Health Sci. Libraries during COVID-2019

1. Webinar on
Essential Library Services to Health
Science Users in Lockdown Period of
Pandemic Covid-2019
Dr Mayank Trivedi
University Librarian & Senate Member
The M S University of Baroda
Vadodara
Date : 22nd April, 2020

2. Library closures
• Libraries around the world are facing hard choices
– Which services to offer and how
– Ranging from minimal restrictions to full closure
– Clearly any decision to restrict services or close a
library is a difficult one and needs to be taken
following an assessment of the relative risks.
• Libraries around the world of all sorts have been
working hard to provide access to collections and
services remotely.
• All types of library have promoted their digital
services.
• Public Library system in India is totally closed.

3. eBooks and other Services
• There have also been major efforts to boost access to
eBooks, for example by increasing the number of
eBooks that people can borrow at any given time
• Creating a new app with freely available content
• Clearly not all users are already familiar with digital tools
• Other core services, such as help for people needing to
apply for benefits, or look for jobs, are likely to become
more and more important.
• Libraries in the United States are already providing
printed forms for people needing to apply for
unemployment assistance.

4. Managing remote working
• There are lots of materials available on the internet already.
• Yet with it unclear how long restrictions will last, it is always
worth having plans in place for how to cope with longer-term
impacts.
• In United States – webinar to share on the topic .
• There are also helpful ideas from Blue Shield Australia about
how to continue with conservation activities during lockdown.
• Library associations too are looking at how they can continue
their work to support members.
• The Lativian Library Association has placed its conference
online and is running a series of virtual events and a social
media campaign.
• The Library and Information Association of New Zealand – Te
Aotearoa has set up virtual drop-in sessions for librarians.
• Public Libraries 2030 in Europe is working with the University
of South Carolina LIS school to share training materials also.

5. Reassigning library resources
• Demand for certain services has dropped, library personnel have been active in taking up other roles.
• In Ireland, for example, library staff have been seconded to help with contact tracing. Across the United
Kingdom, there are lots of examples of librarians moving to work at contact centers for people in
isolation, helping to ensure those often at most risk keep contact with the outside world.
• Elsewhere, librarians have volunteered with community initiatives.
• In Mexico, librarians are working to improve the quality of Wikipedia articles about people from under-
represented groups.
• In Kansas, library laptops and WiFi hotspots have been made available to the local homeless shelter,
faced with the rise in the number of people losing their homes.
• Few Libraries are also looking to provide key resources for people facing unemployment,
• Toronto Public Libraries are now acting as food banks.
• Penn State University library is giving laptops and other equipment out to students who would
otherwise not be able to continue to study from home.
• Library spaces and equipment have also been repurposed.
• Few libraries are serving as the emergency coordination centre.
• In Oregon, the library is acting as a homeless shelter.
• In Oakland, California, bookdrops are being used now to collect spare masks.
• This is not to forget books! The State Library of Western Australia’s offer of ‘mystery boxes’ of library
materials was rapidly over-subscribed, and Kansas City Library in the U.S. has been delivering bags of
books to deprived areas.

6. National Libraries• National libraries can also play an important role in providing access to content. In China, for example, the national
digital library has been reinforced in order to deal with the increase in demand and has waived fines for borrowed
materials which cannot be returned.
• In Korea, too, the national digital library has seen a major increase in use.
• Some libraries have been able to negotiate the possibility to give wider access to legal deposit content for
researchers and schools.
• Others are putting activities online. The Library of Congress for example is organising a virtual transcribathon in
order to engage people at distance,
• The Bibliothèque nationale de France is organising virtual exhibitions.
• The National Library of Estonia has established means for giving people access to books without contact (with
resulting major increases in demand).
• National Library of Spain is promoting its digital content that can be used to support education.
• The National Library of Norway us encouraging users to access its podcasts.
• The National Library of Luxembourg, is making it possible to obtain a library card for three months by email,
without the usual ID checks, in order to facilitate access.
• National Library of Morocco is maintaining both online inscriptions alongside ISBN and legal deposit services.
• The National Library of Lithuania is working with the School of Robotics to promote printing of personal protective
equipment in public libraries across the country.
• National Library of the Czech Republic has produced an infographic on handling returned works.
• The Directorate General for Libraries in Portugal has a page full of information and resources, under the umbrella
of #BibliotecaNaSuaCasa.
• Meanwhile, some national libraries with a role in supporting parliamentary decision-making have continued to
produce legislative dossiers providing an overview of what is going on, such as in Argentina.
• National Digital Library of India(NDLI) – Acccess to more than 4 Crore documents
• National Library of India is also closed.

