Research integration for health sciences libraries

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Taubman Health Sciences Library University of Michigan

[Abstract]This article is a case study of an innovative academic health sciences library initiative that describes the planning and events in the inaugural year of a new library research program. In response to emerging trends in health sciences libraries to increase research skills of librarians in order to foster expanded research integration within the health sciences disciplines, the University of Michigan Taubman Health Sciences Library established an EXPERT Research Initiative. This new program is part of the strategic planning for the future of the library and is focused on three primary goals: expanding the library's research portfolio, building librarians' research skills and competencies, and increasing the library's research visibility. The article highlights five library projects that illustrate the different kinds of research collaborations librarians are engaged in with health sciences faculty, researchers, clinicians, and students.

[Key words]Academic health sciences libraries; Collaboration; Health sciences librarians; Informationists; Library administration; Library research integration; Library strategic planning; Organizational case studies; Organizational innovation; Role of the librarian

Introduction

This paper focuses on the importance of research as a primary component of current practice in health sciences librarianship and describes opportunities for health sciences libraries to plan and engage in research activities, with examples of initiatives underway at the University of Michigan Taubman Health Sciences Library, and more broadly, as part of the Medical Library Association Research Imperative, dedicated to strengthening professional competencies in research and promoting a culture of research in libraries.

Management & Organizational Structure

The Taubman Health Sciences Library (referenced hereafter as Taubman Library) is part of the University Library System at the University of Michigan. The library organizationally reports to the Vice Provost for Academic Innovation and the Dean of Libraries. Taubman Library provides a wide array of services focused on the health sciences constituencies on campus, including the Medical School, School of Nursing, School of Dentistry, School of Public Health, School of Kinesiology, and College of Pharmacy, as well as the University of Michigan hospitals and health system, collectively known as Michigan Medicine. The Taubman Library consists of twenty-two FTE, and it is organized into three administrative and service units: Administration, Academic and Clinical Engagement, and Research and Informatics.

?Administration is comprised of the following positions: the director and associate university librarian, the deputy director, an administrative assistant, a collections specialist, and two librarian informationist positions. The administrative unit has responsibility for library leadership, management and budget, and collection development. The two librarian informationists who work in this unit have responsibility for instructional technology and diversity initiatives between the library and constituency academic units.

?Academic and Clinical Engagement is comprised of an assistant director, seven librarian informationist positions, and one media development position. The unit has responsibility for integrating the library into the health sciences schools and academic and clinical departments; for engagement with faculty on curriculum development, teaching and learning activities, and evidence-based clinical decision making; for consulting with students on projects and assignments; and for linking faculty and students with library services and resources.

?Research and Informatics is comprised of an assistant director and six librarian informationist positions. The unit has responsibility for integrating the library into the health sciences research, laboratory, and entrepreneurial environments; for partnering with researchers on research and grant proposals and projects; for consulting in the development of new resources and tools; for advising on emerging technologies relevant to research activities; and for developing new data management services.

The following chart delineates some of the key responsibilities and functions of each unit.

Strategic Planning

The library′s leadership team meets on a regular basis to monitor and evaluate ongoing services and operations. In addition, the leadership team holds an annual meeting 1) to discuss potential new directions and innovative opportunities and 2) to determine priorities and set goals as part of strategic planning initiatives for the year.

With the recent completion of a major renovation of Taubman Library that re-visioned traditional health sciences library spaces into a new model for linking information resources and services to collaborative learning spaces and interdisciplinary partnerships, the library has a smaller physical footprint with greater emphasis on mission-and curriculum-integrated services. Traditional spaces for print resources have been transformed into new spaces with innovative technologies in response to increased digital demand, and the traditional focus on library services has shifted to one of providing tailored information services and increased library engagement with academic and clinical partners. The renovated library is more conducive to flexible, collaborative, and self-directed learning spaces, and the redesign has advanced the integration of librarian informationists into the curriculum with expanded roles[1].

