Staff Publications

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/2328/3324

Browse

Browsing Staff Publications by Issue Date

Jump to a point in the index:
Now showing 1 - 20 of 29
  • Item
  • Item
    FindIt@Flinders: user experiences of the Primo discovery search solution
    (Australian Library and Information Association, 1905-07-04) Jarrett, Kylie Anne
    In September 2011, Flinders University Library launched FindIt@Flinders, the Primo discovery layer search to provide simultaneous results from the Library’s collections and subscription databases. This research project was an exploratory case study, which aimed to show whether students are finding relevant information for their course learning and research. The Library staff ran student usability sessions and an online survey for this search interface. These two methods uncovered data on what elements participants are finding useful or not useful, and what problems they are encountering. The results of this study showed a variety of feedback, which was mainly positive. This feedback has informed how the Library can modify Primo for a better user experience and incorporate beneficial approaches to FindIt@Flinders into its student training plan.
  • Item
    Establishing a culture of research practice in an academic library: an Australian case study
    (Emerald, 1905-07-05) McBain, Ian ; Culshaw, Helen ; Walkley Hall, Elizabeth
    The purpose of this paper is to describe the establishment of a Research Working Group at Flinders University Library, a mid-sized teaching and research university located in South Australia. The group was founded to encourage staff to develop a more reflective, research-oriented and evidence-based professional practice initially for a three year term. This paper comes at about two years into the pilot and provides an interim report of the group’s experiences and achievements.
  • Item
    To PC or NetPC? Hmmm …what the heck, let’s give it a go!
    (Australian Library and Information Association, 1998) Brown, Ian Lewis ; Banbury, John
    Some would argue that the time for NCs or NetPCs has either not yet come or has long passed. Flinders has been watching and waiting for some time now. We had planned to try out this “new” approach in a small, controlled way in 1998, perhaps with a small server and up to 10 NetPCs. However, when university funding became available to provide 100 library workstations for student Web access to flexible delivery initiatives being developed in 1998, the Library was faced with a decision. Should we purchase 100 PC workstations with no additional staff to support this significant increase in public equipment, or should we test the theory that significant savings in application and desktop support costs can be realised with a NetPC type solution? Are they really as fast as normal PCs and are they in fact, easier to manage and support? This paper reports the reasons why the Flinders University Library chose the thin client NC solution in preference to standard fat client PCs, why we thought it particularly appropriate for student applications, how we implemented the new system, what problems we encountered and how close to reality we found the promised benefits, to both end users and system managers.
  • Item
    Electronic journal collections: cataloguing to improve access
    (Australian Library and Information Association, 1999) Banbury, John ; Brown, Ian Lewis
    Traditionally, the way a library user would expect to find a journal is through the use of a title search in the library catalogue. Electronic journals should be no exception. One would expect to find a catalogue record for electronic journals, just as we do for traditional print journals. Integrated citation/journal collections and electronic journal collections produced by IAC, Academic Press and Johns Hopkins Press and other vendors complicate this issue. Such collections, although a very good product for many libraries, are difficult to catalogue at the journal level. It is a simple task to create a catalogue record for "Expanded Academic Index" or "Project Muse" at the collection level, but doing only this would diminish the usefulness and value of the collection. In the end, all a journal user wants is to read it. This is a principal service that libraries offer to their users. However, the way that an electronic journal is catalogued plays a significant role in the quality of the service the user receives, and the likelihood that the user will effectively find the journal he or she needs. It is obvious that few libraries would have the staff resources to manually catalogue these journal collections at the title level. This paper outlines the approach and system that Flinders University Library has devised to “semiautomatically” add catalogue records to maximise user benefit from the integrated citation/journal collections and electronic journal collections to which it subscribes.
  • Item
    Fat or thin? Is the verdict in?
    (Australian Library and Information Association, 2000) Banbury, John ; Brown, Ian Lewis
    ABSTRACT Thin client or network computing is a hot topic. The hype claims lower total cost of ownership, faster applications deployment and reduced management pain, compared to traditional computing architectures. Early in 1998 the Flinders University Library installed network computers in the Central and branch libraries for student access to the Internet. This paper is a review of network computers in the light of our experience over the past two years. Do network computers offer all that is claimed in the hype? Are there hidden costs? What are the issues of configuration, server scaling, network performance and fault diagnosis? Do they have a future in the Library arena?
