Greetings and Happy New Year to everyone,
First of all, let me apologize and thank the VU/VUMC community for their patience and cooperation with last week’s PubMed/NCBI access situation. I must also commend the University Library’s Technology and EResources team for implementing quick solutions so we may continue to use this very popular and valuable information resource. In speaking with the NCBI Team, it was interesting to discover Vanderbilt’s search activity on the NCBI servers. Would you believe we average close to 200 search requests per day? Obviously, that is not all from the library staff so I applaud all of the PubMed searchers out there. Don’t forget to contact us if you need assistance or training with PubMed or any of our other databases.
This month’s post involves the concept of feedback. According to the PsycINFO Thesaurus and MeSH Database, respectively, it is defined as:
- a general concept denoting the return of information that may regulate or control subsequent behavior, cognition, perception, or performance.
- a mechanism of communication within a system in that the input signal generates an output response which returns to influence the continued activity or productivity of that system.
These days, we are all subject to receive a survey for our experiences. Many of us are developing surveys to gauge the impact and value of services we provide to our clients and customers. The information gained from these surveys assist with development and sustainability of programs and services. The Eskind Biomedical Library has been experimenting with brief, standing assessments to continually understand what we are doing and how we are doing. We currently have a webpage with several instruments seeking feedback on the library, in general, via a comment box. We have also developed surveys on the library’s impact on research/scholarly output, clinical care, and student success. Each survey is strategically designed to provide us with vital information and data yet completed within two minutes. Please take some time to look over the webpage and tell us how we are doing.
Thanks!
Philip Walker | Director | Annette and Irwin Eskind Family Biomedical Library and Learning Center