Since many of the longstanding goals the library had set for itself had been accomplished with the completion of the renovation, the timing was right for a new strategic plan for Taubman Library going forward. Through a series of meetings and focused discussions on current trends and issues facing libraries in the future, the importance of enhancing the library′s role in research emerged as a primary theme. While the library′s mission statement identifies research as a significant component of its work (i.e., "The mission of the library is to be a valued partner, fully integrated into the work of the university & providing leadership in knowledge management for education, research, patient care, and community outreach."), there had not been a unifying programmatic effort focused on advancing the library′s role into the research enterprise. To help chart the future for more library-integrated research activity, a new program was identified for development, the EXPERT Research Initiative.

EXPERT Research Initiative

The term EXPERT is an acronym which stands for EXPanding Our Expertise & Research PorTfolio.

To gain buy-in for the initiative and to enlist librarian informationist input into the planning process, an all-staff meeting was held, announcing the new library research initiative and the opportunity to help design the components of the program. Three questions framed the discussion and planning process:

?How can we expand our library research portfolio?

?What skill building do we need to be successful?

?How can we increase our research visibility on campus and in the broader health sciences library community?

1)Expandingthelibraryresearchportfolio

During the first part of the planning discussion on expanding the library′s research projects and portfolio, librarian informationists emphasized the importance of both formal and informal opportunities to engage in research. Ideas for these kinds of research-focused opportunities include lunch meetings, research clinics, journal clubs, and writing groups. A preference was indicated for having designated time for conducting research into individual′s workloads, raising a question for what current activities could be changed or replaced by specific research-focused activities. A recommendation was also made to incorporate designated time to discuss research efforts into existing meetings to make the process more efficient. An emphasis was placed on being more intentional about looking at grant funding opportunities from national health sciences organizations, such as the National Institutes of Health, as well as foundations.

2)Buildingresearchskillsandcompetencies

A second part of the planning discussion involved planning for professional development and the specific skills and competencies that would be needed to increase library research efforts and expand library research collaborations. The following six areas of skill development were identified:

?Methodologies: knowledge of statistical methods, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches;

?Data: knowledge of skills for working with data, including data collection as well as data analysis and interpretation and text mining and forecasting trends;

?Survey techniques: knowledge of techniques for survey construction and design;

?Tools and software: familiarity with research tools and software;

?Writing: experience with formulating good research questions, generating research hypotheses, and writing high-quality abstracts;

?Subject specialization: familiarity with research in specific disciplinary fields and sub-specialities as well as knowledge of faculty expertise in particular subject specializations.

3)Increasingthelibrary′sresearchvisibility

A third part of the planning discussion focused on ways to increase the library′s visibility in producing and partnering in research collaborations. Suggestions were made about highlighting the library′s research initiatives on the library website, including the following ideas for showcasing the library′s contributions to research:

?Research profiles: creating individual librarian informationist research profiles and collaborative research project profiles to share information about areas of research interest and current projects underway;

?Research publications: creating a publications webpage to promote the journal articles published by librarian informationists;

?Research impact: consistently demonstrating the production of methodologically rigorous, substantive research articles;

?Digital scholarship: partnering with the University of Michigan Publishing Office to create an open-access, peer-reviewed journal focused on library innovations in research;

?Subject-specific conference presentations: presenting at subject-specific health sciences disciplinary conferences in addition to health sciences library conferences;

?Annual health sciences events: presenting at established, local campus events, such as the annual Health Professions Education Day, Enriching Scholarship, and other health sciences school′s annual "excellence in research" events.

Research Synergy Event

The Research Synergy Event describes a collaborative program between Taubman Library and one of the basic sciences departments within the University of Michigan Medical School, the Department of Learning Health Sciences(DLHS). The department is comprised of three divisions: Learning and Knowledge Systems, Professional Education, and Clinical Simulation. While librarian informationists from the library and DLHS faculty have collaborated individually on integrated curriculum efforts and other projects in the past, the Research Synergy event was the inaugural effort to bring together the collective groups for the purposes of 1) getting to know each other better; 2) sharing information about emerging research interests and current projects, as well as research technologies and tools in development; and 3) engaging in professional conversations about intersecting interests and potential opportunities for working together on research projects in the future.

