Provision of Medical Information - Ask Cosmo, NLM’s Virtual Representative!

1. "Ask Cosmo" is an automated answer-my-question site at http://wwwns.nlm.nih.gov/
Many questions from the general public can be answered by Cosmo the Owl.

2. Questions may be directed by telephone at the following numbers:
(888) FIND-NLM
(888) 346-3656 Local and international calls:
(301) 594-5983
-------------------------------------------------
Background note: NLM usually received from 200 to 500 requests per day when I was there. Some were library questions ("How to I use PubMed?") but many were cries for medical help ("My daughter has cancer and the medicine isn't working, what can I do?").

Al Reynolds [ecumenical77 at earthlink dot net] wrote:

I served on the Customer Service staff of the National Library of Medicine for two years. Such questions are constantly being directed to NLM as a free and reputable source of medical information.

There are 7 or 8 full time staff members tasked with responding to such questions. Of course we are not clinicians, so we provide information found on such sites as MedlinePlus and PubMed, and we use directory sites, advocacy organizations and professional associations quite heavily.
You or your patrons may address queries to: custserv@nlm.nih.gov
A response will be sent within 4 working days. NLM does not send printed materials.
During my two years I worked messages originating in 106 countries.
Al Reynolds
Reference Assistant
Frederick Memorial Hospital
Frederick, Maryland
Former contractor at U.S. National Library of Medicine

P.S. This information is disseminated with permission from Al Reynolds.

From the Blogosphere:

Ask Cosmo, NLM’s Virtual Representative! by Jodi

Copyrights and Copywrongs - Responsibility of Media and Academia

P.S. This is not a sequel of Copyrights and Copywrongs: Interview with Siva Vaidhyanathan.
Rather, this is about media (MSN, Yahoo, Google) and academia

Belgian newspapers go after Yahoo, By: Nancy Gohring
IDG News Service (Dublin Bureau) (22 Jan 2007)

Google argued that it doesn't violate copyright because it only summarizes articles and displays the source of the content and the name of the author before directing users to the Web page hosting the content. The judge is expected to rule on the case this month. full story

EMERGING NEWS:

Google has pledged to tighten its advertising controls after some of the biggest media companies in the US accused it of knowingly encouraging copyright theft. in US media: Google 'encourages copyright theft' By Laura Clout, Telegraph, 13/02/2007

PUNCHLINE for the academic world (just-in-case):
Oh my god not more copyright stuff @ Playing with Technology
See also:
Public Domain Chart
Fair Use Checklist

Related posts from my desktop

Citing Sources - Electronic, Print, etc.

With Malice Towards None; And Citations for All

The Lessons of T Shirts to Marketers

"One of the problems all of us marketers has is that we lie to ourselves. We want so badly to reinforce what we think we know that we often miss the obvious.

We turn to focus groups and see what we want to see.
We turn to "experts" and hear what we want to hear.
We turn to research to read what we want to read.

We even talk to our customers. Unfortunately, our customers perception of how they interact with our products and services don't alway match reality. No where is this more obvious than at sporting events." Full artilce

Wikipedia and Academia Hit News Headlines Again

Poor Wikipedia. Professional Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is suing one of its contributors for a defamatory cyber-attack. And last year, television host and comedian Stephen Colbert urged his audience to vandalize a Wikipedia entry about elephants to prove the point that in a model where any user can edit encyclopedia entries, those entries are only as good as their source. Look Who's Using Wikipedia, Mar. 01, 2007, By BILL TANCER, Time / CNN [info courtesy, David Dillar]

Current News Stories:

"...places like the blogosphere or the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, people no longer treat or respect each other as individuals." Web 2.0's 'digital mobs' attacked: Jaron Lanier tells BBC World Service's Culture Shock

Wikipedia not source for papers: College Sify News, Tuesday, 13 February , 2007.
Middlebury: Middlebury College history students are no longer allowed to use Wikipedia in preparing class papers.
The school's history department recently adopted a policy that says it's OK to consult the popular online encyclopedia, but that it can't be cited as an authoritative source by students.
The policy says, in part, "Wikipedia is not an acceptable citation, even though it may lead one to a citable source."
History professor Neil Waters says Wikipedia is an ideal place to start research but an unacceptable way to end it. Read another source

A Wikipedia WIthout Graffiti by CmdrTaco on Wednesday February 07,

A Stand Against Wikipedia: Inside Higher Ed, January 26, 2007
As Wikipedia has become more and more popular with students, some
professors have become increasingly concerned about the online,
reader-produced encyclopedia.

A Stand Against Wikipedia

The Death of Authority?

Tricky truths behind Wikipedia By Alex Beam, Globe Columnist | March 12, 2007 [or Stikcy Wiki, in Deccan Chronicle, India]

Wiki Etiquette [ Business Week has a good “do’s and don’ts” list for working with wikis. Worth a quick read. ]

From News Archives:

Wikipedia Revisited Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large, March 2007 v. 7 no. 3

RERERENCE: ENCYCLOPEDIAS: The Wikipedia and Serious Research

Rick's Blog without Clogs: Wiki Picki Poo Poo

When it comes to Computer Science, don't reference Wikipedia

Wikipedia And Academia in ACRLog - Blogging by and for academic and research librarians

Wikipedia "nofollow" aftermath Seth Finkelstein's

The Faith-Based Encyclopedia

The other side of the coin:

Wikipedia/Our Replies to Our Critics

Criticism of Wikipedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Related resources:

Blogging: A Reliable Academic Source?

The academic contributions of blogging?

The scholarly content of blogging

Academic Blogging Collection

My previous posts:

Citing a Blog, Wiki - Style for bibliographic notes and references

Blog As A Teaching Tool

Is this yet another Wiki in Library and Information Science

Thought for the day - Nicole Godin

- Nicole Godin, Manager/Technical Services Librarian Regulatory Information Services Bell Canada 110 O'Connor St., 7th Floor Ottawa, ON

Continue reading more at Info*nation:
At the Core
"Back in the days of sensible shoes, buns and shushing (and YES, those days are past) the library world held the same basic values it does today. If any of the concepts below inspire you with noble aspirations, you may have found your calling - in libraries."

Literacy & Education
Serving the Public
Intellectual Freedom
Access to Information
Information Intermediary
Preservation
Professionalism

How To Prepare For An Interview

This post is dedicated to Joseph Romain, my pal, who inspired me to develop my communication skills.



NB. In case the above video is not clear, check Youtube's How To Prepare For An Interview And much more on Job Interviews @ YouTube

See also:

• Monster Success Coach Robin Sharma

• Library interview questions @ Job Interview Questions

   

The Changing Role Of Library Science

By Aja Carmichael

From The Wall Street Journal Online
The librarian with cat's-eye glasses, a faded cardigan and gray hair twisted into a bun is getting a makeover.

source: Library Link of the Day

See also:

Jenny Levine addresses the SC Librarians

Re-defining the library by Lynne Brindley, Library Hi Tech 2006 Volume: 24 Issue: 4 Page: 484 - 495
Abstract: Purpose – This article was originally the keynote speech to the Bielefeld Conference. The article aims to explore the challenges facing libraries in the digital age and consider ways in which they need to reshape and rethink their services and skills to maintain their relevance and contribution.
Check for fulltext article and other interesting stuff, such as, Design / methodology / approach Findings Practical implications

Inviting Participation in Web 2.0 by David King, Digital Branch & Services Manager at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

Dewey, or Don't We?, By Traci Vogel

Interview (by Vinita Ramani) with Julian Samuel who made a documentary film, 'The Library in Crisis'

Picture database recognized as "Best Site"

101 Best Web Sites for Elementary Teachers.
The International Society for Technology in Education has named a Miami database as one of "101 Best Web Sites for Elementary Teachers." (Media-Newswire.com)
Valerie A. Ubbes ( physical education, health and sport studies ) created the Children?s Picture Book Database at Miami University in 1995 in partnership with the Miami University libraries.

The project now provides abstracts for more than 5,000 children's picture books and can be searched by topics, concepts and skills from eight academic disciplines. The key feature of the database is that books are organized by 10-15 key words, not only the few words provided by the Library of Congress. This gives users access to a broader collection of books for specialized purposes, in new patterns for interdisciplinary study.

The site's usefulness can be judged by the fact that thousands of users from the United States and seven foreign countries log into it weekly. "Googling" Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University, 25,000 links come up, including resource lists maintained by universities, schools, libraries, teacher groups, national literacy organizations and businesses catering to parents. Continue reading