  • Item
    Purchasing books collaboratively: the Academic and Research Libraries Acquisitions Consortium
    (ALIA, 2004-10-29) Baudinette, Kaye
    In late 2002 the Regional Collections Planning Group, a sub-committee of UniLibraries SA, considered the issue of consortium purchasing of monographs. The Group, which is comprised of representatives from the libraries of the three South Australian universities, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia, was keen to maximise the purchasing power of their acquisitions budgets. These budgets were being eroded by continuing price inflation, and by stagnant allocations resulting from financial constraints being experienced in the Australian higher education sector. The Group was aware of two successful library consortia operating interstate, the VARLAC consortium in Victoria and the WAGUL consortium in Western Australia and it decided that one of these might provide a suitable model for a similar initiative in SA. On further inquiry it was established that the current supply contracts of the VARLAC consortium were due to expire at the end of 2003 and that VARLAC was preparing to call for new tenders. The SA Group hastily considered the merits of joining forces with VARLAC instead of forming its own consortium and in January 2003 it approached the Victorian Consortium with a proposal to expand its membership to include the three South Australian university libraries. The SA members identified several advantages
  • Item
    Changing places: how a job exchange can give you the opportunity to live overseas, make new friends, boost your career and maybe even change your life
    (ALIA, 2004-12-04) Walkley Hall, Elizabeth
    In a globalised economy, new graduates often look overseas for job opportunities; indeed, it is considered a rite of passage for many Australians to do so. Of course, new librarians are no different. But the reality of working in a profession where there are few permanent, full-time positions means those who find one are likely to want to keep it. Given the many universal qualities of librarianship, a job exchange creates the ideal scenario in which work and travel can be combined. There are benefits for both the individual and employer. Links are forged internationally, commonalities found and differences explored. It is an opportunity to broaden both personal and professional horizons, without having to leave a continuing position. This paper will outline what is required in organising a job exchange, from finding a potential exchange partner to selling the idea to library management, from the financial and legal considerations to the host library’s expectations, and what to do after the exchange.
  • Item
    “Only Connect” : communities of practice and university students - librarian as conduit
    (Rockhampton, Qld. : Central Queensland University., 2008-06) Tyndall, Jessica
    Communities of practice are learning communities for professionals. In the health area there have been a number of strong developments resulting in some exceptional resources like the UK National Specialist Libraries, which have been designed and developed to “identify and meet the information needs of particular communities of practice”. This presentation considers how liaison librarians can contribute to the development of lifelong learning in medical and health science students, for whom graduating from university might previously have meant leaving behind familiar resources and learning tools which would effectively not be replaced in their working lives. Liaison librarians are in a unique position to promote to students, an awareness of online communities of practice which are high quality, free, easy to access and to use, and are fully supported by a strong knowledge management base. Fostering this awareness in students means they are far better placed to progress as lifelong learners, and as established members of a learning community are better equipped to move seamlessly into their professional lives.
  • Item
    How low can you go? Towards a hierarchy of grey literature.
    (ALIA, 2008-09) Tyndall, Jessica
    In recent times health sciences librarians have become increasingly involved in working closely with researchers who are undertaking literature reviews (often, but not always, systematic literature reviews). Due to the evidence-based push throughout the medical and health practice area, strong database searching skills have become essential to locate and identify the research necessary to inform practice. These are skills that librarians already have. In hospitals and universities, librarians have been heartened to find their expertise openly acknowledged as their role dovetails neatly into a position of strength. Working with researchers we find our opinions are sought and valued, and this extends to questioning our knowledge of the grey literature. While searching the published (black) literature is a given, there is a growing recognition that grey literature should be included to fully reflect the existing evidential base. Herein lies the rub. Without a clearly established hierarchy, what grey literature is admissible: particularly if we consider grey resources other than the unpublished equivalents of traditional studies and trials? Literature reviews need to include the most significant research available. And that might mean conference papers, reports, legislation or working papers - all grey. This paper examines the variety, relevance, advantages and disadvantages of grey literature and where it might ‘sit’ in the overall research picture.
  • Item
    All change: job rotations as a workplace learning tool in the Flinders University Library Graduate Trainee Program
    (IFLA, 2010-08-10) Walkley Hall, Elizabeth
    This paper examines the place of job rotations as a workplace learning tool in the Graduate Trainee Librarian Program at Flinders University Library, Australia. Specifically, it asks two questions: whether job rotation is an effective workplace learning tool for new librarians; and, whether the trainee experience contributed to the retention in the Library and career progression of those in the program. These questions are examined using Kirkpatrick's Evaluation Framework. The findings indicate that while participants rate the trainee program very positively overall, their satisfaction with workplace learning in their placements was lower. The majority of former trainees have remained with the Library and have progressed in their careers.
