, and Fruity Yummy Mummy to round out the monster cereal options. They’ve been around for over 50 years. * Mikey likes it! * Carrie likes The Lens and Dimensions for grey lit * CADTH’s Grey Matters search * University of Minnesota’s Evidence Synthesis Institute * Publish or Perish software * “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me…” Apparently Tracy is a bit of a Swiftie, still listening to “Say Don’t Go” on repeat. Fun fact: a long time ago (2010 maybe?), Tracy saw Taylor getting coffee and breakfast at Fido in Nashville. * A systematic search is systematic, obviously. (We don’t have a good answer, made clear when we pull out the Oxford Dictionary.) * Sorry John, we don’t know where to eat in St. Mary’s County. Maybe this will help? * Turner and Eisenstein’s Common Misspellings and Their Impact on Health Sciences Literature Search Results (2023) * @JaniceKung’s tweet about misspellings (apologies for getting your name wrong in the episode!) * It’s corn! * Retraction Watch (and the RW database) is wonderful. Its data has been acquired by CrossRef, making it openly available and free. This webinar goes into more detail. * Latin. So helpful. Agricola means farmer. * When are you done searching? When you’re done, obviously. (Seriously though, it’s hard to know!) * [tw] versus [tiab] in PubMed Finally, we answer a question about what we would be if we weren’t medlibs and money wasn’t a factor (because we all know that medlibs really rake in the big bucks, amirite?). Tracy would be a stunt driver. Did you know there are 12 Fast & Furious movies, if you count the expanded universe ones? Tracy agrees that number 5 is number 1. They are not the same as the John Wick franchise, whatever Carrie might think. Carrie understood the assignment: she wanted to be Indiana Jones (not really… he isn’t the greatest example of an archaeologist), after reading The Egypt Game as a child. Carrie would also wish to be a famous singer — even better than Taylor Swift! (If you listen closely, you can hear Tracy gasp at the audacity). MeSH 2024 should be officially released soon, so that will likely be the next episode. Thanks for asking us questions and listening to the podcast! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

    56 min

  4. 10/18/2023

    MM.11: Fruits of Our Labor

    This episode was a bit unplanned (*ahem* not that we plan every episode), and arose after a brief text exchange where Carrie talked about an experience she had earlier in the day. We decided it was something that might be worth a broader discussion - and thus was this episode born! Carrie and Tracy chat about the problem of teaching evidence synthesis work. Carrie wrote a blog post for Covidence about using systematic reviews as class assignments — spoiler: we aren’t fans of that, or cherry picking. (In the data/evidence sense, as we do like cherries in general. We also like blueberries, and blackberries, and…) The PRISMA flow diagram is not something you can just fill out whenever, either. Grant and Booth’s 2009 article on typology of reviews is a great resource to learn about the various types of reviews, from narrative to systematized to systematic, and everything in between. There’s also a more recent article from 2019 by Sutton and colleagues that expands on the typologies that is a good reference for all the reviews possible. Searches take a long time to do and are not something that can be thrown together quickly. (A quick recommendation to read Amanda Ross-White’s 2021 article in JMLA, “Search is a verb: systematic review searching as invisible labor”, if you haven’t already.) Tracy mentioned Luddites and perpetuated misinterpretations in the process. This TikTok from Scientific American offers a correction to Luddite slander, and provides some timely context (AI in particular comes to mind). Carrie mentioned the Right Review tool, which is pretty nice! Also shout out to the Bond University folks who developed the SR-Accelerator tools and promote a well-planned 2weekSR. We also talk a bit about AI with our evidence synthesis work (probably more to come in future episode about that). Oh, the cookies we mentioned? Those are from Levain Bakery. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

    43 min

  5. 09/18/2023

    MM.10: When Librarians Aren't Great With File Names (or Numbers?)

    This episode is part 2 of the conversation in MM.08 between friend-of-the-pod Jenn and Tracy. Carrie got the fun job of listening to all the messiness and making it into an episode. We touch on mentorship — formal and informal. Jenn mentions career contessa (not to be confused with the barefoot contessa, aka Ina Garten — Tracy is a big fan of her), that has a book and a podcast. Jenn also recommends this article on motherhood at work. How do you name your files and organize things? Jenn and Tracy aren’t great at it. Know of a good guide or webinar on naming conventions or standards? Please share! We can always use a bit more professional development with that. We have deep respect for catalogers (and folks who are good at naming files, for that matter). For our fellow non-catalogers, the 050 field is for Library of Congress call number, and the 046 field is for special coded dates. (Yes, we had to Google that. No we don’t know what “special coded dates” are either.) Catalogers: thank you for making things findable. In a bit of oversharing, Tracy mentions being “an accountant” as an optional answer when you don’t want to explain your job, especially if your work is stigmatized. (For the record, this is a sex positive, non-kink shaming podcast.) Have feedback or suggestions about the podcast? Let us know! You can email us or ping us on social media. Like, subscribe, or leave a review. We’d love to hear from you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

