President’s Page
We have a daily huddle at the hospital, and recently, one of our leaders began the huddle with this nugget: “If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.” – Eric Shinseki, U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs and former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. Change had been on my mind before he shared this nugget, but as soon as he offered this quote, I knew that ‘change’ was something I needed to reflect on even more. The year 2013 has been momentous both professionally and personally through numerous changes, many of which were not anticipated or planned. As a CAHSLA community, we have seen many changes in our local library community, some we did not welcome or understand. On MEDLIB-L, there has been much discussion about a YAHOO piece that deemed librarianship a “dead career” (see the “On the Net” section of this newsletter for some comments from fellow librarians). More change. It was sad and ironic that as this discussion was occurring a librarian from Maine announced on MEDLIB the closure of yet another hospital library. And still another timely convergence of the discussions on MEDLIB with Michelle Kraft’s [“The Krafty Librarian"] announcement that she was hosting a MLA Twitter discussion on “killing the sacred cows of librarianship.” Another invitation to change.
“In order to embrace the new, we must release the old. A trapeze artist cannot swing from one bar to another without letting go. An important part of preparing for the New Year is to review the past year—to release it—and to learn from it.…” (Reflections: A Top Ten List of Year-End Questions Michael E. Angier http://successnet.org found at: http://www.appleseeds.org/angier_reflections.htm) I found this quote to be relevant to this overall year-end reflection and the discussion on the future of libraries and librarianship. What have we learned from this past year about our profession and library communities – both local and national? How can we move forward releasing what is no longer useful while not losing that which has intrinsic value to our profession and those we serve?
In reviewing this past year, what I learned is that our CAHSLA community is vitally important as we cope with change. Our colleagues have a wealth of knowledge and an enormous capacity to offer guidance, support and empathy. I hope that you find time in 2014 to join us for the interesting programming and socializing that the Program Committee has in the works. The knowledge gained and the relationships developed will, I believe, help you to face the challenges of a profession and industry in unrelenting change.
And finally, Edith Starbuck offers this special holiday message, “The holiday season is a time to be thankful and to rejoice in family, friends, and colleagues. It is also a time when the loss of a loved one is felt most keenly. Reach out to those around you during this holiday season that may be in transition or struggling with loss. Sometimes even a small gesture can make all the difference.” Change and loss ... transition and reinvention. In my mind, what makes change, loss, transition and reinvention possible are the connections we have to family, friends, and colleagues. Thank you for allowing me to feel those connections through CAHSLA.
I wish each of you peace and friendship in 2014.
Lisa McCormick
CAHSLA Holiday Jingle and Mingle
December 12, 2013 5:30 – 8:30
Attendees:
Brigid Almaguer, Carole Baker, Catherine Constance, Michael Douglas, Regina Hartman, Emily Kean, Lisa McCormick, Mary Piper, Val Purvis, Edith Starbuck, Stephanie Bricking, Sandra Mason, Peggy Frondorf, Jane Thompson, Jennifer Heffron, Jennifer Pettigrew, Barb Slavinski, Gabrielle Hopkins
CAHSLA members and guests gathered once again at Mary Piper’s North Avondale home for a night of fun, food and fellowship. The fire at the hearth, the delectable aromas wafting from the kitchen, and the festive holiday decorations provided the perfect Christmas background for our group. The array of culinary delights was impressive – a special shout-out goes to Amy Koshoffer who sent a colorful Christmas salad of greens, pomegranate seeds and citrus even though she was not able to make it to the party.
Edith showed up at the door looking much like Santa Claus himself with a collection of myriad bags and duffels. We also gathered an impressive assortment of new children’s books for the Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati. In all, we collected 33 books. Lisa McCormick brought the framed City of Cincinnati official Proclamation designating November 1, 2013 as “CAHSLA Day in Cincinnati” in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the organization. Regina Hartman led the group in several competitive and raucous games, including Name that Carol! And a take-off on “Family Feud.” Jennifer Heffron impressed everyone by identifying 21 of the 25 carols! Jennifer Pettigrew received the prize for having the fewest correct answers.