For the event, a planning committee was formed, comprised of members from both the library and the department, with responsibilities for program planning, content development and design, publicity, and technical preparations. The committee developed five primary goals for the event, intended as an introductory and informative networking opportunity for librarian informationists and faculty:

?to gain a mutual understanding of the research interests of DLHS faculty and Taubman Library informationists;

?to share information about current and prospective research;

?to identify potential areas for research collaboration;

?to initiate conversations that will foster research partnerships, inquiry, and discovery going forward;

?to increase opportunities for teamwork on research grants and external funding.

Librarian informationists and departmental faculty were invited to submit posters and presentations for the event. The event was funded jointly by the library and the department, and over fifty administrators, faculty, librarian informationists, and doctoral students attended the four-hour program. The event featured twenty poster presentations and six project presentations, covering topics ranging from text mining, clinical performance feedback interventions, information needs assessment for global health, machine computable biomedical knowledge, simulation research, visualization in research, GPS mapping for health, information literacy mapping, community intervention research, and health-related natural language resource design, among others.

EXPERT Research Initiative-Current Librarian Informationist Research Projects

The establishment of the EXPERT Research Initiative is paving the way for increased librarian informationist integration into research activities and collaborative partnerships with the health sciences faculty and researchers on campus. The following five projects exemplify the kinds of research projects that librarian informationists are engaged in with research faculty and clinicians and the kinds of research skills that librarian informationists can contribute to advancing the research mission of the university and the health sciences schools, including skills in conducting information needs assessments, systematic reviews, impact evaluation studies, and citation analyses, in addition to creating innovative tools for health sciences education.

Research Project #1: Longitudinal Information Needs Evaluation - this project is focused on information needs of School of Nursing students in order to: 1) identify gaps in student information needs, 2) identify the most opportune time for library interventions and communication, 3) improve selection and usage of learning tools and resources, 4) improve instruction practices, and 5) improve library integration in the nursing curriculum.Preliminary findings by the librarian informationists leading the study are that students have misconceptions about the library′s role in education and about access to information resources; that identifying relevant, reliable resources and conducting effective searches for information are a challenge for students; and that student information skills need to be strengthened for advanced research assignments. These findings will help librarian informationists improve connections to information resources for nursing students′ research and will help make a compelling case with faculty and curriculum committees for earlier integration points in the curriculum for library skill development[2].

Research Project #2: The Franklin Expedition: A Systematic Review-this project paired a librarian informationist and School of Dentistry faculty researcher, utilizing systematic review methodology and specialized software, to analyze the literature on the Franklin Expedition of the Arctic. The expedition began in 1845, through portions of the Northwest Passage, and resulted in two British Royal Navy ships becoming trapped in ice near King William Island in 1846. Ultimately no crew members survived after two years of living in harsh conditions, as they waited for the ice to melt and break free the ships. The resulting review of the literature helped elucidate a new theoretical understanding to explain what happened to the crew members. Historians and researchers had previously speculated causes of death ranging from exposure and starvation to scurvy, lead poisoning, botulism, and tuberculosis. The librarian informationist, working with the dentistry faculty member, constructed a search strategy of terms describing the crew members′ physical conditions and known diseases, searched in relevant health sciences databases[3]. The analysis of over 1,700 citations in the medical literature led to a journal publication, advancing a new finding that Addison′s disease is an additional explanatory factor in understanding the mystery of the Franklin Expedition[4].

Research Project #3: Comic Creation as an Innovative Library Role-this project is a partnership between librarian informationists and clinical research faculty, utilizing graphic novels, also known as comic books, to illustrate communication challenges between physicians and patients, with a goal of enhancing empathy between the two as well as improving patient comprehension and self regulation. As part of the project, and to create the comic book component, librarian informationists used specialized comic creation software and co-authored content with the aid of a graphic artist. The results of the study have been published in theJournaloftheAmericanCollegeofRadiology, demonstrating an innovative use of comics for medical education and co-learning experiences between healthcare providers and patients[5].

