PubMed Toolbar in the Spotlight

The first part of 2009 I am going to put the Pubmed Toolbar more in the spotlight.
I have added into the search box the options to directly search in:

• Find Systematic Reviews
• Clinical Study Category Search
• Medical genetics Search
• PubMed Help
• The NLM Gateway (all-in-one search)
• and of course PUbMed itself, the Journal Database & MESH

A MessageService was entered, and a Chat box powered by Meebo, a Twitter PubMed RSS to see who is tweeting about Pubmed on Twitter!
Usage has already doubled since Januari 1st 2009!

More info on NLM Toolbars on: http://nlmtoolbars.blogspot.com

Tags: pubmed, toolbar, search, medical, nlm

How a Library RSS-feed can cheer you up!

With the current Library-Management-System we are using at the Libraries of the University of Groningen, it is not possible to get an output on newly added books or publication to the Catalogue in RSS (or otherwise).
So many, many hours of library staff have been put into the fabrication of static lists and overviews, mostly manually.
A special project was set up last year to create a new system just for that.
It resulted in a complete new portal outside the current CMS of the University, because that does not support or offer the desired functionality. It has the looks of the University and you can see it here. Lists are available sorted by subjects or location.
See:

• new books of the Central Medical Library
• new books on the subject Medicine (unfortunately both links are static links to a month)

The result is a list sorted by author with limited info and the url to the OPAC-record. Bonus is the RSS-feed option:

You would expect to be abled to see the new books as they come in, but the system is organised around a fixed set of data created or received per month. So the RSS results every month contains one line of text saying that there are new books, with a link to the relevant page on the new portal New Books.

Now, this did not make me happy. I am not sure how our end-users think of this, but I personally, would like to have a list with the details of the new books.
A few months have gone by, and on a bright Monday morning last week, i got a message that there WAS actually an option to see those title by means of an other RSS.
And then I cheered up. And it stayed that way the whole day.

I immediately ran the feed through Feedburner, added some social stuff and published it on:

• www.netvibes.com/cmb together with a Headline Animator

  

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

• and the website Central Medical Library.
• The Library Toolbar as RSS
• New Books CMB with titles RSS
• New Books Medicine in RuG with titles RSS
• Overview of all XML RSS items

Now users can :

• copy and past the RSS in their preferred feedreader (we advice www.netvibes.com)
• share our headlines or New Books widgets via www.netvibes.com/cmb or the News & RSS Tab in any preferred social network or tool.

We get stats of usage and clickthroughs via Feedburner.

This is how a simple RSS can make a librarian smile .....

Tags: rss, new books, feedburner, xml, netvibes, toolbar, library

Share The petition: "Stop the OCLC powergrab!"

I have tried to talk about this in my neighbourhood, and have waited to see if local or national corps and orgs would tackle this in an effective way. They did not, yet.
So I support the following call to sign a Petition of protest. Please read it and if you agree with the stated issues, join me in signing too.

Dear Friend,
I hope you'll join me in signing the petition "Stop the OCLC powergrab!". You can do so right now at:
http://watchdog.net/c/stop-oclc

OCLC, the not-for-profit that provides library services around the world, has gone too far. Originally, it was a library collaborative -- one library could catalog a book, upload it to OCLC, and then other libraries could save time by reusing the catalog information.
But as the price of such technology has fallen, its prices have risen. It charges membership fees, record retrieval fees, user support fees, and fees for all sorts of additional services. But now it's gone a step too far -- it wants to set the terms of use for every library record ever retrieved through OCLC, so that it can maintain its monopoly in the field.
In a very real sense, they're trying to steal our libraries. We have to make them stop -- sign this petition.

For more information, see this wiki page: OCLC Policy Change.

------------------------------------------ Dear OCLC:

We the undersigned ask that you repeal your recent changes to the "Policy for Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records" and once again allow any nonprofit or library to have unrestricted access to all WorldCat records. These records are not yours, they are the collected work product of thousands of libraries, summarizing the accumulated knowledge of all of humanity. They shouldn't be in the exclusive control of one organization.

http://watchdog.net/c/stop-oclc

Libraries unite! This is OUR content we created. And if they have it their way, we have to pay to re-use it?? Thanks!

Tags: oclc, powergrab, oclc/pica

(Re)mix the web by netvibes.com

Netvibes took their mission statement very literally yesterday with our Public page of the Central Medical Library.
The Universe, http://www.netvibes.com/cmb was -at one moment- almost empty and at least half of our tabs were gone (as in deleted).
I got the biggest scare of 2009 so far ...

After a few minutes, and re-loading the site several times, logging out and -in again, all 150+widgets appeared to be listed in the Tab "Lost &Found".
They really mixed my web up ....
That was sort of a relief. I emailed Netvibes Support and started to make emergency repairs, but made sure I got copies of that Lost & Found tab first.
Next morning after a bad night sleep, all tabs were restored, including my newly made repairs.
The response of Netvibes Support was received very soon:

Dear Netviber, This was due to a desynchronization of your public page with our server. If it happens again, do not move any module and use this url: http://www.netvibes.com/?reset_cache=1 For any other problem, message or suggestion, do not hesitate to contact us, we will answer you as soon as possible. Best regards, A*****
It is good to know. Now you know.

Tags: netvibes, remix, universe, public page

Launch new search engine PurpleSearch

Monday Januari 12th 2009 the new search engine PurpleSearch went "live"for the staff and students of the University of Groningen and the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG).

Wat is PurpleSearch?

PurpleSearch (PS) is an experimental search engine for the simultaneous or federated search of scientific literature databases. in total PurpleSearch is searching in 100+ resources at the same time, catalogues, bibliographical databases, fulltext journals and e-booksover of which the metadata can be searched. In most cases the searched resources are licenced databases, but also freely available data-sets are included, like Google Scholar.

• Read more on PurpleSearch
• Have a look at PurpleSearch, and test de search engine.
• interview with the creaters of PurpleSearch

There is a Widgetbox widget available:

and a iGoogle Gadget with tabs, but also a Netvibes widget

Currently the search through the PurpleSearch widgets and gadgets is being channeled through the Central Medical Library Toolbar and focussed on a set of 8 major relevant medical databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PiCarta, Cinahl, Cochrane ...)

Interested? Contact us for a demo account, at .

Tags: purplesearch, federated search, livetrix, metalib, ex-libris, cmb, umcg

Public Poken Place at Central Medical Library, UMCG

A small new project has just been created in relation to the new Poken gadget. The Poken gadget works in a simular way as RFID, but different ;-)
The Central Medical Library, UMCG will perform a small research into new ways of exchanging information with library users.
The question we are asking ourselves is: How can we make library users more aware of our services, products, ánd our web-presence in the social web?
And can we -instead of giving them business cards to take-away- find another way to pass that info on to them?

With a special Library Poken placed at a central meeting place in the library, users can connect with that CMB Library Poken.
They will take with them our details of the Facebook, Hyves, Twitter & Linkedin Library presence for now, but more will follow. (Youtube, Delicious, MSN, MySpace, Last.fm, ... you name it)
The Library will get info about the users use of social networks. At the moment, both parties that have "poked" still have the option to accept or deny new Friends. Pokens will be for sale at the library?

More about Poken at:

• www.netvibes.com/doyoupoken
• or have a look at the NOS Journaal item PokenNOS Journaal & NOS Headlines

Track your Netvibes Public Pages with Google Analytics.

A returning question from participants in workshops and courses about using RSS & Personal Start Pages & Netvibes, is "How can I track the use of the Public Page (Universe) by Netvibes?) And what about the use of the Search & News widgets?"

I am still looking for a good answer for the widgets tracking, because Netvibes is not offering tracking of individual widgets at this time, and I haven't heard any talk about it.
So for this, we can only see the downloads from the eco.netvibes.com or widgetbox.com sites.
(Google is offering -for their own gadgets- a manual for gadget tracking.
Maybe some geek can/did try and mash this up to make it work for other widgets ...?)

I DID find a way to keep track of the use of the Public pages!

• Create a Google Analytics account
• Add a website profile for the Netvibes Universe (i.e. http://www.netvibes.com/digicmb). This only works if you use the for the basic url.
• If you put the Google Analytics code (make sure you use the Legacy Tracking Code (urchin.js) and not the other one)
• Copy the Legacy Tracking Code (urchin.js) code into a new html widget in the first Tab van your Public Page (via Add content; Essential Widgets; HTML
• Nothing else is needed in that widget. You can change the title, but that's all. Nothing will show in the widget.
• Google Analytics will recognise that the code is installed and will start.
• I found out it actually also tracks use of the other pages ánd widgets, but it lists them in such a terrible way (with internal codes and widget ids, instead of just the title of the tab or widgets) that is absolutely useless.

Should a Library make a Facebook Group or a Page?

When you consider having a library presence in social networks, and got Facebook on your list for some reason (for instance, because ..% of your users have a Facebook account) think carefully before you actually create anything. The Group function is used very often, but actually does not offer that much functionality. Many applications, (FB or Third-party) can not be added to Group-pages. My advice is to support any Group with one or more Facebook Pages (also referred to as Fan Pages). The most interesting application is by Facebook itself and is called "Static FBML".

Static FBML

By Facebook

Add advanced functionality to your Page using the Facebook Static FBML application. This application will add a box to your Page in which you can render HTML or FBML (Facebook Markup Language) for enhanced Page customization.)

With the use of the Static FBML box (Facebook mark-up language) you can almost add any webcontent with html code into little gadgets/widgets in a Facebook PAGE. Have a look at the Alliance Virtual Library Page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Alliance-Virtual-Library/35213905582 or the Central Medical Library of the UMCG: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Groningen/Central-Medical-Library-University-Medical-Center-Groningen/14202168386 More:

• Blogpost. http://www.thegogglesdonothing.com/archives/2008/01/facebook_groups_vs_pages.shtml
• FBML Facebook Mark-Up Language. http://www.slideshare.net/josephscott/fbml-facebook-markup-language

Dig Deeper with Social Media » Social Networking Software Task Force Short Courses (MLA)

Dig Deeper with Social Media » Social Networking Software Task Force Short Courses 5:04pm

Source: sns.mlanet.org

Social Networking Software Task Force Short Courses

Each course is offered a la carte so you can choose the topics that are of most interest to you and is free to current 2009 MLA members. Note that institutional members may only have one person complete each short course for CE credit. Please read the Technical Requirements page before beginning course work.

RSS feed

• Google
• Youdao
• Xian Guo
• Zhua Xia
• My Yahoo!
• newsgator
• Bloglines
• iNezha

Tags: mla, web2.0, library2.0, social networks

Do You Poken?

I can understand why they developed it. We need an easy way to exchange "business card info" and this one does it.

Many simular tools will follow, but this one is fun! It does focus on a very young population. Maybe medical students? Or the large Hyves population in the Netherlands? I can imagine the Poken would do great at events and meetings.

I hope Poken will spread fast and that they will develop in the right way

Short movie about "How the Poken thing works". See it live from the Groningen Huis de Beurs Meet Up at January 7th 2009 ;-) http://doyoupoken.com http://doyoupokenwebshop.com http://doyoupoken.ourtoolbar.com http://www.netvibes.com/doyoupoken

Tags: poken, social networks, doyoupoken

Usgang Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hyves Hi5 : MySpace Badoo, Bebo, Flickr, Netlog, Ning, Plaxo, Skyrock, Spoke, Stdivz, Viadeo and Xing

What will 2009 bring the Medical Staff and librarians?

I find it always hard to start-up again after a holiday period. Add to this feeling, the New Year happening, Christmas, loads of birthdays and memorials, the need to seriously look back at the previous year, ánd the necessity to give priorities to new challenges and tasks for the coming year, and then you know what I was doing the last weeks.

First thing I said to myself about this blog was that it should focus a bit more on the direct relevance for the UMCG staff in relation to the Medical Library. So don't be surprised if you see posts about the specific UMCG situation here now and again.
But I will always keep the new and weird stuff in here too. ;-).
More and more subjects are being discussed via Twitter and I frequently forget to post about those topics.
My Tweetdeck has become a standard application. So I need to find a better way to collect and implement all the things that are being discussed at Twitter into this blog.

I want to start 2009 off with a completely irrelevant post for the medical profession, but possibly a new hype among yougsters and students...
Do You Poken? a new gadget for in the real world to exchange and connect to people.
You just hold two poken close together and the connection is make. It gives you -when you plug it in your pc or laptop the details about the new "friends" including all their social network identities.
It could replaces your old school & boring paper "business" card and it prevents writing down or entering into mobiles & pda's of emails and url's.
I am not so sure about the looks. I do not see "real business" people walking around with it ....

Tags: poken, doyoupoken