Guillaume Van Moorsel | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Client value models provide a framework for rational library planning (or, phrasing the answer in the form of a question).

Libraries often do not know how clients value their product/ service offerings. Yet at a time when the mounting costs for library support are increasingly difficult to justify to the parent institution, the library's ability to gauge the value of its offerings to clients has never been more critical. Client Value Models (CVMs) establish a common definition of value elements-or a "value vocabulary"-for libraries and their clients, thereby providing a basis upon which to make rational planning decisions regarding product/service acquisition and development. The CVM concept is borrowed from business and industry, but its application has a natural fit in libraries. This article offers a theoretical consideration and practical illustration of CVM application in libraries.

Consumer Behavior↗

PubMed2005

Library-sponsored instruction improves core informatics competencies among allied health students: a research-based case study.

Since 1999, a librarian-administered course entitled Computer Literacy for Healthcare Professionals has been required of all incoming occupational, physical, and respiratory therapy students at Stony Brook University. Outcome data from pretests/posttests and student self-assessments over a 3-year period from 2000 to 2002 demonstrate the effectiveness of the training program and of library-sponsored instruction. This study evaluated whether curriculum-integrated informatics training by librarians is effective in enabling allied health students to acquire and retain literature-searching skills. Pretests and posttests measured the impact of instructional intervention upon student acquisition of literature-searching skills; a second posttest ("post5-test") measured skill retention. The intervention group consisted of 179 subjects enrolled in baccalaureate occupational, physical, and respiratory therapy programs between 2000 and 2002; the control group consisted of 48 physician assistant students who had no formal instruction in literature searching. Student self-assessments provided qualitative outcome measures. Paired t test analysis showed that the mean posttest score for the intervention group was considerably greater at the p < 0.01 level (t = 14.868; p < 0.001) than the mean pretest score. The change is statistically significant, and the null hypothesis can be rejected. The results of this study support the conclusion that library-sponsored informatics instruction is effective in improving student acquisition and retention of literature-searching skills.

Allied Health Personnel↗