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Medical libraries have had to swiftly change the way they connected their clients to instruction services starting Spring of 2020. The focus of this article is on the instructional services of [hospital library] pre and post 2020 and it will also provide insights into what hospital libraries in Canada have been doing, what they are succeeded at and working on. This paper will describe the design, implementation, and outcomes of a Quality Improvement (QI) project and concludes by exploring the changes recommended to enhance online instructional services in an urban research and teaching hospital library environment.   The QI project led the team to prioritize three areas for improvement: a peer feedback system that has been designed to support instructors in building their confidence and skills; monthly the Instruction Team will debrief any workshops using the peer feedback data, attendance information, instructor feedback, and attendee evaluations. The workshops offered will expand beyond the typical hour-long, one-off workshop sessions to other formats. The results of the QI process have produced many ideas that could be used to improve the design and delivery of online instruction and confirmed that libraries in hospitals across Canada are encountering similar barriers around time, staffing capacity, technology, and training. 

Background: The Health Sciences Library and the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program (BHSc) at McMaster University worked together to build a multi-year information literacy (IL) curriculum embedded within the program under a suite of courses called Praxis Pathways. Description: Praxis Pathways consists of four Threads. Thread 4: Information Literacy is the focus of this case report. The authors will describe the multi-year embedded IL curriculum, which is scaffolded to build both IL skills, such as database searching, and introduce students to key conceptual conversations in IL,  production and dissemination. Outcomes: BHSc program graduates in 2023 will be the first to have completed all four years of the Praxis Pathways courses, including the IL program developed and delivered by the library. The authors will describe how the impact of the program will be evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively going forward. Conclusion: Embedded librarianship for multi-year, scaffolded IL education in undergraduate programs continues to be a rarity, despite the acknowledgement that one-shot instruction has several limitations. The authors present this case report to share how they embedded a for-cred IL curriculum in an undergraduate program that looks beyond the one-shot, skill-based tutorial and focuses on developing adaptive, information-literate lifelong learners.

Background: Academic institutions and libraries are familiar with Wikipedia. There is growing momentum in higher education for using Wikipedia as a learning tool in various contexts. These include, but are not limited to, the use of Wikipedia-based assignments to teach information literacy, science communication, evidence-based practice, and more. Although there is growing acceptance of Wikipedia’s value in the classroom, there are limited exemplars available for how it is applied in undergraduate health sciences education. Description: This program description describes a librarian instructed course in the Bachelor of Health Sciences Program at McMaster University in which students dedicate one academic term to learning about Wikipedia content production and making contributions to a health-related Wikipedia article of their choice. Outcomes: In the five iterations of this course that have been offered, undergraduate health sciences students have made significant contributions to 25 health-related articles in Wikipedia. They have added more than 120,000 words and over 2,000 references to high-quality literature. In class, conversations emerged about the meaningfulness of the editing Wikipedia, information literacy, and knowledge translation.

