2018-19 was a busy year for the Manitoba Association of Health
Information Providers (MAHIP). In November 2018, MAHIP presented
Ada Ducas an honourary lifetime membership during her retirement
event. Ms. Ducas exemplifies what it means to be a health
information professional and we are proud to have her as an
honourary lifetime member. In December 2018, MAHIP, along with the
University of Manitoba Libraries, offered an online webinar from
the Medical Library Association, “Why Do We Lead? An Introduction
to Values-Based Leadership.” Our Spring CE was held in May 2019
and saw MAHIP members present their current research and issues in
health sciences librarianship research. Over the past year, MAHIP
held four journal clubs, two in-person and two online. We look
forward to another busy year in 2019-20, as we prepare to host the
2021 CHLA/ABSC Annual Conference!
HLABC is a thriving chapter that promotes effective library service in the health sciences within British Columbia. The association identified three main objectives this past year: increasing student membership; identifying and promoting continuing education with a focus on indigeneity; and finally, continually working to improve remote membership access.
In the fall of 2018, HLABC held a special panel/speed dating event designed for MLIS students who held an interest in health librarianship called “Getting Hired in Health Libraries.” The panel consisted of one academic, one hospital, and one association librarian and each described their path of entry to the profession. After the panel, the event parsed out into a speed dating activity where students could speak with professional health librarians from within the association. The event was held during the LIBR534 (Health Information Sources and Services) course timeslot and reached a dynamic group of students.
HLABC also held a Winter Continuing Education event with
programming from a variety of excellent facilitators. The sessions
were a PRESS Checklist workshop presented by Douglas M. Salzwedel
MLIS, Information Specialist & Assistant Managing Editor at
Cochrane Hypertension; a special talk on The Value of Participant
Engagement in Research by Linda Warner, Clinical Research
Coordinator for the CHILD Study & Maureen Mooney, Research
Nurse for CHILD Study; a presentation on the validation of several
filters for retrieval of two types of study designs: "overviews of
systematic reviews" and clinical practice guidelines by Carole
Lunny, MPH, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Methodology and Research
Synthesis, Cochrane Hypertension Group and the Therapeutics
Initiative; and finally, a special roundtable between UBC’s School
of Library, Archival & Information Studies (SLAIS) Students
and HLABC members entitled "This Changed my Practice." One
highlight of this session was a lightning talk given by LIBR534
student Eleri Staiger who presented her paper on Indigenous
cultural safety for health librarians. Her paper went on to win
the 2019 JCHLA Student Paper Prize.
NAHLA has been focused on our chapter’s sustainability and on
meeting the needs of our membership this past year. We surveyed
members about the types of event they would like to see offered by
NAHLA and the best locations and times for these events. We are in
the process of exploring reducing the size of our executive which
currently has seven positions and will present options at our
upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the fall. This year,
following a discussion at our AGM, we decided to cancel our annual
half day conference and instead are offering an extra professional
development session in the evening. We have held a number of
professional development events. These included events and
workshops on: workplace communication, consumer health
information, and the role of clinical librarians. We held our
annual project exhibition in March, where NAHLA members shared
information into a variety of work-related projects they are
involved in. And for fun, we had our holiday luncheon in December
and our summer social that involved cocktails and a sunny patio in
July.
The Maritimes Health Libraries Association/ Association des bibliothèques de la santé des Maritimes (MHLA/ABSM) has had an engaging 2018-2019. Continuing education is very important to the chapter and we regularly offer virtual journal clubs throughout the year, and also provide CE at our annual meetings. This year, Sandra Toze from Dalhousie’s School of Information Management presented on library assessment/evaluation, Cynthia Holt from the Council of Atlantic University Libraries spoke about the recent Atlantic-wide licensing of The Cochrane Library using IP geolocation, and we held our usual lightning talks and conference round-up presentations from members. The Executive has also been busy surveying members to determine updates for our chapter website and our future social media presence, as well as starting to plan for hosting CHLA 2022 in Halifax by electing conference co-chairs. We also had a first for our chapter this year by applying for a practicum student through Dalhousie’s School of Information Management. The student created a database and reports listing the major health information resources available at MHLA/ABSM member libraries. These reports will enable members to identify resource-sharing opportunities, encourage cross-training, and know what resources are best serving our field. The reports will be updated annually by the Executive, with members submitting changes at our Spring meeting.
