Clinical Digital Libraries Project: design approach and exploratory assessment of timely use in clinical environments

The paper describes and evaluates the use of Clinical Digital Libraries Project (CDLP) digital library collections in terms of their facilitation of timely clinical information seeking.

A convenience sample of CDLP Web server log activity over a twelve-month period (7/2002 to 6/2003) was analyzed for evidence of timely information seeking after users were referred to digital library clinical topic pages from Web search engines. Sample searches were limited to those originating from medical schools (26% North American and 19% non-North American) and from hospitals or clinics (51% North American and 4% non-North American).

Timeliness was determined based on a calculation of the difference between the timestamps of the first and last Web server log "hit" during each search in the sample. The calculated differences were mapped into one of three ranges: less than one minute, one to three minutes, and three to five minutes.

Of the 864 searches analyzed, 48% were less than 1 minute, 41% were 1 to 3 minutes, and 11% were 3 to 5 minutes. These results were further analyzed by environment (medical schools versus hospitals or clinics) and by geographic location (North America versus non-North American). Searches reflected a consistent pattern of less than 1 minute in these environments. Though the results were not consistent on a month-by-month basis over the entire time period, data for 8 of 12 months showed that searches shorter than 1 minute predominated and data for 1 month showed an equal number of less than 1 minute and 1 to 3 minute searches.

The CDLP digital library collections provided timely access to high-quality Web clinical resources when used for information seeking in medical education and hospital or clinic environments from North American and non-North American locations and consistently provided access to the sought information within the documented two-minute standard. The limitations of the use of Web server data warrant an exploratory assessment. This research also suggests the need for further investigation in the area of timely digital library collection services to clinical environments.