    29 min

  6. 08/16/2023

    MM.09.5ish

    As you may have heard, we’re not going to have a full August episode — Tracy and Carrie are taking a mini-summer break! But it’s far from a restful break. Here’s what we’ve been up to both inside and outside of our professional lives: Carrie I’m an academic librarian at a large, public university, and that means that August is my time to prepare for fall teaching sessions. I work with health professions faculty and instruct on average 40 class sessions per semester. How do I prepare for the onslaught of fall instruction? It means that I have to check course schedules, sections, and instructors to see who’s teaching the research methods classes that I like to visit. It means reaching out to the faculty, if they haven’t found me first, to try to find a time to get on their schedule. And it means REPRESENTING for my profession — and by that I mean absolutely squashing any stereotypes they might have of librarians reading books and shushing people. That means I have to provide excellent services while also setting expectations for those services. August of this year also means that I’ve submitted a tenure portfolio for consideration of permanent status at my university. “Permanent status” is what we call “tenure.” My position is one of those unique tenure-track librarian positions. I’ve been at my current job for three years now, but working as a librarian for over eleven! If you work in academia, then you know that the tenure portfolio is an almighty beast not to be f*cked with. There is no f*cking around and finding out. I’ve got a LOT of big feelings on the process and the “status.” Maybe I’ll get the chance to talk about it on the pod someday. Some of you may know that I broke my wrist when I fell attempting to do the Hump on roller skates back in January (note to self: you do not roller skate). Believe me when I tell you that breaking bones is no fun and your affected bone, once healed, will hurt forever. In an effort to get my range of motion back, I decided to get back into playing the cello, which is something I had neglected for a few years. I bought myself a new cello for my birthday in April to replace the one that I’d had since 1993, and soon found myself playing in the pit of the Glyndon Area Players’ production of The Music Man. The rehearsal and production took up a whole lotta time and ran through the first two weeks of August. When Tracy and I were discussing the logistics of recording and editing an August episode, I’m sorry to say that I melted into a giant puddle on the floor. Meanwhile, I just can’t quit making YouTube videos. They scratch a creative itch and give me a platform to offer guidance on searching, systematic reviews, and literature review methods (and complai — I mean “critically appraise”). Join me there if that’s your thing! Tracy Six months ago, I packed up my life for a new adventure. New town, new job and work arrangement, new duties, new colleagues, new living space (that Carrie helped me pick out!), new couch… lots of new things. It’s finally catching up to me. With Carrie being so busy as well, it felt like a good time to take a step back, take a rest (mostly on that new couch, because it is ridiculously comfy), and reflect on just how much has changed. Being in Maryland, there are a lot of crab things. Every time I see something crab, I think about MeSH. Carrie tried to convince me to get a pair of crab pajamas. I’m debating if I should get a crab license plate. I got Boone, my canine companion, some Trader Joe’s Crab Paws — TJ’s is easy walking distance from me, which is really nice change. Now I just need to take time to hit the beach and look for real crabs. Stay tuned throughout the fall for more special guests, hot topics, and everything you ever wanted to know about life as a medical librarian. Have an idea? Interested in being a guest? Send us an email at medlibsmiscellany@gmail.com. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

    1 min

  7. 07/19/2023

    MM.09: This Is What Happens When You Talk to Strangers on the Internet

    Carrie (she/her) and Tracy (she/her) are joined in this episode by Marissa Testerman (she/her), We asked her what she wanted to talk about, and Marissa shares her experience as an early career medical librarian and path to #medlibs-land. (Yay for “be a librarian” as a plan B!) Marissa mentions how difficult it can be to find a library position (of any kind) when geographically limited and some reasons for staying in one area - family and community are vital - instead of moving for job opportunities. Uprooting your life for your career is sadly common in this field (look for more on this in an upcoming newsletter). Relocating for a #medlibs job can be especially harrowing for marginalized folks, such as those in BINPOC or LGBTQIA+ communities. We also chat about professional development things as a new medical librarian, including training from colleagues, mentoring through MLA, and online places like MLA caucuses (so many!), listservs galore, #medlibs Twitter (Marissa is @berrybiblio because she loves strawberries), and the #medlibs Discord. Marissa name checks Zahra Premji as a fantastic colleague who has helped so many #medlibs with systematic review/evidence synthesis work - we agree! There are so many wonderful #medlibs who give of their time and expertise to answer questions, mentor, or help other #medlibs. Marissa started out in access services, which means she has seen some unexpected things in returned library materials. A printed out selfie while grilling as a bookmark?! Weird, but there are worse things found left in library books, so maybe she got lucky. Speaking of library books, be careful with pets because some of them find paper products tasty, be it books or toilet paper. Want to explore bolero glam? Marissa recommends this Spotify playlist as a starting point. You can also get a taste with Natalia Lafourcade's Tiny Desk Concert. Finally, of course we had to ask Marissa about crabs. Tracy suggested she try a lowcountry crab boil (aka seafood boil) during her Charleston visit. Thanks for joining us for this episode. Reach out to us if you have thoughts or suggestions on upcoming episodes. Don’t forget to like and subscribe! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

    53 min

  8. 06/20/2023

    MM.08: The One Where We Talk About Transferrable Skills

    This episode is a conversation between Tracy and friend of the pod and “omg what kind of group chat did I get myself into?!” participant, Jenn Monnin. We talk about how Jenn came to be a #medlibs after her experience in public libraries and transferrable skills. We also touch on collection development, mentoring and the value it has in professional development, and applying for jobs. In talking about collection development, Tracy mentioned you may need to know how medical journals and books can be referred to by color. She did a Twitter thread about this a few years ago. Also, readers’ advisory is an art! Jenn talked about how to use job postings to guide professional development and skill assessment. She also makes a great point that it’s not your responsibility to decide if you are qualified for a position - that’s the search committee’s responsibility. As Jenn can attest, cold emailing someone is a vital skill (that’s how she ended up in our group chat!). Sometimes it doesn’t go anywhere. Sometimes it can help you find folks that can serve as mentors (formally or informally) or make up your “safe” people. A special thank you to Carrie, who put this episode together from an all-over-the-place conversation, even though she had no idea what we were talking about (before or after, to be fair). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

    53 min
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We are medical librarians talking about medical library things. We can be silly or serious, but always curious. medlibsmiscellany.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    A collection of musings from a medical librarian perspective.
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2024
  • Episodes
    15
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Tracy Shields and Carrie Price
  • Show Website
    Medlibs Miscellany