7. National Digital Library of India

8. Library Partners
• There have been very welcome moves by publishers, vendors and others working with libraries to
facilitate access to content even when library buildings are forced to close.
• A key step has been to allow remote access to content which normally would be restricted to on-site
users.
• ProQuest through eBook Central and Springer through extended log-in periods,
• The American Medical Association is also allowing for much more off-site access.
• Michigan University Press is allowing read (but not download) access to much of its content.
• Others are simply making more content openly available, or are reducing prices.
• Project MUSE has announced that materials from 9 university presses will be freely available for a
number of months, while Cambridge University Press is offering access to textbooks in html format.
• Two Romanian publishers have worked with the National University of Political Science and
Administration have agreed to offer free access to books online.
• For public libraries in the United States, Macmillan has suspended limits recently imposed on library
access to new eBook publications.
• Penguin Random House is offering specific discounts for public and school libraries.
• Overdrive and RB Books are also making it possible to have more copies of a single eBook on loan
simultaneously.
• IFLA’s acknowledges its own publishing partner – SAGE – which has announced interventions
including removing the subscription gateway to a number of articles.
• Like others (for example, Emerald, Springer Nature, Elsevier, Oxford University Press, Cambridge
University Press, ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics and MIT Press), SAGE is also
concentrating and sharing resources on COVID-19 and managing pandemics through a microsite.

9. Free Resources
• Beyond this, there are many great freely available
resources available with educational materials –
notably Open Education Resources Commons, which
provides access to materials curated by a team of
librarians.
• UNESCO’s Education Division is also providing links to
valuable educational resources, and its Archives have
a collection of sound recordings from the past.
• In particular, there are resources for teaching media
and information literacy online – this is both a
traditional area of strength for libraries, and a skill that
is particularly necessary in the current circumstances.
• One example is the MOOC hosted on
the Commonwealth of Learning(CoL) platform.

10. Tools to continue teaching and
learning process
• Easyclass (https://www.easyclass.com/) Learning Management System
– Easyclass is a platform that allows educators to create online classes whereby they can store the course materials online; manage
assignments, quizzes and exams; monitor due dates; grade results and provide students with feedback all in one place.
• Zoom Classroom (https://zoom.us/) Video Conferencing, collaborations, virtual classrooms
– Increase student participation and learning retention with virtual and hybrid classrooms and micro-learning.
• Microsoft Teams (https://teams.microsoft.com/start)
– Microsoft Teams is a hub for teamwork in Office 365. Keep all your team's chats, meetings, files, and apps together in one place.
• Hypersay (a platform for live interactive presentations)
– Go beyond slides with live quizzes, live subtitles, automated feedback and many more. It is free for maximum 20 participants per
session.
– https://hypersay.com/live-presentations/
• Nearpod (Students Engagement Platform) https://nearpod.com/
– Interactive Lessons that can be remotely led by the teacher.
• Google Form (For online Quiz/Test)
– Use google form for assessment purpose and take online quizzes. It also has features like randomization, result declaration, grading
and item analysis. https://www.google.com/forms/about/
• Google Classroom (Teaching and Learning Platform)
– An online teaching and learning platform. Teacher can make online classroom, upload teaching material and conduct online quizzes.
– https://classroom.google.com
• Edmodo (Learning Management System)
– Share class announcements, learning materials, and make learning accessible anywhere
– https://www.edmodo.com/
• Mentimeter (Interactive Learning Platform)
– Make your audience feel involved by enabling them to contribute to presentations with their smartphones and show the results live.
– https://www.mentimeter.com/
• Webex : Online VC tool
• Brainpop (Educational tool)
– BrainPOP makes rigorous learning experiences, make interactive presentations, videos to engage all students in teaching and
learning process.
– https://www.brainpop.com/

