The Search Principle blog

Academic librarians at UBC are entitled to take a sabbatical, or a study leave, every seven years. My colleague Hilde Colenbrander is doing research on open access for her sabbatical. My project is focussed on adult learning theories and how they might be applied to teaching information retrieval to physicians, and student librarians.

I’ve dipped my big toe into taking courses already this term, and somehow have survived writing academic papers again while holding down my full-time job at the new library, and teaching a course at SLAIS. Somehow, I’ve found the time to keep up the blogging.

But, for now, I am going fishing. I’ll be working on a few projects outside my sabbatical research, such as helping to launch Open Medicine. I’ve found a great deal of fulfillment blogging about search, and I’ll be back. You can count on that. In the meantime, thanks for being here, and for encouraging me. For now, this is addio…
– Dean Giustini, UBC Google scholar blog

Google has posted an interview with the chief engineer over at Google scholar. It’s written by an Tracey Hughes, GIS Coordinator, Social Sciences & Humanities Library, University of California San Diego. Some interesting new bits and bobs of information.

This is a very special photo of librarians, filling me with a certain amount of nostalgia. This twenty-seven year old photo was taken on the plaza between the old Sedgewick and Main libraries, circa 1979. Who are these paragons from the past? Judy Atkinson (third from the left) and Keith Bunnell (far left). The others are Joan Whitney (third from the right), Julie Stevens (second from right) and Ture Erickson (far right).

Judy Atkinson, for many of you who never knew her, was an extraordinary individual, and librarian, and worked at UBC Library during the 1970s and 1980s. She had a unforgettable, playful intelligence. She made libraries fun. I first met Judy when I was an undergraduate, in my first year at UBC, working as a shelver in Sedgewick (now Koerner); Judy was a presence there (even though she worked part-time; she was always talking to students, making them feel welcome). Judy was the type of librarian to dispense advice if you asked her: “Judy, I am thinking of becoming a librarian”. Her face lit up with a sense of fun: “You’d be good at it”.

The other person who made an indelible impression was Keith. Keith still works at UBC Library, in Koerner, as the history and collections librarian. Even now, Keith represents the best of academic librarianship: knowledge, kindness and collegiality. Keith has always stood for high standards, especially with regard to books and libraries.

For a long time, I thought this photo was lost. I found it yesterday when I was clearing out my files on the eve of my sabbatical. Darko, our docdel library assistant, scanned it for me (thanks Darko). The photo represents a kinder, gentler time at UBC Library. True, our field has changed a lot in ~30 years but I feel we’ve lost something.

The one other person (not in the photo) that I’d like to mention is Joan Sandilands. Now retired, she helped me get into library school, and was a role model in how she treated people. She exuded a grace that has rarely been seen since.

EBSCO is fighting an uphill battle in search. I think of EBSCO as primarily (historically) a content provider, fulltext. In the early years, their search interfaces were, well – terrible. To their credit, they’ve improved their search tools but are by no means the gold standard yet (OVID Technologies is, still – after all these years.)

Faced with mountain-like challenges – like Piper’s “Little Engine that Could” – EBSCO gets Web 2.0, and they get “it” in a way that neither Google nor OVID seem to – they listen, and are willing to tackle their shortcomings in a way I have not seen in my twenty years as a librarian. They are participative.

But, let’s be honest. ESBCO’s interface to CINAHL is difficult to use. It’s ill-suited to expert searching, which is a pillar of practice in medical librarianship. Many health libraries that moved to EBSCO CINAHL are still dealing with the difficulties, especially for users with long, involved search sets like those used for systematic reviews.

What EBSCO deserves is a chance to be a major player. They have favourable pricing, and the right approach. Web 2.0, in my opinion, is an attitude – and EBSCO has the right one. Their attitude toward librarians is also notable.

HIFA2015 and CHILD2015 are two global email discussion groups with a focus on the information and learning needs of healthcare providers in developing countries. In partnership with libraries, they are open to anyone and membership is free.