  • Item
    Development of a heart failure filter for Medline: an objective approach using evidence-based clinical practice guidelines as an alternative to hand searching
    (BioMed Central Ltd., 2011-01-28) Damarell, Raechel ; Tieman, Jennifer ; Sladek, Ruth ; Davidson, Patricia
    Background: Heart failure is a highly debilitating syndrome with a poor prognosis primarily affecting the elderly. Clinicians wanting timely access to heart failure evidence to provide optimal patient care can face many challenges in locating this evidence. This study developed and validated a search filter of high clinical utility for the retrieval of heart failure articles in OvidSP Medline. Methods: A Clinical Advisory Group was established to advise study investigators. The study set of 876 relevant articles from four heart failure clinical practice guidelines was divided into three datasets: a Term Identification Set, a Filter Development Set, and a Filter Validation Set. A further validation set (the Cochrane Validation Set) was formed using studies included in Cochrane heart failure systematic reviews. Candidate search terms were identified via word frequency analysis. The filter was developed by creating combinations of terms and recording their performance in retrieving items from the Filter Development Set. The filter’s recall was then validated in both the Filter Validation Set and the Cochrane Validation Set. A precision estimate was obtained post-hoc by running the filter in Medline and screening the first 200 retrievals for relevance to heart failure. Results: The four-term filter achieved a recall of 96.9% in the Filter Development Set; 98.2% in the Filter Validation Set; and 97.8% in the Cochrane Validation Set. Of the first 200 references retrieved by the filter when run in Medline, 150 were deemed relevant and 50 irrelevant. The post-hoc precision estimate was therefore 75%. Conclusions: This study describes an objective method for developing a validated heart failure filter of high recall performance and then testing its precision post-hoc. Clinical practice guidelines were found to be a feasible alternative to hand searching in creating a gold standard for filter development. Guidelines may be especially appropriate given their clinical utility. A validated heart failure filter is now available to support health professionals seeking reliable and efficient access to the heart failure literature.
  • Item
    How leaders emerge in realtime
    (ALIA, 2011-04) Zott, Debra
    Discussions about leadership training generally raise the objection that leadership cannot be taught or learned, because true leaders are born. While there is an element of truth in this, training programs can be effective in developing library professionals who aspire to management roles, or who wish to increase their strategic awareness.
  • Item
    'Thorough Bass and Human Nature: A Musical Tour Through Pride and Prejudice' [concert program]
    ( 2012-11-04) Dooley, Gillian Mary ; Damarell, Raechel ; McCauley, Fiona
    The concert program from 'Thorough Bass and Human Nature: A Musical Tour through Pride and Prejudice', presented on Sunday 4 November 2012 at the State Library of South Australia. Gillian Dooley (soprano), Raechel Damarell (mezzo soprano) and Fiona McCauley (piano)
  • Item
    Primary Health Care (PHC) Search Filter: Bringing the evidence to shore
    (Primary Health Care Research and Information Service, 2013) Brown, Lynsey ; Carne, Amanda ; McIntyre, Ellen ; Tieman, Jennifer ; Damarell, Raechel ; Sladek, Ruth ; Hagger, Christina ; Katterl, Rachel
    Surfing the internet for primary health care (PHC) literature produces waves of information that can lead a researcher to feel as though they are drowning in papers. Sifting through material to find the oysters containing pearls can be a complex task. With the PHC literature and evidence base rapidly increasing, Flinders Filters and the Primary Health Care Research & Information Service collaborated on a project to develop a search filter designed to facilitate easier access to this pool of PHC resources, by enabling efficient and effective retrieval of relevant literature. The PHC Search Filter was developed in the Ovid Medline platform with an extensive methodology comprising five phases including: constructing a gold standard set of PHC-specific articles; identifying relevant index terms and textwords; testing combinations of search terms; assessing the search strategy which performed most effectively; and translating the filter for use in PubMed to enable ‘one click searching’. This presentation will introduce the PHC Search Filter, addressing its development and showcasing the tool through an audiovisual ‘how to’ segment. In addition, the presentation will report on a mixed-methods study used to evaluate the Filter, four months after its launch. This evaluation involved extensive advertising of an online survey with individuals invited to participate regardless of whether they had used the Filter or not. With 90 respondents, the survey provided details about the overarching benefits and positive response to the tool, and directions for further refinement of the Filter. The key findings from the evaluation noted that the PHC Search Filter reduces the burden associated with literature searching, increases the value of the results that are received, and provides a useful resource to improve the likelihood of incorporating evidence into policy and practice.
