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I don't know about other #medlibs or PubMed users, but I'm still reeling, still grieving, from new PubMed, especially the loss of myNCBI recent activity. It's been what? 4 months now? since new PubMed dropped. At some point it should settle, but it hasn't yet. (a thread) +
I've adjusted my workflow to this "new normal" but not having recent activity tracked is by far the biggest impact of newPM. To try and compensate, I dump citations into collections as I go. It helps some, but I still have to reconstruct past work way more than I should. +
NLM's answer to the problem with "just download your history" was not a solution. It actually caused other problems in the process, so I had to abandon it early on. A big issue was that it didn't include the translation, only the original search string. Infuriating. +
I've tried word docs. I've tried other tracking methods. I've even tried using browser history as a backup (spoiler: doesn't work). Structured searches are too long for links. It ridiculous how much I have to do extra to compensate for a relatively simple feature that is gone. +
Not having that recent activity has added at least an hour to every search request I do. That extra hour is a significant burden to my workflow. Over the course of a week, that usually works out to 2 or 3 searches I can't get to that I could've done before. It adds up fast. +
Please don't suggest extensions, add-ons, or whatever. I can't use them at work, and using them WFH does me no favors. As I've said before, I have good reasons for not using Ovid Medline, so that's not a solution either. I tried it, even though I hate it. It was so much worse. +
As bad as it is WFH, using new PubMed is so much worse at work in the library, because of how I have to do things there - switching computers, network restrictions, interruptions, etc. I can't do that at work. Only upside is that I can help users with same issues. +
It's so bad I'm having to *ask others* to change up their workflow too because of the ripple effects. A seemingly small thing like not being able to put a comment on an email sent from PubMed can have huge consequences in a library where multiple folks handle requests. +
The extra emails, explanations, directions to users, training technicians and users - those are other time sinks that haven't gotten a lot of relief with time. Even when streamlined, everything takes longer for everyone. There's more work. Those little things add up. +
I really do try not to complain about new PubMed. I do like some changes. I know NLM has been working hard. It's just... I expected the change to impact me. I didn't expect it to be so extensive or to last so long, and to keep burdening me in the process.
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