11. Tools….• Flipgrid (Video creation)
– Flipgrid empowers every voice from grade 1 to PhD classrooms across 190 countries.
– https://info.flipgrid.com/
• Edufow (Education)
– Make learning and teaching more effective with active participation and student
collaboration
– https://www.eduflow.com/
• Video Ask by Typeform (https://www.videoask.com/)
– Interactive Video Chat for remote face to face interactions
• Google Hangouts Meet (Video Conferencing)
– Stay connected with teachers and students for teaching and learning and official
academic work.
– https://meet.google.com/_meet…
• Youtube Videos (Uploaded Videos)
– You can make your classroom channel and upload your lecture videos.
• Screen Recorders
– There are numerous screen recoding videos like Screen Hunter, Camtasia screen
recorder, windows screen recorder, etc. Using these tools, teacher can make tutorial
videos.
• Faculty member can record his/her course video lectures or do a voiceover on the ppt slides
and upload on any LMS or even instructor can use social media (Facebook or Watsapp, or
Youtube).

12. Tools…
• There is treasure of knowledge available on all subjects through open sources,
– YouTube
– Audio Visuals
– Open Course wares
– Open Learning resources.
• Like other open resources, there is a website "www.pdfdrive.com" wherein after
every one second, one e-book is added.
• Further, we can deliver online lectures through various means like Skype, YouTube
Live, Join.me, Show my PC, Google Hangouts etc.
• To organize online digital classes:
– Zoom
– Blackboard
– Padlet
– Impartus
– Edmodo
– Google Classroom

13. List of Open Access Learning Platform
1 National Digital Library
2 SWAYAM Online Courses
3 National Knowledge Network
4 NPTEL (National Program onTechnology
Enhanced learning)
5 InfoPort
6 Talks to Teacher
7 A-VIEW
8 Virtual Labs
9 FOSSEE
10 Spoken Tutorial
11 e-Yantra
12 Oscar++
13 E-Kalpa
14 NCERT Text Books (class I to XII)
15 Directory of Open Access Books
16 Directory of Open Access journals
17 Open Knowledge Repository –World
Bank / Open Knowledge Gateway-MSU
18 UG/PG MOOCs
19 e-PG Pathshala
20 e-Content Courseware in UG subjects

14. OA learning platform
21 SWAYAMPRABHA
22 e-Shodh Sindhu
23 Shodh Ganga/Gangotri- Thesis
Reservoir
24 Vidhwan
25 SNLRT
26 Oxford Open
27 Cambridge University Press
28 Science Direct Open Access Content
29 ILOSTAT
30 Project Euclid
31 AidData
32 Springer Open Journals
33 Taylor & Francis Open Access
34 Open Access Thesis & Dissertations
35 Legal Information
36 Legal Information Institute of India(LIIofIndia)
37 The OAPEN Foundation
38 PubMed Central (PMC)
39 Project Gutenberg
40 High Wire
41 AGRIS
42 Southern Connecticut State University
43 LibriVox – Audio Books
44 K K Venugopal Antiquarian Books Collection
45 McGill Library (Open & Free Resources)

15. OA Learning Platform
46 OXFORD University Press (India)
47 Open Access to ACM Digital Library
For Online Courses :
48 MIT OpenCourseWare - Harvard
49 Coursera MOOCs
50 Edx MOOCs
51 British Council Free Online Short Courses

16. Useful tools during Library Closure
• OPAC ……Web OPAC
• Cloud based Library Services
• Authentication technologies : Remote Access
• Electronic Resource Management System ERMs : CORAL
• Discovery Services
• Library Service Platform/LibGuides/IRs
• Advocating of OA resources
• Marketing of Library Services through Blogs and other SN tools
• Open sources
• YouTube, Audio Visuals
• Open Course wares/OERs
• Open Learning resources
• Webinar
• Virtual Class Rooms
• ORCID
• Citation generation : Mendeley/Zotero

17. Web Scale Discovery Services
– Books: Library OPAC (ILS module)
– Articles from Individual e-Journals
– Various e-Book collections
– Different e-journal publisher portal
– Aggregated : Full text and Bibliographic Databases
– Abstract and Indexes (WoS, Scopus etc.)
– Subject indexes
– Local Digital Collections (IRs)

18. ORCID
• ORCID iD is a unique
persistent identifier for
a researcher
• ID :
http://orcid.org/0000-
XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
• Avoid the duplicate
names of Author
• It is a free

