A review of web-based application of online learning in pathology and laboratory medicine.

Web-based learning applications can support health sciences education, including knowledge acquisition in pathology and laboratory medicine. Websites can be developed to provide learning content, assessments, and products supporting pathology education. In this paper, we review informatics principles, practices, and procedures involved with educational website development in the context of existing websites and published studies of educational website usage outcomes, including that of the authors.

How much is too much reading for medical students? Assigned reading and reading rates at one medical school.

Purpose: To determine how medical students' reading rates affect their ability to complete assigned reading.

Method: The authors calculated the total amount of reading assigned during 71 weeks in 12 modules of the preclinical basic science curriculum at Mercer University School of Medicine for the 2009-2010 academic year. In September 2010, they surveyed the 351 enrolled students, asking them to estimate their reading rates, number of hours spent reading each day, and the amount of the assigned reading they had completed.

Going mobile: free and easy.

After almost two decades, mobile technologies are now such a part of the fabric of the hospital environment that hospital libraries must take this opportunity to continue to positively impact health outcomes by providing health professionals with valuable information and services via personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones. This article provides background information on mobile technology use and handheld devices. It describes how hospital librarians, regardless of staff, budget, or access to technology, can position the hospital library to connect health professionals to clinically relevant mobile resources and library services.

Development of a new academic digital library: a study of usage data of a core medical electronic journal collection.

Objectives: The current study evaluates the results of a previously reported method for creating a core medical electronic journal collection for a new medical school library, validates the core collection created specifically to meet the needs of the new school, and identifies strategies for making cost-effective e-journal selection decisions.

Methods: Usage data were extracted for four e-journal packages (Blackwell-Synergy, Cell Press, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, and ScienceDirect). Usage was correlated with weighted point values assigned to a core list of journal titles, and each package was evaluated for relevancy and cost-effectiveness to the Florida State University College of Medicine (FSU COM) population.