I) Healthcare Information For All by 2015
Goal: “By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider.”
Moderated by Global Healthcare Information Network and HIFA2015 Steering Group
Archives at: www.dgroups.org/groups/hifa2015

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II) Child Healthcare Information and Learning by 2015
Goal: “By 2015, every child worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider.”
Moderated by Global Healthcare Information Network and International Child Health
Archives at: www.dgroups.org/groups/child2015

My theoretical paper on adult learning pedagogies was put to practical use at PEP with Kent Stobart (who’s an instinctive EBM teacher). Here are some of the tips I gleaned for teaching EBM related concepts in small groups:

First tip: Situate your small group in a context that is meaningful to them. If you are speaking to pediatricians, pick search examples about infants, children or teens. Keep session relevant to learners.

Second tip: Start your session by clearly stating your three goals. Get feedback. Ask open-ended questions from group. Use the idea of a “parking lot” for ideas to be discussed later.

Third tip: In most EBM teaching – or search workshops – use PICO and the five steps of EBM. Start with a clinical case or patient scenario. EBM begins and ends with the patient.

Fourth tip: Save time for discussion and closure. Engage the adult learners in reflective practice. Use a post-session technique to get feedback via e-mail or a group (librarian) blog. Real learning occurs when learners construct their own knowledge through reflection.

Fifth tip: Always find time for humour. Use interactivity. Role-play. Teaching is more about facilitating. Be a guide on the side and not a “sage on the stage”.

Some of you have been asking about evidence-based searching at PEP. It was integrated in a way that I, as a health librarian and information specialist, really appreciated. Dr. Kent Stobart’s discussion of PICO was one of the best I’ve heard – clear, concise, practical. He tucked PICO in nicely into Step I of EBM’s five steps:

Step One = converting the need for information into an answerable question; defining the questions in a way that allows clear answers; PICO-S or PICO-D:

P – patient, population, and/or problem being addressed
I – intervention or exposure
C – co-intervention
0 – outcome

S – study design
D – domain (diagnosis, etiology, prognosis, therapy)

From here, we discussed step (2) two and tracking down the best evidence with which to answer the question, and the concepts behind efficient searching. More about that, tomorrow. – Dean

After my search session at PEP, my pediatrics group asked “What do you really think of Google”? Can I use Google scholar without my librarian back home getting annoyed? [Librarians shouldn’t get annoyed about Google.]

Reinhard Wentz’s rapid response to the Tang/NG article in the BMJ makes some good points. But what makes him think that his own heuristic study showing an 88% accuracy in PubMed would hold up under scrutiny? Is he a physician? How would the Google’s 58% success change if the searches were performed in GS?

All of this misses the point. Google points to the evidence. Let physicians decide. Read the rapid responses, many from physicians who approve of Google (and a growing list of librarians) There are responses from developing countries and those who don’t understand PubMed’s interface. Google has language-specific interfaces that are useful to physicians in other countries, even if they have to use English search terms. Does PubMed?

Let’s be critical here. I teach and advocate for MEDLINE. But it has limitations, and biases like Google. In the information age, we need to be open to the possibilities represented by the open web, and freetext searching. I’ve given up on my idea for Google medicine, but let’s face it, perhaps (in a sense) are we already there…?

Finally, health librarians need to do a proper three way study of Google, PubMed and Google scholar using a more representative sample than what Tang/NG used. And, for starters, let’s involve our users in the evaluation.

1. Good timing (3 days); good organization (PEP team); good plenaries (speakers).

2. Teamwork. Dr. Kent Stobart, the leader of the pediatrics group, was the best facilitator I’ve seen. He encouraged participation in peds group (and included me often) and integrated searching as articles in therapy, diagnosis, prognosis and the systematic review were covered.

3. The collegial atmosphere at UofA, the “EBM” quiz (which my table won!) and the social events.

4. The planning and obvious enjoyment of the librarians, led by Marlene Dorgan.

5. The clear, sunny skies of Alberta.

1. Can you explain the difference between pre-appraised, pre-filtered sources vs. unfiltered databases?

2. What are the clinical queries? Is the feature available only in PubMed?

3. In the systematic review, how can I tell if the search is exhaustive?

4. How are articles indexed in PubMed?

5. When would I use Google scholar?