Dataset Information

Satellite stories: capturing professional experiences of academic health sciences librarians working in delocalized health sciences programs.

ABSTRACT: Health sciences training programs have progressively expanded onto satellite campuses, allowing students the opportunity to learn in communities away from an academic institution's main campus. This expansion has encouraged a new role for librarians to assume, in that a subset of health sciences librarians identify as "satellite librarians" who are permanently located at a distance from the main campus. Due to the unique nature of this role and lack of existing data on the topic, the authors investigated the experiences and perceptions of this unique group of information professionals.An electronic survey was distributed to health sciences librarians via two prominent North American email discussion lists. Questions addressed the librarians' demographics, feelings of social inclusion, technological support, autonomy, professional support, and more.Eighteen surveys were analyzed. While several respondents stated that they had positive working relationships with colleagues, many cited issues with technology, scheduling, and lack of consideration as barriers to feeling socially included at both the parent and local campuses. Social inclusion, policy creation, and collection management issues were subject to their unique situations and their colleagues' perceptions of their roles as satellite librarians.The results from this survey suggest that the role of the academic health sciences librarian at the satellite campus needs to be clearly communicated and defined. This, in turn, will enhance the experience for the librarian and provide better service to the client.

SUBMITTER: Phinney J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5764596 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Satellite stories: capturing professional experiences of academic health sciences librarians working in delocalized health sciences programs.

Phinney Jackie J Horsman Amanda Rose AR

Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA 20180102 1

<h4>Objective</h4>Health sciences training programs have progressively expanded onto satellite campuses, allowing students the opportunity to learn in communities away from an academic institution's main campus. This expansion has encouraged a new role for librarians to assume, in that a subset of health sciences librarians identify as "satellite librarians" who are permanently located at a distance from the main campus. Due to the unique nature of this role and lack of existing data on the topi ...[more]

PMID: 29339936

Similar Datasets

Project description:ObjectiveWhile many librarians have been asked to participate in systematic reviews with researchers, often these researchers are not familiar with the systematic review process or the appropriate role for librarians. The purpose of this study was to identify the challenges and barriers that librarians face when collaborating on systematic reviews. To take a wider view of the whole process of collaborating on systematic reviews, the authors deliberately focused on interpersonal and methodological issues other than searching itself.MethodsTo characterize the biggest challenges that librarians face while collaborating on systematic review projects, we used a web-based survey. The thirteen-item survey included seventeen challenges grouped into two categories: methodological and interpersonal. Participants were required to indicate the frequency and difficulty of the challenges listed. Open-ended questions allowed survey participants to describe challenges not listed in the survey and to describe strategies used to overcome challenges.ResultsOf the 17 challenges listed in the survey, 8 were reported as common by over 40% of respondents. These included methodological issues around having too broad or narrow research questions, lacking eligibility criteria, having unclear research questions, and not following established methods. The remaining challenges were interpersonal, including issues around student-led projects and the size of the research team. Of the top 8 most frequent challenges, 5 were also ranked as most difficult to handle. Open-ended responses underscored many of the challenges included in the survey and revealed several additional challenges.ConclusionsThese results suggest that the most frequent and challenging issues relate to development of the research question and general communication with team members. Clear protocols for collaboration on systematic reviews, as well as a culture of mentorship, can help librarians prevent and address these challenges.

Dataset Information

Satellite stories: capturing professional experiences of academic health sciences librarians working in delocalized health sciences programs.

Publications

Satellite stories: capturing professional experiences of academic health sciences librarians working in delocalized health sciences programs.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets