Library Learning Cells: Online Tutorials on Health and Medicine Databases

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Library Learning Cells: Online Tutorials on Health and Medicine Databases

GRANT RECIPIENTS:

Carla Levesque – Library – Medical Campus
clevesqu@mdc.edu

ABSTRACT:

This project aims to create interactive tutorials about six different health and medicine electronic databases available to students, staff and faculty of Miami Dade College through its libraries. These tutorials will aid students in feeling comfortable with the search interface of the databases as well as teach them search techniques and strategies to readily locate the exact information they are seeking. Internet access to the tutorials will be available through the Library’s webpage.
Student performance will be enhanced by the use of these tutorials, which will teach students the skills necessary to locate high quality, scholarly information on a wide range of health and medical topics. This will expand students’ opportunities to create quality papers, presentations and other projects. Successfully completing these types of projects is motivating to students and encourages retention in their chosen discipline.

PROJECT SUMMARY:

What was the project?

As stated above, the purpose of this project was to create interactive tutorials on how to use, navigate and search the health and medicine electronic databases to which MDC’s Libraries subscribe. The goals of this project were to create user-friendly, useful and effective tutorials and to increase the usage of the medical and health related databases.

How was the project accomplished?

Prior to creating the tutorials, sample searches were performed and storyboards were written. The Libraries also changed some of their database subscriptions. Therefore, it was determined that 8 tutorials would need to be created: one short tutorial on how to login to the various databases and then a tutorial for each the following 7 databases: Health and Wellness Resource Center, Health Source – Consumer Edition, Health Source – Nursing/Academic Edition, Physicians Desk Reference, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and LexiComp.

The tutorials were created using a software program called Camtasia Studio. This software is very user-friendly and enables you to capture screens, mouse movements, and clicks. It also enables you to record audio and add call-out boxes.

The tutorials were then uploaded onto the Medical Center Library’s webpage at http://www.mdc.edu/medical/library/tutorials.htm. They were also incorporated into the Medical Center Library’s WebCT module which is in 18 different Virtual College and Web-enhanced Medical Center courses.

How was the project assessed and evaluated?

The tutorials were shared with the Library Discipline Committee, which is comprised of all of the Faculty Librarians from each of MDC’s campuses. Good feedback and suggestions were received and changes were made to the tutorials.

A survey was created using Flashlight Online and added as a final slide to each of the tutorials, asking users about the usefulness of the tutorials. The survey asks users to agree or disagree with the following four statements:

After viewing the tutorial:

1. I am able to login to the online databases.
2. I am able to construct an effective search.
3. I am able to limit my search to retrieve more relevant results.
4. I am able to save, print or email my results.

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PROJECT RESULTS:

The College Center for Library Automation (CCLA), through which all of the community colleges in Florida obtain access to online databases, maintains statistical information on database usage. A statistical chart was created to analyze database usage prior to the creation of the tutorials and after the creation of the tutorials. While these statistics do not reflect a significant increase or decrease in the number of connections or searches to the databases since the creation of the tutorials, the statistics do show a significant increase in the number of searches performed in two of the databases (Health Source: Consumer & Health Source: Nursing) after the release of the tutorials. Whether or not this increase is due to the tutorials or to another promotional activities cannot be fully determined. Please see the attached statistical chart for a complete breakdown of database connections and searches.

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PLANS FOR DISSEMINATION:

As stated above, the tutorials were shared with the Library Discipline Committee, which is comprised of all of the Faculty Librarians from each of MDC’s campuses.

The tutorials were also shared and posted on CCLA’s Handout Exchange webpage. The Handout Exchange is a central place where librarians across all the community colleges in the state of Florida can contribute handouts or tutorials. In this way, other libraries can use or modify the tutorials for their own purposes. This is the link to the Handout Exchange:
http://www. cclaflorida.org/resources/infolit/Guides.asp?g=Tutorials.

The tutorials were also shared and posted in the International Information Literacy Resources Directory: http://www.uv.mx/usbi_ver/unesco/. The Information Literacy Section of the International Federation of Library Association and Institutions (IFLA) created this database to record information literacy materials from different parts of the world, on behalf of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The tutorials were also submitted to the Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO) project for consideration. PRIMO is a collection of materials created by librarians to teach people about discovering, accessing and evaluating information in networked environments. Materials are reviewed and selected by a committee. This is the link to the PRIMO database: http://www.ala.org/CFApps/Primo/public/search.cfm

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