Information services facing the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused various effects in the world, among them the saturation of information in the traditional media, as well as in those of scientific dissemination, due to the accelerated production of informative material. At the Mexican Institute for Social Security (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social), librarians have contributed to the careful selection of documents as they are in charge of providing specialized information services to health personnel in order to support them in academic, educational, teaching and research activities. In the context of physical distancing, the need for up-to-date and accurate information on the new coronavirus became a priority. In this sense, librarians have focused their efforts to carry out strategies that would allow to provide specialized information services remotely, reinforcing reference services such as bibliographic alert and Selective Information Dissemination, to reach users in a timely manner, simple and agile, updated, reliable and quality information on COVID-19. These services have been well received by users, but it is still necessary to systematize the provision of information services to identify which documents are of greatest interest and usefulness.