Le conseil exécutif de l’ASTED3S fait peau neuve depuis septembre 2018, ce qui insuffle un vent de renouveau sur nos activités. Le comité formation prépare déjà notre Journée annuelle de formation qui aura lieu le 27 septembre 2019 sous le thème “Dynamiser l’accès : information en mouvement.” Qu’il s’agisse d’intervenants ou de patients de nos milieux, la liberté d’accès à l’information est une valeur fondamentale et nous devons nous assurer qu’elle soit possible in situ ou hors les murs. Autre changement important, notre association-mère se transforme peu à peu. Le nom “Fédération des milieux documentaires” (FMD) remplace depuis janvier 2019 celui “d’Association pour l’avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation” (ASTED). Il s’agit d’une année de transition et nous serons fixés sur la viabilité de celle-ci lors de l’Assemblée Générale annuelle en octobre 2019. Entre-temps, étant le chapitre santé services sociaux, nous devons revoir notre nom ainsi que travailler de concert avec le nouveau CA de la FMD pour s’assurer que nos acquis demeurent les mêmes, voir se bonifient pour nos membres. Nous avons finalement participé en janvier de cette année à titre de consultant à la réflexion sur la révision des règlements de la Loi sur le développement des entreprises québécoises dans le domaine du livre (Loi du livre) menée par le ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec. Plus particulièrement sur L’article 8 du “Règlement sur l’acquisition de livres par certaines personnes dans les librairies agréées” (R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 1, a. 8.).
ASTED3S’ executive committee has welcomed many new members since
September 2018 bringing with them new vision and energy and the
Continuing Education Committee is already preparing our annual
full day of training. It will take place the 27th of September and
center around the theme ‘Dynamic access: information on the move”.
Be it the health care providers or patients in our respective
environments, having access to information is a fundamental value
and we must assure that it is possible on site and off. Other
important changes include the transformation of our parent
association. Since January 2019, the “Association pour
l’avancement des sciences et des techniques de la documentation”
(ASTED) has been replaced by the “Fédération des milieux
documentaires” (FMD). The current year is one of transition and we
will know more about the long-term feasibility of the new
structure at the October 2019 general assembly. Until then, and as
the health and social services chapter of what was ASTED, we will
have to reevaluate and reconsider our current name as well as work
with the FMD’s new Administrative Council to ensure that we can
continue to operate as before and that our members will maintain
and hopefully gain benefits. Most recently, in January of
this year, we participated in an advisory capacity during the
reflection process on the revision of the regulations for the Act
respecting the development of Québec firms in the book industry
(Book law) lead by the Ministry of Culture and Communications of
Quebec. More specifically, on Article 8 “Regulation respecting the
acquisition of books by certain persons from accredited
bookstores” (R.R.Q., 1981, c. D-8.1, r. 1, a. 8.).
The Southwestern Ontario Health Libraries Information Network
(SOHLIN) held our annual CE in March. Western University kindly
hosted the workshop, and we had several librarians from Western
attend as well. The workshop, entitled “Fields, Filters, and Fun:
Incorporating Creativity and Craft into Database Literature
Searches,” was delivered by CADTH staff, David Kaunelis and Kelly
Farrah. It was very well received by the SOHLIN membership.
In early 2019, the SOHLIN executive surveyed the membership to ask
for feedback on members’ commitment to the association moving
forward. The survey results indicated that members felt the
formality of SOHLIN was no longer meeting their needs. Members are
however, very interested in finding other ways of meeting
together, sharing knowledge and networking. As such, a decision
was made to dissolve SOHLIN. The process is currently underway.
It’s been a busy year for the CAMEL – SIG. In order to determine meeting topics for 2018/2019, a survey was created and distributed to the CAMEL – SIG. As a result of this survey the CAMEL – SIG meeting topics for 2018/2019 were: education (with two 2018 CHLA presentations identified as potential guest speakers), research, as well as a Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) focused discussion.
The CAMEL – SIG held 4 meetings (3 online and 1 in-person) between June 2018 and May 2019, and regularly has nine to ten members in attendance. The in-person meeting took place at the CHLA Annual Meeting in June 2018 and focused on providing medical education-related updates. The online meetings consisted of PGME updates, research support and personal research projects discussions, as well as medical education related presentations by guest speakers. Those speakers were: Kelly Thormodson, who presented on “Core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and Librarian Involvement in Competency-based Medical Education” and Lisa Demczuk who presented on “Student Success: Undergraduate Engagement on a Systematic Review.”
The CAMEL – SIG created a working group of five members to complete the 2018/2019 Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) common curriculum project in collaboration with the AFMC NoL.
The outgoing co-chairs are Zahra Premji from the University of Calgary and Kaitlin Fuller from the University of Toronto. The incoming co-chairs are Lucy Kiester and Andrea Quaiattini who are both from McGill University.
We currently have 16 members.