We thank Mary Piper for her hospitality for yet another enjoyable holiday gathering.
Submitted: Brigid Almaguer, Secretary
Financial Report 2013-2014
Checking Account
Balance as of 6/26/2013 $2474.24
Deposits
Dues (20 regular) $500.00
Withdrawals
Reserve picnic shelter for June picnic $ 50.00
Membership meeting, food, beverages, supplies $190.81
Framing of mayor’s proclamation of CAHSLA Day $ 88.28
Holiday party supplies $ 38.72
Holiday party food $ 35.00
Thank you flowers $ 44.92
Balance as of 12/16/2013 $2526.51
Cash
Balance as of 6/26/2013 $ 34.44
Withdrawals
Balance as of 12/16/2013 $ 34.44
Total Assets $2560.95
Paid members
Regular 20
Student 0
Life members 12
Total 32
Submitted by:
Cathy Constance, Treasurer
2013-2014 CAHSLA Program Committee Report
Since CAHSLA’s 40th anniversary celebration in September, plans for a CAHSLA gathering anda TechConvo session did not come to fruition. The Moerlein House gathering in late October was cancelled when a number of people were unable to attend at the last minute. The TechConvo session was postponed so as to not conflict with the Cincinnati SLA Annual Tech Blitz in November. So keep your eyes open for a CAHSLA TechConvo event coming up after the holidays.
On December 12th the CAHSLA holiday party was graciously hosted by Mary Piper in her lovely home. In keeping with tradition, attendees contributed a dish to share at the party and a children’s book for a local organization. Each year, a different organization is chosen to receive the children’s books that CAHSLA members contribute. This year, Lisa McCormick suggested the Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati, an organization that trains volunteers to work with K-4 students in the Cincinnati Public Schools. Lisa reports that she will be able to deliver a total of 33 books to this worthy organization!
What CAHSLA programs are coming up in the New Year? On Wednesday, February 19th, CAHSLA will visit the American Watchmaker -– Clockmaker Institute in Harrison, OH. This unique clock and watch archive has a library and also offers education and training programs, tours and exhibits. Watch for a flyer in January, but save the date now.
The historic Hauck House on Dayton Street will be the site of the April/May CAHSLA meeting. You don’t want to miss this beautiful Italianate mansion where the wealthy German brewery owner John Hauck lived.
We will close out the CAHSLA program year once more at the Daniel Drake Park on June 19th. So mark your calendars and plan to join your CAHSLA friends and colleagues for the annual picnic potluck.
The CAHSLA Program Committee wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing you at CAHSLA program or TechConvo event in the New Year.
Edith Starbuck, CAHSLA Vice President and Program Chair
SLA 2013 Tech Blitz -- More Fact Than Fiction!
I attended the SLA 2013 Tech Blitz at the Interact for Health Conference Facility (formerly The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati) presented by Glen Horton. Glen has moved to UC where he is involved in building the UC digital Repository. Glen previously served as the Digital Services Manager for Campbell County Public Library and as the Technology Coordinator for SWON Libraries.This year built on a theme from last year’s talk in that Glen stated again that the term mobile is not necessary to describe our phones and tablets. The transition is complete and in his words, mobile is dead. Our phones and tablets are now our everyday companion devices. It was interesting to hear about technology mentioned in last year’s talk and discussed again this year. We revisited Googleglass which are closer to the market, though still not available to the general public. You can sign up for the explorer program, but the line is long. Click here if you are interested. Glen also discussed 3D printers again as well as household items such as the programmable thermostat from Nest that learns our behaviors and adjusts to fit our lifestyle.
