Dear friends
"Data" is increasingly becoming a buzzword both generally and in research. Reading an article is one thing, but verifying the accuracy of all data collected to produce it, is another. Again, for an author, the need for varying kinds of data is increasing. In this issue we highlight two major sources of data, one from the US and one from India. These sites are directories of data resources and well worth bookmarking.
We also bring you an excellent article about fourteen different types of review articles. More people are embarking on writing systematic reviews now, and it is important to know what kind of a review one is going to do, as the methodology varies for each. It would make good sense to get one's directions straight before embarking on a review.
This month we did two workshops, three lectures and one guest lecture in a "BMJ Conclave" for librarians. Held in Kolkata, we had some good deliberations and my co speaker Dr Avinash Chinchure from TIFR Bangalore and I also had good questions come to us. What was a bit disturbing was that medical librarians there shared with us that medical colleges were not appointing young librarians when seniors retired, but got the seniors back on contract basis on what I would term as "bad salaries". Here is a problem where if we dig deep, there are more problems, but what we badly need in the country is a major shake up in medical librarianship, with several refresher courses, strong guidelines on what a medical library has to deliver, and a model to see how the budget spent on libraries should show good returns of real use. The MCI, NBE, ICMR and NAMS need to come together for discussions with senior librarians and younger ones both giving their voices.
Meanwhile - Do click and donate here to our good work with PG students!
Vasumathi Sriganesh
