Libraries: meeting the needs of today’s users

1. Libraries: meeting the needs of today’s users Eve-Marie Lacroix Chief, Public Services Division Joyce E.B. Backus Head, Reference and Web Services Section U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health Dept of Health and Human Services

2. A place? A service? In whose opinion? Libraries: meeting the needs of today’s users How do we know the needs? How do we know who they are? How well did we meet them yesterday? How will we do better tomorrow?

3. Library: place or a service?

4. Library: place or service?

5. A place? A service? In whose opinion? Libraries: meeting the needs of today’s users How do we know the needs? How do we know who they are? How well did we meet them yesterday? How will we do better tomorrow?

6. Internet growing

7. The worldwide number of Internet users will reach nearly 935 million in 2004 and will top 1 billion in mid 2005. Source: Computer Industries Almanac, Inc http://www.c-i-a.com/pr0904.htm

8. PubMed use by country

9. MedlinePlus use by country

10. MedlinePlus en español use by country

11. Who are the users? Health Information Seeking Americans The internet has become the “new normal” in the American way of life; those who don’t go online constitute an ever-shrinking minority. Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project, Trends 2005, http://pewresearch.org/trends/trends2005.pdf

12. Physician Hours Online Per WeekOnline physicians - The universe of practicing physicians in the United States today.Essential Integrators: Online physicians who Strongly Agree/Agree the Internet is “essential” to their practice What Percentage of Your Online Time is Professional? How Many Hours Do You Spend Online? 8.3 11.1 51% 54% Average Average Up from 8 HRS in 2003 Source: Manhattan Research, 2004. “Taking the Pulse: Physicians and Emerging Information Technologies”

13. Use Professional Journals Online Source: Manhattan Research, 2004. “Taking the Pulse: Physicians and Emerging Information Technologies”

14. Gamer generation • Growing up with sophisticated games • Interactive, multitasking • Virtual collaborative communities • Best quality graphics available • Personalization Source: The Gamer Generation in Today’s Library, http://www.oclc.org/capcon/segments/technologies/

15. Users – by role Source: 2005 American Customer Satisfaction Survey of PubMed and MedlinePlus

16. A place? A service? In whose opinion? Libraries: meeting the needs of today’s users How do we know the needs? How do we know who they are? How well did we meet them yesterday? How will we do better tomorrow?

17. User needs – ask them Source: 2005 American Customer Satisfaction Survey of PubMed and MedlinePlus

19. Connecting products

20. Meeting their needs?

21. Meeting their needs? Source: 2005 American Customer Satisfaction Survey of PubMed and MedlinePlus

22. Satisfaction measures Source: 2005 American Customer Satisfaction Survey of PubMed and MedlinePlus

23. A place? A service? In whose opinion? Libraries: meeting the needs of today’s users How do we know the needs? How do we know who they are? How well did we meet them yesterday? How will we do better tomorrow?

24. New England Journal of Medicine, March 17 2005. • Libraries today • Within institutions • Providing scholarly information • Support health care, education, and research • Libraries in 2015. . .

25. Libraries in 2015 • Easy access from home, offices, wards, clinics, libraries and everywhere in between • Electronic health records with connections to related knowledge • “Library as place” valued and heavily used • Individual articles have “lives of their own” • Multimedia “digital libraries” with rich interconnections • Digital libraries still need librarians • Librarians are “deployed in context” • Part of the health care team • Grant writing and administration • Institutional review boards • Bioinformatic database specialists • Evidence-based medicine courses • Health literacy programs Source: Lindberg and Humphreys. “2015-The Future of Medical Libraries, New England Journal of Medicine, March 17, 2005.

26. Users – today and tomorrow • Lindberg and Humphreys - health care professionals, patients, educators, students, researchers and administrators • Search engine users become library users • 60% of MedlinePlus’s visits come from search engines • Patients • Physician Information Rx • Electronic prescriptions through EMR • Users by format • RSS for PubMed • Handheld/Palm – PubMed on Tap • New Audiences AND Format WISER (Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders) - fire fighters, police, emergency medical

27. Libraries: meeting the needs of today’s users by anticipating tomorrow • Function of place transformed • More electronic information • Serve greater numbers of users • Negotiate licenses that meet user expectations • Training & education – new ways • As users change, services must change

28. Changing user expectations “Shared medical records are almost universally endorsed across a broad range of ethnic and socioeconomic groups. A majority of patients are also interested in Internet-accessible records, but a substantial minority is not. The primary determinants of support of Internet-accessible records are not age, race, or education level; rather, they are previous experience with the Internet and patients’ expectations of the benefits and drawbacks of reading their medical records. Physicians have more concerns about shared medical records and see less potential for benefit. The attitudes of patients and physicians may need to be reconciled for widespread adoption of shared medial records to be achieved.” Ross SE, Todd J, Moore LA, Beaty BL, Wittevrongel L, Lin CExpectations of Patients and Physicians Regarding Patient-Accessible Medical RecordsJ Med Internet Res 2005;7(2):e13<URL: http://www.jmir.org/2005/2/e13/>

29. A place? A service? In whose opinion? Libraries: meeting the needs of today’s users How do we know the needs? How do we know who they are? How well did we meet them yesterday? How will we do better tomorrow?