Updating an Updates service

Ruth Muscat, Knowledge Resources Librarian

Steven Bembridge, Outreach Librarian

Caroline De Brún, Clinical Support Librarian

Royal Free Hospital Medical Library, UCL Library Services

UCL Library Services

Current awareness services

• Traditionally printed or emailed bulletins listing journal TOCs / official publications / websites, arranged by topic

• Selectively disseminated to discrete user groups, or to anyone who signs up

• More recently, RSS has helped – certainly in gathering data to populate alerts, and as an output option

• Examples are plentiful:– CASH (collaborative from producers’ point of view; librarian-led)– KnowledgeShare (user-led and personalised)– NHS Institute Alert (focuses on quality, commissioning, productivity,

leadership – monthly email alerts)– Eyes On Evidence (highlights new evidence from newly added

NHS Evidence content)

UCL Library Services

Key questions

• How do we determine what our users want, rather than deciding for them?

• How do we create a product that remains relevant to individuals or discrete user groups without creating too much work for ourselves?

• How do we use what others are producing to avoid reinventing the wheel?

UCL Library Services

In the beginning…

UCL Library Services

Problems

• Form became outdated on a regular basis– e.g. Specialist Collections model changed and

individual RSS feeds discontinued– ZETOC access lost via national core content– So many other options available: impossible to list

everything

• Very low take-up– Difficult to assess reason

UCL Library Services

Eureka!

• Mashups and Libraries course (cpd25, April 2011)

• Mashup: “a Web page or application that uses and combines data, presentation or Image by Mike Rohde, used under a Creative Commons license,

available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rohdesign/5580144425/

UCL Library Services

functionality from two or more sources to create new services”.

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_(web_application_hybrid)

•Examples include RSS feeds, library union catalogues, library catalogues which link to Amazon or Google Books, e.g., for images of book covers

And even better…

• You don’t actually need to know how to write code in order to make use of mashups

• So: could we use mashups to create a radically different current awareness service which wouldn’t be too much hard work?

• Added bonus: could mashups allow us to create a model which could then easily be customised to different user groups?

UCL Library Services

First steps

• Chat with the team about what we wanted:– User-led and collaborative development– Flexibility in the format, to customise content for

different user groups– Flexible options for users to access content, to fit in with

individual preferences – Not to create an impossible workload for ourselves

UCL Library Services

Working solution

Yahoo! Pipes + Blog

• Yahoo! Pipes (http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/) enables users to "pipe" information from different sources and then set up rules for how that content should be modified (for example, filtering)–Lets you aggregate web feeds, web pages etc., creating a new web page or dropping selected content into an RSS reader or a blog

UCL Library Services

Why a blog?

• Allows content to be public or subscription-only– Different user groups could choose how public they

wanted to go

• Quite easy to adjust layout, embed widgets etc.• Allows push technology e.g. users can set up an

email alert when new content is added– But can also choose to subscribe to updates via RSS,

or simply visit the website

• Allows ownership to be devolved if need be• Not blocked in our Trust!

UCL Library Services

Next steps: the prototype home page

• Container blog, CEES Updates, to act as homepage for the service and to provide links to the pages for different specialties

• Classic three-column layout with a solid footer– The first two columns display constantly updating information from

a number of different sources– The third column is the main ‘posting’ section of the blog into which

the Library can add new content

• Footer envisaged as a research gateway, with links to the Library training calendar, literature search service and the NHS Evidence search widget

UCL Library Services

Finding an audience

• Pilot specialty blog for physiotherapists, initially based on homepage layout

• November 2011: Selection of physiotherapists invited to attend a focus group to give their views on the new resource

• December 2011: Second focus group held • January 2012: follow-up survey sent out to whole

group, asking about resources to include, preferred mode of access, and preferences for collaborative space and research support

UCL Library Services

Key points from consultation

• Research is big on their agenda; blog a key support tool

• Best way to ensure buy-in would be to provide a link from the Physiotherapy portal on the Trust intranet

• Main body would be best used as a password-protected space for the group to share ongoing research and projects

• Literature search alerts could be set up for in-service training topics, and protected space could host presentations etc

• Many physiotherapists are doing MScs; links to their university pages would be useful

• The blog could be used to evidence CPD activity, necessary for Health Professionals Council accreditation

http://ceesupdatesphysiotherapy.blogspot.co.uk/

UCL Library Services

UCL Library Services

What now?• Changes implemented; private space set up using doccom.me• Final product to be presented at an education meeting in August

2012• Blog to be added to the Physiotherapy intranet portal • Prototype blog set up for nurses; initial contact has been made

via the Nursing & Midwifery Committee and a similar process to the physiotherapists is planned in the coming months – engagement tool

• Interest also expressed by healthcare scientists• These 3 blogs to be developed and promoted in the next 12-18

months; feedback will be sought and usage monitored, and future of the service will be evaluated

• Individual TOC alerts still offered, now using JournalTOCs, http://www.journaltocs.ac.uk

UCL Library Services

Final thoughts

• This idea has helped the Library engage with user groups in a way that hadn’t been achieved previously

• Promises to be a way in to engaging under-using groups• Library staff have developed new skills in Web 2.0

technologies and are now being approached to advise on social networking!

• Innovative in the extent to which we have made the service flexible, user-led and collaborative

• Already showing signs that could grow into something more than a current awareness service – more like a community of practice feeding current awareness into real-time practice and CPD

UCL Library Services

(Courtesy: Gisella Giardino via a license under Creative Commons)

UCL Library Services