Building on this idea on smart technology, Glen discussed several devices that are collecting biometrics, ranging from sport monitors to cell phones. For example, the new iphone 5s collects lots of data by constantly measuring your motion. It is equipped with an accelerometer, gyroscope and compass. This level of monitoring is not for the faint of heart. Many of these devices also have a variety of fitness and health apps available. Interestingly in an unrelated talk on the future of retirement I attended, the speaker Joseph F. Coughlin mentioned that technology will be used in very inventive ways to monitor our health. Dr. Coughlin, director of the AgeLab at MIT, stated that we would most likely live longer and in an unhealthy state. As a population we would have more diabetes and obesity. He too discussed the prevalence of technology in accessing our population’s health. Spoons that monitor glucose levels and exoskeletal braces are in the works. It is clear that technology and health monitoring will play a large role in our future.
Glen also made the statement that we will live in our browsers. This means that we will use our devices to access more and more of our daily comforts and content through services such as Google Hangout, Microsoft Skype and Apple Facetime, through wireless streaming and subscriptions such as Google Play and Netflix and devices such as Google Chromecast. This also means library patrons are and will continue to access more content via their devices.
Libraries and librarians will need access to devices such as tablets, learn to use them, teach customers to use the devices and provide content to customers using such devices. The future may see a librarian interacting with patrons who are not physically in the library, but who are instead streaming events like story time from a remote location.
One question raised by the audience at the end of the talk was who is responsible for maintaining the access to content. Glen mentioned his most recent project, the UC digital repository. The idea is that content generated at the institution will be preserved and protected so that future patrons and researchers can use the data. But this does not address the issue of content produced and owned by a third party. This is a topic that will need to be addressed, but the hour was too short to give it proper attention.
There was much to think about and much to keep an eye on. If you are interested in viewing the slides from Glen’s presentation, here is the link to the 2013 presentation and a link to Glen’s site with past presentations: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p0lxv0KF8Rv5GVDG6DVCuMCkaZ1LAbS1nKWIpRE_e48/edit#slide=id.g22719e7e_0_60 and http://glengage.com/presentations/.
Amy Koshoffer
Have you visited the new CAHSLA website?
We are now using Wordpress (http://wordpress.org/about/) to manage the content of our website. Technically Wordpress is an open access blogging tool which is slightly different than a full webpage. However, it has the advantage that we can modify content from any location and can do so without having to write in code. Also we can have several administrators and set up pages to facilitate communication between committee members. We would like to explore these options at a tech convo in January or February. There we will explain the features of Wordpress and to see how we can best use the power of Wordpress. The tech convo is open to paid members of CAHSLA so make sure your membership is up-to-date. You can send your time and venue suggestions to Amy.Koshoffer@UC.Edu.
CAHSLA Colleagues
Jennifer Pettigrew, MLIS, has joined the staff
of The James N. Gamble Medical Library (The Christ Hospital) as an archivist. Pettigrew grew up in Blue Ash, Ohio. She earned a BA in Anthropology from the University of Cincinnati and a MLIS from Rutgers University. In her previous position at the Cincinnati Art Museum she functioned as the Archivist for the Mary R. Schiff Library and Archives for nearly two years. In November 2013 Jennifer started her current position as the Archivist for The Christ Hospital and is responsible for organizing, preserving, and describing the records, photographs, blueprints, and other printed works related to the founding and history of The Christ Hospital, The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and The Elizabeth Gamble Deaconess Home Association. Jennifer lives in Sycamore Township with her husband Tyler Pettigrew, Executive Director of Our Daily Bread in Over-the-Rhine, and their dog Hillary, an English Setter mix.
