Research Project Grant Application

2005 AWARD

• “What Employers Are Looking for in Reference Librarians : An Analysis of Job Announcements in MLA News from January 2000 to December 2004,” submitted by Lin Wu , MLS, Reference Librarian, UTHSC Health Sciences Library, Memphis, TN and Ping Li, MLIS, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.

  This research project seeks to determine the qualifications and characteristics expected of reference librarians at health sciences libraries. Earlier studies that examined MLA News job advertisements demonstrated many of the changes in medical librarianship from 1961 to 1995 but not in subsequent years, a period of expanded electronic services in all types of health sciences libraries. Findings from the study will document the changing roles of reference librarians, as well as providing information and career guidance for those seeking employment in health sciences libraries and information for employers looking at possible reorganization of public service areas.

2004 AWARD

• Principal investigator: Sandy Oelschlegel, MLS, Director, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville , TN.
• Collaborators: Martha Earl, MSLS, AHIP, Reference Coordinator and Jenny Cole, Library Assistant, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville, TN.
• Project: Data Analysis of Consumer and Patient Health Questions using Geographic Location and NLM Medical Subject Headings
• Method: The Preston Medical Library has provided a Consumer & Patient Health Information Service to the Knoxville area and beyond since 1993. An average of 60 questions are answered monthly on a variety of topics. In 2003 a database was designed and populated that included fields for the subjects of the questions. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) were used to populate these fields.
• Goal of research: Analysis of the database will determine whether outreach programs conducted by Preston Medical Library have an impact on the subsequent number of consumer health questions received from that geographic area, and will determine whether questions are most often related to the major disease states of East Tennessee.

2002 AWARD

• Principal investigator: John Orriola, Education/Reference Librarian, Shimberg Health Sciences Library, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
• Collaborator: Ellen E. Stanley, Shimberg Health Sciences Library, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
• Project: Strategic competency-based incremental literature searching instruction for the medical student.
• Method: Investigators will conduct surveys and interviews of medical faculty/medical librarians within the Southern Chapter area addressing the objectives of information instruction throughout the medical curriculum.
• Goal of research: To develop standards for information/library instruction within the medical curriculum.
• Presentations/Publications: Orriola J, Thompson J. Communicating Differences and Similarities Among Teaching Librarians in Undergraduate Medical Education: Results Gathered From the Medical Literature Searching Skills Inventory. Poster. SC/MLA, October 2004, Biloxi , MS.

1999 AWARD

• Principal investigator: Shelley L. Paden, Librarian, Preston Medical Library University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville, TN
• Collaborators: Andrea L. Batson, Science/Engineering Librarian, University Library Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN and Richard L. Wallace, M.S.L.S., AHIP, Outreach Librarian, Quillen College of Medicine, Library East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
• Project: The Impact of Loansome Doc on Medical Libraries and its End Users.
• Presentations/Publications:
  • Paden SL, Batson AL, Wallace RL. Web-based Loansome Doc, librarians, and end users: results from a survey of the Southeast Region. Bull Med Libr Assoc 2001 Jul;89(3):263-71
  • Paden SL, Batson AL, Wallace RL. Implications of Web-based Loansome Doc for librarians and end-users: preliminary research findings. SC/MLA, October, 1999 at Greenville, South Carolina at the Contributed paper II session.