This paper describes the search approach for preprints for a post–COVID-19 condition (i.e., long COVID) scoping review, including source selection, search strategy development, challenges, and insights throughout a project life cycle. With the growth of medical preprints since the COVID-19 pandemic, information professionals and researchers should be aware that preprints are a possible source of evidence and be prepared to manage them in evidence reviews for COVID-19 topics and beyond. Preprints are not peer reviewed but can include important evidence about emerging topics. Because of the importance of preprints to the first stage of the scoping review, a preprint search of Europe PubMed Central (PMC) was added. Europe PMC and similar aggregators combine multiple preprint servers and often have Boolean search, but sometimes limited search functionalities or export options. Strategy translation encountered challenges such as varying and inconsistent terminology for post–COVID-19 condition, a complex search, and negotiating large numbers of preprints with resource constraints. The final preprints search in Europe PMC identified more preprints for inclusion in from additional preprint servers. A summary of considerations will support information specialists conducting preprint searches for COVID-19 and other topics.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario-based Centre for Effective Practice (CEP) established the COVID-19 Resource Centre (CRC) in March 2020. This platform rapidly became a critical source of clinical and practice guidance for primary care providers, highlighting the importance of effective information synthesis during public health emergencies. The article discusses the development of the CRC, emphasizing the application of librarianship principles in navigating the challenges posed by the pandemic's information overload and the scarcity of evidence. It outlines the strategies for literature searching, appraisal, and evidence synthesis that were employed to ensure the content's accuracy and utility. The CRC's evolution is presented within the context of its goal to efficiently bridge the gap between evidence and clinical practice, underscoring the collaborative efforts and innovative methodologies that contributed to its success. The CRC has served as an invaluable resource, attracting close to 185,000 visitors from Ontario, across Canada, and internationally. According to survey feedback, 89% of users reported enhanced knowledge of COVID-19 evidence and policies, and 87% stated that the vaccine information directly informed their practice. These statistics underscore the CRC's role in supporting informed decision-making among healthcare providers. The CRC marked the CEP's first foray into real-time evidence-based tool development. Facing challenges of expanding information volumes, an unpredictable information landscape, and the need for swift adaptation to new developments, the CRC emerged as a critical resource, enhancing credibility for the CEP, and fostering new partnerships. This journey underscores the importance of librarianship skills-critical appraisal, evidence synthesis, and knowledge translation-in enhancing service delivery.

Introduction: This program description outlines our approach to re-developing our three-part series for graduate students on comprehensive searching for knowledge syntheses from in-person to online delivery using a flipped classroom model. The re-development coincided with our library's response to COVID-19. Description: This series followed a flipped classroom model where participants completed asynchronous modules built on Articulate Rise 360 before attending a synchronous session. Each week of content covered unique learning objectives. Pre- and post-class self-assessments were used to examine students' understanding of the materials. Outcomes: 152 unique participants registered for the series across two offerings in summer 2020. We observed high engagement with pre-work modules and active participation during synchronous sessions. Discussion: We found the flipped classroom approach to work well for our users in an online environment. Moving forward, we intend to continue with our re-developed online workshop series with minor modifications, in addition to in-person instruction.

Explore the stunning but hostile Mediterranean, where astonishing wildlife has adapted and endured - until now. What are the secrets of the creatures that have found a way to flourish under intense human pressure? And what might be done to protect these endangered ecosystems? Watch a young female loggerhead turtle cross the perilous Mediterranean waters to lay eggs inland; witness storks soar above the dangerous Gibraltar strait and marvel at the sophistication of social relations in sperm whale pods.

Community colleges play an important role in starting students on the road to engineering careers, but students often face obstacles in transferring to four-year educational institutions to continue their education. Enhancing the Community College Pathway to Engineering Careers , a new book from the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council, discusses ways to improve the transfer experience for students at community colleges and offers strategies to enhance partnerships between those colleges and four-year engineering schools to help students transfer more smoothly. In particular, the book focuses on challenges and opportunities for improving transfer between community colleges and four-year educational institutions, recruitment and retention of students interested in engineering, the curricular content and quality of engineering programs, opportunities for community colleges to increase diversity in the engineering workforce, and a review of sources of information on community college and transfer students. It includes a number of current policies, practices, and programs involving community college-four-year institution partnerships.

While most of the dialogue in education today is about accountability, standardized testing, and adequate yearly progress, the truth is that student success is deeply connected to the physical, emotional, and cognitive needs that they have at different ages. The best schools already know this and follow practices that are academically engaging and developmentally appropriate. Now here's a book that looks at these schools and highlights the similarities of their programs. Discover how these schools help their students reach their true potential by using an approach to education that includes: (1) An emphasis on play for early childhood learning; (2) Theme- and project-based learning for elementary school students; (3) Active learning that recognizes the social, emotional, and cognitive needs of adolescents in middle schools; and (4) Mentoring, apprenticeships, and cooperative education for high school students. Explore learning settings, pedagogical tools, and instructional approaches that any school can adopt to inspire students of all ages to discover their passion for learning.

This book brings together a wide array of commentary to coalesce as though it were a piece of landscape theatre, always with the recognition that the fascinating and at times entertaining observations carry venom.