Information Literacy Commons^™

Continual Evolution: The Experience Over Three Semesters Of A Librarian Embedded In An Online Evidence-Based Medicine Course For Physician Assistant Students, Shannon Kealey

Staff publications, research, and presentations

This column examines the experience, over three years, of a librarian embedded in an online Epidemiology and Evidence-based Medicine course, which is a requirement for students pursing a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies at Pace University. Student learning outcomes were determined, a video lecture was created, and student learning was assessed via a five-point test during year one. For years two and three, the course instructor asked the librarian to be responsible for two weeks of the course instruction and a total of 15 out of 100 possible points for the course. This gave the librarian flexibility to …

Why Not Just Google It? An Assessment Of Information Literacy Skills In A Biomedical Science Curriculum, Karl Kingsley, Gillian M. Galbraith, M. Herring, Eva Stowers, Tanis Stewart, Karla V. Kingsley

Library Faculty Research

Background: Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipitated the need for training in skill-based competencies in higher education, as well as medical and dental education.

Methods: The current study evaluated the information literacy skills of first-year dental students, consisting of two, consecutive dental student cohorts (n = 160). An assignment designed to evaluate information literacy skills was conducted. In addition, a survey of student online search engine …

Information-Seeking Behaviors Of First-Semester Veterinary Students: A Preliminary Report, Sharon A. Weiner, Gretchen Stephens, Abdelfattah Y.M. Nour

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Although emphasis in veterinary education is increasingly being placed on the ability to find, use, and communicate information, studies on the information behaviors of veterinary students or professionals are few. Improved knowledge in this area will provide valuable information for course and curriculum planning and the design of information resources. This article describes a survey of the information-seeking behaviors of first-semester veterinary students at Purdue University. A survey was administered as the first phase of a progressive semester-long assignment for a first semester DVM course in systemic mammalian physiology. The survey probed for understanding of the scientific literature and its …

Changes In Evidence-Based Practice Skills Of First-Year Dpt Students, Michael Fillyaw, Elizabeth Dyer, Sally Mccormack Tutt

Physical Therapy Faculty Posters

Poster presentation describing the outcomes for 30 first-year DPT students instructed in the elements of Evidence-Based Practice in a 2 credit course - Scientific Inquiry 1 (SI1). Faculty evaluated changes in: (1) DPT students’ knowledge and skills of EBP, as measured by the Adapted Fresno Test of Competence in Evidence-Based Practice (AFT) and (2) students’ self-confidence in EBP skills. This is the first study to use the AFT to evaluate changes in DPT students’ knowledge and skills related to EBP after formal instruction. The observed 24 point increase in the mean total score is educationally important and comparable to the …

Librarians And Health Workers: Partnering And Collaborating To Support Free Access To Health Information In Nigeria, Ngozi Blessing Ukachi

Collaborative Librarianship

The well-being of individuals and communities depend on accessibility to accurate health information. A recent study shows the many communities in some regions of Nigeria lack accessibility to this information. Building on the success of partnerships between librarians and health care workers in the delivery of health information in other parts of the world, the Nigerian situation could be greatly improved through a number of strategies, as suggested.

Faculty-Librarian Collaboration Teaching Evidence-Based Practice, Michael Fillyaw, Elizabeth Dyer

Physical Therapy Faculty Posters

Poster presentation describing the collaboration of physical therapy faculty and university librarian in teaching elements of evidence-based practice in Scientific Inquiry 1 in the DPT curriculum. These elements included: Writing a patient-centered clinical question P: Patient/Problem/Population I: Intervention C: Comparison O: Outcome; Developing an effective search strategy; Searching electronic databases for articles. Although the literature contains examples of faculty-librarian collaboration in other disciplines, reports about the collaboration in physical therapy programs are scarce and this collaborative teaching model is unique.

Hegemony Of The West And The Librarian’S Role In The Struggle Against Hiv/Aids In Africa, Emy Nelson Decker

Collaborative Librarianship

Africa needs information about HIV/AIDS. Librarian activists have a duty to organize, repackage, and circulate HIV/AIDS information. Unfortunately, this has led in some cases to an unintentional assertion of cultural hegemony, which operates invisibly to those who are part of the “dominant” or “dominating” culture. Unexamined assumptions of “superiority” have led to a bias that the West possesses the only correct method for codifying knowledge. The West cannot appropriately evaluate the successes or failures of HIV/AIDS education in Africa if it employs only American or Western ideas, categories, and sensibilities. This is detrimental to African people and cultures lacking the …

More Than Evaluation: Student Nurses And Their Ability To Assess Online Health Resources And Verbalize Findings, Stephanie Wiegand

University Libraries Publications

Purpose The Internet poses both a frontier that represents the possibility for vast exploration and an open space that leaves patients wandering through unreliable information. The purpose of this study was to determine the abilities of first-year (Junior-standing) nursing students to choose, evaluate and then explain their findings in relation to health information on the Web.

Setting/Subjects 108 first-year nursing students in Foundations I at the University of Northern Colorado.

Methodology Content analysis of written papers.

Results Evaluation comprised of three cohorts (consisting of 36 students each) of first-year nursing students in Foundations I in their assessment of 216 websites. …

Searching The Collective Knowledge: Finding Evidence In The Medical, Nursing And Psychology Literature, Stephanie Wiegand

University Libraries Publications

Attendees will learn tips and tricks for search medical, nursing, and psychology literature. Discussion will include types of literature, reliability of literature, and approaches to gathering evidence to support healthcare change. Manage your time, know your librarian, construct a research question, know where to search, determine best search terms, and put your hands on (access) the evidence. Learn the difference between keyword and subject term searching and how to take advantage of these tools in various literature databases.

Evidence In The Literature: Efficiently Searching The Collective Knowledge, Stephanie Wiegand

University Libraries Publications

Search effectively. Search efficiently. Find the evidence you need as a healthcare professional to provide the best care to patients. This session will include timesaving tips and tricks to identify and access relevant literature for the decision-making process. A healthcare provider must focus on integrating appropriate evidence with expert knowledge and patient needs; a librarian can help healthcare providers cut through the static and find the best resources. Join this session to discuss the most useful types of literature, pertinent research databases, effective search strategies, and methods for getting your hands on the resources you need.