Research Project #4: Library Impact on Patient and Population Care-this project represents an effort to better understand and measure the library′s impact within the health sciences clinical environment. Librarian informationists are conducting a sequential exploratory mixed methods study, using both semi-structured interviews of key stakeholders and a survey, to examine the library′s impact on patient and population care. To inform the mixed methods approach to the study and strengthen expertise, librarian informationists have consulted with experts in health policy and innovation as well as statistical methods, and one librarian informationist has completed a workshop on mixed methods approaches to research[6].

Research Project #5: Trends in Authorship and Collaboration: A Citation Analysis - this project features a collaboration team comprised of a librarian informationist, the University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS)Executive Vice Dean for Research, and researchers from the UMMS Departments of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, and the Michigan Institute for Data Science. The citation analysis involved an assessment of publications in ten select clinical and basic science journals from 2000 to 2015, as a measure of research output. Findings from the study include that while the United States maintained the highest ranking in terms of percentages of the most clinical and basic science research articles published in high ranking journals, there is a notable shift from US-based research to US-international collaboration, coupled with a notable decline in US-based research in high-ranking journals, as measured by biomedical research publication output. At the same time, the percentage of clinical and basic science research publications from China has steadily increased in both high-ranking and mid-ranking biomedical journals. This increase in research publication output corresponds with significant increases in China′s investments in research and development during the same time period[7].

Medical Library Association′s Research Initiatives

An emphasis on building library research skills and competencies extends beyond Taubman Health Sciences Library to the health sciences library community at a national scale. The Medical Library Association (MLA), the premier professional organization of health sciences librarians, has introduced several initiatives aimed at increasing health sciences librariesp′ research impact and integration.

With its Research Imperative, MLA is focused on "creating a culture of research" whereby librarians can increase their participation in the "continuum of research activities" available to them within their respective institutions[8]. These activities include designing and conducting applied research studies; establishing research collaborations with external partners; participating in research grants; becoming members of clinical research teams and multidisciplinary research teams; and developing integral roles in collecting, analyzing, and evaluating data for decision making.

An essential step in fostering a culture of research is providing professional development opportunities for acquiring the research skill sets and competencies needed. To facilitate this training, MLA has received grant funding to create the MLA Research Training Institute which will offer educational programs designed to foster librarian integration in research. Institute programming will feature training in research design, research mentoring, and one year of post-institute support for participants who will plan and conduct an individually-designed research project of their own[9].

MLA is also seeking to recognize organizations for their efforts in providing institutional support to further expand the integration of librarians in research initiatives. MLA has established a new award, the Research Advancement in Health Sciences Librarianship Award, which will be given for the first time at the annual conference in May 2018. Recipients of the award must demonstrate organizational and financial support of librarians′ research activities and engagement in institutional research initiatives, such as research grants, data management, systematic reviews, and surveys and other assessments[10].

Conclusion

The MIT Report (2016) on the Future of Libraries captures the importance of research as an emerging area of opportunity and responsibility for academic libraries[11].

Libraries must become a center for research and development, fueling bold experimentation and new answers to the grand challenges facing research libraries and scholarly communication . . . The success of our vision . . . will be realized through the creative ways in which scholars and global users exploit our resources, tools, services, spaces, and expertise to accelerate science and knowledge in the service of solving the world′s greatest challenges[12].

Research is the next frontier for library engagement. Many of the core services and academic contributions of libraries lend themselves to research opportunities for librarian informationists: understanding users and user behaviors; promoting resources and services; building collections and tools; ensuring preservation and ubiquitous access; collaborating with faculty, researchers, students, staff, and colleagues from around the world; and fostering inquiry, discovery, and innovation. Not only do librarian informationists have an opportunity to increase production and publication of library-focused research, but by demonstrating their research expertise, there is the opportunity to expand research partnerships and collaborations with health sciences faculty and researchers within the broader academic enterprise. In this conceptualization of libraries of the future, librarian informationists are not passive bystanders: they have active, non-traditional roles to play in becoming partners in research and furthering research integration into health sciences disciplines. The emphasis on building research competencies and expanding research engagement, combined with the knowledge resources and innovative services provided by the library, will make the library a continuously relevant space for exploring and addressing creative solutions to important issues, both on a local and global scale.