Medical Library Forum

Workshop conference "On the ground of practice" – a new formula and new horizons. Summary of the 40th Jubilee Problem Conference of Medical Libraries, Kraków, September 11–12, 2023

Anna Uryga — 2024-07-16

Problem conferences of Polish medical libraries have been organised since 1980. This could never be possible if it were not for the work of people who decided to share the passion for their profession and who would eagerly discuss the knowledge they find valuable, things that they have in common, and the differences they see in each other. This article summarises the latest, jubilee event, shows the backstage of months-long work on its program and organisation. The conclusion presents the results of the whole undertaking.

Evidence in research and clinical practice – what medical librarians should know

Sylwia Warzecha — 2024-07-02

There is a need to create and publish trusted evidence that will inform clinical decisions. Librarians can play an important role in this process, as they can oversee the registration and reporting of primary and secondary studies, take an active part in data synthesis and contribute to increasing the quality, completeness and reliability of existing data.

Medical libraries’ strategies in research data management: analysis and implications

Szymon Kubik — 2024-07-16

This article discusses the involvement of Polish medical libraries in the field of research data management (RDM). It provides an overview of RDM’s development and its introduction in medical libraries. On the basis of a survey conducted among the staff of Polish medical libraries, the authors outline the librarians’ level of competence, the extent of services they provide and the organisational context of their work. It is stressed that it is crucial to further develop librarians’ qualifications related to RDM, as well as to increase the awareness of libraries’ role in this area among researchers. The authors present conclusions concerning the formal acknowledgement of librarians’ role in the process of RDM, which contributes to the development of both libraries and research institutions.

About the MeSH information and retrieval query language in the area of activity of Polish academic libraries of medical universities

Magdalena Kotlarek-Naskręt — 2024-07-01

The article presents the history of MeSH, the information and retrieval query language in Poland, in the context of cooperation between academic medical libraries. It also discusses the role of the Central Medical Library in the implementation of medical subject headings. Particular attention was focused on an attempt to explain the reason for the functioning of two Polish-language versions of the file, which are translations of the American version of MeSH’s Medical Subject Headings run by U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Examples of data modules on the Wroclaw Medical University Polish Platform of Medical Research – worked schemes and development plans

Ewa Kapela — 2024-07-02

Polish Platform of Medical Research (PPM) is a knowledge and research potential management platform for Polish academic institutions from the medical field which participate in the PPM project. The local platform of the Wrocław Medical University (PPM-UMW) in an institutional repository, which keeps the records and archives the research, scientific, and educational activities of the university's employees and doctorate students. The article presents the current advancement of the platform being adapted to the needs of a medical university, and the progress of data publishing on the PPM-UMW platform. The presented fields include: projects, patents, infrastructure, professional achievements (career), and professional activity.

16 years of “Medical Library Forum”. From Johannes Gutenberg to Open Journal Systems

Agnieszka Czarnecka — 2024-01-29

The article aims to summarise the activity of the “Medical Library Forum” (MLF) – an scholarly journal which has served to share ideas and record the work of medical university libraries and related institutions for over 16 years now. The paper presents three key stages in MLF’s history – from the idea of creating the journal in 2006 and printing the first issue in 2008, through moving the publishing activity from Łódź to Warsaw, to finally introducing the Creative Commons licence to publishing practice. The authors remark on the systematic progress of the journal – constantly bettering the level of publishing and editorial practices and strengthening the journal’s reputation by being indexed on the ministerial list, as well as the ERIH PLUS or DOAJ databases. The article puts emphasis on the journal’s support towards the open access idea, expressed by publishing in the Diamon Open Access model. Further plans for MLF’s future are also presented, such as implementing the Open Journal Systems (OJS) in the publishing process.