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SpringyCamp Summer 2020

Real-World Readiness: Using LibGuides to Wade Through the COVID-19 Flood

Medical librarians at the Welch Medical Library maintain a collection of LibGuides focused on serving the needs of the campus and global community. As the COVID-19 pandemic arose, the public was faced with an overload of information and misleading reports. Librarians at the Welch Medical Library quickly assembled a LibGuide to meet the needs of Hopkins researchers and healthcare workers. Resources were curated according to research resources, point-of-care resources, disease tracking/epidemiology, internal/Hopkins specific resources, and consumer health resources. Resources were chosen based on timeliness, authority, and usefulness to researchers or frontline healthcare workers. Use of the Covid-19 guide has been steady since its inception on March 12, 2020, receiving the bulk of the library's LibGuides traffic, with over 7,000 hits in a three-month period. The most popular pages were research resources and disease tracking. This case scenario demonstrates librarians' expertise and readiness to meet real-world demands in unprecedented times.

Product Covered: LibGuides

 

Carrie Price is a clinical informationist at the Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins University. She serves a number of clinical divisions and the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Katie Lobner is a clinical informationist at the Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins University. She serves a number of clinical divisions and the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

 

Welch Library, Johns Hopkins University

Library Type: Medical Library

Demographic Served: Faculty, fellows, residents, nurses, staff and students of the School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Public Health, and the Hospital System

Population Size: 35,000

Library Staff Size: 42

Plan for Fall 2020: Likely Online Only