Introduction: To enhance the performance evaluation of Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) hubs, we examined the utility of advanced bibliometric measures that go beyond simple publication counts to demonstrate the impact of translational research output. Methods: The sampled data included North Carolina Translational and Clinical Science Institute (NC TraCS)-supported publications produced between September 2008 and March 2017. We adopted advanced bibliometric measures and a state-of-the-art bibliometric network analysis tool to assess research productivity, citation impact, the scope of research collaboration, and the clusters of research topics. Results: Totally, 754 NC TraCS-supported publications generated over 24,000 citation counts by April 2017 with an average of 33 cites per article. NC TraCS-supported research papers received more than twice as many cites per year as the average National Institute of Health-funded research publications from the same field and time. We identified the top productive researchers and their networks within the CTSA hub. Findings demonstrated the impact of NC TraCS in facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations within the CTSA hub and across the CTSA consortium and connecting researchers with right peers and organizations. Conclusion: Both improved bibliometrics measures and bibliometric network analysis can bring new perspectives to CTSA evaluation via citation influence and the scope of research collaborations.

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused a pandemic and global health crisis. Although normal operation and services in many libraries have been greatly disrupted, academic libraries in the United States were reportedly responding to challenges by pivoting to new ways to meet the users’ needs. This observational study was designed to investigate the status, services, and resources disclosed via websites of academic medical/health sciences libraries (MHSLs) in the United States and document how they adapted and continued to provide support to help fight the health crisis and the resulting “infodemic” through various means. A complete list of members was obtained from the website of the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL). The U.S.-based AAHSL member institutions were included in this study. Each American academic MHSL website and its associated webpages were browsed; web contents were categorized and analyzed based on four research questions proposed by this study. A descriptive analysis was conducted to summarize all findings. A total of 157 AAHSL member institutions were included in the study. These libraries spread all over the United States, and 90% of them announced closures of library buildings and facilities. A significant number of MHSLs quickly adapted to the evolving situation and transitioned their services and instruction to the online environment. The COVID-19 information sources adopted by MHSLs included the following ranked by frequency from high to low: The U.S. government agencies such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Library of Medicine, the World Health Organization, publishing communities, professional journals, organizations, local institutions, government agencies, and news channels. In addition, MHSLs undertook a series of actions to support academic communities and local healthcare professionals including resource curation, clinical care support, education, and outreach to the public. Through library guides, MHSLs provided comprehensive and customized search queries to help researchers locate the latest and relevant publications to COVID-19, curated multiple data resources and data exploration, and visualization tools, and selected the latest biomedical and health evidence in a wide range of topics. Other featured resources and services were associated with ethical issues (i.e., racism and prejudice), educational and entertainment information (e.g., virtual tours of parks), and personal experience documentation. This observational study is the most recent investigation and documentation on the status, services, and resources of the academic MHSLs in the United States during the initial U.S. outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the current health crisis is taking a heavy toll on libraries nationwide, MHSLs are still managing to play a vital role in supporting the academic communities, healthcare facilities, and the general public and fighting against the pandemic and the resulting information crisis.

The flipped classroom model can be successful in developing and implementing a course that is well rated by students.

Health literacy is increasingly important in today’s complex information ecosystem, both nationally and globally. Across the world, whether people live in “information rich” or “information poor” societies, the role of our profession is a vital one. In the developed world, the ubiquitous nature of health information creates a wealth of accessible content and simultaneously has created confusion as to what information is reliable, how health information can be utilized, and whether or not information is produced in a meaningful manner. In the developing world, content may be non-existent, culturally inappropriate or inaccessible in terms of language and other barriers. In order to mitigate the health information crisis we are now facing, we need to collaborate and respond to the challenges raised by the complexity of health information. Librarians and other information professionals can and must play an important role in improving health literacy in their communities. This paper considers international efforts towards improving health in both information poor and information rich settings, including work showcased in recent years at IFLA’s Health & Biosciences Libraries Section Open Sessions at the World Library & Information Congress (WLIC). It discusses health literacy in the US and other developed economies, and looks in detail at innovative work by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)where the Health Sciences Library (HSL), a part of the University Libraries, has strengthened efforts surrounding health literacy in local communities and throughout the state. This paper provides examples of how to partner with multiple constituencies on health literacy and discusses future opportunities for growth and engagement.

PurposeThe objective of this study is to establish the current state of library and information science (LIS) scholarship pertaining to anti-racism, equity, inclusion and social justice initiatives.Design/methodology/approachUsing comprehensive search strategies, three LIS databases were searched for relevant literature published in the last 10 years and results were exported and de-duplicated using Endnote. Citations were screened by two blinded, independent reviewers based on pre-defined eligibility criteria. Citations in the final data set were then hand coded by three reviewers using deductive coding. Subject terms for all citations were categorized and consolidated to identify major themes across the corpus of included publications. Results were analyzed using bibliometrics and thematic analysis.FindingsA total of 691 unique citations were included in this analysis based on inclusion criteria. Publication productivity has generally increased from 2011 to 2020; findings show publications from 170 source titles and 944 authors representing 33 countries. Prevalent themes included access to information, multiculturalism and social justice. Various populations groups, areas of LIS practice, library types and social justice topics have been addressed in the literature. Over 15% of citations focused on anti-racism efforts in LIS.Originality/valueThis study applied both bibliometric and thematic approaches to analyzing LIS literature at macro and micro levels regarding anti-racism, equity, inclusion and social justice.