Adapting the ACRL Information Competencies Framework to
Dentistry
The goal for this group, which currently includes 2 OHIG members, is to produce a document that will map the knowledge practices and dispositions from the 6 ACRL IL frames to competencies listed in the Association of Canadian Faculties of Dentistry’s Conceptual Education Framework, in order to facilitate teaching collaborations with faculty.
Members of the group presented a poster at South Central Chapter MLA Annual Meeting and a lighting talk at the 2018 Mid-Continental MLA Virtual Meeting, both highlighting current developments. A proposal for an educational workshop has been submitted for the ADEA 2020 meeting.
Webinar: Peer Review of Systematic Review Searches
On December 3, 2018, Kaithryn Campbell and David Kaunelis from CADTH provided a 1-hour online presentation on peer reviewing of systematic review search strategies. In addition to OHIG members, the invitation was also extended to MLA’s Dental Section members, so we a had a great attendance of 20 people. The presentation included a review of the PRESS tool’s components, as well as useful hands-on advice on how to find a peer reviewer and how to execute a peer review. Example of recommendations include:
Virtual Journal Club
A virtual meeting was scheduled on March 6th in collaboration with Liz Stellrecht, from MLA’s Dental Section. Fourteen people attended, including 4 OHIG/GISB members. We discussed the following paper in an informal manner:
Stone, S., Quirke, M., & Lowe, M. S. (2018). Opportunities for faculty-librarian collaboration in an expanded dentistry curriculum. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 35(2), 170-176. doi:10.1111/hir.12211
We had the chance to discuss the paper with its first author, Sean Stone. Questions focused on the particulars and sustainability of the information literacy program that was developed. Participants noted that the scaffolding of information literacy competencies throughout a given curriculum is difficult to attain unless there is program remodeling. We also talked about the opportunity to get involved in Dental Research Day at our institutions.
The Knowledge Synthesis Interest Group continues to provide opportunities for librarians and other Canadian health information professionals to discuss methodological issues and to provide mutual support related to topics in knowledge synthesis.
Webinars: In March 2019, we held the webinar Peer Reviewing Search Strategies using PRESS: An Introduction with Margaret Sampson, which had approximately 100 participants from various sectors of health sciences librarianship. Our July webinar featured an introduction to the 2D search tool with Farhad Shokraneh from the University of Nottingham.
Online Journal Club: We hosted two journal club sessions in 2018-2019. The first, led by Rachel Couban (McMaster University) in September 2018 examined supplementary search methods vs. bibliographic database searching and the second, facilitated by Carolyn Ziegler (St. Michael’s Hospital) in January 2019, looked at RAMSES publication standard for realist reviews. Thank you to both Rachel and Carolyn for leading such thoughtful and engaging discussions!
Upcoming Events: Did you miss the CHLA conference in Ottawa this
year? Stay tuned for our post-conference CHLA webinar where we
will feature mini sessions from conference presenters on topics
related to knowledge synthesis.
Interested in becoming more involved with KSIG? Why not join our
listserv to learn more about upcoming events and activities
related to knowledge synthesis. If you have any questions
about KSIG or suggestions, please feel free to contact Lydia
Thorne (lydia.thorne@uoit.ca).
The Bibliotherapy Interest Group was begun a few years ago by a
small group of health information professionals with a shared
interest in bibliotherapeutic interventions. The goal of the group
was to facilitate a discussion and educate health information
professionals, health practitioners, non-clinical professionals
and community members who wish to learn more or implement
bibliotherapy practices in their work or community. To date,
the interest group has successfully managed to produce a website
that provides a good starting point for understanding
bibliotherapy and links to some good resources.
Unfortunately, our work has stalled (for the time being) due to
the fact that the conveners of the interest group have been pulled
in other directions. The interest group continues to monitor
its email account and respond to any CHLA/ABSC members who are
interested in bibliotherapy and would welcome any interested
member who wished to work to enhance the website. In
particular, we would be most interested in assistance with
expanding the Resources section of the site. See: http://big.chla-absc.ca
WWDHLN enjoys representation from Academic, Medical, Public and
Public Health libraries and meets on a quarterly basis.
Occasionally members gather informally in smaller groups to
discuss issues affecting specific libraries or librarians. This
year the decision was made to include the hosting institution’s
land acknowledgement at the beginning of our meetings, allowing
for fluidity from meeting to meeting. Continuing education is a
standing item on our agendas. At our meeting in October 2018
we welcomed guest speaker, Zack Osborne, team leader at St.
Michael’s Hospital Health Sciences Library. Zach spoke about some
of the innovative library services he and his team provide to
their clientele. At our recent April meeting, guest speakers
Kaitlyn Lenton and Erica Fuller from Gerstein Science Information
Centre gave a presentation on providing scoping review workshops
to graduate students. Our annual general meeting, and
executive election is held every June.