Updating an Updates service

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. In the beginning… UCL Library Services

5. Problems • Form became outdated on a regular basis • e.g. Specialist Collections model changed and individual RSS feeds discontinued • ZETOC access lost via national core content • So many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

6. 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/ • 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 UCL Library Services

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. UCL Library Services

15. 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

16. 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

17. (Courtesy: Gisella Giardino via a license under Creative Commons) UCL Library Services