  • Item
    OvidSP Medline-to-PubMed search filter translation: a methodology for extending search filter range to include PubMed's unique content
    (BioMed Central Ltd., 2013-07-02) Damarell, Raechel ; Tieman, Jennifer ; Sladek, Ruth
    Background: PubMed translations of OvidSP Medline search filters offer searchers improved ease of access. They may also facilitate access to PubMed’s unique content, including citations for the most recently published biomedical evidence. Retrieving this content requires a search strategy comprising natural language terms (‘textwords’), rather than Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). We describe a reproducible methodology that uses a validated PubMed search filter translation to create a textword-only strategy to extend retrieval to PubMed’s unique heart failure literature. Methods: We translated an OvidSP Medline heart failure search filter for PubMed and established version equivalence in terms of indexed literature retrieval. The PubMed version was then run within PubMed to identify citations retrieved by the filter’s MeSH terms (Heart failure, Left ventricular dysfunction, and Cardiomyopathy). It was then rerun with the same MeSH terms restricted to searching on title and abstract fields (i.e. as ‘textwords’). Citations retrieved by the MeSH search but not the textword search were isolated. Frequency analysis of their titles/ abstracts identified natural language alternatives for those MeSH terms that performed less effectively as textwords. These terms were tested in combination to determine the best performing search string for reclaiming this ‘lost set’. This string, restricted to searching on PubMed’s unique content, was then combined with the validated PubMed translation to extend the filter’s performance in this database. Results: The PubMed heart failure filter retrieved 6829 citations. Of these, 834 (12%) failed to be retrieved when MeSH terms were converted to textwords. Frequency analysis of the 834 citations identified five high frequency natural language alternatives that could improve retrieval of this set (cardiac failure, cardiac resynchronization, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, and LV dysfunction). Together these terms reclaimed 157/834 (18.8%) of lost citations. Conclusions: MeSH terms facilitate precise searching in PubMed’s indexed subset. They may, however, work less effectively as search terms prior to subject indexing. A validated PubMed search filter can be used to develop a supplementary textword-only search strategy to extend retrieval to PubMed’s unique content. A PubMed heart failure search filter is available on the CareSearch website (www.caresearch.com.au) providing access to both indexed and non-indexed heart failure evidence.
  • Item
    Facilitating access to evidence: Primary Health Care Search Filter
    ( 2014) Brown, Lynsey ; Carne, Amanda ; Bywood, Petra Teresia ; McIntyre, Ellen ; Damarell, Raechel ; Tieman, Jennifer ; Lawrence, Mikaela
    Background: The evidence base developed by, and relevant to, primary health care (PHC) is rapidly increasing. With the wealth of literature available, searchers trying to find PHC-specific citations can feel overwhelmed. Objectives: Flinders Filters and the Primary Health Care Research & Information Service collaborated to develop a search filter enabling efficient and effective retrieval of relevant PHC literature. Methods: Stage 1 involved developing a PHC Search Filter in the OvidSP Medline platform using a rigor-ous experimental methodology. The search filter was then translated for Web-based ‘one-click searching’ in PubMed during Stage 2. Stage 3 involved planning and implementing a mixed-methods evaluation. Results: The search filter sensitivity was 77.0% with a post hoc relevance assessment of 78 .3%. Four months after its launch, a mixed-methods study evaluated the PHC Search Filter. With 90 respondents, analysis of data from the online survey demonstrated overarching benefits, a positive response to the tool and directions for further refinement of the PHC Search Filter. Discussion: Designing the PHC Search Filter follow ed an established method that ensures the tool offers a validated search strategy. Evaluation results suggest that the PHC Search Filter is a useful tool that is easy to navigate. Challenges for the Filter relate to access to full text articles, while challenges for the evaluation relate to the small sample size. Conclusions: The PHC Search Filter reduces the burden associated with literature searching, increases the value of the results that are received and provides a useful resource to improve the likelihood of incorporating relevant evidence into policy and practice.
  • Item
    Practitioner research in an academic library: evaluating the impact of a support group
    (Taylor & Francis (Routledge), 2014-05) Walkley Hall, Elizabeth ; McBain, Ian
    This paper explores how a support group has contributed to building a culture of research practice at Flinders University Library. The brief of the Research Working Group (RWG) is to develop a culture of research and professional reflection in the library’s professional staff. The RWG has three broad goals against which to measure its impact: to develop the professional staff's skills with regard to research engagement; to encourage analysis and investigation of the Library’s services and resources; and to engage more widely with the library profession and the wider higher education community through presentation and publication of research results. Professional staff completed a questionnaire examining their participation in research, their confidence in undertaking research, and plans for future research projects. The results were analysed with reference to the first goal of the RWG. The importance of practitioners undertaking research is increasingly being recognised as a core value in academic libraries. Many support groups for librarians undertaking research have been described in the literature, but few have evaluated the impact of such a group. This paper seeks to evaluate the impact of the RWG on the professional staff at Flinders University Library to date.
