Role of Librarians and Medical Information Experts in Response to Covid-19 in Iran

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 300-304
Author(s):  
Nasrin Aliasghari
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
Information Services ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
The World ◽  
Terrestrial Life ◽  
Knowledge Brokers

Human being has always faced different critical situations and unpredictable events such as floods, earthquakes and terrible infectious diseases such as cholera, plague, tuberculosis and influenza. However, it is believed that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) has been the most shocking pandemic that led to destructive effects in all geographical areas of the world and all aspect of terrestrial life. The governments increasingly enact quarantines, curfews, closures, and other restrictive controls against the countries, citizens, and institutions and deploy their facilities to tackle the infection and prevent its spread (1). Amid the anxiety of lock downs and the cancellation of educational programs around the world, researcher support has not stopped, and a group of knowledge brokers, led by librarians and medical informantionists, are constantly providing information services. Information is an urgent and essential commodity in any crisis. Therefore, librarians and information experts have to be always prepared to meet the information needs of society and provide the users with access to information.

Public libraries as facilitators of information services

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinashe Mugwisi ◽  
Glenrose Velile Jiyane ◽  
Madeleine C. Fombad
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Information Services ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Adults And Children

Public libraries are important institutions to support access to information services. Many communities, especially in rural areas, cannot afford to access information services and rely on free libraries in their communities in their quest for information services. The need for libraries to serve multicultural information users should therefore be reflected in their attempts to provide access to information services in their communities. This article reports on a study of libraries as facilitators of access to information services in a developing context. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 24 conveniently selected librarians from 9 public libraries in Northern Library Region in the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Interviews were further conducted with 98 diverse information users who were randomly sampled during data collection. Findings indicate that public libraries provide diverse information services to learners, parents, general workers, students, women and young adults and children in their different age groups, occupations and general activities performed in their role of facilitating access to information services. These diverse users have diverse information needs, which create some challenges in the provision of information services. It was found that limited funding, shortage of skills and knowledge, technology and time, among others, are challenges limiting provision of information services in these libraries. Recruiting potential users, contesting for increased funding, lobbying for support, facilitation of technological training of skills are some recommendations made by this study.

The Center for International Biomedical Communications Research

1966 ◽  
Vol 05 (03) ◽  
pp. 142-146
Author(s):  
A. Kent ◽  
P. J. Vinken
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
English Language ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Biomedical Literature ◽  
Information Storage ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
University Of Pittsburgh ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Excerpta Medica Foundation

A joint center has been established by the University of Pittsburgh and the Excerpta Medica Foundation. The basic objective of the Center is to seek ways in which the health sciences community may achieve increasingly convenient and economical access to scientific findings. The research center will make use of facilities and resources of both participating institutions. Cooperating from the University of Pittsburgh will be the School of Medicine, the Computation and Data Processing Center, and the Knowledge Availability Systems (KAS) Center. The KAS Center is an interdisciplinary organization engaging in research, operations, and teaching in the information sciences.Excerpta Medica Foundation, which is the largest international medical abstracting service in the world, with offices in Amsterdam, New York, London, Milan, Tokyo and Buenos Aires, will draw on its permanent medical staff of 54 specialists in charge of the 35 abstracting journals and other reference works prepared and published by the Foundation, the 700 eminent clinicians and researchers represented on its International Editorial Boards, and the 6,000 physicians who participate in its abstracting programs throughout the world. Excerpta Medica will also make available to the Center its long experience in the field, as well as its extensive resources of medical information accumulated during the Foundation’s twenty years of existence. These consist of over 1,300,000 English-language _abstract of the world’s biomedical literature, indexes to its abstracting journals, and the microfilm library in which complete original texts of all the 3,000 primary biomedical journals, monitored by Excerpta Medica in Amsterdam are stored since 1960.The objectives of the program of the combined Center include: (1) establishing a firm base of user relevance data; (2) developing improved vocabulary control mechanisms; (3) developing means of determining confidence limits of vocabulary control mechanisms in terms of user relevance data; 4. developing and field testing of new or improved media for providing medical literature to users; 5. developing methods for determining the relationship between learning and relevance in medical information storage and retrieval systems’; and (6) exploring automatic methods for retrospective searching of the specialized indexes of Excerpta Medica.The priority projects to be undertaken by the Center are (1) the investigation of the information needs of medical scientists, and (2) the development of a highly detailed Master List of Biomedical Indexing Terms. Excerpta Medica has already been at work on the latter project for several years.