Edward L. Pratt Research Library is pleased to welcome Holly Spindler, MLIS, Cincinnati Children’s inaugural Resource Management Librarian. In addition to holding her Masters’ in Library and Information Science from Kent State University, Holly comes to us with a Medical Library background, having spent several years serving physicians, nurses, residents, undergraduates and Faculty at the Kettering Medical and College Libraries in Dayton, Ohio. Although her specialty is managing resources, she also enjoyed a practicum spent at the Dayton Metro Library, serving patrons from behind the local library’s reference desk. Her time spent in the Public Library enhanced her deep appreciation for the powerful role that information plays in the world of Medicine and its advances. Recently, Holly has returned from living abroad in Grenada. She occupied her time there by volunteering at local orphanages, participating in ecology clean-ups, organizing fund raisers for a children's afterschool program, and serving as a member of the St. George's University Lecture Committee, as well as, Executive Board Secretary for the St. George's University's Significant Others Organization. Her time abroad increased Holly's fondness for travel, her love of learning, and her appreciation for diversity.Val Purvis is volunteering at The Jewish Hospital Health Sciences Library.
Kudos
Emily Kean, James N. Gamble Medical Library (TCH), was elected President Elect/Program Committee Chair for the Cincinnati Chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA).
Edith Starbuck (UC HSL) presented the paper "At the Beginning of an Odyssey with Bioinformatics and the NCBI Databases" and the poster “Participating in a Fellowship Program Curriculum” at the Midwest Chapter/MLA Annual Meeting held in Peoria, IL in October.
Sharon Purtee and Edith Starbuck (UC HSL) presented the paper “Managing Journals by Committee” at the 2013 Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC. CAHSLA members may recall that they did a presentation with the same title in 2011 at the Midwest Chapter/MLA meeting and for a CAHSLA TechConvo session. This presentation talked about managing journals by committee over a three year period. Sharon and Edith also wrote a paper that will be published in the conference proceedings. The “Against the Grain” newsletter picked up on Sharon and Edith’s presentation and featured them in the November 2013 newsletter. Check it out: http://www.against-the-grain.com/2013/11/managing-journals-by-committee/
In the Literature and On the 'Net
EBM’s Six Dangerous Words
R. Scott Braithwaite writes in the November 27, 2013 “A Piece of My Mind” section of JAMA on the importance and impact of six very important words often used in embarking on the evidence based medicine path. As Braithwaite states, “The six most dangerous words in evidence-based medicine (EBM) do not directly cause deaths or adverse events. They do not directly cause medical errors or diminutions in quality of care. However, they may indirectly cause these adverse consequences by leading to false inferences for decision making.”
According to Braithwaite, the six dangerous words are, “There is no evidence to suggest …” He discovered this phrase “appears in MEDLINE 3055 times, nearly as often as “decision analysis” (3140 times).” Braithwaite concludes, “I suggest that academic physicians and EBM practitioners make a concerted effort to banish this phrase from their professional vocabularies. Instead, they could substitute one of the following 4 phrases, each of which has clearer implications for decision making: (1) “scientific evidence is inconclusive, and we don’t know what is best” (corresponding to USPSTF grade I with uninformative Bayesian prior) or (2) “scientific evidence is inconclusive, but my experience or other knowledge suggests ‘X’” (corresponding to USPSTF grade I with informative Bayesian prior suggesting “X”), (3) “this has been proven to have no benefit (corresponding USPSTF grade D), or (4) “this is a close call, with risks exceeding benefits for some patients but not for others” (corresponding to USPSTF grade C). Each of these four statements would lead to distinct inferences for decision making and could improve clarity of communication with patients.” JAMA. 2013;310(20):2149-2150.
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Reprinted below with the permission of the authors are a few comments from MEDLIB from two discussion threads. YAHOO posted a list of ‘dead careers,’ and librarianship made the list. Needless to say, the YAHOO article, Five Dead-End Jobs You Should Leave Today, sparked many comments. Michelle Kraft’s post coincided with the YAHOO story.
From: Kraft, Michelle [mailto:kraftm@CCF.ORG]
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 12:56 PM
Subject: Discuss Killing Sacred Library Cows on #medlibs chat Thursday 9pm Eastern
Last week many of celebrated by killing turkeys and giving thanks. This Thursday #medlibs chat is going to discuss creating opportunities by killing some cows. Killing cows!? What does this have to with medical libraries. Simple... There are many things we do as librarians that we have been doing for years and years without fail and without question. There are various reasons we do these things.
