Psychology Module Synthesis

I particularly liked the article on embedded librarians that we read this week, as it presented a discussion that is germane to some of what I am working with in my practicum. Similarly, I was able to read an editorial from PubMed that dealt with a similar issue. I found this piece particularly interesting because it presented the author’s opinion that medical libraries will more or less disappear as physical institutions unless their directors act creatively to market the services the library has to offer, and seek to proactively meet the needs of the institution they serve (Starr 2011, pgs. 267-268). As I commented in my Reddit post earlier this week, these are issues currently facing Mount Carmel West, where I am doing my practicum. I have had more than one conversation with the director of the library there where he has expressed sentiments similar to those of the editorial.

I explored the article, “Psyched about Psychology Internet Resources,” and found a few that I liked. Although some of the links were broken or had not been recently updated, it seemed that many of the resources it presented would be useful tools for helping a patron find psychological information. That being said, I would probably not rely on this article as a frontline resource because of its dated nature. If I ever did reference work in psychology, I would want to find a more updated resource list that would give more current options for perusal.

As part of this exploration, I poked around the online Encyclopedia of Psychology. I liked the information that it presented, and its entries were succinct, well-sourced, and easy to read and understand. This would thus be a good tool to ether quickly grasp what a patron was searching for, or to help a patron better understand a psychology-related question they may have. That being said, I did not like that some of the entries are significantly older and thus may not reflect the most current research on those particular topics. Furthermore, I found the search box clunky and outdated. I was also frustrated that the Boolean searching was done with radio buttons. This is a feature that needs to be updated, although it works well enough for what it is designed to do.

Vanguard University’s Amoeba Web on psychology was strong in all of the ways that the Encyclopedia of Psychology is weak. The information from the Amoeba web is up-to-date and presents classifications and diagnoses from the DSM-V, the most current iteration of that work. Furthermore, its links to outside resources are also current and broad. One particular aspect that I found useful was what it had to provide on the pharmacological side of psychology. Information on drugs and drug interactions is something that I recently had a patron express difficulty in finding, as many medical resources provide information on drug treatments without delving into the pharmacological issues associated with managing a myriad of drug interactions. I would definitely add this resource to my arsenal as a reference librarian, and I would probably turn here first over either of the aforementioned resources.

The APA’s website was appropriately up to date and easy to navigate. I was also impressed at the array of resources they presented, and I was particularly taken with the section devoted to librarians. I was able to quickly look over the major databases and publications accredited by the APA. This would be extremely useful in assisting a patron doing a literature review in psychology because it would provide me with not only material to recommend, but also the tools to help the patron perform their own literature searches at their leisure.

In doing a Google Scholar search, I will admit that I was not terribly impressed. It did return some good results, but it is a less efficient and less effective means of searching for literature on psychology, or any subject, than it would be to go to a subject-specific database. Google Scholar could be useful for casting a wide net, or trying to find resources across a broad range of disciplines, but overall I have never particularly cared for it as a research tool. There are far better ways to do searches. Therefore, even in making recommendations to patrons, I would want to point them away from Google Scholar and towards database searchers and resources like the APA’s website and Vanguard’s Amoeba Web.

I liked the YaleCourses YouTube channel’s introduction to psychology. I poked around some of the videos and found them interesting and readily accessible. I could see these being used as a resource to reinforce introductory psychology courses, or also a means by which to help orient a patron with the field of psychology. Having non-print resources for any subject is a plus.

Finally, I liked the Psychology SubReddit. Most of the links go to either respected psychology resources, or to popular material that seems to be reinforced by reasonably academic resources. This SubReddit would be an excellent tool for staying abreast of news and current trends in the field of psychology, and also maintaining an understanding of what is being communicated via the popular media about psychological issues. This could help me to understand what patrons are asking about, and also provide a means by which to point patrons towards helpful resources based on their questions. 

Starr, S. (2011). The Librarian in the Cloud: Or Beware of Unintended Consequences. Journal of the Medical Library Association 99(4). Pgs. 267-269. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3193357/