The awakening information needs of the developing countries

1979 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 285-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjorn V. Tell
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Information Services ◽  
Information Network ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Online Systems ◽  
The Awakening ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Centres Of Excellence

The developing countries arc emulating the industrialized countries when setting up information services to cater for their information needs. However, the traditional infrastruc ture of service organisations may not be the best model for supporting easy and speedy access to information. A different approach is argued, founded upon the enthusiasm with which many developing countries have taken to online systems when demonstrated there. A model for a ministerial information network is proposed as part of a "social intel ligence function" of the country. It is proposed that Unesco and UNIDO should set up regional "centres of excellence" according to this model for developing countries.

A geographical analysis of the first wave of Covid-19 with reference to highland and lowland regions of India

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-281
Author(s):  
Bindhy Wasini Pandey ◽  
◽  
Yuvraj Singh ◽  
Usha Rani ◽  
Roosen Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Temporal Pattern ◽  
Regional Disparity ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Indian Himalayan Region ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Extensive Coverage ◽  
The World ◽  
Spatio Temporal

The issue of health has become a major concern in recent years as a result of extensive coverage of media reporting outbreaks of diseases and the spread of deadly infectious diseases around the world. There has been a growing concern over the accessibility and affordability of healthcare facilities. The spread of the ongoing pandemic COVID-19 has been felt all over the world. However, the rate of infection varies across certain regions of the world. There exists intra-regional disparity as well. Recent research shows that there are latitudinal and altitudinal variations in the spread of the COVID-19. This paper studies variation of infection COVID-19 across the highlands of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) and the lowland areas in India. The paper also examines the role of geographical spaces in the spread of coronavirus in these regions. The study indicates that place-based effects (altitude, temperature, pollution levels, etc.) on health can be seen in a variety of ways; therefore, locational issues are very important for addressing health questions. The paper also analyses the Spatio-temporal pattern of the COVID-19 pandemic in the study area to understand the nature of the disease in different locations.

Special Library Consortia

2018 ◽  
pp. 1579-1604
Author(s):  
Tawfeeq Nazir
Keyword(s):  
Critical Mass ◽  
Information Services ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Electronic Information ◽  
User Community ◽  
Library Consortia ◽  
The World ◽  
Special Library ◽  
Library Consortium ◽  
To Come

Due to increase in costs, proliferation of electronic resources and dwindling library budgets, cooperative e-acquisition has become a compelling proposition in a library consortium environment. The user community also has been greatly influenced by newer technologies facilitating seamless access to information. Users demand to have a wide array of electronic information services. As such, the current library scenario has reached a critical mass both in terms of e-products as well as increased number of virtual users. Due to journal crisis, and cuts in library budgets, the special library professionals are forced to come together in forming a consortium for subscription of e-journals. This chapter provides an outlook of special library consortia in India and the rest of the world.