Our predecessor was doing it.
We've always been doing it.
It is a librarian thing to do.
Inertia
Whatever the reason, there are some activities that we do that take up our time and prevent us from spending time on other things such as
Outreach
Technology
Research
Rounding
We know we are super heroes but even super heroes can't do everything at once. If the Green Goblin is threatening the financial district while Doc Ock is attacking the Department of Defense, Spiderman has to make a choice.
The library environment has changed drastically and is continuing to do so. The library of 5 years ago is different from the library today. For example, the iPhone had just been released, there were no iPads and the idea of a "downloadable" ebook had just been introduced by Amazon Kindle. There were a very limited number of Kindle and certainly not intended for medicine.
Yet many of us are doing the same things we did as librarians 5, 10, 15, 20 yrs ago. We were stretched thin back then, so there is no way we can now add things to our repertoire without giving up something in return. We must look at what we do in our own libraries and evaluate whether it is necessary, whether it helps our patrons or helps us. To really evaluate our services we need to look at EVERYTHING including the sacred cows of the library. We need to ask ourselves, do we need to check in journals, catalog books, make copies, keep the reference desk, fuss with circulation, etc. The right answers will depend on the library. A large academic library might need to still do cataloging but does a small solo hospital library with 4 shelves (not ranges) really need a catalog system much less spend time cataloging books? Some of these ideas are dangerous and even somewhat heretical librarian thinking, and are going to discuss them. For more background on sacred cows and heretical librarian thoughts check out my summary of my keynote address I gave at the Midwest Chapter annual meeting.
http://kraftylibrarian.com/?p=2480
We need to look at the opportunities that are available to us and to take advantage of them we will have to slaughter some library cows. This Thursday's #medlibs discussion at 9pm Eastern will discuss the idea of thinning the herd of library services so that we can grow healthy new opportunities.
Molly Knapp (@dial_m), Amy Blevins (@blevinsa) and Michelle Kraft (@krafty) will be moderating the discussion. As always we will be using the hashtag #medlibs but if you want to further the discussion before/during/or after the regular Thursday night time use the hashtag #moo.
For more information about #medlibs chats go to http://medlibschat.blogspot.com/ Questions about how you can participate or lurk, feel free to email me.
Michelle Kraft
Technical note: Once you have created a Twitter account then the EASIEST way to follow a chat if you aren't a big Twitter user is to go to http://www.tchat.io/ Type #medlibs into the box and click start chatting. The page only contains the #medlibs discussion and automatically refreshes. IF you want to join in the discussion it will ask you to login using your Twitter username and password. Once you do that you can easily participate in the discussion.
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http://education.yahoo.net/articles/five_dead_end_jobs.htm?kid=1O1GI
"To ask why we need libraries at all, when there is so much information available elsewhere, is about as sensible as asking if roadmaps are necessary now that there are so very many roads." - Jon Bing, Professor of Information Technology Law, University of Oslo, Norway
Anything to demonstrate the value of the profession and give the general public a better idea of what we actually do. It's not exactly news that librarians and libraries suffer from an image problem. When most people think of libraries, they immediately think of books. And that makes it all too easy (tempting even!) to picture librarians as people who are trapped in the past, spending their days shuffling around with dusty book carts, wondering where everyone went. But if you tell people that librarianship is about organizing and accessing information, they go "oohhh..."