19. ORCID

20. Role of Health Science Librarian
• In this emergency role of HS Librarian included raising awareness through
public health education, providing support to medical staff, researchers and
providing ongoing, traditional services to regular library patrons.
• The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly spreading to countries around the globe.
• Libraries, as a social institution, are responsible for ensuring public health
awareness and the provision of up to date information to clinicians and
managers.
• However, in the age of multiple information sources and diverse
communication channels users do not always access the most valid
information.
• It is estimated that there are 11 different types of information sources ranging
from valid information to untrusted or doubtful information.
• Google Trends has become a useful tool for monitoring awareness about
public health at both national and international levels. It shows a relationship
between topics related to COVID-19 and search volumes.
• To stop spreading misinformation/ fake information

21. HSL’s Role
• In any Pandemic there are three dimensions to
a librarian’s role:
– To promote public health awareness by
creating and disseminating information
relating to preventive measures;
–To support research team, researchers and
faculty by providing information regarding
the latest developments, research and
literature
–To meet the core needs of regular library
users.

22. How to Avoid Misinformation
• In the age of social media, misinformation is
rapidly spread through different social media
channels i.e.,
– Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.
– Librarians and information experts try to
counteract this by only sharing reliable
information.
– Trustworthy information may be shared with
library users through institutional and personal
social media accounts and platform try to control
rumors and fake news.

23. Support Researchers/Academic Faculty
• Librarians can support medical staff, academics,
research teams and para medical staff by
– drawing attention to the latest developments
regarding vaccination, diagnosis kits, and relevant
studies published in medical journals
• All the well-known databases provide free access
to articles relating to COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
• NEJM, BMJ, Lancet – offering free content related
to COVID

24. Maintain Core Library Services
• During a pandemic the library must also
continue support its regular users.
• During the recent lockdown many libraries have
managed to provide virtual support to their
users, such as provision of references,
document delivery, literature searches, and
systematic reviews. (Cochrane Reviews)
• Some libraries have initiated online webinar
and sessions to keep in touch with their users
via Google Classroom, Google Hangouts, Skype,
or Zoom.

25. Support from Publishers
• Leading publishers such as Elsevier, Oxford,
Wiley, BMJ, Nature, Emerald, and
Cambridge provide free access to the latest
literature on Coronavirus (articles, papers,
commentaries, case reports).
• Health Science Librarians need to share this
information with clinicians, academics and
researchers.

26. Useful Resources for Health Sci.
Librarians
• Govt of India Initiatives ---i.e.Arogya Setu apps, AYUSH
• The Indian Government has created a website aimed at raising public
awareness. The URL link is:https://www.india.gov.in/
• In addition, there is an Artificial Intelligent based chatbot to provides
basic information
• WHO’s Whats App is the most reliable sources of information in the
current crisis.
• Librarian are sharing the WhatsApp’s link (https://www.who.int/news-
room/feature-stories/detail/whohealth-alert-brings-covid-19-facts-to-
billions-via-whatsapp) with library users in an effort to counter rumors
and fake news.
• WHO librarians suggest that people try to watch and read national media
and other reliable source of information to avoid fake news spread by
some social media sites.
• The WHO’s WhatsApp link provides authentic information to the general
public, patients, medical and para medical staff.

27. GoI Initiatives

28. WHO’s Health Emergency Dashboard
• The World Health Organisation also maintains a
live, runtime dashboard, designed to present up
to date data on public health around the world.
• It provides country wide data on the numbers
of infected patients, a death tool and data on
the numbers of patients survived the virus:
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/685d0
ace521648f8a5beeeee1b9125cd

29. Knowledge for Healthcare
• Library and knowledge services provide
information from trusted source and
information which is scattered (Evidence
sources for health care workers, patient
and public and library knowledge staff).
• Evidence based Information(EBI) is the
need of the time

30. Conclusion
• In the current pandemic, Health Science librarians aim to do
three things:
• 1) support public health awareness
• 2) support research teams, researchers and faculty
• 3) provide routine core services for regular library users.
• These activities will continue for as long as it is necessary.
• A need for information exists in every crisis
– librarians and information professional must be ready to meet
this need whether it is for COVID-19 or something else.
– Although social distancing is good way to prevent the spread
of COVID-19
– Information access to users remains a social responsibility of
our librarians and information personnel.

31. ……..Thank You
Take Care and Stay Safe
•Questions???
• Librarian-hml@msubaroda.ac.in