Construction and Sharing of Library Digital Resources in China and Southeast Asia

2014 ◽  
Vol 936 ◽  
pp. 2298-2301
Author(s):  
Do Thi Thanh Thuy
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Information Flow ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Information Services ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
The World ◽  
Resources Sharing

Resources development & sharing has become an important subject of widespread concern in the world and it is the inevitable demand of information society development. Sharing is not only a useful way to save money, reduce duplication of investment, improve resource utilization and realize resources complement, but also an important way to greatly improve the information flow and information services support capabilities, and promote society access to information in general. This paper introduces the importance of resources sharing between the libraries of China and Southeast Asian and it refers to the cooperation ways of digital resources sharing.

scholarly journals The role of vaccination in global health

2014 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-19
Author(s):  
Keegan Guidolin ◽  
Gaby Meglei
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Preventable Death ◽  
Eradication Program ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future

Perhaps the greatest medical advancement in history was the development of the vaccine. While previously helpless to stop the spread of deadly infectious diseases, humanity has since harnessed the power of vaccination and decreased the incidence of infectious disease across the globe. Smallpox was the first disease to be eradicated—the greatest of our triumphs. This success was due to the global coordinated effort of the Intensified Smallpox Eradication Program. Presently, measles is the top cause of vaccine-preventable death in the world, and despite enormous vaccination efforts, eradication is still distant. This is due in part to the antivaccination movement, which was fueled by an article by Wakefield, published in the Lancet in 1998. The future of vaccination is an ambitious and unclear one—with tremendous financial support and involvement, the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) aims to eliminate vaccine preventable illness within what they call the “Decade of Vaccines”.

scholarly journals The Role of Digital Technologies in the New Present and Future of Higher Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 417-422
Author(s):  
Carles Sigalés
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
The World

AbstractOver the last two decades, digitization has transformed the world as we know it. It has changed our economies, industries, leisure, social practices, job markets, politics, and—of course—how we learn. Access to information has continuously been getting faster and more universal.

scholarly journals Are pandemics associated with intensive livestock production?

2021 ◽  
pp. 2-2
Author(s):  
Ole Alvseike ◽  
Tore Tollersrud ◽  
Bojan Blagojevic
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
One Health ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Wild Animals ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
The World ◽  
Primary Driver ◽  
To Come

Covid-19 has awakened the world to the importance of infectious diseases. However, it also affected several people, including researchers, as well as some organizations to blame the pandemic on intensive livestock production. Several factors contribute to the fact that the next pandemic is less likely to come from intensive livestock farming than from wild animals and traditional small-scale livestock production. However, there are also the facts that support the role of intensive production in spreading of diseases. One Health - the interaction between the health of humans, animals and the environment has received a lot of attention. Livestock production plays a role in these interactions, but is not a primary driver for the development of new pandemics.

scholarly journals The role of the world health organization in solving international public health problems: history, modernity and development prospects

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Health Protection ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

Epidemics of smallpox, cholera, plague and other infectious diseases in the world in the past were accompanied by the deaths of millions of people and often threatened humanity with destruction as a biological species. Therefore, society was forced to join forces to create an organization that would provide health protection on a global scale. On April 7, 1948, 26 UN member states created the World Health Organization, the main goal of which was to help provide the protection of health of the population of all countries of the world. Purpose of the study - analysis of the historical data of the process of creating the World Health Organization, achievements for all the years of its existence, financing in last years and formation of the opinions of authors on the role of this organization in solving health problems of all humanity. Results. The article presents data on stages of the formation of the World Health Organization. Information about positive results for more than 70 years in solving reproductive health problems, maternal and child mortality, eradicating many infectious diseases in different parts of the world and other problems is detailed. Joint resolutions of the World Health Organization with the United Nations were adopted about general and complete disarmament, protection of humanity from atomic radiation, ban on the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons, defining of the role of doctors and other health workers in the preservation and strengthening of the world. Information on the World Health Organization funding is provided. The prospects for the development of the organization are described. Conclusions. The World Health Organization actively continues its work – maintains contact with international experts, governments and partners for quick collection of scientific data on a new virus, tracks its distribution and assesses its virulence, provides to countries and population recommendations on health protection measures and preventing the spread of infection. The global climatic crisis and the coronavirus infection pandemic showed that the role of the World Health Organization should increase to prevent cataclysms in some countries and globally. It is the World Health Organization that has a huge positive international experience in fighting various public health problems and it remains the only effective organization that consolidates the efforts of most countries of the world to overcome the problems of all humanity.

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