Scott Thomson, MLIS, AHIP
Library Director
Boxer University Library
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
847.578.3243
scott.thomson@rosalindfranklin.edu
From: Susan Fowler <susanfowler.library@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Yahoo Lists Librarian as Dead End Job
Where is the link to the original Yahoo News piece? I found this one (http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/insight/top-10-dead-end-jobs-way-extinction-143352454.html) which does not list Librarian. It references this from Workpolis (http://www.workopolis.com/content/advice/article/workopolis-2013-research-ten-jobs-that-will-not-exist-ten-years-from-now/) which also does not list Librarian. Personally, I have way too much work to do to believe our profession is on the decline. I also have a second gig at a public library and we are too busy there to give any credence to the idea that library use or need is in decline. And the most recent results from Pew showed that library use was on holding strong (http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/01/22/library-services/). What I see is a dramatic shift in the paradigm of information acquisition, storage, and retrieval - the three central aspects of a librarian's job. That shift has been occurring for at least 20 years. Humans, uncomfortable with change, have a tendency to make assumptions about the future even though things never play out the way we think they will - ie 20 years ago with the first appearance of internet access via windows we thought libraries and brick and mortar stores were going to die but here we all still are. Humans also have a tendency, in the face of dramatic change, to want to wait to learn new things until the dust settles. But in the case of information acquisition, storage, and retrieval, it appears that the paradigm is going to continue to shift since it is directly connected with the development of new technology. So the real issue is not that librarianship is on the decline. The need for information experts to help everyone else adapt and/or access information has not disappeared. I think our job as librarians is to accept that we are in a constantly shifting environment and to remain on the edge of that shift so that we can continue to do what we do best - help others get the information they need.
Susan Fowler, MLIS
Medical Librarian
Evidence at Becker:
http://beckerguides.wustl.edu/ebm
Systematic Reviews Guide:
http://beckerguides.wustl.edu/SystematicReviews
Becker Medical Library, Washington University in St. Louis
314-362-8092
susanfowler.library@gmail.com
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Why Our Future Depends on Libraries
Neil Gaiman is an English author of short fiction who regularly speaks on the value of libraries. Recently, he delivered a lecture “explaining why using our imaginations, and providing for others to use theirs, is an obligation for all citizens.” The following are a few key quotes from an article I hope you will take the time to read his latest lecture Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming“It's important for people to tell you what side they are on and why, and whether they might be biased. A declaration of members' interests, of a sort. So, I am going to be talking to you about reading. I'm going to tell you that libraries are important. I'm going to suggest that reading fiction, that reading for pleasure, is one of the most important things one can do. I'm going to make an impassioned plea for people to understand what libraries and librarians are, and to preserve both of these things.”
“I worry that here in the 21st century people misunderstand what libraries are and the purpose of them. If you perceive a library as a shelf of books, it may seem antiquated or outdated in a world in which most, but not all, books in print exist digitally. But that is to miss the point fundamentally.
I think it has to do with nature of information. Information has value, and the right information has enormous value. For all of human history, we have lived in a time of information scarcity, and having the needed information was always important, and always worth something … Information was a valuable thing, and those who had it or could obtain it could charge for that service.”
“Libraries really are the gates to the future. So it is unfortunate that, round the world, we observe local authorities seizing the opportunity to close libraries as an easy way to save money, without realising that they are stealing from the future to pay for today.”
Read the entire article: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming
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How Americans Value Public Libraries in Their Communities
A newly published report from the Pew Foundation examines the value of public libraries. http://libraries.pewinternet.org/files/legacy-pdf/PIP_Libraries%20in%20communities.pdf “Americans strongly value the role of public libraries in their communities, both for providing access to materials and resources and for promoting literacy and improving the overall quality of life. Most Americans say they have only had positive experiences at public libraries, and value a range of library resources and services.The vast majority of Americans ages 16 and older say that public libraries play an important role in their communities:
95% of Americans ages 16 and older agree that the materials and resources available at public libraries play an important role in giving everyone a chance to succeed;
95% say that public libraries are important because they promote literacy and a love of reading;
94% say that having a public library improves the quality of life in a community;
81% say that public libraries provide many services people would have a hard time finding elsewhere.”
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