  • Item
    LIt.search: fast tracking access to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health literature
    (CSIRO Publishing, 2014-08) Tieman, Jennifer ; Lawrence, Mikaela ; Damarell, Raechel ; Sladek, Ruth ; Nikolof, Arwen
    Objective: To develop and validate a PubMed search filter, LIt.search, that automatically retrieves Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health literature, and to make it publicly accessible through the Lowitja Institute website. Methods: Search filter development phases included: (a) scoping of the publication characteristics of Aboriginal and Torres Start Islander literature, (b) Advisory Group input and review, (c) systematic identification and testing of MeSH and text word terms, (d) relevance assessment of the search filter’s retrieved items, and (e) translation for use in PubMed through the web. Results: Scoping study analyses demonstrated complexity in the nature and use of possible search terms and publication characteristics. The search filter achieved a recall rate of 83.1% in the test set. To determine real world performance, post-hoc assessment of items retrieved by the search filter in PubMed was undertaken with 87.1% of articles deemed as relevant. The search filter was constructed as a series of URL hyperlinks to enable one-click searching. Conclusion: LIt.search is a search tool that facilitates research into practice for improving outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and is publicly available on the Lowitja Institute website.
  • Item
    Deathbed phenomena reported by patients in palliative care: clinical opportunities and responses
    (Mark Allen Healthcare, 2015) Devery, Kim Ellen ; Rawlings, Deb ; Tieman, Jennifer ; Damarell, Raechel
    Over many decades and across many cultures and disciplines, the scientific literature reports unusual and hard to explain phenomena at the end of life. In the palliative care literature these reports are often anecdotal (Nelson, 2000), poorly understood or even treated just as hallucination (Morse 1994). In practice though, many health professionals have heard accounts from ill and dying patients of difficult to explain events (Pflaum and Kelley 1986, Wimbush and Hardie 2001, Mazzarino-Willett 2010) and while health professionals need also to recognise hallucinations arising from delirium, dementia or other neurologic or psychiatric disorders, underlying causality for these experiences may not be obvious or attributable. We have adopted the term Death Bed Phenomena (DBP) described here by Brayne and colleagues (2006, Page 17): “death may be heralded by deathbed phenomena such as visions that comfort the dying and prepare them spiritually for death” although these unexplainable accounts range from seeing dead relatives, hearing or feeling “other worlds” (Fenwick and Brayne, 2012), a significant dream, or patients being aware of the time of their own death. Patients and carers can be reluctant to discuss or divulge these phenomena for fear of being labelled ‘mad’ (Barbato et al, 1999) and health professionals (professionally trained and primarily educated in biomedical, scientific or rational models and ways of thinking) can find this a perplexing issue leaving them unsure how to respond to their patients’ stories and accounts (Brayne et al, 2006). In a quest to understand the clinical potential around these phenomena, we undertook this systematic review of the literature, with a specific focus on the palliative care population for whom death is an expected and foreseeable event due to progressive illness. While postulations on possible causes of these extraordinary end of life phenomena can be fascinating to read (Blanke, 2004), such phenomena are real for those who experience them. “Assumptions about their origins and credibility can alienate” patients and their families “at a critical time in their mourning or dying” (Barbato et al, 1999). Like others (Brayne et al 2006, Fenwick and Brayne 2011), Barbato and colleagues (1999) raise the potential within our professional role to normalise the experience and encourage the patient to find solace and emotional and spiritual wellbeing. In an effort to understand more fully these phenomena and their impact, health professionals, sociologists, psychologists and others have explored patient accounts of difficult to explain events and occurrences. Studies describing deathbed phenomena (DBP) (Barrett 1926, Sartori 2010) and near death experiences (NDE) (Morse 1994, Alvarado 2006, Bell et al 2010) emphasise the supportive spiritual potential of DBP (Ethier 2005, Fenwick and Brayne 2011), suggest additional therapies to further interpret DBP (Iordache and MacLeod, 2011), and put forward specific approaches for children and adolescents who experience NDE (Bell et al, 2010). DBP has been distinguished from NDE with the latter usually describing an unusual event or experience preceding an unexpected or accidental near death, or reported after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation. While the nomenclature and definitions of DBP are developing in the literature, a comprehensive review about these occurrences reported by patients in a palliative care context is not available. DBP may be of especial significance in this population where cure is not possible and death at some point is a foreseeable event.